fifth column\FIFTH-KAH-lum\ noun Meaning: a group of secret sympathizers or supporters of an enemy that engage in espionage or sabotage within defense lines or national borders

Example Sentence  In the 1950s the Communist Party was denounced in the United States as a fifth column, and many people were unjustly blacklisted as Communist sympathizers.

Did you know?  "Fifth column," a translation of the Spanish “quinta columna,” was inspired by a boast by rebel general Emilio Mola during the Spanish Civil War. Mola predicted Madrid would fall as four columns of rebel troops approaching the city were joined by another hidden column of sympathizers within it. In an October 1936 article in The New York Times, William Carney described those secret rebel supporters as the "fifth column," and English speakers seized upon the term. It gained widespread popularity after Ernest Hemingway used it in the title of a 1938 book, and it was often applied (along with derivative forms such as "fifth columnism" and "fifth columnist") to Nazi supporters within foreign nations during World War II.

cabotage\KAB-uh-tahzh\noun - Meaning 1 : trade or transport in coastal waters or airspace or between two points within a country

    *2 : the right to engage in coastal trade or transport

Example Sentence: Some assert that the problem would be resolved if the government would simply relax restrictions on cabotage.

Did you know?  Coastlines were once so important to the French that they came up with a verb to name the act of sailing along a coast: "caboter." That verb gave rise to the French noun “cabotage,” which named trade or transport along a coast. In the 16th century, the French legally limited their lucrative coastal trade, declaring that only French ships could trade in French ports. They called the right to conduct such trading "cabotage" too. Other nations soon embraced both the concept of trade restrictions and the French name for trading rights, and expanded the idea to inland trade as well. Later, English speakers also applied "cabotage" to the rights that allowed domestic airlines to travel within national boundaries but that prevented foreign carriers from doing so.

ineffable\in-EFF-uh-bul\   adjective – Meaning:   1 *a : incapable of being expressed in words : indescribable b : unspeakable  2 : not to be uttered : taboo

Example Sentence:  Ed felt an ineffable joy at the sight of his son walking toward him from the plane.

Did you know?  "Every tone was a testimony against slavery, and a prayer to God for deliverance from chains. The hearing of those wild notes always depressed my spirit, and filled me with ineffable sadness," wrote Frederick Douglass in his autobiography. Reading Douglass's words, it's easy to see that "ineffable" means "indescribable" or "unspeakable." And when we break down the word to its Latin roots, it's easy to see how those meanings came about. "Ineffable" comes from "ineffabilis," which joins the prefix "in-," meaning "not," with the adjective "effabilis," meaning "capable of being expressed." "Effabilis" comes from "effari" ("to speak out"), which in turn comes from "ex-" and "fari" ("to speak").

kickshaw\KICK-shaw\   noun – Meaning:   1 : a fancy dish  2 : a showy trifle

Example Sentence:   The shop was filled with refrigerator magnets, back-scratchers, snow globes, and other kickshaws, all adorned with images of smiling pigs.

Did you know?  “Kickshaw” began its career in the late 16th century as a borrowing from the French "quelque chose" — literally, “something.” In line with the French pronunciation of the day, the “l” was dropped and the word was anglicized as "kickshaws" or "kickshoes." English speakers soon lost all consciousness of the word’s French origin and, by taking "kickshaws" as plural, created the new singular noun “kickshaw.”

whinge\WINJ\   verb – Meaning:  to complain fretfully: whine

Example Sentence:   She urged her fellow workers to stop whinging about how they were victims of "the system" and to do something to change that system.

Did you know?   "Whinge" isn't just a spelling variant of "whine." "Whinge" and "whine" are actually entirely different words with separate histories. "Whine" traces to an Old English verb, "hwinan," which means "to make a humming or whirring sound." When "hwinan" became "whinen"in Middle English, it meant "to wail distressfully"; "whine" didn't acquire its "complain" sense until the 16th century. "Whinge," on the other hand, comes from a different Old English verb, "hwinsian," which means "to wail or moan discontentedly." "Whinge" retains that original sense today, though nowadays it puts less emphasis on the sound of the complaining and more on the discontentment behind the complaint.