Words

Labyrinth:
"A labyrinth of shop fronts, storehouses, narrow streets and crooked alleys, where the billboards are in English but the protest placards are in German, was built inside a mammoth studio."
I originally said that a labyrinth was a maze or enigma, and this fragment proves it because it talks about the confusion of the streets and the signs as part of a labyrinth.

Palladium:
"At the factory, the sludge is hauled to the metal smelters, mixed with ore and refined into pure nickel and other metals, including platinum and palladium."
From this quote I infer that palladium is a metal or some sort of strong material. i had no previous definition for it.

Museum:
"The first exhibition at the museum, “Inspired by China: Contemporary Furniture makers Explore Chinese Traditions” is an exhibition of 27 tables, chairs, stools and altars made in China starting in the 16th century, paired with 27 contemporary studio pieces."
what I originally wrote is the following: A museum is a place where artifacts are stored and displayed for the public. This fragment supports my definition by saying ti is an exhibition.

Narcissism:
''Mr. Saint Laurent's narcissism and self-loathing are evident,''
What I wrote on my definitions is that narcissism is the word used to describe someone that is in love with him/herself, and this is exactly how the word is used in this fragment.

Odyssey:
"...another film about a cuckolded man who goes on a Homeric nighttime odyssey, encountering women who represent aspects of the wife he fears he has lost."
In this quote, we can see that odyssey is used to describe a journey with obstacles, which is what I wrote down on my definitions.

Meander:
"The Giants know a season is not lost in September, but it can start to meander aimlessly"
On my definitions, I said that meander means to wander aimlessly, which can be applied to this fragment because maybe the Giant´s scores may begin to go nowhere, meaning that they have no more victories.

Protean:
" Since the second test suggested she might have lupus, she would send off blood to see if there was any other evidence that she had this puzzling autoimmune disease. It wasn’t a classic presentation, but the symptoms of lupus were protean."
Using this fragment of the article, I assume that protean means changing or irregular, something that easily changes its shape. I do not have a definition for it inside my notebook.

Stoical:
"Instead, he describes all the more familiar English traits — from a stiff upper lip to stoical humility, from good manners to a good sense of humor — as ingenious strategies for diffusing or deflecting anger"
According to my own definitions, stoical means calm, not showing any emotions. I´m not sure if this fragment either proves or denied it, but when I looked the word up in the dictionary I found that it was true.

Herculean:
"The process took an hour. After that Herculean effort, Ms. Ouellet looked much the way she had before she had her hair done." According to both the article and my definition, herculean means strong, hard work, etc.

Laconic:
" Mr. Shore has reprinted the photographs digitally, with rejuvenated colors as fresh and subtle as the day the pictures were shot. The work’s laconic eloquence speaks of an era and a nation" This article uses laconic as something that uses few words because obviously the photographs cant speak but they still say a lot. This is the definition I put in my notes.

Zephyr:
I couldn´t find any articles in the New York Times that did not use it as the name of a shop, car model and such, but what I inferred was that Zephyr is related to something involving wind, due to the fact that Zephyr is the name if the wind God.

Nemesis:
"Mr. Ahmadinejad’s much-talked-about appearance at Columbia was the opening act of a week of dramatic theater here as the United Nations General Assembly opened its annual session. He and his nemesis, President Bush, are scheduled to address the General Assembly today." Nemesis means the equal of oneself but also the opposite. for example, this article uses it to describe Bush and the president of Iran, both holding the most important position of their countries but hating each other.

Flora:
"Phimphrachanh is known for her refined palette, which she creates by using dyes made almost exclusively from local flora and fauna instead of from the chemicals that produce the brassy hues found in the morning market."
This text gives us the idea that flora has something to do with nature, and because fauna means animals, flora symbolizes plants, which is what I wrote down.

Ambrosia:
" Until the late 1990s, the cupcake often shared the mental dessert pantry with canned peaches and ambrosia; it was nostalgia food, mom-in-an-apron food, happy food." In my notes, I said that ambrosia probably was a herb. Using the text, I still think that it is some type of food but it is not a herb, rather something more sweet.

Hermetic:
"Fortunately, Congress is in the process of demonstrating that such hermetic devotion to secrecy has no place in a democracy." According to this article, hermetic must mean closed, something that doesn´t let anything out. This is what I wrote in my definitions.

Promethean:
"Mr. Jansons bypassed that question by conducting the movement with tireless vigor and bright sonorities to convey the Promethean high spirits of this deceptively humorous music." This quote makes Promethean sound as if it meant creative or original, which is what I have in my notes.

Nectar:
"Meanwhile, the nurse bees feed the larvae “bee bread,” which is a precise concoction of pollen and nectar, and tend to the queen, which lays up to 1,500 eggs a day during the summer." I originally wrote down that nectar is the semen of the flower, the juicy part, and this fragment supports that definition.

Sibylline:
"In more inventive hands, Orientalism inspired some striking images. Sargent's ''Ambergris Smoke,'' a sibylline study in white and beige, is one." Using this quote, I inferred that sibylline has something to do with a witch or enchantress of some kind. I was not able to find a definition for it before.

Tantalize:
"...This anecdote appears in the second book of Herodotus' Histories, and although its veracity is disputed, it continues to tantalize linguists, among whom it has become known as the Forbidden Experiment -- forbidden because its replication would be ethically..." According to this quote, tantalize is a synonym of bother, tease, etc. This is what I also have in my notes

Delphic:
I was not able to find a fragment inside the New York Times where Delphic was used as a common noun, so I looked it up in the dictionary. The definition of the word is dolphin.

Halycon:
"BR5-49 is determined to recreate the halycon days of country music, from Western swing to trucker songs to close-harmony two-beats, adding slyly modern lyrics." Based on this article, I am guessing that halycon is related to fame, sort of the Golden Age of something. i have no previous definition for it.

Platonic:
"There are some lovely moments between Self and the young woman, a platonic flirtation that's touching precisely because they can't leave the claims of their day-to-day lives behind." According to this quote, many people might think that platonic means impossible, something that just can´t happen. This is also the definition I gave the word in my notes.

Draconian:
"...enforcement system that unfairly focuses on drug offenses and other crimes more likely to be committed by blacks, combined with draconian mandatory sentencing and an absurdly counterproductive retreat from rehabilitation as an integral method of dealing with offenders..." Using this fragment, I deduced that draconian means harsh or hard, but in my notes I wrote down devilish or savage.

Calypso:
"...inspirational symbol of high-minded, do-it-yourself multiculturalism, dabbling in reggae and dub, rap, salsa and calypso -- it sounds like a lot, but in concert it all becomes a steamy, hip-shaking kind of polyglot rock." I guess calypso is a music genre, but in all honesty I had never heard about it before. I have nothing written down for it in my notes.

Amazon:
" Hillary Clinton,who famously refused to bake cookies in the background of her husband scareer, is an Amazon, destined to be asmuch the property of myth as of history,between which lies a vast and unfixed common ground" Because this fragment talks about the Amazons in the myth, I guess that it must be an adjective used to describe a tall, strong woman. I had nothing written down for it before.

Siren:
"That's when Mr. Edwards's inner siren should have started screaming." A siren is an object that is noisy and can be easily notices, reason why cop cars and ambulances use them.

Mercurial:
"It is to throw into relief the political world from which Antony had once triumphantly emerged and to contrast it with the mercurial, evanescent world of desire into which he has been submerged"
Mercurial must mean something that changes easily, resilient.

*****From now on, I don´t have any definitions for the words in my notes****

Procrustean:
"...the entire history around the rise and fall of the welfare state, or North-South relations -- would be arbitrary and Procrustean." Because of this quote, I believe that procrustean has to be a synonym of arbitrary.

Aurora:
"Two new 41-cent stamps featuring the northern lights -- aurora borealis -- and southern lights -- aurora australis -- were unveiled Monday in ceremonies at the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum..." These fragments lead me to believe that aurora are related to bright lights, to illumination.

Iridescent:
"A diagonal line, formed by the bird's iridescent turquoise-and-green body feathers and tail plumage, bisects the tree trunk." Iridescent, according to this quote, means colorful lights.

Panacea:
"Intelligence veterans and experts generally applaud the new technology, but some warn that it is no panacea." Because of this quote and the rest of the article, I think that panacea has something to do with healing, like if it was a cure for anything.

Lethargy:
"We live in a condition of paralysis and are not able to do anything about it, to liberate ourselves from the lethargy." Taking this fragment into consideration, lethargy must mean inactivity, monotonous.

Gorgons:
"plates on the front and back warded off evil spirits. Looking at these, you're reminded of the fearsome visages of Greek Gorgons, Mayan masks or European gargoyles." This quote makes me think that gorgon is used as an adjective that talks about an ugly woman.

Haripes:
" Many things fly and float here: men and women, harpies and angels, birds and beasts, toadstools and stars." Because here the article is comparing opposites and harpies is paired up with angels, I believe that harpies must be evil characters.

Hydra:
"...and Shiite militants operate in his area, he regarded Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia as his most serious problem. ''It's like a hydra,'' he said. ''It keeps regenerating its heads.'' " This quote makes reference to the Hercules myth, where he faces a monster that keeps reappearing. This means that when hydra is used as part of our daily language, it must be talking about a problem that keeps coming back or is really difficult to solve.

Lycanthrope:
"...Jack is killed and soon becomes an ever-more-decayed member of the undead, while David turns (painfully) into a lycanthrope when the moon is full." According to this quote, lycanthrope must be a creature who turns into an animal and back into a human.

Martial:
" ...self-preservation, they were not ready to derail the entire system by challenging a military chief who could then invoke martial law" Using this quote I was able to figure out that martial is related to war, to fights.

Sophistry:
" Whether this is conviction or sophistry, it is very hard to throw Mr. Karmazin off his message, even when he seems to be contradicting himself. " Because of the comparison between conviction and sophistry, I believe sophistry is realted to fallacies or biasing something.

Fauna:
"Its performers look as much animal as human. Further yet: Much of its imagery is vegetable, flora rather than fauna." Because it talks about animals and environmental issues, and also because we already defined flora, fauna means animals.

Stentorian:
"Unlike you, he's able to sleep through the stentorian snoring." Using this quote i guess that stentorian means loud.

Pyrrhic victory:
"''this may turn out to be a Pyrrhic victory for them," I believe that the definition of pyrrhic comes from the Pyrrhus myth, where he had to endure many losses in order for him to win, and this article uses the word in that sense.

Gordian knot:
''I think members of my team listened to the president but did not hear him. And today I have cut the Gordian knot, however difficult it may be.'' According to this fragment, Gordian Knot must be used to describe a really complicated problem or dilemma.

Pandora´s box:
I was not able to find an article where pandora´s box was used, but based on the myth I believe that it must be realted to problems, more specifically the source of all problems.

Cassandra:
"He has been the conscience, the Cassandra, the crank, the nag, the pain, infuriating opponents and, at times, exasperating allies" Based on this quote, cassandra must be a word used to describe someone who is annoying or exhausting.

The sword of Democles:
''It's like a sword of Damocles; you're kind of waiting and waiting and holding your breath..." According to this fragment, sword of Damocles is used to describe a constant danger, one that never goes away.

Achilles heel:
"However, flash memory has an Achilles' heel. Although it can read data quickly, it is very slow at storing it." Based on this fragment, Achilles heel is used to describe the weak point of an object, person, animal, etc.

Oedipus:
"Suddenly the world of psychiatry is abuzz with scientific-sounding terms like penis envy and Oedipus complex" This quote shows us that the word Oedipus is still used to describe the situation where the son falls in love with his mother, just like the Greek tragedy.

Midas:
"His Midas touch in foreign tabloids, television, movies, and more recently, digital properties, turns a little rusty when American..." Using this quote as reference, I can see that Midas is used to describe a special talent of a person or ability at something, as if everything he/she does concerning that subject is golden, precious.

Hades:
"...upon to express outrage over Mr. Ahmadinejad s request to lay a wreath at ground zero, even though ice cubes would be made in Hades before that ceremony ever happened. " According to this quote, Hades is still used when talking about hell.

Spartan:
" In-room comforts are Spartan: a fridge (empty), a hot pot with packets of bad instant coffee, and some leaky paper cups." Using this fragment as reference, I believe spartan to describe anything that resembles the Spartan civilization. This means it is used whenever you are talking about hardships, cold hearts, no luxuries, etc.

Titanic:
"...and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra take up residence at Carnegie Hall for the opening week of its 117th season, offering two titanic works: Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (Oct. 3, 4) and Mahler's Third (Oct. 6)." This fragment leads me to believe that titanic means of great size or importance. It comes from the Titans, and very probably this is why the Titanic (ship) was named with that name.

Marathon:
"The deal came after a marathon legislative session that covered parts of three days." Because of this quote I believe that marathon is used not only to describe the foot race but also any other activity that requires large amounts of time and energy.