Word of the Day

Monday March 15, 2010

minatory [MIN-uh-tor-ee]

adjective

There are hammerheads, white sharks, whale sharks. They look brooding, weighty, minatory. They'd get more than just a squint, a lot more, from Sam Quint, the shark hunter in "Jaws." "Shark Surge Down," for example, shows a flotilla of hammerheads seen in descent. It's a spooky and overwhelming image.

Mark Feeney, "A look at animals, real and unreal", Boston Globe, Feb 4, 2010
At one minatory point, Miles makes "a sweeping gesture with his arm" -- the ominous mood compromised by this banal description. A pistol is described as "some huge, anonymous, nonregulation model." When a window explodes, "shards of glass poured down like silver."

Edward Champion, "BOOK REVIEW; Detective as a younger man", Los Angeles Times, Dec 10, 2007
At the time of their meeting each had been convinced that he gauged the other sufficiently for the purposes of the proposed tour. Afterwards each found himself trying to recall the other with greater distinctness and able to recall nothing but queer, ominous and minatory traits.

H. G. Wells (1866 – 1946) An English author, best known for the science fiction genre. The Secret Places of the Heart (1922)

Origin of the Word

Minatory, approximately 1530, derives from Old French minatoire, from Late Latin minatorius, from minari "to threaten."