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Seldom-Used Words

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AllardChardon said:
The weekend has arrived, in case you didn't know, and I hope you have an enjoyable one;

provost - noun 1. the chief dignitary of a collegiate or cathedral chapter 2. the chief magistrate of a Scottish burgh 3. the keeper of a prison 4. high-ranking university administrative officer
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It's also a type of aeroplane (a trainer).
 
oggbashan said:
In the 1930s - see Dorothy L Sayers' Lord Peter novel 'Gaudy Night' - the provosts were responsible for students' behaviour in town, and would patrol on Friday and Saturday nights particularly, looking for students out late without a pass. By the 1950s and certainly by the 1960s, stopping students' inappropriate behaviour was beyond the provosts' capabilities.

I wouldn't describe them as high-ranking. They had to be graduates but their roles were more like that of a Master-of-Arms, or university policeman.
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This differs from institution to institution—and maybe with which side of the water we're talking about. At many universities in the USA, the Provost is the chief academic officer. Like positions also carry titles like "Dean of the College" (at smaller schools) or Vice President for Academic Affairs.
 
Thank you, gentlemen, for your clarifications. Provost sounds important, as well as authoritative.

I couldn't pass this one up, after all, this is Lit- Erotica.

provocative - adj serving or tending to provoke, excite, or stimulate
 
AllardChardon said:
Thank you, gentlemen, for your clarifications. Provost sounds important, as well as authoritative.

I couldn't pass this one up, after all, this is Lit- Erotica.

provocative - adj serving or tending to provoke, excite, or stimulate
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It's strange how this word (in the UK at least) implies a sexual connotation, where the word could be more widely applicable.
After all, an air display pilot might do a good job but would hardly be regarded as "provocative" (as 'exciting') in his display, would he (or she, these days).
 
I agree, Handley. There are more definitions for the root word than I would have imagined;

provoke - vt 1.a. archaic AROUSE, STIR b. to incite to anger: INCENSE 2.a. to call forth: EVOKE b. to stir up purposely: INDUCE c. to provide the needed stimulus for: OCCASION
 
This word has two entries, but I am only posting the first one today;

provincial(1) - noun 1. the superior of a province of a Roman Catholic religious order 2. one living in or coming from a province 3.a. a person of local or restricted interests or outlook b. a person lacking metropolitan polish or refinement
 
AllardChardon said:
This word has two entries, but I am only posting the first one today;

provincial(1) - noun 1. the superior of a province of a Roman Catholic religious order 2. one living in or coming from a province 3.a. a person of local or restricted interests or outlook b. a person lacking metropolitan polish or refinement
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Province of Bacchus - Drunkenness Oxford University circa 1820-40 from Dictionary of Historical Slang.

Presumably the use was: He is in the Province, or He is visiting the Province...
 
I love that one, Og. He is visiting the Province of Bacchus, being the polite way to say he is on a bender. I love the English and their sense of humor about discretion.

provident - adj 1. making provision for the future: PRUDENT 2. FRUGAL, SAVING
 
You're in the alphabetical region of one of my favourite seldom-used, so I'll slip it in first...

prothalamion n. A song in celebration of a marriage.
 
AllardChardon said:
I love that one, Og. He is visiting the Province of Bacchus, being the polite way to say he is on a bender. I love the English and their sense of humor about discretion.
...
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It can be overdone. The worst example was in the Korean War. A US commander asked a British officer by radio what the situation was like on the front line.

The British officer replied that "the situation was a bit sticky". The US commander assumed that meant that the British troops could cope. A British commander would have known that "a bit sticky" meant desperate. The British troops were under attack and facing odds of about 50 to 1. Few of them survived.
 
Great one, Tio, and never heard by me before.

Og, understatement is generally lost on blunt American types and that would include officers. Sad story, there.

provenance - noun ORIGIN, SOURCE

provenience - noun ORIGIN, SOURCE
 
AllardChardon said:
Great one, Tio, and never heard by me before.

Og, understatement is generally lost on blunt American types and that would include officers. Sad story, there.

provenance - noun ORIGIN, SOURCE

provenience - noun ORIGIN, SOURCE
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Both are seldom used in everyday speech, but are common in Art History and Archaeology, where they refer to the origin of an artifact or work of art, and may even be used to refer to its current location ("source" applies more here, as in which museum may be the current source for finding it).

provenance is French, and the original source of the term, as far as I know; provenience is an Anglicization often used in the U.S.
 
Handley, whatever spam there was, seems to be gone, now. Let's keep quiet and maybe they won't realize it.

prothonotary or protonotary - noun a chief clerk of any of various courts of law
 
mynameisben said:
We're going to have to call this one a draw, Tio. According to http://peacesoftheworld.org/asia/breaking-stereotypes-in-iran/ there are no camels in Iran.
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Oh well, there goes the neighbourhood...peace through camelessness! Next thing you'll tell me is that there's no beer in Germany.

I'm sorry if it promotes stereotyping, Ben, but (Shhh!) there are camels in Iran.

Oh, wait! I forgot, Ahmadinejad, responding to a vision in which the Ayatollah Khomeini spoke to him, made being a camel a capital offence. No camels would be executed, however, since he decreed that there are no camels in Iran.
 
Nothing like a good camel-toe to start the morning off right, human female variety in particular, right, gents?

Here is one I must have missed during my studies of Greek mythology;

Proteus - proper noun a sea god in Greek mythology capable of assuming different forms
 
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