Category: Glossary

verb

“to call forth or draw out (something, such as information or a response)” Merriam-Webster dictionary

The sentence this word was encountered was “How better photos can help you document, and shape, your neighborhood” by Patrick Sisson

The sentence this word was used in is “Part of the beauty of this book is that it was written at a time when smartphone photography is getting better and more common and relevant. It really works well with the book’s focus on crowdsourced and elicited photography. ”

The author used this word to talk about how he takes photos or what he looks for in a photo. In the section before he’s describing how he chooses the images he takes and reveals that he normally takes photos from Paris. Because Paris has a lot of history and old buildings and also because it’s popular for one thing one can argue that maybe people don’t notice the changes happening in Paris which then brings photography to reveal things that aren’t normally seen. This can give us information, or a better look at what Paris is like through daily life and neighborhood is like.

Definition

verb

“to take part in or experience something along with others” -Merriam-Webster dictionary

The word was encountered through the reading “Wind Sand and Stars” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

The sentence that it was used in is “It is as if there were a natural law which ordained that to achieve this end, to refine the curve of a piece of furniture, or a ship’s keel, or the fuselage of an airplane, until gradually it partakes of the elementary purity of the curve of ‘a human breast or shoulder, there must be the experimentation of several generations of craftsmen. In anything at all, perfection is finally attained not when there is no longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away, when a body has been stripped down to its nakedness.”

The author is trying to contribute to the idea that it takes experimentation, exploration and discovery to achieve perfection. There is a-lot of effort, trial and error to achieve a final product before the object is perfect. When he utilizes the word partakes he’s using it to talk about how machines will “take part in “the element of purity in the curve in a human breast or shoulder”. Since purity means it’s not contaminated they’re trying to say that basically it takes time and effort until a machine can become simplified and perfect. It’s when all the unnecessary and extra parts are taken away and the machine functions as it should with only the important parts.

Definition

Weal (n.)

that which is best for someone or something, the common good.

On Merriam Webster, meaning “a sound, healthy and prosperous state”. I found this word in the passage  “the tool, Wind Sand and Stars“, by Antoine de Saint-Exupery.

“to join together for the common weal”.

this sentence now becomes “to join together or the common good”, as weal sounds like a shortening of “well being”,