Word of the Day for Friday September 16, 2005 hauteur \haw-TUR; (h)oh-\, noun: Haughty manner, spirit, or bearing; haughtiness; arrogance. [M]y silence, I hoped, would be taken as expressive of the hauteur of a man who was above it all -- a man with a mission, in fact, a mission authorized from somewhere on high. --Jeffrey Tayler, [1]Facing the Congo Sheikhs and presidents have often heard little about the royal family's follies, and don't object to the hauteur and self-importance that remain its inextinguishable traits. --Hugo Young, "Blair and the Queen," [2]The Guardian, April 10, 2001 That self-deprecation and lack of hauteur are typical of the earthy style that enables Powell to get close to his troops in a way that many top brass never do. --"Colin Powell: The master planner of Desert Shield is ready for its ultimate test," [3]People, December 31, 1990 _________________________________________________________ Hauteur is from the French, from haut, "high," from Latin altus, "high." It is thus related to altitude. References 1. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1886913447/ref=nosim/lexico 2. http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardian 3. http://people.aol.com/people/index.html Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=9&q=hauteur