Saturday, May 7, 2011
sinuous
sinuous [ˈsɪnyuəs] a.
1.) Characterized by or abounding in turns, curves, or sinuosities; sinuate, curving.
2.) (Transferred sense) Intricate, complex; roundabout.
3.) (Figurative) Deviating from the right; not straight-forward or direct; morally crooked.
4.) Of movements: Taking place in curves.
5.) Of animals: Moving with supple bends of the body. Also of people.
6.) (Quasi-adverb) Sinuously (Oxford English Dictionary 2nd Edition).
Etymology: From Latin sinuosus, from sinus, curve.
"In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round:
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery" (Kubla Khan, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1816).
_______________________________________________
I'd like to give a shout out to Wintermute, who runs a great blog for people teaching English abroad, and generously linked to MA (don't worry, Wintermute, a permanent link will be along shortly). For those that are interested, the definitive documentary about the English language was called "The Story of English" and it ran on PBS and the BBC in 1986. The DVDs are hard to come by, but luckily you can watch the whole thing on YouTube. Here's the first part of the first episode:
28 comments:
thx bro!
Will attempt to use this at somepoint today! not sure on the pronunciation ;D
Beautiful post!
xoxox,
CC
so, a person could have a sinuous mind? Metaphorically speaking :)
Hope you're having a nice weekend, dashing Mr. E!
Great word!
I will try to live my life by this.
Or a sinuous train of thought...
The road I was driving on was sinuous!
Can a woman's body be sinuous, if she's curvy? What if she's in a car accident?
I can use this word while driving ;-) lol thanks
This word is a bit more common. Thanks!
oh well thank you for the shout out, very thoughtful. and I really enjoyed that story of English.
I love this word. It is so...slinky. Really enjoying your blog as well. Thanks.
next time im driving "curse this sinuous road"
great word
lovely word!
i thought this word would have something to do with sinning, but i guess not :x
I feel so sad for not knowing so many of these words.
Sweet word!
Awesome word. Great blog!
Thanks for expanding my knowledge on English :D
that documentary seems interesting.
and reading a little bit of kubla khan in the morning is a great way to start off the day :)
A sinuous way of thinking?
love this word thanks
Absolutely inspiring!
Thanks for sharing, I enjoyed the visit. :)
thanks for sharing!
good blog definitly following!
@A Beer for the Shower yeah that seems to be a good use. not sure what you mean by the car accident example, unless it was an attempt to be humorous.
the care spun in a sinuous manner before crushing into the the sinuous dragon which ate it
Post a Comment