Some 16th-century Italian clergymen tried to ban coffee because they believed it to be “satanic.” However, Pope Clement VII loved coffee so much that he lifted the ban and had coffee baptized in 1600.
DILIGENCE
application, diligence
(noun) a diligent effort; “it is a job requiring serious application”
diligence
(noun) conscientiousness in paying proper attention to a task; giving the degree of care required in a given situation
diligence, industriousness, industry
(noun) persevering determination to perform a task; “his diligence won him quick promotions”; “frugality and industry are still regarded as virtues”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
diligence (countable and uncountable, plural diligences)
Steady application; industry; careful work involving long-term effort.
The qualities of a hard worker, including conscientiousness, determination, and perseverance.
Carefulness.
(historical, 19th century) A public stage-coach.
(legal, Scotland) The process by which persons, lands, or effects are seized for debt; process for enforcing the attendance of witnesses or the production of writings.
Synonyms
• worksomeness (rare)
Anagrams
• ceilinged
Source: Wiktionary
Dil"i*gence, n. Etym: [F. diligence, L. diligentia.]
1. The quality of being diligent; carefulness; careful attention; -- the opposite of negligence.
2. Interested and persevering application; devoted and painstaking effort to accomplish what is undertaken; assiduity in service. That which ordinary men are fit for, I am qualified in; and the best of me is diligence. Shak.
3. (Scots Law)
Definition: Process by which persons, lands, or effects are seized for debt; process for enforcing the attendance of witnesses or the production of writings. To do one's diligence, give diligence, use diligence, to exert one's self; to make interested and earnest endeavor. And each of them doth all his diligence To do unto the festé reverence. Chaucer.
Syn.
– Attention; industry; assiduity; sedulousness; earnestness; constancy; heed; heedfulness; care; caution.
– Diligence, Industry. Industry has the wider sense of the two, implying an habitual devotion to labor for some valuable end, as knowledge, property, etc. Diligence denotes earnest application to some specific object or pursuit, which more or less directly has a strong hold on one's interests or feelings. A man may be diligent for a time, or in seeking some favorite end, without meriting the title of industrious. Such was the case with Fox, while Burke was eminent not only for diligence, but industry; he was always at work, and always looking out for some new field of mental effort. The sweat of industry would dry and die, But for the end it works to. Shak. Diligence and accuracy are the only merits which an historical writer ascribe to himself. Gibbon.
Di`li*gence", n. Etym: [F.]
Definition: A four-wheeled public stagecoach, used in France.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
27 June 2025
SQUARE
(adjective) having four equal sides and four right angles or forming a right angle; “a square peg in a round hole”; “a square corner”
Coffee Trivia
