Word of the Day

Wednesday November 25, 2009

vim [VIM]

noun

This is a fun book, fast-paced and full of vim, a screenplay in the making. But life is a lot messier than the movies, and, to his credit, Kersten does not flinch from reality.

Liaquat Ahamed, "Cold, Hard (Counterfeit) Cash", The Washington Post, Oct 4, 2009
Don't expect many shocking departures from form. Barrymore and Shauna Cross (who adapted her own novel) work the formulae for underdog sports flicks and black-sheep teen comedies with great skill but no great innovation, relying on the usual tropes and plot turns. Yet the movie's tough-chick vim and spunky humor keep things rolling along with a fun, bruising energy.

Amy Biancolli, "DRAMATIC COMEDY Whip It rocks, rolls and entertains WHIP IT: Ellen Page shines", Houston Chronicle, Oct 2, 2009
Courage and daring, no matter how mad and ungodly, have always a redundancy of vim and life to recommend them to the nether man that lies within us, and no doubt his desperate courage, his battle against the tremendous odds of all the civilized world of law and order, have had much to do in making a popular hero of our friend of the black flag.

Howard I. Pyle, (1853 - 1911) An American illustrator and writer. Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates (1921)

Origin of the Word

Vim, approximately 1843, derives from Latin vim, accusative of vis "strength, force, power, energy."