Word of the Day

Wednesday September 16, 2009

hirsute [HUR-soot; HIR-soot; hur-SOOT; hir-SOOT]

adjective

Robin Williams gets naked in "World's Greatest Dad." Really, really naked. "I shaved because if you don't, it's, like, animal-rights issues," says the heretofore hirsute, Oscar-winning superstar. "I did a nude scene in 'Fisher King'; it was Central Park, I was a homeless guy, so I was covered in dirt and really hairy, and it was like, 'Is that Bigfoot? What happened?'

Michael Ordona, "Robin Williams; A father knows; 'World's Greatest Dad' could have got hairy. But a shave averted 'animal-rights", Los Angeles Times, Aug 27, 2009
In the paintings made during their seven-year relationship, a hirsute and bejeweled [Dieter]Roth and a statuesque Ms. Iannone commingle over and over, in a variety of positions. Hand-lettered texts exalt the couple's union: sometimes a quote from Shakespeare, sometimes one more along the lines of a Harlequin paperback. Leaves, starbursts and other decorative motifs heighten the florid sensuality.

Karen Rosenberg, "An Iconoclast Who Valorizes the Erotic and Ecstatic", New York Times, Jul 31, 2009
For every hirsute Southerner whose locks turn gray without dropping off, heavens, what a regiment of bald heads!

Rene Bazin (1853 - 1932) A French novelist. The Ink-Stain, v1 (1888)

Origin of the Word

Hirsute, approximately 1621, derives from Latin hirsutus "rough, shaggy," related to hirtus "shaggy," and possibly to horrere "to bristle with fear."