Word of the Day for Sunday August 28, 2005
canorous \kuh-NOR-uhs; KAN-or-uhs\, adjective:
Richly melodious; pleasant sounding; musical.
I felt a deep contentment listening to the meadowlark's
complex melody as he sat on his bragging post calling for a
mate, and the soft canorous whistle of the bobwhite as he
whistled his name with intermittent lulls.
--Donna R. La Plante, "Remember When: The prairie after a
spring rain," [1]Kansas City Star, March 16, 2003
But birds that are canorous and whose notes we most
commend, are of little throats, and short necks, as
Nightingales, Finches, Linnets, Canary birds and Larks.
--Sir Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica
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Canorous comes from the Latin canor, "melody," from canere,
"to sing." It is related to chant, from French chanter, "to
sing," ultimately from Latin canere. |
