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coruscate: msg#00008

culture.language.word-of-the-day

Subject: coruscate

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The Word of the Day for October 9 is:

coruscate \KOR-uh-skayt\ verb
*1 : to give off or reflect light in bright beams or
flashes : sparkle
2 : to be brilliant or showy in technique or style

Example sentence:
Nora quipped, "All articles that coruscate with
resplendence are not truly auriferous," meaning "all that
glitters is not gold."

Did you know?
To help you gain a flash of recognition next time you
see "coruscate" (or to prompt you when you need a brilliant
synonym for "sparkle"), remember this bit of bright imagery by
George Bernard Shaw, describing a centuries-old abbey: "O'er
this north door a trace still lingers / Of how a Gothic
craftsman's fingers / Could make stones creep like ivy stems /
And tilings coruscate like gems." The more mundane can just
memorize the word's etymology -- although it's not a shining
example of remarkableness. "Coruscate" developed from the
Latin "coruscare," which means "to flash." That word also gave
us the noun "coruscation" ("glitter, sparkle") and the
adjective "coruscant" ("shining, glittering"), long
before "coruscate" was even a glimmer in English-speakers' eyes
(it first appeared in English prose in the 18th century).

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.





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