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These words are sometimes confused; venal means "corrupt", "able to be bribed", or "for sale"; venial means "pardonable, not serious". [46] [119] Standard: According to Catholic doctrine, eating meat on a Friday during Lent is a venial sin, but murder is a mortal sin. Standard: All ages have examples of venal politicians.
Rap was not an acronym for "random acts of poetry" used as speech-lyrics in contemporary music. The word means "to utter forcefully" and appeared as early as 1541. [37] Shit: see under "Profanity" Swag is not an acronym for "stuff we all get," "secretly we are gay," or anything else. It comes from early-19th-century slang for a thief's booty or ...
(informal) clumsy *; left-handed. Derived from cack, meaning "fæces (feces)", with reference to the tradition that only the left hand should be used for cleaning the 'unclean' part of the human body (i.e. below the waist). cafetière device for making coffee (US: French press) caff
(Hamlet's last words) Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince, And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest....so shall you hear Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts, Of accidental judgments, casual slaughters, Of deaths put on by cunning and forced cause, (Horatio's discussion of the play's blood-bath)
People are more likely to identify as true statements those they have previously heard (even if they cannot consciously remember having heard them), regardless of the actual validity of the statement. In other words, a person is more likely to believe a familiar statement than an unfamiliar one.
Deeds not Words: Motto of the United States Merchant Marine Academy. acta sanctorum: Deeds of the Saints: Also used in the singular preceding a saint's name: Acta Sancti ("Deeds of Saint") N.; a common title of hagiography works actiones secundum fidei: action follows belief: i.e., "we act according to what we believe (ourselves to be)." [3]
An example is "beforemath" derived from "aftermath", having an understandable meaning but not a commonly accepted word. A back-formation cannot become a ghost word; as a rule it would clash with Skeat's precise definition, which requires that the word forms have "no meaning".
A aggravate – Some have argued that this word should not be used in the sense of "to annoy" or "to oppress", but only to mean "to make worse". According to AHDI, the use of "aggravate" as "annoy" occurs in English as far back as the 17th century. In Latin, from which the word was borrowed, both meanings were used. Sixty-eight percent of AHD4's usage panel approves of its use in "It's the ...