sting can also refer to a short sequence played by a drummer in entertainment productions such as circus, vaudeville, or cabaret shows, to punctuate a joke, often a bad or obvious one.
an acronym used as shorthand for the volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity of large-scale conditions or situations. First used in post-Cold Wargeopolitics discourse, and later in general studies of strategic leadership.
a borb is a round or round-presenting (as with ruffed feathers) birb. Often applied to small passerine birbs such as the (exemplary) bearded tit, any of various kinglets or bullfinches.
For some reason New Zealand boasts a plethora of medium-sized borbs, including the kiwi, the weka and takahe.
There seem to be alternative interpretations. I think the Wiktionary one cited on this page is not in fact commonly accepted. Wikipedia agrees with Etymonline.
Important note: Etymonline is entirely the project of a single very prolific old guy.
Hepatizon (Greek etymology: ἧπαρ, English translation: "liver"), also known as black Corinthian bronze, was a highly valuable metal alloy in classical antiquity. It is thought to be an alloy of copper with the addition of a small proportion of gold and silver (perhaps as little as 8% of each), mixed and treated to produce a material with a dark purplish patina, similar to the colour of liver. It is referred to in various ancient texts, but few known examples of hepatizon exist today.
a supposed condition similar to photic sneezing, where exposure to loud noises invokes a sneeze response. Can't find any references at all to this in medical literature online, so it may be completely made-up. Not sure where I heard it.
Difrasismo is a term derived from Spanish that is used in the study of certain Mesoamerican languages, to describe a particular grammatical construction in which two separate words are paired together to form a single metaphoric unit. This semantic and stylistic device was commonly employed throughout Mesoamerica, and features notably in historical works of Mesoamerican literature, in languages such as Classical Nahuatl and Classic Maya....
For example, in Nahuatl the expression "cuitlapilli ahtlapalli" or "in cuitlapilli in ahtlapalli", literally "the tail, the wing", is used in a metaphoric sense to mean "the people" or "the common folk".
Poictesme ("pwa-TEM") is a fictional country in which the fantasy works of James Branch Cabell, collectively known as the Biography of the Life of Manuel, are set.
Someone has a list of fictional countries around here somewhere...
Just FYI, wordnik is case sensitive, and for many loanwords the English form does not preserve the original language's diacritics. So you can find the main entry of the above word at litterateur
French, "devil's noise"; modernly called venous hum. Segen's Medical dictionary has
A retired French medical lexical import for a “hellacious noise” (diable—devil), which is heard by auscultation; it is covered by “venous hum” in the working medical parlance.
felgercarb was correct on the show, but feldercarb is more frequently used in popular culture. It has at least 2x the Google search results. Probably because it is easier to say for most English speakers.
author China Mieville kind of ruined this word, for me personally, when he used it 3 or 4 times in a single novel, in contexts where interrupt, intrude, or cut in would have worked just as well.
slang term of inchoate and amorphous definition, but primarily used to refer to throwing or discarding something forcefully, and as a general interjection when doing so.
Originated with the dance thing popularized on Vine and Youtube, but at this date no longer commonly refers to it.
Fun to note that in Northern California, where Senator Feinstein has been a political fixture for decades, this usage has been around in local media for several of them.
"A fugitive color is a pigment that, when exposed to certain environmental conditions such as sunlight, humidity, temperature or even pollution, is less permanent."
Coloring matter used in art that is not intended to last long.
I'd be interested in seeing the list of metaphors, with our without the graphic. Perhaps you could add them to this site using the list function here. I made a similar list for weather-related idioms and phrases, weather-idioms, as an example.
The first person one encounters, either after leaving one's home or (sometimes) outside one's home, especially on New Year's Day. A term and tradition from the Isle of Man. Term from Manx
I'm not saying it's carved in stone, but if you were to ask the person who used it as such, they'd tell you they meant "I fuck with you", which simply means "I choose to associate or deal with you". It's true that "fucking want" could "fit" there semantically, but that's not what is meant *by those who are using the abbreviation on twitter or elsewhere.*
found in the glossary of Bradshaw's Canals and Navigable Rivers of England and Wales, 1904, definition given:
an idle and inquisitive person who stands staring for prolonged periods at anything out of the common. This word is believed to have its origin in the Lake District of England.
The combination of "cryptographic" security encryption with "envelopes" of domain. Cryptolopes enable publishers on the WWW to securely distribute content with copyright protections and security over payments for copyrighted material usage.
In IT and software development, the scream test is when you don't know if something (a file, server, a product or service) is still being used so you take it away and see if anybody screams.
In politics, the scream test is whether outcry or complaint from a particular group or entity is induced by the discussion, proposition, or enaction of some legal measure.
Platitudinous political rhetoric or obfuscation. (From "brotherhood of man under the fatherhood of God," closing line of a radio speech by John D. Rockefeller Jr., on July 8, 1941; later used as a slogan by Nelson Rockefeller.)
Hello fellow wordnik, just wanted to respond to your comment at Bebung—it may be that you can find what you're looking for at this page: bebung (not lowercase)
got this from Random word link, & before I read the definition I was hoping for the postulated elementary particle that establishes the force of a hug.
Also in non-apocalyptic times, often refers to gear required for job safety in construction and engineering: hi-vis vests and jackets in fluorescent colors, hard hats, safety glasses, boots, gloves, pads, hearing protection devices, etc.
"rotational ambigrams" like this are all over the place but there are very very few "natural ambigrams" like pod, dollop, suns. Most ambigrams require some artistic trickery of lettering
natalie_portmanteaux I hate to play the part of prescriptivist fun police, but you might rephrase or include a disclaimer in your portmanteau comments to show they're gag etymologies...none of the recent commented words are really portmanteaux.
in usage, the generic epithet in binomial nomenclature (ie., the first term, the genus name) should be always capitalized including when referring to a genus without regard to a particular species
Hi! you can usually find definitions for words by searching for the non-capitalized form (unless it is actually a proper name/noun). If you look at plasticky, you will find an existing definition there.
I thought that there must be a Latin combining form that describes spasm or seizure, but all I found were more Greek forms: -lepsy and -plexy/-plegia. Darn
this shit is a great anagram poem. It evokes a whole scene. "This shit" is those circumstances under which some long-suffering toiler—who's seen this oh so many times before—speaks the phrase, in a sour epithet of resignation to its particular and carking burdens.
German, "special path". A theory in German historiography, a variously described supposed "special" path taken by Germany historically prior to 1945 (opposed to e.g. the democratic path of Western Europe and the autocracy of Eastern Europe), considered as a cause of latter German political structures and outcomes.
Cintāmaṇi (Sanskrit), also spelled as Chintamani (or the Chintamani Stone), is a wish-fulfilling jewel within both Hindu and Buddhist traditions, said by some to be the equivalent of the philosopher's stone in Western alchemy.
Pre-2004 this was a province of northeastern Iran, since dissolved into several smaller provinces, but in antiquity (from 6th century BCE) Khorasan referred to a much larger area comprising the east and north-east of the Persian Empire, its area today also including parts of Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
oh I don't know about that. If anything, its more hackneyed usage is as a colloquial hyperbolic reference to a period of expression of anger, with no real violence implied (see Twitter cites). While yes rampage is probably the frontrunner for instances of actual mass violence, nearly as often we see bloodbath, spree, massacre, slaughter, jag and others.
feliciajeansteele, you sort of just did. I think the only way to actually do that would be to upload the image to Flickr yourself and tag it with the relevant term(s). But I have no idea how often Wordnik refreshes from the Flickr API
it refers to being tricked, fooled, falling victim to some form of bait-and-switch. Derived from something involving a particular emoji (also called "jebaited") on the Twitch game-streaming site.
(obsolete) a female sweetheart. An eponym/pojmanym (via Shakespeare) From the Latin feminine given name Dulcibella, from dulcis, sweet and bellus, beautiful.
A military song in ancient Sparta. The Spartan poet Tyrtaeus sometime in the 7th century BCE authored work(s) called "Embateria or Songs of the Battle-Charge which are also called Enoplia or Songs-under-Arms." Francis Gouldman's 1664 A Copious Dictionary in Three Parts defines embateria as "Certain songs to which armed men were wont to dance."
I can't find this defined anywhere, but some googling is showing indications that it is rarely, and perhaps mistakenly, used as a synonym for everyday or commonplace.
Drunk. Cited by Ben Franklin in ‘The Drinkers Dictionary,’ a column in the 6 January 1737 edition of his newspaper The Pennsylvania Gazette, giving 228 different phrases for being drunk.
In Russian culture and politics, this refers to "compromising information"—damaging information about a public or commercial figure, used for negative publicity, or for blackmail. A shortening of a Russian phrase, (romanized as) komprometiruyushchy material.
I don't know...my grandma was known for decisively crushing all comers in Scrabble. One time I tied with her and it was one of the proudest moments of my adolescence
venomous reptiles, large carnivores, electric eels, hippopotamuses (don't @ me), etc. However I think pathogenic microorganisms are the hazardous lifeforms relevant to this context
to commit to or take decisive action. Derived from similar expressions in automotive contexts.
From definition-of.com:
American English idiom: Bringing a pending act to fruition. Usually connotates an act which will have serious consequences. Also used in reference to quickly increasing speed in a car by manipulating a manual transmission gear shift (the "hammer").
An answer on english.stackexchange.com:
possible that ... "drop the hammer" evolved from "put the hammer down," a trucking term. Robert Chapman & Barbara Kipfer, Dictionary of American Slang, third edition (1995) has this entry for hammer down:
hammer down, adv. phr. (truckers by 1960) Going full speed; with throttle to the floor; =wide open "...a herd of LA rednecks, all of 'em pie-eyed and hammer down"—Esquire
From an answer on Quora:
It's either hitting the gas very hard, or "dropping the clutch" at the beginning of a race.
If drop the hammer = drop the clutch, it means releasing the clutch very quickly to start ("launch") the car quickly from a dead stop
Archaic European name for the Indian state of Odisha and of various kingdoms and/or cities that existed the area. orixa is also an alternate spelling for the orisha spirits of West Africa.
see lemnian. In antiquity Lemnian earth (lemnia sphragis) was an astringent for snakebites and wounds. The soil was dug ceremonially once a year near Hephaestia on the island of Lemnos.
I remember several from San Francisco (mostly closed years ago, but a lot of them retain their signage): Alhambra, Alexandria, Paragon, Vogue, Acme, Palacade, Lumiere, Coronet, Regency, El Rey, Pagoda, Granada, Embassy. We also have a Roxie.
edit: found an internet list - there was also the Grand, the Amazon, the Tower, the Apollo, El Capitan, the Imperial...a Richelieu!
you can place these comments directly on the word page for each one! Then, whenever someone looks up that word in the future, they can scroll down and see your comment/definition, even if the word otherwise has no entry.
Example: see the comment I just posted at crumbledeed
slang, an imperative phrase. Advising the listener to slow down, calm down; to moderate excitement or agitation; consider consequences, look before you leap. Don't get in a tizzy or all het up.
this is a term of art in apparel and product design and is more an industry-specific hyponym of variant or version than it is particularly related to color theory. In usage it refers almost exclusively to consumer product designs, often shoes, but also, e.g., wetsuits or skeins of yarn.
For example, a particular model of shoe may be available in three styles, each identical in form and construction except as regards the colors used: one in red and orange, another in green and white, and the last in black and gray. Each is a colorway.
lemming made me think of sheep and the satirical sheeple. Also, square was once in common use in this vein. Also normie itself would be a good addition to this list.
i got thinking of this word again and went looking on Google Books. Found citations not entomological, but botanical. The Botanical Register, 1817, describes a gloxinia bloom (with a kind of poetry):
Style white, ascendent, an inch long, tubular, bearded at the base : stigma hiant, broadest crossways, frosted within.
another text, Principia Botanica: Or, Beginnings of Botany from 1960:
... in which the ovary remains hiant into the fruit stage ; and in early ontogeny many ovaries are hiant), and another genus already technically angiospermous by the ovary closing, and the style being already fully formed.
In US/UK English "Kurdo" is usually rendered as Kurdish.
For what it's worth, in about 5 minutes of Google Books/News searches and I can't find any examples of this usage of "gor." The only non-typo results in English in recent years are mostly references to Kenyan football club Gor Mahia.
I'd guess that it's an extremely relaxed pronunciation of "according", spelled phonetically to capture the pronunciation. Assuming you saw this in print somewhere.
a phrase used in English-speaking areas of South Asia referring highly euphemistically to various forms of female-directed sexual harrassment or assault
Obsolete, a wax- or lard-based pomade for the hair.
The name of this preparation, which is a compound of Greek and Latin, signifying “a friend to the hair,” was first introduced by Parisian perfumers; and a very good name it is, for Philocome is undoubtedly one of the best unguents for the hair that is made.
from The Art of Perfumery, and Method of Obtaining the Odors of Plants, G.W. Septimus Piesse, 1857
Assassinesslessnesses are a scourge on modern culture. Measures are called for to expand the pipeline to increased assassiness presence across literally every sector of our society. Contact your representative.
In ancient Egyptian art, the Set animal, or sha, is the totemic animal of the god Set...Unlike other totemic animals, the Set animal is not easily identifiable in the modern animal world. Today, there is a general agreement among Egyptologists that it was never a real creature and existed only in ancient Egyptian imagination. In recent years, there have been many attempts by zoologists to find the Set animal in nature.
Who was talking about Joy Harjo? Was it fbharjo? Today, Joy Harjo was appointed the US poet laureate by the Librarian of Congress and became the first Native American so appointed.
name of a chemical found in the skin of older people, and used in caregiving as shorthand for a distinctive "old people smell." Discussed in this article.
Some people refer to it as “old-people smell,” ... often mistakenly attributed to poor hygiene, but it is actually an inescapable component of body odor that only manifests in older individuals. The official (and more respectful) term for the smell is nonenal...
Found only in participants aged 40 and older, nonenal is a component of body odor that is produced when omega-7 unsaturated fatty acids on the skin are degraded through oxidation.
There’s even a word to describe words that are exactly the right word for what you want to say – “teleolexical”. Why wouldn’t we want to give every word a chance to be someone’s teleolexical word?
In ancient alchemy, a precious stone believed to cause the phoenix to renew its youth. Also referred to as the "slender stone." In the work of 13th-century minnesinger Wolfram von Eschenbach, the Lapis exilis is conflated with the Holy Grail.
A member of various Russian free-thinking Christian sects.
From Wikipedia:
A Molokan (Russian: молокан, IPA:məlɐˈkan or молоканин, "dairy-eater") is a member of various Spiritual Christian sects that evolved from Eastern Christianity in the East Slavic lands...The term Molokan is an exonym used by their Orthodox neighbors; they tend to identify themselves as Spiritual Christians (духовные христиане, dukhovnye khristiane).
1. The resistance of matter, as when a body at rest is set in motion, or a body in motion is brought to rest, or has its motion changed, either in direction or in velocity.
2. Inertness; inactivity.
Usage notes
Vis inertiae and inertia are not strictly synonymous. The former implies the resistance itself which is given, while the latter implies merely the property by which it is given.
phrasal verb, to effect agonized crying or sobbing with such "ugly" displays as facial grimaces or spasm, flush, hyperventilation, rhinorrhea, etc. Merriam Webster did a blog post about it.
theorized phase of matter occurring at extremely high temperature and density, composed of free quarks. Could have been extant shortly after the Big Bang
This word is still in high frequency usage in video gaming contexts, from my observation. Blogs and such, it does seem a little dated, recalling to mind things like Geocities and latter Usenet. I don't think it was much in common usage at all prior to 2000, though. It's not in the jargon file, which is telling.
A German post-Expressionist style of art circa 1920s.
Although "New Objectivity" has been the most common translation of "Neue Sachlichkeit", other translations have included "New Matter-of-factness", "New Resignation", "New Sobriety", and "New Dispassion". The art historian Dennis Crockett says there is no direct English translation, and breaks down the meaning in the original German:
Sachlichkeit should be understood by its root, Sache, meaning "thing", "fact", "subject", or "object." Sachlich could be best understood as "factual", "matter-of-fact", "impartial", "practical", or "precise"; Sachlichkeit is the noun form of the adjective/adverb and usually implies "matter-of-factness".
A type of shallow-hulled sailing coaster once used in the Adriatic as a cargo vessel. Typically about 20 meters long with a crew of 10-20. Also trabaccalo, trabacalo
I always understood this to refer to a person who stirs up trouble, and/or enjoys watching others argue and fight. I found this which says it is "a person who does not prevent bad behavior," per students at University of Leicester (UK)
transitive verb (slang): to murder, literally or figuratively. From "mercenary." To "get merked" is to be killed; to be beaten badly (in a game, sport, or exchange of insults); or to become highly intoxicated.
seems like the definition given ("positively influences the environment") would require the facility to produce something of value to the environment rather than simply doing no harm. I.e., solar distributed back into the grid, compost production, waste heat recovery, etc. etc. Simply having a zero-waste facility, laudable as it is, wouldn't fit the criteria given.
Heard this watching football (soccer and Irish football). An intentional or tactical foul, i.e., with little or no intent to gain the ball but instead for breaking opponents' rhythm, stopping an attack, intimidation or sometimes even sheer bloody-mindedness
shorthand in computer graphics for Phong shading. Phong shading is an implementation of the Phong reflection model, which is a local illumination model devised by computer scientist Bui Tuong Phong in the 1970s that can produce a certain degree of realism in three-dimensional object rendering by combining three elements—diffuse, specular and ambient lighting—for each considered point (usually a pixel) on a surface.
Phong is the math behind that particular jelly-like sheen that is, or was, common to many computer graphics renderings.
A written representation of various trombone stings used humorously in television and film to punctuate instances of misfortune, stupidity, or awful jokes.
slang, noun. An act or instance of owning oneself, usually as an unintended consequence of some act—"own" in the sense of defeating, subjugating, embarrassing or otherwise achieving dominance over another (cf. pwn).
Often, a self-own is when someone inadvertently insults themselves due to unawareness of the implications of their own statement(s).
The man on the Clapham omnibus is a hypothetical reasonable person, used by the courts in English law where it is necessary to decide whether a party has acted as a reasonable person would — for example, in a civil action for negligence. The man on the Clapham omnibus is a reasonably educated and intelligent but nondescript person, against whom the defendant's conduct can be measured.
the consensus on urbandictionary is that this word refers to food, but after a cursory read through of Google search results, I conclude that it means whatever you want it to mean.
Or a county cumberer would be more alliterative. But you could also say maybe a borough burden. Or a burg blag? Or a local lackadaisical. a district drain. a parish pain point.
Sorry. Suggesting any kind of simple wordplay to me is like waving a chew toy over your dog's head
"Focus stacking (also known as focal plane merging and z-stacking or focus blending) is a digital image processing technique which combines multiple images taken at different focus distances to give a resulting image with a greater depth of field (DOF) than any of the individual source images."
"A piezo stage can be defined as a mechanical device driven be a piezoelectric actuator, which provides one or more axis of motion. In the case of nanopositioning, a piezo stage makes use of flexure hinges where a moving platform is linked to a static base."
Interesting word. All the citations above are from the Mahabharata. Various heroic figures in the story are repeatedly referred to as "car-warrior". Appears to be a translation of the Sanskrit ati-ratha where ratha literally means a chariot.
Can't find an actual definition anywhere, but reading some passages, it looks like these characters are all chariot-mounted archers to whom are ascribed supernatural levels of martial prowess and general badassery. I think the chariots are flying in some cases. There are a lot of connotations I'm sure I'm missing.
a type of illustration particular to the Wall Street Journal; a pen and ink head-and-shoulders portrait in a style mimicking the woodcuts used in early journalism.
upset about how many times recently I've seen this word confused with pixilated. Otherwise reputable publishers in various media cannot seem to find proofreaders who know the difference.
Late one night at home i was writing down ideas for a thing about postcolonialism or something like that and fell asleep. i woke up in the wee hours and the last paragraph i'd written unmistakably narrated a dream sequence, in some version of my handwriting, shaky but legible. Something about the Minotaur and my brother and a cargo ship full of hay bales? don't remember. i couldn't remember any part of the actual experience, but it was observed on some level obviously. i think i still have the page somewhere. strange
I don't know if it was already done between 2010 and now, but I have made a list of most listed words. I think schadenfreude continues to be the most listed word on this site.
Comments by ry
Show previous 200 comments...
ry commented on the word shellsuit
see also tracksuit
January 19, 2021
ry commented on the word shell suit
Common in UK English, more or less equivalent with U.S. English tracksuit
January 19, 2021
ry commented on the word hatorade
more commonly haterade
January 19, 2021
ry commented on the word ba dum tss
I wish tags could be gotten working again.
January 14, 2021
ry commented on the word ba dum tss
used in text media to represent a rimshot. See comment at ba dum tss 🥁
January 14, 2021
ry commented on the word ba dum tss 🥁
see also rimshot and comments at sting
January 14, 2021
ry commented on the word sting
sting can also refer to a short sequence played by a drummer in entertainment productions such as circus, vaudeville, or cabaret shows, to punctuate a joke, often a bad or obvious one.
January 14, 2021
ry commented on the word obelion
see comment on obelion user page
January 14, 2021
ry commented on the word VUCA
an acronym used as shorthand for the volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity of large-scale conditions or situations. First used in post-Cold War geopolitics discourse, and later in general studies of strategic leadership.
January 14, 2021
ry commented on the word shitsome
how wonderful (not sarcasm)
January 14, 2021
ry commented on the user jazzymom
see quisling!
January 14, 2021
ry commented on the word respair
see comment at Respair
January 7, 2021
ry commented on the word xenoglossia
see xenoglossy
January 7, 2021
ry commented on the user stuartmathergibson
Hi! You might want to add your comments to the pages sanative and respair, and (possibly) psellismophiliac nebulophily. Word urls are case sensitive on Wordnik.
January 6, 2021
ry commented on the list unenthusiastic-interjections
see also oh-well-what-the-hell
January 6, 2021
ry commented on the list oh-well-what-the-hell
this list and my list unenthusiastic-interjections are substantially parallel conceptually but have very little crossover in content. Amazing
January 6, 2021
ry commented on the list boundaries-SzQNmpV80e6
Oh have I got a list for you: thresholds
January 5, 2021
ry commented on the list fairy-glossary-dlkHTmkFILH
this is also a Good List
January 5, 2021
ry commented on the list kickassery
cf. m--2
lots of people have this same kind of list, I love it
January 5, 2021
ry commented on the word ru
but it seems that zuzu is entirely undefined
January 5, 2021
ry commented on the word gumsucker
as a note, vandemonian is here on Wordnik as an uncapitalized word, in the Century
January 5, 2021
ry commented on the user buffalogalbarb
toponymy
January 5, 2021
ry commented on the user roberttown
Your ideas are intriguing to me, and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
January 5, 2021
ry commented on the word panko
"ko" is not "short for coating"
January 4, 2021
ry commented on the word Sanative
sanative
January 4, 2021
ry commented on the word Polychronicon
see comment on polychronicon
December 19, 2020
ry commented on the word botchpotch
embrangulée
December 19, 2020
ry commented on the word borbs
yes tits can be round, but also pointy
December 14, 2020
ry commented on the word mishegos
variant spelling of mishegoss
December 14, 2020
ry commented on the word electric eel
numb-eel, apparently, courtesy Aphra Behn. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23179031/
December 14, 2020
ry commented on the list witchcraft-and-magic-IHx-q6Jyf68
this is a Good List
December 14, 2020
ry commented on the word headarsery
I need to make a list of terms related to this. Off the top of my head asshat, asshattery, brainus, careculo, intrarectalcranialitis, rectocranial inversion...
December 14, 2020
ry commented on the word bearded tit
the exemplar of a borb
December 14, 2020
ry commented on the word borb
a borb is a round or round-presenting (as with ruffed feathers) birb. Often applied to small passerine birbs such as the (exemplary) bearded tit, any of various kinglets or bullfinches.
For some reason New Zealand boasts a plethora of medium-sized borbs, including the kiwi, the weka and takahe.
Possibly from a melding of birb+orb
see also comments at borbs
December 14, 2020
ry commented on the word borbs
my understanding is that it's not a matter of size but of roundness. A borb is a round birb. They can be very small, such as bullfinches
December 14, 2020
ry commented on the user joekillian
Hi, thanks for some quite enjoyable nonsense.
December 7, 2020
ry commented on the word noetic
there was a neat word list someone made that relates to this word: noesis
December 4, 2020
ry commented on the word scrunt
this is like a skit where someone is making fun of lexicographers
December 4, 2020
ry commented on the word Yggdrasil
There seem to be alternative interpretations. I think the Wiktionary one cited on this page is not in fact commonly accepted. Wikipedia agrees with Etymonline.
Important note: Etymonline is entirely the project of a single very prolific old guy.
December 4, 2020
ry commented on the word LULZ
see lulz
December 2, 2020
ry commented on the word hepatizon
from Wikipedia:
cf. orichalcum/orichalc
November 23, 2020
ry commented on the word sonar sneezing
a supposed condition similar to photic sneezing, where exposure to loud noises invokes a sneeze response. Can't find any references at all to this in medical literature online, so it may be completely made-up. Not sure where I heard it.
November 23, 2020
ry commented on the word karasu
English (romaji) transcription of からす, a crow or raven.
November 23, 2020
ry commented on the word decretum
From Latin, a decree or ordinance. Also a formal collection of decisions and judgments in canon law.
November 23, 2020
ry commented on the word onomatopoeticon
A German cognate of onomatopoeia in the sense of an onomatopoeic word (that is, not the sense of onomatopoeia as a linguistic process or practice.)
November 23, 2020
ry commented on the word difrasismo
A linguistic term. From Wikipedia:
cf. kenning in Norse languages.
also cf. the metaphor-language of the Tamarians in the iconic Star Trek: the Next Generation episode Darmok.
November 23, 2020
ry commented on the word cutterhead
The large, rotating cutting wheel mounted at the head of a modern TBM (tunnel boring machine). Often cutter head.
November 23, 2020
ry commented on the word ambihelical
an "ambihelical hexnut" is an "impossible figure" optical illusion, conceptually somewhat similar to the more well-known Penrose triangle.
https://mathworld.wolfram.com/AmbihelicalHexnut.html
November 23, 2020
ry commented on the word abstractum
A philosophy term referring to something that is abstract, or exists abstractly. Distinguished from concretum.
this is another word where I can find the definition at Wiktionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/abstractum), but it doesn't appear here on Wordnik. cc erinmckean
November 23, 2020
ry commented on the list fantastic-places
lol this list hasn't been updated in a while, but Poictesme could be added.
Also Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius
November 23, 2020
ry commented on the word Poictesme
Poictesme ("pwa-TEM") is a fictional country in which the fantasy works of James Branch Cabell, collectively known as the Biography of the Life of Manuel, are set.
Someone has a list of fictional countries around here somewhere...
November 23, 2020
ry commented on the user 5hadow-girl
Just FYI, wordnik is case sensitive, and for many loanwords the English form does not preserve the original language's diacritics. So you can find the main entry of the above word at litterateur
November 23, 2020
ry commented on the word ree-donk
don't see the Twitter citation. Does it have something to do with ridonkulous?
November 23, 2020
ry commented on the word covid
I think language is our superpower and denial our tragic flaw. Along with apophenia probably.
November 22, 2020
ry commented on the word pashmam
a very useful term, then.
November 9, 2020
ry commented on the word bruit de diable
French, "devil's noise"; modernly called venous hum. Segen's Medical dictionary has
November 2, 2020
ry commented on the word volocopter
a small, electrically powered multi-rotor helicopter, designed for use as an air taxi.
The private company Volocopter GmbH seems to have originated the term and immediately had its trademark diluted, in the early 2010s.
October 26, 2020
ry commented on the word got curare
I like this one
October 26, 2020
ry commented on the word felgercarb
coined word for bullshit, used on the TV show Battlestar Galactica
also rendered feldercarb
October 23, 2020
ry commented on the word feldercarb
felgercarb was correct on the show, but feldercarb is more frequently used in popular culture. It has at least 2x the Google search results. Probably because it is easier to say for most English speakers.
October 23, 2020
ry commented on the word blepharo-
combining form referring to the eyelids. Defined at blepharo– with an en-dash for some reason.
October 22, 2020
ry commented on the word irrupt
author China Mieville kind of ruined this word, for me personally, when he used it 3 or 4 times in a single novel, in contexts where interrupt, intrude, or cut in would have worked just as well.
October 22, 2020
ry commented on the word zaitech
this is very cyberpunk
October 22, 2020
ry commented on the list macquarie-dictionary-8th-new-words-BRqQR647WHud
why are they mostly A's and B's?
October 22, 2020
ry commented on the word yeet
slang term of inchoate and amorphous definition, but primarily used to refer to throwing or discarding something forcefully, and as a general interjection when doing so.
October 22, 2020
ry commented on the word yought
facetious past participle form of the slang term yeet
October 22, 2020
ry commented on the word sus
also a slang clipping of suspicious. "Acting sus" is a common usage.
currently seeing a spike in use, stemming from its use as shorthand in the popular video game Among Us.
The word also appears in various other languages, notably in Spanish as plural possessive determiner
October 22, 2020
ry commented on the word desire path
see also comments at nerd path
October 20, 2020
ry commented on the word DiFi
see comments at DIFI
October 20, 2020
ry commented on the word DIFI
Fun to note that in Northern California, where Senator Feinstein has been a political fixture for decades, this usage has been around in local media for several of them.
https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Hotline/3OktAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=difi
making me nostalgic for the political rows of the 90s...a more innocent time
October 20, 2020
ry commented on the user 0oopzie
sea-king
October 20, 2020
ry commented on the word fugitive color
"A fugitive color is a pigment that, when exposed to certain environmental conditions such as sunlight, humidity, temperature or even pollution, is less permanent."
Coloring matter used in art that is not intended to last long.
Not to be confused with disappearing ink.
October 9, 2020
ry commented on the list doggo-lingo---open-list
Dog Solution is another important resource
October 6, 2020
ry commented on the word coffin liquor
ewww
October 6, 2020
ry commented on the word yessiram
is it a contraction of "yes sir I am"?
October 6, 2020
ry commented on the word fun police
a person or entity purported to try to, or wish to, stop people from having fun, often by attempting to end an activity such as a party or game.
October 6, 2020
ry commented on the word nerd path
often also called desire paths, a term from urban planning and civil engineering
October 2, 2020
ry commented on the user andrewalberto77
apocalypt
October 1, 2020
ry commented on the list a-few-of-my-favorite-things-kQOekGZXi_r3
it's a different meter, but double-dactyls is a similar list you might get a kick out of.
September 25, 2020
ry commented on the word εὐρύς
this word is the root of euryphage, eurypterid, aneurysm, Eurydice and probably Europe.
and it comes from the PIE root *wer- / *ur, ‘to stretch, to extend,
wide, broad, extended, large’
September 21, 2020
ry commented on the user jgkahn
I'd be interested in seeing the list of metaphors, with our without the graphic. Perhaps you could add them to this site using the list function here. I made a similar list for weather-related idioms and phrases, weather-idioms, as an example.
September 21, 2020
ry commented on the word kissing-muscle
see kissing muscle (& oscularis)
September 21, 2020
ry commented on the word kissing muscle
a rare layman's term for the orbicularis oris sphincter muscle complex that surrounds the human mouth.
Mentioned in here, an old and archived BBC Science page.
Also found (with a hyphen) in the Century's definition of oscularis, an obsolete term for the same.
September 21, 2020
ry commented on the user kit
minimalize is definitely a word. I think the only salient error here is kit's misspelling of 'minimilize'
September 21, 2020
ry commented on the list we--1
"soidisant" is usually hyphenated, see soi-disant
September 11, 2020
ry commented on the list common-word-placenames-A0dfLDyK97Yf
this is a great list!
September 11, 2020
ry commented on the word qualtagh
The first person one encounters, either after leaving one's home or (sometimes) outside one's home, especially on New Year's Day. A term and tradition from the Isle of Man. Term from Manx
September 9, 2020
ry commented on the word ion fw
I'm not saying it's carved in stone, but if you were to ask the person who used it as such, they'd tell you they meant "I fuck with you", which simply means "I choose to associate or deal with you". It's true that "fucking want" could "fit" there semantically, but that's not what is meant *by those who are using the abbreviation on twitter or elsewhere.*
September 4, 2020
ry commented on the word gongoozle
probably backformation from gongoozler, q.v.
September 4, 2020
ry commented on the word gongoozler
found in the glossary of Bradshaw's Canals and Navigable Rivers of England and Wales, 1904, definition given:
September 4, 2020
ry commented on the word hit for six
To be markedly affected by bad news, or to be knocked out or otherwise damaged by a hard blow. From cricket (the sport). See hit someone for six.
September 3, 2020
ry commented on the word ion fw
nobody uses fw meaning "fucking want". It only means "fuck with."
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=FW
September 3, 2020
ry commented on the word fw
I think your 2017 comment is more correct :D
August 26, 2020
ry commented on the word ion fw
fw is usually understood to be short for "f** with", usually in the sense of "have anything to do with" but sometimes in the sense of "to affront".
August 26, 2020
ry commented on the list it-has-a-name
merese, hastive, thallophori
August 25, 2020
ry commented on the user john123w
SWEET
August 18, 2020
ry commented on the word homeskillet
this word is definitely not original with the movie Juno. A Google Books search finds examples as early as 1993.
July 27, 2020
ry commented on the word kranch
A word i dislike a lot.
July 27, 2020
ry commented on the word cryptolope
Cool obscure technology word. The only definition I found was in the engagingly old-school Bob Jensen's Technology Glossary.
The combination of "cryptographic" security encryption with "envelopes" of domain. Cryptolopes enable publishers on the WWW to securely distribute content with copyright protections and security over payments for copyrighted material usage.
July 6, 2020
ry commented on the word tems
I posit that it's an artifact of OCR (optical character recognition) and it's just supposed to be the word terms. I got fitty cents on it.
July 6, 2020
ry commented on the word anemoia
nostalgia for a past that one has not subjectively experienced.
trendy coined word from the so-called "Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows"
July 6, 2020
ry commented on the user cooldude69
fuckall mate whats up with you
June 30, 2020
ry commented on the word scream test
In IT and software development, the scream test is when you don't know if something (a file, server, a product or service) is still being used so you take it away and see if anybody screams.
In politics, the scream test is whether outcry or complaint from a particular group or entity is induced by the discussion, proposition, or enaction of some legal measure.
June 30, 2020
ry commented on the word flop sweat
Wiktionary has: Flop sweat 1. (slang) Sweat due to nervousness, especially fear of failure.
June 30, 2020
ry commented on the word zenographic
amazingly specific
June 30, 2020
ry commented on the user birdbranz
it's possible that your sponsorship expired. I think they're for a term of 1 year.
Also, Wordnik is case-sensitive. I notice that erleichda is adopted, but not Erleichda
June 30, 2020
ry commented on the word miner's coffee
see comment at tub hat.
cf. cowboy coffee
June 30, 2020
ry commented on the word BOMFOG
see bomfog
June 30, 2020
ry commented on the word bomfog
Platitudinous political rhetoric or obfuscation. (From "brotherhood of man under the fatherhood of God," closing line of a radio speech by John D. Rockefeller Jr., on July 8, 1941; later used as a slogan by Nelson Rockefeller.)
June 30, 2020
ry commented on the user bobjwallace
this is quite fun but including the Century Dictionary entries for Middle English and Scots dialect forms seems a teensy bit unfair ;)
April 23, 2020
ry commented on the word nould
this is fantastic. nould:nill::should:shall::would:will
April 14, 2020
ry commented on the word parolist
I don't know why that would be needed, parolee is already ungendered
April 10, 2020
ry commented on the word fishtancing
I first misread the word and assumed it would be some allusion to enforcement of social distancing thru violence—fistancing
April 2, 2020
ry commented on the word jewel box
Seeing this in real estate and architecture contexts to describe homes or buildings of exquisite, compactly intricate design
April 1, 2020
ry commented on the word amid
journalists writing about pandemic are frustrated with not having enough alternatives for the word "amid" (or amidst)
https://www.prdaily.com/during-the-covid-19-pandemic-buzzwords-are-getting-a-workout/
As of writing this comment, each and every one of the Twitter citations at right refer to COVID-19 and use this word.
unprecedented
March 26, 2020
ry commented on the user jasonwordperson
you might like anagram-poetry
March 25, 2020
ry commented on the user reverseemf
Hello fellow wordnik, just wanted to respond to your comment at Bebung—it may be that you can find what you're looking for at this page: bebung (not lowercase)
March 25, 2020
ry commented on the word Bebung
hi reverseemf—Wordnik is case-sensitive. As suggested in the link under the Definitions heading, you can find some an entry at bebung.
March 25, 2020
ry commented on the word skeleton crew
Twitter cites on this page are a litany—seems many businesses and installations have one of these right now.
March 25, 2020
ry commented on the word covid
anyone else want to pretend this is all it means?
March 25, 2020
ry commented on the word huggon
I submit that "huggon" is the postulated elementary particle that establishes the force of a hug.
appears that it also means something in Cebuano as well.
March 24, 2020
ry commented on the word Huggon
got this from Random word link, & before I read the definition I was hoping for the postulated elementary particle that establishes the force of a hug.
March 24, 2020
ry commented on the word PPE
Also in non-apocalyptic times, often refers to gear required for job safety in construction and engineering: hi-vis vests and jackets in fluorescent colors, hard hats, safety glasses, boots, gloves, pads, hearing protection devices, etc.
March 24, 2020
ry commented on the list only-the-lonely
I feel personally attacked 😆
March 23, 2020
ry commented on the word stroll
https://i.imgur.com/oNObxMf.mp4
March 9, 2020
ry commented on the word leucocytiform
time for a new fence?
March 7, 2020
ry commented on the list inverted-palindromes-ZLej6c6aVN8D
"rotational ambigrams" like this are all over the place but there are very very few "natural ambigrams" like pod, dollop, suns. Most ambigrams require some artistic trickery of lettering
March 3, 2020
ry commented on the word Earthizen
tellurian, Terran, Earthling, Earthican, Earthman/Earthwoman, terrestrial, earthsman
March 2, 2020
ry commented on the word barrel
natalie_portmanteaux I hate to play the part of prescriptivist fun police, but you might rephrase or include a disclaimer in your portmanteau comments to show they're gag etymologies...none of the recent commented words are really portmanteaux.
February 29, 2020
ry commented on the word artichoke
that's not a real etymology of artichoke...
February 29, 2020
ry commented on the word rumchata
That sounds amazing. I wonder if Amish youths could try it in rumspringa
February 26, 2020
ry commented on the word bothriolepis
in usage, the generic epithet in binomial nomenclature (ie., the first term, the genus name) should be always capitalized including when referring to a genus without regard to a particular species
February 24, 2020
ry commented on the word u v v v w v uu v vv
These kinds of edge cases in well-formedness are always a kick.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_linguistic_example_sentences
February 21, 2020
ry commented on the user noarh
why...
February 13, 2020
ry commented on the word plasticky
see comment at Plasticky
February 13, 2020
ry commented on the user msindisi
Hi! you can usually find definitions for words by searching for the non-capitalized form (unless it is actually a proper name/noun). If you look at plasticky, you will find an existing definition there.
February 13, 2020
ry commented on the word synaptojanin
the phrase vesicle uncoating in neurons just welded itself to the inside of my skull
February 11, 2020
ry commented on the list anagram-poetry
does your pink smoke machine have a lot of buttons that perform a mad panoply of functions?
February 4, 2020
ry commented on the word ensmallen
generally accepted as the opposite of embiggen
February 4, 2020
ry commented on the word anachrospasm
I like that.
I thought that there must be a Latin combining form that describes spasm or seizure, but all I found were more Greek forms: -lepsy and -plexy/-plegia. Darn
January 31, 2020
ry commented on the list anagram-poetry
this shit is a great anagram poem. It evokes a whole scene. "This shit" is those circumstances under which some long-suffering toiler—who's seen this oh so many times before—speaks the phrase, in a sour epithet of resignation to its particular and carking burdens.
January 28, 2020
ry commented on the word mcdo
royale with cheese?
January 27, 2020
ry commented on the word Szczecin
Sounds dope. What is a lodging society?
also how does Polish pronounce this? Is it kind of a rhyme with "mention"? stɛt͡ʃɪn?
January 27, 2020
ry commented on the list odd-anagrams
I think a lot of these pairs ended up on the anagram-poetry list.
January 23, 2020
ry commented on the word cacadoxy
can Wordnik refresh Wiktionary sources? Over there they have an entry for this word as "Incorrect doctrine or opinions."
January 23, 2020
ry commented on the word chevaline
Phrontistery and Logolepsy both say this refers to horse meat/horseflesh. In French it is an adjective meaning equine.
January 23, 2020
ry commented on the word sonderweg
see comment at Sonderweg
January 23, 2020
ry commented on the word Sonderweg
German, "special path". A theory in German historiography, a variously described supposed "special" path taken by Germany historically prior to 1945 (opposed to e.g. the democratic path of Western Europe and the autocracy of Eastern Europe), considered as a cause of latter German political structures and outcomes.
January 23, 2020
ry commented on the word cintamani
Wikipedia says:
January 23, 2020
ry commented on the word tutman
A miner or person who does tutwork
January 23, 2020
ry commented on the word tutwork
Collins dictionary says this is a dialectical term in mining, referring to work for which payment is made at a fixed rate per increment of land/area.
January 23, 2020
ry commented on the word pantsu
A phonetic spelling of the Japanese word for panties, used in various otaku and weeaboo subcultures.
January 23, 2020
ry commented on the word Songhay
antiquated alternate transliteration for Songhai
January 23, 2020
ry commented on the word Traxiane
Name from the Hellenistic period for the Khorasan (q.v.) region of Western Asia.
January 23, 2020
ry commented on the word Khorasan
Pre-2004 this was a province of northeastern Iran, since dissolved into several smaller provinces, but in antiquity (from 6th century BCE) Khorasan referred to a much larger area comprising the east and north-east of the Persian Empire, its area today also including parts of Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
January 23, 2020
ry commented on the word silent policeman
compare speed bump, speed hump
January 23, 2020
ry commented on the word rampage
oh I don't know about that. If anything, its more hackneyed usage is as a colloquial hyperbolic reference to a period of expression of anger, with no real violence implied (see Twitter cites). While yes rampage is probably the frontrunner for instances of actual mass violence, nearly as often we see bloodbath, spree, massacre, slaughter, jag and others.
January 23, 2020
ry commented on the word fardel
feliciajeansteele, you sort of just did. I think the only way to actually do that would be to upload the image to Flickr yourself and tag it with the relevant term(s). But I have no idea how often Wordnik refreshes from the Flickr API
January 21, 2020
ry commented on the word jebaited
it refers to being tricked, fooled, falling victim to some form of bait-and-switch. Derived from something involving a particular emoji (also called "jebaited") on the Twitch game-streaming site.
January 21, 2020
ry commented on the word shromp
MBARI = Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
January 17, 2020
ry commented on the word scatebrous
scateo/scatere in Latin is to "bubble, gush, spring forth" so it probably refers to springs in the hydrologic sense
January 16, 2020
ry commented on the word exocet
see Exocet
January 15, 2020
ry commented on the word amparsy
It turns out the more usual spelling is ampassy for this usage.
January 15, 2020
ry commented on the word jucos
see comment at juco
January 15, 2020
ry commented on the word juco
A colloquial contraction of junior college used primarily in sports-related contexts.
January 15, 2020
ry commented on the word Aleutian disease
There's mustelids but it seems to be only mustelids. Not mustelid-related terminology
January 15, 2020
ry commented on the word bone-eating snot flower worm
okay what
January 14, 2020
ry commented on the word micropenis
I kind of agree, but I can't think of any alternative other than minipenis, only questionably an improvement.
January 14, 2020
ry commented on the word cloud street
NASA has a really amazing satellite photo of this phenomenon:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasacommons/31289967363/
January 9, 2020
ry commented on the word amparsy
This way of reciting the alphabet is wholly unfamiliar. I wonder where it is from.
January 2, 2020
ry commented on the list 2020-words-i-stumble-across-███-vBUw_M4OlqF
something weird going on here
January 2, 2020
ry commented on the word shana tova
Three clicks on the random word link gave me this just now! Shana tova and HNY, everyone (Hebrew's Nice, Yeah)
January 1, 2020
ry commented on the word how to comment
OCR errors arc my favorlte
January 1, 2020
ry commented on the list words-that-kick-serious-ass
cursed crowfoot would go nicely with the last few terms added here.
December 30, 2019
ry commented on the word ↋
"turned digit three," used in modern duodecimal notation to represent the single-digit numeral 11.
December 30, 2019
ry commented on the word obtention
I like this more than acquisition or procurement
December 30, 2019
ry commented on the word sight line
I think sightline is the more frequent usage, which see.
December 30, 2019
ry commented on the word muddler
they may be interchangeable in one direction, at least: in the current twitter cites, a person claims to have made mashed potatoes with a muddler
December 24, 2019
ry commented on the user ashishk
that does sound detrimental
December 23, 2019
ry commented on the word tauidion
I have to hazard that this word is a frontrunner for the most highly-specific anatomical term in English.
December 20, 2019
ry commented on the list wonder--1
other examples of this type of list:
noble-mythical-words
fairy-words
illuminated-manuscript
Treeseed's "faery dust" lists, found here
December 20, 2019
ry commented on the word logofolio
a portmanteau of logo and portfolio that has come into vogue among graphic design service providers.
Personally it's both annoying and interesting to come across a neologism that reads like a storied old loanword.
December 20, 2019
ry commented on the user gunwant
who are these intermittent users who post a single non-sequitur and do nothing else afterward? Are you bots? I'm keeping a list.
December 20, 2019
ry commented on the list cloud-not-mine-qJhmU7mC5p
fake-words-meant-to-be-amusing is similar to this.
December 20, 2019
ry commented on the word dowsabel
(obsolete) a female sweetheart. An eponym/pojmanym (via Shakespeare) From the Latin feminine given name Dulcibella, from dulcis, sweet and bellus, beautiful.
December 19, 2019
ry commented on the word goatweed emperor
The goat-weed butterfly, anaea andria
December 19, 2019
ry commented on the word rix-baron
glitch here, the etymology appears but not the definition. Rix-baron was a title for a baron of the German Empire (ca 1870s - 1918).
December 19, 2019
ry commented on the word polisson
(obsolete) a rascal, scamp, rogue. In French it means something like "naughty" or "naughty child"
Fun citations above.
December 19, 2019
ry commented on the word enoplia
see comment at embateria
December 19, 2019
ry commented on the word agrammatic
Of, pertaining to, resembling, or affected by agrammatism
December 19, 2019
ry commented on the word embateria
A military song in ancient Sparta. The Spartan poet Tyrtaeus sometime in the 7th century BCE authored work(s) called "Embateria or Songs of the Battle-Charge which are also called Enoplia or Songs-under-Arms." Francis Gouldman's 1664 A Copious Dictionary in Three Parts defines embateria as "Certain songs to which armed men were wont to dance."
December 19, 2019
ry commented on the word runaday
I can't find this defined anywhere, but some googling is showing indications that it is rarely, and perhaps mistakenly, used as a synonym for everyday or commonplace.
December 19, 2019
ry commented on the word holouries
plural form of holoury; sexual exploits
December 19, 2019
ry commented on the word holoury
(archaic) fornication, debauchery. Mentioned in Erin McKean's 2006 Totally Weird and Wonderful Words alongside scortation and houghmagandy.
cf. holour
December 19, 2019
ry commented on the word nimptopsical
Drunk. Cited by Ben Franklin in ‘The Drinkers Dictionary,’ a column in the 6 January 1737 edition of his newspaper The Pennsylvania Gazette, giving 228 different phrases for being drunk.
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-02-02-0029
December 19, 2019
ry commented on the word bdolotic
According to Joseph P. Shipley's 1955 Dictionary of Early English, this describes "a propensity to break wind."
December 19, 2019
ry commented on the word pernoctative
Of or involving pernoctation; taking place throughout the span of a night.
December 19, 2019
ry commented on the word kompromat
In Russian culture and politics, this refers to "compromising information"—damaging information about a public or commercial figure, used for negative publicity, or for blackmail. A shortening of a Russian phrase, (romanized as) komprometiruyushchy material.
December 19, 2019
ry commented on the word hyletic
of or concerning hyle. see also hyletics.
December 19, 2019
ry commented on the user thendermanslime
no unless surely
December 17, 2019
ry commented on the user funnywifinames
Thank you, please check out our latest collection of funny wifi names
December 5, 2019
ry commented on the word asamocra
an "asynchronous, symmetrically anonymized, moderated open-cry repute auction"
December 3, 2019
ry commented on the word précising
blech
December 3, 2019
ry commented on the word top of mind
blech
December 2, 2019
ry commented on the word granny
I don't know...my grandma was known for decisively crushing all comers in Scrabble. One time I tied with her and it was one of the proudest moments of my adolescence
November 27, 2019
ry commented on the user verticalgrail6
I just re-read that book. I always thought the word was standard English, but oddly there's no entry on this site (at least) for excession
November 20, 2019
ry commented on the list french-in-english
you might like to pilfer from some of these: french--3, tricky-words-from-french, french-words-to-throw-around-next-time-you-feel-pretentious
November 15, 2019
ry commented on the word BIG suit
venomous reptiles, large carnivores, electric eels, hippopotamuses (don't @ me), etc. However I think pathogenic microorganisms are the hazardous lifeforms relevant to this context
November 12, 2019
ry commented on the user trebossa
coolest
November 12, 2019
ry commented on the list polychronic-liquidators--cyf
it appears this list was rummaged through back in early october for Wordnik Words of the Day–wootz, hypertufa, gomesi, eprouvette, hygrodeik, manuport, grism, triblet girnel and others were consecutive WOTDs. i'm disproportionately proud.
November 8, 2019
ry commented on the word choropleth
see choropleth map
November 8, 2019
ry commented on the word drop the hammer
to commit to or take decisive action. Derived from similar expressions in automotive contexts.
From definition-of.com:
An answer on english.stackexchange.com:
From an answer on Quora:
cf. lower the boom, hit the gas, give it the gun, pull out all the stops
November 8, 2019
ry commented on the word Orixa
Archaic European name for the Indian state of Odisha and of various kingdoms and/or cities that existed the area. orixa is also an alternate spelling for the orisha spirits of West Africa.
November 1, 2019
ry commented on the word ebullate
to boil due to pressure differentials. See ebullism. Not to be confused with ebulliate/ebullient.
November 1, 2019
ry commented on the word lemnian earth
see comment at Lemnian earth
November 1, 2019
ry commented on the word Lemnian earth
see lemnian. In antiquity Lemnian earth (lemnia sphragis) was an astringent for snakebites and wounds. The soil was dug ceremonially once a year near Hephaestia on the island of Lemnos.
November 1, 2019
ry commented on the word shoad-stone
see also shode
November 1, 2019
ry commented on the list is-this-a-dagger-i-see-before-me
sundang, tanto
October 31, 2019
ry commented on the list retro-names-for-movie-houses-BJX43YqsEME9
I remember several from San Francisco (mostly closed years ago, but a lot of them retain their signage): Alhambra, Alexandria, Paragon, Vogue, Acme, Palacade, Lumiere, Coronet, Regency, El Rey, Pagoda, Granada, Embassy. We also have a Roxie.
October 31, 2019
ry commented on the user katiemagaw
you can place these comments directly on the word page for each one! Then, whenever someone looks up that word in the future, they can scroll down and see your comment/definition, even if the word otherwise has no entry.
Example: see the comment I just posted at crumbledeed
October 30, 2019
ry commented on the word crumbledeed
crumbledeed - breaking your word, such as a deed for property.
ex. you owe someone money and you haven't paid them back, so the police come up to you and say "You're committing a crumbledeed."
(see comments at user katiemagaw)
October 30, 2019
ry commented on the user wtolaser
I actually kinda want to know more about what a znes lens is.
October 30, 2019
ry commented on the word all het up
see het up
October 30, 2019
ry commented on the word slow your roll
slang, an imperative phrase. Advising the listener to slow down, calm down; to moderate excitement or agitation; consider consequences, look before you leap. Don't get in a tizzy or all het up.
October 30, 2019
ry commented on the user onglish
slow your roll there buddy
October 30, 2019
ry commented on the user ispimpinpimpin
Happily, this is a website and not an app so it shouldn't consume much in the way of device resources.
However, it quite definitely is full of complete nonsense.
October 25, 2019
ry commented on the word masculism
HAHAHA
haahaha
ha
hahaha
cool
October 22, 2019
ry commented on the list ya-got-moxy-kid-08EoYDiN60_Q
do backbone, spine, and nerve fit? What about stones, balls, cojones? And why does this concept involve so many and various body parts?
October 15, 2019
ry commented on the word colorway
this is a term of art in apparel and product design and is more an industry-specific hyponym of variant or version than it is particularly related to color theory. In usage it refers almost exclusively to consumer product designs, often shoes, but also, e.g., wetsuits or skeins of yarn.
October 15, 2019
ry commented on the user twodogs
is this satire?
October 10, 2019
ry commented on the word epiploon
The Century definition reads like poetry
October 9, 2019
ry commented on the user garry123456
ok
October 9, 2019
ry commented on the list interrogative-animals-G78xbJ5pP_Nz
I made interrogative-fictional-entities-Q6tTZP39vlra to resolve the wendigo issue and the Whos down in Whoville.
September 24, 2019
ry commented on the word whincow
whydah bird?
September 19, 2019
ry commented on the list poetic-substances
cf. pet-rocks-and-carbon-footprints
September 19, 2019
ry commented on the list pieces
cf unwanted-matter
September 19, 2019
ry commented on the list winds-of-the-world
khamaseen
August 27, 2019
ry commented on the word boujie
cf. bougie, bourgie
August 26, 2019
ry commented on the list normie-normos
lemming made me think of sheep and the satirical sheeple. Also, square was once in common use in this vein. Also normie itself would be a good addition to this list.
August 22, 2019
ry commented on the word tadago-pie
first thought: aren't aborted and miscarried mutually exclusive?
second thought: what the hell?
August 17, 2019
ry commented on the word Cthulu
isn't it usually spelled Cthulhu?
August 9, 2019
ry commented on the word teanner
A blend of tea and dinner, when you have a late tea with some food that usually take at dinner. Similar to brunch but in the afternoon evening.
Suggested by manolito
August 9, 2019
ry commented on the user manolito
well, it does now. See teanner.
August 9, 2019
ry commented on the word hiant
i got thinking of this word again and went looking on Google Books. Found citations not entomological, but botanical. The Botanical Register, 1817, describes a gloxinia bloom (with a kind of poetry):
another text, Principia Botanica: Or, Beginnings of Botany from 1960:
August 9, 2019
ry commented on the word gor
In US/UK English "Kurdo" is usually rendered as Kurdish.
For what it's worth, in about 5 minutes of Google Books/News searches and I can't find any examples of this usage of "gor." The only non-typo results in English in recent years are mostly references to Kenyan football club Gor Mahia.
I'd guess that it's an extremely relaxed pronunciation of "according", spelled phonetically to capture the pronunciation. Assuming you saw this in print somewhere.
August 2, 2019
ry commented on the user spadefish
Thanks for commenting! The entry for this word is included here: ctenoid—note that Wordnik is case-sensitive.
August 2, 2019
ry commented on the word eve-teasing
a phrase used in English-speaking areas of South Asia referring highly euphemistically to various forms of female-directed sexual harrassment or assault
July 30, 2019
ry commented on the word obfusque
cf. obfusc, obfuscate
July 30, 2019
ry commented on the word dehort
cf. exhort
July 29, 2019
ry commented on the word ahoight
Obs.; reference for this is Edward Lloyd's Encyclopaedic Dictionary, 1895
etymology it gives is from Anglo-Saxon a, on, + heahdhu, height.
July 29, 2019
ry commented on the word legend
cf. qms
July 27, 2019
ry commented on the word Philocome
Obsolete, a wax- or lard-based pomade for the hair.
from The Art of Perfumery, and Method of Obtaining the Odors of Plants, G.W. Septimus Piesse, 1857
July 26, 2019
ry commented on the word Agustine, a gust in
it is like listening for falling dew is my new favorite phrase of the week.
July 26, 2019
ry commented on the word metroidvania
defined at Metroidvania
July 25, 2019
ry commented on the word magicaer
Also, apparently, sorcerperson
July 24, 2019
ry commented on the word sorcerperson
see comments at magicaer
July 24, 2019
ry commented on the word assassinesslessnesses
Assassinesslessnesses are a scourge on modern culture. Measures are called for to expand the pipeline to increased assassiness presence across literally every sector of our society. Contact your representative.
July 24, 2019
ry commented on the list cool-boi-words-if5tLuKSAZO
Aw, I wanted to see some examples of cool boi words
July 24, 2019
ry commented on the list alternatives-to-awesome-KmZyu4YtstL
I may need to write this out on a card and put it in my wallet for easy reference
July 24, 2019
ry commented on the word Set animal
see comment at sha
July 24, 2019
ry commented on the word sha
From a wikipedia article:
July 23, 2019
ry commented on the word thos
interesting; some conceptual commonality with sha aka Set animal
July 23, 2019
ry commented on the word raff
see also riffraff, scaff-raff, raffish
July 21, 2019
ry commented on the word well-wisher
cf. ill-wisher
July 21, 2019
ry commented on the word ill-wisher
cf. well-wisher
July 21, 2019
ry commented on the word welfare
cf. wofare
July 21, 2019
ry commented on the word wofare
cf. welfare
July 21, 2019
ry commented on the word paracope
Per the Century, this is pronounced /pəˈɹækəpi/ i.e., rhymes more or less with catastrophe
July 18, 2019
ry commented on the word automatic butt puller
The Frontmatec butt puller offers a much better control of yield by producing shoulder butts with uniform fat cover.
The advantages of the Automatic Butt Puller are:
· Higher productivity–up to 1,500 butts per hour
· Consistent product quality
· Designed for easy sanitation and maintenance
· Capacity to process left/right products with one machine
· Safe use for operator
https://www.frontmatec.com/en/pork-solutions/deboning-trimming/automatic-deboning-trimming/automatic-butt-puller
July 8, 2019
ry commented on the word poet laureate
Who was talking about Joy Harjo? Was it fbharjo? Today, Joy Harjo was appointed the US poet laureate by the Librarian of Congress and became the first Native American so appointed.
https://www.loc.gov/item/prn-19-066/
June 20, 2019
ry commented on the word magicaer
see also mage
June 7, 2019
ry commented on the word nonenal
name of a chemical found in the skin of older people, and used in caregiving as shorthand for a distinctive "old people smell." Discussed in this article.
April 20, 2019
ry commented on the word iono
eye-dialect spelling of a very relaxed pronunciation of "I don't know." Used as a text-speak abbreviation of same.
April 10, 2019
ry commented on the word sangschaw
*slaps knee* boy howdy ain't that a plum
April 9, 2019
ry commented on the word mfn
to wit, an abbreviation of motherfucking
April 9, 2019
ry commented on the word sangschaw
I want this to be the WOTD so qms will make a limerick with it and hopefully rhyme it with chainsaw.
April 9, 2019
ry commented on the list fantasy-setting
this sounds like a steampunk fantasy setting! Maybe this can help?
March 18, 2019
ry commented on the list is-this-a-dagger-i-see-before-me
chib
December 28, 2018
ry commented on the word tapetolucent
see comment at tapetolucence
December 24, 2018
ry commented on the word framistat
a nonsense word similar to doohickey or thingamajig
December 24, 2018
ry commented on the word engarland
also this one
November 15, 2018
ry commented on the word readd
where is that list of words that look like misspellings but aren't?
November 15, 2018
ry commented on the word dunderfunk
a triple rhyme wotd limerick. what a time to be alive.
September 14, 2018
ry commented on the word semihiant
cf. hiant
August 3, 2018
ry commented on the word teleolexical
—Erin McKeanJune 12, 2018
ry commented on the word Antum
There is a definition under antum. The consort of the sky god Anu in ancient Babylonian myth.
June 12, 2018
ry commented on the word Taprobane
pronounced tap-ROB-a-nee. Name used by the ancient Greeks, from the time of Alexander, to refer to the island of Sri Lanka.
June 12, 2018
ry commented on the word Taprobana
see Taprobane
June 12, 2018
ry commented on the word lapis exilis
In ancient alchemy, a precious stone believed to cause the phoenix to renew its youth. Also referred to as the "slender stone." In the work of 13th-century minnesinger Wolfram von Eschenbach, the Lapis exilis is conflated with the Holy Grail.
June 12, 2018
ry commented on the word Molokan
A member of various Russian free-thinking Christian sects.
From Wikipedia:
June 12, 2018
ry commented on the word vis inertiae
from Wiktionary:
June 12, 2018
ry commented on the word roister
never thought I would like a piece of verse with the word 'moister' in it, but the conceit has now proven false.
June 12, 2018
ry commented on the word hypoechogenic
in medicine, refers to body parts that are minimally echogenic, reflecting less sound waves in ultrasound scanning.
June 12, 2018
ry commented on the word atramentum
obsolete form of atrament. In ancient Rome, atramentum referred to various types of black coloring matter, such as writing ink or octopus ink.
June 12, 2018
ry commented on the word amarevole
In music, "with bitterness;" "poignantly." Used as a musical direction
June 11, 2018
ry commented on the word retrocausation
see retrocausality
June 11, 2018
ry commented on the word glitch definition
PSA: I have been using this to tag "words" whose definitions that belong to other words entirely. Anyone else is of course welcome to do the same.
There are also alexz's glitched-definitions and TankHughes' this-definition-is-wrong lists.
Eyebeam is amusing.
June 4, 2018
ry commented on the list i-fold
vingt-et-un
June 2, 2018
ry commented on the word Sadalmelik
sa‘d al-malik "Luck of the king". An equatorial star, Alpha Aquarii, a yellow supergiant.
March 7, 2018
ry commented on the word Zaurak
Arabic, "the Boat". Traditional name of Gamma Eridani, a southern star, a red giant.
March 7, 2018
ry commented on the list just-one-thing
tie one on, one of the boys, got it in one, one day (or one fine day?) one-two punch, one thing after another, with one hand tied behind one's back
March 1, 2018
ry commented on the word ugly cry
phrasal verb, to effect agonized crying or sobbing with such "ugly" displays as facial grimaces or spasm, flush, hyperventilation, rhinorrhea, etc. Merriam Webster did a blog post about it.
January 19, 2018
ry commented on the list fictional-beasties
andrias
November 22, 2017
ry commented on the list steampunk
hard to believe it's been almost 5 years since the week that this list took over my life
November 21, 2017
ry commented on the user Jewelnik
see squiff
November 21, 2017
ry commented on the word pappy-mashy
obsolete slang corruption of papier-mâché
seen here
November 20, 2017
ry commented on the list kickassery
cf. Words that make me want to drink single malt scotch whiskey
May 6, 2017
ry commented on the word quagma
theorized phase of matter occurring at extremely high temperature and density, composed of free quarks. Could have been extant shortly after the Big Bang
January 31, 2017
ry commented on the list thwartmanteau
similar to cloud-mine
November 29, 2016
ry commented on the word banhammer
This word is still in high frequency usage in video gaming contexts, from my observation. Blogs and such, it does seem a little dated, recalling to mind things like Geocities and latter Usenet. I don't think it was much in common usage at all prior to 2000, though. It's not in the jargon file, which is telling.
November 24, 2016
ry commented on the word Sachlichkeit
see comment at Neue Sachlichkeit
November 23, 2016
ry commented on the word Neue Sachlichkeit
A German post-Expressionist style of art circa 1920s.
Although "New Objectivity" has been the most common translation of "Neue Sachlichkeit", other translations have included "New Matter-of-factness", "New Resignation", "New Sobriety", and "New Dispassion". The art historian Dennis Crockett says there is no direct English translation, and breaks down the meaning in the original German:
Sachlichkeit should be understood by its root, Sache, meaning "thing", "fact", "subject", or "object." Sachlich could be best understood as "factual", "matter-of-fact", "impartial", "practical", or "precise"; Sachlichkeit is the noun form of the adjective/adverb and usually implies "matter-of-factness".
November 23, 2016
ry commented on the word lightmans
archaic British cant slang, referring to daylight/daytime. cf. darkmans
November 22, 2016
ry commented on the word kakistocratic
of, like, or in the manner of a kakistocracy
November 22, 2016
ry commented on the word Aspinwall
obsolete American name for the city of Colón, Panama
November 22, 2016
ry commented on the word kappa
I saw this word used in online conversations with video gamers. Fascinating article about how the word is used as a sort of emoticon indicating sarcasm or mild provocation:
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-a-former-twitch-employee-has-one-of-the-most-reproduced-faces-ever/
The most interesting part of is how this usage derives, tortuously, from the Japanese folkloric kappa.
November 22, 2016
ry commented on the word Palilicum
archaic name for the star Aldebaran
November 22, 2016
ry commented on the word trabaccalo
see comments at trabaccolo
November 22, 2016
ry commented on the word trabacalo
see comments at trabaccolo
November 22, 2016
ry commented on the word trabaccolo
A type of shallow-hulled sailing coaster once used in the Adriatic as a cargo vessel. Typically about 20 meters long with a crew of 10-20. Also trabaccalo, trabacalo
November 22, 2016
ry commented on the word peu de chose
French, "a few things." A trifle or trifling matter.
c'est peu de chose: essentially, "it's nothing; don't worry about it."
November 22, 2016
ry commented on the word shithawk
I always understood this to refer to a person who stirs up trouble, and/or enjoys watching others argue and fight.
I found this which says it is "a person who does not prevent bad behavior," per students at University of Leicester (UK)
November 22, 2016
ry commented on the word zedification
Can be used to refer to a somewhat vague linguistic process. See comment at zedify
November 22, 2016
ry commented on the word zedify
from urbandictionary:
to shorten a normal word with the letter Z at the end. usually used in text messages or in chat rooms/instant messaging programs on the net.
2moz instead of tomorrow; soz instead of Sorry
November 22, 2016
ry commented on the word Chewbacca Defense
perhaps a useful phrase for political discourse circa 2016...
November 22, 2016
ry commented on the word merked
see comment under merk
November 22, 2016
ry commented on the word merk
transitive verb (slang): to murder, literally or figuratively. From "mercenary." To "get merked" is to be killed; to be beaten badly (in a game, sport, or exchange of insults); or to become highly intoxicated.
November 22, 2016
ry commented on the word envirofactory
seems like the definition given ("positively influences the environment") would require the facility to produce something of value to the environment rather than simply doing no harm. I.e., solar distributed back into the grid, compost production, waste heat recovery, etc. etc. Simply having a zero-waste facility, laudable as it is, wouldn't fit the criteria given.
October 19, 2016
ry commented on the word cynical foul
Heard this watching football (soccer and Irish football). An intentional or tactical foul, i.e., with little or no intent to gain the ball but instead for breaking opponents' rhythm, stopping an attack, intimidation or sometimes even sheer bloody-mindedness
October 19, 2016
ry commented on the word phong
shorthand in computer graphics for Phong shading. Phong shading is an implementation of the Phong reflection model, which is a local illumination model devised by computer scientist Bui Tuong Phong in the 1970s that can produce a certain degree of realism in three-dimensional object rendering by combining three elements—diffuse, specular and ambient lighting—for each considered point (usually a pixel) on a surface.
Phong is the math behind that particular jelly-like sheen that is, or was, common to many computer graphics renderings.
October 18, 2016
ry commented on the word womp womp
A written representation of various trombone stings used humorously in television and film to punctuate instances of misfortune, stupidity, or awful jokes.
One example
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKdcjJoXeEY
cf. rimshot
October 12, 2016
ry commented on the list words-that-can-be-typed-entirely-with-the-left-hand
womp womp
October 12, 2016
ry commented on the word self-own
slang, noun. An act or instance of owning oneself, usually as an unintended consequence of some act—"own" in the sense of defeating, subjugating, embarrassing or otherwise achieving dominance over another (cf. pwn).
Often, a self-own is when someone inadvertently insults themselves due to unawareness of the implications of their own statement(s).
Not related to the political concept of self-ownership
October 12, 2016
ry commented on the word stuffie
cf. plushie.
Also a style of word-listing from back in the day: stuffie-the-castle-keep; stuffie-who-s-keeping-score; stuffie-monging; stuffie-picking-up-the-pieces
September 30, 2016
ry commented on the list phraseologue-one-two-punch
similar/related lists: collection-o-collocations, collocative-phrases, great-race-horse-names3, phrases--cool, junk-drawer--2
also used: Google ngrams (https://books.google.com/ngrams) and the COCA (http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/)
additionally some of these came from gulyasrobi's programmatically generated lists.
September 30, 2016
ry commented on the user hiteshkalwani1112
https://twitter.com/iamdevloper
September 29, 2016
ry commented on the word zyxnoid
seems like a kind of mountweazel, in a way
September 26, 2016
ry commented on the word dramady
this is usually spelled dramedy
September 26, 2016
ry commented on the word sabretasche
I've always seen this spelt sabretache
September 26, 2016
ry commented on the word aliquote
see aliquot
April 25, 2016
ry commented on the word renaissance-fair jazz
https://twitter.com/innesmck/status/714548822693789696
March 28, 2016
ry commented on the word hot second
Slang, a very short time.
March 23, 2016
ry commented on the word hot minute
slang. A very long time. Not to be confused with a hot second, which is a very short time.
March 23, 2016
ry commented on the word aspie
many persons diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome consider this an acceptable and even affectionate epithet. Some however do not.
http://life-with-aspergers.blogspot.com/p/disclaimers-and-definitions.html
February 22, 2016
ry commented on the word aspy
more commonly rendered as aspie
February 22, 2016
ry commented on the word kerflooey
I haven't heard that. kablooey is common. I say splooey. Or "it asploded"
January 20, 2016
ry commented on the word easy listening satanic
from a deleted wikipedia article.
http://gawker.com/the-10-best-articles-wikipedia-deleted-this-week-1749445064
December 24, 2015
ry commented on the word the man on the Clapham omnibus
from Wikipedia:
The man on the Clapham omnibus is a hypothetical reasonable person, used by the courts in English law where it is necessary to decide whether a party has acted as a reasonable person would — for example, in a civil action for negligence. The man on the Clapham omnibus is a reasonably educated and intelligent but nondescript person, against whom the defendant's conduct can be measured.
November 19, 2015
ry commented on the word paenula
see pænula
November 13, 2015
ry commented on the word reverse-spelunkering
shouldn't this be reverse spelunking?
November 13, 2015
ry commented on the word stickerbomb
to put stickers on walls in public places as a form of street art, vandalism, or both
November 12, 2015
ry commented on the list hats-off
chullo
November 12, 2015
ry commented on the word grindage
the consensus on urbandictionary is that this word refers to food, but after a cursory read through of Google search results, I conclude that it means whatever you want it to mean.
November 12, 2015
ry commented on the word Yaeyama
see comment at yaeyaema
November 12, 2015
ry commented on the word wordstrife
this should go on those "words about words" type lists maintained by some wordniks
November 12, 2015
ry commented on the word keraunophilia
a great fondness or paraphilia for thunder, lightning, and/or thunderstorms
November 11, 2015
ry commented on the word Fedexodus
It doesn't have anything to do with FedEx?
November 11, 2015
ry commented on the word sardonic
that must be one of the top ten etymologies I have ever read.
November 10, 2015
ry commented on the user ry
Hi everyone, by the way. How are you all?
November 10, 2015
ry commented on the word cumberer
Or a county cumberer would be more alliterative. But you could also say maybe a borough burden. Or a burg blag? Or a local lackadaisical. a district drain. a parish pain point.
Sorry. Suggesting any kind of simple wordplay to me is like waving a chew toy over your dog's head
November 10, 2015
ry commented on the word Tarascon
a commune in the south of France, population ~13,500. Legendary stomping ground of the tarasque in the 1st century CE.
November 10, 2015
ry commented on the word -gasm
this is used to form any number of hyperbolic nonce words referring to a "climactic" level of enthusiasm for something.
see also eargasm, nerdgasm, joygasm
November 10, 2015
ry commented on the word superfino
a sizing grade of arborio rice used in making risotto. The largest-grained varieties of arborio rice are termed superfino.
November 10, 2015
ry commented on the word cumberer
weird, this word appears on Wiktionary but the Wiktionary entry does not appear here.
Noun
cumberer (plural cumberers)
Someone or something that cumbers
November 10, 2015
ry commented on the word scheedam
archaic alternate spelling of schiedam, referring to gin.
November 10, 2015
ry commented on the word z-stack
the "stack" of photographic images of the same subject, captured at different focal depths, used in focus stacking, a.k.a. z-stacking.
November 10, 2015
ry commented on the word z-stacking
see focus stacking
November 10, 2015
ry commented on the word focus stacking
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focus_stacking
"Focus stacking (also known as focal plane merging and z-stacking or focus blending) is a digital image processing technique which combines multiple images taken at different focus distances to give a resulting image with a greater depth of field (DOF) than any of the individual source images."
November 10, 2015
ry commented on the word zedification
In French, this refers to the technique of "focus stacking" in digital image processing
November 10, 2015
ry commented on the word piezostage
alternate rendering of piezo stage
November 10, 2015
ry commented on the word piezo stage
"A piezo stage can be defined as a mechanical device driven be a piezoelectric actuator, which provides one or more axis of motion. In the case of nanopositioning, a piezo stage makes use of flexure hinges where a moving platform is linked to a static base."
whatever that means
November 10, 2015
ry commented on the word Blankshire
doesn't someone have a list of purely nominal locations?
November 9, 2015
ry commented on the word strom
it keeps the malt in the vat.
November 9, 2015
ry commented on the word détenus
oh hmm I've been tagging such words under glitch definition for a while now. i will continue to do so, no reason we can't have a list *and* a tag
November 9, 2015
ry commented on the word car-warrior
Interesting word. All the citations above are from the Mahabharata. Various heroic figures in the story are repeatedly referred to as "car-warrior". Appears to be a translation of the Sanskrit ati-ratha where ratha literally means a chariot.
Can't find an actual definition anywhere, but reading some passages, it looks like these characters are all chariot-mounted archers to whom are ascribed supernatural levels of martial prowess and general badassery. I think the chariots are flying in some cases. There are a lot of connotations I'm sure I'm missing.
November 9, 2015
ry commented on the word Kalebhut
I can't figure out what language this is from, but as shown in the citation, it meant "black devil" in a central Indian dialect as of 1919.
November 9, 2015
ry commented on the word picklement
pickle (as in to be in a pickle–see Wiktionary definition #4) + predicament
November 9, 2015
ry commented on the word Asterius
Alternate name for any of the Greek mythological figures called Asterion. Also a lesser known Greek Arian theologian of ancient Anatolia.
November 9, 2015
ry commented on the word Asterion
Distinct from the anatomical asterion, this is the name of several Greek mythological figures, including two kings of Crete, a minotaur, and a river god.
November 9, 2015
ry commented on the word chatoiement
don't know why I had this on my list of stuff to look up, but for the record, it's French, a noun meaning shimmer or shimmering
November 9, 2015
ry commented on the word détenus
glitch definition. This is a French word meaning "detainees" or "inmates".
Lovely archival flickr content here.
November 9, 2015
ry commented on the word vitivert
archaic alternate spelling of vetiver
November 9, 2015
ry commented on the word tin mordant
from Webster's Revised Unabridged 1913: (Dyeing) stannous chloride, used as a mordant in dyeing and calico printing.
could go on lists of dyes/pigments.
November 9, 2015
ry commented on the word nar
this is great. I wonder if it is derived from gnarly?
November 9, 2015
ry commented on the word culaccino
supposedly this is an italian word referring to the ring of liquid or condensation left on a surface by a beverage in a glass.
(http://www.omgfacts.com/theworld/16419/20-Words-That-Mean-Nothing-In-English-But-Mean-So-Much-In-Other-Languages)
November 3, 2015
ry commented on the word you may wait here in the sitting room or you can sit here in the waiting room
I'm great in the living room, but I'll live in the great room.
October 16, 2015
ry commented on the word hedcut
a type of illustration particular to the Wall Street Journal; a pen and ink head-and-shoulders portrait in a style mimicking the woodcuts used in early journalism.
October 16, 2015
ry commented on the word fanacle
a small temple or shrine
October 8, 2015
ry commented on the word pixelated
upset about how many times recently I've seen this word confused with pixilated. Otherwise reputable publishers in various media cannot seem to find proofreaders who know the difference.
October 6, 2015
ry commented on the word lumberjill
I nominate this for WOTD
October 6, 2015
ry commented on the list at-the-very-front
blue-sky thinking?
October 6, 2015
ry commented on the word mooseknuckle
also defined under moose knuckle
October 6, 2015
ry commented on the list a-particular-set
I want to read this book
October 6, 2015
ry commented on the word shot and killed
Late one night at home i was writing down ideas for a thing about postcolonialism or something like that and fell asleep. i woke up in the wee hours and the last paragraph i'd written unmistakably narrated a dream sequence, in some version of my handwriting, shaky but legible. Something about the Minotaur and my brother and a cargo ship full of hay bales? don't remember. i couldn't remember any part of the actual experience, but it was observed on some level obviously. i think i still have the page somewhere. strange
September 25, 2015
ry commented on the word schadenfreude
I don't know if it was already done between 2010 and now, but I have made a list of most listed words. I think schadenfreude continues to be the most listed word on this site.
September 25, 2015
ry commented on the word monomath
this reminds me of The Illustrated Guide to a Ph.D. from a few years back.
September 18, 2015
ry commented on the word burglarious
this was my first favorite word. I remember being pretty small, reading it somewhere, looking it up and becoming very enthused
September 1, 2015
ry commented on the list go-phrases
go to the mat, go for the gold, go big, go big or go home, go hard in the paint
August 29, 2015
ry commented on the word doodlesack
I got this from "Random Word" a couple weeks ago and had the same thought.
August 28, 2015
ry commented on the word epitrochasm
as in rhetoric(?)
August 24, 2015
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