Poppycock (noun)
pop-ee-kok
Nonsense.
Mid 19th century: from Dutch dialect pappekak, from pap ‘soft’ + kak ‘dung’.
The novel by Ann-Marie Howell is set in 1916 and is about a 12-year-old girl called Clara, who is sent to stay with her Aunt and Uncle at Gardener’s Cottage in the grounds of a sprawling country estate. Clara is soon to discover all the secrets the grounds hold including a locked room, a hidden key and a boy who only appears after dark.
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Gerundive (noun) (grammar)
jer-un-div
A form of a Latin verb, ending in -ndus (declinable) and functioning as an adjective meaning ‘that should or must be done’.
Middle English (in the sense ‘gerund’): from late Latin gerundivus (modus) ‘gerundive (mood)’, from gerundium (see gerund).
Blood Queen will be released later this year and will tell the story of Lady Macbeth and will be the first book in a series on the queens made famous by the Bard.
Elucidation (noun)
e-loo-sid-ay-shun
Explanation that makes something clear; clarification.
Mid 16th century: from late Latin elucidat- ‘made clear’, from the verb elucidare, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out’ + lucidus ‘lucid’.
Thomas, who is affectionately known as “G” will tell his story about how he came to Tour de France success, a tale of broken bones, crashes and bad luck that ended with glory in France in July. Quercus publishing says that The Tour According to G is the inside story of one of the most thrilling and heart-warming tales in sport and the narrative will be filled with Thomas’ words and insight into the race and the key characters that surround him.
Explicandum (noun) (philosophy)
eks-plik-an-dum
The fact, thing, or expression which is to be explained or explicated.
Mid 19th century: Latin, ‘something to be explained’, neuter gerundive of explicare.
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Sir VS Naipaul had been in ill health for a while and published his final work, the nonfiction The Masque of Africa: Glimpses of African Belief in 2010. Today the literary world is in shock. Here are some of the tributes on Twitter today.
Defang (verb)
dee-fang
Make (something) harmless or ineffectual.
Poetic, as in to remove the fangs from.