(no subject)

I really hate that something so simple as grocery shopping can lay me up for the rest of the day. That's it. I'm exhausted.

(no subject)

Finally got around to watching The Prestige. It was good, but a little too obvious.

( don't read if you don't want spoilers )

Definitions

hawser: (n) A large rope or small cable, in size midway between a cable and a tow-line, between 5 and 10 inches in circumference; used in warping and mooring; in large ships now made of steel.

cephalic: (adj) 1. Of or pertaining to the head, situated in the head; of the nature of a head.
2. Curing or relieving disorders of the head.

basilic: (adj) 1. Kingly, royal, sovereign.
2. In Physiology: Specific epithet of the large vein of the arm starting from the elbow and discharging into the axillary vein. [So called from its supposed great importance; the right and left basilic veins were formerly thought to be in direct communication with the liver and spleen respectively.]

dittany: (n) 1. A labiate plant, Origanum Dictamnus, called also Dictamnus Creticus or dittany of Crete; formerly famous for its alleged medicinal virtues.
2. Applied to various plants resembling the above in appearance or properties; esp. in U.S. to Cunila Mariana (family Labiatæ).

bollard: (n) 1. A wooden or iron post, on a ship, a whale-boat, or a quay, for securing ropes to.
2. A post on a traffic island.

melilot: (n) Any of various Eurasian leguminous plants constituting the genus Melilotus (subfamily Papilionoideae), characterized by trifoliate leaves and long racemes of small flowers, usually yellow or white, which smell of newly mown hay when dry, and are sometimes grown as forage and green manure and as bee plants; esp. (in full yellow melilot) the yellow-flowered M. officinalis, the dried flowers of which were formerly much used in making plasters, poultices, etc., and (in full white melilot) the white-flowered M. alba. Also (U.S.) called sweet clover.

murex: (n) 1. Any of various predatory gastropod molluscs of the genus Murex or the family Muricidae, found in tropical and temperate seas, which are distinguished by spiny shells and from some of which the crimson dye called Tyrian purple was formerly obtained.
2. The deep crimson dye obtained from shellfish of the family Muricidae and much valued as a symbol of royal or imperial rank; the colour of this dye. Also called Tyrian purple.

ranunculus: (n) A genus of plants (also called CROWFOOT) widely diffused in temperate regions; the common species with yellow flowers are popularly known by the name of BUTTERCUPS; the usual cultivated species is R. asiaticus. Also, a plant belonging to this genus.

trochlea: (n) A pulley-like structure or arrangement of parts, with a smooth surface upon which some other part, as a bone or tendon, slides

gadroon: (n) One of a set of convex curves or arcs joined at their extremities to form a decorative pattern (which may be described as the reverse of ‘fluting’) used in the ornamentation of gold and silver plate, in architecture, costume, etc.

cyma: (n) A moulding of the cornice, the outline of which consists of a concave and a convex line; an ogee.

ceraunite: (n) ‘Thunderstone’: applied by some early mineralogists to a meteorite or to meteoric iron; by others to belemnites, and to flint arrow-heads of prehistoric times viewed as ‘thunder-bolts’.

belemnite: (n) A fossil common in rocks of the Secondary formation; a straight, smooth, cylindrical object, a few inches long, convexly tapering to a sharp point, formerly known, from its shape and supposed origin, as thunder-bolt, thunder-stone, elf-bolt, but now recognized as the internal bone of an animal allied to the cuttle-fish. Also, the extinct animal to which this belonged.

nebritis: (n) The skin of an animal (usually a fawn), esp. as worn by Dionysus and his votaries.

thyrsus, pl thyrsi: (n) 1. A staff or spear tipped with an ornament like a pine-cone, and sometimes wreathed with ivy or vine branches; borne by Dionysus (Bacchus) and his votaries.
2. In Botany: A form of inflorescence: a lax spike, as in some orchids; a contracted kind of panicle, esp. one in which the primary branching is centripetal (racemose) and the secondary centrifugal (cymose), as in lilac and horse-chestnut.

panicle: (n) An inflorescence consisting of a loosely branching cluster of flowers, as in oats and many other grasses; (now) spec. a racemose (or occasionally cymose) compound inflorescence having a primary axis bearing branched secondary axes.

50bookchallenge, 15000pages

Book #66 -- Euripides, Hippolytus, 65 pages

Part of the Harvard Classics series I'm working through. Personally, I'm not too fond of the Greek Tragedies. Seems to me all they do is stand around and talk forever. I much prefer Elizabethan drama. But I'm determined to work my way through the whole volume, so I've got two more plays left. Once I'm done, no one can say I didn't give the Greek's their chance. This one was particularly boring for the first 3/4 of the play, but sped up and actually got almost interesting toward the end. I could actually see myself enjoying a production of this if they cut out much of the first half. So it could have been worse.

Progress toward goals: 209/365 = 57.3%

Book: 66/100 = 66%

Pages: 21717/30000 = 72.4%

2007 Book List

cross-posted to 15000pages, 50bookchallenge, and gwynraven