Definition: 1: hairy   2: covered with coarse stiff hairs
Etymology: Latin hirsutus; akin to Latin horrēre to bristle
Pronunciation: \ˈhər-ˌsüt, ˈhir-, ˌhər-ˈ, hir-ˈ\
Quotation: Flight of the Conchords’ “two laconic, hirsute New Zealanders — Jemaine Clement (glasses, sideburns) and Bret McKenzie (no glasses, beard) — are emblematic artists for an age of diminished expectations.”
- from “Where a Little [...]

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Definition: 1: marked by or suggestive of flashy vulgarity or crudeness   2: marked by a careless unconventionality : rakish
Quotation:
For the museum, founded in 1917 and guarded by two 18-inch guns from a World War I dreadnought, there is something — well, raffish — in the staging of an exhibition about the glamorous, gadget-wielding, womanizing, devil-may-care [...]

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Definition: 1: the quality or state of being faithless or disloyal : treachery  2: an act or an instance of disloyalty
Etymology: Latin perfidia, from perfidus faithless, from per- detrimental to + fides faith
Quotation:
When the facts started surfacing in the ’60s, his sole comment was two dry lines about the duke in his diary: “Secret papers [...]

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Definition: 1: lacking nutritive value  2: devoid of significance or interest : dull   3: juvenile, puerile
Eymology: Latin jejunus empty of food, hungry, meager
Quotation:
Reaching for easy irony by jumbling together events large and small, Perlstein piles up jejune incongruities, like: “The month of March came in like a lamb with Frank Sinatra sweeping the Grammy [...]

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(Yes, that guy at the end of the commercial is Robert Vaughn. You may know him from such films as Pootie Tang and Escape to Witch Mountain)
Definition: 1 : a resolving of specific cases of conscience, duty, or conduct through interpretation of ethical principles or religious doctrine 2: specious argument : [...]

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Definition: noun 1: a verbal noun in Latin that expresses generalized or uncompleted action 2: any of several linguistic forms analogous to the Latin gerund in languages other than Latin; especially : the English verbal noun ending in -ing that has the function of a substantive and at the same time shows the verbal [...]

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Definition: noun supreme self-confidence : nerve, gall : temerity
Etymology: Yiddish khutspe, from Late Hebrew ḥuṣpāh
Quotation: “I had the chutzpah to think that I could run in a state where I had lived for only a few years.”
- from “Questions for Ted Sorensen” in the New York Times Magazine
To the synonyms list I might add “balls”, [...]

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Definition: 1a: a small compartment : booth b: a box in a theater
   2a: a small partitioned area b: a separate forward section of a theater mezzanine or balcony c: a raised section or level of seats in a sports stadium
Quotation:
A new presidential box needed to be built, complete with wet bar and air-conditioning, and the [...]

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Definition: noun a circumstance especially that is due to chance : happenstance
Quotation:
“It is only happenchance that the secretary’s waiver in this case involved laws protecting the environment and historic resources,” the groups told Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle of Federal District Court in Washington. “He could equally have waived the requirements of the Fair Labor Relations [...]

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Definition: noun an illicit lover
Quotation:
Internet security experts say the use of technology to snoop on a paramour is on the rise, though only a fraction of cases end up in court.
- from an article in the The News & Observer
Etymology: Middle English, from par amour for the sake of love, willingly, from Anglo-French par [...]

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