Archives: Word of the day

the doctrine that phenomena are only partly controlled by mechanical forces and that they are in some measure self-determining.

a ceremony used in conferring knighthood, consisting at one time of an embrace, but later of giving the candidate a light blow upon the shoulder with the flat of a sword.

a fancy cake, often having a cream and fruit filling.

the science or art of teaching or education.

a highly elastic substance obtained from the milky juice of numerous tropical plants, used for rubbing out pencil marks, and variously in the arts and manufactures; caoutchouc; gum elastic; rubber.

the pouring on of water or other liquid, especially in baptism.

the principles of classical literature or art, or adherence to them.

of or relating to minute bodies in the solar system or in similar systems, which, according to the planetesimal hypothesis, move in planetary orbits and gradually unite to form the planets and satellites of the system.

of or relating to a vesica or bladder, especially the urinary bladder.

the anterior segment of the brain, consisting of the cerebral hemispheres (or their equivalent) and certain adjacent parts.