ruminate

verb - 1. to think intently or for a prolonged period. 2. to chew regurgitated matter; to chew for a prolonged period.   

Example:  
After ruminating for some time on the subject, I have decided to discontinue this blog.


Sorry, folks. It takes a while to put together a decent entry, and given my readership levels and the clickthrough rates, it just isn't paying off. I enjoyed keeping this blog, but I also enjoy design work, and I actually earn a bit from that. Thanks for reading, and if you voted in the poll, thanks for your vote. It's nice to be appreciated.

Here are links to some other word-of-the-day blogs, gadgets, and web pages:

Dictionary.com's gadget

WordSmith.org - A.Word.A.Day - email service and web page

Wiktionary project (English)

Answers.com's Word Overheard blog (RSS available)

Urban Dictionary (RSS available)

hiatus

noun - interruption, break, pause, gap.   

Example:  
This blog is currently on hiatus due to the holidays; I will resume posting in early January.


Link:
Answers.com: hiatus

What's your favorite word? Feel free to suggest words by submitting a comment on any post.

I'm currently working on an entry for the word 'polynose'. If you have access to a textile glossary or dictionary, please look up 'polynose' and let me know what it says.

Have a great holiday and best wishes for 2008!

gnomon

noun - 1. the upright part of a sundial that casts a shadow which indicates the time of day. 2. the part of a parallelogram left after a similar, smaller parallelogram had been removed from a corner of it.   

Example: 
In the center of the circular garden was a sundial having a marble base and a bronze gnomon.

Links:
Answers.com: gnomon
Wikipedia: gnomon, gnomon (figure)
Wolfram Math World: gnomon
Amazon.com: Gnomon: from Pharaos to Fractals by Midhat Gazale

semelparous

adjective - having a single reproductive phase during the lifespan. [Compare with iteroparous.]

Example:  
"Most anadromous salmon die after their first spawning season and thus spawn only once in their lifetime—they are semelparous." - Upstream: Salmon and Society in the Pacific Northwest, p. 29.


Links:
Merriam-Webster: semelparous
Nature: Reproductive Biology: Out with a Bang

samara

noun - a dry, winged fruit, such as the fruit of maple and ash trees.    
Example:  
The path was strewn with the samaras of the maple trees that arched over it.

Link:
Wikipedia: Samara (fruit)

besmirch

verb - to make dirty; stain.   

Example:  
"Perhaps Abbott himself thought it did not, for he published Flatland pseudonymously, as if afraid that it might besmirch the dignity of his more formal writings, of which he betrayed no reluctance to acknowledge his authorship." - Banesh Hoffman, Introduction, in Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions, 1992.

Links:
Answers.com: besmirch
Wikipedia: Edwin Abbott Abbott

imbroglio

noun - 1. a difficult, confusing situation. 2. a confused misunderstanding or altercation. 3. a mess.   

Example:  
"I’ve been diligently searching for every shortcut I can find to circumvent the whole shopping, wrapping and cooking Christmas dinner imbroglio." Sonya Fladun, Outsourcing is the answer, City News, December 12, 2007.

Link:
Answers.com: imbroglio