1st list

A mire is mushy ground like quicksand, so if you feel yourself trapped in a sticky situation, consider yourself mired. One gets mired IN something — like in a dispute or in a love triangle.

If something endures, it lasts: Beethoven's fame has endured for more than 200 years. But if you endure something, you suffer through it: We endured our teacher's slide shows of her vacation photographs. Notice above that something that endures can be good or bad. Something you endure is always bad. And people are forever talking about what they can't or won't endure, as in "I refuse to endure any more abuse from my neighbors." Endure derives from the Latin indūrāre "to make hard," formed from

she is full of conceit. (ghamand)

Palin's great strength is that the vernacular, rather than focus-group language, is her default position. Source: Time Magazine Vernacular describes everyday language, including slang, that's used by the people. The vernacular is different from literary or official language: it's the way people really talk with each other, like how families talk at home. You know how some language is fancy and formal? Vernacular is different: think of it as how friends talk when no one is listening. Vernacular

As we passed over the dark bridge her wan face fell lazily against my coat's shoulder and the formidable stroke of thirty died away with the reassuring pressure of her hand. Source: The Great Gatsby

Phrases like "the MTV generation" or "soundbite culture" are waved around whenever theatres use a bit of multimedia or make their audiences walk about a bit, but both are flamboyantly lazy and vapid. Source: The Guardian

He wore a saturnine expression and ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, no soiled clothes in sight. Source: New York Times

showing a brooding ill humor

reject bluntly If you rebuff someone's advances, it means they're trying to get in with you, and you're sending them signals that you are not interested. A rebuff can be quite rude, like pretending you don't hear their question.

undeveloped but potentially useful

Subservient means "compliant," "obedient," "submissive," or having the qualities of a servant. Something that's subservient has been made useful, or put into the service of, something else. Our word subservient is unusual because it actually comes from the Latin word of exactly the same spelling and almost the identical meaning — "subjecting to" or "complying with." Usually words change a little in spelling or meaning when they are adopted from another language, but this one did not. Maybe the