Words of the Day — May 1, 2012

Dirge — durj — a lament for the dead, and Irish "keen" carapace — CARE-ah-PASE — the hard upper part of a turtle's shell (or any crustacean)

Example: "In Jon Pareles' music review of far-out electronic dance music created for a Chinese mezzo-soprano, he stated that 'she descended the stairs singing a dirge over an electronic pulse, pulled apart her breakaway formal dress to reveal a pointy, shiny sci-fi carapace, and continued singing as she was borne on a platform to the stage.'"