Today's new words for Wondrous Words Wednesday, a weekly meme hosted by Kathy from Bermudaonion's Weblog, come from two different sources.
The first is from a wonderfully written blog I discovered a few months ago.
1. chary: very cautious, wary, careful
"I am very chary about saying this too loudly, but I think we may have the phone problem solved."
~Ann from Table Talk
Ann has a sophistication about her that shines through her writing. Table Talk is a blog I hope to frequent more often in the future.
2. grandiloquent: full of fine words, flowery language, and fancy expressions (as found in much 19th century poetry); use of impressive-sounding but mostly meaningless words and phrases (political rhetoric)
"Sometimes Tacy enlivened the envelope by putting the stamp on upside down to signify love, or by addressing her with some grandiloquent string of names such as Miss Elizabetha Gwendolyn Madeline Angeline Rosemond Ray, or by adding BC for Best Chum or HHAS for Herbert Humphreys Admiration Society."
~Heaven to Betsy, Maud Hart Lovelace
I think this word sounds very much like its meaning. I won this very enjoyable book, which contains two Betsy-Tacy novels, Heaven to Betsy and Betsy in Spite of Herself, on Kate's Book Blog. I've finished reading Heaven to Betsy and am currently reading Betsy in Spite of Herself. Having never read these charming classics as a child, I am relishing them for the first time now. Harper Collins has recently republished books from the Betsy-Tacy series by Maud Hart Lovelace.
3. triumvirate: a government of three officers; any group or set of three
"What, Betsy wondered, was a Triumvirate?"
~Heaven to Betsy, Maud Hart Lovelace
Of course, tri means three, but I didn't remember reading or hearing this word before. A quadrumvirate means--you guessed it--a governing or managing group, coalition, or set of four people.
What wondrous new words have you encountered during recent reading?
Posts
