Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, August 14, 2018)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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concoct
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Attributive NounsAttributive nouns, also called noun adjuncts, are nouns that are used to modify other nouns. For example, the noun adjunct "toy" can be used to modify the noun "soldier." The resulting phrase ("toy soldier") is known as what? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 Fig WaspsThe life cycle of fig wasps is intimately intertwined with that of the fig trees they inhabit. It begins when a female wasp enters the fruit through a natural opening and deposits her eggs inside, pollinating the inner flowers in the process. Next, non-pollinating wasps deposit their eggs. After maturing inside the fig, male offspring's only jobs are to mate with the females—while still within the fig—and chew a hole through which the females can escape. What happens when the males exit the fig? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Battle of Aljubarrota (1385)At a time of war, famine, and plague in Europe, the Portuguese village of Aljubarrota became the site of a momentous battle in which the Portuguese, aided by English archers, defeated the forces of the Spanish King John I of Castile, assuring Portuguese independence from the Castilian crown. Nuno Álvares Pereira, the man who led the revolt against Castilian domination, emerged from the battle a hero. He later became a monk and was recently canonized. Who was the Portuguese king at the time? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 John Henry "Doc" Holliday (1851)Holliday was an American dentist, gambler, and gunfighter. After graduating from dental school in 1872, he moved to the drier climate of the West to help treat his tuberculosis. He briefly practiced dentistry in Texas, then took up gambling and began drifting. Settling in Tombstone, Arizona, he joined Wyatt Earp and his brothers in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Having earned a reputation as a gunman, he resumed drifting and died of tuberculosis at the age of 36. What were his last words? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 To learn is not to know; there are the learners and the learned. Memory makes the one, philosophy the other.Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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harrowing experience— An experience that is frightening, chilling, or disturbing, either due to an implied or actual element of danger, or from being physically or emotionally unpleasant. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 El Misterio d'Elx (Mystery Play) (2019)El Misterio d'Elx, or the Mystery Play of Elche, is a medieval drama about the death and assumption of the Virgin Mary that takes place on August 14-15 in Elche, in Valencia, Spain. The first part of the play, performed on August 14, deals with the death of the Virgin and the ascension of her soul to heaven. In the second part, performed on August 15, the Virgin is buried and the Gate of Heaven opens. She is crowned at the heavenly portal while organ music plays, bells ring, and firecrackers explode. The mystery play is performed in the sanctuary of the Church of La Merced. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: pinkpink - If you pink your eyes, you half-shut them. More... in the pink - Comes from the English foxhunting tradition; people who foxhunt often wear scarlet jackets and are called pinks—so if you are in the pink, you are about to set off to gallop your horse across country. More... incarnadine - Can mean "flesh-colored or pink," but also "crimson, blood-red." More... pink - The color gets its name from the flowering plant of the same name. More... | |