

Nov 23, 2012 This week's theme

Eponyms



This week's words

serendipity

mithridatism

rhadamanthine

elysian

icarian



The Lament for Icarus Art: H.J. Draper (1863-1920)

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icarian PRONUNCIATION: (i-KAR-ee-uhn, eye-)

MEANING: adjective: Of or relating to an over-ambitious attempt that ends in ruin.

ETYMOLOGY: After Icarus in Greek mythology who flew so high that the sun melted the wax holding his artificial wings. Icarus plunged to his death into the sea. Earliest documented use: 1595.

USAGE: "But the film is a warning about flying too high. Philippe Petit may have succeeded in the high wire walk, but he suffers an Icarian fall in his personal life."

Monica Heisey; Masterwork on Wire; The Queen's Journal (Kingston, Canada); Nov 14, 2008.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: This above all: to thine own self be true, / And it must follow, as the night the day, / Thou canst not then be false to any man. -William Shakespeare, poet and dramatist (1564-1616)





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