Greetngs! This is from another list to which I belong. I know everyone knows definition 1, but perhaps not the 2nd. Best regards, John
----- Original Message ----- From: Wordsmith <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <linguaphile@wordsmith.org> Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2001 5:01 AM Subject: A.Word.A.Day--gnomon > gnomon (NO-mon) noun > > 1. The raised arm of a sundial that indicates the time of day by its > shadow. > > 2. The remaining part of a parallelogram after a similar smaller > parallelogram has been taken away from one of the corners. > > [From Latin gnomon, pointer, from Greek, from gignoskein, to know.] > > "Eighty-six years in the making, one of the world's largest sundials has > finally been installed at Place de la Concorde, as part of the Year 2000 > festivities of the City of Paris. It takes an approach more cerebral than > celebratory. The sundial's pointer, or gnomon, is the 109-foot Obelisk of > Luxor. Its base is the northern half of Place de la Concorde." > Rose Marie Burke, Sundial Aids Millennium Countdown, The Wall Street > Journal, Oct 26, 1999. > > This week's theme: words for odds and ends. > > ............................................................................ > Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from > religious conviction. -Blaise Pascal, philosopher and mathematician > (1623-1662) > > Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "Language is a city to the building of which > every human being brought a stone." Invite your friends and family to join > in the quest by sending a gift subscription of A.Word.A.Day. It is free! > http://wordsmith.org/awad/gift.html > > Pronunciation: > http://wordsmith.org/words/gnomon.wav > http://wordsmith.org/words/gnomon.ram > >
