Troglomorphism is the morphological adaptation of an animal to living in the constant darkness of caves, characterised by features such as loss of pigment, reduced eyesight or blindness, and frequently with attenuated bodies and/or appendages. The terms troglobitic, stygobitic, stygofauna, troglofauna, and hypogean or hypogeic, are often used for cave-dwelling organisms.
Mid 19th century; earliest use found in Robert Hunt (1807–1887), chemist and photographer. Origin uncertain; perhaps from pell + -ar, although the semantic link is not clear, or perhaps shortened from repeller
The term subitism points to sudden awakening, the idea that insight into Buddha-nature, or the nature of mind, is "sudden," c.q. "in one glance," "uncovered all together," or "together, completely, simultaneously," in contrast to "successively or being uncovered one after the other." It may be posited as opposite to gradualism, the original Buddhist approach which says that following the dharma can be achieved only step by step, through an arduous practice.
Ponerization (from ancient Greek poneros – evil), is a ponerological term coined by Dr. Andrzej M. Łobaczewski. Ponerization is the influence of pathological people on individuals and groups whereby they develop acceptance of pathological reasoning and values.
Belonging or relating to an officer or officers; consisting of officers. Late 18th century; earliest use found in Macaroni & Theatrical Magazine. From officer + -ial.
According to the English Dialect Dictionary, the confusion that comes from things not being in their right place—like when you’ve moved everything around while you’re cleaning your house—is called huckmuck.
The dislike some people have of leaving an empty space anywhere—like on a wall or in furnishing a room—is called horror vacui, a Latin term originally adopted into English in the mid-19th century to refer to the tendency of some artists to fill every square inch of their paintings or artworks with detail.
“Sorrow alleviated by riches”—or, put another way, sadness alleviated by material things—is fat-sorrow. It’s a term best remembered from the old adage that “fat sorrow is better than lean sorrow.”
That feeling of restlessness or unease that comes from being on your own too long is lonesome-fret, an 18th/19th century dialect word defined as “ennui from lonesomeness” by the English Dialect Dictionary.
Literally means “almost seen,” and refers to that sensation of forgetting or not being able to remember something, but feeling that you could remember it any minute.
A word from the llongot tribe. It is untranslatable.
From NPR:
The English words that best describe liget might be "high voltage": a powerful energy running through and out of the body. Renato had no control over when this feeling would come or how long it would stay. There was nothing within the American palette of emotions or in mainstream books about death that helped him. He just knew he had to howl. And because Renato could now grasp the force and meaning of the word liget, he was able to make some sense out of the chaos. He was able to give his emotions form, and let them pass through his body.
In mathematics, a 3-sphere, or glome, is a higher-dimensional analogue of a sphere. It may be embedded in 4-dimensional Euclidean space as the set of points equidistant from a fixed central point. Analogously to how the boundary of a ball in three dimensions is an ordinary sphere (or 2-sphere, a two-dimensional surface), the boundary of a ball in four dimensions is a 3-sphere (an object with three dimensions). A 3-sphere is an example of a 3-manifold and an n-sphere.
Penitentes, or nieves penitentes (Spanish for "penitent-shaped snows"), are snow formations found at high altitudes. They take the form of elongated, thin blades of hardened snow or ice, closely spaced and pointing towards the general direction of the sun.
An Earth analog (also referred to as an Earth twin or Earth-like planet, though this latter term may refer to any terrestrial planet) is a planet or moon with environmental conditions similar to those found on Earth.
An acarinarium is a specialized anatomical structure which is evolved to facilitate the retention of mites on the body of an organism, typically a bee or a wasp.
A banghy was a bamboo pole with slings on each side to support heavy dispatches, parcels or baggage. It was carried by a parcel bearer, (known as a banghywallah).
Ascolia, in Ancient Greece, was a yearly feast that the peasants of Attica celebrated in honor of Dionysus. The rites included sacrificing a goat, chosen because goats were prone to eating and destroying grapevines, and using its skin to make a football, which was filled with wine and smeared in oil. Festival participants then competed against each other by trying to leap onto it in a game that gave the festival its name (askoliazein or ασκωλιάζειν); the one who remained standing at the end of the contest won the wineskin as a prize. Participants also painted their faces with wine dregs, sang hymns, and recited satirical poetry.
Wish I had written down the definition as found in Balderdash (which probably wasn't accurate anyway) but it's also referenced in a book called Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin in a list of weird words. Shame. Interestingly enough, I keep getting synonyms for "sharp" in Google's suggestions.
An anti-proverb or a perverb is the transformation of a standard proverb for humorous effect. Paremiologist Wolfgang Mieder defines them as "parodied, twisted, or fractured proverbs that reveal humorous or satirical speech play with traditional proverbial wisdom".
A comprador or compradore is a "person who acts as an agent for foreign organizations engaged in investment, trade, or economic or political exploitation"
A scutoid is a geometric solid between two parallel surfaces. The boundary of each of the surfaces (and of all the other parallel surfaces between them) is a polygon, and the vertices of the two end polygons are joined by either by a curve or a Y-shaped connection. Scutoids present at least one vertex between these two planes. The faces of the scutoids are not necessarily convex, so several scutoids can pack together to fill all the space between the two parallel surfaces.The object was first described in Nature Communications in July 2018, and the name scutoid was coined because of its resemblance to the shape of the scutellum in some insects, such as beetles in the Cetoniidae subfamily.
A prosimetrum (plural prosimetra) is a poetic composition which exploits a combination of prose (prosa) and verse (metrum), in particular, it is a text composed in alternating segments of prose and verse. It is widely found in Western and Eastern literature.
A vorlage (ˈfoːɐ̯laːɡə; from the German for prototype or template) is a prior version or manifestation of a text under consideration. It may refer to such a version of a text itself, a particular manuscript of the text, or a more complex manifestation of the text (e.g., a group of copies, or a group of excerpts). Thus, the original-language version of a text which a translator then works into a translation is called the vorlage of that translation. For example, the Luther Bible is a translation of the Textus Receptus. So in this case the Textus Receptus is the vorlage of the Luther Bible.
Apographa refers to established copies or transcripts of certain texts, usually religious or ecclesiastical, rather than the original autographs by the original authors or writers.
Australian slang: a flashily dressed young man of brash and vulgar behaviour, to dress up in flashy clothes, to renovate or dress up something in bad taste
A sinkhole, also known as a cenote, sink, sink-hole, swallet, swallow hole, or doline (the different terms for sinkholes are often used interchangeably), is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer.
is a pigmentation abnormality characterized by the lack of pigments called melanins, commonly associated with a genetic loss of tyrosinase function. Amelanism can affect fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals including humans.
"The wrong type of snow" or "the wrong kind of snow" is a phrase coined by the British media in 1991 after severe weather caused disruption to many of British Rail's services. A British Rail press release implied that management and its engineering staff were unaware of different types of snow. Henceforth in the United Kingdom, the phrase became a byword for euphemistic and pointless excuses.1
a verse usually consisting of the first lines of a Latin version of the 51st psalm formerly set before an accused person claiming benefit of clergy so that the person might vindicate his claim by an intelligent reading aloud of the verse before examiners.
Lichtenberg figures appearing on people are sometimes called lightning flowers, and they are thought to be caused by the rupture of capillaries under the skin due to the passage of the lightning current or the shock wave from the lightning discharge as it flashes over the skin
“Salitter seems only to have occurred, used in this way, in the writings of Jakob Boehme, a 17th century German Christian mystic. Here is enough of what he says about it, to begin to understand the exquisite choice made by McCarthy in using the word: ‘What is in Paradise is made of the celestial Salitter… it is clear, resplendent … The forces of the celestial Salitter give rise to celestial fruits flowers, and vegetation.’ Salitter, as used by Boehme, as used by McCarthy, is the essence of God.”
Tafl games are a family of ancient Germanic and Celtic strategy board games played on a checkered or latticed gameboard with two armies of uneven numbers, representing variants of an early Scandinavian board game called tafl or hnefatafl in contemporary literature.
(noun) - (1) A favorite liquor among the common people, composed of ale and roasted apples. The pulp of the roasted apple was worked up with the ale till the mixture formed a smooth beverage. Fanciful etymologies for this popular word have been thought of, but it was probably named from its smoothness, resembling the wool of lambs. --Robert Nares' Glossary of the Works of English Authors, 1859 (2) The pulpe of the roasted apples, in number foure or five, according to the greatnesse of the apples, mixed in a quart of faire water, laboured together untill it come to be as apples and ale, which we call lambes-wooll. --Thomas Johnson's Gerard's Herball, 1633 (3) A corruption of la mas ubhal, that is, the day of the apple fruit. --Rev. John Boag's Imperial Lexicon, c. 1850
(noun) - (1) A portion of a dish left by the guests, that the host may not feel himself reproached for insufficient preparation. --Joseph Hunter's Hallamshire Glossary, 1829 (2) A morsel left in a dish to avoid the imputation of greediness. --T. Ellwood Zell's Popular Encyclopedia, 1871
(noun) - (1) A ridge of land left unploughed. --Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language, 1755 (2) As used in Scotland, a strip two or three feet in breadth. --John Jamieson's Etymological Scottish Dictionary, 1808
(noun) - The "closet of decency," or "house of office." Very likely from "four acres," the original "necessary" having been, in all likelihood, a field behind the school. --John Camden Hotten's Slang Dictionary, 1887
(noun) - One who prepares materials for embalming the dead; from Latin pollinctus, French polingère, to wash and prepare a corpse for a funeral. --William Whitney's Century Dictionary, 1889
(adjective) - Glittering with gold. The word was properly used of thin sheets of gold, and hence already suggests the golden sheen made more definite by the words: "Today the French, all cliquant, all in gold, like heathen gods, shone down the English." Henry VIII. --C.H. Herford's Glossary of the Works of Shakespeare, 1902
(pl. noun) - When three persons go into a public-house, call for liquor generally considered sufficient for two, and have a glass which will divide it into three equal portions, they are said to "drink three outs." --James Halliwell's Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, 1855
(noun) - A writer of a monograph, a paper or treatise written on one particular subject. --Daniel Lyons' The American Dictionary of the English Language, 1897
(noun) - The keeper of the sacred chickens observed for purposes of augury; adopted from Old French pouletier, poultry-keeper. --Sir James Murray's New English Dictionary, 1909
(adverb) - The medieval English croppe and the Anglo-Saxon cropp both meant the top of a plant; the Old French croup meant the top of a hill. Thus, crop has come to mean the top of anything, including the ears of corn at the top of the stalk and the head of a man. The Norwegian nakk meant a knoll, or top of a hill. Thus neck and crop is simply a strengthening of the idea. To fall neck and crop is to crash completely. --Edwin Radford's Encyclopaedia of Phrases and Origins, 1945
(noun) - (1) A girl who operates a telephone switchboard. --William Craigie's Dictionary of American English, 1940 (2) The use of the word "hello" is rigorously barred to the "hello girl." --Booklover's Magazine, October 1903 (3) We had visitors anxious to listen to the sweet voice of the "hello girl." --Boston Transcript, February 1908
(adjective) - Supplied or provided with vowels, especially to an unusual extent. Also with qualifying terms, as well-vowelled. --Sir James Murray's New English Dictionary, 1928
(noun) - (1) Coarse hempen cloth; Eastern England. --James Halliwell's Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, 1855 (2) Hempen cloth of very coarse texture. Perhaps so named because only fit to be used as bags or wrappers for rolls or bales of finer goods. --Rev. Robert Forby's Vocabulary of East Anglia, 1830
(pl. noun) - (1) Food provisions, victuals, eatables; adaptation of Old French vivres, plural of vivre, food, sustenance. Only Scottish until the nineteenth century. Its later currency is probably due to its frequent occurrence in Waverly novels. --Sir James Murray's New English Dictionary, 1928 (2) From Latin vivo, to live. --Edward Lloyd's Encyclopaedic Dictionary, 1895
(slang phrase) - Going well. A reference to the brilliant military successes of Sir Garnet Wolseley during the Egyptian campaign of the '80s. "How's the war? All Sir Garnet." --Edwin Radford's Encyclopaedia of Phrases and Origins, 1945
(noun) - A pie made of herring-like pilchards and leeks, the heads of the pilchards appearing throughout the crust as if they were studying the sky. --James Halliwell's Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, 1855
(noun) - A disease, often epidemic among children; the whooping-cough. From Dutch kind, a child, and kuch, cough. --John Ogilvie's Comprehensive English Dictionary, 1865
(noun) - A murderer, a killer of men; from man, and Saxon cwellan, to kill. More anciently it meant an executioner. Dame Quickly in Shakespeare's 2 Henry IV adds woman-queller, which shows that she understood the first word: "Thou art a honyseed, a man-queller, and a woman-queller." --Robert Nares' Glossary of the Works of English Authors, 1859
(slang) - To make buckle and tongue meet, to make ends meet. "Beginning without money, he had as much as he could do to make buckle and tongue meet," as the phrase goes. Harper's Magazine, April 1888. --William Cragie's Dictionary of American English, 1940
(verb) - (1) Gadding abroad idly to hear or carry news. Possibly from eve-droppings, and may denote the conduct of eve-droppers, who harken for news under windows; expressive of the talebearer's chief employment, to carry stories from house to house. --Frederick Elworthy's Specimens of English Dialects, 1778 (2) Usually applied to women, but not always; not used in any other sense. "Her is always steehopping about; better fit her would abide at home and mind her own house, same as I be forced to." --Frederick Elworthy's The West Somerset Word Book, 1888
(noun) - (1) A peculiar sort of bread made for feeding horses. --Robert Nares' Glossary of the Works of English Authors, 1859 (2) Take two bushels of good clean beans and one bushel of wheat, and grind them together. Then, through a fine sieve bolt out the quantity of two pecks of pure meal and bake it in two or three loaves by itself. The rest sift through a meal sieve and knead it with water and good store of barme yeast. And so, bake it in great loaves, and with the coarser bread feed your horse in his rest. --Gervase Markham's Country Contentments, 1615
(interjection) - A term of encouragement to dogs, generally to incite them to fight. "Uts! Uts to 'n!" --R. Pearse Chope's The Dialect of Hartland, Devonshire, 1891
(noun) - A generous, big-hearted, good-natured person, with also an implied sense of gaity or flippancy. --Michael Traynor's The English Dialect of Donegal, 1953
(noun) - One of the simplest devices of the word-juggler, and as old as the Romans. It consists in selecting certain letters indicating a date from a name or an inscription on a tomb, an arch, or a medal, printing them larger than the others, and obtaining thereby a date which is regarded as an augury. In some chronograms only the initial letters are counted as forming the solutions to the puzzle, but in others all the characters used for Roman numerals are taken into account. History supplies many first-rate chronograms. In fact it was once the custom to strike medals with chronogramic sentences in which the date of the occasion commemorated was set forth by the letters selected. --Henry Reddall's Fact, Fancy, and Fable, 1889
(adjective) - As the meaning of the expression, "to sleeve a two," appears plainly to be to twist or fold silk thread so subtle that it is difficult to untwist it, sleeveless then should seem to mean "that which cannot be unfolded or explained." --John Brand's Observations on Popular Antiquities, 1813
(noun) - One who attempts to explain different physiological or pathological phenomenon by means of animalcules microbes. --Robley Dunglison's Dictionary of Medical Science, 1844
(noun) - The custom of "shouldering," which was for the coachman to take the fare of a way-passenger--one who did not register or start at the booking-office--and pocket it without making any return to the coach agent or proprietor, was universal in England. Some coach companies suffered much by it, and it was a tidy bit of profit to the unscrupulous coachman. Shouldering was common also in the New World. --Alice Morse Earle's Stagecoach and Tavern Days, 1900
(noun) - (1) Fermented urine, formerly used for laundry purposes, being a strong detergent. --Francis Taylor's Folk-Speech of South Lancashire, 1901 (2) Formerly preserved in tubs for washing, to soften the water and save soap. --Sir James Murray's New English Dictionary, 1893
(noun) - Conceit, show of importance. A consequential person is said to have eighteen pence around him. Originally the word would apply to people who made arrogant assumption stand in the place of wealth and position. --Thomas Darlington's The Folk-Speech of South Cheshire, 1887
(noun) - The study period in school. A teacher told me that she whipped a boy "for hollerin' in time o' books." Ozarks. --Vance Randolph and George Wilson's Down in the Holler, 1953
(noun) - In 1797 a tax upon clocks of five shillings a year, and seven shillings sixpence on watches, was imposed by Act of Parliament. It was short-lived, being repealed in 1798 after demand for timepieces had been reduced by more than half. --Edwin Radford's Encyclopaedia of Phrases and Origins, 1945
(verb) - To make obeisance; to bow. This verb has perhaps been formed as primarily denoting the obeisance made by servants when they expect a vale, a gratuity from visitors. Samuel Johnson derives this from avail, profit, or Latin vale, farewell. Perhaps from French veiller, to watch, studiously attend. --John Jamieson's Etymological Scottish Dictionary, 1808
(adjective) - The phrase was once used all through the United States as a synonym for "first-rate." The word chop is Chinese for "quality." --Henry Reddall's Fact, Fancy, and Fable, 1889
(noun) - One who uses or drives an automobile; from 1897. Automobilize, to habituate to the use of an automobile. --William Craigie's Dictionary of American English, 1940
(adjective) - In a proper manner. This curious slang expression originated in the West among New Englanders emigrated from the East. With them, naturally, all that is done in their native land is right, and hence, what they admire they simply call about East. --Sylva Clapin's Dictionary of Americanisms, 1902
(verb) - To pruttock about, to play about, enjoy freedom, show off fine clothes and the like. Used of servant girls on holiday. --Edward Gepp's Essex Dialect Dictionary, 1923
(noun) - A name used in court, to distinguish one plot of ground from another: black acre, white acre, green acre, etc.. After a time, to black-acre meant to litigate over land. --Joseph Shipley's Dictionary of Early English, 1955
(noun) - Rolling shot cannon balls about on the lower deck, and other discordant noises, when seamen are discontented, but without being mutinous. --Admiral William Smyth's Sailor's Word Book, 1867
(noun) - A miserably small pittance of anything, as if it were no more than the cat can take up by one stroke of her tongue. --Rev. Robert Forby's Vocabulary of East Anglia, 1830
(noun) - During the 1939-45 war, many thousands of old envelopes were renovated for re-use by government departments. Several prisons made contributions in this work, and the "envelope party" generally comprised the very old and the infirm men. At Wormwood Scrubs, after the war, a party of elderly and crippled men was still employed on this work. At "tally time," they were first off the mark with the prison officers' cry of "Lead on, Envelopes!" --Paul Tempest's Lag's Lexicon: A Dictionary of the English Prison, 1950
(verb) - (1) To struggle like a drowning person; to splash or flounder about; late seventeenth to twentieth centuries. --Mairi Robinson's Concise Scots Dictionary, 1985 (2) To work in confusion, or in a confused manner. --John Jamieson's Etymological Scottish Dictionary, 1808
(adjective) - Having hair growing between the eyebrows. Here it is deemed unlucky to meet a person thus marked, especially if the first one meets in the morning. Elsewhere it is a favourable omen. The term, I suppose, had been primarily applied to a woman as by this exuberance indicating something of a masculine character. --John Jamieson's Etymological Scottish Dictionary, 1808
(noun) - (1) It is a custom in the North, when a man tells the greatest lie in the company, to reward him with a whetstone, which is called lying for the whetstone. --Joseph Budworth's Fortnight's Rambles to the Lakes, 1792 (2) The term whetstone, for a liar, or for the prize for lying, was a standing jest among our ancestors. --Frederick Elworthy's Specimens of English Dialects, 1778 (3) Lying with us is so loved and allowed that there are many tymes gamings and prizes to encourage one to outlye another. And what shall he gaine that gets the victorie in lying? He shall have a silver whetstone for his labour. --Thomas Lupton's Too Good to Be True, 1580
(noun) - A ballet. Theaters where stage dancing forms a prominent feature of the entertainment are similarly called leg-shops. --John Farmer's Americanisms Old and New, 1889
(noun) - (1) Poverty, barrenness, particularly want of interesting matter; a deficiency of matter that can engage the attention and gratify the mind, as the jejuneness of style or narrative. Jejunity is not used. --Noah Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828 (2) Jejunitie, barrennesse or slendernesse of stile. --Henry Cockeram's Interpreter of Hard English Words, 1623
(noun) - Our Saxon ancestors were accustomed to use peg-tankards, or tankards with a peg inserted at eight equal intervals, that when two or more drank from the same bowl no one might exceed his fair portion. We are told that St. Dunstan introduced the fashion to prevent brawling. "I am a peg too low" means I want another draught to cheer me up. --Ebenezer Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, 1887
Comments by gammerstang
gammerstang commented on the word troglomorphism
Troglomorphism is the morphological adaptation of an animal to living in the constant darkness of caves, characterised by features such as loss of pigment, reduced eyesight or blindness, and frequently with attenuated bodies and/or appendages. The terms troglobitic, stygobitic, stygofauna, troglofauna, and hypogean or hypogeic, are often used for cave-dwelling organisms.
June 19, 2021
gammerstang commented on the word idiobiont
An organism, usually an insect, that lives on or in a host organism during some period of its development and eventually kills its host.
April 1, 2021
gammerstang commented on the word pellar
NOUN
dialect British, South West English
An exorcist; a sorcerer, a wizard.
Origin
Mid 19th century; earliest use found in Robert Hunt (1807–1887), chemist and photographer. Origin uncertain; perhaps from pell + -ar, although the semantic link is not clear, or perhaps shortened from repeller
November 25, 2020
gammerstang commented on the word yardram
Either end of a yard of a square sail.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
October 6, 2020
gammerstang commented on the word subitism
The term subitism points to sudden awakening, the idea that insight into Buddha-nature, or the nature of mind, is "sudden," c.q. "in one glance," "uncovered all together," or "together, completely, simultaneously," in contrast to "successively or being uncovered one after the other." It may be posited as opposite to gradualism, the original Buddhist approach which says that following the dharma can be achieved only step by step, through an arduous practice.
September 14, 2020
gammerstang commented on the word ponerization
Ponerization (from ancient Greek poneros – evil), is a ponerological term coined by Dr. Andrzej M. Łobaczewski. Ponerization is the influence of pathological people on individuals and groups whereby they develop acceptance of pathological reasoning and values.
June 29, 2020
gammerstang commented on the word argy bargy
informal•British
noun: argy-bargy; plural noun: argy-bargies
noisy quarreling or wrangling.
May 1, 2020
gammerstang commented on the word jaspers
(Britain, West Country, Somerset, colloquial) A wasp.
(US, slang) A person, a guy, especially seen as naïve or simple.
April 26, 2020
gammerstang commented on the word officerial
Belonging or relating to an officer or officers; consisting of officers. Late 18th century; earliest use found in Macaroni & Theatrical Magazine. From officer + -ial.
April 23, 2020
gammerstang commented on the word cribhouse
Noun. (plural cribhouses) (US, dated) A brothel.
April 17, 2020
gammerstang commented on the word Wrapees
Apparently Wrapees was the term Marines used for the Japanese because they had wrapping round their legs. https://books.google.com/books?id=QO_rDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT337&lpg=PT337&dq=%22Wrapees%22+japanese&source=bl&ots=VcRDHQ-f0d&sig=ACfU3U0q0MiU1z671uf4qhPKxuBvE830qw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiqovLU2uvoAhURca0KHSqjCR8Q6AEwAXoECAwQKQ#v=onepage&q=%22Wrapees%22%20japanese&f=false
April 16, 2020
gammerstang commented on the word primaveral
Primaveral PRI-ma-VEH-ruhl
(adj.)
- Of or taking place in (early) spring.
From Latin “primus” (first, first part) + Late Latin “vernalis" (of the spring) from “vernus” (of spring) from Latin “ver” (the spring, spring-time).
Used in a sentence:
“I’m forswunke from a weekend marathon of primaveral ablution.”
March 18, 2020
gammerstang commented on the word cour
Cour (plural cours). A three-month unit of television broadcasting, corresponding to one of the four seasons
December 16, 2019
gammerstang commented on the word gyrification
Gyrification is the process of forming the characteristic folds of the cerebral cortex.
October 13, 2019
gammerstang commented on the word auctorite
(plural auctorites)
Middle English
Legal authority or control; the privilege of exercising control. quotations ▼
The right to perform a given action; approval, permission.
A mixture of charisma and willpower; conviction.
Legal effectiveness or standing; genuineness.
The state of being recognized and regarded as useful; worthiness.
The book, quotation, or source that settles an argument; a definitive, reliable, or precise document or text
August 10, 2019
gammerstang commented on the word huckmuck
According to the English Dialect Dictionary, the confusion that comes from things not being in their right place—like when you’ve moved everything around while you’re cleaning your house—is called huckmuck.
August 7, 2019
gammerstang commented on the word horror vacui
The dislike some people have of leaving an empty space anywhere—like on a wall or in furnishing a room—is called horror vacui, a Latin term originally adopted into English in the mid-19th century to refer to the tendency of some artists to fill every square inch of their paintings or artworks with detail.
August 7, 2019
gammerstang commented on the word fat-sorrow
“Sorrow alleviated by riches”—or, put another way, sadness alleviated by material things—is fat-sorrow. It’s a term best remembered from the old adage that “fat sorrow is better than lean sorrow.”
August 7, 2019
gammerstang commented on the word lonesome-fret
That feeling of restlessness or unease that comes from being on your own too long is lonesome-fret, an 18th/19th century dialect word defined as “ennui from lonesomeness” by the English Dialect Dictionary.
August 7, 2019
gammerstang commented on the word misslieness
The Scots dialect word misslieness means “the feeling of solitariness that comes from missing something or someone you love.”
August 7, 2019
gammerstang commented on the word presque-vu
Literally means “almost seen,” and refers to that sensation of forgetting or not being able to remember something, but feeling that you could remember it any minute.
August 7, 2019
gammerstang commented on the word déjà-visité
Describes the peculiar sensation of knowing your way around somewhere you’ve never been before.
August 7, 2019
gammerstang commented on the word croochie-proochles
Scots dialect word croochie-proochles means the feeling of discomfort or fidgetiness that comes from sitting in a cramped position.
August 7, 2019
gammerstang commented on the word pintulary
Pertaining to the pintle, or penis. - Inkhorn's Erotonomicon: An Advanced Sexual Vocabulary for Verbivores and Vulgarians, Volume 1
July 20, 2019
gammerstang commented on the word thos
Old Greek and Latin name for some kind of canine animal not definitively identified by subsequent historians - Oxford English Dictionary
July 20, 2019
gammerstang commented on the word glockamoid
Someone said this could possibly mean "shaped like an arrow-head". Any input would be appreciated.
July 20, 2019
gammerstang commented on the word liget
A word from the llongot tribe. It is untranslatable.
From NPR:
The English words that best describe liget might be "high voltage": a powerful energy running through and out of the body. Renato had no control over when this feeling would come or how long it would stay. There was nothing within the American palette of emotions or in mainstream books about death that helped him. He just knew he had to howl. And because Renato could now grasp the force and meaning of the word liget, he was able to make some sense out of the chaos. He was able to give his emotions form, and let them pass through his body.
July 18, 2019
gammerstang commented on the word ab aeterno
From an infinitely remote point of time in the past.
July 13, 2019
gammerstang commented on the word aedificium
A fortified tower
July 13, 2019
gammerstang commented on the word grunkle
The snout of a swine.
July 10, 2019
gammerstang commented on the word glome
In mathematics, a 3-sphere, or glome, is a higher-dimensional analogue of a sphere. It may be embedded in 4-dimensional Euclidean space as the set of points equidistant from a fixed central point. Analogously to how the boundary of a ball in three dimensions is an ordinary sphere (or 2-sphere, a two-dimensional surface), the boundary of a ball in four dimensions is a 3-sphere (an object with three dimensions). A 3-sphere is an example of a 3-manifold and an n-sphere.
June 26, 2019
Gammerstang commented on the word braggadocious
boastful or arrogant.
May 13, 2019
Gammerstang commented on the word murcid
Cowardly. - An Universal Etymological English Dictionary
May 8, 2019
Gammerstang commented on the word heronsue
Cumbrian dialect: heronsue - heron
March 31, 2019
Gammerstang commented on the word pangare
Pangaré is a coat trait found in some horses that features pale hair around the eyes and muzzle and underside of the body.
January 27, 2019
Gammerstang commented on the word skeinast
Old Icelandic: To get a scratch, to get a slight wound
January 12, 2019
Gammerstang commented on the word deffervescent
Heard on Jeopardy, means "loss of heat". I found it in some books on Google but I can't find it in a dictionary, just medical texts.
December 14, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word lacrimoid
resembling a teardrop
November 3, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word rostate
Looked it up in Google books. Misspelling of prostate?
November 3, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word sirulate
Winding (as if around a pole) in shape.
November 3, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word sudiform
shaped like a stake
November 3, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word penitente
Penitentes, or nieves penitentes (Spanish for "penitent-shaped snows"), are snow formations found at high altitudes. They take the form of elongated, thin blades of hardened snow or ice, closely spaced and pointing towards the general direction of the sun.
November 2, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word Earth analog
An Earth analog (also referred to as an Earth twin or Earth-like planet, though this latter term may refer to any terrestrial planet) is a planet or moon with environmental conditions similar to those found on Earth.
November 2, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word acarinarium
An acarinarium is a specialized anatomical structure which is evolved to facilitate the retention of mites on the body of an organism, typically a bee or a wasp.
October 27, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word viatory
of the nature of wayfaring; pert. to travel ...1629 obs. rare
October 4, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word row of peas
a thing of very little value ...1965 Amer. dial.
October 4, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word gorgonise
turn to stone
October 4, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word stelliferous
Reminds me of a famous line from the book 2001: A Space Odyssey.
August 16, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word zopilot
(Spanish) black vulture, buzzard
August 11, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word zazzera
(Italian) a thick mass of hair
August 11, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word yuzluk
Old Turkish coin
August 11, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word wowwow
Malayan for the agile gibbon
August 11, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word woopknacker
Anything notable, amazing etc; also as adj.
August 11, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word wimpzilla
(particle physics) A theoretical superheavy dark matter particle, trillions of times more massive than other proposed types of dark matter.
August 11, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word whittlewhattle
(whet'i-what'i), n, [A re- duplii-aWd form, based on wheet-wheet, an imitation of the piping note uttered by birds when fondling each other.
August 11, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word whistersnivet
A thumping blow: spec, a backhanded blow.
August 11, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word turpiloquence
Shameful speech
August 11, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word tangatanga
(Maori) (verb) to loosen, loose, at ease.
August 11, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word spitchock
verb (used with object) to split, cut up, and broil or fry (an eel). to treat severely.
August 11, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word snuttering
Snuttering, vbl. n. Cf. 17th c. Eng. snatter (1647), Chattering. — Urquhart Rabelais iii xiii 107.
The snarling of messens, rantling of rats, … snuttering of monkies;
August 11, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word snooger
In marbles, a close miss.
August 11, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word skig
The smallest portion of anything. The English Dialect Dictionary: R-S
edited by Joseph Wright
August 11, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word skaamoog
A cat shark of the family Scyliorhinidae.
August 11, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word shawabti
The ushabti (also called shabti or shawabti, with a number of variant spellings) was a funerary figurine used in ancient Egyptian religion.
August 11, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word scurryfunger
An ancient dental tool.
August 11, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word pignocher
(French) verb 1. pick one's food
August 11, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word penisterophily
Rare. the raising and training of pigeons.
August 11, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word Ngoko
informal speech style of Javanese.
August 11, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word meadophily
The study of beer bottle labels. — meadophile, n.
August 11, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word liknon
(Greek) a winnowing fan or basket, used in The Dionysian Mysteries.
August 11, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word kwazinka
A slit between the folding parts of a screen.
August 11, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word kokopolo
A deific hunchback from Hopi culture, better known as Kokopelli.
August 11, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word kakamora
Creatures from the mythology of Solomon Islands.
August 11, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word hum-hum
a coarse cotton cloth formerly imported from India.
August 11, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word farnix
Old spelling of fornix.
August 11, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word wampus
A stupid, dull, loutish clod.
August 11, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word cejijunto
(Spanish) nearly monobrowed; having eyebrows nearly together
August 11, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word buta-buta
a swift; a small plain-colored bird of the family Apodidae that resembles a swallow and is noted for its rapid flight
August 11, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word beswing
To swing about; to hang
August 11, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word banghywallah
A banghy was a bamboo pole with slings on each side to support heavy dispatches, parcels or baggage. It was carried by a parcel bearer, (known as a banghywallah).
August 11, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word Ascolia
Ascolia, in Ancient Greece, was a yearly feast that the peasants of Attica celebrated in honor of Dionysus. The rites included sacrificing a goat, chosen because goats were prone to eating and destroying grapevines, and using its skin to make a football, which was filled with wine and smeared in oil. Festival participants then competed against each other by trying to leap onto it in a game that gave the festival its name (askoliazein or ασκωλιάζειν); the one who remained standing at the end of the contest won the wineskin as a prize. Participants also painted their faces with wine dregs, sang hymns, and recited satirical poetry.
August 11, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word alipile
n : Servant employed to remove unwanted armpit hair. Who knows if it's a real word or one Balderdash made up.
August 11, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word hygog
1. An unsatisfied desire. 2. An anxious suspense.
Hygogical a. Unattainable; next to impossible.
Burgess Unabridged: A New Dictionary of Words You Have Always Needed
By Gelett Burgess, 1914
August 11, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word reeang’d
Said of the flesh risen or discolored in stripes or "reeangs" as from the stroke of a whip.
August 9, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word glockamoid
Wish I had written down the definition as found in Balderdash (which probably wasn't accurate anyway) but it's also referenced in a book called Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin in a list of weird words. Shame. Interestingly enough, I keep getting synonyms for "sharp" in Google's suggestions.
August 9, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word smifligate
vb (tr)
another word for spiflicate
August 9, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word perverb
An anti-proverb or a perverb is the transformation of a standard proverb for humorous effect. Paremiologist Wolfgang Mieder defines them as "parodied, twisted, or fractured proverbs that reveal humorous or satirical speech play with traditional proverbial wisdom".
August 9, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word comprodor
A comprador or compradore is a "person who acts as an agent for foreign organizations engaged in investment, trade, or economic or political exploitation"
August 9, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word bronstrops
The obsolete word bronstrops "procuress," frequently found in Middleton's comedies, probably is an alteration of baude-strote.
August 9, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word nuzzing
intransitive verb. 1 : to work with or as if with the nose; especially : to root, rub, or snuff something. 2 : to lie close or snug.
August 9, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word dronkship
Dronkship. of cobblers: cobblers collectively—Bk. of St. Albans, 1486.
August 9, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word daspypgal
Having hairy buttocks. From Ancient Greek δασύς (dasús, “hairy, dense”) + πυγή (pugḗ, “buttocks”).
August 9, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word derrybounder
a) a prospector in the desert
b) the noise made by an object in collision
c) a great rage
d) an old term for a hare
August 1, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word scutoid
A scutoid is a geometric solid between two parallel surfaces. The boundary of each of the surfaces (and of all the other parallel surfaces between them) is a polygon, and the vertices of the two end polygons are joined by either by a curve or a Y-shaped connection. Scutoids present at least one vertex between these two planes. The faces of the scutoids are not necessarily convex, so several scutoids can pack together to fill all the space between the two parallel surfaces.The object was first described in Nature Communications in July 2018, and the name scutoid was coined because of its resemblance to the shape of the scutellum in some insects, such as beetles in the Cetoniidae subfamily.
August 1, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word proprietorially
in a proprietorial capacity or manner.
July 30, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word polderen
Dutch: “pragmatic cooperation despite differences”
July 30, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word prosimetrum
A prosimetrum (plural prosimetra) is a poetic composition which exploits a combination of prose (prosa) and verse (metrum), in particular, it is a text composed in alternating segments of prose and verse. It is widely found in Western and Eastern literature.
July 30, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word svärdstav
A swordstaff (Svärdstav) is a Scandinavian polearm, used in the medieval ages. It is made by placing a blade at the end of a staff.
July 21, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word snærisspjót
Viking throwing string attached to a spear and serving the same function as an atlatl. http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/manufacturing/text/viking_spear.htm#string
July 21, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word vorlage
A vorlage (ˈfoːɐ̯laːɡə; from the German for prototype or template) is a prior version or manifestation of a text under consideration. It may refer to such a version of a text itself, a particular manuscript of the text, or a more complex manifestation of the text (e.g., a group of copies, or a group of excerpts). Thus, the original-language version of a text which a translator then works into a translation is called the vorlage of that translation. For example, the Luther Bible is a translation of the Textus Receptus. So in this case the Textus Receptus is the vorlage of the Luther Bible.
July 19, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word apographa
Apographa refers to established copies or transcripts of certain texts, usually religious or ecclesiastical, rather than the original autographs by the original authors or writers.
July 19, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word sprog
This was the name of Mad Max's kid? Not very imaginative...
July 14, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word lair
Australian slang: a flashily dressed young man of brash and vulgar behaviour, to dress up in flashy clothes, to renovate or dress up something in bad taste
July 12, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word unus mundus
Latin for "one world", is the concept of an underlying unified reality from which everything emerges and to which everything returns.
July 12, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word doline
A sinkhole, also known as a cenote, sink, sink-hole, swallet, swallow hole, or doline (the different terms for sinkholes are often used interchangeably), is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer.
July 11, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word amelanistic
is a pigmentation abnormality characterized by the lack of pigments called melanins, commonly associated with a genetic loss of tyrosinase function. Amelanism can affect fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals including humans.
July 7, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word the wrong type of snow
"The wrong type of snow" or "the wrong kind of snow" is a phrase coined by the British media in 1991 after severe weather caused disruption to many of British Rail's services. A British Rail press release implied that management and its engineering staff were unaware of different types of snow. Henceforth in the United Kingdom, the phrase became a byword for euphemistic and pointless excuses.1
July 6, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word neckverse
a verse usually consisting of the first lines of a Latin version of the 51st psalm formerly set before an accused person claiming benefit of clergy so that the person might vindicate his claim by an intelligent reading aloud of the verse before examiners.
July 6, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word hematine
(also magnetic hematite, hemalyke or hemalike) is an artificial magnetic material. Hematine is widely used in jewelry.
July 6, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word lightning flower
Lichtenberg figures appearing on people are sometimes called lightning flowers, and they are thought to be caused by the rupture of capillaries under the skin due to the passage of the lightning current or the shock wave from the lightning discharge as it flashes over the skin
July 6, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word slipface
the lee side of a dune where the slope approximates the angle of rest of loose sand that is generally about 33 degrees.
July 6, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word salitter
“Salitter seems only to have occurred, used in this way, in the writings of Jakob Boehme, a 17th century German Christian mystic. Here is enough of what he says about it, to begin to understand the exquisite choice made by McCarthy in using the word: ‘What is in Paradise is made of the celestial Salitter… it is clear, resplendent … The forces of the celestial Salitter give rise to celestial fruits flowers, and vegetation.’ Salitter, as used by Boehme, as used by McCarthy, is the essence of God.”
July 6, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word allegoresis
the interpretation of written, oral, or artistic expression as allegory.
July 1, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word aerole
In a leaf with reticulate venation, an area surrounded by veins. in A Dictionary of Plant Sciences
June 28, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word king's table
Tafl games are a family of ancient Germanic and Celtic strategy board games played on a checkered or latticed gameboard with two armies of uneven numbers, representing variants of an early Scandinavian board game called tafl or hnefatafl in contemporary literature.
June 27, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word lamb's-wool
(noun) - (1) A favorite liquor among the common people, composed of ale and roasted apples. The pulp of the roasted apple was worked up with the ale till the mixture formed a smooth beverage. Fanciful etymologies for this popular word have been thought of, but it was probably named from its smoothness, resembling the wool of lambs. --Robert Nares' Glossary of the Works of English Authors, 1859 (2) The pulpe of the roasted apples, in number foure or five, according to the greatnesse of the apples, mixed in a quart of faire water, laboured together untill it come to be as apples and ale, which we call lambes-wooll. --Thomas Johnson's Gerard's Herball, 1633 (3) A corruption of la mas ubhal, that is, the day of the apple fruit. --Rev. John Boag's Imperial Lexicon, c. 1850
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word gipsying-party
(noun) - A party who meet to frolic in the open air. --John Ogilvie's Comprehensive English Dictionary, 1865
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word fletcherize
(verb) - To chew thoroughly. --Mitford Mathews' Dictionary of Americanisms, 1956
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word basket-fortune
(noun) - A small fortune, said of a girl's marriage-portion. --William Cope's Glossary of Hampshire Words and Phrases, 1883
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word manners-bit
(noun) - (1) A portion of a dish left by the guests, that the host may not feel himself reproached for insufficient preparation. --Joseph Hunter's Hallamshire Glossary, 1829 (2) A morsel left in a dish to avoid the imputation of greediness. --T. Ellwood Zell's Popular Encyclopedia, 1871
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word bauk
(noun) - (1) A ridge of land left unploughed. --Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language, 1755 (2) As used in Scotland, a strip two or three feet in breadth. --John Jamieson's Etymological Scottish Dictionary, 1808
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word dismurderized
(adjective) - Divested of the character of murder; pronounced to be not murder. --Sir James Murray's New English Dictionary, 1897
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word lottery-barber
(noun) - Where a man, for being shaved and paying three-pence, may stand a chance of getting ten pound. --The London Annual Register, 1777
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word aeroflation
(noun) - Passing through the air in balloons. --Noah Webster's Compendious Dictionary of the English Language, 1806
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word bone-orchard
(noun) - A slang name for a cemetery. --Ramon Adams' Western Words: A Dictionary of the Range, Cow Camps, and Trail, 1946
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word neezled
(adjective) - A little drunk or intoxicated. --Walter Skeat's North of England Words, 1873
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word Jerusalem-pony
(noun) - A donkey or ass, evidently allusive to our Savior's entrance into Jerusalem on an ass. --G.F. Northall's Warwickshire Word-Book, 1896
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word forakers
(noun) - The "closet of decency," or "house of office." Very likely from "four acres," the original "necessary" having been, in all likelihood, a field behind the school. --John Camden Hotten's Slang Dictionary, 1887
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word pollincter
(noun) - One who prepares materials for embalming the dead; from Latin pollinctus, French polingère, to wash and prepare a corpse for a funeral. --William Whitney's Century Dictionary, 1889
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word false generations
(pl. noun) - Bastard offspring. Cymbeline. --C.H. Herford's Notes on the Works of Shakespeare, 1902
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word cliquant
(adjective) - Glittering with gold. The word was properly used of thin sheets of gold, and hence already suggests the golden sheen made more definite by the words: "Today the French, all cliquant, all in gold, like heathen gods, shone down the English." Henry VIII. --C.H. Herford's Glossary of the Works of Shakespeare, 1902
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word three outs
(pl. noun) - When three persons go into a public-house, call for liquor generally considered sufficient for two, and have a glass which will divide it into three equal portions, they are said to "drink three outs." --James Halliwell's Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, 1855
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word womblety-cropt
(noun) - The indisposition of a drunkard after a debauch. --James Halliwell's Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, 1855
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word friar's chicken
(noun) - Chicken broth with eggs dropped in it, or eggs beaten and mixed in it. --William Whitney's Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia, 1889
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word monographer
(noun) - A writer of a monograph, a paper or treatise written on one particular subject. --Daniel Lyons' The American Dictionary of the English Language, 1897
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word pulletier
(noun) - The keeper of the sacred chickens observed for purposes of augury; adopted from Old French pouletier, poultry-keeper. --Sir James Murray's New English Dictionary, 1909
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word Yorkshire compliment
(noun) - A gift of something useless to the giver. Sometimes called a "North-country compliment." --John Camden Hotten's Slang Dictionary, 1887
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word neck and crop
(adverb) - The medieval English croppe and the Anglo-Saxon cropp both meant the top of a plant; the Old French croup meant the top of a hill. Thus, crop has come to mean the top of anything, including the ears of corn at the top of the stalk and the head of a man. The Norwegian nakk meant a knoll, or top of a hill. Thus neck and crop is simply a strengthening of the idea. To fall neck and crop is to crash completely. --Edwin Radford's Encyclopaedia of Phrases and Origins, 1945
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word awarpen
(adjective) - Thrown or cast. --Richard Verstegan's A Restitution of Decayed Intelligence, 1605
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word hello girl
(noun) - (1) A girl who operates a telephone switchboard. --William Craigie's Dictionary of American English, 1940 (2) The use of the word "hello" is rigorously barred to the "hello girl." --Booklover's Magazine, October 1903 (3) We had visitors anxious to listen to the sweet voice of the "hello girl." --Boston Transcript, February 1908
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word pigsnye
(noun) - A darling; a "dear little pig's eye." Commonly used as an endearing form of address to a girl. Charles Dickens called his wife "dearest mouse" and "dearest darling pig." --Walter Skeat's Glossary of Tudor and Stuart Words, 1914
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word vowelled
(adjective) - Supplied or provided with vowels, especially to an unusual extent. Also with qualifying terms, as well-vowelled. --Sir James Murray's New English Dictionary, 1928
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word bobbersome
(adjective) - Elated; in high spirits. --John Brockett's Glossary of North Country Words, 1825
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word seabeat
(adjective) - Dashed about by the waves. --William Perry's Royal Standard English Dictionary, 1809
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word prayer-bones
(pl. noun) - The knees. --John Farmer's Americanisms Old and New, 1889
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word rollipoke
(noun) - (1) Coarse hempen cloth; Eastern England. --James Halliwell's Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, 1855 (2) Hempen cloth of very coarse texture. Perhaps so named because only fit to be used as bags or wrappers for rolls or bales of finer goods. --Rev. Robert Forby's Vocabulary of East Anglia, 1830
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word begunked
(adjective) - Bewildered, surprised, disappointed. --Michael Traynor's The English Dialect of Donegal, 1953
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word slocket
(verb) - To commit a petty theft; to pilfer. --Major B. Lowsley's Glossary of Berkshire Words and Phrases, 1888
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word gone dead
(adjective) - Always used for dead. --J.D. Robertson's Glossary of Archaic Gloucestershire Words, 1890
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word vivers
(pl. noun) - (1) Food provisions, victuals, eatables; adaptation of Old French vivres, plural of vivre, food, sustenance. Only Scottish until the nineteenth century. Its later currency is probably due to its frequent occurrence in Waverly novels. --Sir James Murray's New English Dictionary, 1928 (2) From Latin vivo, to live. --Edward Lloyd's Encyclopaedic Dictionary, 1895
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word rhetoricate
(verb) - To play the actor. --Rev. John Boag's Imperial Lexicon, c. 1850
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word All Sir Garnet
(slang phrase) - Going well. A reference to the brilliant military successes of Sir Garnet Wolseley during the Egyptian campaign of the '80s. "How's the war? All Sir Garnet." --Edwin Radford's Encyclopaedia of Phrases and Origins, 1945
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word starry-gazy-pie
(noun) - A pie made of herring-like pilchards and leeks, the heads of the pilchards appearing throughout the crust as if they were studying the sky. --James Halliwell's Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, 1855
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word blurry
(noun/verb) - A breakdown. To commit a blunder. --Rev. Alfred Easther's Glossary of Almondbury and Huddersfield, 1883
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word furk
(verb) - To expell; to be furked, to be expelled; Winchester School Glossary. --William Cope's Glossary of Hampshire Words and Phrases, 1883
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word tut-bargain
(noun) - Among miners, a bargain "by the lump." --Rev. John Boag's Imperial Lexicon, c. 1850
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word chincough
(noun) - A disease, often epidemic among children; the whooping-cough. From Dutch kind, a child, and kuch, cough. --John Ogilvie's Comprehensive English Dictionary, 1865
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word pulicosity
(noun) - An abundance of, or being full of fleas. --Daniel Fenning's Royal English Dictionary, 1775
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word muckinger
(noun) - A pocket handkerchief. --Walter Skeat's Glossary of English Dialects in Poetry, 1896
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word poothery
(adjective) - Muggy, sultry; spoken of the weather. --William Marshall's Agricultural Provincialisms of the Midland Station, 1790
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word manqueller
(noun) - A murderer, a killer of men; from man, and Saxon cwellan, to kill. More anciently it meant an executioner. Dame Quickly in Shakespeare's 2 Henry IV adds woman-queller, which shows that she understood the first word: "Thou art a honyseed, a man-queller, and a woman-queller." --Robert Nares' Glossary of the Works of English Authors, 1859
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word buckle and tongue
(slang) - To make buckle and tongue meet, to make ends meet. "Beginning without money, he had as much as he could do to make buckle and tongue meet," as the phrase goes. Harper's Magazine, April 1888. --William Cragie's Dictionary of American English, 1940
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word rope-sick
(adjective) - Diseased in the ropes, or entrails. --T. Lewis Davies' Supplimental English Glossary, 1881
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word steehopping
(verb) - (1) Gadding abroad idly to hear or carry news. Possibly from eve-droppings, and may denote the conduct of eve-droppers, who harken for news under windows; expressive of the talebearer's chief employment, to carry stories from house to house. --Frederick Elworthy's Specimens of English Dialects, 1778 (2) Usually applied to women, but not always; not used in any other sense. "Her is always steehopping about; better fit her would abide at home and mind her own house, same as I be forced to." --Frederick Elworthy's The West Somerset Word Book, 1888
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word blackwork
(noun) - An undertaker's business. --Granville Leveson-Gower's A Glossary of Surrey Words, 1893
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word whitwhat
(adjective) - Unstable; changeable. --W.E.T. Morgan's Radnorshire Words, 1881
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word horse-bread
(noun) - (1) A peculiar sort of bread made for feeding horses. --Robert Nares' Glossary of the Works of English Authors, 1859 (2) Take two bushels of good clean beans and one bushel of wheat, and grind them together. Then, through a fine sieve bolt out the quantity of two pecks of pure meal and bake it in two or three loaves by itself. The rest sift through a meal sieve and knead it with water and good store of barme yeast. And so, bake it in great loaves, and with the coarser bread feed your horse in his rest. --Gervase Markham's Country Contentments, 1615
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word uts
(interjection) - A term of encouragement to dogs, generally to incite them to fight. "Uts! Uts to 'n!" --R. Pearse Chope's The Dialect of Hartland, Devonshire, 1891
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word flahooler
(noun) - A generous, big-hearted, good-natured person, with also an implied sense of gaity or flippancy. --Michael Traynor's The English Dialect of Donegal, 1953
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word peat-reek-whisky
(noun) - Highland whisky, distilled over peat fires. --Alexander Warrack's Scots Dialect Dictionary, 1911
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word chronogram
(noun) - One of the simplest devices of the word-juggler, and as old as the Romans. It consists in selecting certain letters indicating a date from a name or an inscription on a tomb, an arch, or a medal, printing them larger than the others, and obtaining thereby a date which is regarded as an augury. In some chronograms only the initial letters are counted as forming the solutions to the puzzle, but in others all the characters used for Roman numerals are taken into account. History supplies many first-rate chronograms. In fact it was once the custom to strike medals with chronogramic sentences in which the date of the occasion commemorated was set forth by the letters selected. --Henry Reddall's Fact, Fancy, and Fable, 1889
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word sleeveless
(adjective) - As the meaning of the expression, "to sleeve a two," appears plainly to be to twist or fold silk thread so subtle that it is difficult to untwist it, sleeveless then should seem to mean "that which cannot be unfolded or explained." --John Brand's Observations on Popular Antiquities, 1813
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word animalculist
(noun) - One who attempts to explain different physiological or pathological phenomenon by means of animalcules microbes. --Robley Dunglison's Dictionary of Medical Science, 1844
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word shouldering
(noun) - The custom of "shouldering," which was for the coachman to take the fare of a way-passenger--one who did not register or start at the booking-office--and pocket it without making any return to the coach agent or proprietor, was universal in England. Some coach companies suffered much by it, and it was a tidy bit of profit to the unscrupulous coachman. Shouldering was common also in the New World. --Alice Morse Earle's Stagecoach and Tavern Days, 1900
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word chamber-lye
(noun) - (1) Fermented urine, formerly used for laundry purposes, being a strong detergent. --Francis Taylor's Folk-Speech of South Lancashire, 1901 (2) Formerly preserved in tubs for washing, to soften the water and save soap. --Sir James Murray's New English Dictionary, 1893
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word eighteen pence
(noun) - Conceit, show of importance. A consequential person is said to have eighteen pence around him. Originally the word would apply to people who made arrogant assumption stand in the place of wealth and position. --Thomas Darlington's The Folk-Speech of South Cheshire, 1887
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word pelch
(adjective) - Faint; indisposed; exhausted. --John Brockett's Glossary of North Country Words, 1825
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word time of books
(noun) - The study period in school. A teacher told me that she whipped a boy "for hollerin' in time o' books." Ozarks. --Vance Randolph and George Wilson's Down in the Holler, 1953
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word clock tax
(noun) - In 1797 a tax upon clocks of five shillings a year, and seven shillings sixpence on watches, was imposed by Act of Parliament. It was short-lived, being repealed in 1798 after demand for timepieces had been reduced by more than half. --Edwin Radford's Encyclopaedia of Phrases and Origins, 1945
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word vale
(verb) - To make obeisance; to bow. This verb has perhaps been formed as primarily denoting the obeisance made by servants when they expect a vale, a gratuity from visitors. Samuel Johnson derives this from avail, profit, or Latin vale, farewell. Perhaps from French veiller, to watch, studiously attend. --John Jamieson's Etymological Scottish Dictionary, 1808
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word first-chop
(adjective) - The phrase was once used all through the United States as a synonym for "first-rate." The word chop is Chinese for "quality." --Henry Reddall's Fact, Fancy, and Fable, 1889
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word automobilist
(noun) - One who uses or drives an automobile; from 1897. Automobilize, to habituate to the use of an automobile. --William Craigie's Dictionary of American English, 1940
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word about East
(adjective) - In a proper manner. This curious slang expression originated in the West among New Englanders emigrated from the East. With them, naturally, all that is done in their native land is right, and hence, what they admire they simply call about East. --Sylva Clapin's Dictionary of Americanisms, 1902
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word pruttock
(verb) - To pruttock about, to play about, enjoy freedom, show off fine clothes and the like. Used of servant girls on holiday. --Edward Gepp's Essex Dialect Dictionary, 1923
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word black acre
(noun) - A name used in court, to distinguish one plot of ground from another: black acre, white acre, green acre, etc.. After a time, to black-acre meant to litigate over land. --Joseph Shipley's Dictionary of Early English, 1955
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word rough music
(noun) - Rolling shot cannon balls about on the lower deck, and other discordant noises, when seamen are discontented, but without being mutinous. --Admiral William Smyth's Sailor's Word Book, 1867
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word lick-up
(noun) - A miserably small pittance of anything, as if it were no more than the cat can take up by one stroke of her tongue. --Rev. Robert Forby's Vocabulary of East Anglia, 1830
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word envelope party
(noun) - During the 1939-45 war, many thousands of old envelopes were renovated for re-use by government departments. Several prisons made contributions in this work, and the "envelope party" generally comprised the very old and the infirm men. At Wormwood Scrubs, after the war, a party of elderly and crippled men was still employed on this work. At "tally time," they were first off the mark with the prison officers' cry of "Lead on, Envelopes!" --Paul Tempest's Lag's Lexicon: A Dictionary of the English Prison, 1950
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word vastation
(noun) - Purification by destruction of evil impulses. --William Craigie's Dictionary of American English, 1940
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word gothicism
(noun) - Rudeness of manners, barbarousness. Gothicize, to bring back to gothicism. --Rev. John Boag's Imperial Lexicon, c. 1850
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word switter
(verb) - (1) To struggle like a drowning person; to splash or flounder about; late seventeenth to twentieth centuries. --Mairi Robinson's Concise Scots Dictionary, 1985 (2) To work in confusion, or in a confused manner. --John Jamieson's Etymological Scottish Dictionary, 1808
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word grass-nurse
(noun) - A wet-nurse. --Sir James Murray's New English Dictionary, 1901
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word man-browed
(adjective) - Having hair growing between the eyebrows. Here it is deemed unlucky to meet a person thus marked, especially if the first one meets in the morning. Elsewhere it is a favourable omen. The term, I suppose, had been primarily applied to a woman as by this exuberance indicating something of a masculine character. --John Jamieson's Etymological Scottish Dictionary, 1808
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word lying for the whetstone
(noun) - (1) It is a custom in the North, when a man tells the greatest lie in the company, to reward him with a whetstone, which is called lying for the whetstone. --Joseph Budworth's Fortnight's Rambles to the Lakes, 1792 (2) The term whetstone, for a liar, or for the prize for lying, was a standing jest among our ancestors. --Frederick Elworthy's Specimens of English Dialects, 1778 (3) Lying with us is so loved and allowed that there are many tymes gamings and prizes to encourage one to outlye another. And what shall he gaine that gets the victorie in lying? He shall have a silver whetstone for his labour. --Thomas Lupton's Too Good to Be True, 1580
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word dontlement
(noun) - Holiday dress, fine clothes; Lancashire. --Joseph Wright's English Dialect Dictionary, 1896-1905
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word hudge
(verb) - To accumulate grievances against an enemy. --Appleton Morgan's Study in the Warwickshire Dialect, 1900
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word flarnecking
(verb) - Flaunting with vulgar ostentation; intensive of flare. --Rev. Robert Forby's Vocabulary of East Anglia, 1830
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word leg drama
(noun) - A ballet. Theaters where stage dancing forms a prominent feature of the entertainment are similarly called leg-shops. --John Farmer's Americanisms Old and New, 1889
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word jejuneness
(noun) - (1) Poverty, barrenness, particularly want of interesting matter; a deficiency of matter that can engage the attention and gratify the mind, as the jejuneness of style or narrative. Jejunity is not used. --Noah Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828 (2) Jejunitie, barrennesse or slendernesse of stile. --Henry Cockeram's Interpreter of Hard English Words, 1623
April 23, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word peg-tankard
(noun) - Our Saxon ancestors were accustomed to use peg-tankards, or tankards with a peg inserted at eight equal intervals, that when two or more drank from the same bowl no one might exceed his fair portion. We are told that St. Dunstan introduced the fashion to prevent brawling. "I am a peg too low" means I want another draught to cheer me up. --Ebenezer Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, 1887
April 23, 2018
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