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Jun 30, 2008
This week's themeWords from medicine This week's words costive roborant catholicon atrabilious linctus Got a website? Free content for your site words, quotations & more 
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with Anu GargWhere I lived back east, there was a medical facility called Doctors' Hospital. I have to say it was reassuring. I wouldn't want engineers treating me if I broke an arm. On the other hand, maybe I just misunderstood the name. Perhaps it was an exclusive place meant only for doctors. Well, that would be a mutual healing society, but who am I to judge? It's the era of super-specialization. For all I know, there might even be a Lawyers' Law Firm, representing only those in the legal profession (motto: We know you better). I have since discovered that besides the one mentioned at the beginning, there are similarly named hospitals all over the place, with various placements or omission of the apostrophe, such as Doctor's Hospital and Doctors Hospital. Whatever their names, we thank them for not letting plumbers perform colonoscopies. This week we'll look at five terms connected with medicine, most of which are now used metaphorically. costivePRONUNCIATION:
(KOS-tiv)
MEANING:
adjective:1. Slow to act or speak. 2. Stingy. 3. Constipated. ETYMOLOGY:
Via French from Latin constipare (to cram together), from com- (together)
+ stipare (to pack or crowd).
USAGE:
"Mark Wahlberg, for example, is low-key to the point of costive."Anthony Lane; Nocturnes; The New Yorker; Oct 22, 2007. See more usage examples of costive in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them. -Patrick Henry, revolutionary (1736-1799)
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