epopee (EP-uh-pee)
noun
Epic poetry or an epic poem.
[From Greek epopoiia, from epos (song) + poiein (to make).]
swot (swot) verb intr.
To study hard, especially for an examination.
noun One who studies hard, especially to the exclusion of other interests.
[Dialect variant of sweat.]
Today’s word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=swot
Onomatopoeia
Posted by admin on 16/10/06 in Words
Onomatopoeia is a word that imitates the sound it represents.
also imitative harmony
Example:splash, wow, gush, kerplunk
Such devices bring out the full flavor of words. Comparison and association are sometimes strengthened by syllables which imitate or reproduce the sounds they describe.
When this occurs, it is called onomatopoeia (a Greek word meaning name-making “), for the sounds literally make the meaning in such words as “buzz,” “crash,” “whirr,” “clang” “hiss,” “purr,” “squeak,” “mumble,” “hush,” “boom.” Poe lets us hear the different kinds of sounds made by different types of bells in his famous poem “The Bells.” His choice of the right word gives us the right sound when he speaks of “tinkling” sleigh bells; “clanging” fire bells; mellow “chiming” wedding bells; “tolling,” “moaning,” and “groaning” funeral bells.
Tennyson makes us feel the heaviness of a drowsy summer day by using a series of “in” sounds in the wonderfully weighted lines:
The moan of doves in immemorial elms,And murmuring of innumerable bees.
Countless examples of association of ideas and imitation of sounds may be found in this volume. Two of the most striking and dramatic are Vachel Lindsay’s “The Congo” and G. K. Chesterton’s “Lepanto“. No poems written in our time are richer in vivid colors, galloping rhythms, and constantly varying sound effects.
word of the day
Posted by admin on 15/10/06 in Words
disgregate (DIS-gri-gayt) verb tr., intr.
To separate or to scatter.
[From Latin disgregare, from dis- (apart) + gregare (to collect),from greg-, stem of grex (flock). Ultimately from the Indo-Europeanroot ger- (to gather) which is also the source of such words asaggregate, congregation, egregious, and segregate.]