word of the day :: miasma

miasma:

[mahy-az-muh, mee-]

–noun, plural -mas, -ma·ta

1. noxious exhalations from putrescent organic matter; poisonous effluvia or germs polluting that atmosphere.

2. a dangerous, foreboding, or deathlike influence or atmosphere.

Origin:

1655-65; < NL < Gk míasma  stain, pollution, akin to miaínein  topollute, stain

"There is tonic in the things that men do not love to hear. Free speech is to a great people what the winds are to the oceans...and where free speech is stopped miasma is bred, and death comes fast."

:: Henry Ward Beecher ::

* Definition from www.dictionary.com