Friday phrase: mirabile dictu
mirabile dictu
mi·ra·bi·le dic·tu
(mĭ-rä′bĭ-lē dĭk′to͞o)
interj.
Wonderful to relate, amazing to say. Used to refer to something surprising.
Related phrase: mirabile visu--"wonderful to see"
[Latin mīrābile dictū : mīrābile, neuter sing. of mīrābilis, wonderful + dictū, ablative sing. supine of dīcere, to say.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition.
Examples:
References in classic literature ?
And then, mirabile dictu, between the piers, leaping from wave to wave as it rushed at headlong speed, swept the strange schooner before the blast, with all sail set, and gained the safety of the harbour.
In the first place, mirabile dictu, there were one or two even greater duffers than I on the Abbey cricket-field.
And, mirabile dictu, not costing the government a dime.
Obamacare train wreck the story of 2013
Not only did FDR overlook the external evidence; FDR ignored the counsel of key experts at the State Department, which, at the time, was home, mirabile dictu, to an educated and experienced cadre of anti-Communists, or, better, Communist realists--yesteryear's "Islamophobes" --who would be neutralized and dispersed, purged, in two waves.
History Told to Provide a Tonic: Quite out of keeping with the book's title, American Betrayal tells how FDR willingly surrendered our government's decision-making to communists and those loyal to them
Yet he had to say, yes, of course, grab his cane, and swerve out into the parlor where mirabile dictu, no one was eating
2033
An answer to a clue suggests itself to my subconscious, and I write it in (in light pencil)--and mirabile dictu it turns out to be right.
Innovation puzzles
(Source: thefreedictionary.com)