#dictd — Public Fediverse posts

Found in The Willows by Algernon Blackwood.

$ dict presentiment
2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Presentiment \Pre*sen"ti*ment\, n. [Pref. pre- + sentiment: cf.
     F. pressentiment. See {Presentient}.]
     Previous sentiment, conception, or opinion; previous
     apprehension; especially, an antecedent impression or
     conviction of something unpleasant, distressing, or
     calamitous, about to happen; anticipation of evil;
     foreboding.
     [1913 Webster]
  

From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:

  presentiment
      n 1: a feeling of evil to come; "a steadily escalating sense of
           foreboding"; "the lawyer had a presentiment that the judge
           would dismiss the case" [syn: {foreboding}, {premonition},
           {presentiment}, {boding}]

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Found in The Willows by Algernon Blackwood.

$ dict desultory
2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Desultory \Des"ul*to*ry\, a. [L. desultorius, fr. desultor a
     leaper, fr. desilire, desultum, to leap down; de + salire to
     leap. See {Saltation}.]
     1. Leaping or skipping about. [Obs.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
              I shot at it [a bird], but it was so desultory that
              I missed my aim.                      --Gilbert
                                                    White.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Jumping, or passing, from one thing or subject to another,
        without order or rational connection; without logical
        sequence; disconnected; immethodical; aimless; as,
        desultory minds. --Atterbury.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              He [Goldsmith] knew nothing accurately; his reading
              had been desultory.                   --Macaulay.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Out of course; by the way; as a digression; not connected
        with the subject; as, a desultory remark.
  
     Syn: Rambling; roving; immethodical; discursive; inconstant;
          unsettled; cursory; slight; hasty; loose.
          [1913 Webster]
  

From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:

  desultory
      adj 1: marked by lack of definite plan or regularity or purpose;
             jumping from one thing to another; "desultory thoughts";
             "the desultory conversation characteristic of cocktail
             parties"
  

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