Word: trait
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Parents of these children were understandably proud that their kids had shown progress. Yet, they were puzzled too. Like most people, they were under the impression that an IQ is a measure of an inherent trait called intelligence, and that it never varies; that it is either a badge or a blemish to be worn indelibly for all time. As it happens, those notions are largely myths that for years have caused parents needless concern...
...malicious. Vice President Humphrey greets the President: "Morning, Lyndon, how are you?" To which Lyndon replies: "Is that all you ever think of, Hubert?" Mostly however, the current jokes on Johnson are almost as acidulous as Gallic gags about Charles de Gaulle. Oddly enough, they also deride the messianic trait that-if nothing else-both leaders have in common. They could be called Lyndon B. Attitudes. Samples...
...untried in orbit, fuel cells were installed in Gemini 5 because they were smaller and lighter than the conventional batteries used on all previous space flights. Unlike conventional batteries, they can supply electricity for as long as they are fed their fuel−an ideal trait for long-duration power supplies. They produce electricity through the continuous chemical reaction of oxygen and hydrogen, and in the process they form water, a most valuable byproduct...
...days later he wrote, "I don't like the Trait in his character, his Gaiety," and cautioned his wife that if Tyler retained "a Trait of Frivolity or dissapation," the romance should be terminated. Mrs. Adam's approval of the attachment was less tentative, and eventually she had mellowed her husband's attitude towards Tyler to the point where, when the young man formally requested "the sanction of your appropation to my addresses," Adams replied...
...even started life with a name that sounds like a P. G. Wodehouse character: Thomas Terry Hoar-Stevens. He went to the right schools, but somehow turned out wrong. His trouble was that he was a compulsive clown, a tendency he blames on his eccentric dental structure, a hereditary trait with the Hoar-Stevenses. He had little thought of working until he was 27, since "my father bought my clothes and women and things." But then a pal persuaded him to take a crack at the films...