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July 12, 2025
Jul 12, 2025
Word
quietus
noun
Definition
  1. final settlement (as of a debt)
  2. removal from activity; especially : death
  3. something that quiets or represses
Example
The town council voted against granting a permit to stage the concert in the park, thus putting the quietus on any repeat of last year's unruly behavior.
Origin
In the early 1500s, English speakers adopted the Medieval Latin phrase "quietus est" (literally "he is quit") as the name for the writ of discharge exempting a baron or knight from payment of a knight's fee to the king. The expression was later shortened to "quietus" and applied to the termination of any debt. William Shakespeare was the first to use "quietus" as a metaphor for the termination of life: "For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, … When he himself might his quietus make / With a bare bodkin?" (Hamlet). The third meaning, which is more influenced by "quiet" than "quit," appeared in the 19th century. It often occurs in the phrase "put the quietus on" (as in, "The bad news put the quietus on their celebration").
Webster's Dictionary
Idiom
on tenterhooks
In a state of painful suspense, as in We were on tenterhooks all through the game, hoping against hope that our team would win. This expression alludes to hooks that formerly were used to hold newly woven cloth that was being stretched on a frame. Their name has long survived this method of manufacture. [Mid-1700s]
The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms
Fun facts
  1. In 1860, Abraham Lincoln grew a beard at the suggestion of an 11-year-old girl.
  2. 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321
Snapple's under-the-cap 'Real Facts'
Artist
Rachel Whiteread
Born Apr 20, 1963

Dame Rachel Whiteread DBE is an English artist who primarily produces sculptures, which typically take the form of casts. She was the first woman to win the annual Turner Prize in 1993.

Whiteread was one of the Young British Artists who exhibited at the Royal Academy's Sensation exhibition in 1997. Among her most renowned works are House, a large concrete cast of the inside of an entire Victorian house; the Judenplatz Holocaust Memorial in Vienna, resembling the shelves of a library with the pages turned outwards; and Untitled Monument, her resin sculpture for the empty fourth plinth in London's Trafalgar Square.

She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2006 and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2019 Birthday Honours for services to art.

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Wikipedia, Google Arts & Culture
Historical figure
François Mitterrand
Oct 26, 1916 - Jan 8, 1996

François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was a French statesman who served as President of France from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, he was the first left-wing politician to assume the presidency under the Fifth Republic.

Reflecting family influences, François Mitterrand started political life on the Catholic nationalist right. He served under the Vichy Regime during its earlier years. Subsequently he joined the Resistance, moved to the left, and held ministerial office several times under the Fourth Republic. François Mitterand opposed de Gaulle's establishment of the Fifth Republic. Although at times a politically isolated figure, François Mitterrand outmanoeuvered rivals to become the left's standard bearer at every presidential election from 1965–88; with the exception of 1969. François Mitterrand was elected President at the 1981 presidential election. He was re-elected in 1988 and remained in office until 1995.

François Mitterrand invited the Communist Party into his first government, which was a controversial decision at the time.

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Wikipedia, Google Arts & Culture
Historic event
Casablanca Conference
Jan 14, 1943 - Jan 24, 1943

The Casablanca Conference was held at the Anfa Hotel in Casablanca, Morocco, from January 14 to 24, 1943, to plan the Allied European strategy for the next phase of World War II. In attendance were United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British prime minister Winston Churchill. Also attending and representing the Free French forces were Generals Charles de Gaulle and Henri Giraud, though they played minor roles and were not part of the military planning. USSR General Secretary Joseph Stalin had declined to attend, citing the ongoing Battle of Stalingrad as requiring his presence in the Soviet Union.

The conference agenda addressed the specifics of tactical procedure, allocation of resources, and the broader issues of diplomatic policy. The debate and negotiations produced what was known as the Casablanca Declaration, and perhaps its most historically provocative statement of purpose, "unconditional surrender". The doctrine of "unconditional surrender" came to represent the unified voice of implacable Allied will—the determination that the Axis powers would be fought to their ultimate defeat.

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