Word - 40

GRUB STREET \GRUB-STREET\ noun

: the world or category of needy literary hacks

Example sentence:
Writer Paul Theroux once characterized the world of literary quarterlies and poetry magazines as "that respectable little cul-de-sac off Grub Street."

Did you know?

The original Grub Street was an address in London (it was renamed Milton Street in 1830) described by Dr. Samuel Johnson in his Dictionary of the English Language as "much inhabited by writers of small histories, dictionaries, and temporary poems." The term was applied figuratively to the dog-eat-dog world of pens-for-hire as early as 1630, and not surprisingly it became the subject of several novels. Writer Tobias Smollett, all too familiar with hackwork himself, described a Grub Street dinner party in his novel The Expedition of Humphry Clinker (1771). And the allusion to Grub Street still packed a punch in 1891 when George Gissing chose New Grub Street as the title of his realistic novel about intrigues of the Victorian literary world.

Word - 39

OMNISCIENT \ahm-NISH-unt\ adjective

1 : having infinite awareness, understanding, and insight
*2 : possessed of universal or complete knowledge

Example sentence:
While many students expect their professors to be omniscient, Anton was glad that Dr. Hawkins was honest about the things she did not know.

Did you know?

One who is "omniscient" literally "knows all." The word, which has been part of English since at least the beginning of the 17th century, brings together two Latin roots: the prefix "omni-," meaning "all," and the verb "scire," meaning "to know." You will recognize "omni-" as the prefix that tells all in such words as "omnivorous" ("eating all,” or, more precisely, "eating both meat and vegetables") and "omnipotent" ("all-powerful"). "Scire" likewise has a number of other knowledge-related descendants in English, including "conscience," "science," and "prescience" (meaning "foreknowledge").