The Q23 Word of the Day

[Raife]

Don’t you dare taunt us like this and let it disappear again, Christien!

[Bill_Dungsroman]

Yay Dingus!

[ChristienMurawski]

toady

-dictionary.com

noun

1. an obsequious flatterer; sycophant

verb (used with object)

2. to be the toady to.

verb (used without object)

3. to be a toady.

Origin: 1680-90

Related Forms:
toadyish, adjective
toadyism, noun

Synonyms:

1. fawner, yes man, parasite, apple polisher

[pn: “apple polisher”…what a great term.]

-Collaborative International Dictionary of English:

1. a mean flatterer; a toadeater; a sycophant.
   [1913 Webster]
   [indent]Before I had been standing at the window five minutes, they somehow conveyed to me that they were all toadies and humbugs. --Dickens[/indent]

2. A coarse, rustic woman. [R.] --Sir W. Scott

-Wordnet:

n: a person who tries to please someone in order to gain a personal advantage [syn: sycophant, toady, crawler, lackey, ass-kisser]

v: try to gain favor by cringing or flattering: “He is always kowtowing to his boss” [syn: fawn, toady, truckle, bootlick, kowtow, kotow, suck up]

-Your Dictionary:

noun pl. toadies
a servile flatterer; sycophant, esp. one who does distasteful or unprincipled things in order to gain favor.

-Random Bit from Wikipedia:

Toadies are an alternative rock band from Fort Worth, Texas best known for the song “Possum Kingdom.” The band’s lineup consisted of Todd Lewis on vocals/guitar, Mark Reznicek on drums, Lisa Umbarger on bass, and Clark Vogeler on guitar for most of the band’s existence. It formed in 1989 and disbanded in 2001 after Umbarger left the group. The band reformed and released an album, No Deliverance in 2008.

[pn: I found this just by searching. Above the entry is the following, which I find amusing: This article is about the rock band. For the Nintendo characters, see Toady (Nintendo character).]

-Online Etymology Dictionary:

“servile parasite,” 1826, apparently shortened from toad-eater “fawning flatterer” (1742), originally referring to the assistant of a charlatan, who ate a toad (believed to be poisonous) to enable his master to display his skill in expelling the poison (1629). The verb is recorded from 1827.

[pn: I love this entry. Love it.]

-Wordcount Ranking: 77818

Quote from This Day:

@Flowers

Then I, already the most beaned player in my Little League that year, was ordered to step into a pitch by my coach in order to win the final game. It was like I was living in an 80’s movie, not as the underdog hero, but rather the toady of the arrogant blonde villain. I did receive a trophy, however, as my frequent bruises reflected a stellar on-base percentage. Yes, I did step into the pitch.

Barely Related Movie Quote I Love to Bandy About with My Four-Year-Old Son:

@Delmar O'Donnell

We thought you was a toad!

-xtien

[Mr_PeaCH]

Quoth Flowers. Heh. When I read it the first time I was this close myself to lifting up “step into the pitch” as an example of a phrase which is awesome both figuratively and literally.

[spacemonkey]

This thread has been gone FAR too long.

“Do not seek the treasure”,

spacemonkey

[ChristienMurawski]

Philistine(s)

-The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language

noun

1. A member of an Aegean people who settled ancient Philistia around 12th century B.C.

2. a. A smug, arrogant, especially middle-class person who is regarded as being indifferent or antagonistic to artistic and cultural values.
   b. One who lacks knowledge in a specific area.

adjective

1. Of or related to ancient Philistia.
2. often philistine Boorish, barbarous: “our plastic, violent culture, with its philistine tastes and hunger for novelty” (Lloyd Rose).

-Merriam-Webster Online

Function: noun
Date: 14th Century
1: native or inhabitant of ancient Philistia
2: often not capitalized a: a person who is guided by materialism and is usually disdainful of artistic or intellectual values b: one uninformed in a special area of knowledge
—philistine adjective often capitalized
—philistinism noun often capitalized

-Cambridge Dictionaries Online

noun

1. DISAPPROVING a person who refuses to see the beauty or the value of art, literature, music or culture of any kind:
   I wouldn’t have expected them to enjoy a film of that quality anyway–they’re just a bunch of philistines!

2. Philistine one of a race of people who lived in the coastal area of the SE Mediterranean in ancient times and were often at war with the Israelites.

-dictionary.com:

noun

1. (sometimes initial capital letter) a person who is lacking in or hostile or smugly indifferent to cultural values, intellectual pursuits, aesthetic refinement, etc., or is contentedly commonplace in ideas and tastes.

2. (initial capital letter) a native or inhabitant of ancient Philistia.

adjective

3. (sometimes initial capital letter) lacking in or hostile to culture.
4. smugly commonplace or conventional.
5. (initial capital letter) of or belonging to the ancient Philistines.

Synonyms

1. Babbit, vulgarian 3. lowbrow

-Online Etymology Dictionary:

“person deficient in liberal culture,” 1827, originally in Carlyle, popularized by him and Matthew Arnold, from Ger. Philister “enemy of God’s word,” lit. “Philistine,” inhabitants of a Biblical land, neighbors and enemies of Israel (see Philistine). Popularized in Ger. student slang (supposedly first in Jena late 17c.) as a contemptuous term for “townies,” and hence, by extension, “any uncultured person.” Philistine has been used in a humorous fig. sense of the enemy" in Eng. from c.1600.

[p.n.: a contemptuous term for “townies”? Really? Isn’t that already a contemptuous term? Anyway, awesome.]

-Wordcount: 34918 (philistine), 35723 (philistines)

Quote from This Day:

@Supertanker

No mention of putting ketchup on a hot dog can be permitted to pass without comment from Dirty Harry:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5JIpT4GkyM

Philistines.

Best Related Film Dialogue:

Bernard: Ivan is fine, but he’s not a serious guy, he’s a philistine.
Frank: What’s a philistine?
Bernard: It’s a guy who doesn’t care about books and interesting films and things. Your mother’s brother Ned is also a philistine.
Frank: Then I’m a philistine.
Bernard: No, you’re interested in books and things.
Frank: No. I’m a philistine.

-xtien

[ChristienMurawski]

regale

-dictionary.com:

verb (used with object)

1. to entertain lavishly or agreeably; delight.
2. to entertain with choice food or drink.

verb (used without object)

3. to feast

noun

4. a sumptuous feast.
5. a choice article of food or drink.
6. REFRESHMENT.

Related Forms:

regalement, noun
regaler, noun

-Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary:

transitive verb

1: to entertain sumptuously: feast with delicacies
2: to give pleasure or amusement to <regaled us with tall tales>

intransitive verb

: to feast oneself: FEED

-On-Line Plain Text English Dictionary:

[ul]
li A prerogative of royalty.
[/li]li To feast; to fare sumptuously.
[/li]li A sumptuous repast; a banquet.
[/li]li To entertain in a regal or sumptuous manner; to entertain with something that delights; to gratify; to refresh; as, to regale the taste, the eye, or the ear.
[/li][/ul]

-1828:

1. (n.) The prerogative of monarchy.
2. (n.) [see the verb below] A magnificent entertainment or treat given to embassadors [sic] and other persons of distinction.
3. (v.t.) To refresh; to entertain with something that delights; to gratify, as the senses; as, to regale the taste, the eye or the ear. The birds of the forest regale us with their songs.

-Dictionary of Botanical Epithets:

Epithet:regalis
Derivation: royal, regalis
Stem: regal
Type/Gender: adj.
Meaning: regal, royal, of or belonging to a king

-Online Etymology Dictionary:

1656, from Fr. régaler “to entertain or feast”, from O.Fr. rigale, from gale “merriment”, from galer “make merry” (see gallant). Influenced in O.Fr. sy se rigoler “amuse oneself, rejoice,” of unknown origin. It. regalo is from Fr.

-Wordcount Ranking: 54385

Quote from This Day:

@Hanzii

Both are now ordered. I will regale you with tales of breadmaking and ricecooking once the internets deliver my stuff. I also ordered a $6 vanilliekrans add-on to the KitchenAid meat grinder, that only one or two other people on this board will understand the importance of.

-xtien

[Hans_Lauring]

Woohoo.
I shall now retire.

[ChristienMurawski]

facile

-dictionary.com:

adjective

1. moving, acting, working, proceeding, etc., with ease, sometimes with superficiality: facile fingers, a facile mind.
2. easily done, performed, used, etc.: a facile victory; a facile method.
3. easy or unconstrained, as manners or persons.
4. affable, agreeable, or complaisant; easily influenced: a facile temperament, facile people.

Related Forms:

facilely, adverb
facileness, noun

Synonyms:

1. smooth, flowing, fluent; glib 2. superficial. 3. bland, suave; urbane.

-American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language:

adjective

1. Done or achieved with little effort or difficulty; easy.
2. Working, acting, or speaking with effortless ease and fluency.
3. Arrived at without due care, effort, or examination; superficial: proposed a facile solution to a complex problem.
4. Readily manifested, together with an aura insincerity and lack of depth: a facile slogan designed by politicians.
5. Archaic. Pleasingly mild, as in disposition or manner.

-The Online Plain Text English Dictionary:

[ul]
[li]Easily persuaded to do good or bad; yielding; ductile to a fault; pliant; flexible.
[/li][li]Easy of access or converse; mild; courteous; not haughty, austere, or distant; affable; complaisant.
[/li][li]Easy to be done or performed: not difficult; performable or attainable with little labor.
[/li][li]Easy to be surmounted or removed; easily conquerable; readily mastered.
[/li][li]Ready; quick; expert; as, he is facile in expedients; he wields a facile pen.
[/li][/ul]
[pn: Ductile. Hmm. Ductile to a fault no less. Yep. That’s what I’m on about.]

-Online Etymology Dictionary:

1483, from M.Fr. facile “easy,” from L. facilis “easy to do” and, of persons, “pliant, courteous”, from facere “to do” (see factitious). Facilitate is from 1611.

-Wordcount Ranking: 27958

Quote from This Day:

@Jeff Green

LA Story Yeah, a bit facile, but I think Steve Martin really nails it most of the time. It’s kinda like our “Manhattan” or something. And the coffee ordering scene is still a classic, though now of course that applies to every city everywhere, sadly.

Also, a Q23 Selected Historical Reading:

@Desslock

I also liked the themes, the Imax scenes, and the use of action scenes that were actually intelligible. Yet I’m still somewhat reluctant to include it in a “best of” list because I simply have no desire to see it again. Pretty, reasonably smart, but also facile and forgettable. Still, one of the best summer action movies ever.

-xtien

[ChristienMurawski]

retcon

-jargon.net:

retcon /ret-kon/ [short for ‘retroactive continuity’, from the Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.comics]

1. /n/ The common situation in pulp fiction (esp. comics or soap operas) where a new story ‘reveals’ things about events in previous stories, usually leaving the ‘facts’ the same (thus preserving continuity) while completely changing their interpretation. For example revealing that a whole season of “Dallas” [pn: SPOILER ALERT!!!] was a dream was a retcon.

2. /v.t./ To write such a story about a character or fictitious object. “Byrne has retconned Superman’s cape so that it is no longer unbreakable.” “Marvelman’s old adventures were retconned into synthetic dreams.” “Swamp Thing was retconned from a transformed person into a sentient vegetable.” “Darth Vader was retconned into Luke’s father in The Empire Strikes Back.”

[This term is included because it is a good example of hackish linguistic innovation in a field completely unrelated to computers. The word retcon will probably spread through comics fandom and lose its association with hackerdom within a couple of years; for the record, it started here. --ESR]

[1993 update: some comics fans on the net now claim retcon was independently in use in comics fandom before rec.arts.comics. In lexicography, nothing is ever simple. --ESR]

-Wikipedia:

Retroactive Continuity is the deliberate changing of previously established facts in a work of serial fiction. The change is informally referred to as a “retcon”, and producing a retcon is called “retconning”. Retconning may be carried out for a variety of reasons, such as to accommodate sequels or further derivative works in the same series, to reintroduce popular characters, to make a reboot of an old series more relevant to modern audiences, or to simplify an excessively complex continuity structure.

Retcons are common in comic books, especially those of large, long-established publishing houses such as Marvel Comics and DC Comics, because of the lengthy history of many series and the number of independent authors contributing to their development. Retconning also occurs in soap operas, movie sequels, professional wrestling, video games, radio series, series of novels, anime and any other type of episodic fiction. It is also used in roleplaying, when the game master feels it necessary to maintain consistency in the story or to fix significant mistakes that occurred during play, often under the synonymous (in this context) term “reality shift”.

Retconning also resembles the real-life occurrence of historical revisionism, where newly discovered information or a reinterpretation of existing information inspires the rewriting of histories.

Origins of the Term…

The first printed instance of the term “retroactive continuity” occurs in All-Star Squadron #18 (cover-dated February 1983) from DC Comics…

“Retroactive Continuity” was shortened to “retcon”, reportedly by Damion Cugley in 1988 on USENET.

-Don Markstein’s Toonopedia:

Retroactive continuity. Many comic book fans are very concerned that each story about a character be consistent with every story that has been published in the past. For example, it’s no longer possible to do a story about Lois Lane trying to prove Clark Kent is Superman, because DC Comics has published stories in which she found out for sure. Sometimes, to make stories work, it’s necessary to “tweak” the past a little bit, so they do a “retcon”.

-No Wordcount Ranking

Quote from This Day:

SPOILER ALERT…sort of…see note

[PLEASE NOTE, QfTD reveals character information from the film District 9. So if you’re anal about SPOILERS–like I am–and would avoid threads of films you haven’t seen, avoid reading the below quote.]

@Calistas

The cruelty, or lack thereof, can only be judged by how we judge the aliens. I think the revelation that Christopher and son are smart almost makes us retcon Wikus a little.

[END D9 Sort of SPOILERs]

-A Minor Q23 History:

[If you’ve never seen Star Wars, Blade Runner, or the Alien films:

1. Spoilers. Kinda.
2. What are you doing here?

@DragonPup

Night Elf mages is a pretty major retcon.

@MattKeil

This is correct. “EU canon” basically means that the events stand, but don’t get too attached to them because Lucas could contradict them at any moment with a film or TV show. A lot of people thought this was just a formality until Lucas started completely demolishing 15 years of EU Boba Fett stories by rewriting his origin. The entire EU practically got whiplash from the subsequent attempts to retcon all the old Fett stuff into line with his film origins.

@KristianV

I thought adding the unicorn scene was an extraordinarily stupid move as well, which I can only imagine was some kind of embittered retcon gambit by Scott.

@Creole Ned

I’d like to see another good Alien film but I’m at a loss over what they could do to make it decent. The Ripley character has been a central part of all four, would she be at the center of another? Would they retcon the series so #3 and #4 never happened? Take it in a new direction? I just can’t see any scenario proving satisfactory.

@Ed Solomon

Stop it with the retcon. I can’t stand a [b]retcon[/b].

@Ben Sones

X-Files was great right up to the movie, which was also great. Then they started trying to retcon all of the revelations of the movie out of the show, and it went downhill rapidly.

@Andrew Mayer

I’ll second that. The third movie descended rapidly into predictable cheese with the added bonus of a super-quick Spock retcon.

@MattKeil-loves-this-word

Lucas’ explanation (retcon) that we see less dynamic combat in the OT because all we see is a cripple, an old man, and a barely-trained kid fighting with the sabers (whereas the prequels feature trained-since-toddlerhood warriors in their prime), is good enough for me.

-Finally, the Winner Thread:

Star Wars question

-xtien

[Rimbo]

i love this thread

[Ed_Solomon]

Me too. I feel a special thrill each time I see my name in WotD.

[ChristienMurawski]

bog-standard

-The Free Dictionary:

bog standard (British informal)

completely ordinary

-Compact Oxford English Dictionary:

adjective [informal, derogatory]

ordinary; basic.

-Wikipedia:

The origins of the phrase are uncertain…

[pn: You know what? This entry has some okay stuff, but the very best stuff is from the next entry, so I’m just gonna skip Wikipedia and everybody else.]

-World Wide Words:

Bog-standard is a well-known informal term, which originated in Britain; it means something ordinary or basic, but often in a dismissive or derogatory way…

Bog-standard is a puzzling phrase and nobody knows where it came from…

The most obvious suggestion is that it has a link with bog. This has long been a British slang term for a lavatory or toilet. It’s a shortened form of the older bog-house for a latrine, privy, or place of ease, which is seventeenth century and is a variation on an even older term, boggard…

There is a common story that bog here is really an acronym from “British or German”, on the grounds that standards in manufacturing were set in Victorian times by British and German engineering. That’s hardly likely, but it’s an interesting example of the tendency among amateur word sleuths to explain any puzzling word as an acronym…

In the same way that one swallow doesn’t make a summer, one sight of the phrase is hardly conclusive evidence…

[pn: “In the same way that one swallow doesn’t make a summer…” I love that.]

[pn(2): I love this whole entry from World Wide Words. I think the whole thing is worth reading.]

[pn(3): “…the tendency among amateur word sleuths…” NICE!]

-dictionary.com:

adj.

basic and unexceptional, normal, average, also bog standard, bog stock

-Dublin Slang Dictionary:

Basic, rudimentary

-Most Favored Website:

What is Bog Standard?

Bog Standard is a campaign to promote better toilets for pupils.

Our 3 aims are:

1. To increase awareness of the health benefits of better toilets for pupils
2. To encourage schools to improve the condition of pupils’ toilets and to allow pupils to use them when they need to
3. To get laws that will make pupils’ toilets nicer to use

School toilets affect children’s physical and psychological health. Toilets which are unpleasant, or out of bounds, can cause serious, long-term health problems.

[pn: “out of bounds”…I love English.]

-No Wordcount Ranking

Quote from This Day:

@Jaws_au

I’d like to hear people’s examples of a movie where a bog-standard cliche/stereotype is done well. That could mean it actually seems appropriate, or that it’s done in a genuinely new and unexpected way.

As an example, take the bomb-defusing scene from The Abyss.

-xtien

*Yeah. Yesterday was September 1.

[Bahimiron]

I’m gonna use the word ‘floccinaucinihilipilification’ in every post I make today.

[ChristienMurawski]

chuntering

-dictionary.com:

verb (used without object) British Informal.

to grumble or grouse mildly or tediously.

Origin:
1590-1600; orig. dial. (Midlands, N. England) chunter, chunder, chunner; cf. Scots channer in same sense; expressive word of obscure origin.

-Merriam-Webster Online:

Function: intransitive verb
Etymology: probably of imitative origin
Date: 1599
British: to talk in a low inarticulate way: MUTTER

-WordWeb online:

1. Make complaining remarks or noises under one’s breath
   “She chunters when she feels overworked.”
   -murmer, mutter, grumble, croak, gnarl

Derived forms: chuntering, chuntered, chunters
Type of: complain, kick, kvetch [N. Amer], plain [Archaic], quetch, sound off

-Cambridge Dictionaries Online:

[I]verb UK INFORMAL
to complain, especially in a low voice

Al was chuntering on (about) being the last to know what was happening.

-Compact Oxford English Dictionary:

1. chatter or grumble monotonously.
2. move slowly and noisily.

-Wordcount Ranking: 70547

Quote from This Day:

@Preachy Preach

They’re not, y’know. People are chuntering about it, believe me (I get my ear bent fairly regularly in my day job), but very few are actually doing it. Despite fond libertarian fantasies, most people/companies/investors don’t make their decisions with tax rates at the forefront of their minds. My job would be an awful lot easier if it were…

Surprise Quote What I Found:

@Sharon

Television’s boring–a load of people you don’t know chuntering away in the corner of the room!

[pn: Right. Now just because I wanted to find another quote so I wouldn’t embarrass myself by straining and quoting Men At Work I find this. Now I want to see this thing “The Smoking Room” based on the use of a single word. Please, somebody in the know, tell me not to bother.]

-xtien

[Thanks Tom!]

[ChristienMurawski]

Oh, and thanks bahimiron. For raising my hopes and then dashing them all to pieces.

-xtien

[ChristienMurawski]

populist

-Merriam-Webster Online:

Function: noun
Etymology: Latin populus the people
Date: 1892

1: a member of a political party claiming to represent the common people; especially often capitalized: a member of a United States political party formed in 1891 primarily to represent agrarian interests and to advocate the free coinage of silver and government control of monopolies.
2: a believer in the rights, wisdom, or virtue of the common people.

-dictionary.com:

noun

1. a member of the People’s party.
2. (lowercase) a supporter or adherent of populism.

adjective

3. Also, Populistic. of or pertaining to the People’s party.
4. Also, populistic. of, pertaining to, or characteristic of populism and its adherents.

Origin: 1890-95; Americanism; <L popul(us) PEOPLE + IST

-American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language:

noun

1. A supporter of the rights and power of the people.
2. Populist A supporter of the Populist Party.

-YourDictionary.com:

noun

1. a member of a U.S. political party (Populist Party or People’s Party, 1891-1904) advocating free coinage of gold and silver, public ownership of utilities, an income tax, and support of labor and agriculture.
2. any person, esp. a politician or political leader, who claims to represent the interests, views, or tastes of the common people, particularly as distinct from those of the rich or powerful: often applied to someone with demagogic tendencies.

[pn: Demagogic Tendencies. Hello…band name.]

-Online Etymology Dictionary:

1892, Amer.Eng., from L populus “people”. Originally in reference to the Populist Party, organized Feb. 1892 to promote certain issues important to farmers and workers. The term outlasted the party, and by 1920s came to mean “representing the views of the masses” in a general way.

-Wordcount Ranking: 16615 [between enforceable and reputable]

Quote from This Day:

@Miramon

The whole situation is so appalling it’s hard to talk rationally about it.

I am not so much pro-Obama or liberal so much as I am opposed to corruption, sedition, deception, and destruction. Seems to me the majority of the populist media are in favor of those four pillars of democracy, these days. When George Will comes off as a moderate sane conservative voice, there’s something rotten in the state of the union.

-xtien

[ChristienMurawski]

huff

-dictionary.com:

noun

1. a mood of sulking anger; a fit of resentment: Just because you disagree, don’t walk off in a huff.

verb (used with object)

2. to give offense to; make angry.
3. to treat with arrogance or contempt; bluster at; hector or bully.
4. Checkers. to remove (a piece) from the board as a penalty for failing to make a compulsory capture.
5. Slang. to inhale the vapors of in order to become intoxicated: to huff glue.

[pn: Number Four. What? Nifty. I had no idea. I love this.]

verb (used without object)

6. to take offense; to speak indignantly.
7. to puff or blow; breathe heavily.
8. to swell with pride or arrogance; swagger or bluster.

Synonyms:

1. temper, passion, pique, pet.

-Merriam-Webster Online:

Function: verb
Etymology: imitative
Date: 1583

intransitive verb

1 a: to emit puffs (as of breath or steam b: to proceed with labored breathing <huffed up to the peak>
2 a: to make empty threats: BLUSTER b: to react or behave indignantly

transitive verb

1. archaic: to treat with contempt
   2 : to make angry
   3 : to utter with indignation or scorn
   4 : to inhale (noxious fumes) through the mouth for euphoric effect produced by the inhalant.

-Wikipedia

Huff (board games)

In a number of board games, capturing an opponent’s piece is compulsory when possible. In some games a player who fails to capture forfeits the piece which should have performed the capture. This forfeiture is known as a huff.

The huff rule is used in traditional and informal draughts (also known as checkers) games. In tournament play, failing to capture is simply an illegal move.

Huffing was probably introduced to prevent draws. In games such as draughts it is very hard to capture an opponent’s last piece when you only have a small number of pieces left yourself.

-Online Etymology Dictionary:

c.1450, apparently imitative of exhaling. Extended sense of “bluster with indignation” is attested from 1599. Huffy “ready to take offense” is from 1680.

[pn: I include this only because I find it amusing. The following entry in the Online Etymology Dictionary:

dandruff: 1545, first element obscure, second element is Northumbrian or E. Anglian dial. huff, hurf “scab”, from O.N. hrufa, from P.Gmc. *hreufaz, source of O.E. hreofla “leper”.]

-Wordcount Ranking: 31599

-Quote from This Day:

@Marged

I have been so traumatized by Risk, I don’t even know where to begin. Games never ended without someone in tears. The last game of Risk I played, I was getting pummeled by my 10 year old cousin. In a huff, I started crying and threw my cards at her and quit.

I was 21.

-xtien

[ChristienMurawski]

knell

-dictionary.com:

noun

1. The sound made by a bell rung slowly, esp. for a death or a funeral.
2. a sound or sign announcing the death of a person or the end, extinction, failure, etc., of something: the knell of parting day.
3. any mournful sound.

verb (used without object)

4. to sound, as a bell, esp. a funeral bell.
5. to give forth a mournful, ominous, or warning sound.

verb (used with object)

6. to proclaim or summon by, or as if by, a bell.

-Cambridge Dictionaries Online:

sound/toll the death knell

to cause an organization, system, or activity to fail or end.

the death knell

the reason why something fails and ends.

-The Online Plain Text Dictionary:

n.: The stoke [sic] of a bell tolled at a funeral or at the death of a person; a death signal; a passing bell; hence, figuratively, a warning of, or a sound indicating, the passing away of anything.
n.[sic]: To sound as a knell; esp. to toll at a death or funeral; hence, to sound as a warning or evil omen.
v.t.: To summon, as by a knell.

-Webster’s 1828:

Properly, the stroke of a bell; hence, the sound caused by striking a bell; appropriately and perhaps exclusively, the sound of a bell rung at a funeral; a tolling.

-Rhymezone.com:

noun: the sound of a bell rung slowly to announce a death or funeral or the end of something.
verb: to ring as in announcing death.
verb: make (bells) ring, often for the purposes of musical edification.
name: a surname (very rare: popularity rank in the U.S.: #23702)

-Online Etymology Dictionary:

O.E. cnyll “sound made by a bell when struck or rung slowly,” of imitative origin. Cf. M.H.G. erknellen “to resound,” O.E. cnyllan. The Welsh cnull “death-bell” appears to be a borrowing from Eng. For vowel evolution see bury.

-Wordcount Ranking: 36062 (between debits and candidly)

-Quote from This Day:

@Dean

The speculation is that it has been pulled because of music rights. BFI or ASCAAP or whatever gave them the rights to some song for TV broadcast, but they now want more money for internet streaming.

Which might spell the death knell for the series, because if the record companies are going to be dicks about rights for every medium, then Fox can’t count on music rights for DVDs either, and that means no DVD sales, which are probably figured into the long term profitability of the show.

-xtien

[JonRowe]

Today’s better be onus… check the US Healthcare Reform thread in P&R.