New Words

Undercast \UHN-der-kast\, noun:
1. Something viewed from above through another medium, as of clouds viewed from an airplane.
2. Mining. A crossing of two passages, as airways, dug at the same level so that one descends to pass beneath the other without any opening into it.
His skin was white, but the sweater brought out the undercast of pale, pale green so that his skin was either pearl white or a dreamlike green depending on how the light hit it.
-- Laurel K. Hamilton, A Kiss of Shadows
Crewmen later reported having seen explosions and fires through breaks in the undercast, but their fleeting observations were none too precise and the strike photos were too poor to be of much use.
-- Wesley Frank Craven, James Lea Cate, The Army Air Forces in World War II
Undercast derives from meteorology and aeronautics jargon.

Brannigan \BRAN-i-guhn\, noun:1. A carouse.
2. A squabble; a brawl.
Polonius certainly spoke a mouthful of truth to Laertes when he advised him, in effect, "Don't start a Brannigan. But if somebody else does, give 'em hell!
-- Ty Cobb and Al Stump, My life in baseball: the true record
Emerson says in his essay on compensation that those who who would enjoy the wolfish Satisfaction of shovelling it in each Morning must forego the simple Delights of acquiring a Brannigan the Night before.
-- George Ade, Hand-made fables
A brannigan is a case of a word acquiring general meaning after already existing as a family name.


Spoor \SPOHR\, noun:1. A track or trail, esp. that of a wild animal pursued as game.
verb:
1. To track by or follow a spoor.
In all cases, however, a spoor is to be worked out like a problem, and requires as much brain- work as many equations, and far more original talent and observation.
-- William Chambers and Robert Chambers, Chambers's journal, Volumes 39-40
There are occasions in a hunter's experience when a spoor begins hot and true and then fades.
-- Wilbur Smith, A Sparrow Falls
Spoor derives from the Afrikaans word for trace. It is related to spurn.


Vestigial \ve-STIJ-ee-uhl\, adjective:
1. Relating to a body part that has become small and lost its use because of evolutionary change.
2. Pertaining to, or of the nature of anything that is no longer present or in existence.
Pixar filmmakers have to be able to tap into their vestigial child, their inner Andy. In that sense, the Toy Story series is their collective autobiography.
-- Richard Corliss, "End of Innocence", Time, June 2010.
In gasps he replied that it was a boa - boas were notoriously good-natured - he only wished to see its vestigial hind-legs - then would let it go - he was not hurting it.
-- Patrick O'Brian, The far side of the world
Vestigial is from the French vestige, "a mark, trace, sign," which comes from the Latin vestigium, "footprint, trace," of unknown origin.



Palladian \puh-LEY-dee-uhn\, adjective:
1. Pertaining to wisdom, knowledge, or study.
2. Of or pertaining to the goddess Athena.
3. Pertaining to, introduced by, or in the architectural style of Andrea Palladio.
Within the sanctuary the gold and ivory image of Athena, fashioned by Phidias, had given way to the pale face of Our Lady, Mother of the Holy Child, and the grandiloquent Latin of the mass rolled its volume through the hall that once had echoed to the sonorous Greek of the Palladian hymns.
-- Justin Huntly McCarthy, The dryad: a novel
Miss Barfoot was smiling at this Palladian attitude when a servant announced two ladies, Mrs. Smallbrook and Miss Haven.
-- George Gissing, Arlene Young, The odd women
Palladian is a direct ancestor of the Greek Palládios, "of Athena," goddess of wisdom.



Subtilize \SUHT-l-ahyz\, verb:1. To make (the mind, senses, etc.) keen or discerning.
2. To elevate in character.
3. To make thin, rare, or more fluid or volatile; refine.
By long brooding over our recollections, we subtilize them into something akin to imaginary stuff, and hardly capable of being distinguished from it.
-- Nathanial Hawthorne, The Blithedale Romance
Another (ah Lord helpe) mee vilifies /With Art of Love, and how to subtilize, /Making lewd Venus, with eternall Lines, /To tye Adonis to her love's designes.
-- John Davies of Hereford, Papers Complaint, compil'd in ruthfull Rimes Against the Paper-spoylers of these Times
Subtilize grew in popularity among practitioners of alchemy and early medical theory.