"Ignis Fatuus" is a word in ENGLISH
Fig.: A misleading influence; a decoy.
A phosphorescent light that appears, in the night, over
marshy ground, supposed to be occasioned by the decomposition of animal
or vegetable substances, or by some inflammable gas; -- popularly
called also Will-with-the-wisp, or Will-o'-the-wisp, and
Jack-with-a-lantern, or Jack-o'-lantern.
The rain spun in the yellow arc lights over the café parking lot. It was empty inside, except for a fat Negro woman whom I could see through the service window in the kitchen, and a pretty, redheaded waitress in her early twenties, dressed in a pink uniform with her hair tied up on her freckled neck. She was obviously tired, but she was polite and smiled at me when she took my order, and I felt a sense of guilt, almost shame, at my susceptibility and easy fondness for a young woman's smile. Because if you're forty-nine and unmarried or a widower or if you've simply chosen to live alone, you're easily flattered by a young woman's seeming attention to you, and you forget that it is often simply a deference to your age.
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How did Gertie Gorilla win the beauty contest?She was the beast of the show!
The potter's field, said to have lain south of Jerusalem, purchased with the bribe which Judas took for betraying his …
Read the complete definitionSour, sharp, or biting to the taste; tart; having the taste of vinegar: as, acid fruits or liquors. Also fig.: …
Read the complete definitionFloating at random; in a drifting condition; at the mercy of wind and waves. Also fig.
Read the complete definitionA shield or protective armor; -- applied in mythology to the shield of Jupiter which he gave to Minerva. Also …
Read the complete definitionThe nest of a bird of prey, as of an eagle or hawk; also a brood of such birds; eyrie. …
Read the complete definitionHaving the form or nature of air, or of an elastic fluid; gaseous. Hence fig.: Unreal.
Read the complete definitionFig.: In motion; in action; astir; in progress.
Read the complete definitionIn the top; at the mast head, or on the higher yards or rigging; overhead; hence (Fig. and Colloq.), in …
Read the complete definitionFig.: Something lofty, or massive, or very hard to be surmounted.
Read the complete definitionFig.: That which gives stability or security; that on which we place dependence for safety.
Read the complete definitionFig.: Lean; lank; raw-boned; ungraceful; sharp and stiff in character; as, remarkably angular in his habits and appearance; an angular …
Read the complete definitionFig.: The farthest or highest point; culmination.
Read the complete definitionFig.: With reference to April being the month in which vegetation begins to put forth, the variableness of its weather, …
Read the complete definitionFig.: Any region or scene of simple pleasure and untroubled quiet.
Read the complete definitionFig.: Want of interest of feeling; insensibility; dryness of style or feeling; spiritual drought.
Read the complete definitionFig.: To furnish with means of defense; to prepare for resistance; to fortify, in a moral sense.
Read the complete definitionFig.: Power; might; strength; support; as, the secular arm; the arm of the law.
Read the complete definitionFig.: The fine diffusive quality of intellectual power; flavor; as, the subtile aroma of genius.
Read the complete definitionFig.: Position as indicating action, feeling, or mood; as, in times of trouble let a nation preserve a firm attitude; …
Read the complete definitionFig.: That which gives, or helps to maintain, uprightness, steadiness, and security.
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