sanitarium

sanitarium (plural sanitariums or sanitaria)

Blend of sanitary + sanatorium. Coined by John Harvey Kellogg.

[H]e was led away to a private sanitarium for mental disease, while in the newspapers appeared pathetic accounts of his mental breakdown and of the saintliness of his character.

1908 February 19, Jack London, “The Bishop”, in The Iron Heel, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC, page 188:

Of all the queer collections of humans outside of a crazy asylum, it seemed to me this sanitarium was the cup winner. […] When you're well enough off so's you don't have to fret about anything but your heft or your diseases you begin to get queer, I suppose.

1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter V, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

Treatment in tuberculosis sanitariums at the expense of the public might be warranted.

1954 February 15, Henry E. Michelson, “The Syndrome of Lupus Erythematosus”, in Modern Medicine, volume 22, number 4, Minneapolis, Minn.: Modern Medicine Publications, Inc., page 98:


scrunch

en-verb

scrunch (third-person singular simple present scrunches, present participle scrunching, simple past and past participle scrunched)

scrunches (present singular third-person)
scrunching (participle present)
scrunched (participle past)
scrunched (past)

Attested since about 1800. Probably an intensive form of crunch; ultimately derived from the onomatopoeia of a crumpling sound; or perhaps a blend of squeeze + crunch.

He scrunched his face at his wife's request.

(transitive) To crumple and squeeze to make more compact.

(with object "one's face") To contract the muscles of one's face so as to draw their facial features together, out of pain, discomfort, uncertainty, etc.


servlet

The difference between servlets and JSP is that servlets typically embed HTML inside Java code, while JSPs embed Java code in HTML.

object-oriented programming
object-oriented programming

(object-oriented programming, server) A Java program running on an Internet server that generates web content dynamically in response to requests from clients.


machinima

en-noun

machinima (countable and uncountable, plural machinimas or machinima)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-machinima.wav

Fiona's been off at some kind of anime camp in New Jersey – Quake movies and machinima workshops, Japanese staff who claim not to know a word of English beyond ‘awesome’ and ‘sucks’, which for a vast range of human endeavor, actually, is more than enough…

2013, Thomas Pynchon, Bleeding Edge, Vintage, published 2014, page 135:

(video games, film, countable, uncountable) The rendering of computer-generated imagery using low-end (real time) 3D engines such as those found in video games, as opposed to the high-end, complex 3D engines used by professionals.


flunk

en-verb

flunk (third-person singular simple present flunks, present participle flunking, simple past and past participle flunked)

flunks (present singular third-person)
flunking (participle present)
flunked (participle past)
flunked (past)

Alteration of funk, or perhaps a blend of flinch + funk.

He flunked math, again.

(US, transitive, intransitive) Of a student, to fail a class; to not pass.

Unsatisfied with Fred's progress, the teacher flunked him.

(US, transitive) Of a teacher, to deny a student a passing grade.

(US, dated, informal) To shirk (a task or duty).

To back out through fear. (Commonly in the phrase 'flunk it', the 'it' referring to a specific task avoided; sometimes without specific reference, describing a person's attitude to life in general.)


bikeshed

Utilizing the bikeshed values for each surrounding link, the bikeshed service area is visualized around these bike shops (the origins) to see the distance to which cyclists can travel away from the bike shop comfortably, in reality. The bikeshed service area depicts the true network of all accessible streets that lie within the impedance value of a cyclist traveling a perceived 10 minute short-commute.

2013, Mallory Suzanne Necessary, Developing an Infrastructure Informed Walkshed and Bikeshed, University of Texas at Austin, page 38:

The 2-mile radius around light rail stations is considered the bikeshed, or the distance within which most people are able and willing to ride a bicycle.

2017, Bryanna Osmonson, An Equity Analysis of Bicycle Infrastructure Around Light Rail Stations in Seattle, WA, University of Washington, page 2:

(transportation planning, urban studies) The land area within a defined biking range of a specified location.

transportation planning; urban studies; transportation planning; urban studies


desipramine

en-noun

desipramine (countable and uncountable, plural desipramines)

(pharmacology) A tricyclic antidepressant C₁₈H₂₂N₂.


laze

Moreover, dense laze plumes are known to contain as much as 10 to 15ppm of HCl (USGS, 2008).

2010, Patricia Erfurt-Cooper, Malcolm Cooper, Volcano and Geothermal Tourism: Sustainable Geo-Resources for Leisure and Recreation:

Acidic steam created when super-hot lava contacts salt water.


penicillamine

penicillamine (countable and uncountable, plural penicillamines)

rheumatoid arthritis
rheumatoid arthritis

(biochemistry, pharmacology) A crystalline, sulfur-containing amino acid produced by the hydrolysis of penicillins, used pharmacologically as a chelating agent to remove heavy metals such as copper from the body, and as an anti-inflammatory agent, especially for rheumatoid arthritis; 2-amino-3-methyl-3-mercaptobutanoic acid, (CH₃)₂C(SH)CH(NH₂)COOH.


rhombicosidodecahedron

rhombicosidodecahedron (plural rhombicosidodecahedra or rhombicosidodecahedrons)

rhombicosidodecahedra (plural)
rhombicosidodecahedrons (plural)

/ˌɹɒmbaɪˌkəʊsidəʊˌdɛkəˈhiːdɹən/

/ˌɹɒmbaɪˌkəʊsidəʊˌdɛkəˈhiːdɹə/

PIE word
 *déḱm̥
Etymology tree
New Latin rhombicosidodecaēdronlbor.
English rhombicosidodecahedron
Learned borrowing from New Latin rhombicosidodecaēdron (coined by the German astronomer and mathematician Johannes Kepler (1571–1630) in his work Harmonices Mundi Libri V (The Harmony of the World in Five Books, 1619)), a blend of Latin rhomb(us) + īcos(aedron) + -i- + dodecaēdron. The English word is analysable as a blend of rhomb(ic) + icosidodecahedron, referring to the fact that the 30 square faces lie in the same planes as the 30 rhombic faces of the rhombic triacontahedron, which is dual to the icosidodecahedron.

coinage

Archimedean solid, one of the thirteen solids described by Archimedes, which, without being regular, have all their solid angles alike, all their faces regular, and not less than four faces of any one kind; […] They are […] the rhombicosidodecahedron, the truncated icosidodecahedron, and the snub-dodecahedron.

1889, “Archimedean, a.”, in William Dwight Whitney, editor, The Century Dictionary: An Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language […], volume I, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC, page 297, column 1:

The purpose of this article is to offer a method of approach for investigating the stellation pattern of the deltoidal hexecontahedron, the dual of the rhombicosidodecahedron.

1989, P. W. Messer, M[agnus] J[oseph] Wenninger, “Symmetry and Polyhedral Stellation—II”, in Computers & Mathematics with Applications, volume 17, numbers 1–3, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Pergamon Press, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 195; reprinted in István Hargittai, editor, Symmetry 2: Unifying Human Understanding (International Series in Modern Applied Mathematics and Computer Science; 18), Oxford, Oxfordshire: Pergamon Press, 1989, →ISBN, part 1, page 195:

There are two distinct rhombicosidodecahedra, one bearing the unmodified name and the other called the great rhombicosidodecahedron. Like the rhombus, the icosahedron and the dodecahedron, all of the great rhombicosidodecahedron’s 62 faces are either [square] rhombi (30), equilateral triangles (20) or regular pentagons (12).

1994, Steven Schwartzman, “rhombicosidodecahedron”, in The Words of Mathematics: An Etymological Dictionary of Mathematical Terms Used in English, Washington, D.C.: 2:Mathematical Association of America, →DOI, →ISBN, page 189, column 1:

Next, the totality of 31 axes is illustrated in a rhombicosidodecahedron, an Archimedean solid composed of 30 squares, 20 triangles, and 12 pentagons[…], with a view to the inside of the model showing the center of the group, the point of invariancy O […] Finally, the other dihedral subgroups are also illustrated on a rhombicosidodecahedron: D#x5F;3 of order 6 and index 10 […] and D#x5F;5 of order 10 and index 6[…].

1996, Hugo F[rançois] Verheyen, “Groups of Isometries”, in Symmetry Orbits (Design Science Collection), Boston, Mass.; Basel, Basel-Stadt: Birkhäuser, →DOI, →ISBN, part I (Realization of Symmetry Groups), page 37:

[…] I noticed that the little balls (rhombicosidodecahedrons) had openings shaped in the form of triangles, rectangles, and pentagons.

2014, Thomasenia Lott Adams, Joanne LaFramenta, “Conclusion”, in Math Know-how: Answers to Your Most Persistent Teaching Issues, Grades 3–5, Thousand Oaks, Calif.; London: Corwin, SAGE Publications, →ISBN, page 172:

(geometry) An Archimedean solid with 62 regular faces (20 triangles, 30 squares, and 12 pentagons), 60 vertices and 120 edges.

斜方二十・十二面体

しゃほうにじゅうじゅうにめんたい

菱形二十・十二面体

りょうけいにじゅうじゅうにめんたい

小菱形二十・十二面体

しょうりょうけいにじゅうじゅうにめんたい

切頂菱形三十面体

せっちょうりょうけいさんじゅうめんたい


nisin

en-noun

nisin (countable and uncountable, plural nisins)

Blend of group N + streptococci + inhibitory substance.

blend

Lactococcus lactis
Lactococcus lactis#Translingual

(biochemistry) A polycyclic peptide produced by fermentation with the bacterium Lactococcus lactis; used as a preservative in processed cheese etc.


melatonin

en-noun

melatonin (usually uncountable, plural melatonins)

How exactly melatonin relates to sleep is still not understood.

2019, Bill Bryson, The Body: A Guide for Occupants, Black Swan (2020), page 310:

A hormone, related to serotonin, that is secreted by the pineal gland, and stimulates colour change in the skin of reptiles, and is involved in the sleep/wake and reproductive cycles in mammals.


lidar

The optical analogue of radar, using intense pulses of laser light to measure the composition and structure of the atmosphere.


mediacy

mediacy (countable and uncountable, plural mediacies)

The facility to work with words and numbers.


fludrocortisone

(pharmacology) A potent mineralocorticoid drug that is derived from hydrocortisone, possesses some glucocorticoid activity, and is administered in the form of its acetate C₂₃H₃₁FO₆ to treat adrenocortical insufficiency.


soca

soca (usually uncountable, plural socas)

He even turned up a few times after that—with mix-tapes of soca music, and handwritten notes, and tears.

2012, Zadie Smith, NW, London: Penguin Books, published 2013, →ISBN, page 151:

—Carnival? With soca music?

2014, Marlon James, A Brief History of Seven Killings, Oneworld Publications (2015), page 684:

(music) A genre of music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago in the early 1970s and developed into a range of styles during the 1980s and after which primarily includes influences of African and Indian rhythms.

ソカ

a style of popular dance music from the West Indies


Semapedia

(computing) A former project using Semacode nodes to connect Wikipedia articles to their relevant places in physical space.


nitrox

Blend of nitro(gen) + ox(ygen). Analyzable as nitro- + ox

The ‘nitrox’ process basically supplies the surface hardness of the sursulf process, which is essentially carbonitriding, and then oxidizes it. The oxide is adherent and thus considerably increases the corrosion resistance.

1988, Robert B[allantyne] Ross, “‘Nitrox’”, in Handbook of Metal Treatments and Testing, 2nd edition, London, New York, N.Y.: Chapman and Hall, →ISBN, part 1 (A–Z of Treatment and Testing Processes), page 209:

Two other materials-based approaches may be employed in the present invention. One is to use highly doped glass (with boron or phosphorus) or plasma nitride (otherwise known as nitrox) as the inter-metal layer insulator.

2007 April 3, John McCollum, Integrated Circuit Wafer with Inter-die Metal Interconnect Lines Traversing Scribe-line Boundaries, US Patent Application 20070184635A1 (PDF version), paragraph 0022, page 2, column 2:

Carbonitriding processes are typically conducted in either a gas (ammonia) or a salt bath based on trade names such as Tufftride, Nitrotec, and Nitrox. Alternatively, a plasma nitriding process may be conducted.

2008 September, Malgorzata Przylecka, Wojciech Gęstwa, L. C. F. Canale, Xin Yao, G. E. Totten, “Sources of Failures in Carburized and Carbonitrided Components”, in L. C. F. Canale, R. A. Mesquita, G. E. Totten, editors, Failure Analysis of Heat Treated Steel Components, Materials Park, Oh.: ASM International, →ISBN, page 178, column 1:

(metallurgy) An industrial process for case hardening (imparting greater surface hardness to) metal objects, involving nitrocarburizing (the diffusion of carbon and nitrogen into the metal) followed by oxidation.

"Enriched air" or "nitrox" is a mixture of air and oxygen; the oxygen component ranges to about 50% but is used normally at 32 to 40%. [...] Safe enriched air nitrox diving practices established for the scientific diving community might be of some value and could help avoid accidents due to ignorance of its hazards and use of improper procedures.

1989 September, “Abstract”, in R. W. Hamilton, Dudley J. Crosson, Alan W. Hulbert, editors, Workshop on Enriched Air Nitrox Diving (National Undersea Research Program Research Report; 89-1), Rockville, Md.: Office of Undersea Research, Oceanic and Atmosphere Research, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, →OCLC, page 1:

NOAA Nitrox I is a standard breathing gas mixture of 32% oxygen (±1%); the balance of the gas (68%) is nitrogen. [...] High-pressure storage cylinders, scuba tanks, regulators, and all high-pressure gas transfer equipment that is used with pure oxygen or with nitrox mixtures that contain more than 40 percent oxygen must be cleaned and maintained for oxygen service.

1991 October, “Appendix D: NOAA Nitrox I Diving and Decompression Tables”, in NOAA Diving Manual: Diving for Science and Technology, Silver Spring, Md.: Office of Undersea Research, Oceanic and Atmosphere Research, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, →OCLC, page D-1:

Is there a compromise between too much oxygen and too much inert gas? The answer is the use of enriched air nitrox (enriched air) mixtures in the SCUBA tank. The two most commonly used mixtures are 32 percent and 36 percent oxygen mixtures. [...] [T]he increased oxygen percentages make the diver using nitrox mixtures more subject to oxygen seizures. With nitrox mixtures, the relative increase in oxygen percentage is over three times the relative decrease in nitrogen percentage.

2004, Michael B. Strauss, Igor V. Aksenov, Diving Science, Champaign, Ill.: Human Kinetics, →ISBN, page 35:

[N]itrox is often referred to as ‘enriched air’ or ‘enriched air – nitrox’ (EANx). By convention, the mix is described by reference to its oxygen content. Thus, if a nitrox mix contains 36 per cent oxygen, then it is referred to as ‘nitrox 36’ (‘Nx36’) or ‘EANx36’. [...] [T]he nitrox diver can use the reduced absorption of nitrogen to increase allowable dive time by using the EAD to derive the no-decompression limit for the dive or as a basis for calculating decompression. This approach allows longer dives and shorter decompression.

2016, Carl Edmonds, Michael Bennett, John Lippmann, Simon J. Mitchell, “Technical Diving”, in Diving and Subaquatic Medicine, 5th edition, Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, →ISBN, part 10 (Specialized Diving and Its Problems), page 705:

(underwater diving) A mixture of nitrogen and oxygen, the nitrogen content being lower than that of normal air, which is used in place of air as a breathing gas.

نيتروكس

mixture of nitrogen and oxygen used as a breathing gas


peet

(Internet slang, often in the plural) A paw, particularly a cute one, especially that of a cat.


trustafarian

2003, Kate Gardner, Meat Me in Manhattan: A Carnivore's Guide to New York http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0970312571&id=wQt-LEMEezUC&pg=RA13-PT21&lpg=RA13-PT21&dq=trustafarian&sig=wicOp5oWIhv63G3Ocejx7eOsyro
"Today's punk-rocking population, paying $1500 a month in trustafarian scrip, doesn't under-stand German, much less Yiddish."

I'm your typical trustafarian, I'm afraid: spoilt little rich kid living the dream off his inheritance.

2012, Hannah Richell, The Secrets of the Tides, →ISBN, page 425:

(slang) A young person with the fashion sensibilities of a hippie, or any other countercultural trend, especially anarchism, Maoism, or punk rock, who subscribes to an unemployed, shiftless life of hedonism based upon an unlimited amount of funds (a trust fund).


pollywog

Alternative form of polliwog (“tadpole”)

(sailing slang) A sailor who has not yet crossed the equator.


pollywog

(New Zealand, slang, ethnic slur, offensive) A person of Polynesian (usually Samoan) descent.


pneudraulics

The science of fluids made of both gas and liquid.


Quaalude

Supposedly a blend of quiet + Maalox + interlude.

(pharmacology) A proprietary name for methaqualone.


polony

A dreadful day it was for young Dobbin when one of the youngsters of the school, having run into the town upon a poaching excursion for hardbake and polonies, espied the cart of Dobbin & Rudge, Grocers and Oilmen, Thames Street, London, at the Doctor's door, discharging a cargo of the wares in which the firm dealt.

1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 4, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:

There was a touch of quiet humour in Rachel, and with a demure smile, she internally wondered why it was precisely her polony that had been selected by puss, but aloud she merely declared that she could make an excellent supper on bread and beer.

1873, Julia Kavanagh, Rachel Gray: A Tale Founded on Fact, page 42:

A survey of 25 polony samples of different brands available to the consumer in Bloemfontein showed that significant numbers of various micro-organisms were present.

1978, Journal of the South African Veterinary Association, page 115:

Shlomo threw the polony and bread ceremoniously into the lorry and heaved himself up to see who it was who recognised him.

1984, Jewish Affairs, volume 39, number 4, page 35:

A kind of sausage made of meat that has been only partly cooked.


prepone

en-verb

prepone (third-person singular simple present prepones, present participle preponing, simple past and past participle preponed)

prepones (present singular third-person)
preponing (participle present)
preponed (participle past)
preponed (past)

(chiefly India, transitive) To reschedule to a time earlier than the current scheduled time.


Chester

en-proper noun

Chester (countable and uncountable, plural Chesters)

From Middle English Chestre, from Old English Ċeaster, from ceaster, a borrowing from Latin castra (“camp”).
The village in Nova Scotia is likely named after the city in Pennsylvania.

(countable) An English habitational surname from Old English.


scientifiction

Blend of scientific + fiction. Coined by Hugo Gernsback in 1916.

I am supposed to report Münchhaussen's^([sic]) doings; am supposed to be writing fiction, scientifiction, to be correct.

1916 January, Hugo Gernsback, Electrical Experimenter, page 474:

1926, Hugo Gernsback, Amazing Stories, "A New Sort of Magazine"
There is the usual fiction magazine, the love story and the sex-appeal type of magazine, the adventure type, and so on, but a magazine of "Scientifiction" is a pioneer in its field in America. By "scientifiction" I mean the Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, and Edgar Allan Poe type of story—a charming romance intermingled with scientific fact and prophetic vision.

Lewis's novels are the scientifiction of a philosopher.

1949, Chad Walsh, C. S. Lewis: Apostle to the Skeptics:


superfecta

A method of betting in which the bettor, in order to win, must pick the first four finishers of a race in the correct sequence.


sexpert

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-sexpert.wav

To sum up: taking money with your clothes on, sexpert. With your clothes off, not. So basically sexperts are reporters about sex, rather than sex professionals. Or something.

2010, Belle de Jour, Playing the Game, Hachette UK, →ISBN:


Bartitsu

Blend of Barton + jujitsu, coined by EW Barton-Wright in 1899.

A form of martial arts based on jujitsu and also incorporating elements of boxing, savate, and stick fighting, popularized by E.W. Barton-Wright in late-Victorian London.


buckyball

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-buckyball.wav

Blend of buckminsterfullerene + ball, used as an abbreviation for buckminsterfullerene

(chemistry, informal) A buckminsterfullerene molecule (C₆₀).

(by extension) The most common types of spheroidal fullerenes, C₆₀ and C₇₀ usually; with C₇₂ and C₇₆ sometimes also included.

(by extension) Any spheroidal fullerene, from C₂₀ on upwards.


doubloonie

Blend of double + loonie, punning on doubloon.

(Canada, slang, numismatics) A Canadian two-dollar coin; a toonie.


Michiana

(informal) A region of northern Indiana and southwest Michigan centered on the city of South Bend in Indiana.


Disgusta

(slang, derogatory) Augusta, Georgia, USA. This generally refers to the obnoxious sulfur-like odor that persists in the air throughout the city, especially on warm and humid days.


advertorial

Blend of advertisement + editorial, 1946.

BuzzFeed leads the pack with what it calls “native advertising,” a euphemism for advertorials.

2014, Astra Taylor, chapter 6, in The People's Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age, Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN:

An advertisement written in the form of an objective editorial, presented in a printed publication, and usually designed to look like a legitimate and independent news article.


humdinger

US origin, perhaps a blend of hummer (“something that moves fast”) + dinger (“something outstanding”). First attested in a newspaper article in the Daily Enterprise of June 4, 1883, at Livingston, Montana.

blend

Most of the questions were pretty easy, but that last one was a humdinger.

“—immense. I'm a real, slam-bang, honest-to-goodness, three-fisted humdinger. I'm a bona fide supraman.” “Superman?” Clevinger cried. “Superman?” “Supraman,” Yossarian corrected.

1961, Joseph Heller, Catch-22, London: Vintage Books, published 2010, →ISBN, page 22:

“I’ve seen some humdingers, but never any ordinance like this,” said Mark Hayes, general counsel for the Arkansas Municipal League, an organization for towns and cities.

2011 July 19, Robbie Brown, “Arkansas Town Draws a Line on Clubs”, in New York Times:

(informal) Something that is particularly outstanding, unusual, or exceptional.


Belmopan

Blend of Belize + Mopan. Both are names of rivers.


surfari

/sɜː(ɹ)ˈfɑːɹi/

We'll all be gone for the summer. We're on surfari to stay. Tell the teacher we're surfin', surfin' U.S.A.

1963, Brian Wilson (lyrics and music), “Surfin' U.S.A.”, in Surfin' U.S.A., performed by Beach Boys:


aldazine

(organic chemistry) An azine derived from an aldehyde; general formula RCH=NN=CHR


aldimine

(organic chemistry) An imine derived from an aldehyde; general formula RCH=NR


nicotinamide

en-noun

nicotinamide (countable and uncountable, plural nicotinamides)

(biochemistry, organic chemistry) The amide of nicotinic acid (or niacin).

nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate


amidrazone

(organic chemistry) Any of a class of nitrogen derivatives of carboxylic acids having a tautomeric structure represented by the general formulas RC(=NH)NHNH₂ and RC(NH₂)=NNH₂


heliair

(underwater diving) A mixture of helium, nitrogen and oxygen, used as a breathing gas instead of normal air.


heliox

(medicine, underwater diving) A mixture of helium and oxygen used as a breathing gas.


Scandiknavery

Blend of Scandinavian + knavery. Coined by Irish novelist and poet James Joyce in his 1939 novel Finnegans Wake (see quotation below).

coinage

For to sod the brave son of Scandiknavery.

1939 May 4, James Joyce, Finnegans Wake, London: Faber and Faber Limited, →OCLC; republished London: Faber & Faber Limited, 1960, →OCLC:

Mrs. Christiani twice […] guesses that Kierkegaard may be behind this bit of Scandiknavery.

1966, A Wake Newslitter, volume 3, page 114:

In other words, had the [Viking] site in Maine been “salted?” Was this simply a new and audacious case of “Scandiknavery?”

1990, Neil Rolde, Maine: A Narrative History, →ISBN, page 6:

However, some myth elements that a few other Norwegian-American promoters tried to make part of the Norwegian-American homemaking argument may more readily be dismissed as what Michael Musmanno in an angry moment has called “Scandiknavery.” One such myth was […] that George Washington was of Norwegian descent.

2000, Orm Øverland, Immigrant Minds, American Identities: Making the United States Home, 1870–1930, →ISBN, page 166:

(nonce word) Duplicity by or involving Scandinavians.


aminimide

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-aminimide.wav


nitrene

(organic chemistry) Any organic compound, the univalent nitrogen equivalent of a carbene, having general formula RN:


aptronym

Speck also turns out to be a shopkeeper whose small-town mentality finds a reflection in his aptronym: "Speck" in German meaning bacon, he is the local butcher concerned with selling his merchandise regardless of its real quality.

a. 1993, Danielle Schaub, "Mavis Gallant's Double Illusion", in, 1993, Jean-Michael Lacroix, Simone Vauthier, and Héliane Ventura, editors, Image et Récit, Presses de la Sorbonne Nouvelle, page 82 http://google.com/books?id=yKi_z2XYb00C&pg=PA82&dq=aptronym

This contradiction is condensed within the aptronym Casey Falls: her first name recalls Jim Casy, the preacher who is sacrificed helping migrant workers in John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, while her surname evokes Eve and the Fall.

2000, Lorna Fitzsimmons, “Of ‘Broken Wall, the Burning Roof and Tower’: Gyno-Turning in Limit Up and Svankmajer’s Faust”, chapter 12 of Wendy Everett (editor), The Seeing Century: Film, Vision and Identity, Rodopi, page 149

The latter after marrying Sir Ulick's steward becomes Mrs. M'Crule, an aptronym expressing her excessive bigotry in preventing the Catholic boy, Tommy Dunshaughlin, from attending a charity school.

a. 2004, Peter Cosgrove, "History and Utopia in Ormond", in, 2004, Heidi Kaufman and Chris Fauske, editors, An Uncomfortable Authority: Maria Edgeworth and Her Contexts, Delaware page 77 http://google.com/books?id=HL0MH3x0ODUC&pg=PA77&dq=aptronym

A name that is aptly suited to its owner.

euonym

personal name appropriate to one's character or trade


same difference

Blend of same (thing) + (no) difference, which incidentally continues to make logical sense.

"When you say she was a tart, do you mean a whore?"
"It's the same difference," Betty said.

2011, Constance Briscoe, The Accused, →ISBN, page 274:

(idiomatic) A distinction which makes no difference; a distinction which does not matter.


brud

Blend of bro + bud, or from brother casually pronounced as brudda.


cablegami

(computing) A technique used in the building of computer systems that involves the complex folding of flat ribbon cables as if they were origami, or the routing and organization of non-flat cables.


buycott

en-verb

buycott (third-person singular simple present buycotts, present participle buycotting, simple past and past participle buycotted)

buycotts (present singular third-person)
buycotting (participle present)
buycotted (participle past)
buycotted (past)

Proponents of buycotting see these premiums as pure political expression: citizens’ parting with money to refine the world.

2009 October 11, Anand Giridharadas, “Boycotts Minus the Pain”, in New York Times:

(transitive) To support (a company, country, etc.) by buying its products.


outercourse

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-outercourse.wav

Sexual activity without vaginal or anal penetration.


donorcycle

Blend of donor + motorcycle; see organ donor. The term apparently originates from emergency room personnel who often see motorcycle accident victims. It alludes to the high percentage of donated organs that come from motorcyclists.

(derogatory) A motorcycle ridden by someone who is likely to die due to either recklessness or the inherent risk of riding a motorcycle.


fremman

A person not related; a non-relative or non-relation; a stranger.


varactor

(electronics) A solid-state diode whose capacitance varies with the applied voltage.


dognapping

Kidnapping or stealing of a dog owned by someone else, often done in order to sell it.


threadjacking

(Internet) The act of taking over an e-mail list or discussion thread with a subject unrelated to the original posting.


polydeism

Belief in the existence of many gods who collectively set the universe in motion, then ceased to interact with it.

poly-deism

may be hyphenated or expressed as a phrase


snaparazzi

Citizen journalists (passers-by) who are witness to a newsworthy event and capture it as a photograph or on video.


snortle

(slang, chiefly Internet slang) A hearty laugh that is punctuated by a snort on the inhale.


ketenimine

(chemistry) Any imino analogue of a ketene, having the general formula R₂C=C=NR.


geekster

A small toothed geekster wearing aviator glasses and a virtuosically painted plaid shirt, Greenwold lives in Albany, New York .

1999, Artforum International - Volume 37, page 93:

Your average teenager wants to fit in with the rest, to appear fashionable, at the cutting edge. Nobody wants to be un-chic, dorky, or nerdy (outside of geeksters who have their own un-chic look and wear it proudly).

2011, Tom Streissguth, Getting the Hang of Fashion and Dress Codes: A How-to Guide, page 82:

Correspondent Ryan Duffy — one of the show’s hipster-geekster reporters — spends most of his camera time remarking on the surreal nature of the trip, in perpetual disbelief that he is actually in North Korea.

2013 June 9, Hank Stuever, “‘Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer’: Striking nerves by striking a chord”, in The Washington Post:

Snaptee’s designers also tend to favor a 10’s post-irony hip-hop aesthetic, rather than Threadless’ hipster-gone-geekster – but we at Tech in Asia are far from couture snobs, even when it comes to T-shirts.

2014 September 3, Josh Horwitz, “Hong Kong’s Snaptee secures $750K to build a social network for T-shirt lovers”, in Tech in Asia:

(slang) Someone who intentionally looks geeky as a fashion statement.


lesbigay

(LGBTQ, informal) A lesbian, bisexual, or gay person.


rotamer

(chemistry) any of a set of conformers that arise from restricted rotation around a single bond


quinonoxime

(chemistry) either the mono- or di- oxime of a quinone; tautomeric with nitrosophenols


quinonimine

(chemistry) Any of a class of imines formally derived from a quinone by replacing one or both oxygens with =NR.


freecycle

freecycle (third-person singular simple present freecycles, present participle freecycling, simple past and past participle freecycled)

freecycles (present singular third-person)
freecycling (participle present)
freecycled (participle past)
freecycled (past)

Blend of free + recycle, popularized by The Freecycle Network and the general freecycling movement.

I freecycled most of the junk cluttering my house.

Here in New York's Hudson Valley, we've freecycled swing sets, Little Tikes outdoor climbers, freezers, computer equipment, entertainment centers, baby furniture, and much, much more!

2004 April 15, Nancy Castleman, “Freecycle for the Earth! Earth Day's coming up!”, in misc.consumers.frugal-living (Usenet), retrieved 2024-09-08:

To recycle by giving away an item for free.


proteome

/ˈpɹəʊtɪəʊm/

Blend of protein + genome or proteo- + -ome.

Two-dimensional (2-D) gel electrophoresis allows the separation of thousands of proteins, and provides the means for separating the proteome (the PROTEin complement expressed by a genOME) of a simple species, or the protein component of a complex tissue.

1996 January 20, Marc R. Wilkins, “From Proteins to Proteomes: Large Scale Protein Identification by Two-Dimensional Electrophoresis and Amino Acid Analysis”, in Nature Biotechnology, volume 14, page 61:

So now the quest is to crack the human proteome – a concept so novel that the term proteome didn't even exist a decade ago.

2003, Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything, BCA, published 2003, page 367:

(biochemistry, genetics) The complete set of proteins encoded by a particular genome.


stannoxane

(chemistry) any compound formally derived from a siloxane by replacing each silicon atom with tin


ceramide

Blend of cerebroside + amide, or from Latin cēra (“wax”) + amide.

(biochemistry) Any of various lipids formed by linking a fatty acid to sphingosine and found widely but in small amounts in plant and animal tissue


naptural

en-adj

naptural (comparative more naptural, superlative most naptural)

more naptural (comparative)
most naptural (superlative)

Going naptural does not mean that you have to cut all of the chemicals out of your hair immediately.

2003, Ayana Hardin, Nappy Hair 101, Llumina Press, →ISBN, page 21:

Some with naptural hair elect not to use a comb or brush, but for those who want to detangle without only using their hands, a wide tooth comb and brush need to also be a part of your list.

2009 March 23, Laquita Thomas-Banks, “Basic Tools For Natural Hair”, in Clutch:

2012, Rod Hagwood, "Meetup for women with curly, kinky or 'naptural' hair", Sun-Sentinel, 14 August 2012 (used in title only)

(informal, of Afro-textured hair) Left in its natural state, i.e. not chemically altered (relaxed, permed, etc).


bombogenesis

Blend of bomb + cyclogenesis; From exploding like a bomb onto the scene, in the generation of a storm; can be broken down as bomb + -o- + -genesis

Bombogenesis: A colloquial term for sudden, extremely rapid almost explosive intensification of low pressure systems just off the Atlantic Coast of the United States.

2000 February 15, “Weather word”, in Chicago Tribune, page 10:

The storm intensified from 990 mb to 956 mb in just 12 hours Sunday morning, a drop of 35 mb. Another case, like “Nemo”, of bombogenesis.

2013, Christopher Burt, “Another Big Storm but with a (Relatively) Small Punch”, in WunderBlog:

Experts say the storm will undergo bombogenesis, meaning that colder air is expected to mix with warmer sea air, leading to a swift drop in atmospheric pressure. The process leads to a so-called bomb cyclone.

2022 January 29, “US East Coast blanketed by 'bombogenesis' snowstorm”, in BBC News:

As the area where the two air masses meet, called the Arctic front, moves northward and eastward, conditions for bombogenesis should continue moving as well, Mr. Moore said.

2022 December 23, Henry Fountain, “What Is a ‘Bomb Cyclone’?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(meteorology) Rapid or extreme cyclogenesis, often characterized by a barometric pressure drop of 24 millibars in a 24 hour period.


shants

convertible pants
convertible pants#English


Kendra

Coined in the latter half of the twentieth century, presumably a blend of Kenneth + Sandra.

A female given name originating as a coinage.


Jody

Variant of Judy, diminutive of Judith, q.v.


Jody

From a blend of Jo or Joe with Jody or Judy. Doublet of Ivanka, Jan, Janelle, Janet, Janey, Janine, Jeanette, Jeanie, Jeannette, Jeannine, Jen, Jenna, Jenny, Jessie, Jo, Juanita, Shanae, Sinead, and Vanna in relation to most derivations of Jo as a female name.


Jody

Even today in the Marine Corps or the Army, one calls a jody, not a marching chant. For the trainee, Jody is the clever civilian who brutally divorces the soldier from the civilian world by appropriating all his possessions and loved ones.
Ain't no use in callin home. Jody's on your telephone.
Ain't no use in lookin' back.
Jody's got your Cadillac.
Ain't no use in goin' home.
Jody's got your girl and gone.
Ain't no use in feelin' blue.
Jody's got your sister too.

2004, Carol Burke, Camp all-American, Hanoi Jane, and the high-and-tight, page 31:

“What is Jody? a Jody is the guy back home with your wife or your girlfriend. That is what a Jody is,” Harris explained.

2008, Richard Engel, War Journal: My Five Years in Iraq, page 298:

(US, military and prison slang) The man who seduces a soldier or inmate's wife or girlfriend during his absence.


panendeism

There is something called PanEnDeism which perceives God or the Divine as being part of nature and somehow beyond the universe.

2011, Nick Dutch, Transdeism and Divination, →ISBN:

In this case, one possibility is that the deity is not fully 'consumed' by the creative process, and some remnant remains which can be described by panendeism, a conflation of deism and panentheism.

2015, R Lataster, “Pantheistic God-Concepts: Ancient, Contemporary, Popular, and Plausible Alternatives to Classical Theism”, in Literature & Aesthetics, volume 25:

In my view, Pandeism and Panendeism imply nonetheless the same ontology. In both cases, there is only God and God is only cognizable to us in the form of the universe. The difference is merely epistemic: Panendeism suggests more explicitly that we, humans, cannot know everything about God; that there is always a part of God fundamentally beyond our cognitive capacities.

2017, Bernardo Kastrup, “The Idealist Interpretation of Pandeism”, in Knujon Mapson, editor, Pandeism: An Anthology, →ISBN, page 43:

REP’s model is a variety of panendeism, which is a philosophical template that views reality as consisting of the physical realm and something else—a non-thinking trans-physical supra-intelligent kernel.

2017, The Society for the Alignment of Religion., The Supra-Intelligent Design, →ISBN:

(religion) A deistic equivalent of panentheism.


condop

(proscribed) A co-op that behaves like a condominium.


apatheism

/ˌæpəˈθi.ɪzəm/

Reportedly coined in 2001, as a blend of apathy + theism, by author Robert J. Nash.

[A]patheism is an attitude, not a belief system, and the over-riding fact is that these people are relaxed about religion.

2003 May 20, Jonathan Rauch, “Let It Be”, in The Atlantic:

(religion) Apathy towards the existence of a god; belief that the question of the existence of a god is unimportant.


manny

2006 [Perry Taylor] has popped up in supermarket tabloids as the male nanny – or "manny" – for Britney Spears, who has a 9-month-old son, Sean Preston and is pregnant. — CBS News, 9 June 2006


kidult

Organizational methods appear significantly more frequently in kidult programs, next most frequently in adult programs, and least frequently in children's programs. Escape methods appear most frequently in adult programs with kidult and children's programs about equal.

1963, Alpha Kappa Delta, Sociological Inquiry, volumes 33-34, page 189:

By casting popular culture as simplistic and ‘kidult’, as distinct from the authentic adult culture she approves of, she reduces a complex culture to a generational divide: the new is childish; while the old and established is timeless, worthy of consumption by adults.

2006, Kate Crawford, Adult Themes: Rewriting the Rules of Adulthood, page 192:

In the 21st century, whose “kidult” blurring of the lines sees grown-ups listening to “kindie rock,” feeding their kids gourmet gelato instead of Good Humor, and dissecting the last Pixar film, the notion of a tree house in our collective backyard with a misspelled sign saying “Kidz only” is a healthy thing[.]

2008, Dade Hayes, Anytime Playdate: Inside the Preschool Entertainment Boom, or, How Television Became My Baby’s Best Friend, page 86:

(informal, marketing, sociology) An adult who participates in youth culture and activities traditionally intended for children.

大細路

middle-aged person who participates in youth culture


hazmat

Coordinate term: biohazard

hazmat suit

No, but one day I got a letter in the mail, I opened it up and a puff of powder came all over my face and my chest. […] They said, “Don’t move, stay in the room.” And they got the hazmat people. So they came, they sprayed me down and all that.

2021 January 24, Donald G. McNeil Jr, “Fauci on What Working for Trump Was Really Like”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(US, often attributive) Hazardous material(s).


geon

A large unit of time, used to measure gradual geological change.


alundum

alumina, especially an abrasive product made from fused alumina


doxycycline

When his symptoms didnʼt improve, he was admitted to a local hospital and given doxycycline, a drug for tick-bite infections.

2019, Bill Bryson, The Body: A Guide for Occupants, Black Swan (2020), page 373:

broad-spectrum antibiotic
broad-spectrum antibiotic

(pharmacology) A broad-spectrum antibiotic C₂₂H₂₄N₂O₈ of the tetracycline class, which has a long half-life in the body and used orally to treat various bacterial infections.


puggle

en-verb

puggle (third-person singular simple present puggles, present participle puggling, simple past and past participle puggled)

puggles (present singular third-person)
puggling (participle present)
puggled (participle past)
puggled (past)

British dialect (Hertfordshire, Essex), from pug (“to poke”) + -le (“frequentative suffix”).

suffix

1833, "Javelin," Two Days with the East Sussex, in Sporting Magazine, 2nd Series, Volume 6, page 236,
In concluding my remarks on the East Sussex Hounds, I must observe, that perhaps they have the worst and most difficult country in the world to hunt through, intersected with immense woods, and slotted with some thousands of sheep, besides being naturally a very cold-scenting soil; consequently the hounds puggle more than is pleasing to the eye, have little or no dash, but are very patient and very perfect in working up to their fox, and are probably much surer killers than any other hounds […] .

(UK, regional) To coax (a rabbit) from a burrow by poking a stick down the hole and moving it about; to delve into a hole in order to locate an animal.

1828, "Philip Fidget," The Confessions of Philip Fidget, in The Spirit and Manners of the Age, New Series, Volume 1, page 417,
I am no sooner seated by a fire, but my hand instinctively fumbles after the poker, and I proceed to puggle the glowing embers, until (except timely warning prevent) I have displaced the whole into the fender.

He puggled around in the oil cavity with his little lead pencil until it slipped out of his fingers and went down into the oil cavity.

1919, James Francis Hobart, Millwrighting, McGraw-Hill, page 222:

(UK, regional) To poke around a hole with a stick, as to explore, remove obstacles, etc.


puggle

Transferal of trademarked name of a range of soft toys from the mid-1970s which superficially resemble baby echidnas.

Larger furred/spined puggles can be held in a wooden box with shredded paper.

2003, Stephen Jackson, Australian Mammals: Biology and Captive Management, unnumbered page:

2003, Robert Burton, The International Wildlife Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition, Volume 18: SOL-SWA, page 2488,
The puggle, which grows rapidly, remains in the pouch until its spines are sufficiently developed that the mother must eject it.

Hatching takes 10 days; the young echidna, called a puggle, then sucks milk from the pores of two milk patches and remains in the pouch for 45 to 55 days, at which time the spines develop. The mother digs a nursery burrow and deposits the puggle, returning every 5 days to suckle it until it is weaned at 7 months.

2012, Joseph Springer, Dennis Holley, An Introduction to Zoology, page 498:

(chiefly Australia) A baby monotreme (echidna or platypus).


puggle

2007 May, Vicki Constantine Croke, The Problem With Puggles, Prevention, page 208,
Jake Gyllenhaal and Sylvester Stallone are among the puggle lovers, but so are a slew of regular people who want in on the tawny, fawny, puppy-faced action and will pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for the pleasure.

Puggle proponents say these dogs have the very best qualities of both Beagles and Pugs: the Beagle′s cheerful friendliness, and the Pug′s lower activity level and laid-back attitude.

2009, Milwaukee Magazine, Volume 34, Issues 1-6, page 67,
The menagerie for sale at this auction included two black puggles with hernias, a French bulldog with one ear, a 3-month old Yorkshire terrier with only one testicle and a badly bow-legged bulldog.

A small mixed breed of dog created by mating a pug and beagle.


servent

Blend of server + client. Introduced by the Gnutella network technology.

(Internet) A peer-to-peer network node which has the functionality of both server and client.


Singlish

(Singapore, linguistics) A highly colloquial or basilectal variety of Singapore English incorporating much Hokkien and Malay lexis.


Singlish

Blend of Sinhala + English, or, Sri Lanka + English

(Sri Lanka, linguistics) Any of various varieties of English spoken in Sri Lanka.


posilutely

“Anyway, we're not trespassing now,” Hunt put in. “Posilutely not,” I said.

1922 June, Percy K. Fitzhugh, “Roy Blakely's Bee-Line Hike”, in Boys' Life, volume 12, number 6, →ISSN, page 19:

“Absotively, Admiral Dewey?” “Posilutely, General Grant.”

1994, Joseph Heller, Closing Time, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OL:

"No way, madam, it's posilutely confidential," I chuckled.

1998, Lewis Kornfeld, The Pheromone Factor: Twenty-Five Short Stories:

(informal, humorous or childish) Positively and absolutely.


satisfice

en-verb

satisfice (third-person singular simple present satisfices, present participle satisficing, simple past and past participle satisficed)

satisfices (present singular third-person)
satisficing (participle present)
satisficed (participle past)
satisficed (past)

Blend of satisfy + suffice, coined by American political scientist and psychologist Herbert A. Simon in 1956.

coinage

Evidently, organisms adapt well enough to ‘satisfice’; they do not, in general, ‘optimize’.

1956, H[erbert] A. Simon, “Rational Choice and the Structure of the Environment”, in Psychological Review, volume 63, number 2, page 129:

[T]here are two contrasting types of decision-making mentalities, maximizing and satisficing. If you're choosing a marriage partner, you probably want to maximize. You want to find the very best person you are totally in love with. […] But politics is not like that. Politics is a prosaic activity most of the time. You probably want to satisfice, pick the person who's good enough, who seems reasonably responsible.

2015 December 4, David Brooks, “No, Donald Trump won't win [print version: International New York Times, 5–6 December 2015, page 9]”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 2015-12-16:

(sociology, intransitive) Of human behavior: to make a choice that suffices to fulfill the minimum requirements to achieve an objective, without special regard for utility maximization or optimization of one's preferences.


singjay

A Jamaican style of reggae combining toasting and singing in an elastic scat format.


Los Angelization

Blend of Los Angeles + -ization, after the city in California that enjoyed significant growth post-World War II.

(slang) Dispersed urban development; urban sprawl.


agribusiness

en-noun

agribusiness (countable and uncountable, plural agribusinesses)

/ˈæɡɹɪˌbɪznəs/

From agri- + business, or a blend of agriculture + business, coined by American academic and diplomat John Herbert Davis (1904–1988).

(slang)

"Agribusiness," he [John H. Davis] says, "can be used as a starting point in the attack on the problem of farm surpluses and dipping farm incomes." [...] Davis arrives at his estimate that the agribusiness component of the total U.S. economy now accounts for no less than 40 per cent of the total work force and about 40 per cent of the gross national product.

1955 October 23, “Agribusiness: A new term from Boston: Reprinted from Business Week”, in Des Moines Sunday Register (Sports), volume 107, number 125, Des Moines, Iowa: Des Moines Register & Tribune Co., →OCLC, page 12-S, column 6:

Plans are underway to open a chain of huge, agri-business farm centers that could be a far greater threat to rural America than anything the big chains or the federal government have caused in the last 50 years. [...] Financial backing for the building of these 40-acre, agri-business, all-engulfing raids on rural America was announced by Litton Industries, now involved in an antitrust suit.

1969 June, Ed Wimmer, “Agri-business centers—big new threat”, in Independent Banker, Sauk Centre, Minn.: Independent Bankers Association of America, →ISSN, →OCLC; quoted in Role of Giant Corporations: Hearings before the Subcommittee on Monopoly of the Select Committee on Small Business, United States Senate, Ninety-first Congress, First Session on the Role of Giant Corporations in the American and World Economies: Part 1A—Appendixes: Automobile Industry—1969: […], Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1969, →OCLC, page 1012:

These county reports were distributed to farmers, assessors, credit agencies, county planning groups, agri-business personnel, Extension agents, vocational agriculture teachers, administrators and individuals with an interest in the land market.

1970 April, “Agricultural Economics”, in Discovery and Growth: Survey of Agricultural Research in Maryland: Eightieth Annual Report: 1966–1967 (Bulletin A; 159), College Park, Md.: University of Maryland Agricultural Research Station, →OCLC, page 9, column 2:

As in the Spanish and American periods, public lands were made available for favoured private interests in agri-business, including foreign interests (using leasing arrangements to avoid the constitutional prohibition on foreign acquisition of land).

1988, Mahar Mangahas, “Distributive Justice in the Philippines: Ideology, Policy and Surveillance”, in Lim Teck Ghee, editor, Reflections on Development in Southeast Asia, Singapore: ASEAN Economic Research Unit, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, →ISBN, page 95:

Primary agribusiness includes three categories (agriculture; livestock; forestry), whereas manufacturing agribusiness includes ten categories to reflect the variety of traded products (canned; cereals; drinks; leather; meat; oils; paper; tobacco; wood; other). In addition, there are service agribusinesses, notably supermarkets. [...] Agribusiness now includes all businesses whose raw materials are primarily products of the land and the sea.

2019, Julian Roche, “The Need for Agribusiness”, in Agribusiness: An International Perspective, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 2:

(uncountable) Business (especially big business) connected to agriculture, either owning or operating large-scale farms, or catering to those who do.


Pastafarian

Pirates are revered as the original Pastafarians, and Pastafarians facetiously assert that a steady decline in the number of pirates has resulted in a significant rise in global temperature.

2010 May 31, Intelligent Design Parodies: Flying Spaghetti Monster, Books LLC, →ISBN:


Pastafarian

en-adj

Pastafarian (comparative more Pastafarian, superlative most Pastafarian)

more Pastafarian (comparative)
most Pastafarian (superlative)

Something flashed by Theo and he spun to see Gabe Fenton running hell-bent-for-leather at the window, holding before him a long stainless-steel pan full of lasagna, evidently intent upon diving through the window in a pastafarian act of self-sacrifice.

2005, Christopher Moore, The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror, →ISBN, page 217:


lavacicle

A geological formation consisting of a quantity of lava that dripped from the roof of a cave as it cooled and hardened, leaving a rounded protrusion.


choralography

Choreographed movements performed by a choir while singing.


Yogalates

Blend of yoga + Pilates, coined as a trademark.

A fitness technique that combines elements of yoga and Pilates.


celebutante

Blend of celebrity + debutante. Reportedly coined by Walter Winchell in 1939.

Lisa Edelstein, a nice girl from a New Jersey suburb, is explaining how she got to be Lisa E., New York's reigning Queen of the Night, Girl of the Moment, new Edie Sedgwick and top "celebutante" of 1986. "Being a celebutante means you're famous for not really doing anything," the 20-year-old says. "You just try to get to know as many people as you can, so that you know everybody."

1986 November 9, Maureen Dowd, “Lisa in Wonderland: Creating her own celebrity”, in New York Times, sec. 6, page 32:

Paris Hilton, the United States’s first name in famous-for-being-famous, got her come-uppance. . . . Her ubiquitous nightlife presence, perceived aura of fabulousness and inane conduct made her a tabloid fixture, and she is perhaps our first celebutante, someone who does nothing but exist.

2007 May 24, Jessica Coen, “A media Frankenstein”, in Mail & Guardian Online, South Africa:

A young, usually female socialite, especially one of limited accomplishment, who is the focus of sufficient media attention and public interest to be regarded as a celebrity.


twonk

en-noun

twonk (countable and uncountable, plural twonks)

You dozy little twonk, Rodney. You bang again on the roof of my van like that and it won't be Frankie Goes to Hollywood, it'll be Rodney goes to hospital.

1985, Only Fools and Horses (TV series), "It's Only Rock and Roll" (episode)

The absolute state of you, Downey, you utter twonk. Like you have anything to do with the outcome of the bloody match! You need to confine this superstition malarkey to a flaming skip.

2015 February 11, Trev Downey, “Reasons to Believe”, in The Liverpool Offside:

(British, slang, countable) A stupid person.

What twonk you are talking!

(British, slang, uncountable) Nonsense; rubbish.


Socceroo

While still playing for Marconi, just prior to joining Lierse, I had debuted as a Socceroo.

2010, Archie Thompson, What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger, page 68:

A sensation as fullback on the tour, Williams remained in the Socceroo squad for the historic 1974 World Cup campaign in West Germany.

1990, Bret Harris, The Proud Champions: Australia′s Aboriginal sporting heroes, page 106:

Kosmina equalled Atti Abonyi′s record of 25 Socceroo goals at full international level and is the National Soccer League′s highest goal-scorer, with 133 goals.

1994, Wray Vamplew, The Oxford Companion to Australian sport, 2nd edition, page 235:

(Australia, sometimes attributive) A member of the Australian national soccer team, the Socceroos.


cobalamin

(organic chemistry) Any of several forms of vitamin B₁₂ depending on the upper axial ligand of the cobalt ion.


mythconception

That Sweden has the highest suicide rate in the world is a common mythconception.

The claim that when you have a cold, drinking heavily will get rid of it is just a mythconception.

(rare, informal) A popular misconception; something often held to be true that in fact is not.


scribacious

en-adj

scribacious (comparative more scribacious, superlative most scribacious)

more scribacious (comparative)
most scribacious (superlative)

VVe have ſome Letters of Popes, (though not many; for Popes vvere then not very ſcribacious, or not ſo pragmatical;[…])

a. 1678 (date written), Isaac Barrow, “[The V. [Supposition] that the Bishops of Rome (According to God’s Institution and by Original Right Derived thence) should have an Universal Supremacy and Jurisdiction over the Christian Church]”, in J[ohn] Tillotson, editor, A Treatise of the Pope’s Supremacy. […], London: […] Miles Flesher, for Brabazon Aylmer, […], published 1680, →OCLC, page 165:


Taffia

(humorous, may be mildly offensive) Any group of Welsh people who practice nepotism or live in an ethnic enclave.


beardo

From beard + -o; in some uses, clearly influenced by weirdo, hence a blend of beard + weirdo.

1994, Patrick D. Gaffney, The Prophet's Pulpit: Islamic Preaching in Contemporary Egypt, University of California Press, →ISBN, page 90,
Moreover, in the regional patois one common expression used by outsiders, including unsympathetic shaykhs, to refer to the group was birubū dign, which can be glossed as the “bearded ones” or more colloquially as “beardo’s.”

2000, Salman Rushdie, The Ground Beneath Her Feet, Picador, →ISBN, page 331,
However you get through your day in New York City, well then that’s a New York City kind of day, and if you’re a Bombay singer singing the Bombay bop or a voodoo cab driver with zombies on the brain or a bomber from Montana or an Islamist beardo from Queens, then whatever’s going through your head?, well that’s a New York state of mind.

2003, Suzi Rose, Accidental Heroine: Diary of an Attention Seeker, Authors On Line Ltd, →ISBN,page 146,
Mr Bore is in his garden again. I went to say Hello and he gave me a really stony look so I went back in. I really don’t know what his problem is. Anti-social beardo (that’s a weirdo with a beard).

2004, Joshua Wright, Plotless Pointless Pathetic, Allen & Unwin, →ISBN, page 119,
‘[…] He can’t control the weather. It’s controlled by the atmosphere, with respect to variables such as temperature, moisture, wind velocity, and barometric pressure. It’s not run by just some mouldy old beardo wearing a bed sheet and throwing thunderbolts about.’

(informal, derogatory) A person with a beard.


exaptation

en-noun

exaptation (countable and uncountable, plural exaptations)

Elisabeth Vrba
Stephen Jay Gould
exaptation

Blend of ex- + adaptation. Coined 1982 by palaeontologists Stephen Jay Gould and Elisabeth Vrba to avoid the perceived teleological baggage of the existing term preadaptation.

Birds initially developed wings and feathers as a means of heat regulation. The use of wings for flight is an example of exaptation.

I believe that Stephen Gould and Elizabeth Vrba were correct in proposing exaptation as a missing term in evolutionary biology. I want to make a distinction between adaptation and exaptation here. Again it is about mechanistic differences. An exaptation can be viewed as the acquisition of a new and useful function once the novelty has spread and once the environment has changed.

2000, Gabriel A. Dover, Dear Mr. Darwin: Letters on the Evolution of Life and Human Nature, University of California Press, page 226:

These presumed exaptations can be assigned to major categories associated with theories of movement (Nathan et al. 2008). In table 1.2, we list five categories of exaptations that we believe make resident birds possessing them preadapted for migration.

2013, John H. Rappole, The Avian Migrant: The Biology of Bird Migration, Columbia University Press, page 22:

An interesting consequence of this way of characterizing exaptations is that whether or not a trait counts as an exaptation depends upon how we describe it. Human legs are adaptations for locomotion, but exaptations for walking.

2013, Heather Dyke, James MacLaurin, “30: Evolutionary Explanations of Temporal Experience”, in Adrian Bardon, Heather Dyke, editors, A Companion to the Philosophy of Time, Paperback edition, Wiley, published 2016, page 522:

(biology, evolutionary theory) The use of a biological structure or function for a purpose other than that for which it initially evolved.

exattamento

The process Haiman focuses on is exaptation, which he defines as "the promotion of meaningless or redundant material so that it does new grammatical (morphosyntactic or phonological) or semantic work" (p52).

2017, Eric Haeberli, Review of Ledgeway & Roberts (eds.) (2017), Cambridge Handbook of Historical Syntax, Journal of Historical Syntax, Volume 3, Article 4, 2019, PDF edition page 2

(linguistics, by extension) The promotion of meaningless or redundant material so that it does new grammatical (morphosyntactic or phonological) or semantic work.


cellotaph

So maybe the phenomenon is not so alien, after all but this view raises some other issues, such as why are cellotaphs everywhere now?

2009, Mark Earls, Herd: How to Change Mass Behaviour by Harnessing Our True Nature:

(sometimes derogatory) A monument made of flowers in cellophane wrappers laid by the public to honour the death of a famous person they have never met.


resel

(computing) A resolution element describing the actual spatial image resolution in an image (or a volume).


skort

Always feminine, Faith preferred to wear a skirt when possible, but for reasons of modesty she compromised by wearing a skort to amusement parks where boys might see her from below if she rode the Ferris wheel.

All the major athletic apparel companies now offer skirts, or skorts. (What's the difference between a skort and a running skirt? Nothing, really, but I like the latter term better.)

2008 August, Sarah Bowen Shea, “Speedy, Sexy, Cool: What to look for if you're putting shorts behind”, in Runner's World, page 74:

Trina: I'm holding a pair of skorts.
Jen: (gasp) Trina, listen very carefully to me. Put the skorts down and back away slowly. BACK AWAY! Look for the nearest exit!

2010, Jen Hatmaker, Out of the Spin Cycle: Devotions to Lighten Your Mother Load, page 91:

Often erroneously confused with culottes (see also: culottes), the skort appears to be a skirt in the front (due to a clever little fabric flap) but reveals its essential shorts-ness from behind. The skort is typically short (often very short) and is designed for sporty activities such as tennis and hiking.

2011, Anna Lefler, The Chicktionary: From A-line to Z-snap, the words every woman should know, page 179:

A pair of shorts designed to look like a skirt via the addition of a panel of fabric.


hydrochronic

A very potent type of hydroponically-grown marijuana.


dentro

Vote for any demo released during the last six months before the release of the next issue of Yahoo (7.6.1994 - 7.1.1995). All non-party dentros and dentros competed ^([sic]) in a demo competition at a party belong to this category.

1995, Antti Piirainen, “Yah #4 vote sheet”, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.demos (Usenet):

And if we leave the conspiracy theory for a moment, it was a long time since I saw a TBL demo/dentro/intro, or have I missed something?

1999, Cruxis, “scary rumour about win2k (billy selling your cpu?)”, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.demos (Usenet):

I left the amiga group Plague and joined LSD about 1992, i released a dentro under their name (Anyone know how i can find it again, i think it was simply called LSD dentro)...

2001, Matrix, “Looking for certain demo/intro i released under LSD & DCS.”, in alt.emulators.amiga (Usenet):

(demoscene, rare) A production that is classified somewhere between a demo and an intro.


shockumentary

The ransom was to be propaganda: a broadcast on Norwegian television of the anti-abortion shockumentary, The Silent Scream.

2000, Peter Schjeldahl, “A Theft in Norway: March 8, 1994”, in Deborah Chasman, Edna Chiang, editors, Drawing Us In: How We Experience Visual Art, Beacon Press, →ISBN, page 1:

A form of documentary used to generate a reactionary effect in an audience; especially such a documentary containing scenes of violence, gore, or other disturbing imagery.


spime

Coined by Bruce Sterling in 2004, as a blend of space + time.

Critically, from an environmental point of view, product disposal can be controlled because of the spime's history. Armed with the complete log of its birth and life, the spime can be destroyed, dismantled and recycled efficiently.

2008, Ian J. Taylor, Andrew Harrison, From P2P and Grids to Services on the Web: Evolving Distributed Communities, Springer Science & Business Media, →ISBN, page 346:

An object that could be remotely tracked through space and time.


textbase

(databases) A database containing a corpus of text for use by lexicographers etc.


plodge

The college system protects you, but it is very unfair to say that people at Oxbridge are not living in the real world. They do have some odd slang. ‘I'll p-hole you in the plodge’ meaning ‘I will leave a note for you in the porter’s lodge’ is just one example.

1991 January 14, Alice Thomson, “Knuckling down to the new realism”, in The Times, page 26:

(Oxbridge slang) Contraction of porter's lodge.


texting

texting (countable and uncountable, plural textings)

Blend of text + messaging, derived from text messaging

The use of a mobile phone to send text messages.

More typical (but still not numerous) are the textings supplied for Alleluias, or just as frequently for melismas occurring at the end of the second or third verse of Offertories.

1915, Oscar George Sonneck, The Musical Quarterly, volume 52, page 198:


carbage

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-carbage.wav

Shreds and patches of cloth cut off by a tailor when cutting out clothes.


rockabilly

rockabilly (countable and uncountable, plural rockabillies or rockabillys)

rockabillies (plural)
rockabillys (plural)

/ˈɹɒkəˌbɪli/

/ˈɹɑːkəˌbɪli/

(uncountable, music) A genre of music originating from the South (United States) and mixing elements of rock, blues, country, hillbilly boogie and bluegrass music.


camiknickers

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-camiknickers.wav

Blend of camisole + knickers. The term was coined in the 1920s when camiknickers were introduced as a briefer garment than combinations. The garment reappeared in the lingerie market in the 1990s under the name teddy or body.

(dated) A women's undergarment covering the torso, worn for example under short dresses or slacks.


kissogram

A message delivered along with a kiss, usually arranged as a surprise on a special occasion.


koozie

An alteration of earlier cozy, cosy (“padded or knit covering put on an item to insulate it”), from Scots. This form, with /u/, is perhaps influenced by a blend of cool, kool + cozy.

A thermal insulation sleeve for cans or bottles.


prostitot

(derogatory, Canada, US, slang) A prepubescent girl who emulates the overtly sexual fashions and attitudes of twentysomething women such as pop stars.


jamoke

jamoke (countable and uncountable, plural jamokes)

Appeared at the end of the 19th century as a term for coffee, a blend of java + mocha.
By the 1920s or 1940s jamoke was also attested in the sense of "fool, idiot", perhaps suggesting they lacked mental abilities beyond that of a cup of coffee, or perhaps an unrelated word; the first syllable is reminiscent of jaboney, jiboney, and the second syllable is reminiscent of moke. Also spelled jamook, giamoke, and giamope, the term as used for an idiot has also been suggested to derive from a dialectal Italian (Neapolitan or Sicilian) word giamope.
In the 1960s it also began to be used as slang for male genitalia.
This term may be the origin of cup of joe and joe; see those entries for more.

The chartroom door popped open before the startled admirals in the cockpit, and the beaming face of the boat's cook appeared to offer the hospitality of his craft, thus: “Would yer Majesty like a cuppa jamoke?”

1957, Samuel Morison, History of United States Naval Operations in World War II (Illinois 2002), page 71


shoeicide bomber

shoeicide bomber (plural shoeicide bombers)

Tamil Tiger rebels who see suicide bombing as a privilege have protected their leader from potential “shoeicide” bombers. A hardcore group had to remove shoes worn for at least nine hours by journalists and sniff socks.

2002, Tamils get toey, in the Herald Sun, April 16, 2002

Reid is the would-be ‘shoeicide’ bomber who was apprehended in midair during early 2002 when he (almost comically) attempted to ignite a fuse in his shoes that were laden with plasitic explosives.

2004, Matthew Sussex, European Security After 9/11

(humorous) A suicide bomber who conceals explosive devices within his or her shoes.


countrypolitan

A subgenre of country music, a development of the Nashville sound, produced in the late 1960s and early 1970s, containing elements of popular music, including string sections and background vocals.


Brangelina

/ˌbɹænd͡ʒəˈlinə/

This tabloid has three separate Brangelina articles.

(slang) The couple consisting of celebrities Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, together from 2005 to 2016.


telemarketing

→ Italian: telemarketing

→ Polish: telemarketing

→ Portuguese: telemarketing

→ Swedish: telemarketing

The newspaper started a telemarketing campaign to boost its subscriptions by calling non-subscribers.

The business of selling products or services by making unsolicited telephone calls to potential customers.

電話營銷

selling products or services by making calls to potential customers


aerobatic

en-adj

aerobatic (comparative more aerobatic, superlative most aerobatic)

more aerobatic (comparative)
most aerobatic (superlative)

Having to do with acrobatic maneuvers, such as spins, twirls, and flips, performed by an airplane.

d'acrobaties aériennes

acrobatic maneuvers performed by an airplane


bigorexia

→ Polish: bigoreksja

The quest for perfect pecs is so strong that psychiatrists now sometimes refer to it as “bigorexia,” a form of muscle dysmorphia exhibited mostly by men and characterized by excessive weight lifting, a preoccupation with not feeling muscular enough and a strict adherence to eating foods that lower weight and build muscle.

2022 March 5, Alex Hawgood, “What Is ‘Bigorexia’?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(medicine) A mental disorder in which the sufferer perceives himself to have inadequate musculature; most common among bodybuilders


slacktivism

By “fight back,” he meant, basically, tweeting. Internet activism is sometimes derided as “slacktivism”—a fair characterization when an online campaign tries to, say, cure aids or end child labor.

2016 October 31, Andrew Marantz, “Trolls for Trump”, in The New Yorker, retrieved 2017-12-02:

(informal, derogatory) Half-hearted activism, usually in the form of posting badges, images, apps, or text on social media without taking further action.


Britcom

(informal, television) A British sitcom.


dataveillance

The systematic surveillance of all the electronic records of a person's activities, especially the usage of credit cards, mobile phones, email and the Internet.


diabulimia

(medicine) The manipulation of insulin dosage by a diabetic person in order to effect loss of weight.


explornography

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-explornography.wav

Blend of explore + pornography, coined by columnist John Tierney

1998, John Tierney, “Explornography: The Vicarious thrill of Exploring When There's Nothing Left to Explore”, The New York Times Magazine, July 26, section 6, page 18+
Age of Exploration has been succeeded by the Age of Explornography

The success of Outside magazine and its ability to generate blockbuster books such as The Perfect Storm, Into Thin Air, and the IMAX film Everest reflect an “explornography” trend of vicariously breaking free of civilization by entering into the natural world at its most capricious and violent.

1999 March, Michael J. Wolf, The Entertainment Economy: How Mega-media Forces are Transforming Our Lives, Times Books, page 169:

2002 March, Elizabeth Haiken, Artificial Parts, Practical Lives (multiple authors), page 171, NYU Press
A core sample taken from the refuse pile reveals...Gore-Tex, that miracle fiber of “explornography”, then, a layer of Teflon and several layers of silicone solids

Re-enactors are the ultimate “explornographers”—voyueristic seekers of long-lost explorer’s experiences.

2006 January, Peter Charles Hoffer, Sensory Worlds in Early America, Johns Hopkins University Press, page 12:

(derogatory, humorous) A fascination with historic explorations, particularly by reenacting them.


potscaping

gardening involving plants in pots and other containers which may be artistically arranged


Presleyterianism

Blend of Presley + Presbyterianism, as a playful substitution.

The First Church of Presleyterianism

1997, Fortean Times, numbers 102-106, page 20:

Presleyterianism has something for everyone.

2000, Swami Beyondananda, Swami for President, page 62:

Presleyterianism teaches us that there is no discrepancy between science and theology, no disparity between putting your trust in physics and technology or believing in Elvis.

2004, Bill Yenne, The Field Guide to Elvis Shrines:

The cult of Elvis Presley, especially in the southern United States


neuticles

If you prefer a “natural look” for your male Poodle, ask your vet about a vasectomy or implanting artificial testicles (called neuticles).

2007, Susan M. Ewing, Poodles for Dummies, Wiley publishing, Inc., page 206:

So plastic neuticles were invented to take their place. The vet is supposed to install them — they come in pairs, you understand — when the originals are removed.

2007, Sam Venable, Some Day I May Find Honest Work: A Newspaper Humorist's Life, The University of Texas Press, page 194:

Her husband refused to have the dog neutered unless neuticles were implanted, and the wife complied.

2008, Bonnie Berry, The Power of Looks: Social Stratification of Physical Appearance, Ashgate Publishing, page 104:

If you feel bad for neutering your pet, you can purchase neuticles--fake implants to restore what was lost.

2009 October 15, Jenna Goudreau, “The Pet Culture”, in Forbes, Forbes.com LLC:

Because there's a whole lot more on the table when it comes to building better pets via the business end of a scalpel. Consider the neuticles (testicular implants) some owners clamor for.

2010 July 29, Patty Khuly, “Vet's view: I'll nip/tuck your pet, but only for the right reasons”, in USA Today, Gannett Co. Inc.:

Owners invest in pet face lifts, tummy tucks, nose jobs, breast reductions, and the newest craze, “neuticles”—testicular implants designed to give neutered dogs a more “masculine” look.

2012, Karen A. Cerulo, Janet M. Ruane, Second Thoughts: Sociology Challenges Conventional Wisdom, Sage Publications, Inc., page 88:


Iraqnophobia

[…] but they may be making a mistake by not taking a flier on Atlantic Coast and some of the other successful smaller airlines, the stocks of which have been grounded by Wall Street's Iraqnophobia.

2003 February 10, Jerry Knight, “Small Airline Has a Chance To Soar Again”, in The Washington Post:

An arrogant dictatorial super-villain possesses a weapon of mass destruction while the morally righteous Federation makes a successful preemptive strike — Nemesis almost seemed designed to encourage the nation's Iraqnophobia and justify its war.

2005, Daniel Dinello, Technophobia!: Science Fiction Visions of Posthuman Technology, University of Texas Press, →ISBN, page 217:

(Former American President George W. Bush and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair now suffer from Iraqnophobia for which there is no cure.)

2009, Gary Cox, How to Be an Existentialist: Or How to Get Real, Get a Grip and Stop Making Excuses, A&C Black, →ISBN, page 112:

weapons of mass destruction
weapons of mass destruction

(informal, humorous) An irrational fear of Iraq's ability to manufacture weapons of mass destruction, or, more broadly, of military conflict with Iraq.


somesthesis

All of the various sensory systems in the skin and other bodily tissues responsible for the senses of touch-pressure, warmth and coldness, pain, itch together with positioning and movement


sexploitation

en-noun

sexploitation (countable and uncountable, plural sexploitations)

Blend of sex + exploitation (circa 1942)

Sexual exploitation in the media (especially film).


twincest

This one's about gay brothers. I'm calling it Twincest. Nice, no?

1985, Joseph Hansen, A Smile in His Lifetime, New American Library, page 64:

As 'twincest' is in (a trend started by Parker Posey and Josh Hamilton in The House of Yes, to be released in the UK in 1998)...

1998, Film Review: Special: Year Book 1997/98, Visual Imagination Ltd., page 117:

These pieces you might very well be able to relate to even if you've never been horny for twincest, had an affair, or been a black man...

2007, Rachel Kramer Bussel, Best Sex Writing 2008:

In the course of one of his climbs, he hears adult voices through a high window, goes to investigate, and comes across Jaime and Cersei energetically engaged in (to use a neologism popular with fans) twincest.

2013, John Lancaster, “When did you get hooked?”, in London Review of Books, volume 35, number 7:

(chiefly fandom slang) incestuous sexual relations between twins, or siblings who look very similar.


fembot

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-fembot.wav

Blend of female + -bot. Coined by screenwriters Arthur Rowe and Oliver Crawford in the television series The Bionic Woman (1976–1978), specifically in "Kill Oscar" (season 2, episode 5) first broadcast on October 27, 1976.

(science fiction) A robot in female or feminine form.

A robot in female or feminine form.
A female sexbot.


Michigander

[ˈmɪ.ʃəˌɡæn.dɚ]

]
Attributed to Abraham Lincoln, in a speech of July 27, 1848, as pejorative reference to Lewis Cass, Michigan politician:
: There is one entire article of the sort I have not discussed yet; I mean the military tale you Democrats are now engaged in dovetailing onto the great Michigander.
Ostensibly coined as a blend of Michigan + gander (“male goose, simpleton”) (punning on “tale” and “(dove)tail(ing)”). Alternatively from and/or later reanalyzed as Michigan + -d- (epenthetic) + -er (“resident of”).

blend

United States of America
United States of America

(US) A native or resident of the state of Michigan in the United States of America.


Windian

Blend of west + Indian; may also be used as a blend of white + Indian

Every knowledgeable cricketing WIndian knows to expect the best and the worst from WI at any time and place."

1993: P. Armorer, [news:///rec.sport.cricket rec.sport.cricket], [news:///1993Apr30.161747.9580@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu <1993Apr30.161747.9580@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu>]

A West Indian; a person from the West Indies

one who claims that they have Native American or Indian heritage and therefore believes that they are eligible for affirmative action benefits

one who acts like they are Native American or Indian


Windian

2002: "That spirit is not unique to the West Indies, I'm sure, but the Windian expression of it is, as we see with all the characters at Windian grounds out to have a party and enjoy a good "lime". And the Windian character off the field has its reflection on the field as well, which is why Dravid was safe on that occasion, and the appeal was stifled, even though technically he could have been out." — Sidney Thomas, [news:///rec.sport.cricket rec.sport.cricket], [news:///3CD819BC.636A6235@verizon.net <3CD819BC.636A6235@verizon.net>]

West Indian; of or relating to the West Indies


vortal

The service is a vortal, which aims to assist SMEs involved in engineering or manufacturing in the East Midlands area around Nottingham. The project builds on the concept of a human-organised regional gateway of information but also incorporates the ideas behind a vortal.

2000, Brian Stanford-Smith, Paul T. Kidd, E-business: Key Issues, Applications and Technologies, page 302:

(Internet) A vertical portal; an online resource acting as an entry point for information for a single specific market or subject.


snowclone

Blend of snow cone + clone, after the popular idea that the Inuit have a large number of words for different types of snow; coined by Glen Whitman in response to Geoffrey Pullum on the blog Language Log.

"To fry or not to fry" is a snowclone of the famous quotation from Shakespeare's Hamlet, "To be or not to be".

I stumbled upon the site the other day, when I was looking up the origins of the "Im not an X, but I play one on TV" snowclone.

2005 November 5, auuV, “Some articles that I like. They are about language,”, in alt.running.out.of.newsgroup.names (Usenet):

Suddenly snowclone hunters were documenting media usages suggesting that, in space, no one can hear you belch, bitch, blog, speak, squeak or suck.

2005 December 3, David Rowan, “"Snowclone" journalism”, Trendsurfing, in The Times, archived from the original on 2006-09-06:

Regular readers learned there first about snowclones, the basic building blocks of cliches, like "X is the new Y" or "you don't need a degree in A to do B."

2006 June 20, Michael Erard, “Analyzing Eggcorns and Snowclones, and Challenging Strunk and White”, in The New York Times, page F4:

If so, you're being snowed under by snowclones — a category of fill-in-the-blank cliché identified by linguists.

2006 July 20, Mark Peters, “Not Your Father's Cliché”, in Columbia Journalism Review, volume 45, number 2, page 14:

When you read phrases like these in a newspaper, you've stumbled across a particular type of cliché: the snowclone.

2006 November 18, anonymous author, “Snowclone”, in New Scientist, volume 192, number 2578, →DOI, page 80:

The concept of ‘snowclones’ has gained interest in recent research on linguistic creativity and in studies of extravagance and expressiveness in language. However, no clear criteria for identifying snowclones have yet been established[.]

2024 August 20 [2023 April 14], Journal of Linguistics, volume 60, number 3, →DOI, page 599:

(grammar, linguistics) A type of cliché which uses an old idiom formulaically placed in a new context.


snowclone

en-verb

snowclone (third-person singular simple present snowclones, present participle snowcloning, simple past and past participle snowcloned)

snowclones (present singular third-person)
snowcloning (participle present)
snowcloned (participle past)
snowcloned (past)

Many journalists are guilty of serial snowcloning, but snowclones aren't always a symptom of laziness – they can be a cultural in-joke.

2006 November 15, “The word: Snowclone”, in New Scientist, number 2578:

(intransitive) To use a snowclone in speech or writing.


postface

a piece of text, containing information normally included in a preface, placed at the back of a publication


javazon

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-javazon.wav

(video games, Diablo II slang) An Amazon character focusing on javelin skills.


glob

glob (third-person singular simple present globs, present participle globbing, simple past and past participle globbed)

globs (present singular third-person)
globbing (participle present)
globbed (participle past)
globbed (past)

Possibly a blend of blob + gob or a clipping of globule. An element of sound symbolism is clearly involved: compare such phonetically and semantically similar words as glop, gop, blob, clump and clod. (Still, globe, clump and clod may be related via the Proto-Indo-European root *gel-; compare clew.)
In the programming sense, originates from the early (c. 1970) Unix command glob; short for global.
In the biological sense, proposed by Bevil R. Conway and Doris Y. Tsao, by analogy with the cytochrome-oxidase "blobs" of V1, an earlier stage in the hierarchical elaboration of colour.

(programming) To carry out pattern matching using a glob.


Demoncrat

American Blacks have made huge strides over the years, but the Demoncrats invent class warfare and inequality issues.

2003 May 26, mange [username], “Re: Abe Lincoln: The Republican Party”, in alt.politics.republicans (Usenet):

The Demoncrats, truly the party of anti-Xtians and actually the embodiment of everything that is the traditional evil […]

2004 November 28, John S. Dyson, “Re: Zogby OHIO-FINAL: Bush up 48% to 44% (It's Over for Kerry)”, in alt.politics.republicans (Usenet):

The fact is Demoncrats are more intolerant of those differing from them than are Republicans.

2006 October 3, alamonation1 [username], “Re: Did Democrats Page Mark Foley?”, in alt.politics.republicans (Usenet):

(US politics, Internet slang, derogatory) A member or supporter of the Democratic Party (with an implication that its members are demonic).


read dating

An organized event in which prospective romantic partners engage in a series of one-to-one meetings in a library, based around the topic of favorite books.


travelogue

Supposedly a blend of travel + monologue, coined by Elias Burton Holmes.

During this period, and especially in Russia, the travelogue becomes a hybrid genre comprising elements of poetry, prose, and the drama.

2012, R.K. Wilson, The Literary Travelogue: A Comparative Study with Special Relevance to Russian Literature from Fonvizin to Pushkin, Springer Science & Business Media, →ISBN:

The Road to Oxiana is a travelogue by Robert Byron, first published in 1937. It is considered by many modern travel writers to be the first example of great travel writing.

2016, Robert Byron, The Road to Oxiana: New edition linked and annotated, MarcoPolo, →ISBN:

A description of someone's travels, given in the form of narrative, public lecture, slide show or motion picture.


malloc

It compares the behavior of nine different mallocs when used with Hummingbird and GNU Emacs dynamic memory activity traces.

2001, USENIX Association, Proceedings of the FREENIX Track: 2001 USENIX Annual Technical Conference:

dynamic memory allocation
dynamic memory allocation

(computing) A subroutine in the C programming language's standard library for performing dynamic memory allocation.


malloc

malloc (third-person singular simple present mallocs, present participle mallocing, simple past and past participle malloced)

mallocs (present singular third-person)
mallocing (participle present)
malloced (participle past)
malloced (past)

(computing) To allocate memory using the C programming language malloc subroutine.


treknobabble

/ˈtɹɛknəʊˌbæbəl/

I'd sooner trust treknobabble for an explanation than any thing you say.

1997 September 24, $teve2, “Re: SUNBURN : If you were not watching GITM”, in aus.tv.x-files (Usenet):

So you think up something like Voyager meets some Romulans stranded in the DQ, or some treknobabble takes down the command staff and Seven assumes command.

1999 December 29, Bozo the Proctologist, “Re: Bad Voyager Plots”, in alt.tv.star-trek.voyager (Usenet):

Even if they won using the power of treknobabble, this force ratio does not show the audience how mighty and dangerous the Imperial warships are […]

2003 December 17, Kazuaki Shimazaki, “The More Detailed Critique”, in alt.startrek.vs.starwars (Usenet):

A kind of technobabble particular to the Star Trek universe, with a particularly heavy emphasis on configurations of pseudoscientific particles and waves.


spintronics

Blend of spin + electronics, or from spin transport electronics.

(physics) The storage and transfer of information using the spin state of electrons as well as their charge.

spintroniikka

type of information storage and handling


militician

(chiefly in West Africa) An outwardly democratic politician who gained, and retains power with the help of a military establishment


e-tailing

The conducting of retail business via electronic media, especially via the Internet


e-tailer

A company that does business via electronic media, especially via the Internet


webliography

Currently, there is no standard and specific format for developing a webliography. Some existing webliographies simply include a number of Web links that appear as “patchworks.”

2008, Lawrence A. Tomei, Encyclopedia of Information Technology Curriculum Integration, IGI Global, →ISBN, page 959:

(The O.E.D. might have gone overboard by including a couple of iffy web-words: webliography, for a Web-based bibliography, and webmeister, a silly alternative to webmaster.)

[2010 November 11, Ben Zimmer, “Web”, in The New York Times Magazine:

A list of electronic documents or websites that relate to a particular subject, especially one used in a scholarly work.


nastygram

Blend of nasty + -gram. Possibly a playful variation of candygram.

Ordinary people might find a "nasty gram" in the mail, a notice from a lender who has not received payment from a borrower.

1987 January 24, Steve Kerch, “Realty Terminology: Bird dogs to fat cats”, in Chicago Tribune, page 7:

"Okay, before we over-react... Ennesby, are you one hundred percent sure that General Xinchub was responsible for that bomb?" "A hundred percent? No. But I am sure that he got my nasty-gram."

2003 May 21, Howard Tayler, Schlock Mercenary, archived from the original on 2023-12-07:

Virgin Media, one of the UK's largest ISPs, has agreed to forward British music industry nastygrams to subscribers suspected of illegal file-swapping.

2008 June 16, Nate Anderson, “Cash, not idealism, behind ISP embrace of music biz”, in Ars Technica, retrieved 2009-02-10:

(informal) A written communication containing unpleasant material, especially one that criticizes, insults, or intimidates the recipient.


fen-phen

Blend of fenfluramine + phentermine, from the initial syllables of the two drugs.

It is hard to recall the last time a drug so excited the general public. Fen-phen in the 1990s, maybe? Viagra or Botox in the 2000s? Each had amazing hype cycles but none as explosive as Ozempic.

2023 October 9, Tressie McMillan Cottom, “Ozempic Can’t Fix What Our Culture Has Broken”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(pharmacology, medicine) A combination of the drugs fenfluramine and phentermine, formerly prescribed for weight loss.


Lollywood

Blend of Lahore + Hollywood, possibly originally formed as Urdu لالیوڈ (lālīvuḍ).

During the 1990s, Lollywood further suffered because of the easily available and more resourceful Indian movies, which were now being watched on the cable networks.

2006, Iftikhar Haider Malik, Culture and Customs of Pakistan, page 181:

(informal) The cinema industry of Pakistan based in Lahore.


flexecutive

An executive or other professional who works flexible hours, sometimes from home via the Internet


carden

A garden grown inside of a car, usually in the dashboard.


coagulase

(biochemistry) Any enzyme that induces coagulation

(biochemistry) Specifically, the enzyme produced by various Staphylococcus species that converts fibrinogen to fibrin


calciferol

Coined in 1931 as a blend of calciferous + sterol (see quote below).

Owing to the exceptional difficulty of purification in the sterol group, we cannot yet be certain that this substance is a single compound, but we think the provisional adoption of a new name is justified, for the sake of convenience, and suggest “Calciferol” in view of the high antirachitic activity of the substance.

1931 June 1, T. C. Angus, F. A. Askew, R. B. Bourdillon, Hilda M. Bruce, Robert Kenneth Callow, Catherine Fischmann, J. St L. Philpot, T. A. Webster, “A crystalline antirachitic substance”, in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, volume 108, number 757, →DOI, page 340:


urinalysis

en-noun

urinalysis (countable and uncountable, plural urinalyses)

/jʊəɹɪˈnælɪsɪs/

‘He was still booking them in for their check-ups. All that cholesterol to be tested, all those urinalyses.’

2000, J. G. Ballard, Super-Cannes, Fourth Estate, published 2011, page 70:

(medicine) The comprehensive analysis of urine.


pode

From Middle English pode, pod, podde (“toad”), from a merger of Middle English pade, padde (“toad”) + tode (“toad”), equivalent to a blend of pad + toad.

By God ye be a pretty pode […]


dout

en-verb

dout (third-person singular simple present douts, present participle douting, simple past and past participle douted)

douts (present singular third-person)
douting (participle present)
douted (participle past)
douted (past)

Blend of do + out, from Middle English don ut (“do out”). Compare don, doff, dup.

Mount them, and make inciſion in their Hides, / That their hot blood may ſpin in Engliſh eyes, / And doubt them with ſuperfluous courage : ha.

1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii], page 86, column 1:

The fire she lit in every breast was fanned rather than douted by the rumour presently puffed abroad that she was the recipient of letters addressed in a man’s handwriting.

1893, J. Keighley Snowden, “The Angel Barmaid”, in Tales of the Yorkshire Worlds, London: Sampson Low, Marston & Company, page 136:

(transitive, dialectal or obsolete) To put out; quench; extinguish; douse.

a cone-shaped device with a handle for extinguishing a candle and stopping the smoke


wire fu

(slang) The special effects-enhanced martial arts seen in movies, especially those where wires are used to suspend the actors in physically impossible positions.


sudo

Originally understood as a blend of superuser + do, now has evolved to be an abbreviation of substitute user, do.

(computing) A Unix command that allows a user to run a program with the security privileges of another user.


sudo

sudo (third-person singular simple present sudos, present participle sudoing, simple past and past participle sudoed)

sudos (present singular third-person)
sudoing (participle present)
sudoed (participle past)
sudoed (past)


vegetan

Vegetan is a stiffer leather that takes tooling very well, but it is easily damaged by water without further treatment.

Vegetable-tanned leather, typically cow skin tanned using plant-derived tannins rather than chemicals.

Today, its shoes are made from 'vegetan' and chrome-free leather (chrome is usually used in the dyeing process) for the uppers,

2006, "Eco hero: Galahad Clark", Telegraph.co.uk, Sep 12, 2006

A synthetic microfibre, intended to be used as a vegan substitute for leather.


Jenglish

/ˈd͡ʒɪŋɡlɪʃ/

Blend of Japanese + English; compare Singlish, Yinglish, etc.

1997, James W. Rinehart, Christopher Huxley & David Robertson, Just Another Car Factory?: Lean Production and Its Discontents
That this company is half Japanese-owned is obvious. Japanese words spelled out in English (what someone referred to as “Jenglish”) are used and posted throughout the plant.

1998, Robert Brenner & Gregory Capelo, VCR Troubleshooting & Repair
Since many VCRs are designed and built in Japan, a mixture of Japanese-to-English writing style sometimes called “Japanenglish” or “Jenglish” is often found in much documentation. This makes some of the expressions difficult to understand.

What is Jenglish (pronounced jing-lish)? It's all of the funny English in Japan that you see on signs, books, T-shirts, vending machines... it's everywhere. ... it doesn't quite have that "native English speaker" nuance.

2001, Nancy Brown Diggs, Looking Beyond the Mask: When American Women Marry Japanese Men
She also thinks that “being so close to the culture has ruined my English. I have had to choose easier words, shorter sentences, ... We call it ‘Jinglish,’ Japanese-English.”

Japanese-influenced English, especially when nonstandard or ungrammatical.


synfuel

en-noun

synfuel (countable and uncountable, plural synfuels)

President Jimmy Carter was proposing a major effort to increase U.S. energy independence by developing “synfuels”—liquid fuels made from coal, oil shales, and tar sands—and scientific experts had warned that this could accelerate CO₂ accumulation.

2010, Naomi Oreskes, Erik M. Conway, chapter 6, in Merchants of Doubt:

Any of several fuels synthesized from coal or shale etc, or fermented from grain etc.

Any of several fuels created by chemical synthesis from simple feed stock inputs, of power, energy, heat, water, carbon dioxide, or simple compounds.


herstory

herstory (countable and uncountable, plural herstories)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-herstory.wav

Wordplay: blend of her + history, derived as though the first syllable in history were his, the male pronoun.

"Mama's Lullaby" shared the growth of McCord's appreciation for her mother and a prayer that her infant son might someday "sing this motther song with me"; a blending of the strong herstory of women's survival with the hope that men of the future will learn to praise their own capacity for nurturance.

1984 April 21, Pam Gordon, “'There's Always Cost': Ferron's Boston Concert”, in Gay Community News, page 17:

For Dita Garbo, it’s an “honour” to make herstory as Drag Race UK’s oldest-ever queen. “The younger bitches need to be careful ‘cause we’ve got wisdom – and we’ve still got time!” (Kandy Ho is trembling.)

2024 September 12, Sam Damshenas, “‘A new direction for the franchise’: Drag Race UK stars on “mind-blowing” season 6”, in Gay Times:

(slang) History that emphasizes the role of women, or that is told from a woman's (or from a feminist) point of view.


Mexifornication

What Governor Schwarzenegger is proposing is the de facto Mexifornication of California.

2004 June 4, Iconoclast, “Terminating California?”, in alt.politics.immigration (Usenet):

2004 September 27, Alan K. Stebbens, "Mexifornication Of California", Alan's Radio Weblog, at www.stebbens.org/alan/blogs/ https://web.archive.org/web/20080113122913/http://www.stebbens.org/alan/blogs/stories/2004/08/19/mexifornicationOfCalifornia.html
Since most of these illegal immigrants are Mexicans, it is a "Mexifornication" of California.

It was always a small group of latino's [sic.] on stolen bikes.... Just another example of the "cause and effect" of the Mexifornication of Sonoma County.

2005 November 3, Jimmy Mac, "1 AM Bike Riders - Watchout [sic.] Neighbors", sonoma.general, Usenet http://groups.google.com/group/sonoma.general/browse_frm/thread/d927b3285fe4ac77/00c61e670020d514

2006 May 24, "Katie's Dad", "Why this is our last chance to save this nation from history's dustbin", Unabashedly Unhyphenated, at www.americankernel.com https://web.archive.org/web/20060925120230/http://www.americankernel.com/2006/05/why-this-is-our-last-chance-to-save.htm
The presence of such a malignant cultural factor in even the smallest significant numbers can only lessen us.... The Senate believes that its job is to impose this Mexifornication upon us all

(derogatory, slang, California) The transformation of California by infusion of Mexican culture, especially as a result of illegal immigration.


greenmail

greenmail (countable and uncountable, plural greenmails)

Greenmails typically result in reduced shareholder value.

2007, S.R. Vishwanath, Corporate Finance, →ISBN, page 681:

He's gonna leverage his position, and he's gonna get as much greenmail as he can.

2013 July 30, Unfinished Business (Suits), season 3, episode 3, spoken by Louis Litt (Rick Hoffman):

Profiting from an attempted hostile takeover by forcing the target company to buy back the hostile bidder's shares at an inflated price.


greenmail

en-verb

greenmail (third-person singular simple present greenmails, present participle greenmailing, simple past and past participle greenmailed)

greenmails (present singular third-person)
greenmailing (participle present)
greenmailed (participle past)
greenmailed (past)

To profit from an attempted hostile takeover by forcing the target company to buy back the hostile bidder's shares at an inflated price.


Ronbot

Blend of Ron (from the name of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard) + robot

blend

(derogatory slang) A follower of Scientology with a strict or robotic adherence to its teachings.