Author Topic: ~ Word of the Day ~ (Read 67756 times)

Dys Astyr · « **Reply #175 on:** May 31, 2017, 09:36:29 AM »

Her only option was to abdicate her position as high priestess, fleeing both the temple and the city. The very idea was frightening, she had never stepped a foot off of the sacred grounds. The stories of what lay outside the city walls had been frightening her since she was a child, could she really make such a dangerous gamble? Instinctively she tried to call upon the sacred energies enshrined within the temple to calm herself, only to feel a cold reminder of why she had to leave the only place she had ever known.

RampantDesires · « **Reply #176 on:** May 31, 2017, 10:54:53 PM »

Today's word of the day is....

whirligig
noun WER-lih-gig

Definition
1 : a child's toy having a whirling motion
2 a : one that continuously whirls or changes
b : a whirling or circling course (as of events)

Dys Astyr · « **Reply #177 on:** May 31, 2017, 11:01:04 PM »

He turned, reeling, unable to make sense of anything. Around him life continued. Somehow. Impossibly. Nothing was as it should be yet no one else seemed to notice. Everything that had ever anchored him, every truth he had lived by had been torn asunder and tossed away like chaff in the wind. A sickly whirligig of emotions churned inside of him, threatening to drown him with every uncertain breath. Part of him wished it would, wished he would be swallowed up completely and thus relieved of the loathsomeness which his life had become.

Shores · « **Reply #178 on:** June 01, 2017, 04:07:24 AM »

The puppy followed the whirligig, his head turning round and round as the wind spun it faster and faster. Finally, he collapsed onto the soft bed, tuckered out from a day of colours and excitement. The little girl picked the puppy up, stuck her head out of the alley, looked up and down the street, then started running back home.

Caedy · « **Reply #179 on:** June 01, 2017, 06:10:56 AM »

Today's word of the day is....

valedictory
adjective val-uh-DIK-tuh-ree

Definition
Of or relating to an act of bidding farewell : expressing or containing a farewell.

ZephyrInk · « **Reply #180 on:** June 02, 2017, 05:23:34 AM »

The boy tiptoed inside the library set deep inside the mansion. He knew of this room, he had heard about it so many times from the servants but more so from his father who had forbidden the lad to explore this side of the residence. "I'll just take a quick peek", he mumbled to himself, curiosity getting the better of him as he inched his way further into the depths of the hall. Shelves upon shelves of books lined every corner of the place and as with each step his smile only grew wilder. Little did he know that this place didn't contain any ordinary books. That despite the brightness of the room, it housed something dull and depressing.

He inched towards the nearest shelf, picking out a random book that he could easily reach and flipped it open. There was a valedictory message from his father sprawled over the front page. He knew it was him because he recognized the writing all too well, but what surprised him was how the book appeared ancient and untouched. The message read:

'To my dearest Olivia, as I stand here waiting to be executed, know that I love you and always have, that I will do everything in my power to return to you.'

His heart skipped a beat at the last line, that I will do everything in my power to return to you. This was the secret, this was why he wasn't allowed to come into this room. He let the book drop from his hands, the sound of its hitting the marble floor resonating around him and he ran.

Shores · « **Reply #181 on:** June 02, 2017, 05:35:41 AM »

She fell asleep at the valedictory speech because she had been up the night before practicing her dance moves in her mongoose mascot costume. Thankfully, people were just as amused at a sleeping mongoose as a dancing one.

Caedy · « **Reply #182 on:** June 02, 2017, 01:45:09 PM »

Today's word of the day is....

plagiary
noun PLAY-jee-air-ee

Definition
1 : (archaic) one that plagiarizes
2 : plagiarism

Dys Astyr · « **Reply #183 on:** June 02, 2017, 07:56:21 PM »

"The man is clearly a plagiary!" He cried in disgust, tossing the manuscript unto the cluttered desk. "You cannot allow this to stand! We must-"

"Why not?"

"What? What do you mean why not?"

"Why not allow it to stand? It is my work, perhaps I shall give it to this man who seems be so enthralled by it."

"You cannot be serious, sir! Such a charlatan shouldn't be rewarded-"

"Enough, I have made my decision. Bring me pen and paper, I shall write to inform him myself."

Shores · « **Reply #184 on:** June 03, 2017, 01:26:55 AM »

He was a plagiary of a plagiary. No matter what I said to him, nothing could convince him otherwise. He always believed that his father had stolen his grandfather's paintings, and so he felt it was his duty to steal from his father. What he didn't know was that I had switched out all of his father's paintings for his own works, which he had done a few years prior. His body of art was so vast that he never remembered all of them, and he certainly wouldn't have minded his own son stealing from him.

Beautiful Mystery · « **Reply #185 on:** June 03, 2017, 04:34:26 PM »

Today's word of the day is....

oracular
adjective aw-RAK-yuh-ler

Definition
1 : resembling an oracle (as in solemnity of delivery)
2 : of, relating to, or being an oracle

(Here is the definition of an oracle if you are unsure)

Shores · « **Reply #186 on:** June 04, 2017, 07:13:25 AM »

“It is not an oracular tale.” He held on to her arm, preventing her from leaving the safety of their bedroom. “There is no basis in truth, now or in the future.”

“Her words have always happened.” She tried to yank her arm away.

“So? I can make many predictions about the future as well, and most of them will be true. Like the sun rising tomorrow.”

“That’s not what she does. You heard her. You heard what she said yesterday and last month. She said the King would pass away this month and he did.”

“She could have poisoned him.”

“You don’t seriously think that, do you?”

ZephyrInk · « **Reply #187 on:** June 05, 2017, 11:37:22 AM »

He looked angry and he wanted her to see that. This oracular madness of hers had to stop. He saw how it was consuming her, nay distracted her. Their marriage was falling apart because of it and just last week she had been let go of her job at the factory. The neighbours had stopped coming over at their house, the excuses changing each time.

What were they to do now? He closed his eyes tightly, creases forming around them and brought his hands forward onto the lop sided dining table, or what was left of it. An eerie silence hovered around the room, broken only by the whistling from the kettle on the stove. If it hadn't been for the steel pot hissing away, no one would have guessed there were any living beings in that house.

"Honey..." he began, "I'm begging you. Stop" he pleaded with her but she shook her head. She was determined, had always been. This was what she had always wanted to do in life. With a frown and an unapologetic look, she tucked a flash of red locks behind her ears, memorizing his face once before turning around and storming out of the room, forever.

Sofia Grace · « **Reply #188 on:** June 05, 2017, 11:49:11 AM »

Today's word of the day is....

adumbrate
verb AD-um-brayt

Definition
1 : to foreshadow vaguely : intimate
2 : to suggest, disclose, or outline partially
3 : overshadow, obscure

Shores · « **Reply #189 on:** June 06, 2017, 03:22:05 AM »

The artist adumbrated the painting, adding shadows to the crevices in the castle and casting a ghostly effect on the whole work. A smudge of his hand caused some of the paints to create a smoky haze which became misunderstood for a ghost painted there. That was how the castle became rumoured to be haunted.

ZephyrInk · « **Reply #190 on:** June 06, 2017, 05:02:06 AM »

The harridan stood there with a conniving look on her face, her long fingernails scraping the pillar next to her as she watched Damian’s pen hover in the air, swishing from one side to the other like a pendulum on a grandfather’s clock. Time is of the essence, she had warned him yet he had appeared to not have paid any attention to her words, his nose buried deep in the parchment she had offered him.

She laughed inwardly at how she only had to adumbrate the terms and conditions of the contract; that enticing him with the idea that the deal was a solid one would make things so much easier for her; that he would get his leg back if only he allowed her control over his heart. An easy exchange, she had called it.

Her gaze stood sharpened at the distance between the nib and the paper, her desire to rule only a hair line away. A snap of her fingers, that’s all it would take and the kingdom would be hers.

Sofia Grace · « **Reply #191 on:** June 06, 2017, 11:02:10 AM »

Today's word of the day is....

catercorne
adverb or adjective KAT-ee-kor-ner

Definition
: in a diagonal or oblique position : kitty-corner

Dys Astyr · « **Reply #192 on:** June 06, 2017, 11:59:03 AM »

It was a strange feeling the filled her as locks of shorn hair fell from her head. She couldn't help but recall standing in the river, cold water swirling around her knees as she had hastily hacked off the greater length of her hair with a hunting knife. Just as it had then, this change in her appearance marked a sudden shift in her fate. The prospect was dizzying. It seemed impossible, yet somehow it was happening.

Servants came in to fit her with a uniform, moving her about like a doll as they did their work. At the same time a disgruntled looking squire talked her through what she needed to do at the ceremony, thankfully not much. No matter how hard she tried to relax her mind kept racing.

"It's time." The words were clipped, more than likely the squire would rather be doing anything else.

She snapped to attention, instantly on her feet and following the squire out of the room. She felt her spine straighten at the crisp feeling of the uniform, her bearing some strange mix of what her mother had taught her as a child and what she had observed of the knights during her time in the castle. The courtyard was crowded with soldiers, the highest ranking at the front and the lowest packed together at the back. The stared at her, some with barely disguised hatred and disgust. It wasn't hard to guess what they were thinking. A woman. Barely more than a child. A slave. Yet there she was, walking among them on equal ground, about to receive a commendation most of them could only dream about.

She felt a swell of pride as she stepped onto the dais, bending one knee and touching a closed fist to the stone, head lowered. The lord of the castle was speaking but the words seem to float around her without actually reaching her ears. It was only the strange feeling of the gold signet being tied into the hair against the back of her neck that seemed real. Only a handful of knights shared this honor, and in the whole of the army no other person's braid of office started with recognition for saving their lord's life. The weight of it adumbrated everything else in her life, everything she had been before that moment.

Shores · « **Reply #193 on:** June 07, 2017, 03:08:03 AM »

The donuts were placed catercorned from each other on the floor, so the baby proceeded to crawl diagonally across the tiled floor, licking frosting from each donut as he went. The front of his jumper became a mess, but he carried on until he was in front of the witch's home. The witch was taking a nap, so he started licking along the foundation of the donut home, until the four walls collapsed in.

ZephyrInk · « **Reply #194 on:** June 07, 2017, 11:16:24 AM »

She marveled at the way the cards lay cater-cornered on the table. It was difficult to tell what they denoted, the numbers being obscured by the one on top of the other, but perhaps that was part of the trick. When the magician stepped up, his hands delicately hovering over them, she watched closely, her hand gripping onto the glass of lemonade. Behind her she could vaguely hear the conversation she had just walked out of, two friends who were on the brink of a fight regarding a business deal gone wrong.

Why couldn't they just enjoy the picnic? luckily she had only kept the thought to herself and snaked her way out of the group to where the magic show was set up, surrounded by beady eyed children of all sizes. She was glad for this part of the party even if she knew how all the tricks were done, it was the sheer look of surprise and excitement on the little ones' faces that brought a smile to her own and frankly was a much better sight than that of the grown ups.

Caedy · « **Reply #195 on:** June 07, 2017, 12:47:17 PM »

Today's word of the day is....

incoherent
adjective in-koh-HEER-unt

Definition
lacking coherence : such as
(a) lacking cohesion: loose
(b) lacking orderly continuity, arrangement, or relevance : inconsistent
(c) lacking normal clarity or intelligibility in speech or thought

Shores · « **Reply #196 on:** June 08, 2017, 04:46:30 AM »

His speech was so incoherent that the Press Corps had no choice but to ask simple questions to get any answers out of him. He sensed danger approaching and quickly fled the building, leaving everyone flabbergasted.

Dys Astyr · « **Reply #197 on:** June 08, 2017, 06:00:49 PM »

He dropped the razor and was out of his tent before the crackle of the radio cut off, not even bothering to wipe his face clean. He wasn't the only one hustling toward the end of camp: Margo in her pyjamas, Nathan looking like he hadn't slept at all, and Behr outpacing everyone despite with his titanium leg. Three days. Three days of everyone walking a tight wire of anxiety and protocol. Three days of jumping at every spurt of radio static.

Three days.

The jeep carrying the doctor passed them, despite their head start. The small group gathered around it only moments later; staring down at a pale, incoherent Ankha who seemed to be mumbling to someone that wasn't there. He caught Nathan's worried glance, as much as they were all happy she was alive they weren't out of the fire yet.

Caedy · « **Reply #198 on:** June 09, 2017, 02:59:15 AM »

Yesterday's word of the day is....

penchant
noun PEN-chunt

Definition
a strong and continued inclination; broadly : liking

Today's word of the day is....

squinny
verb SKWIN-ee

Definition
to look or peer with eyes partly closed : squint

Shores · « **Reply #199 on:** June 09, 2017, 07:42:36 AM »

He had a penchant for barbecued meat which led to him traveling all over the universe and sampling all the different meats from the different alien worlds. It led to an extremely strong immune system for him and his children.