volplane: M-W's Word of the Day

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The Word of the Day for June 30 is:

volplane \VAHL-playn\ verb
*1 : to glide in or as if in an airplane
2 a of an airplane : to descend gradually in controlled flight b : to fly in a glider

Example sentence:
An eagle soared and volplaned gracefully across the sky.

Did you know?
"Vol plane," meaning "gliding flight," was a phrase first used by 19th-century French ornithologists to describe downward flight by birds; it contrasted with "vol a voile" ("soaring flight"). Around the time Orville and Wilbur Wright were promoting their latest "aeroplane" in France, the noun and the verb "volplane" soared to popularity in America as a term describing the daring dives by aviators. (_Fly_ magazine reported in 1910 that "the French flyers are noted for their thrilling spirals and vol planes from the sky.") The avian-to-aviator generalization was fitting, since the Wright brothers had studied the flight of birds in designing their planes.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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quirk: M-W's Word of the Day

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The Word of the Day for June 29 is:

quirk \KWURK\ verb
: curve, twist

Example sentence:
David quirked his eyebrow in perplexity at his companion's curious remark.

Did you know?
Did you expect "quirk" to be a noun meaning "a peculiarity of action or behavior"? If so, you're probably not alone; the "peculiarity" sense of the noun "quirk" is commonly known and has been a part of our language since at least 1878. But "quirk" has long worn other hats in English, too. It has been used as both a noun and a verb since the 16th century. The noun "quirk," which essentially means "a curve, turn, or twist," has named everything from curving pen marks on paper (i.e., flourishes) to witty turns of phrase to the vagaries or twists of fate. In contemporary English the verb "quirk" is most often used in referring to facial expressions, especially those that involve crooked smiles or furrowed eyebrows.

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festinate: M-W's Word of the Day

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The Word of the Day for June 28 is:

festinate \FESS-tuh-nut\ adjective
: hasty

Example sentence:
"Even [the company's] successes . . . are vestiges of 1990s thinking. They may halt a festinate death, but you don't build a company around them." (Fritz Nelson, _Network Computing_, August 21, 2000)

Did you know?
"Festinate" is one among many in the category of words whose first recorded use is in the works of Shakespeare ("Advise the Duke where you are going, to a most festinate preparation." -- _King Lear_, III.vii.10). Perhaps the Bard knew about "festinatus," the Latin predecessor of "festinate," or was familiar with the Latin proverb "festina lente" -- "make haste slowly." Shakespeare also gets credit for the adverb "festinately" (first seen in _Love's Labour's Lost_, III.i.6: "Bring him festinately hither."), but another writer beat him to the verb "festinate" (pronounced \FESS-tuh-nayt\), meaning "to hasten."

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yegg: M-W's Word of the Day

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The Word of the Day for June 27 is:

yegg \YEG\ noun
: safecracker; also : robber

Example sentence:
"[Her] attorney does admit that his client had developed 'platonic' relationships with two cons, a couple of yeggs named Ollie and Marvin, but only to gather information." (_Fort Collins Coloradoan_, December 6, 2002)

Did you know?
"Safecracker" first appeared in print in English around 1825, but English speakers evidently felt that they needed a more colorful word for this rather colorful profession. No one is quite sure where "yegg" came from. It first appeared in the _New York Evening Post_ on June 23, 1903, in an article about "the prompt breaking up of the organized gangs of professional beggars and yeggs." By 1905, it had acquired the variant "yeggmen," which was printed in the _New York Times_ in reference to unsavory characters captured in the Bowery District. "Yegg" has always been, and continues to be, less common than "safecracker," but it still turns up once in a while.

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