Word #11
Stillicide
(n): A continual falling or succession of drops; rain water falling from the eaves.
Whatever in my field of vision dwelt
An indoor scene, hickory leaves, the svelte
Stilettos of a frozen stillicide-
Was printed on my eyelids' nether side
Where it would tarry for an hour or two,
And while this lasted all I had to do
Was close my eyes to reproduce the leaves,
Or indoor scene, or trophies of the eaves.
- Vladimir Nabokov, Pale Fire
short note on origin:
"This is an extremely rare word, but Nabokov, whose native language was not English, was fond of rare and interesting English words, and used them often. Stillicide is an English form of Latin stillicidium, a reasonably common word in the same sense, which derives from stilla 'a drop' and a form of cadere 'to fall'. It is first found in English in the early seventeenth century, in a book by Francis Bacon." --The Maven's Word of the Day
World Wide Word (great site) claimes the most famous usage is by Thomas Hardy, in Friends Beyond:
They’ve a way of whispering to me -
fellow-wight who yet abide -
In the muted, measured note
Of a ripple under archways,
or a lone cave’s stillicide.
(n): A continual falling or succession of drops; rain water falling from the eaves.
Whatever in my field of vision dwelt
An indoor scene, hickory leaves, the svelte
Stilettos of a frozen stillicide-
Was printed on my eyelids' nether side
Where it would tarry for an hour or two,
And while this lasted all I had to do
Was close my eyes to reproduce the leaves,
Or indoor scene, or trophies of the eaves.
- Vladimir Nabokov, Pale Fire
short note on origin:
"This is an extremely rare word, but Nabokov, whose native language was not English, was fond of rare and interesting English words, and used them often. Stillicide is an English form of Latin stillicidium, a reasonably common word in the same sense, which derives from stilla 'a drop' and a form of cadere 'to fall'. It is first found in English in the early seventeenth century, in a book by Francis Bacon." --The Maven's Word of the Day
World Wide Word (great site) claimes the most famous usage is by Thomas Hardy, in Friends Beyond:
They’ve a way of whispering to me -
fellow-wight who yet abide -
In the muted, measured note
Of a ripple under archways,
or a lone cave’s stillicide.