summon

en-verb

summon (third-person singular simple present summons, present participle summoning, simple past and past participle summoned)

summons (present singular third-person)
summoning (participle present)
summoned (participle past)
summoned (past)
summon (infinitive)

From Anglo-Norman somoundre, from Old French sumundre, from Latin summonēre, itself from sub + monēre, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *monéyeti, causative from *men- (“to think”).

The cousins separated, and Nain Singh joined a caravan posing as a merchant. This time he crossed the border successfully. Singh eventually entered Jih-k’a-tse, the second-largest city in Tibet. It was in Jih-k’a-tse that he was summoned to meet the country’s second-highest religious authority, the Panchen Lama, who turned out to be only 11 years old.

1995, Explorers & Discoverers, volume 2, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 753:

(transitive) To ask someone to come; to send for.

You can summon groceries, alcohol and medicines to your home: chips and vodka on New Year’s Eve, say, and then aspirin on New Year’s Day.

2019 November 21, Samanth Subramanian, “How our home delivery habit reshaped the world”, in The Guardian:

призовавам

law: to order someone to appear in court

citer à comparaître (to order someone to appear in court: citer quelqu’un à comparaître; to order someone to appear in court: citer à comparaître en justice)

For securing the attainment of what he considered to be a most desirable end, he summoned all his abilities with a most praiseworthy energy and perseverance.

1866, Pierre Bigandet, The Life or Legend of Gaudama, the Buddha of the Burmese, with annotations and notice on the Phongyies or Burmese monks, page 396:

Joseph needed to summon all his reserve to keep his self-control, for no sooner had Asa voiced his request than Joseph recalled his remark to Aaron about a child being given to this couple in lieu of their giving Mary to him.

2011, Sister Louise Sweigart, cgs, Joseph: A Guiding Light, Inspiring Voices →ISBN, page 61

November 2 2014, Daniel Taylor, "Sergio Agüero strike wins derby for Manchester City against 10-man United," guardian.co.uk
City will feel nonplussed when they review the tape and Pellegrini had to summon all his restraint in the post-match interviews.

(transitive) To rouse oneself to exert a skill.

“Why won't you teach me to summon water? I can summon fire so easily, it's only logical that I should learn to put out my mistakes.”

2010, Kay Hooper, The Wizard of Seattle, Fanfare, →ISBN:

(fantasy, transitive) To call a resource by magic.


summon

Borrowed from Malay saman (“fine, financial penalty”), which is itself borrowed from English summons (“notice summoning someone to appear in court”). This sense re-emerged in English as summon likely due to the erroneous belief that the original singular English word summons is plural. Doublet of summons and saman.

der

You better pay off the parking summon tomorrow before you kena interest on it.

(Malaysia, colloquial, slang) A fine; a fee or monetary penalty incurred for breaking the law; usually for a minor offence such as a traffic violation.


Earthwoman

One was what had been born in me, what had been inextricably entangled in the structure of the germ cell from which I had been created; the other remembered all the long years on Earth when I, in common with every other Earthman and Earthwoman, had been flexed and shaped by the insistent pounding of the Combine; my brain had been conditioned to believe what it was desired that I should believe, and nothing beyond that.

1934 September, Frank King Kelly, “Famine on Mars”, in Astounding Stories, volume 14, number 1, page 77:

(usually science fiction) A female inhabitant of Earth.


magistra

Your grandmother must have provided assistance to the magistra at some point.

2002, Evelyn Vaughn, Forest of the Night, →ISBN, page 13:

What the magistra hadn’t said was that a number of the other students were children, some as young as eight or nine.

2007, L. E. Modesitt, Jr., Natural Ordermage, →ISBN, page 119:

“You will take the magistra and magister wherever they need to go, please. They have done my household great service tonight.”

2009, Alison Sinclair, Darkborn, New American Library, →ISBN:

The Magistra was waiting for him in the entrance hall, the vast double doors already opened.

2013, R. S. Ford, Herald of the Storm (Steelhaven: Book One), Headline Publishing Group, →ISBN:

It was, after all, addressed to the magistra of the branch, and technically she fit the description.

2013, Daniel Abraham, The Tyrant’s Law (book 3 of The Dagger and the Coin), Hachette, →ISBN:

With some difficulty, the magistra managed to undo the clasp.

2015, Paul E. Horsman, Rhidauna: The Shadow of the Revenaunt, Book 1, Red Rune Books, →ISBN:

Giving the magistra an apologetic nod, he turned to the karanat and observed, “You do speak Esse. Let’s have no more pretense of that kind. I have questions, which I can put to you in civilized fashion here, under Magistra Ilia’s eye, or elsewhere, under no concerned gaze.[…]”

2016, Rachel Neumeier, The Mountain of Kept Memory, Saga Press, →ISBN:

“On the contrary, show them both in, and bring us a can of Tulamyde Gold and some cookies. It will not be said that I am stingy with important guests,” Emmeran Stoerrebrandt proclaimed. Yet another violation of his dietary rules. He regretted it almost at once. At least until the Magistra rushed into the room, her face set in a grim scowl.

2017, Kevin MacGregor, editor, The Dark Eye: Starless Sky, Ulisses Spiele, →ISBN:

The magistra, who came to inspect the cleaning, interrupted her, “Why are you standing there staring at the wall when there’s much work to do, Floriana?[…]”

2019, Eleanor Cripps, The Countess Choir Woman, Christian Faith Publishing, Inc., →ISBN:

She had always been jealous of the Magistras and their proximity to Queen Leona and now she could solve a problem for one of them.

2020, A.N. Sage, Kartega, Cauldron Press, →ISBN:

It didn’t help that Zuri pulled out her saltiest language in Ky’s required meetings with the coven council. He was convinced she did it on purpose. For one thing, she always looked far too smug at the outraged expressions on the magistras’ faces.

2020, E.J. Russell, Witch Under Wraps, Riptide Publishing, →ISBN, page 34:

Our physician is not available, and we have sought aid from the magistra and Leah Sara Garcia.

2022, Esther Erman, Rebecca of Salerno: A Novel of Rogue Crusaders, a Jewish Female Physician, and a Murder, She Writes Press, →ISBN:

(fiction, especially fantasy) A woman with power or authority, such as a teacher or archmage; a mistress.


Hades

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

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek ᾍδης (Hā́idēs).

lbor

(Greek mythology) The underworld, the domain of Hades, by transference from its god.

(specifically, chiefly Eastern Orthodoxy) Hell as a waiting place for damned souls before the Last Judgement, after which they may be cast in Gehenna.


Wonder Woman

Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo
DC Comics
William Moulton Marston
fi:Ihmenainen

From wonder + woman. The character, created by William Moulton Marston (1893–1947) and Harry George Peter (1880–1958), first appeared in DC Comics’ All Star Comics #8 dated December 1941.

It was just Wonder Woman whose secret identity threatened to overwhelm and swallow up the heroic reality. I think I was afraid that one day I'd innocently open that month's comic and find Diana Prince waking up to announce that Wonder Woman was only a dream after all.

2004, Lillian S[ara] Robinson, “The Book of Lilith”, in Wonder Women: Feminisms and Superheroes, New York, N.Y., London: Routledge, →ISBN, page 12:

Wonder Woman is a recognizable figure: gold tiara, invisible jet, fights bad guys, looks like Lynda Carter. She's a role model for many, and the most famous female superhero in a genre dominated by males. She's also been a feminist icon since Gloria Steinem put her on the first cover of Ms. magazine in 1972. […] Wonder Woman was created during the Golden Age of comics, before the temporary workplace gains of World War II, at a time when women were told that their only place was in the home. An Amazon princess and the most powerful warrior of her race, Wonder Woman ignored these expectations. Her comics didn't just suggest equality of the sexes; they flat-out demonstrated that every woman had innate power and that Wonder Woman was superior to her male counterparts.

2014, Tim Hanley, “Introduction”, in Wonder Woman Unbound: The Curious History of the World's Most Famous Heroine, Chicago, Ill.: Chicago Review Press, →ISBN, pages x–xi:


Earthling

From earth + -ling (suffix indicating a resident); earth is ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₁er- (“earth”). Old English ierþling (“farmer, husbandman, ploughman”, literally “one of the earth”) is formed from the same roots but generally did not outlive Old English; all modern uses are historical: see earthling. Compare also human, which is derived from Latin humus (“ground, soil”).

noncog

(chiefly science fiction) An inhabitant of Earth, as opposed to one of another planet; specifically, a sentient member of any species native to Earth. [from 20th c.]

أَرْضِيّ

Mercurian · Venusian · Lunarian · Marsling

Jupiterian · Saturnian · Uranian · Neptunian · Plutonian


laminak

Basque folklore is full of references to a type of creature called the lamiñak, who, as we have seen, are the female counterparts of the cromlech-building Maide.

1989, The Journal of Indo-European Studies, volume 17, page 282:

She smiled, remembering the Basque story Zak had told her about the laminaks — little people who live in caves in the mountains and come into the house during the night, […]

1991, Patricia Edwards, Sweet Promised Land, page 233:

A kind of fairy in Basque mythology, related to the Little People in Celtic lore.


tellurian

[tʰəˈlɝː.iː.ɨ̃n]

From Latin tellūs (“earth, ground; the globe, planet Earth; country, land”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *telh₂- (“ground, bottom”), + -ian (suffix meaning "from, related to, or like" when forming an adjective, or "one from, belonging to, relating to, or like" when forming a noun).

suffix

It certainly appears difficult to reconcile with known facts the opinion maintained by [Carl] Linnæus and by [Thomas] Pennant, which is, indeed, a very prevalent one, that all the tribes of tellurian animals now existing have descended from a stock that was preserved in the ark of Noah.

1836, James Cowles Prichard, “Notes on the Contents of the First Book”, in Researches into the Physical History of Mankind, 3rd edition, volume I, London: Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper, […]; and J. and A. Arch, […], →OCLC, book I (On the Origin and Dispersion of Organized Beings: […]), page 97:

Of peaceful mutual Love, the whole mankind / Shall feel the happy power; joyful scenes / Of earthly bliss, tellurian happiness.

1836, [Constantine Samuel Rafinesque], “XIX. Women and Children.”, in The World, or Instability. A Poem. In Twenty Parts, […], Philadelphia, Pa., London: Published by J. Dobson, […]; London: O. Rich, →OCLC, page 206:

But both from experiment and from our first principles, which remain to be more especially explained in our theory of the tellurian vortex, it is evident, that the north magnetic pole moves round the north tellurian pole, sooner than the south magnetic pole moves round the south tellurian; and this is because the distance of the two from the centre of the vortex is not similar, and because also of the spiral contorsion of the vortex.

1846, Emanuel Swedenborg, “On the Causes of the Magnetic Declination”, in Augustus Clissold, transl., The Principia; or, The First Principles of Natural Things, being New Attempts toward a Philosophical Explanation of the Elementary World. … Translated from the Latin, London: W. Newbery, […]; H. Baillière, […]; Boston, Mass.: Otis Clapp, […], →OCLC, paragraph 6, page 147:

For entrophy is the real cosmic wave, and evolution only a momentary tellurian ripple within it. On these grounds, then, I submit that we Christians have as little to fear as anyone from the knowledge actually acquired.

1970, C[live] S[taples] Lewis, edited by Walter Hooper, God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics, Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, →ISBN:

The myth therefore records the full gamut of creation, of both gods and men, and is plainly a priestly document. It treats authority as being ultimately celestial, and it dispenses with the concept of the Mother as tellurian and conditioned by the earthly element.

1983, Burr Cartwright Brundage, “The Goddesses”, in The Fifth Sun: Aztec Gods, Aztec World (The Texas Pan American Series), Austin, Tex.: University of Texas Press, →ISBN, pages 165–166:

(formal or literary) Of or relating to the earth; (specifically, chiefly science fiction) inhabiting planet Earth as opposed to other planets.

երկրային

of or relating to the earth; inhabiting planet Earth


tellurian

Benjamin Martin
Harvard Science Center
Harvard University

[tʰəˈlɝː.iː.ɨ̃n]

Friends are not alone in this magnanimity, that likes truth only when it suits them. But among all tellurians or lunarians of my acquaintance, they are distinguished for liking those like them, and liking no others.

[1833, Samuel Hanson Cox, Quakerism Not Christianity: Or, Reasons from Renouncing the Doctrine of Friends. In Three Parts, Boston, Mass.: Printed by D. Fanshaw; sold by Jonathan Leavitt, […]; and Crocker & Brewster, […], →OCLC, part first, pages 166–167:

But it's well that that bunch of tellurians are dead! Our diamond was the cause of that much good for the earth!" Nega slowed her orbital speed, oscillated a bit, and twinkled: "Are all tellurians like those we've met in the last year?"

1935 May, Joseph William Skidmore, “A Saga of Posi and Nega”, in T[homas] O’Conor Sloane, editor, Amazing Stories, volume 10, New York, N.Y.: Teck Publishing Corporation, →OCLC, page 107:

(chiefly science fiction) Alternative letter-case form of Tellurian (“inhabitant of the planet Earth”)


Rumpelstiltskin

Tom Tit Tot

from English Fairy Tales, collected & edited by Joseph Jacobs, 1884

A fairy tale about a dwarf who saves the miller’s daughter by spinning straw into gold in exchange for her first-born child, but is foiled when she guesses his name.


illusionist

One who works with illusion or sleight of hand.

աճպարար

one who works with illusion or sleight of hand


Little Red Riding Hood

A fairy tale about a young girl who walks through the forest to visit her grandmother and encounters the Big Bad Wolf (or another vicious wolf, or werewolf in archaic versions).

Mainsak a manlalakbeng makamalutung pandung


magi

magi (indefinite nominative singular)
magis (genitive indefinite singular)
magin (definite nominative singular)
magins (definite genitive singular)
magier (indefinite nominative plural)
magiers (genitive indefinite plural)
magierna (definite nominative plural)
magiernas (definite genitive plural)

Borrowed from Latin magia, derived from Ancient Greek μαγεία (mageía). First attested in 1674.

der+

[Hyltén-Cavallius] exempelsamling stämmer mera med den uppfattningen att all magi är både svart och vit.

1939, Elin Wägner, “Småländsk magi”, in Tusen år i Småland, page 136:

[Hyltén-Cavallius'] sample collection is more consistent with the view that all magic is both black and white.


Snow White

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

Calque of German Schneewittchen (literally “white as snow”).

calque

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)

A fairy tale, the best-known version of Schneewittchen collected by the Brothers Grimm, in which a beautiful young girl is targeted by a jealous queen and tended by dwarfs.

The discovery of male Cinderellas and Snow Whites in modern Turkish folklore invites further meditations and investigations.

1994, Canadian Children’s Literature, page 29:

Though it is often up to the Prince Charming of each novel to sweep the Austenian Snow Whites and Cinderellas off their feet, it is often up to the Snow Whites and Cinderellas to teach their respective heroes a little sense—or, in the case of Colonel Brandon and his all-but-impassioned Shakespeare reading, a little sensibility.

2008, Carol J. Adams, Douglas Buchanan, Kelly Gesch, The Bedside, Bathtub & Armchair Companion to Jane Austen, Continuum, →ISBN, page 113:

There is no shortage of little girls dressed as Sleeping Beauties, Snow Whites, Cinderellas, or even any of the princess “rebels” such as Ariel (who gave up her voice for a man) or Belle (who endured captivity as a pathway to love).

2021, Gloria J. Romero, Just Not That Likable: The Price All Women Pay for Gender Bias, Post Hill Press, →ISBN:


mai

(anime, manga, fandom slang, Internet slang) Alternative form of my (used in the expressions mai waifu and mai husbando)


troll

Partly:
* from Middle English trol (“demon (?); sorcerer (?)”) [and other forms], from Old Norse trǫll (“conjurer, mage; witch”), from Proto-Germanic *truzlą (“supernatural being; demon, fiend; giant; monster”), probably from *trudaną (“to step on; to tread”) + *-ilą (suffix forming agent nouns); and
* borrowed from Norwegian Bokmål troll, Swedish troll, or Danish trold, from Old Norse trǫll (see above).
Doublet of droll and trow.
cognates
* Danish fortrylle (“to bewitch”), trylle (“to conjure”)
* Icelandic tröll
* Middle High German trol, trolle (“spook, wraith; ogre, monster”)
* Norwegian fortrylle (“to bewitch”), trylle (“to conjure”)
* Swedish trolla (“to conjure”)

der

He followed their advice, and rode through a rye-field, where the Trolls were unable to follow him, but in their exasperation cried after him, "The red cock shall crow over thy dwelling." And behold! his house stood in a blaze.

1851, Benjamin Thorpe, “Norwegian Traditions. [The Girl at the Sæter.]”, in Northern Mythology, […], volumes II (Scandinavian Popular Traditions and Superstitions), London: Edward Lumley, […], →OCLC, page 7:

The Scandinavian fancied himself surrounded by Trolls,—a kind of goblin men, with vast power of work and skilful production,—divine stevedores, carpenters, reapers, smiths, and masons, swift to reward every kindness done them, with gifts of gold and silver.

1856, R[alph] W[aldo] Emerson, “Ability”, in English Traits, Boston, Mass.: Phillips, Sampson, and Company, →OCLC, page 81:

The bear got so angry that he rushed at the trolls and scratched them all over, while Peter took the other handspike and hammered away at them as if he wanted to beat their brains out. The trolls had to clear out at last, but Peter stayed and enjoyed himself with all the Christmas fare the whole week. After that the trolls were not heard of there for many years.

1881, P. Chr. Asbjörnsen [i.e., Peter Christen Asbjørnsen], “Peter Gynt”, in H. L. Brækstad, transl., Round the Yule Log. Norwegian Folk and Fairy Tales, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, →OCLC, page 150:

In these manuscripts we are again in an atmosphere of eotens and trolls, there are traces of even older terrors, when the first Teuton settlers in Europe struggled with the aborigines who lived in caves, hints as elusive as the phantom heroes in the Saxon poems, and as unforgettable.

1922, Eleanour Sinclair Rohde, “The Anglo-Saxon Herbals”, in The Old English Herbals, London: Longmans, Green and Co. […], →OCLC, page 3:

(originally Scandinavian mythology, now also European folklore and fantasy) a giant supernatural being, especially a grotesque humanoid creature living in caves or hills or under bridges.

طْرُول

giant supernatural being; grotesque humanoid creature living in caves or hills or under bridges

(astronomy, meteorology) An optical ejection from the top of the electrically active core region of a thunderstorm that is red in colour that seems to occur after tendrils of vigorous sprites extend downward towards cloudtops.


troll

en-verb

troll (third-person singular simple present trolls, present participle trolling, simple past and past participle trolled)

trolls (present singular third-person)
trolling (participle present)
trolled (participle past)
trolled (past)
troll (infinitive)

Spanish: trolear

The verb is derived from Late Middle English trollen, trolle (“to go about, wander; to move (something) to and fro, rock; to roll; to turn”) [and other forms], from Old French troller, trôler (“to run here and there; to walk aimlessly, ramble, stroll; (hunting) to wander about looking for game”) (modern French troller); further etymology uncertain, possibly related to Middle High German trollen (“to stroll”) (modern German trollen (“(informal) to move slowly, trundle; to push off, toddle off”)), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *truzlōną (“to lumber”), which is probably related to *trudaną (“to step on, tread”) (see further at etymology 1). Doublet of trull.
Verb sense 4.2.2 (“to fish using a line and bait or lures trailed behind a boat”) is possibly influenced by trail and/or trawl
The noun is probably derived from the verb. Noun sense 3 (“person who makes or posts inflammatory or insincere statements in an attempt to lure others into combative argument”) is possibly influenced by troll (etymology 1).
cognates
* Middle Low German drullen (“to stroll”) (Low German trullen (“to troll”))

laulaa vuoroin

(transitive, intransitive) to sing the parts of (a catch, round, or similar song) in succession

laulella

to sing (a song) freely or in a carefree way, or loudly

tokaista

(transitive, intransitive) to say (something) lightly and quickly

kalastama

(transitive, intransitive) to fish in (a place) using a running fishing line

(obsolete) Often followed by in: to cause (something) to flow or roll in like a stream.

Their young men […] trolled along the brooks that abounded in fish.

1834–1874, George Bancroft, History of the United States, from the Discovery of the American Continent, volume (please specify |volume=I to X), Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company [et al.], →OCLC:

(fishing, Scotland, US) To fish using a line and bait or lures trailed behind a boat similarly to trawling.


troll

From Swedish troll, from Old Norse troll, from Proto-Germanic *truzlą, from Proto-Indo-European *dreh₂-.


troll

troll (inflammatory poster on the Internet)


troll

trollet (definite singular)
troll (indefinite plural)
trolla (definite plural)
trollene (definite plural)

From Old Norse trǫll, from Proto-Germanic *truzlą, from Proto-Indo-European *dreh₂-.


troll

trollet (definite singular)
troll (indefinite plural)
trolla (definite plural)

a troll (a (often large) grotesque humanoid creature that lives in the forest or the mountain)


troll

troll (nominative singular)
trolle (nominative plural)
trolla (genitive singular)
trolli (genitive plural)
trollowi (dative singular)
trollom (dative plural)
trolla (accusative singular)
trolle (accusative plural)
trollem (instrumental singular)
trollami (instrumental plural)
trollu (locative singular)
trollach (locative plural)
trollu (singular vocative)
trolle (plural vocative)

(European folklore, Norse mythology) troll (grotesque humanoid creature living in caves or hills or under bridges)


troll

troll (indefinite nominative singular)
trolls (genitive indefinite singular)
trollet (definite nominative singular)
trollets (definite genitive singular)
troll (indefinite nominative plural)
trolls (genitive indefinite plural)
trollen (definite nominative plural)
trollens (definite genitive plural)

När trollmor har lagt sina elva små troll, och bundit fast dom i svansen, då sjunger hon sakta för [de] elva små trollen, de vackraste ord hon känner: ho aj aj aj aj buff, ho aj aj aj aj buff, ho aj aj aj aj buff, buff, ho aj aj aj aj buff.

1943, Margit Holmberg (lyrics and music), “Trollmors vaggsång [Mother troll's lullaby]”:

When mother troll has put her eleven little trolls to bed, and tied them up by their tails [tail], then she slowly sings to the eleven little trolls, the most beautiful words she knows: ho ay ay ay ay buff, ho ay ay ay ay buff, ho ay ay ay ay buff, buff, ho ay ay ay ay buff.


mage

From Middle English mages (plurale tantum), from Latin magus, from Ancient Greek Μάγος (Mágos), from the hapax Old Persian 𐎶𐎦𐎢𐏁 (m-gu-u-š /maguš/). Doublet of magus.

(chiefly fantasy) A magician, wizard, sorcerer, witch, warlock or mystic.

spiritualist

spiritualist or practitioner of mystic arts

While the liberality of Gelo and his brother Hiero atracted every stranger who could amuse or instruct the court of Syracuse, a Persian Mage related to the former of those princes that he himself had circumnavigated the whole continent of Africa.

c. 1790, Edward Gibbon, On the Position of the Meridional Line, and the supposed Circumnavigation of Africa by the Ancients; republished as The Miscellaneous Works of Edward Gibbon, Esq. […] , volume 5, 1814, pages 186–87:

(obsolete) Synonym of magus: a Zoroastrian priest.

magic user

practitioner of allegedly supernatural magic


genius

en-noun

genius (countable and uncountable, plural geniuses or genii)

From Latin genius (“inborn nature; a tutelary deity of a person or place; wit, brilliance”), from gignō (“to beget, produce”), Old Latin genō, from the Proto-Indo-European root *ǵenh₁-. Doublet of genio. See also genus.

bor

Coordinate term: idiot savant

(countable) Someone possessing extraordinary intelligence or skill; especially somebody who has demonstrated this by a creative or original work in science, music, art etc.

genie

someone possessing extraordinary intelligence or skill


Narutard

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

For quotations using this term, see Citations:Narutard.

(Internet slang, fandom slang, derogatory) An obsessive fan of the Japanese manga series Naruto.


feral child

A child who is raised without human contact as a result of being abandoned, allegedly often raised by wild animals.


Dickensian

en-adj

Dickensian (comparative more Dickensian, superlative most Dickensian)

more Dickensian (comparative)
most Dickensian (superlative)

From Dickens (the surname of Charles Dickens (1812–1870)) + -ian (suffix forming adjectives or nouns meaning ‘belonging to, relating to, or like’).

af

Of, pertaining to, or created by the English author Charles Dickens.

dickensià

of, pertaining to, or created by the English author Charles Dickens

a Dickensian name

Similar to Dickens' writing style, especially in commenting on society, or in using emotion, humour, or rich descriptions.

At last the first glimpse from a bridge of an open-top red bus, and a noticeable darkening of the atmosphere from the smoke of London: then the increasingly dingy stations with double-barrel names, set amid what has always been to me the outstanding feature of the "Premier Line" approach to London—the positively marvellous display of crazy chimney-pots on the grey inner suburban houses. As many as twenty, all of varying style, standing together like ranks of jagged teeth, and providing a Dickensian back-cloth which no other route can boast.

1951 October, R. S. McNaught, “Lines of Approach”, in Railway Magazine, page 704:

As though in expiation of their sires' wealth, schoolboys often had to live in conditions that would have disgraced a Dickensian workhouse.

1988, Cecil D. Eby, “Playing the Game”, in The Road to Armageddon: The Martial Spirit in English Popular Literature 1870–1914, Durham, N.C., London: Duke University Press, →ISBN, page 89:

As earlier implied, the planet is threatened on three major fronts: […] (3) by a Dickensian world of wretched excess and wretched despair.

1993, William Sloane Coffin, “A Vision of the Future”, in A Passion for the Possible: A Message to U.S. Churches, Louisville, Ky.: Westminster/John Knox Press, →ISBN, page 10:

Down in the subway under the roundabout the looming social ordeal started to weigh down on me, […] By the time I pressed a huge and over-polished brass bell I'd devolved into a shifty-eyed, cinder-cheeked Dickensian urchin, and when the door opened I half expected to see Mrs Bridges throw up her fat, floury hands and scream for the cook's boy.

2001 February, Tim Moore, “Prologue”, in Frost on My Moustache: The Arctic Exploits of a Lord and a Loafer, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Griffin, St. Martin’s Press, →ISBN, page 2:

Leaning against piracy fits in with China's desire to cast off its image of a country where exploited workers toil for a pittance in Dickensian factories that turn the air and water black with the pollution they discharge.

2008 September 15, Alan Wheatley, “China getting higher marks for tackling piracy”, in Reuters, archived from the original on 2010-04-23:

Reminiscent of the environments and situations most commonly portrayed in Dickens' writings, such as poverty, social injustice, and other aspects of Victorian England.

dickensià

reminiscent of the environments and situations most commonly portrayed in Dickens’ writings, such as poverty, social injustice, and other aspects of Victorian England


Dickensian

A person who admires or studies the works of Charles Dickens.


outlaw

From Middle English outlawe, outlagh, utlaȝe, from Old English ūtlaga (“outlaw”), borrowed from Old Norse útlagi (“outlaw, fugitive”), equivalent to out- + law. Cognate with Icelandic útlagi (“outlaw”).

The main character in the play was a bit of an outlaw who refused to shake hands or say thank you.

en:person who operates outside established norms

A person who operates outside established norms.


fantasy

Unadapted borrowing from English fantasy. Doublet of fantaisie.


fantasy

Unadapted borrowing from English fantasy. Doublet of fantazja.


mon

From Japanese 文 (mon). Cognate to wen, mun and van.

The shimonsen or shimon, originally worth four mon, but debased to two mon.

1902, Walter Del Mar, Around the World Through Japan, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., page 136:

(historical) The former currency of Japan until 1870, before the yen.


mon

From a dialectal variant of man; compare Western Middle English mon (alongside Eastern man).

Ee I'm allus glad to see a mon like thee. That's as welcome lad, as welcome as can be. Fotch thi cheer up t'table. Stop as long as th'art able. Fer I'm allus glad to see a mon like thee.

1974, “A Mon Like Thee”, in Best o't' Bunch, performed by The Oldham Tinkers:

I am a Black Country mon. Yow dow know and the Brummies woh understond.

2020, “Black Country Mon”performed by Johnny Cole:

(slang) A colloquial means of address of man in places such as Jamaica, and Lancashire, Shropshire and the Black Country in England.


mon

Clipping of monster, via Japanese モン (mon) in Pokémon, Digimon, etc.

Here they are, the fans voted for them, and here they are, the Mons that can...

2000 November 25, Thomas Conner, “Digimon Top Ten Choice List”, in alt.fan.digimon (Usenet):

When a mon attacks him, he returns the same strike with the world "Reflection" after it, double the original strength.

2003 February 15, sirSTACK, “Digimon #429”, in alt.fan.digimon (Usenet):

And thus did it come to pass that the boy and the two mons, after a brief final discussion began the training.

2011 June 6, Clayton, “PW! - Training Interlude”, in alt.games.nintendo.pokemon (Usenet):

(fandom slang) A creature in a video game, usually one which is captured, trained up and used in battles.

Pokemon, digimon and all other merchandised mons, what good parent will disagree with me that those little invading, mind rotting things should be tolerated... those should be illegal, too...

2001 May 27, Travis Anton, “Cigarette Smoke”, in alt.home.repair (Usenet):

And dont buy Pokemon or Digimon or any other bloody Mons or you will never hear the ned^([sic]) of it :-)

2001 May 24, Horace Wachope, “Kids Toys”, in alt.ozdebate (Usenet):

At any rate Digimon was the best mon/collector series we've seen yet, to the point its popularity was prolly bigger here than its marketing.

2003 December 9, tito, “Main difference between anime and U.S. cartoons?”, in rec.arts.anime.misc (Usenet):

(fandom slang) A video game or anime in which catching and battling creatures is an important element.


curmudgeon

/kɚˈmʌd͡ʒən/

Numerous folk etymologies exist for this word.
An alternative spelling attested in 1600 is cornmudgin, in Holland's translation of Livy, rendering Latin frūmentārius (“corn-merchant”). This has been suggested as the original form of the word, but OED notes that curmudgeon is attested some years before this, concluding that cornmudgin was merely a nonce-word by Holland.
The word is attested from the late 1500s in the forms curmudgeon and curmudgen, and during the 17th century in numerous spelling variants, including cormogeon, cormogion, cormoggian, cormudgeon, curmudgion, curmuggion, curmudgin, curr-mudgin, curre-megient.

Near-synonyms: crank, grump; grumpy pants (often childish)

There's a cranky curmudgeon working at the hospital who gives all the patients and other doctors flak.

John Doe's old age and stubborn aversion to new ideas make him a curmudgeon of a candidate.

After a while, as cultural debates became more polarized, the editorial tone of the New Criterion went from being charmingly curmudgeon to being bitterly shrill.

How to Be a Curmudgeon on the Internet

How should I respond, without appearing to be a curmudgeon?

An ill-tempered person full of stubborn ideas or opinions, often an older man.


metamorphosis

en-noun

metamorphosis (countable and uncountable, plural metamorphoses)

/ˌmɛtəˈmɔːfəsɪs/

/ˌmɛtəmɔːˈfəʊsɪs/

/ˌmɛtəˈmɔɹfəsɪs/

First attested in 1533, from Latin metamorphōsis, from Ancient Greek μεταμόρφωσις (metamórphōsis), from μετά (metá, “change”) + μορφή (morphḗ, “form”). Analyzable as meta- + -morph + -osis

der

μεταμόρφωσις

(pathology) A change, usually degenerative, in the structure of a specific body tissue.


Venusian

The Venusians, unlike other planetary races, were almost like Earthpeople. There was only one notable difference—they had feathers on their heads instead of hair.

1953 May, Eando Binder, “Interplanetary Tenements”, in Captain Marvel Adventures, volume 24, number 144, page (inside front cover):

(science fiction) An inhabitant of the planet Venus.


Venusian

Near-synonym: Aphrodisian

en:pertaining to the Roman goddess Venus


Venusian

(science fiction) A hypothetical language spoken on Venus.


tomboy

→ Bikol Central: tomboy

→ Cebuano: tomboy

→ Spanish: tomboy

→ Tagalog: tomboy

First attested in Ralph Roister Doister (published 1567, written circa 1552), where it is used to describe a boisterous girl; the OED says the citation is however "generally taken" to mean a boisterous boy, and says that a use in The Old Law (published 1656, thought to have been written circa 1599) "certainly" means a boy: "must young court-tits / play tomboys' tricks with her?" By 1579 it was attested in the meaning "an immodest woman", and by no later than 1592 it had developed its modern meaning of a “girl who acts like a boy”; from tom + boy.

(Philippines, colloquial) A lesbian; a butch.


rebel

From Middle English rebel, rebell, from Old French rebelle, from Latin rebellis (“waging war again; insurgent”), from rebellō (“I wage war again, fight back”), from re- (“again, back”) + bellō (“I wage war”).

Confederate States of America
Confederate States of America

(US, historical) Synonym of Confederate: a citizen of the Confederate States of America, especially a Confederate soldier.


genie

From French génie (“genius, genie”), a phono-semantic matching of Arabic جِنِّيّ (jinniyy).

psm

genie in a bottle

(mythology) A fictional magical being that is typically bound to obey the commands of a mortal possessing its container.


physicist

From physics + -ist. Coined by the English polymath William Whewell (1794–1866) in his book The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences (1840): see the quotation.

coinage

Thus we may say, that while the Naturalist employs principally the ideas of resemblance and life, the Physicist proceeds upon the ideas of force, matter, and the properties of matter.

1840, William Whewell, “Aphorisms Concerning the Language of Science. Aphorism VI. When Common Words are Appropriated as Technical Terms, this Must be Done so that They are Not Ambiguous in Their Application.”, in The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, Founded upon Their History. […], volume I, London: John W[illiam] Parker, […]; Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: J. and J. J. Deighton, →OCLC, page lxxi:

Physicists find themselves called in to deal with such varied problems as the reduction of noise in diesel railcars, investigation of the Hertzian stresses set up by wheel-rail contact and improvement of the insulation of fish and banana vans.

1961 February, R. K. Evans, “The role of research on British Railways”, in Trains Illustrated, page 95:

A person whose occupation specializes in the science of physics, especially at a professional level.


Orwellian

en-adj

Orwellian (comparative more Orwellian, superlative most Orwellian)

more Orwellian (comparative)
most Orwellian (superlative)

“But they soon find out that an enforced equality, without free individualism to temper it, becomes an Orwellian nightmare-version of the workers' paradise, in which ‘all are equal, but some are more equal than others.’”

1950, Peter Viereck, Public Affairs volume 13, p. 22, published by the Institute of Public Affairs, Dalhousie University (later republished in 1953 in Shame and Glory of the Intellectuals: Babbitt Jr. Vs. the Rediscovery of Values by the Beacon Press p. 204)

“The Orwellian slogan that ‘War is Peace’ was, consciously or unconsciously, from the beginning adopted by both conflicting groups within the U.N.”

1954, Sisley Huddleston, Popular Diplomacy and War:

Largely invisible much of the year, China’s non-Communist parties are thrust to the fore each March for a display of what the official news media calls China’s system of “multiparty cooperation and political consultation.”
The news conference, held in a gilded meeting room in the Great Hall of the People, is an Orwellian affair, with party leaders referring to the wonders of “democratic centralization,” heaping praise on the Communist Party and then answering fawning questions from the state media.

2013 March 12, Andrew Jacobs, Patrick Zuo, Shi Da, “Non-Communist Parties Lend China an Air of Pluralism, Without the Mess”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2013-03-15, Asia Pacific:

In this metropolis that had a prewar population of almost a million, but where the city center now feels like an Orwellian ghost town of propaganda posters and armed patrols, perhaps no one feels more alone than those who still harbor pro-Ukrainian sentiments.

2014 September 25, Anthony Faiola, “An Orwellian nightmare for pro-Ukrainians in rebel-held east”, in The Washington Post, Nash Holdings, LLC, retrieved 2014-09-25:

Just as the Bush administration and the U.S. media re-labelled ‘torture’ with the Orwellian euphemism ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ to make it more palatable, the governments and media of the Five Eyes surveillance alliance are now attempting to re-brand ‘mass surveillance’ as ‘bulk collection’ in order to make it less menacing (and less illegal)... just as it was stunning to watch media outlets refuse to use the term ‘torture’ because the U.S. Government demanded that it be called something else – this Orwellian switch in surveillance language is now predictably (and mindlessly) being adopted by those nations’ most state-loyal media outlets.

2015 March 13, Glenn Greenwald, “The Orwellian Re-Branding of ‘Mass Surveillance’ as Merely ‘Bulk Collection’”, in First Look, The Intercept, archived from the original on 2015-03-14:

To spend several days watching news broadcasts on the main state channels, as well as surveying state-controlled newspapers, is to witness the extent of the Kremlin’s efforts to sanitize its war with the Orwellian term “special military operation” — and to make all news coverage align with that message.

2022 March 8, Neil MacFarquhar, “Two Days of Russian News Coverage: An Alternate Reality of War”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Resembling the totalitarian political methods decried in the works of writer George Orwell, particularly in the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four; characterized by use of misleading terminology, propaganda, censorship, surveillance and repression.

أَرْوَلِيٌّ

of or relating to Orwell, especially his dystopian novels


father figure

Coordinate term: mother figure

Tudjman, the national father-figure, emerged as the improbable and unexpected victor of the wars of the Yugoslav succession of 1991-99.

1999 December 13, Ian Traynor, “Obituary: Franjo Tudjman”, in The Guardian, UK, retrieved 2014-07-08:

Orphaned at a young age, he found a father figure in the confident and committed al-Bahri.

2008 July 21, Jonathan Mahler, “Hamdan: Guantánamo's Mystery Man”, in Time, retrieved 2014-07-08:

One who represents, behaves as, or is regarded as equivalent to a father for another person or group of people.

faderfigur

one who represents, behaves as, or is regarded as a father


Martian

From Latin Mārtius (“of or relating to the planet Mars”) + -an (adjective-forming suffix). The word is cognate with Middle English marcien, marcyan, mercien (“subject to the influence or power of the planet Mars; relating to the god Mars, that is, warlike”), Middle French martien (“Martian”) (modern French martien), French Martien (“imaginary inhabitant of Mars; any extraterrestrial”), Italian marziano, Latin Mārtiānus (“Martian”), Portuguese marciano, Spanish marciano.

cog

The direct heat of the sun, shining through so thin an atmosphere, must be considerable wherever the sun is at a sufficient elevation; and of course the very tenuity of the air renders vaporization so much the easier, for the boiling point (and consequently all temperatures of evaporation at given rates) would be correspondingly lowered. Accordingly, during the greater part of the Martian day, the hoar frost and whatever light snow might have fallen on the preceding evening would be completely dissolved away, and thus the ruddy earth or the greenish ice-masses of the so-called oceans would be revealed to the terrestral observer.

1873 July, “The Planet Mars: An Essay by a Whewellite”, in The Cornhill Magazine, volume XXVIII, number 163, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC, pages 96–97:

Prof. Percival Lowell, the eminent Martian astronomer, said in a recent interview in New York: "The Martian canals are not Panama canals. The word 'canals' you know, really means 'lines.' [...]"

1910 September, H[enry] H[aven] Windsor, editor, Popular Mechanics, volume 14, number 3, Chicago, Ill.: Popular Mechanics Co., →OCLC, page 456, column 1:

Not wishing to lose this great opportunity of being the first to receive Martian signals, we 'phoned to the manager to come over immediately and verify our "startling" discovery. [...] A day later a lineman in the employ of a stock quotation ticker agency happened to be working on the roof. [...] [H]e suggested that we might possibly be troubled with induction from these wires, and that our lead-in would perhaps be better if it ran along the outside of the building. Troubled with induction! In truth, that was the very thing which we had mistaken for Martian signals.

1920 October, Austin C. Lescarboura, “Wireless Fakes and Fakers”, in H[ugo] Gernsback, editor, Radio World, volume 2, number 4, New York, N.Y.: Experimenter Publishing Co., →OCLC, page 217, columns 2–3:

She [Catherine Elise Muller] claimed her astral body was transported to the planet, so she was able to draw detailed Martian landscapes and to speak and write its language.

2004 January 8, Mark Pilkington, “Martian spoken here”, in The Guardian, London, archived from the original on 2014-09-12:

Martian meteorites (Fig. 1.3) are pieces of Mars that have been blasted off the surface, hurtled through space, and delivered to Earth [...]. We know they are from Mars because the noble gases, carbon, and nitrogen measured in shock melt pockets in certain meteorites have the same relative elemental abundances and similar isotopic ratios as the Martian atmosphere—a unique fingerprint [...].

2019, Justin Filiberto, Susanne P. Schwenzer, “Introduction to Volatiles in the Martian Crust”, in Justin Filiberto, Susanne P. Schwenzer, editors, Volatiles in the Martian Crust, Amsterdam, Kidlington, Oxford: Elsevier, →ISBN, section 1.1.1 (Martian Meteorites), page 4:

Of or relating to the planet Mars, or (science fiction) its imagined inhabitants.


Martian

Amazing Stories
Frank R. Paul
H. G. Wells
Hubble Space Telescope
The War of the Worlds

Thus she [one of the moons of Mars] has a disc, always on this assumption be it remembered, equal to about a quarter of our moon's; and being illuminated by the sun, like the other moon, with a light varying from one-half to one-third that which he pours on the earth, it follows that the light she reflects to Martians, or would reflect to them if there were any such beings, varies from one-eighth to one-twelfth of that which we receive from the full moon.

1877 October, Wentworth Erck, “The Moons of Mars”, in The Cornhill Magazine, volume XXXVI, number 214, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC, page 424:

Those who have never seen a living Martian can scarcely imagine the strange horror of their appearance. The peculiar V-shaped mouth with its pointed upper lip, the absence of brow ridges, the absence of a chin beneath the wedge-like lower lip, the incessant quivering of this mouth, the Gorgon groups of tentacles, [...]

1895–1897, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “The Cylinder Unscrews”, in The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, published 1898, →OCLC, book I (The Coming of the Martians), page 28:

[...] M. le Coultre, the distinguished astronomer of Geneva, has once more declared that the Martians are trying to signal to us. [...] How long M. le Coultre's suggestion will stand before it goes the way of other similar conjectures now exploded, no one can say.

1913 November 8, “Signals from Mars”, in The North-China Herald and Supreme Court & Consular Gazette: The Weekly Edition of the North-China Daily News, volume CIX (New Series), number 2413, Shanghai: Printed and published at the offices of the North-China Daily News & Herald, Ld., →OCLC, page 399, column 2:

If the Martian understood and could analyze the character of men and women, he would find in shops, factories, mills, schools, offices, in business, in the professions and arts, multitudes of men and women in the unhappy position of the fish out of water. Floundering hopelessly in vocations for which they have no aptitude, unless some merciful wave carry them to their native element, the place for which nature especially equipped them, their lives will be wrecked.

1921 May, Orison Swett Marden, “Are You a Fish Out of Water?”, in Orison Swett Marden, editor, The New Success: Marden’s Magazine, volume V, number 5, New York, N.Y.: The Lowrey-Marden Corporation, →OCLC, page 54:

Like a philosopher, or rather the hermit crab, he [Hoo Keng Tuck] lives in complete retirement, looking out occasionally from his coign of vantage upon his luckless compatriots who are struggling to make this world a better place to live in for themselves and their children, pretty much as a Martian might watch the social activities of the earth's inhabitants.

1923, Song Ong Siang, “The Third Decade (1839–49)”, in One Hundred Years’ History of the Chinese in Singapore: […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 57:

However, despite a declared interest in Mexico's Indian past, he feels that his country's uneducated and mostly Indian citizens are like creatures of another species. To then, "we are like Martians," Javier says, "We don't speak as they do or think as they do … If we do see them, it's like the zoo … We are their enemies and they know it" [...].

1982, Malva E. Filer, “A Change of Skin and the Shaping of a Mexican Time”, in Robert Brody, Charles Rossman, editors, Carlos Fuentes: A Critical View (Texas Pan American Series), Austin, Tx.: University of Texas Press, →ISBN, page 128:

A Martian who landed in Britain in the past few weeks—assuming he managed to get a visa—would take it for a place that dislikes visitors. [...] And yet, if he lingered, the Martian might find himself being asked how health care was organised on his planet, or how its retailers were coping with the internet.

2013 August 24, “Bagehot” [pseudonym], “Go away, we need you: In Britain, xenophilia runs almost as deep as xenophobia”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8850, archived from the original on 2013-08-22:

(chiefly science fiction) An inhabitant of the planet Mars.

Coordinate term: Martianess

An inhabitant of the planet Mars.
A male Martian.


Martian

Although impressed by [Catherine Elise] Muller as a person, [Théodore] Flournoy regarded her experiences as a marvel of psychology rather than spiritualism. One of his key findings was that, while Muller's Martian had a consistent 23 letter alphabet, grammar and syntax, it was in fact a twisted variant of French.

Suvi: Between the Remnant city, Meridian, and however the Scourge fits in... pardon my Martian, but it's all weird as shit.

2017, BioWare, Mass Effect: Andromeda (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Tempest:

(science fiction) A hypothetical language spoken on Mars.


slithy

Blend of lithe + slimy, coined by Lewis Carroll in 1871.

The squid wrapped its slithy tentacles around its prey.

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves / Did gyre and gimble in the wabe.

She wanted to wear these slithy, snaky gowns you see in the pictures in the hallways of the $3 photographers.

1906, Good Housekeeping, volume 43, page 130:

Such a carriage is known as “an araba,” or alternatively as an yaili—a name which is probably onomatopœic, for it is about the “slithiest” thing that runs on wheels.

1914, Edgar Thomas Ainger Wigram, The Cradle of Mankind: Life in Eastern Kurdistan:

Falling roof, hidden shafts, slithiest snakes could not have stopped me after that. I arrived in the sparkling area.

1917, Gertrude Singleton Mathews, Treasure, page 126:

He sweeps down; a frog is pinioned / Swift arrives his faithful soul-mate / True-loves share their slithy dinner.

2013, Jane Wilson-Howarth, A Glimpse of Eternal Snows:

The Beast, slithier even than the Jabberwock and certainly a deal more manxsome as a foe, grips in its claws a dreaded P45 from Piers marking the end of employment at Gussage Court.

2014, Timothy Edward, Lessons in Humiliation, page 157:

Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There


counterfactual

Just as counterfactuals employ too much imagination to qualify as historical works, alternate history often labors under too great a load of artificial "facts" to take flight as fiction.

2004 September 5, Laura Miller, “Imagine”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

We can spin out complicated counterfactuals that justify the Iraq invasion, and complicated counterfactuals that make it look even worse.

2010 September 1, Ross Douthat, “Iraq in the Long Run”, in New York Times, retrieved 2021-07-15:

The implicit counterfactual — that these members would support gun control if not for the $1,000 they received from the NRA — seems unlikely to me.

2015 December 3, Lee Drutman, “Here's the real reason we don't have gun reform”, in Vox:

Roese also says counterfactuals can serve emotional purposes. You can think about how things could have been worse, and so feel better about yourself, and grateful for where you are.

2016 February 11, Noah Berlatsky, quoting Neal Roese, “'What if?': Why we can't get enough of counterfactual shows”, in The Guardian:

Imagine a counterfactual in which we started relaxing restrictions at an even earlier time, just as the cases began to trend downward.

2021 May 14, Dashiell Young-Saver, “The Math of Ending the Pandemic: Exponential Growth and Decay”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

A hypothetical state of the world, used to assess the impact of an action.


Xena

Possibly a variant of Xenia, from Latin Xenia, from Ancient Greek ξενία (xenía, “hospitable”), the assumed name of a fifth-century saint venerated in the Eastern Orthodox Church, from ξένος (xénos, “foreign, strange”).

der

A female given name from Ancient Greek of modern usage.


torpedo

* Borrowed from Latin torpēdō (“a torpedo fish; numbness, torpidity, electric ray”), from torpeō (“I am stiff, numb, torpid; I am astounded; I am inactive”) + -ēdō (noun suffix), from Proto-Indo-European *ster- (“stiff”). In the military sense coined by Robert Fulton in 1805. Cognate with Old English steorfan (“to die”), Ancient Greek στερεός (stereós, “solid”), Lithuanian tirpstu (“to become rigid”), Old Church Slavonic трупети (trupeti).
* (type of car): From 1908, after "the Torpedo", a car designed by Captain Theo Masui.

cog

(military) A cylindrical explosive projectile that can travel underwater and is used as a weapon.

(science fiction) A similar projectile that can travel through space.


sorcery

en-noun

sorcery (countable and uncountable, plural sorceries)

From Middle English sorcery, borrowed from Middle French sorcerie, ultimately derived from Latin sors (“fate”), from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“to bind”). Cognate with serō, seriēs, sermō. Compare also French sorcier.

Sorcery in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)


brujo

es-noun

brujo m (plural brujos, feminine bruja, feminine plural brujas)

brujos (plural)
bruja (feminine)
brujas (feminine plural)


heroine

From Latin hērōīna, from late Ancient Greek ἡρωΐνη (hērōḯnē) (2nd century), a feminine equivalent of ἥρως (hḗrōs, “hero, demigod”), equivalent to hero + -ine (suffix forming feminine nouns).
* English from 1587. The sense of "female lead character" is from 1715.

suf

Miss Phyllis Morgan, as the hapless heroine dressed in the shabbiest of clothes, appears in the midst of a gay and giddy throng; she apostrophises all and sundry there, including the villain, and has a magnificent scene which always brings down the house, and nightly adds to her histrionic laurels.

1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Affair at the Novelty Theatre”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:


CV

en-noun

CV (countable and uncountable, plural CVs)

Abbreviation
* (anime, Japanimation): From Japanese CV (CV), from English character+voice
* (aircraft carrier): Initialism of cruiser (“croiseur”) + French voler (“to fly”).

initialism of

(anime) character's voice (“voice actor”)


Area 51

→ German: Area 51

desc

→ Mandarin: 51區／51区 (Wǔshíyī qū) (calque)

Unclear, but perhaps from a grid numbering system of the area by the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). While Area 51 is not part of this system, it is adjacent to Area 15.

Nevada Test and Training Range
w:Nevada Test and Training Range

(science fiction or ufology, informal) A secret military facility, airport, and airbase in Nevada Test and Training Range, Nevada, United States.

Atomic Energy Commission
en:Area 51
en:Area 51 (disambiguation)


Area 51

de-prop

Area 51 f (proper noun, genitive Area 51)

Area 51 (genitive)
Area 51 (nominative singular)
Area 51 (genitive singular)
Area 51 (dative singular)
Area 51 (accusative singular)

Unadapted borrowing from English Area 51.

ubor

(science fiction or ufology, informal) Area 51 (a secret military facility, airport, and airbase in Nevada Test and Training Range, Nevada, United States)


coco

Borrowed from Portuguese côco (“bogeyman, grinning face”), probably from Latin coccum (“kernel, seed”).

bor+

Duérmete niño, duérmete ya… que viene el coco y te comerá.

Sleep child, sleep now… lest the bogeyman come and eat you.


not in Kansas anymore

From the film The Wizard of Oz (1939), in which Dorothy states, “Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.”

As soon as I walked into that party I thought, "I'm not in Kansas anymore."

John Crosbie? A Tory government? You could be forgiven if your first reaction was the feeling that you weren't in Kansas anymore.

1986 April, Gerald Hannon, “Leaving Kansas”, in The Body Politic, number 125, Pink Triangle Press, page 8:

The police action is rough and raw, like Hill Street Blues. But when a courtroom jury, asked for its verdict, breaks into song, we know we're not in Kansas anymore.

1990 October 1, “Critics' Voices”, in Time, archived from the original on 2013-03-05:

C++ meets all three of these classic criteria of object-orientedness, but once you really start to take advantage of them in your programs, you'll find you're definitely not in Kansas anymore.

1991 July, Ray Duncan, “Power Programming”, in PC Magazine, page 444:

(idiomatic, colloquial, US) No longer in quiet and comfortable surroundings.


beamer

From beam (“project, transmit”) + -er (agent noun suffix), or, for the ball, + -er (patient suffix).

suf

For several days he went about his charge with disgust, trying everything he could to avoid the stench of rotting vegetation and of human feces, which was overpowering even as it all burned under the plasma from his beamer.

2013, Paul Alcorn, The Rhoedraegon Chronicles: Book Two:

(science fiction) A device that projects or transmits matter, information, or energy.


organic

From Middle English organic, organik, from Old French organique, from Latin organicus.

(science fiction) A living organism, as opposed to a robot or hologram.


stun

en-noun

stun (countable and uncountable, plural stuns)

From Middle English stunien, stonien, stounien, from Old English stunian (“to crash, make a loud sound, resound, roar, strike with a loud sound, dash, impinge, knock, confound, astonish, stupefy”), from Proto-West Germanic *stunōn, from Proto-Germanic *stunōną, *stunjaną (“to sound, crash, bang, groan”), from Proto-Germanic *stenaną (“to moan, shout”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tona-, *(s)tena- (“to thunder, roar, groan”) (compare thunder). Cognate with Middle Low German stonen (“to groan”), Middle High German stunen, stunden (“to drive, push, knock, strike”), Swedish stöna (“to moan, groan”), Danish stønne (“to moan, groan”), Icelandic stynja (“to moan”). Related also to Dutch steunen (“to groan; support”), German stöhnen (“to groan, moan”), German staunen (“to be astonished, be amazed, marvel at”), Russian стонать (stonatʹ), стена́ть (stenátʹ, “to moan, groan”). See also Occitan estonar, Old French estoner, English astonish.

cog

Captain James Kirk: "Set your phaser on one quarter. I'll leave mine on stun."

1966 September 8, George Clayton Johnson, The Man Trap (Star Trek), season 1, episode 1:

(science fiction, uncountable) A low-range setting for an energy weapon that will stun its target but not injure or kill it.


Woop Woop

Thou froward varlet; must I say again, / That on the Woop Woop course he ran a mile

1923, Banjo Patterson, Shakespeare on the Turf:

(Australia, informal) An extremely remote area, the “middle of nowhere”.


Cupid

From Latin Cupīdō, personification of cupīdō (“desire, desire of love”), from cupidus (“eager, greedy, passionate”), from cupere (“to desire”).


meh

en-adj

meh (comparative more meh, superlative most meh)

more meh (comparative)
most meh (superlative)

Popularized by the American television show The Simpsons; first used on the show in the episode titled "Sideshow Bob Roberts" (1994).
Possibly ultimately from Yiddish מע (me, “so-so”). First attested in 1928.

They redeemed themselves with this show. The first song or two was meh, but they were on fire after that.

2003, steve-o, “Jam On The River Mini-Review”, in rec.music.phish (Usenet):

The voice is excellent as always, but the overall effect was meh until the end, where he became a little bit awesome.

2006, Suzanne D., “Recaps: Finals Week 8 Performances, 5/2/2006”, in alt.tv.american-idol (Usenet):

Nothing that was supposed to be big and exciting came off as such and the rest was meh at best.

2006, FunkyM, “Turned on RAW for the first time in forever last night…”, in rec.sport.pro.wrestling (Usenet):

Mediocre; lackluster; unexceptional; uninspiring.

nic moc

mediocre; lackluster; unexceptional; uninspiring

Both shows left me feeling, meh.

2003, Dana, “10/18/03 Shows”, in alt.tv.trading-spaces (Usenet):

I’m a huge Clay fan, love Ruben’s voice, and have become quite a fan of Kelly’s, as well. Fantasia just leaves me feeling meh.

2004, jennifer, “The FANtasia thing: I don’t get it…”, in alt.gossip.celebrities (Usenet):

I liked it but I wasn’t feeling it for some reason that day, again, I was feeling meh toward video games in general.

2006, ettie...@hotmail.com, “Steve’s impressions on random Genesis games”, in rec.games.video.sega (Usenet):


meh

“What do you want for dinner?” — “Meh. I’m not really hungry.”

“That film was awesome!” — “Meh. I’ve seen better.”

Marge: [weaving on a loom] “Hi Bart, I’m weaving on a loom!”
Bart: “Meh”.

1995 March 19, “Lisa's Wedding”, in The Simpsons:

Scientists say that while the public may think of the moon as a problem solved and a bit retro – the place astronauts visited a half-dozen times way back before Watergate and then abandoned with a giant "meh" from mankind – in fact, lunar studies is a vibrant enterprise that is yielding a wealth of surprises.

2014 September 7, Natalie Angier, “The Moon comes around again [print version: Revisiting a moon that still has secrets to reveal: Supermoon revives interest in its violent origins and hidden face, International New York Times, 10 September 2014, p. 8]”, in The New York Times:

(slang) Expressing indifference or lack of enthusiasm.

hm

slang: expressing indifference or lack of enthusiasm


meh

(informal) A judgement marked by indifference; lack of impression.


meh

Really meh? ― Really? I don’t think so.

This one your one meh? ― Is this really yours?

"Huh? At this hour? Really meh?" He couldn't believe his own ears.

2020, Yasser Khan, Property Agent Secrets: The Underground Playbook For Growing Your Property Agent Business in 2021 & Beyond, →ISBN, page 123:

“Nice meh?” I would think sourly.

2013 October 7, Tee Hun Ching, The Sunday Times, Singapore, page 12:

You got send [e-mail] meh? I never receive leh.

2010 August 22, Fiona Chan, The Sunday Times, Singapore, page 13:

Final question particle expressing skepticism.


draig

draige (genitive singular)
draig
dhraig
ndraig

From Old Irish draic, from Proto-Brythonic *drėg, earlier Proto-Celtic *drakū, from Latin dracō.


draig

dreigiau (plural)
draig
ddraig (soft)
nraig

From Middle Welsh dreic, from Proto-Brythonic *drėg, earlier *drakū, from Latin dracō.


terminator

[ˈtɜː.mɪ.næɪ.ɾə]

* Partly from post-classical Latin terminator (5th century), from Latin terminō; partly from terminate + -or.
* (android that kills humans): After the 1984 film The Terminator.

(science fiction) An intelligent android created to destroy humans.


Gretel

A fictional character in the German fairy tale Hansel and Gretel.

غْرِيتِل

character in the fairy tale Hansel and Gretel


Gretel

Und als der Mond aufgegangen war, faßte er die Gretel bei der Hand [...]
Doch tröstete er die Gretel und sprach [...]
(please add an English translation of this quotation)
Das Gretel aber schüttelte sie und rief: [...]
[...] und darum hatte sie das Gretel gerufen [...]

1812, Kinder- und Haus-Märchen. Gesammelt durch die Brüder Grimm, p. 52 & 53 (Gretel with feminine gender) and p. 55 & 57 (Gretel with neuter gender), part of the fairy tale Hänsel und Gretel

Gretel, the girl in the fairy tale Hansel and Gretel (original German name: Hänsel und Gretel (Hänsel und Grethel)).


horror

en-noun

horror (countable and uncountable, plural horrors)

hoar (some rhotic American accents with the horse–hoarse merger)

From Middle English horer, horrour, from Old French horror, from Latin horror (“a bristling, a shaking, trembling as with cold or fear, terror”), from horrere (“to bristle, shake, be terrified”). Displaced native Old English ōga.

der

Those who enjoy horror, stories overflowing with blood and black mystery, will be grateful to Richard Marsh for writing ‘The Beetle.’

1917 February 11, New York Times, Book reviews, page 52:

(uncountable) A genre of fiction designed to evoke a feeling of fear and suspense.

A well-received Johnny Fuller R & B horror called "Haunted House."

1990, Wayne Jancik, The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders, →ISBN, page 156:

[…] there were hastily produced B movies, such as the peplums, the spaghetti westerns, the detective stories, the horrors.

(countable) An individual work in this genre.

`My belief is that he had the horrors without knowin' it.'

1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1965, →OCLC, page 53:

Delirium tremens
delirium tremens#English

(in the plural, informal) Delirium tremens.


horror

horror (nominative singular)
horrory (nominative plural)
horroru (genitive singular)
horrorów (genitive plural)
horrorowi (dative singular)
horrorom (dative plural)
horror (accusative singular)
horrory (accusative plural)
horrorem (instrumental singular)
horrorami (instrumental plural)
horrorze (locative singular)
horrorach (locative plural)
horrorze (singular vocative)
horrory (plural vocative)


horror

Borrowed from Latin horrorem.
Cf. also the popular Old Spanish horrura, inherited from a derivative of the Latin or with a change of suffix, and taking on the meaning of "dirtiness, filth, impurity, scum"; comparable to derivatives of horridus in other Romance languages, like Italian ordo, Old French ord, French ordure, Old Catalan hòrreu, horresa, Old Occitan orre, orrezeza, Romanian urdoare.


drabble

Margaret Drabble
Monty Python
Monty Python's Big Red Book

From a game in Monty Python's Big Red Book in which the first player to write a novel wins; possibly derived in turn from the surname of the author Margaret Drabble.

A short fictional story, typically in fan fiction, sometimes exactly 100 words long.


dedicate

From Latin dēdicātus, past participle of dēdicō (“I dedicate, proclaim”).

Glancing at the crowd of onlookers, she said, “I know that service at the dining hall will be over soon”—instantly a few dedicates and all of the novices hurried away—“and some of us here would like to prepare our own meal.” […] Out of sight of the dedicates, she climbed over the short fence and escaped to Winding Circle's biggest library.

2011 September 1, Tamora Pierce, Circle of Magic #1: Sandry's Book, Scholastic Inc., →ISBN:

Initiation—When a dedicate is seen on all levels to be learning and doing more as they participate in the circle and aids with rituals and/or divination, an initiation is decided on with the priest or priestess and dedicate.

2015 April 8, Dracaena Paxx, The Sacred Spiral: Unlocking Ones Infinite Potential, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN:

Through this rune of compassion, feelings of pain are transferred from the dedicates to Fallion. Lord Despair then proceeds to torture the dedicates so that Fallion would feel the pain of the tortures without being physically harmed[…]

2019 November 14, Charul Palmer-Patel, The Shape of Fantasy: Investigating the Structure of American Heroic Epic Fantasy, Routledge, →ISBN:

Rowan Cortak stood with the rest of the dedicates.

2022 September 27, Chad Corrie, The Wizard King Trilogy Boxed Set, Dark Horse Books, →ISBN, page 24:

(chiefly fantasy and paganism) One who dedicates themselves, or who is dedicated, to the service of some leader, religion, etc.


bogeyman

/ˈbəʊ.ɡɪˌmæn/

Before the Internet it was television. And, if not that, it was radio, films, or games. All have taken their turn as the popular bogeyman, blighting the minds of the young.

2013, Frances Booth, The Distraction Trap:

(by extension) Any make-believe threat, especially one used to intimidate or distract.


La-La Land

Blend of LA (initialism for Los Angeles) and La La Land (metaphorical dreamland).

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

... back to her new home in Calabassas, near Los Angeles. Her years in Phoenix, where she started her own zoo, ended in divorce, "and now I'm back in La La Land," […]

1958, TV Guide, volume 35, numbers 36–39:

(slang, US, figuratively, humorous or derogatory) Los Angeles, California (or Hollywood).


Hollywood

en-proper noun

Hollywood (countable and uncountable, plural Hollywoods)

(Hollywood, L.A., CA, USA): Coined by real estate developer H. J. Whitley, from holly + wood.

Bollywood

for more similarly formed names, see Category:en:Film industries

Other places in the United States:
A town in Jackson County, Alabama.

Jefferson County
Jefferson County#English

A neighborhood and historic district in Homewood, Jefferson County, Alabama.

Other places in the United States:
A city in Broward County, Florida.

Habersham County
Habersham County#English

An unincorporated community in Habersham County, Georgia.

St. Mary's County
St. Mary's County#English

An unincorporated community in St. Mary's County, Maryland, named for a large holly tree.

An unincorporated community and township in Carver County, Minnesota.

An unincorporated community in Tunica County, Mississippi.

An unincorporated community in Dunklin County, Missouri.

A neighborhood of Ruidoso, Lincoln County, New Mexico.

A neighborhood in north-east Portland, Oregon.

A neighborhood of Hazleton, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.

Montgomery County
Montgomery County#English

An unincorporated community in Abington Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.

Charleston County
Charleston County#English

A town in Charleston County, South Carolina.

A neighborhood in north Memphis, Tennessee.

Appomattox County
Appomattox County#English

An unincorporated community in Appomattox County, Virginia.

Pittsylvania County
Pittsylvania County#English

An unincorporated community in Pittsylvania County, Virginia.

An unincorporated community in Monroe County, West Virginia.

Former name of MacArthur, West Virginia.


bunny boiler

From a scene in the 1987 film Fatal Attraction where a scorned woman (played by Glenn Close), seeking revenge on her ex-lover (played by Michael Douglas), places his family’s beloved pet rabbit in a pot of boiling water when he is away from the house.

Witness such media events as the Great Old Maid Scare of '86 (sparked by a study suggesting that a woman who hasn't married by age forty has less chance of doing so than of being shot by a terrorist); and the Fatal Attraction Syndrome (the notion that unmarried career women are so unfulfilled they turn into homicidal bunny-boilers).

[1988, Glamour, volume 86, New York, N.Y.: Condé Nast, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 159:

There's nothing like portraying a psychopathic bunny-boiler to boost one's self-esteem, Glenn Close tells Ladies' Home Journal.

[1990 December 6, The Dallas Morning News, Dallas, Tex.: The Dallas Morning News, →ISSN, →OCLC, page A2, column 3:

The bad news is that a small percentage of women are obsessive stalker types or "Bunny Boilers." Bunny Boilers will continue to call and may even wait for hours outside your home or office trying to see you, even though you have made it clear that it was just a one night stand. Bunny Boilers take the fun out of shagging.

2001, Sam Priest, “Beware of ‘Bunny Boilers’”, in Shagging for America: (Unwritten Rules for Unrepentant Males), New York, N.Y.: Hangover Media, →ISBN, page 51:

And I tried a couple of traditional dating agencies, but after parting with a small fortune and being introduced to one nymphomaniac and a couple of bunny boilers, I felt it was better to trust my own judgment and use the Internet.

2005, Jane Moore, Love @ First Site: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Broadway Books, →ISBN, page 149:

The 1980s bunny-boiler was perceived to be infinitely more dangerous than the bra-burner; whereas the latter confined herself to a rejection of feminine accoutrements, the bunny-boiler – bolstered by the successes of the women's movement – did not hesitate to assert her rights and use violent means to achieve her goals.

2009, Stéphanie Genz, “Boiling the Bunny: The Backlash and Macho Feminism”, in Postfemininities in Popular Culture, Basingstoke, Hampshire, New York, N.Y.: Palgrave Macmillan, →DOI, →ISBN, part I (From “Feminine Mystique” to “Girl Power”), page 66:

He wondered why he always landed bunny-boilers who started out cool and calm but speedily went into the pursuit mode of deadly missiles.

2009, Lynne Graham, The Ruthless Magnate’s Virgin Mistress (Harlequin Presents; 2787), Toronto, Ont., New York, N.Y.: Harlequin, →ISBN, page 10:

Neither should we think that Bunny Boilers are always female—this is not the case. However, I think females view the male version in a different light. [...] Women regard him as the cheeky chappie. They seem resigned to his bad behaviour.

2014 March 5, Rosie Andrews, “Foreword”, in Strange Creatures, Bloomington, Ind.: AuthorHouse, →ISBN, pages 4–5:

(slang, humorous, derogatory) A person who acts (or may supposedly act) obsessively or even dangerously towards another person with whom they were previously, or wish to be, in a relationship.

Fatal Attraction
Glenn Close
Michael Douglas


dip

From Andalusian Arabic ديب (ḏíb), from Arabic ذِئْب (ḏiʔb).

(mythology) A black vampiric hellhound associated with the town of Pratdip in the Camp de Tarragona.


Akela

Borrowed from Hindustani اَکیلَا (akelā) / अकेला (akelā, “alone”).

Many packs have a sixer's council where the sixers, and sometimes the seconds, meet with Akela and some of the other leaders.

1995, Boy Scouts of Canada. National Council, The Cub Book:


pixie

Uncertain; 17thC, originally in the folklore of southwest England; perhaps diminutive of Swedish pysk (“fairy”); perhaps Puck + -sy; see Wikipedia.

Then she saw pixies — dozens and dozens of pixies — dancing and singing.

2005, Dan Keding, “The Pixies’ Bed”, in Dan Keding, Amy Douglas, editors, English Folktales, page 98:

When she looked around, Mary saw four pixies flying toward her. She had to jump out of the way to avoid being hit. Then the pixies turned around and attacked again.

2005, Kathryn Reyes, Mystery Door Manor and the Dragon Realm, page 72:

The servant that had raised him, an elderly pixie called Rolog, had died. On his deathbed he had called the young Captain to his side. Seeing the pixie dying had had no effect on him.

2007, Jeremy Phillips, The Wizardon Star, page 165:

Tiffy froze as the two pixies looked directly into each other's eyes.
Then Tiffy raised her hand and said, “Hi, I'm Tiffy the Tooth Fairy.” Even though the other pixie lifted her hand too, she didn't answer.

2010, Sandra A. Filbin, The Enchanted World: A Tooth Fairy's Tale, page 49:

(mythology, fantasy literature, fairy tales) A playful sprite or elflike or fairy-like creature.

بِيكْسِي

“Have you thought about a haircut? A pixie or a bob?”

2016, Susan Wiggs, Starlight on Willow Lake, page 114:

In a picture posted to Instagram on June 28, the stylish star [Lizzo] showed off her new, lighter brows and a blonde pixie that we suspect comes courtesy of a wig but can't be sure.

2021 June 29, Elizabeth Logan, “Lizzo Just Got a Blonde Pixie and Bleached Her Eyebrows”, in Glamour:


nemesis

From the Greek goddess of retribution Nemesis (Ancient Greek Νέμεσις (Némesis)).

“And then, while he's devouring you with his stare, thinking about how much he wants to lick you up, along comes his antithesis, his polar opposite, his nemesis for want of a better word—” “Nemesis?” I interrupted, eyebrows journeying up my forehead. “—who swoops you off your feet and away from him,” Heather continued, ignoring my incredulous expression.

2020 January 13, Lexxie Couper, Unconditional, Lexxie Couper, →ISBN:

Polar opposite, especially of a literary character.


villain

Probably from Middle English vilein, from Old French vilein (modern French vilain), in turn from Late Latin villanus, meaning serf or peasant, someone who is bound to the soil of a Latin villa, which is to say, worked on the equivalent of a plantation in late Antiquity, in Italy or Gaul. Doublet of villein.

Count Dracula
Darth Vader
Dracula
Harry Potter
Lady Macbeth
Macbeth
Macbeth (character)
Othello
Sauron
Star Wars
The BFG
The Hobbit
The Lord of the Rings
The Merchant of Venice

Note the preſumption of this Scythian ſlaue:
I tel thee villaine, thoſe that lead my horſe
Haue to their names tytles of dignitie,
And dar’ſt thou bluntly cal me Baiazeth?

c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene iii:

(archaic, derogatory) A low-born, abject person.

Miss Phyllis Morgan, as the hapless heroine dressed in the shabbiest of clothes, appears in the midst of a gay and giddy throng; she apostrophises all and sundry there, including the villain, and has a magnificent scene which always brings down the house, and nightly adds to her histrionic laurels.

1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Affair at the Novelty Theatre”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:

July 18 2012, Scott Tobias, AV Club The Dark Knight Riseshttp://www.avclub.com/articles/the-dark-knight-rises-review-batman,82624/
As The Dark Knight Rises brings a close to Christopher Nolan’s staggeringly ambitious Batman trilogy, it’s worth remembering that director chose The Scarecrow as his first villain—not necessarily the most popular among the comic’s gallery of rogues, but the one who set the tone for entire series.

(fiction) In fiction, a character who has the role of being bad, especially antagonizing the hero; an antagonist who is also evil or malevolent.


numen

la-noun

nūmen n (genitive nūminis); third declension

nūmen (canonical neuter)
nūminis (genitive)
nūmen (nominative singular)
nūmina (nominative plural)
nūminis (genitive singular)
nūminum (genitive plural)
nūminī (dative singular)
nūminibus (dative plural)
nūmen (accusative singular)
nūmina (accusative plural)
nūmine (ablative singular)
nūminibus (ablative plural)
nūmen (singular vocative)
nūmina (plural vocative)

→ English: numen, numinous

→ Italian: nume

→ Portuguese: nume, númen

→ Spanish: numen

* Could be simply an action noun of *nuō, for *nuimen, from *nuō + -men, thus meaning "a nodding with the head", "a nod", "command", "will" (as nūtus), with the particular meaning of "the divine will", "the will or power of the gods", "divine sway".
* Others suggest the Ancient Greek word νοούμενον (nooúmenon) ("an influence perceptible by mind but not by senses"), from νοέω (noéō), was borrowed into Early Latin as the word noumen, whose spelling changed to numen in Classical Latin.

divinity (Georges Dumézil argues this is a modern meaning and not one from the Classical period, where it was either attributed to particular gods or other entities, such as in numen Cereris or numen dei, or wrongly interpreted)


bad guy

Perversely, we love John Wick himself. That lethal, bereaved assassin is a good bad guy for our times, the natural extension of Tony Soprano, Walter White and all the other heroic antiheroes the culture has embraced.

2023 March 14, Caryn James, “John Wick: Chapter 4: 'Soars above most action films'”, in BBC:

(informal) a villain, particularly an antagonist in a story.


fanfiction

en-noun

fanfiction (countable and uncountable, plural fanfictions)

(fandom slang) Alternative spelling of fan fiction


siren

From Middle English siren, from Old French sereine and Latin Sīrēn, Sīrēna, from Ancient Greek Σειρήν (Seirḗn). The mammalian sense was first attested in French in Dominique Bouhours, Les entretiens d'Ariste et d'Eugène, in 1671. The aquatic salamander sense was originally introduced by Linnaeus in 1766, for a genus of his reptiles. Doublet of serin.

Now give ear to what I'm about to say to you , and a god himself will bring it before your mind . First , you will come to the Sirens . These beings enthrall all men who arrive before them . Whoever draws near without knowledge and ...

2008 October 7, Homer, The Odyssey, North Atlantic Books, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 278:

(Greek mythology) One of a group of nymphs who lured mariners to their death on the rocks.

(music) A musical instrument, one of the few aerophones in the percussion section of the symphony orchestra (patented as Acme Siren in 1895).

An instrument for demonstrating the laws of beats and combination tones.


gul

gul (nominative singular)
gule (nominative plural)
gula (genitive singular)
gulów (genitive plural)
gulowi (dative singular)
gulom (dative plural)
gula (accusative singular)
gule (accusative plural)
gulem (instrumental singular)
gulami (instrumental plural)
gulu (locative singular)
gulach (locative plural)
gulu (singular vocative)
gule (plural vocative)


Uncle Tom

Referring to the character in the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin.

...their master... was no ad for anybody but the most arcane Black Power, he was an old prince of a witch doctor—insult him at your peril—but the other ten musicians with their trumpets and snares and assorted brass would prove no pull for Nixon on TV with any Black votes watching, for they were old and meek, naught but elderly Black Southern musicians, a veritable Ganges of Uncle Toms. They had disappeared with Tom Swift and Little Lord Fauntleroy.

1968, Norman Mailer, “Nixon in Miami”, in Harper's, §6:

Some blacks don't want to deal with the black cop because they see him as an Uncle Tom, a person who stands by while the white cop abuses and shows disrespect toward other blacks.

1985 April 1, Steven Leinen, quoting a police officer, Black Police, White Society, NYU Press:

One of the less entertaining components of the Ali act was the way he tried to "outblack" someone like Frazier, call him an Uncle Tom, an "honorary white," when in fact Frazier had grown up dirt poor in South Carolina.

2014 April 2, David Remnick, King of the World: Muhammed Ali and the Rise of an American Hero, Knopf Doubleday:

"You are an Uncle Tom, Scott. You're for Sessions. How does a black man turn on his own," Scott said, reading criticisms of himself on social media.

2017 February 8, Burgess Everett, “Tim Scott, the lone black GOP senator, rises to Sessions' defense”, in Politico:

(derogatory, ethnic slur) A black man who is servile towards white authority and accepting of white supremacy, a black race traitor.


cyberpunk

cyberpunk (countable and uncountable, plural cyberpunks)

From cyber- + -punk, coined by American writer and software developer Bruce Bethke as the title of a 1983 short story, and later popularized by Gardner Dozois.

coin

But by 1987, cyberpunk had become a cliche. Other writers had turned the form into formula: implant wetware (biological computer chips), government by multinational corporations, street-wise, leather-jacketed, amphetamine-loving protagonists and decayed orbital colonies.

1991 January 7, Lewis Shiner, “Confessions of an Ex-Cyberpunk”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Cyberpunk stories are set in a futuristic, dystopic environment—the opposite of utopian—in which computer technology plays an important role. […] The protagonists of cyberpunk stories are technologically proficient, lonely adventurers struggling with issues of identity and forced to use computer skills to fight menacing forces of domination.

2015, Abby H. P. Werlock, Encyclopedia of the American Short Story, Infobase Learning, →ISBN:

information technology
information technology

(science fiction, uncountable) A subgenre of science fiction which focuses on computer or information technology and virtual reality juxtaposed with a degree of breakdown or radical change in the social order.


cyberpunk

cyberpunk (nominative singular)
cyberpunku (genitive singular)
cyberpunkowi (dative singular)
cyberpunk (accusative singular)
cyberpunkiem (instrumental singular)
cyberpunku (locative singular)
cyberpunku (singular vocative)

Unadapted borrowing from English cyberpunk.

ubor

(film, science fiction) cyberpunk (sci-fi subgenre)


cyberpunk

cyberpunk (nominative singular)
cyberpunki (nominative plural)
cyberpunka (genitive singular)
cyberpunków (genitive plural)
cyberpunkowi (dative singular)
cyberpunkom (dative plural)
cyberpunka (accusative singular)
cyberpunków (accusative plural)
cyberpunkiem (instrumental singular)
cyberpunkami (instrumental plural)
cyberpunku (locative singular)
cyberpunkach (locative plural)
cyberpunku (singular vocative)
cyberpunki (plural vocative)

(film, science fiction) cyberpunk (cyberpunk character, a hacker punk, a high-tech low life)


cyberpunk

cyberpunk (indefinite nominative singular)

(science fiction, uncountable) cyberpunk


mutant

From Latin mūtāns, present participle of mūtō. By surface analysis, muta- + -ant.

Furthermore, it is possible that there occasionally arises what may be called a mutant of very desirable character from a eugenic point of view.

1918, Paul Popenoe, Roswell Hill Johnson, Applied Eugenics:

There does seem to have been some mutation among plants[…]but in animal life where are the mutants? When or where has a new species originated in this way?

"How did I ever get such ability?" he wondered. "No one else in our family has it. Am I some sort of a mutant? But if so, how or why? I never heard Dad or Mother mention it."

1953, E. Everett Evans, Man of Many Minds:

(genetics) That which has mutated, with one or more new characteristics from a mutation.

Your neighbor seems to be a mutant; he’s so cringy!

(informal) Someone or something that seems strange, abnormal, or bizarre.


mutant

mutant DNA

Scientists have created a mutant enzyme that breaks down plastic drinks bottles—by accident.

2018 April 16, Damian Carrington, “Scientists accidentally create mutant enzyme that eats plastic bottles”, in The Guardian:

Researchers at the SSI found that antibodies from people who recovered from coronavirus were less effective at neutralising the mutant strain, but have not made details of their experiments public.

2020 November 8, Ian Sample, “UK scientists seek mutant Covid samples from Danish mink farms”, in The Guardian:

(genetics) Of, relating to, undergoing (i.e. mutating), or resulting from change or mutation; that has undergone mutation.


catalyst

(fantasy) An object that facilitates the casting of a spell (such as a magic wand).


summa

summa (nominative singular)
summy (nominative plural)
summy (genitive singular)
summ (genitive plural)
summie (dative singular)
summom (dative plural)
summę (accusative singular)
summy (accusative plural)
summą (instrumental singular)
summami (instrumental plural)
summie (locative singular)
summach (locative plural)
summo (singular vocative)
summy (plural vocative)

(historical) summa (medieval didactics literary genre written in Latin, born during the 12th century, and popularized in 13th century Europe)


bugbear

From obsolete meaning of bug (“something terrifying”) + bear. See Middle English bugge, modern bogey.

Ha, ha: alas poore wretch: a poore Chipochia, haſt not ſlept to night? would he not (a naughty man) let it ſleepe: a bug-beare take him.

c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:

“How could you lie so glaringly as to affirm I hated the ‘poor child’? and invent bugbear stories to terrify her from my door-stones?[…]”

1847 December, Ellis Bell [pseudonym; Emily Brontë], chapter XXII, in Wuthering Heights: […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Thomas Cautley Newby, […], →OCLC:

"My young friends," quietly replied Jason, "I do not wonder that you think the dragon very terrible. You have grown up from infancy in the fear of this monster, and therefore still regard him with the awe that children feel for the bugbears and hobgoblins which their nurses have talked to them about.[…]"

1853, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Golden Fleece”, in Tanglewood Tales:

The partisans of the Administration object to the word “imperialism,” calling it a mere bugbear having no real existence.

1900, Carl Schurz, For Truth, Justice and Liberty:

(folklore, fantasy) A generic creature, often described as a large goblin, meant to inspire fear in children.


telekinesis

en-noun

telekinesis (countable and uncountable, plural telekineses)

Telekinetic energy, which has been variously designated as psychic force (Sir William Crookes), ectenic force (Professor Thury), and telekinesis (Professor Cowes), is demonstrably a power or faculty of the subjective mind.

1899, Thomson Jay Hudson, The Divine Pedigree of Man, page 154:

And this brings me to a consideration of how the phenomena of telekinesis may conceivably be produced — granting that the phenomena are ever genuine at all.

1920, Hereward Carrington, The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism, page 367:

He leant tensely against the corridor wall and frowned like a man trying to unbend a corkscrew by telekinesis.

1982, Douglas Adams, Life, the Universe and Everything, page 61:

'Venison' he declared, mentally lifting the animal through the air toward him without a second thought to the act, though telekinesis was a spell that hadn't been in the considerable repertoire of Morkai the Red.

1988, Robert Salvatore, The Crystal Shard, page 39:

She regards telekinesis as impossible and claims for it as generally fraudulent. For two years she worked in a university laboratory testing telekinesis,

2000, Fred M. Frohock, Lives of the Psychics: The Shared Worlds of Science and Mysticism, page 29:

Perhaps the most famous demonstrations of telekinesis came in the 1970s when a young psychic from Russia named Uri Geller came to prominence for his ability to bend spoons and other metal objects without any physical contact.

2002, Rita Berkowtiz with Deborah S. Romaine, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Communicating with Spirits, page 187:

And if voice-activated control isn't enough, we could someday use telekinesis to control lights with our thoughts.

2006, Richard Cadena, Automated Lighting, page 434:

(uncountable) The ability to move objects with the power of one's mind.

telecinesi

ability to move objects with the power of one's thoughts


cred

cred (countable and uncountable, plural creds)

And you're getting well paid, of course, but that's nothing to them, is it? They could double your salary, Gertler—pay you two million creds a year —and it'd still be peanuts to these people […]

2021, Michael Carroll, Laurel Sills, Matthew Smith, Judge Dredd Year Three:

(science fiction, slang) A credit (currency unit).


phantasm

A learned variant of phantom; from Middle English fantosme, from Old French fantosme, fantasme, from Latin phantasma, from Ancient Greek φάντασμα (phántasma). Doublet of phantom.

But night comes in with a more genial spirit: we have done our worst and our bitterest; and we need a small space to indulge any little bit of cordiality that may be left in us. A thousand gay phantasms float in on the sunny south, which has left the far-off vineyards of its birth.

1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Success”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 75:

He declares that there seems to be no justification for regarding the phantasms of dreams as pure hallucinations; most dream-images are probably in fact illusions, since they arise from faint sense-impressions, which never cease during sleep.

1900, Sigmund Freud, translated by James Strachey, The Interpretation of Dreams: Avon Books, page 74:

Something seen but having no physical reality; a phantom or apparition.


erotica

erotica (countable and uncountable, plural eroticas)

From neuter plural of Latin eroticus (“amatory”), from Ancient Greek ἐρωτικός (erōtikós). By surface analysis, erotic + -ica.

There's a fine line between erotica and pornography.

In fact, eighteenth-century British erotica has been the subject of unremitting attention for the last two decades.

2011, Patrick Spedding, James Lambert, “Fanny Hill, Lord Fanny, and the Myth of Metonymy”, in Studies in Philology, volume 108, number 1, page 114:

(uncountable) Erotic literature, art, decoration, or other such work.


satyr

From French satyre, from Latin satyrus, from Ancient Greek σάτυρος (sáturos).


satyr

satyr (nominative singular)
satyrowie (nominative plural)
satyra (genitive singular)
satyrów (genitive plural)
satyrowi (dative singular)
satyrom (dative plural)
satyra (accusative singular)
satyrów (accusative plural)
satyrem (instrumental singular)
satyrami (instrumental plural)
satyrze (locative singular)
satyrach (locative plural)
satyrze (singular vocative)
satyrowie (plural vocative)

Borrowed from French satyre, from Latin satyrus, from Ancient Greek σάτυρος (sáturos).


maverick

Named after Texan lawyer and politician Samuel Maverick (1803–1870), who refused to brand his cattle. For probable origin and meaning, see Maverick.
The poker noun sense (“a queen and a jack as a starting hand in Texas hold 'em”) may be from the theme song of the US Western television series Maverick (1957–1962), which says of the eponymous protagonist that “[g]amblin’ is his game” and that he is “livin’ on jacks and queens”.

named-after

They had been working for and with each other for a very long period and their tolerance for “mavericks” was very high, especially if these mavericks continued to get promoted.

2013, John T. Kuehn, “The Navy, Treaties, and Innovation”, in Agents of Innovation: The General Board and the Design of the Fleet that Defeated the Japanese Navy, Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, →ISBN, page 9:

(military) A person in the military who became an officer by going to college while on active duty as an enlisted person.


halfling

Dungeons and Dragons
J.R.R. Tolkien
The Lord of the Rings

From half + -ling. Sense 3 ("half-grown young person") is attested to 1794. It was then used by J.R.R. Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings (1954) as an alternative reference to members of his hobbit race. Hobbits were used in the original 1974 releases of the role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons, but in later editions they were changed to "halflings" for legal reasons, as being a pre-existing word rather than one invented by Tolkien.

(fantasy) A fictional small humanoid creature featuring in fantasy fiction; a hobbit.

(fantasy) A fictional humanoid born of a human parent and a parent of another race in fantasy fiction.

Often it had been my fate to accompany the pick of the knight errantry of Whinnyliggate on such quests—for, though Nance was about my own age, she had become a reigning belle while I was but a halfling boy.

1897, Lady's Realm: An Illustrated Monthly Magazine, volume 1, page 52:

A half-grown person, between a child and an adult.


ditz

(informal) A scatterbrained person, especially a woman.


hyper

en-noun

hyper (countable and uncountable, plural hypers)

Shortenings, ultimately from the prefix hyper-.

(uncountable, science fiction, informal) Clipping of hyperspace.


leprechaun

→ German: Leprechaun

desc

→ Italian: leprecauno, leprechaun (unadapted), leprecano, lepricauno

→ Japanese: レプラコーン (repurakōn)

→ Korean: 레프러콘 (repeureokon)

→ Portuguese: leprechaun

→ Russian: лепреко́н (leprekón)

→ Spanish: leprechaun

/ˈlɛpɹəkɔːn/

/ˈlɛpɹəˌkɔn/

/ˈlɛpɹəˌkɑn/

From Irish leipreachán, luprachán, from Middle Irish luchrupán, from Old Irish luchorpán. See also Irish lucharachán.
The word's further etymology is disputed; it is traditionally explained as a compound containing lú (“small”, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁lengʷʰ-) + corp (“body”, which is from Latin corpus). However, an alternative suggestion is that it is a derivative of Latin Lupercī (“priests of Lupercus”), who were misinterpreted as an antediluvian species by medieval Irish scholars.

af

from Proto-Indo-European <i class="Latn mention" lang="ine-pro">*h₁lengʷʰ-</i>

which is from Latin <i class="Latn mention" lang="la">corpus</i>

Do you not catch the tiny clamour, / Busy click of an elfin hammer, / Voice of the leprechaun singing shrill, / As he merrily plies his trade?

1888, William Allingham, “The Lepracaun; or Fairy Shoemaker”, in William Butler Yeats, editor, Irish Fairy and Folk Tales, pages 86–87:

(Irish folklore) One of a race of elves that can reveal hidden treasure to those who catch them.

（爱尔兰民间传说里的）短妖精

[Àiěrlán mínjiān chuánshuō lǐ de] duǎn yāojing


imagine

/ɪˈmæ.d͡ʒɪn/

From Middle English ymagynen, from Middle French imaginer, from Latin imāginor, from imāginem, the accusative singular of imāgō (“a copy, likeness, image”).

Some imagines are more sexual and creepy than others: "Imagine Stiles walking in on you giving Scott a blowjob."

2015 March 2, Laura Starling, “FFIC101: An Introduction to the Horrors of Fanfiction”, in Critic, University of Otago, page 21:

i personally like imagines and fanfics so i found a good amount of kylo ren x reader fics and started going through them.

2016 December, Jocelyn Chambers, “The Exclusion Of People Of Color In Fanfiction”, in Majesty, page 96:

If I get inspired immediately, I can bust out an imagine in 5-10 minutes.

2019, "thranduilsperkybutt", quoted in "Author Spotlight: thranduilsperkybutt", Lemon, February 2019, page 37

(fandom slang) A short fanfic or prompt placing a reader insert in a novel scenario with a character or celebrity.


erotic

en-adj

erotic (comparative more erotic, superlative most erotic)

more erotic (comparative)
most erotic (superlative)

From French érotique, from Ancient Greek ἐρωτικός (erōtikós, “related to love”), from ἔρως (érōs, “sexual love”).

der

erotic entertainment and services

I had an erotic dream last night.

There's a local cinema that only shows erotic movies.

Relating to or tending to arouse sexual desire or excitement.


Stregatto

Blend of strega (“witch, sorceress”) + gatto (“cat”).


phantom

From Middle English fantome, fanteme, from Old French fantosme, fantasme, from Latin phantasma (“an apparition, specter; (in Late Latin also) appearance, image”), from Ancient Greek φάντασμα (phántasma, “phantasm, an appearance, image, apparition, specter”), from φαντάζω (phantázō, “I make visible”). Doublet of phantasm.


insectoid

Two hundred Earth years earlier, a race of Insectoids discovered them as the Squishys were sending their first probes to other planets in their own star system.

2017, A.K. Brown, Humans on the Menu (Champagne Universe Series: Book 2), page 24:

(science fiction, ufology) An insect-like creature.


buc

buc (nominative singular)
buce (nominative plural)
buca (genitive singular)
buców (genitive plural)
bucowi (dative singular)
bucom (dative plural)
buca (accusative singular)
buce (accusative plural)
bucem (instrumental singular)
bucami (instrumental plural)
bucu (locative singular)
bucach (locative plural)
bucu (singular vocative)
buce (plural vocative)

(rare) bogeyman (menacing, ghost-like monster in children's stories)