• conjure •
Pronunciation: kahn-jur • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Verb, transitive
Meaning: 1. To bring forth by magical power or incantation. 2. To evoke, to bring forth from nowhere unexpectedly.
Notes: Although respectable writers have used conjurement as a noun for today's verb, conjuration and conjuring are probably used more widely today as the noun for this verb. Someone thought to be capable of magical conjuration is a conjurer.
In Play: The basic meaning of this word today is to bring forth by a magical spell: "Rosemarie's beauty conjured Vance's tongue to lie silent; he couldn't even utter her name." More often, however, it is used in the sense of "get, evoke, come up with", especially if used with the adverb up: "We hope to vacation in Bryce Canyon this year, if we can somehow conjure up the money for the gasoline."
Word History: English captured this word from Old French conjurer "to cast a spell", the direct descendant of Latin coniurare "to pray by something holy". This verb is made up of com- "(together) with" + iurare "to swear". The prefix com- is a variation of the preposition cum "with". The root underlying iurare (remember, Latin had no J), was originally ius- "law, pledge'. The Latin word for "law" was jus (from jur-s), juris, so the root of derivations from this word sometimes contains an S (just, justice) and sometimes, an R (jury, juridical, and today's word.) All are related by a sense of legality or fairness. (Today's Good Word is an act of lustration by Dr. Goodword for confusing today's word with conger, an eel, in his essay on trichotillomania.)
CONJURE
- Dr. Goodword
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CONJURE
Last edited by Dr. Goodword on Tue Jul 15, 2008 11:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
• The Good Dr. Goodword
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Re: CONJURE
Nice save, Doc! It gave you, our intrepid leader, another word with which to regale us and let you make use of yet another recent Good Word!• conjure •
... (Today's Good Word is an act of lustration by Dr. Goodword for confusing today's word with conger, an eel, in his essay on trichotillomania.)
We always have fun at your expense, although your expense is usually just monetary, in that you pay for this marvelous sandbox in which we play.
Thanks!
Regards//Larry
"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee
"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee
- Slava
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Re: CONJURE
"Rosemarie's beauty conjured Vance's tongue to lay silent; he couldn't even utter her name."
Shouldn't one's tongue "lie" silent?
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.
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- Great Grand Panjandrum
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Re: CONJURE
"Rosemarie's beauty conjured Vance's tongue to lay silent; he couldn't even utter her name."
Shouldn't one's tongue "lie" silent?
It's been my experience that tongues only lie when they're not silent.
Regards//Larry
"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee
"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee
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