On Tuesday, September 30, 2003, atrabilious was the word of the day from Dictionary.com. I’ve been saving that email ever since.
The email gives two definitions.
- Melancholic; gloomy.
- Irritable; ill-natured; peevish.
I’m rarely melancholic, but a lack of sleep/time sure makes me peevish. Peevish is a good word to say, sort of like moussaka… just rolls off the tongue. I can explain moussaka to the boy. Peevish might have to wait.
Anyway, here are the references from the email. Regular readers of this site (both of them?) will understand why I saved the initial email, knowing I needed to use it before too long.
Captain Aubrey’s steward [was] an ill-faced, ill-tempered, meagre, atrabilious, shrewish man who kept his officer’s uniform, equipment and silver in a state of exact, old-maidish order come wind or high water.
–Patrick O’Brian, The Hundred DaysSo here we have him, as entertainingly atrabilious as ever he was . . . mocking the Fords, the Hitlers, the Mussolinis, the Sir Alfred Monds, the Owen D. Youngs — all who would go back on laissez-faire and on toward the servile state.
–John Chamberlain, “Future Shock,” New York Times, October 6, 1996
Atrabilious is from Latin atra bilis, “black” (atra) “bile” (bilis). It is a translation of Greek melankholia, from melas, melan-, “black” + khole, “bile.” According to ancient and medieval physiology, an excess of black bile in the system was supposed to cause melancholy.
Aubrey’s steward is Preserved Killick, of course. I have not yet reached The Hundred Days in the series, but I will.