Thursday, September 26, 2013

Fwd: sectile: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

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From: Dictionary.com <doctor@dictionary.com>
Date: 2013/9/26
Subject: sectile: Dictionary.com Word of the Day
To: "Hector William G." <hectorpinillos@gmail.com>

Word of the Day for Thursday, September 26, 2013

sectile \SEK-til\, adjective:

capable of being cut smoothly with a knife.

The sound of rapid steps made me raise my morose gaze from the sectile mosaic of the court—realistic rose petals cut out of rodstein and large, almost palpable thorns cut out of green marble.
-- Vladimir Nabokov, Pale Fire, 1962

The poet describes his residence as "the frame house between Goldsworth and Wordsmith on its square of green"; the Rose Court in the royal palace in Onhava (Far Away), the Zemblan capital, is a sectile mosaic with rose petals cut out of red stone and large thorns cut out of green marble.
-- Mary McCarthy, "A Bolt from the Blue," The Writing on the Wall, 1971

Sectile comes from the Latin word sectilis meaning "cuttable."

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