Today's Word "desultory"
Published in Vocabulary
desultory \DES-uhl-tor-ee\ (adjective) - 1 : Jumping or passing from one thing or subject to another without order or rational connection; disconnected; aimless. 2 : By the way; as a digression; not connected with the subject. 3 : Coming disconnectedly or occurring haphazardly; random. 4 : Disappointing in performance or progress.
"He felt as he had felt when a raw lieutenant in India during his first hill-campaign, when the etiquette of the service had compelled him to rise and walk up and down in front of his men under a desultory shower of jezail-bullets." -- P.G. Wodehouse, 'The Little Warrior'
Desultory comes from Latin desultorius, from desultor, "a leaper," from the past participle of desilire, "to leap down," from de-, "down from" + salire, "to leap."
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