Picture of the day for April 1, 2018

Wikipedia picture of the day on April 1, 2018: View of the arches in the interior of the Nasir-ol-Molk Mosque, also known as the Pink Mosque, which is a traditional mosque located in Shiraz district of Gowad-e-Arabān, Iran. The mosque was built from 1876 to 1888, by the order of Mirzā Hasan Ali (Nasir ol Molk), a Qajar ruler. https://ift.tt/2Igp40o

percussive maintenance: Word of the day for April 1, 2018

percussive maintenance , n :
(humorous) The use of physical concussion, such as a knock or a tap, in an attempt to make a malfunctioning device or person work. To celebrate April Fools’ Day, this week we are featuring a series of unusual concepts – enjoy! Today is also the anniversary of the founding of Apple Inc. in 1976, an American company established to develop and sell a product sometimes subject to percussive maintenance – the personal computer.

Picture of the day for March 31, 2018

Wikipedia picture of the day on March 31, 2018: Panoramic view from Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge with the Kremlin to the right. Moscow, Russia. https://ift.tt/2uywxWy

worshipful: Word of the day for March 31, 2018

worshipful , adj :
Tending to worship; showing reverence. (chiefly Britain) Used as respectful form of address for a person or body of persons, especially in the name of a livery company. This day in 2017 is Holy Saturday, the day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, in Western Christianity.

Picture of the day for March 30, 2018

Wikipedia picture of the day on March 30, 2018: Winged altar at the parish- and pilgrimage church Maria Laach am Jauerling, Lower Austria. View with closed inner wings, showing the passion and resurrection of Christ. Anonymous master, 1480. https://ift.tt/2uw3X8b

clerihew: Word of the day for March 30, 2018

clerihew , n :
A humorous rhyme of four lines with the rhyming scheme AABB, usually regarding a person mentioned in the first line. English humourist and novelist Edmund Clerihew Bentley, who invented the clerihew, died on this day in 1956.

Picture of the day for March 29, 2018

Wikipedia picture of the day on March 29, 2018: Et selskab af danske kunstnere i Rom painted by Constantin Hansen in 1837. A group of Danish artists in Rome. Lying on the floor is the architect Gottlieb Bindesbøll. From left to right: Constantin Hansen, Martinus Rørbye, Wilhelm Marstrand, Albert Küchler, Ditlev Blunck and Jørgen V. Sonne. https://ift.tt/2GkMkJM

wrest: Word of the day for March 29, 2018

wrest , v :
(transitive) To pull or twist violently. (transitive) To obtain by pulling or violent force. (transitive, figuratively) To seize. (transitive, figuratively) To distort, to pervert, to twist. (transitive, music) To tune with a wrest, or key.

Picture of the day for March 28, 2018

Wikipedia picture of the day on March 28, 2018: The main office complex of the ADAC (General German Automobile Club) in Munich was designed by Sauerbruch Hutton and opened in 2012. https://ift.tt/2pOB55g

braggart: Word of the day for March 28, 2018

braggart , n :
Someone who constantly brags or boasts.

Picture of the day for March 27, 2018

Wikipedia picture of the day on March 27, 2018: Illustration of the relative sizes of the one-man Mercury spacecraft, the two-man Gemini spacecraft, and the three-man Apollo spacecraft. Also shows line drawing of launch vehicles (Saturn V, Titan II and Atlas-D) to show their relative size to each other and the position of the spacecraft at launch (highlighted at top). https://ift.tt/2pJ7SbV

wan: Word of the day for March 27, 2018

wan , adj :
Pale, sickly-looking. Dim, faint. Bland, uninterested.

Picture of the day for March 26, 2018

Wikipedia picture of the day on March 26, 2018: The western span of the San Francisco Bay Bridge at night. https://ift.tt/2ITMpWu

sarpanch: Word of the day for March 26, 2018

sarpanch , n :
The elected head of a panchayat (village government) in Bangladesh, India, or Pakistan. Today is the Independence Day of Bangladesh.

Picture of the day for March 25, 2018

Wikipedia picture of the day on March 25, 2018: A potrait of a jaguar (Panthera onca) at the Milwaukee County Zoological Gardens in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. https://ift.tt/2ILTys9

Homeric: Word of the day for March 25, 2018

Homeric , adj :
Resembling or relating to the epic poetry of Homer. Of or pertaining to Greece during the Bronze Age, as described in Homer's works. Fit to be immortalized in poetry by Homer; epic, heroic. Today is Greece’s Independence Day, which marks the day in 1821 when the Greek War of Independence from the Ottoman Empire was declared.

kersey: Word of the day for March 24, 2018

kersey , n :
A type of rough woollen cloth.

Picture of the day for March 24, 2018

Wikipedia picture of the day on March 24, 2018: Panoramic view of the city of Tbilisi, capital of Georgia from the Narikala fortress. https://ift.tt/2G6FtUh

thole: Word of the day for March 23, 2018

thole , v :
(intransitive, dated) To suffer. (transitive, now Northern England, Northern Ireland, Scotland) To endure, to put up with, to tolerate.

Picture of the day for March 23, 2018

Wikipedia picture of the day on March 23, 2018: A Meteor-type hydrofoil on a floating dockyard at the Volga in Kazan, Russia. http://ift.tt/2Gd8MId

long drink of water: Word of the day for March 22, 2018

long drink of water , n :
(Scotland, US, slang) A tall person. Today is designated by the United Nations as World Water Day, which focuses on the importance of fresh water and the sustainable management of freshwater resources.

Picture of the day for March 22, 2018

Wikipedia picture of the day on March 22, 2018: World Water Day is an annual event celebrated on March 22. The day focuses attention on the importance of fresh water and advocates for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. This day was first formally proposed in Agenda 21 of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro. In 1993, the first World Water Day was designated by the United Nations General Assembly and since, each year focuses on a different issue. This image shows light reflections on the water surface of Lake Stappitz, High Tauern National Park, Carinthia. http://ift.tt/2G0Xq6K

Picture of the day for March 21, 2018

Wikipedia picture of the day on March 21, 2018: Male common warthog (Phacochoerus africanus sundevallii) in the Tswalu Kalahari Reserve, South Africa. Tomorrow is World Water Day http://ift.tt/2GR5vME

sylvan: Word of the day for March 21, 2018

sylvan , adj :
Pertaining to the forest, or woodlands. Residing in a forest or wood. Wooded, or covered in forest. Today is commemorated by the United Nations as the International Day of Forests to raise awareness of the importance of forests, and trees outside forests, for the benefit of current and future generations.

Picture of the day for March 20, 2018

Wikipedia picture of the day on March 20, 2018: An automobile with 2 men and 2 children in Paris, France, 1910. http://ift.tt/2GLb8M0

carious: Word of the day for March 20, 2018

carious , adj :
Having caries (“bone or tooth decay”); decayed, rotten. Today is World Oral Health Day, an annual event organized by the FDI World Dental Federation to raise awareness about oral health.

pingo: Word of the day for March 19, 2018

pingo , n :
(geomorphology) A conical mound of earth with an ice core caused by permafrost uplift, particularly if lasting more than a year. […] (Sri Lanka, dated) A flexible pole supported on one shoulder, with a load suspended from each end; a carrying pole or carrying yoke. (Sri Lanka, dated) A weight equivalent to that which can be carried using a pingo.

less-than-stellar: Word of the day for March 18, 2018

less-than-stellar , adj :
(slang, sarcastic) Mediocre; not satisfactory; not very good, poor; not meeting standards or expectations.

poteen: Word of the day for March 17, 2018

poteen , n :
(Ireland, countable, uncountable) Illegally produced Irish whiskey; moonshine. (Ireland, countable, by extension) An unlicensed drinking establishment selling illegally produced Irish whiskey. Today is Saint Patrick’s Day, the feast day of the patron saint of Ireland.

glower: Word of the day for March 16, 2018

glower , v :
(intransitive) To look or stare with anger.

Picture of the day for March 16, 2018

Wikipedia picture of the day on March 16, 2018: Eastern wing of the General Staff Building in Saint Petersburg, Russia. http://ift.tt/2FWSlzv

shock and awe: Word of the day for March 15, 2018

shock and awe , n :
(military) A doctrine based on the use of spectacular displays of force. Harlan Kenneth Ullman, who coined the term together with James P. Wade, Jr., in a 1996 work, was born on this day in 1941.

Picture of the day for March 15, 2018

Wikipedia picture of the day on March 15, 2018: Entrance hall of Kammergericht (higher regional court) in Berlin-Schöneberg. http://ift.tt/2GsBEK8

Pi Day: Word of the day for March 14, 2018

Pi Day , proper n :
March 14th, an annual celebration of the mathematical constant π (pi).

Picture of the day for March 14, 2018

Wikipedia picture of the day on March 14, 2018: Fractal forms on the coverside of a microwaved DVD http://ift.tt/2Gp3mHC

shenanigans: Word of the day for March 13, 2018

shenanigans , n :
(uncountable) Mischievous play, especially by children. (uncountable) Deceitful tricks; trickery, games. (countable) plural of shenanigan.

Picture of the day for March 13, 2018

Wikipedia picture of the day on March 13, 2018: RhB Ge 4/4 III with a Regio Express train from St. Moritz to Chur on the Landwasser Viaduct. The locomotive carries advertisement for the UNESCO world heritage Albula and Bernina lines. The stylized viaduct pictured on the locomotive is the very same that it is currently passing over. Also note the two first coaches of a train have panoramic windows. This type of panoramic coach is normally used on the Bernina line, but because there's less traffic on that line during winter the coaches are used on other parts of the network. http://ift.tt/2IlGwkR

keel over: Word of the day for March 12, 2018

keel over , v :
(intransitive, nautical, also figuratively) Of a vessel: to roll so far on its side that it cannot recover; to capsize or turn turtle. (intransitive, idiomatic) To collapse in a faint; to black out, to swoon. (intransitive, idiomatic) To die.

Picture of the day for March 12, 2018

Wikipedia picture of the day on March 12, 2018: Common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) surfs the wake of a research boat on the Banana River - near the Kennedy Space Center. http://ift.tt/2FpXroq

dot matrix: Word of the day for March 11, 2018

dot matrix , n :
(computing) A two-dimensional array or pattern of dots used (for example, by a display device or a printer) to represent alphanumeric characters and pictures. (computing) Clipping of dot matrix printer. German inventor Rudolf Hell, who developed a dot-matrix-based teleprinter called the Hellschreiber in the 1920s, died on this day in 2002.

Picture of the day for March 11, 2018

Wikipedia picture of the day on March 11, 2018: Ruined armenian church inside Lori Berd (Lori Fortress), a 11th-century fortress located in the Lori Province, Armenia. The fortress was built by David Anhoghin to become the capital of Kingdom of Tashir-Dzoraget in 1065. http://ift.tt/2FGJ3Yg

Picture of the day for March 10, 2018

Wikipedia picture of the day on March 10, 2018: Marabou stork (Leptoptilos crumenifer) from Uganda. http://ift.tt/2DfhoIG

stronghold: Word of the day for March 10, 2018

stronghold , n :
A place built to withstand attack; a fortress. (figuratively) A place of domination by, or refuge or survival of, a particular group or idea.

retrench: Word of the day for March 9, 2018

retrench , v :
(transitive) To cut down or reduce. (transitive, specifically) To terminate the employment of a worker to reduce the size of a workforce; to make redundant. (transitive, military) To furnish with a retrenchment (a defensive work within a fortification). (intransitive) To abridge; to curtail. (intransitive) To take up a new defensive position.

Picture of the day for March 9, 2018

Wikipedia picture of the day on March 9, 2018: A U.S. Air Force Boeing C-17 Globemaster III T-1 flies over Owens Valley to Edwards Air Force Base, California, after 208 days of life-extension modifications in San Antonio, Texas. The T-1 is the first Air Force C-17 built to perform developmental testing. http://ift.tt/29ZLWlV

distaff: Word of the day for March 8, 2018

distaff , n :
A device to which a bundle of natural fibres (often wool, flax, or cotton) are attached for temporary storage, before being drawn off gradually to spin thread. A traditional distaff is a staff with flax fibres tied loosely to it (as indicated by the etymology of the word), but modern distaffs are often made of cords weighted with beads, and attached to the wrist. The part of a spinning wheel from which fibre is drawn to be spun. Anything traditionally done by or considered of importance to women only. A woman, or women considered as a group. Today is designated by the United Nations as International Women’s Day, which commemorates the movement for women’s rights.

Picture of the day for March 8, 2018

Wikipedia picture of the day on March 8, 2018: International Women's Day is celebrated on March 8 every year. It commemorates the movement for women's rights. http://ift.tt/2G37Raz

at one blast: Word of the day for March 7, 2018

at one blast , adv :
At once, at the same moment in time.

Picture of the day for March 7, 2018

Wikipedia picture of the day on March 7, 2018: View of three peaks of the Chuya Alps in the Altai Mountains. Altai Republic, Russia. http://ift.tt/2I9UVQO

Picture of the day for March 6, 2018

Wikipedia picture of the day on March 6, 2018: Steel monument of a biking couple on a Harley-Davidson Fat Bob at a roundabout on Rosental Strasse in Faak am See, market town Finkenstein on the Lake Faak, district Villach Land, Carinthia, Austria, EU http://ift.tt/2FYy0aQ

bleeding edge: Word of the day for March 6, 2018

bleeding edge , n :
(technology, idiomatic) Something too new and untested to be reliable or to have any assurance of safety; the figurative place where such things exist.

Picture of the day for March 5, 2018

Wikipedia picture of the day on March 5, 2018: Fountain in the Old City of Baku, capital of Azerbaijan. http://ift.tt/2H3koKv

lorn: Word of the day for March 5, 2018

lorn , adj :
(obsolete) Doomed; lost. (archaic) Abandoned, forlorn, lonely.

scene-stealing: Word of the day for March 4, 2018

scene-stealing , adj :
That steals the scene (“dominates a performance through charisma, humour, or powerful acting”). The 90th Academy Awards, which honour the best films of 2017, take place today in 2018.

Picture of the day for March 4, 2018

Wikipedia picture of the day on March 4, 2018: Melanitis leda, Common Evening Brown, is a species of butterfly found flying at dusk. This is wet season form. http://ift.tt/2FkNZ4M

trilemma: Word of the day for March 3, 2018

trilemma , n :
A circumstance in which a choice must be made between three options that seem equally undesirable or, put another way, in which a choice must be made among three desirable options, only two of which are possible at the same time. (logic) An argument containing three alternatives, jointly exhaustive either under any condition(s) or under all condition(s) consistent with the universe of discourse of that argument, that each imply the same conclusion.

Picture of the day for March 3, 2018

Wikipedia picture of the day on March 3, 2018: Entrance to building on Sonnenstraße 15, Munich. http://ift.tt/2F9nTTk

montage: Word of the day for March 2, 2018

montage , n :
A composite work, particularly an artwork, created by assembling or putting together other elements such as pieces of music, pictures, texts, videos, etc.

Picture of the day for March 2, 2018

Wikipedia picture of the day on March 2, 2018: Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex, Essen, Germany, escalator to former coal washing plant. http://ift.tt/2FghIMc