Academy: A modern school where football is taught. Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914)  

head-to-head Definition: (adjective) Involving two persons; intimately private. Synonyms: tete-a-tete Usage: The quiet, uncrowded restaurant was the perfect setting for the couple’s head-to-head conversation. Discuss.  

Gerard Peter Kuiper (1905) The “father of modern planetary science,” Dutch-American astronomer Gerard Kuiper made many discoveries about the solar system, among them the presence of a methane atmosphere around Saturn’s satellite Titan and a carbon dioxide-rich one on Mars […]

All men are by nature equal, made all of the same earth by one Workman; and however we deceive ourselves, as dear unto God is the poor peasant as the mighty prince. Plato (427 BC-347 BC)  

self-aggrandizement Definition: (noun) The act or practice of enhancing or exaggerating one’s own importance, power, or reputation. Synonyms: ego trip Usage: The speaker encouraged bursts of applause from the crowd, which many suspected was merely a form of self-aggrandizement.  

Henry VI of England (1421) Henry VI became king of England when he was not yet nine months old. That same year, the English proclaimed the infant the successor to the French throne, but France did not recognize this. The […]

One man cannot hold another man down in the ditch without remaining down in the ditch with him. Booker T. Washington (1856-1915)  

wirework Definition: (noun) Mesh netting made of wires. Synonyms: grillwork Usage: His white mice live in a little pagoda of gaily-painted wirework, designed and made by himself. Discuss.  

Christina Rossetti (1830) Christina Rossetti was one of England’s most important female poets of the Victorian era. It is little wonder that she became a poet, given her lineage. Her great-grandfather was a poet, her grandfather was a writer and […]

A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing. Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804)  

ascendancy Definition: (noun) The state that exists when one person or group has power over another. Synonyms: dominance, control Usage: Thanks to widespread governmental corruption and instability, the extremists are gaining ascendancy in the region. Discuss.  

Ellen Richards (1842) A Vassar graduate and the first woman admitted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology—”it being understood that her admission did not establish a precedent for the general admission of females”—chemist Ellen Richards was one of the US’s […]

One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other. Jane Austen (1775-1817)  

philology Definition: (noun) The humanistic study of language and literature. Synonyms: linguistics Usage: Another master had come, with a degree of doctor of philology from the University of Heidelberg…to teach French to the upper forms and German to anyone who […]

Hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper. Francis Bacon (1561-1626)