A quondam is very hard to explain, according to my dictionary. However, I shall do my best. It describes something that was once a certain way, but now isn't. I think a synonym for quondam is "former". That probably doesn't help, but the dictionary I have gives this example: "He is a quondam friend of mine."
My winner today for an invented meaning for quondam is Thinks! Here it is: From recipe books - whereby 1 x quondam of hot spice such as curry powder = the entire contents of the jar added accidentally while trying to measure 1 teaspoonful.
Well done all of you. A great lot of invented meanings. Much easier to understand than the real meaning, too!
Have fun with a new word each day. I'll choose a word. You make up a meaning.
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2. You invent a wacky meaning and add it as a comment.
3. After a certain time I list the true meaning and choose a winner for the invented meaning.
There are no prizes, just lots of fun!
Remember, children use this site too.
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- Word Imp
- I am a children's author who has had a handful of books published by trade publishers. They're in book shops and libraries. I've also had a sackful of books published by educational publishers. These are mainly found in schools. I love words and that's why I invented this blog site.
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11 comments:
Quondam -
A kerfuffle, riot or stampede in a shopping mall during Christmas sales.
The usually demure ladies lost their wits as the 80% off John Lewis sale began; and things quickly descended into Quondam.
From recipe books - whereby 1 x quondam of hot spice such as curry powder = the entire contents of the jar added accidentally while trying to measure 1 teaspoonful.
Herky
Quondam. N. a particle larger than a quark, smaller than an electron, but less significant than either. Often thought of to be submolecular trash.
"Poindexter didn't know what to do with the excess quondae when he split the hydrogen atom, so he wadded them into a ball and gave them to his nephew."
have you ever read or watched science fiction where someone has a time machine, goes back in order to prevent some terrible disaster, but is unable to change the past because that would lead to some kind of mortal damage to the fabric of space and time?
These stories have nothing to do with real life. In real life, when someone travels backwards in time and makes such a change, the present changes too. Some physicists would say that we move between parallel universes.
The effect is called a qoundam. You've probably experienced it. In between the moment that you put your keys down and when you go back to that same place (probably in a hurry to go somewhere) and can't find them, someone has been back in time and murdered his own grandfather.
So it's not your fault that you were late. Your mind isn't playing tricks on you. It was all because of a quondam.
A quondam is almost an anacronym for one of those dams that the army puts up real fast to block the water in a river and makes it easy for them to cross over the bed. Easier to build that a floating bridge. QUONdam means
Quick Up Over Night DAM.
A quondam is the technical name for the spit sucker that dentists use.
A quondam is a very thin stretchy layer of latex worn um.. err... well, during martial arts to prevent chafing.
Sorry, I couldn't resist:)
A quondam is that space in time when one is neither young, nor old; i.e., the ripe age of 50, no longer young, and not yet old. As the year advances for the 50-year old, various forms of arthritis set in and the individual's memory begins to fade ever so slightly. It is at approximately the halfway point during the quondam that the individual realizes added poundage and tries desperately to go back to the earlier part of the year, but to no avail. This is when the spouse or partner suddenly seems old, and, well, you know the rest of the story, it's all downhill from there.
A quondam is that time and space when one is neither young nor old; i.e., the ripe age of 50. It is at precisely half way through the quondam period that the individual notices the memory is not as sharp as it was at 49, and various aches and pains set in. Weight gain and little spills on one's torso begin to be noticed by others, and the spouse or partner takes on new hobbies. Once through the quon-damn year, the now older person begins to focus on vitamins, exercise, and a new "do" and the decade ahead seems a bit less frightful!
A Quondam is a quantum physicist.
I take it the Word Imperfect is no longer in session!
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