xy•lo•graph (ZAHY-luh-graf) n
Definition:
1. an engraving on wood
2. an impression from a woodblock
Origin:
1860–65; from Gk. xylon "wood" + -graph "something written"
Related:
Synonym: woodcut
Related Words: xylophone
Sentence Examples:
• The better rooms are frescoed with Buddhistic paintings, and on the third floor is a library, now used as a hospital, where xylograph editions of the Lamaist scriptures and lives of the saints are pigeon-holed in lockers in the wall. - The Unveiling of Lhasa, by Edmund Candler
• There can be no doubt of the whole of this production being xylographical. Unluckily, this fine copy has the first and last pages of the text in MS. The other pages, with blank reverses, are faintly impressed in brown ink: especially the first, which seems to be injured. - Principia typographica, Samuel Leigh Sotheby
• Manuscripts, whether handsomely embellished or copied simply without ornament, were expensive luxuries which only the rich could purchase. With the revival of learning, for students in general, for the poorer classes, for school children, cheap books costing as little as possible, but serving the same end as the manuscript, were necessary, and the xylograph came at its hour. - Early woodcut initials, Oscar Jennings
Sources: Free Dictionary, Dictionary.com
Word-E: A Word-A-Day
Word of The Day for Thursday, June 16, 2011
xylograph
Word of The Day for Wednesday, May 18, 2011
xanthous
xan•thous (ZAN-thuhs) adj
Definition:
1. yellow; yellowish
2. of, relating to, or designating races with yellowish hair and a light complexion (ethnology)
1. of or pertaining to a yellow or yellowish color
2. of or derived from xanthine or xanthic acid (chemistry)
1829, from Gk. xanthos "yellow," of unknown origin
Related:
Synonyms: yellow, yellowish, xanthic, gamboge, aureolin, xanthein, aureate, golden, flavous, citrine, fallow; fulvous, fulvid; sallow, luteous, auricomous, xanthocarpous, xanthochroid, xanthopous
Related Words: xanthic, xanthocarpous, xanthochroid, xanthopous, xanthein, xanthin, xanthite, xanthopsia
Sentence Examples:
• What imaginable intelligence could compensate her for the flat blueness of her eyes, the xanthous pallor of her hair, the doll-like pink of her cheeks? - Damn!, Henry Louis Mencken
• "Perhaps if we find his xanthic highness after a good meal he will be inclined to be a bit more lenient," Loomis whispered with a forced laugh, trying to cheer his glum companions. - The Sword and the Atopen, Taylor H. Greenfield
• The name was Scandinavian, and the appearance of the girl confirmed that supposition. She evidently belonged to the great race of Nilsson and Lind. Her hair, a mass of rebellious, short curls, was of the peculiar shade of light yellow common among that people; it looked as if the xanthous locks of the old Gauls, as described by Cæsar, had been faded out, in the long nights and the ice and snow of the Northland, to this paler hue. - Caesar's Column, Ignatius Donnelly
Sources: Free Dictionary, Dictionary.com, Online Etymology
Word-E: A Word-A-Day
Word of The Day for Thursday, April 28, 2011
xenial
xe•ni•al (ZEE-nee-uhl) adj
Definition:
1. pertaining to hospitality, or to the rights, privileges, standing, or treatment of a guest, or to the relations between a guest and his host; specifically, noting such relations, etc., in Greek antiquity
2. hospitable, especially to visiting strangers or foreigners
xenia noun
Origin:
1895–1900; from Neo-Latin from Greek xenía "hospitality" from xenos "guest"
Sentence Examples:
• The economic base of the Pacific Coastal People centered on the ceremony, prominence, and xenial protocol of the potlatch, with the accruement and distribution of property. - Encyclopedia of race, ethnicity, and society, Richard T. Schaefer
• We all remember Mr. Myers for his ever xenial, happy, cheerful spirit. To know him was to appreciate his sunny, hopeful disposition and to desire his friendship. - Bulletin: Bureau of Chemistry, 1900
• Again, it is curious to observe that the xenial relation was not less vivacious than that of blood. - Studies on Homer and the Homeric, William E. Gladstone
Sources: Wordnik, Dictionary.com
Word-E: A Word-A-Day
Word of The Day for Thursday, December 9, 2010
xeric
zer•ic (ZEER-ik) adj
Definition:
of, pertaining to, or adapted to a dry environment
xerically adverb
Origin:
1926; from Greek xerós dry + -ic
Related:
hydric, characterized by, relating to, or requiring an abundance of moisture
mesic, characterized by, relating to, or requiring a moderate amount of moisture
Related Words: xerasia, excessive dryness of hair
xerophyte, a plant which is able to survive in an environment with little available water
xerotic, dry
xerosis, an abnormal dryness of the skin or mucus membranes
Sentence Examples:
• Even greater differences in the local aspect of woodland on the hillsides are caused by slope exposure. On south facing slopes, [Pg 93] especially, the woodland is noticeably different from that in other situations, and of more xeric aspect. -The Forest Habitat of the University of Kansas Natural History Reservation, Henry S. Fitch, Ronald L. McGregor
• As he points out, that species requires hydric communities of cool climates, and in the Wisconsin Glacial age such climates probably prevailed in the high mountainous region where San Josecito is located. Since the time when a more mesic boreal environment occurred at San Josecito, climatic shifts have favored more xeric conditions as are found in the vicinity of the cave today. -Pleistocene Pocket Gophers From San Josecito Cave, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, Robert J. Russell
• The aridity of western Coahuila restricts, to a large extent, the diversity of the breeding populations of its avifauna. Xeric conditions surrounding some of the higher mountains are barriers to movement of some species. -Birds from Coahuila, Mexico, Emil K. Urban
The Storyline
Meanwhile Anna was on the bus headed to work, staring out the window at the plants struggling to survive, ill-suited to the xeric conditions brought on by the recent drought.
Sources: Dictionary.com
Word-E: A Word-A-Day