Daily Content Archive
(as of Tuesday, January 7, 2020)| Word of the Day | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
hardihood
| |||||||
| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
|---|---|
Defining Absolute PhrasesAn "absolute phrase" is a grammatically independent group of words that serves to modify or add information to an entire sentence. What is an absolute phrase usually made up of? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
|---|---|
 CartomancyCartomancy is a form of divination, or fortune-telling, involving playing cards. Cards made their way to Europe in the 14th century, probably from Egypt. By the 15th century, cards with allegorical illustrations, or tarots, began appearing in Europe. Divination using these cards is in evidence as early as 1540, but it appears that the cards themselves were only later assigned specific divinatory meanings. Clubs in cartomancy signify power and are associated with what fiery mythical creature? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
|---|---|
 Galileo Galilei Discovers Three of Jupiter's Four Largest Moons (1610)Jupiter has more than 60 moons. The four largest—Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto—were the first satellites of a planet other than Earth to be detected. They were discovered by Galileo in 1610, shortly after he invented the telescope, and are therefore known as the Galilean satellites. On January 7, 1610, Galileo observed near Jupiter what he described at the time as "three fixed stars, totally invisible by their smallness." How long did it take Galileo to discover the fourth? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
|---|---|
 Millard Fillmore (1800)Born in a log cabin in rural New York, Fillmore was compelled to work at an early age to help support his large, impoverished family. Despite his limited education, he became a lawyer and was elected vice president under Zachary Taylor. Upon Taylor's death in 1850, Fillmore was sworn in as president. His attempt to take a moderate stance on the highly contentious issue of slavery ended his political career. While being fed soup, a dying Fillmore made what remark that turned out to be his last? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
|---|---|
 In the bosoms of this people, thus heterogeneously composed, there was burning, kindled at different furnaces, but all furnaces of affliction, one clear, steady flame of liberty.John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
|---|---|
be looking for trouble— To be doing something or acting in a manner that will very likely result in trouble, difficulty, or danger. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
|---|---|
.png) Distaff Day (2025)After the 12-day Christmas celebration ended on Epiphany, St. Distaff's Day was traditionally the day on which women resumed their chores, symbolized by the distaff, a tool used in spinning flax or wool. It was also called Rock Day—"rock" being another name for the distaff. The "spear side" and the "distaff side" were legal terms used to distinguish the inheritance of male from that of female children, and the distaff eventually became a synonym for the female sex as a whole. Distaff Day was not really a church festival, but it was widely observed at one time in England. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
|---|---|
Today's topic: uniformman of the cloth - Originally applied to anyone who wore a uniform or livery for work. More... mufti - Civilian clothes worn by a person who usually wears a uniform. More... uniform - Something that is uniform has literally only "one form," from Latin unus, "one," and forma, "form." More... doughboy - The small round doughnuts served to sailors in the 19th century were called doughboys—and they resembled the round buttons on the sailors' uniforms—so the sailors came to be known as this. More... | |