gill

From Middle English gille, gylle (“gill”), of North Germanic origin, akin to Danish gælle, Swedish gäl, Norwegian gjelle, and further to Old Norse gjǫlnar (“lips”), which also may have had the meaning of "gills" (based on Old Danish fiskegæln (“gills”)). The Old Norse word has been suggested as deriving from Proto-Germanic *gelunō (“jaw”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰel-, which would make it root-cognate to Ancient Greek χελύνη (khelúnē, “lip, jaw”), χεῖλος (kheîlos, “lip”).
Displaced native Old English ċīe.

cog

Gill nets are designed to catch a fish by the gills.


gill

From Middle English gille, from Old French gille (“a wine measure”), from Medieval Latin gillo (“earthenware jar”).

der

(archaic, British) A measuring jug holding a quarter or half a pint.

(dated, US) A unit of measure equal to 4 US fluid ounces (half a cup, a quarter of a US pint), approximately 118 milliliters.


baleen

en-noun

baleen (countable and uncountable, plural baleens)

From Middle English baleyne, from Old French baleine (“whale, whalebone”), from Latin balaena (“whale”), from Ancient Greek φάλαινα (phálaina, “whale”).

uder

“You have probably never seen anything like this before, Mr. Toler. It is baleen, or if you prefer it, whalebone, taken from the mouth of the bowhead whale. It is used by the whale to filter its food.”

1954, Alexander Alderson, chapter 5, in The Subtle Minotaur:

(physiology, uncountable) The keratinous material that makes up the plates in the mouth of the baleen whale, Mysticeti, which it uses to trap its food; formerly used in corsetry.


zorro

Lycalopex culpaeus
Lycalopex culpaeus#Translingual

A South American canid of the species Lycalopex culpaeus, visually similar to (and sometimes referred to as) a fox but more closely related to a wolf.


Bactrian camel

Camelus bactrianus
Camelus bactrianus#Translingual

The camel with two humps, Camelus bactrianus, native to the steppes of Asia.


armadillo

en-noun

armadillo (plural armadillos or armadilloes)

armadillos (plural)
armadilloes (plural)

/ɑɹməˈdɪloʊ/

/ɑːməˈdɪləʊ/

Borrowed from Spanish armadillo, diminutive of armado (“armored”), in reference to its protective plates.

The San Juan market is Mexico City's most famous deli of exotic meats, where an adventurous shopper can hunt down hard-to-find critters …. But the priciest items in the market aren't the armadillo steaks or even the bluefin tuna.

2013 July 26, Nick Miroff, “Mexico gets a taste for eating insects …”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 7, page 32:

Any of the burrowing mammals covered with bony, jointed, protective plates, order Cingulata, found in the Americas, especially in South America.

ib’ooy

burrowing mammal covered with bony, jointed, protective plates

three-banded armadillo

Tolypeutes matacus or Tolypeutes tricinctus


bummer

From bum (“make unhappy”) + -er (agent noun suffix), originally US drug slang.

af

This young man never had a bummer in some 33 LSD trips. Every one of the them was a delight—everything under control. He needed only to snap his fingers, and down he came, anytime. But on Voyage 34, he finally met himself coming down an up staircase, and the encounter was crushing.

2000, “Phase I”, in Voyage 34: The Complete Trip, performed by Porcupine Tree:

(slang, dated, drug use) A psychedelic crisis; hallucinogenic drug use producing undesirable dysphoric psychological effects, most often fear, paranoia, and especially horrifying hallucinations; a bad trip.


canine

From Latin canīnus (“of dogs, dog-like”), from canis (“dog”). Compare French canin.

In many respects she made me an admirable wife. Her affection for me was canine—positively.

1891, Arthur Quiller-Couch, “The Affair of Bleakirk-on-Sands,”, in Noughts & Crosses:

I look for reflections, in your face
Canine devotion, time can't erase
Out on the corner, locked in your room
I never believe them and I never assume

2000, Josh Homme, Nick Oliveri (lyrics and music), “The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret”, in Rated R, performed by Queens of the Stone Age:


hominid

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰmṓ
Proto-Italic *hemō
Latin hemō
Latin homōlbor.
Translingual Homo
Ancient Greek -ίδης (-ídēs)bor.
Latin -ideslbor.
Ancient Greek -ειδής (-eidḗs)influ.
Translingual -idae
Translingual Hominidaelbor.
English hominid
Learned borrowing from translingual Hominidae.

lbor

Any primate of the taxonomic family Hominidae, which includes all the nonhuman great apes (chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans) as well as humans.


pommel

From Middle English pomel, from Old French pomel and Medieval Latin pomellum, pumellum, presumedly via Vulgar Latin *pomellum (“ball, knob”), the diminutive of Late Latin pōmum (“apple”). Compare French pommeau and Spanish pomo.

The player, armed with a pommel, stands from two to three feet from the spell, places a knur in the cup which is held down by the rack.

1871, Edmund Routledge, Routledge's Every Boy's Annual:

The commonest method of playing the game, by the smaller boys of the village, was with a "sendstick," or pommel, and a wooden spell with a hole in one end to place the knur, which, when struck "tip-cat" like at the other end, threw the knur up to be struck at.

1886, William Smith, Morley: Ancient and Modern:

Next, the spring of the spell, at the end of which is a small brass cup to hold the knur, is adjusted by thumbscrews, so that when released by a touch of the pommel on the trigger, it will toss the knur a distance of six feet forward.

1911, The Encyclopaedia of sport & games, volume 3:

(sports, obsolete) The bat used in the game of knurr and spell or trap ball.


Bengal tiger

Bengal tiger is considered sacred by Hindus and the antipodes (so-called no-caste tribes) living in the forests of India.[…]In addition to this, the health of forests is determined by the presence of Bengal tigers.

2011, Devidas K. Belsare, Vanishing Roar of Bengal Tigers, RoseDog Books, page ix:

Bengal tigers are endangered animals. Their numbers have been dropping for more than a century. In the early 1900s, about 40,000 Bengal tigers lived in India. Today, that number stands at around 1,400. About 400 more Bengal tigers live in nearby countries.

2012, Colleen A. Sexton, The Bengal Tiger, Bellwether Media, page 18:

Panthera tigris tigris
Panthera tigris tigris#Translingual

Any tiger of a specific, fragmented population of the subspecies Panthera tigris tigris in the Indian subcontinent.


Siberian tiger

A tiger of a specific Panthera tigris tigris population, now confined to Outer Manchuria in Russia.


Sumatran tiger

Panthera tigris sondaica
Panthera tigris sondaica#Translingual

A population of Panthera tigris sondaica, found only on the Indonesian island of Sumatra.


chow

en-noun

chow (usually uncountable, plural chows)

Shortened from chow-chow, from Chinese Pidgin English chow-chow. Compare Macanese chau-cháu. See also English chow fun, chow mein, etc.

These were the creatures Nawnim had been amazed to see about him on the day of his arrival. When he inquired about them, Anna told him they were Japs an' Chows.

1938, Xavier Herbert, chapter V, in Capricornia, page 74:

‘Now look here old man if you should ever bump into an interesting Chow from over the river – one with access, follow me? – just you remember High Haven!’

1977, John Le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy, Folio Society, published 2010, page 11:

(chiefly Australia, slang, now rare) A Chinese person.


twitch

twitch (countable and uncountable, plural twitches)

From Middle English twicchen, from Old English *twiċċan, from Proto-West Germanic *twikkijan (“to nail, pin, fasten, clasp, pinch”).
Cognate with English tweak, Low German twikken, German Low German twicken (“to pinch, pinch off”), zweckōn and gizwickan (> German zwicken (“to pinch”)).

cog

THE TWITCH is a short stick of strong ash, about the size of a mopstick, with a hole pierced near the end, through which is passed a piece of strong but small cord, and tied in a loop large enough to admit the open hand freely.

1861, John Henry Walsh, The Horse in the Stable and in the Field:

(farriery) A stick with a hole in one end through which passes a loop, which can be drawn tightly over the upper lip or an ear of a horse and twisted to keep the animal quiet during minor surgery.


closer

From Middle English closere, equivalent to close (verb) + -er.

(horse racing) A horse that performs best toward the end of a race.


pigsty

Coordinate term: (sometimes synonymous) hoghouse

The lower pasture also contains a pigsty.

An enclosure where pigs are kept, either a building or part of one.


duck-billed platypus

en-noun

duck-billed platypus (plural duck-billed platypuses)


minx

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-minx.wav

The Minx […] frequents the water like the Otter, and very much reſembles it in ſhape and color, but is leſs; will abide longer under the water than the muſk quaſh, muſk rat, or little beaver: […]

1771, Thomas Pennant, quoting John Bartram, “Otter”, in Synopsis of Quadrupeds, Chester, Cheshire: […] J. Monk, →OCLC, page 240:

Many of these birds are destroyed by Weasels and Minxes.

1831, John James Audubon, “The Great Carolina Wren. Troglodytes ludovicianus, Ch. Bonaparte. […]”, in Ornithological Biography, or An Account of the Habits of the Birds of the United States of America; […], Edinburgh: Adam Black, […], →OCLC, page 401:

2d. Carnivora, or flesh eaters. Of these we have […] the New York ermine, or ermine weasel; the mink, or minx otter; the common otter; […]

1847, J. H. Mather, L. P. Brockett, “Zoology. [Class I. Mammalia.]”, in Geography of the State of New York. […], Hartford, Conn.: J. H. Mather & Co. [et al.], →OCLC, page 39:

We next come to the mink or minx otter (Putorius Vison) which is the only animal of the genus mustela inhabiting the northern parts of America that can be said to live in the water, and the name of "fisher" could with much justice be transferred from its present bearer to the mink.

[1876], Charles Henry Eden, chapter VII, in The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver; or, Fur-hunting in the Wilds of Canada, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; New York, N.Y.: Pott, Young & Co., →OCLC, page 153:

There is, however, scarcely any distinction in the other portions of the dress of the sexes [of southeastern Alaskan natives], except that the skin coats or tunics of the women and the facings of the bonnet or hood (worn by both sexes) are more elaborately decorated with minx, otter, or seal fur about the throat, and down the front, than those of the men.

1893 March, John H. Keatley, “Under the Arctic Circle”, in B[enjamin] O[range] Flower, editor, The Arena, volume VII, number XL, Boston, Mass.: Arena Publishing Co., →OCLC, page 491:

obsolete spelling of mink (“any of various semi-aquatic, carnivorous mammals in the Mustelinae subfamily”)..


poodle

From German Pudel, a shortened form of Pudelhund, a compound of Hund (“dog”) and the German Low German term Pudel, Pūdel (“puddle”), from the onomatopoeic term pudeln (“to splash about”).

Unnamed Vato 1: Maybe I do have more issues than a magazine stand, but all those magazines are puro fancy. I never wanted to be a vato. I just want to groom and train poodles.
Mocho: I secretly groom and train poodles.
Chalaza: Are you guys messing with me? Whenever you turn your back, I secretly groom and train poodles. Watch. Turn your back. I'm doing it. I'm doing it!
Unnamed Vato 1: I can't see. My back is turned.

2007, Xavier: Renegade Angel, season 1, episode 2:

A breed of dog originating in Europe as hunting dogs, and having heavy, curly coat in a solid color; their shoulder height indicates their classification as standard, medium, miniature, or toy.


zeedonk

Tigons, ligers and a zeedonk have also been created by miscegenating mammals.

1985, Hartson & Dawson, The Ultimate Irrelevant Encyclopedia, page 66:

One might have imagined that it could only have been Dr. Seuss who had thought up and named the zedonk—the animal produced when a male zebra mates with a female donkey!

1997, Thomas Fensch, Of Sneetches and Whos and the Good Dr. Seuss http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&id=iDR_UvtiD_sC&pg=PA103&lpg=PA103&sig=qB-nL70ow8Z_m8e1cm9518ykKX4

2003, Colin Bell, GCSE Applied Science Student Book http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&id=WIBBzP4MtvcC&pg=PA42&lpg=PA42&sig=SVuPX8k4sQZ0y2HPWbm68LKgzQU
Suggest which animals are the parents of the cross breeds, zedonk and tiglion.

2004, Kevin O'Hara, Last of the Donkey Pilgrims http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&id=IFUBfHAkYmoC&pg=PA184&lpg=PA184&sig=BaUIPzeYmdCHT2sMYfzqa4NPPsI
I could have told him about zedonks and zebrasses; donkey cures for whooping cough and gout, how an onager is a wild ass from Central Asia; that the Australian kookaburra is nicknamed “the laughing donkey”; …


zorse

The offspring of a male zebra and a female horse.


sika

Cervus nippon
Cervus nippon#Translingual

Cervus nippon, a deer found in the forests of East Asia


sika

In the past sikas were made within the family and its purchase and sale was not so noticeable.

2003, Sirajul Islam, Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh, volume 7, →ISBN, page 207:

A traditional Bangladeshi hanging basket


steeplechase

Compound of steeple + chase, from horse races in 18th century Ireland in which orientation of the course was by reference to a church steeple.

(chiefly British, equestrianism) A horse race, either across open country, or over an obstacle course.


Grand National

The premier steeplechase (horse race over fences) in the United Kingdom


warren

From Middle English warenne, from Anglo-Norman and Old Northern French warenne (compare Old French guarenne, garenne (“game-park”)), probably ultimately from Frankish *warjan, from Proto-Germanic *warjaną (“ward off, defend against”); compare also Old French warir, guarir, a borrowing from this Germanic root. Alternatively from Gaulish *warrennā (“enclosed area”), from *warros (“stick, post”), Proto-Celtic *warrā (“post, prop”).

der

The largest warren in group 9 had 10 entrances in use and 11 not in use.

1986, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (Australia), Australian Wildlife Research, page 332:

A system of burrows in which rabbits live.

konijnenheuvel

the system of burrows where rabbits live

We piled into Manchester's car, leaving mine at the gallery, and crossed town, striking off the main road and into a warren of dirt roads and adobe.

1984, Brett : from Bloomsbury to New Mexico, page 265:

Andrew had allowed her practically a free hand, and her interference had resulted in making the house a warren of rooms, connected by narrow corridors that meant much more work and worry for the housekeeper than the conventional model would have given.

2000, Christiaan Louis Leipoldt, Stephen Gray, Stormwrack, page 26:

With demand having increased by almost 40% in the past ten years, overcrowding now threatens to reach occasionally dangerous levels on platforms and in the warren of narrow subterranean passageways between them and the surface.

2019 October 23, Paul Stephen delivers a progress report on London Underground's transformative Bank Station capacity upgrade, Rail, page 68:

(figuratively) A mazelike place of passages and/or rooms in which it's easy to lose oneself; especially one that may be overcrowded.

A forest is a certen territorie of wooddy grounds and fruitfull pasrues, priviledged for wild beast and foules of forest, chase, and warren to rest and abide in, in the safe protection of the king for his princely delight and pleasure, which territorie of ground, so priviledged, is meered and bounded with unremoveable marks, meeres, and boundaries, either known by matter of record or els by presceription;

Free warren is a franchise , erected for the preservation or custody ( which the word signifies ) of beasts and fowls of warren; which , being feræ naturæ , every one had a natural right to kill as he could : but upon the introduction of the forest laws, at the period of the Norman conquest, these animals being looked upon as royal game and the sole property of our savage monarchs, this franchise of free-warren was invented to protect them; by giving the grantee a sole and exclusive power of killing such game so far as his warren extended, on condition of his preventing other persons. A man therefore that has the franchise of a warren, is in reality no more than a royal gamekeeper; but no man, not even a lord of a manor, could by common law justify sporting on another's soil, unless he had the liberty of free-warren.

1823, Thomas Burgeland Johnson, The Shooter's Companion, page 296:

Grouse are not birds of warren ( 2 ); and trespass on a free warren will not lie for shooting them .

1844, Archibald John Stephens, George Sharswood, The Law of Nisi Prius, page 2003:

The franchise of free warren is to be claimed only by grant from the crown, or by prescription which supposes such a grant (n); and the effect of it is, to vest in the grantee a property in such wild animals or inferior specieis of game as are deemed to beasts and fowls of warren (0).

1867, John Scriven, A Treatise on Copyholds. Customary Freeholds, Ancient Demesne, and the Jurisdiction of Courts Baron and Courts Leet, page 477:

(archaic) The class of small game such as hare, pheasants, stoats, etc., as opposed to beasts of chase such as deer, bear, and foxes.

And when the play was over, this John Adroyns in the evening departed from the market town to go home; and because he had there no change of clothing, he went forth in his devil's apparel; and his way lay through a warren of rabbits, belonging to a gentleman of the village, where he himself dwelt; at which time it happened that a priest, a vicar of the church, with two or three other idle fellows, brought with them a horse, a snare, and a ferret, to take the rabbits; and when the ferret was in the earth, and the snare set over the path where this John Adroyns should come, the priest and his fellows, seeing him coming, and considering they were in the devil's service, by stealing the rabbits though it was the devil indeed, ran away for fear.

Now warrenders tell us, and we are convinced of the fact from repeated experience, that if a wounded or dying rabbit get into a burrow, none of the living ones will ever pass it: they will die in their holes first; so that a single wounded or dead animal will cause the death of perhaps a score of their own kind in the same locality. This becomes a real loss to the proprietor of a warren.

1854, Robert Blakely, Shooting, page 159:

This warren is the flat at the summit of an exceedingly high mountain, and consists of, I think, the very worst land I ever saw in my life.

1888, Richard John Lloyd Price, Rabbits for Profit and Rabbits for Powder, page 32:

As to the privileges of an owner of a free warren, he may not only prosecute a trespasser who is in pursuit of beasts and fowls of warren, whether he be a stranger in the locality, or a tenant of lands within the limits of the free warren, but he may also kill any dogs found hunting in his warren, whether they are doing damage at the time or not.

1898, James Edmund Harting, Alexander Innes Shand, The Rabbit, page 55:

Commission of oyer and terminer to Robert de Morle, John de Shardelowe, William Giffard and John de Hemenhale, on complaint by Edward de Monte Acuto that Giles de Wyngefeld, Ranulph de Wyngefeld and other broke his part at Ersham, co. Norfolk, hunted therein and in his free warren, fished in his several fishery there, carried away fish and deer with hares and rabbits from his warren, and assaulted his men and servants.

1900, Great Britain. Public Record Office, Calendar of the Patent Rolls Preserved in the Public Record, page 102:

A place legally authorized for the keeping, breeding and hunting of beasts of warren, especially rabbits.

warenne

a place legally authorized for the keeping, breeding and hunting of beasts of warren, especially rabbits

Free-warren confers the property in wild animals, and that property may be claimed (a) in the land of another, to the exclusion of the owner of the soil; for in ancient times persons summoned to parliament often obtaine from the Crown grants of warren in their demesne lands, comprising such parts of their manors or honours as then were, or might come into their actual possession; but the grant of warren (b) to a party in all his demsne lands, does not extend over the lands of freeholders of the manor, as such grants are construed strictly.

1845, John Smith Furlong, A Treatise on the Law of Landlord and Tenant, page 337:

The defendant has pleaded a warren in gross: he does not make it appendant or appurtenant. He shews merely that Charles I. granted a free warren, as he might do.

1910, The English Reports - Volume 110, page 1361:

Henry de Greye claims to have many franchises in Toveton by Charter of King Henry, that is to say a warren.

1951, Keith Sydney Sayer Train, A Second Miscellany of Nottinghamshire Records, page 52:

Warren grants contained prohibitions on fishing more frequently than forest grants did.

1988, David Maxwell Walker, A Legal History of Scotland: The beginnings to A.D. 1286, page 379:

(historical) The right to maintain and hunt an area of small beasts, similar to a free warren, but with certain limitations, such as restricting the right to hunt on parts of the land held by freeholders.


parr

en-noun

parr (countable and uncountable, plural parrs or parr)

Compare Scottish Gaelic bradan (“salmon”).
For the salmon life stage, the word originates from the Middle English parren (“to enclose”), referring to the spots running along the side of the fish, resembling the bars of a fence.

Young salmon, at a stage between fry and smolt when they feed chiefly on invertebrates but cannot tolerate saltwater.


souped-up

en-adj

souped-up (comparative more souped-up, superlative most souped-up)

more souped-up (comparative)
most souped-up (superlative)

Uncertain; the fact that the earlier senses seem to be the horse racing cant and United States Navy slang ones suggests a derivation from soup (“liquid food item”), connoting a horse or a person being filled with a liquid.
Alternatively, it has been suggested that the term is a modified clipping of supe(r), with reference to an aeroplane or automobile engine being supercharged: see, for example, the 1925 quotation. This sense appears to post-date the horse-racing and navy slang senses.

(horse racing, cant) Of a racehorse: injected with a substance to make it run faster or to change its temperament.

napumpan

of a racehorse: injected with a substance to make it run faster


gelding

From Middle English geldyng (“eunuch”), from Old Norse geldingr (“wether, eunuch”), from gelda (“to castrate”). By surface analysis, geld (“to castrate”) + -ing (diminutive suffix).


feral cat

(zoology) A domestic cat that has returned to or was born in a living situation without human care.


microtine

From scientific Latin Microtinae , a subfamily name, from Microtus + -inae.

Any rodent of the former subfamily Microtinae (now Arvicolinae)


wholphin

Tursiops truncatus
Tursiops truncatus#Translingual

The fertile hybrid produced by cross-breeding a bottlenose dolphin Tursiops truncatus (mother), and a false killer whale Pseudorca crassidens (father).


whinny

From Middle English whynyen, whinien, akin to Middle English whinen (“to whine”).

Coordinate term: (sometimes synonymous) nicker

And moving out they found the stately horse, / Who now no more a vassal to the thief, / But free to stretch his limbs in lawful fight, / Neigh'd with all gladness as they came, and stoop'd / With a low whinny toward the pair: […]

1859, Alfred Tennyson, “Enid”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, pages 85–86:


whinny

en-verb

whinny (third-person singular simple present whinnies, present participle whinnying, simple past and past participle whinnied)

whinnies (present singular third-person)
whinnying (participle present)
whinnied (participle past)
whinnied (past)

Cattle lowed here and there, and horses whinnied to be fed.

1904 May, Winston Churchill, The Crossing, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, book I (The Borderland), page 240:

A pony whinnied a short distance from the hut.

1914 October – 1916 July, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter XIII, in The Mucker, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., published 31 October 1921, →OCLC:

[John Gray] whinnies like a donnish Houyhnhnm[.]

2014 January 28, Will Self, “John Gray: Forget everything you know”, in Independent, retrieved 2021-03-03:

(transitive, intransitive, of a horse) To make a gentle neigh.


lunette

Unadapted borrowing from French lunette, diminutive of lune (“moon”).

(farriery) A half horseshoe, lacking the sponge.


croup

From Middle English croupe, from Old French croupe (“rump, body”), from Old Norse kroppr (“body, trunk, mass”), from Proto-Germanic *kruppaz (“body, mass, heap, collection, crop”), from Proto-Indo-European *grewb- (“to curve, bend, crawl”). More at crupper, doublet of croupe, group, and crop.

der

So light to the croup the fair lady he swung, / So light to the saddle before her he sprung.

1808 February 22, Walter Scott, “(please specify the introduction or canto number, or chapter name)”, in Marmion; a Tale of Flodden Field, Edinburgh: […] J[ames] Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Company, […]; London: William Miller, and John Murray, →OCLC:

The guib [a kind of antelope] is of the mean dimensions, or four feet and a half in total length, and two and a half high at the shoulders, but rather higher at the croup.

1835, Charles Frederick Partington, The British cyclopædia of natural history:

The top of the rump of a horse or other quadruped.


croup

en-verb

croup (third-person singular simple present croups, present participle crouping, simple past and past participle crouped)

croups (present singular third-person)
crouping (participle present)
crouped (participle past)
crouped (past)

From Scots croup, croop (“the croup”), from Scots croup, crowp, croop (“to croak, speak hoarsely, murmur, complain”), from Old Scots crowp, crope, croap (“to call loudly, croak”), alteration of rowp, roup, roip, rope (“to cry, cry hoarsely, roop”), from Middle English roupen, ropen, from Old English hrōpan (“to shout, proclaim; cry out, scream, howl”), from Proto-Germanic *hrōpaną (“to shout”), from Proto-Indo-European *ker-, *kor- (“to caw, crow”). More at roop.

der

(obsolete outside dialects) To croak, make a hoarse noise.


croup

(pathology) An infectious illness of the larynx, especially in young children, causing respiratory difficulty.


poster

From post + -er, from post (“travel, dispatch”).

we whirled along with four posters at a gallop

1854, Charles Lever, The Dodd Family Abroad:


wineskin

Coordinate term: waterskin

A bag, traditionally made from the skin of a goat (a goatskin), used for holding and dispensing wine.


sheepdog

(US, slang, law enforcement) A police officer.


impost

Borrowed from Middle French impost, itself borrowed or adapted from Latin impōsitus, past participle of impōnō (“I impose”).

(horse racing, slang) The weight that must be carried by a horse in a race; the handicap.


doggy

en-adj

doggy (comparative doggier, superlative doggiest)

doggier (comparative)
doggiest (superlative)

From Middle English doggi, equivalent to dog + -y (adjectival suffix).


bridle

From Middle English bridel, from Old English brīdel, from Proto-West Germanic *brigdil, from Proto-Germanic *brigdilaz (“strap, rein”), equivalent to braid + -le.

inh

[…] the horseman, who is the user of bridles and knows their use

1961, J. A. Philip, “Mimesis in the Sophistês”, in Proceedings and Transactions of the American Philological Association, 92, p. 457:

(equestrianism) The headgear with which a horse is directed and which carries a bit and reins.

A piece in the interior of a gunlock which holds in place the tumbler, sear, etc.


get someone's goat

en-verb

get someone's goat (third-person singular simple present gets someone's goat, present participle getting someone's goat, simple past got someone's goat, past participle (UK) got someone's goat or (US) gotten someone's goat)

gets someone's goat (present singular third-person)
getting someone's goat (participle present)
got someone's goat (past)
got someone's goat (UK participle past)
gotten someone's goat (US participle past)

/ˌɡɛt ˈsʌmwʌnz ˈɡəʊt/

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Persent101-get someone's goat.wav

Uncertain; it has been suggested that the term may be derived from French prendre la chèvre (literally “to take the goat”), or refer to the stealing of a goat mascot from a military unit, etc.

der

Coordinate term: yank someone's chain

It really gets my goat when inconsiderate people drop litter in public.

If he had legged it on his own account, because what he heard me say got his goat, I could understand that.

1915, Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, chapter XXIII, in Uneasy Money, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton and Company, published 17 March 1916, →OCLC, page 306:

"Unfortunately," said Soames, "there's no such thing as luck in properly regulated assurance, as we shall find, or I'm much mistaken. I shouldn't be surprised if an action lay against the Board for gross negligence!" That had got the Chairman's goat!—Got his goat? What expressions they used nowadays!

1924 October, John Galsworthy, “The Mark Falls”, in The White Monkey, London: William Heinemann, published November 1924, →OCLC, part II, page 123:

But there's one litte thing that gets my goat, / That certainly strikes a sour note. / It's that Southern Ship who has my place— / With her larger decks and her faster pace.

1941 May, “Milestone”, in T. Orchard Lisle, editor, The Log, volume 36, number 8, San Francisco, Calif.: Miller Freeman Publishers, →OCLC, page 34:

It sure did get their goat; they turned without saying a word and walked off toward the highway, red-necked, us laughing behind them. I forget sometimes what laughter can do.

1962 February 1, Ken Kesey, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Signet Books; 225), New York, N.Y.: New American Library, →OCLC; republished New York, N.Y.: Signet, New American Library, February 1963, →OCLC, page 95:

Sometimes people are quite simply intent on riling us; on getting our goat. [...] If you don't want them to get your goat, don't let them know where it is.

2002, Barry Winbolt, “Looking for New Ideas”, in Difficult People: A Guide to Handling Difficult Behaviour, Seaford, East Sussex: ISR Publishing, Institute for Social Relations, published 2005, →ISBN, section 2, pages 191–192:

As Sandra Strain had seen it, as quickly as Natty had gotten her goat, she had slaughtered it by being apologetic. This was not what the girl had anticipated, nor wanted to hear.

2005, Sandy Santistevan, chapter 7, in Song of the Cicada: A Novel, Lincoln, Neb.: iUniverse, →ISBN, page 79:

(informal, idiomatic) To annoy or infuriate someone.

courir sur le haricot

to annoy or infuriate someone — see also annoy, infuriate


puissance

en-noun

puissance (countable and uncountable, plural puissances)

From Middle English puissaunce, from Anglo-Norman puissance, pusaunce, and other forms, from Old French puissant (“powerful”).

It was in Dublin that San Lucas scored his first success in what has become something of a speciality for him, the puissance.

1969, G. H. S. Webber, Show Jumping International, London: Evans Brothers; New York, N.Y.: Van Nostrand Reinhold, →OCLC, page 126:

Pat [Moss] then went to Oxford to qualify for the Horse of the Year Show, and Danny was fourth in the Puissance, an event with very high jumps.

2011 April, Stuart Turner, Harnessing Horsepower: The Pat Moss Carlsson Story, Poundbury, Dorset: Veloce Publishing, →ISBN, page 23:

In a study of horses during a puissance competition that started at a height of 1.80 m and ended in the last round at 2.27 m, success was significantly positively correlated with the following variables at lift-off: vertical velocity of CM, height of CM, distance of CM from the fence; and was significantly negatively correlated with the distance of the leading hind limb to the CM.

2013, Hilary M. Clayton, P. René van Weeren, “Performance in Equestrian Sports”, in Willem Back, Hilary M. Clayton, editors, Equine Locomotion, 2nd edition, Edinburgh, New York, N.Y.: Saunders, →ISBN, page 332:

(equestrianism) The high-jump component of the sport of show jumping.


bovine

en-adj

bovine (comparative more bovine, superlative most bovine)

more bovine (comparative)
most bovine (superlative)

Borrowed from Late Latin bovīnus (“relating to cattle”), from Latin bōs (“ox”). Cognate to beef.

bor

bovine progressive degenerative myeloencephalopathy

They had been selected and arranged with a dull, bovine indifference to any meaning that any of them might have.

1988, Douglas Adams, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul, William Heinemann Ltd, page 48:

For reasons which are really a matter for a trainee psychoanalyst, who plays James Bond is a big thing for Spencer. To this end, he has unleashed a series of thoughts so bovine that I’ll just give you one for a little flavour.

2018 August 16, Marina Hyde, “Sorry to break it to you, far-righters: James Bond is not on your team”, in The Guardian:


bangtail

From bang + tail. The primary meaning refers to the sense bang (“fringe of hair cut across the forehead”).

1851, Turning Out a Bagman: A Legend of Brighton Downs, in Charles Dickens, William Harrison Ainsworth, Albert Smith Bentley's Miscellany, Volume XXIX, page 259,
Two lean, ewe-necked, clipt chestnuts, tucked up in the ribs, with hard work and bad feeding, but with such flowing bang-tails as at once stamped them in the eyes of our friends as “ out-and-out ” thorough-breds—were led up and down by John. […] The bang-tails, no doubt, supposing themselves out for their usual “airing,” put themselves in the regular side-long position, and struck at once into a sort of hectic canter ; a particular movement, peculiar to Brighton bang-tails, and adapted to the most innocent equestrian.

1903, Tom Collins (Joseph Furphy), Such Is Life: Being Certain Extracts from the Diary of Tom Collins, 2004, page 68,
"And did you see a dark chestnut horse; bang tail; star and snip; white hind feet; saddle and bridle on?" I asked.

Lennan held the black horse — a bizarre little beast, all fire and whipcord, with a skin like satin, liquid eyes, very straight hocks, and a thin bangtail reaching down to them.

1913, John Galsworthy, The Dark Flower, page 244:

Once we get the herd we can set up relays to keep the bangtails movin' as we go.

2005, Cynthia Queen, The Major's Renegade, page 127:

The tail of a horse or cow, allowed to grow out and then trimmed horizontally so as to form a tassel; a horse or cow having such a tail.

“Eddie!” whinnied Daley, the distraught worshipper of the bang-tails. “Eddie! Phar Lap is dead!”

1934, Stanley Walker, City Editor, published 1999, page 99:

Americans bet $5,000,000,000 a year on the galloping bangtails.

1937, The American Magazine, volume 124, page 52:

If you happen to be out on the far east side between April 23 and September 5, with $10 burning a hole in your pocket, hie yourself out to River Downs Race Track, 6301 Kellogg Avenue, and bet on the bangtails.

1983 March, Cincinnati Magazine, page 43:

I was ridin' the horses then, you understand, and maybe known to take a flutter or two on the bangtails while I was about it.


bangtail

en-verb

bangtail (third-person singular simple present bangtails, present participle bangtailing, simple past and past participle bangtailed)

bangtails (present singular third-person)
bangtailing (participle present)
bangtailed (participle past)
bangtailed (past)

To shear off the hair horizontally at the end of a cow or horse's tail.


kinkajou

/ˈkɪŋkəˌd͡ʒuː/

/ˈkɪŋkəˌʒuː/

From French quincajou, from an Algonquian word, probably originally meaning ‘wolverine’ (compare Algonquin Kwingwaage, Ojibwe gwiingwa'aage (“wolverine”)), which was later transferred to the South American animal. Related to carcajou.

Potos flavus, a carnivorous mammal of Central America and South America with a long, prehensile tail, related to the raccoon.


carcajou

Borrowed from French carcajou, probably from the same Algonquian source as (certainly related to) kinkajou.

Synonym of wolverine (a solitary, fierce member of the weasel family)


bugle

→ French: bugle

From Middle English bugle, from Anglo-Norman and Old French bugle, from Latin buculus (“young bull; ox; steer”).

Then tooke that squire an horne of bugle small, Which hong adowne his side in twisted gold And tassels gay.

1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faery Queene, page 88:

The tongue so rough, that were it licks, it fetches blood. The Greeks used not these, nor Bugles in Physick, not having tried their vertue; though Indian-woods are full of such, yet parts of them are of more efficacy in medicine, (it is thought) than any part of ordinary Oxen.

1678, Joannes Jonstonus (M.D., Polonus.), A Description of the Nature of Four-Footed Beasts, page 31:

All in the merry strand, With the ran, ran tan, And the tippy, tippy tran, And away with the royal bow! wow! wow! And the riddle diddle do, And the bugle's horn, For into the woods we'll run, brave boys, And into the woods we'll run.

1928, Lora Sarah La Mance, The House of Waltman and Its Allied Families, page 17:

a hunting horn, origin. made of the horn of a "bugle" or wild ox

1992, William Shakespeare, Holger Klein, Much Ado about Nothing: A New Critical Edition, page 145:


flittermouse

From flitter + mouse (compare flickermouse, flindermouse), after Middle Dutch fleddermuys, vledermuys, vlermuys (Modern Dutch vleermuis), from vledderen, vlederen (“to flutter, float, hover”) + muys (“mouse”). Cognate with West Frisian flearmûs (“bat”), Middle Low German vledermūs (“bat”), German Fledermaus (“bat”), Swedish fladdermus (“bat”) and flädermus (“bat”). More at flitter, flutter, flatter, mouse.

I thank thee, gentle flittermouse, for these so pleasant memories. Have you ever caught and examined a flittermouse?

1891, Conway Lloyd Morgan, Animal sketches:

1894, Philip Stewart Robinson, Birds of the Wave and Woodland, Electronic Edition, unnumbered page,
The bats wheel overhead, their soft wings crumpling as they turn their somersaults, but never a voice in the air, save sharp needle-points of sound, as flittermouse calls to flittermouse.

Now while they rested, a flittermouse flew forth from the Witchland booths and went widdershins round the wrastling ground and so returned silently whence she came.

1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros, London: Jonathan Cape, page 22:

They don't bump into folk, blind people don't. They're like flittermice. You never saw two flittermice bump into each other.

1969, Rayner Heppenstall, The Shearers, page 183:

(now chiefly dialectal) A bat (a flying mammal).


tandem

en-noun

tandem (countable and uncountable, plural tandems)

PIE word
 *téh₂m
The noun is borrowed from Latin tandem (“of time: at last, at length, finally”), applied humorously in English to two horses harnessed “at length” (that is, in a single line) instead of side-by-side. Tandem is derived from tam (“so, to such an extent”) + -dem (demonstrative suffix).
The adjective, adverb, and verb are derived from the noun.

tandem

carriage pulled by two or more draught animals harnessed one behind the other; two draught animals harnessed one behind the other

tandem-

thing with two components arranged one behind the other

[H]e was a man whose head was at this time entirely full of gigs, and tandems, and unicorns: business was his aversion; pleasure was his business.

1804, Maria Edgeworth, “The Contrast. Chapter II. Ignorance of Things, into which It is a Duty to Enquire, is the Cause of Many Odious Vices.”, in Popular Tales, volume III, London: Printed for J[oseph] Johnson, […], [b]y C. Mercier and Co., […], →OCLC, page 30:

A friend of mine accompanies me in my carriage to Edinburgh. There we shall leave it, and proceed in a tandem (a species of open carriage) through the western passes to Inverary, where we shall purchase shelties, to enable us to view places inaccessible to vehicular conveyances.

1807 August 11, Lord Byron, “Letter XVII. To Miss ——.”, in Thomas Moore, editor, Letters and Journals of Lord Byron: With Notices of His Life, […], volume I, London: John Murray, […], published 1830, →OCLC, pages 118–119:

Mr. Foker was no more like a gentleman now than in his school days: and yet Pen felt a secret pride in strutting down High Street with a young fellow who owned tandems, talked to officers, and ordered turtle and champagne for dinner.

1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, “In which Pendennis Appears as a Very Young Man Indeed”, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume I, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849, →OCLC, page 31:

The chief characteristic of this set was the most reckless extravagance of every kind. […] They drove tandems in all directions, scattering their ample allowances, which they treated as pocket money, about roadside inns and Oxford taverns with open hand, and going tick for every thing which could by possibility be booked.

1859–1861, [Thomas Hughes], “St. Ambrose’s College”, in Tom Brown at Oxford: […], part 1st, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, published 1861, →OCLC, page 3:

(countable) A carriage pulled by two or more draught animals (generally draught horses) harnessed one behind the other, both providing pulling power but only the animal in front being able to steer.

Later in the day the Row is empty, but, on the other hand, the pleasure horse monopolises the circle, now comparatively deserted. Singly, in pairs, tandems, and fours, he draws the family carriage with a lozenge on the panels, the brougham of the fashionable doctor, the coupé of the popular actress, the man about town's smart dog-cart.

[1903], Charles Dudley, “Equine London”, in George R[obert] Sims, editor, Living London: Its Work and Its Play, Its Humour and Its Pathos, Its Sights and Its Scenes, special edition, volume II, section I, London: Cassell and Company, →OCLC, pages 158–159, column 2:

Two draught animals (generally draught horses) harnessed one behind the other.


tandem

Their skillful tandem work made the project quick and successful.

(figurative) Working together collaboratively; collaborative, cooperative.

заедно

working together collaboratively — see also collaborative, cooperative


tandem

en-verb

tandem (third-person singular simple present tandems, present participle tandeming, simple past and past participle tandemed)

tandems (present singular third-person)
tandeming (participle present)
tandemed (participle past)
tandemed (past)

[O]ur dog-cart having come to hand, from the hilliness of the road, we tandemed the ten miles due west, along the southern shore of Clew Bay.

1861, “a retired civil engineer” [pseudonym], “Westport—The Killeries”, in Ierne. Or, Anecdotes and Incidents during a Life Chiefly in Ireland. […] (First Series), London: Partridge and Co., […], →OCLC, page 208:

And sometimes these nymphs [on frescoes] are tandeming the daintiest little gryphons so pleasantly that one longs (in the dream) to be with them, not fearing a reverse.

1866 May 1, “Visits to the Paradise of Artists. IV. Pompeii.—The Enchanting Sights and Disenchanting Sounds of Naples.—Capri.”, in The Art-Journal, volume V (New Series), London: Virtue & Co., page 129, column 2:

Hendee is located at the New Marlboro', and is tandeming with his lady friends through the Newtons daily.

1886 July 9, “Pencilled Paragraphs”, in The Cycle, volume I, number 15, Boston, Mass.: Abbot Bassett, →OCLC, page 263, column 3:

Mr. Cadman gives a humorous description of their journey, as they tandemed the donkey to drag their impedimenta up the slope of 1,200 feet.

1898 July 16, “The Gentle Art. Harry Druidale, Fisherman, from Manxland to England. By Henry Cadman. London: Macmillan & Co. [book review]”, in [Thomas Wemyss Reid], editor, The Speaker, London: The Speaker Office, →OCLC, page 87:

[A]n excessively dissipative error cancellation delay line is unacceptable, since that line directly tandems the main power amplifier.

1971 November, H. Seidel, “A Microwave Feed-forward Experiment”, in The Bell System Technical Journal, volume 50, number 9, New York, N.Y.: American Telephone and Telegraph Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 2892:

Charlotte, who I had not yet had the chance to do more than talk to, was tandeming [on a tandem bicycle] with George but each was accusing the other of not putting in their fare share of the pedalling.

1989, Andrew Scott [pseudonym; Lionel Trapes?], chapter 3, in The Oyster, volume IV, New York, N.Y.: Blue Moon Books, published 2006, →ISBN, page 80:

No strained informality this as Judy [Garland] tandemed provocative chatter with her guests Lena Horne and Terry-Thomas.

1990, Coyne Steven Sanders, Rainbow’s End: The Judy Garland Show, New York, N.Y.: William Morrow and Company, →ISBN, page 233:

Remote-office-to-remote-office communication happens by tandeming through the headquarters router. The headquarters router and port connection can become bottlenecks. Network latency increases with tandeming.

2002, Regis J. (Bud) Bates, “Frame Relay”, in Broadband Telecommunications Handbook (McGraw-Hill Telecommunications), 2nd edition, New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill, →ISBN, page 205:

(transitive, intransitive) Synonym of tandemize (“(transitive) to harness or drive (two draught animals, generally draught horses) one behind the other; to set up (two or more things, such as pieces or equipment) to work in tandem or together; (intransitive) to drive a tandem (‘carriage pulled by two or more draught animals (generally draught horses) harnessed one behind the other’)”)


doghouse

A traffic signal with five sections: two on the bottom, two in the middle, and one on top.


flog a dead horse

flog a dead horse (third-person singular simple present flogs a dead horse, present participle flogging a dead horse, simple past and past participle flogged a dead horse)

flogs a dead horse (present singular third-person)
flogging a dead horse (participle present)
flogged a dead horse (participle past)
flogged a dead horse (past)

(dated, nautical) To attempt to get extra work out of a ship's crew during the dead horse period.


resurrectionist

From resurrection (“the act of rising from the dead and becoming alive again”) + -ist (“forms agents of cause; forms adherents of a belief”), coined alongside resurrection man.

af

There is a class of horses called ‘resurrectionists’... and they either recover early form... or... become animated, when they were supposed to be gone altogether, with... life and vigour.

(equestrianism, humorous, obsolete) A racehorse that (once or numerously) suddenly recovers its stamina midrace.


crummy

en-adj

crummy (comparative crummier, superlative crummiest)

crummier (comparative)
crummiest (superlative)


pachyderm

From French pachyderme, equivalent to pachy- (“thick”) + -derm (“skin”).

(obsolete, zoology) A member of the obsolete taxonomic order Pachydermata, grouping of thick-skinned, hoofed animals such as the rhinoceros, hippopotamus, elephant and tapir.


Malinois

en-noun

Malinois (plural Malinoises or Malinois)

[ˈmælɪnˌwɑː]

From French Malines + -ois, Malines being the French name for the West Flemish city Mechelen.

I remember him so well because I love dogs and he had a malinois, which is quite a special dog. He was always in a good mood.

2024 March 4, Kate Connolly, “German prosecutors urge Red Army Faction suspects to surrender”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

Belgian Malinois
Belgian Malinois#English


mischief

mischief (countable and uncountable, plural mischiefs)

From Middle English myschef, meschef, meschief, mischef, from Old French meschief, from meschever (“to bring to grief”), from mes- (“badly”) + chever (“happen; come to a head”), from Vulgar Latin *capare, from Latin caput (“head”).

Drink led to mischief.

(uncountable) Conduct that playfully causes petty annoyance.

kattekwaad

conduct that playfully causes petty annoyance

She had mischief in her heart.

Sooner or later he'll succeed in doing some serious mischief.

Was I the Cauſe of Miſchief, or the Man / Whoſe lawlesſ Luſt the bloody War began?

1697, Virgil, “The Tenth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 502, lines 139–140:

I have been tired in history with the perpetual folly of those states, who call in foreigners to assist them against a common enemy: but the mischief was, these allies would never be brought to allow, that the common enemy was quite subdued. And they had reason; for it proved at last, that one part of the common enemy was those who called them in, and so the allies became at length the masters.

1718 December 15 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Jonathan Swift, “A Letter Concerning the Sacramental Test”, in Thomas Sheridan, John Nichols, editors, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, […], new edition, volume IV, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1801, →OCLC, page 435:

Vanity working on a weak head, produces every sort of mischief.

1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter 8, in Emma: […], volume I, London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC:

I fear this means that there is some mischief afoot.

1914 September – 1915 May, Arthur Conan Doyle, chapter 1, in The Valley of Fear: A Sherlock Holmes Novel, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published 27 February 1915, →OCLC:

(uncountable) Harm or trouble caused by an agent or brought about by a particular cause.

беля

harm or trouble caused by an agent or brought about by a particular cause

(law) A criminal offence defined in various ways in various jurisdictions, sometimes including causing damage to another's property.

What the mischief are you? and how the mischief did you get here, and where in thunder did you come from?

1967, The Statesman, volume 12, page 260:

(euphemistic) The Devil; used as an expletive.

(Australia) Casual and/or flirtatious sexual acts.


let the cat out of the bag

en-verb

let the cat out of the bag (third-person singular simple present lets the cat out of the bag, present participle letting the cat out of the bag, simple past and past participle let the cat out of the bag)

lets the cat out of the bag (present singular third-person)
letting the cat out of the bag (participle present)
let the cat out of the bag (participle past)
let the cat out of the bag (past)

(Mid-1700s) The inverse of the idiom pig in a poke. If a dishonest merchant tries to sell a cat as a pig and the cat comes out or is taken out of the bag, the merchant's secret is disclosed.

It was going to be a surprise party until someone let the cat out of the bag.

[H]e proved himself as decent, decorous, and conscientious, as Peter was rampant, boisterous, and —— (this last epithet I choose to suppress, because it would let the cat out of the bag).

1849, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], “The Winding-up”, in Shirley. A Tale. […], volume III, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, page 300:

(idiomatic) To disclose a secret; to let a secret be known, often inadvertently.

die aap uit die mou laat

to disclose a secret, often inadvertently


sable

en-noun

sable (countable and uncountable, plural sables)

Attested since 1275, from Middle English sable, from Old French sable and martre sable (“sable marten”), in reference to the animal or its fur; from Medieval Latin sabelum, from Middle Low German sabel (compare Middle Dutch sabel, Middle High German zobel); ultimately from a Slavic word (compare Russian со́боль (sóbolʹ), Polish soból, Czech sobol). Compare also Middle Persian smwl (*samōr).

Martes zibellina
Martes zibellina#Translingual

(countable) A small carnivorous mammal of the Old World that resembles a weasel, Martes zibellina, from cold regions in Eurasia and the North Pacific islands, valued for its dark brown fur (Wikipedia).


pedal

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-pedal (noun, verb).wav

Borrowed from French pédale, Latin pedāl(is). By surface analysis, ped- + -al.


Nemean Lion

(Greek mythology) A mythical lion of ancient Nemea that was invulnerable to attack by weapons and was slain by Hercules as one of his labours.


Schrödinger's cat

Schrödinger's cat (plural Schrödinger's cats)

Named after Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger (1887–1961).

named-after

A cat like yours is a Schrödinger's cat, sealed up in an office where someone's disintegration provides a 50-50 chance of its death.

2000, Thalia Field, Point and line, New Directions Publishing, →ISBN, page 8:

A hypothetical cat that is depicted as being surrounded by perfectly uncertain circumstances that make an external observer absolutely unable to deem the cat either alive or dead, especially if the possibilities of survival of the cat are expected to be analysed from the point of view of quantum mechanics. Typically, these circumstances involve the cat being inside a box while being the victim of a danger that may or may not kill it, such as radiation.

To see how, let us consider a nested system of Schrödinger's cats.

2004, Colin Bruce, Schrödinger's Rabbits: The Many Worlds of Quantum, page 83:

(by extension) Any hypothetical situation whose circumstances make it impossible to see which among two contrary propositions is correct, especially if the situation is expected to be analysed from the point of view of quantum mechanics.


Schrödinger's cat

The thought experiment which was devised by Erwin Schrödinger, is usually considered a paradox, involves a Schrödinger's cat and is typically supposed to be analysed from the point of view of quantum mechanics.

Schrödinger's cat is necessarily alive or dead.

2005, Jürgen Pafel, Quantifier scope in German, illustrated edition, John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 21:

And you thought Schrödinger's cat was schizophrenic, unsure about life and death.

2009, João Magueijo, A brilliant darkness, Basic Books, →ISBN, page 179:

Let us return to the laboratory, where Bob is about to lift the tarp off of the transparent box containing Schrödinger's cat.

2010, Rodrigo Enrico, The Physics of Stargates, Eridanus Press, →ISBN, page 80:

A Schrödinger's cat (a hypothetical cat that may or may not be dead) in particular, especially when implied to be the only Schrödinger's cat in the world.


under the wire

Lying forward flattened along Sunfish's hard-muscled shoulders, Bud was gaining and gaining—one length, then two lengths as he shot under the wire, slowed and rode back to find a silent crowd watching him.

1921, B. M. Bower, chapter 15, in Cow-Country:


cat's cradle

en-noun

cat's cradle (countable and uncountable, plural cat's cradles)

(uncountable) A children's game of forming string into various shapes around one's fingers.


dust bunny

WASHINGTON: The common American household Dust Bunny has been designated as an endangered species, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USF&WS) announced last week. "The widespread use of household cleaning products and devices has drastically reduced the habitat of the Dust Bunny," said Noah Present, Acting Director of the Endangered Species Program. "American homes are cleaned too frequently, and much better than in the past." / "We are not to blame for the improper use of our products," responded a spokesman for the Household Products Association. "Correctly used, many of the Dust Bunnies should survive."

2008, Hugh A. Holub, “Dust Bunnies Designated Endangered Species: 25% of Homes Declared Critical Habitat”, in Deer Seen as Terrorist Threat and Other Stories, [Raleigh, N.C.]: Lulu, →ISBN, page 83:

About 3.6 billion years ago, the sun and its planets coalesced from a cloud of stellar debris, probably helped along by the push from the explosion of a nearby supernova. The particles of cosmic dust began sticking together by static electricity, the same force that forms dust bunnies under your bed. Eventually, the particles got big enough for gravity to start pulling more pieces together.

2016 August 28, Dale Gnidovec, “Geology: Chemically unique meteorite found in quarry might be ‘extinct’”, in The Columbus Dispatch, archived from the original on 2016-08-29:

Sure, some dogs may get super-itchy and lose extra fur, while others may seem to groom themselves incessantly, leaving your floors strewn with serious dust bunnies. In the absence of these and the above-mentioned problems, your Lab mix is just being a dog that conforms perfectly to her breed type. In other words, this breed sheds – a lot!

2016 August 30, Patty Khuly, “Dog shedding too much? Try these easy fixes”, in Miami Herald, archived from the original on 2016-08-31:

Phobos just can't catch a break. Not only is Mars' lumpy, crusted-over dust bunny of a moon destined to be ripped to pieces in 10 million years, it seems the poor thing can't stop punching itself.

2016 August 31, Maddie Stone, “We finally know what caused those mysterious craters on Phobos”, in Gizmodo Australia, archived from the original on 2016-08-31:

(US, informal) A small clump of dust, fluff, hair, particles of skin, etc., that tends to accumulate indoors in areas not regularly dusted, such as under heavy furniture.


spermophile

From Spermophilus from σπέρμα (spérma, “seed”) + φιλέω (philéō, “love”), hence, "seed-lover". This genus formerly included most of the terrestrial squirrels, but all of the North American species have been split off into separate genera.

com

Your cousin, Seek Seek the Spermophile, sometimes called Gopher Squirrel, who lives on the open plains of the West where there are no rocks or stones. He likes best the flat, open country. He is called Spermophile because that means seed-eater, and he lives largely on seeds, especially on grain.

1920, Thornton W. Burgess, “Striped Chipmunk and his Cousins”, in The Burgess Animal Book for Children:

A terrestrial burrowing rodent; ground squirrel.


cowpat

Unfortunately, every cowpat that is burned as cooking fuel means that no nitrogen is available for use as fertilizer.

1979, Jack M. Hollander, Melvin K. Simmons, David O. Wood, Annual Review of Energy, →ISBN:


coydog

Canis latrans
Canis latrans#Translingual

Canis lupus familiaris
Canis lupus familiaris#Translingual

Any hybrid of a coyote (Canis latrans) and a (usually feral) dog (Canis lupus familiaris).


flying fox

Australian Kriol: flain foks

A device consisting of a chair suspended on a pulley, and running along a length of cable, used for transporting across ravines etc.


cuttie

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


kinda

LL-Q1860 (eng)-JutishMale-kinda (n, subspecies of baboon).wav

After the town of Kinda, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In the wild, when a baboon called a kinda pairs with a chacma or yellow baboon, their progeny is still a baboon — but it's a hybrid of interest to Society grantees Jane Phillips-Conroy and Clifford Jolly, who are tracking gene flow in Zambia's South Luangwa National Park.

2006, The National Geographic Magazine, volume 212, numbers 4-6, page 18:

Democratic Republic of the Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo

A subspecies of baboon, Papio cynocephalus kindae, primarily found in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, and possibly western Tanzania.


buckskin

en-noun

buckskin (countable and uncountable, plural buckskins)

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

From Middle English bukskyn; equivalent to buck + skin.

I have alluded to his buckskins.

1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 3, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:

buckskin:

A soft strong leather, usually yellowish or grayish in color, made of deerskin.

abaní

a soft strong leather, usually yellowish or grayish in color, made of deerskin


salamander

/ˈsæləˌmɑːndə/

From Middle English salamandre, from Anglo-Norman salamandre, from Latin salamandra, from Ancient Greek σαλαμάνδρα (salamándra), of uncertain origin (per Beekes, likely Pre-Greek); possibly of Iranian origin, see Persian سمندر (samandar) for more information.

The necessary fires alone -- the salamanders and tinner's pots -- had caused dozens of small blazes.

2003, Erik Larson, The Devil in the White City, Vintage Books, page 192:

(construction) A portable stove used to heat or dry buildings under construction.


feague

en-verb

feague (third-person singular simple present feagues, present participle feaguing, simple past and past participle feagued)

feagues (present singular third-person)
feaguing (participle present)
feagued (participle past)
feagued (past)

From Dutch vegen (“to sweep, strike”), from Middle Dutch vēghen (“to cleanse”), from Old Dutch *fegōn (“to cleanse”), from Proto-West Germanic *faginōn, from Proto-Germanic *faginōną (“to decorate, make beautiful”), from Proto-Indo-European *pōḱ-, *pēḱ- (“to clean, to adorn”).
Cognate with Danish feje (“to sweep”), German fegen (“to cleanse, scour, sweep”), Icelandic fægja (“to polish”), Swedish feja (“to sweep”). More at fay, fair, fake.

cog

Come, brother Cockwood, let us get 'em / To lay aſide theſe masking Fopperies, and then / We'll fegue 'em in earneſt: Give us a bottle, Waiter.

1668, George Etherege, She Wou’d if She Cou’d, a Comedy. […], London: […] [John Macocke] for H[enry] Herringman, […], →OCLC, Act III, scene iii, page 49:

Chor[us]. […] See, yonder ſits Well-born with his pretty Wife. / […] Shee ſeeks for her Gallant, and he o'my Life / Hath a mind to be feaguing yon Vizor-Mask-Whore.

1673, Henry Nevil Payne, The Morning Ramble, or The Town-humours: A Comedy. Acted at the Duke's Theatre, London: Printed for Thomas Dring, at the White Lyon, next Chancery-Lane end in Fleet-street, →OCLC, act I, scene i, page 11:

Sir Oliv[er Cockwood]. Here's my brother Jolly too can witneſs / The loyalty of my Heart, and that I did not intend / Any treaſonable practice againſt your Ladiſhip / In the leaſt. / Sir Joſ[lin Jolley]. Unleſs feguing 'em with a Beer-glaſs be / Included in the Statute. Come, Mr. Courtall, to / Satisfie my Lady, and put her in a little good humour, / Let us ſing the Catch I taught you yeſterday, […]

1668, George Etherege, She Wou'd if She Cou'd, a Comedy. Actes at His Highnesse the Duke of York's Theatre, London: Printed for H[enry] Herringman, at the sign of the Blew Anchor in the lower walk of the New Exchange, →OCLC, act III, scene iii, page 53:

feague coit with. Ex the primary sense, beat or thrash (a common shift).

1994, Gordon Willams, A Dictionary of Sexual Language and Imagery in Shakespearean and Stuart Literature, volumes I (A–F), London, Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: The Athlone Press, →ISBN, page 469:

(obsolete) To have sexual intercourse with.


sorrel

en-noun

sorrel (countable and uncountable, plural sorrels)

From Middle English sorel, from Old French sorel, surele (“sorrel”), from Old French sur (“sour”), of Germanic origin, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *sūraz (“sour”); equivalent to sour + -el (diminutive suffix). Compare Old English sūre (“sorrel”), Icelandic súra (“sorrel”), Dutch zuring (“dock (plant), sorrel”). More at sour.

Rumex acetosa
Rumex acetosa#Translingual

Any of various plants with acidic leaves of the genus Rumex, especially

Rumex acetosa (common sorrel, garden sorrel), sometimes used as a salad vegetable.


stammel

stammel (usually uncountable, plural stammels)

[…] booted he was after Saincte Benettes guise, and a blacke Stamell robe, with a lothlie monsterous hoode hanging backward […]

1564, William Bullein, A Dialogue Bothe Pleasaunte and Pietifull, London, page 11:

Our great men
Like to a Masse of clowds that now seeme like
An Elephant, and straight wayes like an Oxe
And then a Mouse, or like those changeable creatures
That liue in the Burdello, now in Satten
Tomorrow next in Stammell.

1606, George Chapman, Monsieur D’Olive, London: William Holmes, act II, scene 1:

[…] the lusty Lasses, and merry Good-wives, who were drest in all their Bravery, in their Stammel Petticoats, and their gray Cloath-Wastcoats, or white wrought Wastcoats, with black Woolstead, and green Aprons;

1671, Margaret Cavendish, “The Tale of a Traveller”, in Natures Picture Drawn by Fancies Pencil to the Life, London, page 525:

(historical) A woolen cloth (used in medieval times to make undergarments).


redcoat

en-verb

redcoat (third-person singular simple present redcoats, present participle redcoating, simple past and past participle redcoated)

redcoats (present singular third-person)
redcoating (participle present)
redcoated (participle past)
redcoated (past)

To work as a redcoat, in Butlin's. Also capital Redcoat


red kangaroo

A large kangaroo, Osphranter rufus, found in the desert areas of Australia.


when pigs fly

Referencing the fact that pigs do not have wings and cannot fly.

List of idioms of improbability
when pigs fly

فِي الْمِشْمِش (fī l-mišmiš, literally “in the apricot [season]”)

إِذَا حَجَّتِ الْبَقَرَة عَلَى قُرُونِهَا (ʔiḏā ḥajjati l-baqara ʕalā qurūnihā, literally “when the cow goes on pilgrimage on its horns”)

لَمَّا يَنْوَر اَلْمِلْح (lammā yanwar al-milḥ, literally “when salt blossoms”)

երբ խոզը բարձրանա ծառը (erb xozə barjrana caṙə, literally “when the pig climbs up the tree”)

на святыя ніколі (na svjatyja nikóli, literally “on Saint Never[’s day]”)

на куково лято (na kukovo ljato, literally “in a cuckoo’s summer”)

豬乸會上樹 /猪乸会上树 (zyu¹ naa² wui⁵ soeng⁶ syu⁶, literally “when pig sows climb up the tree”)

马生角 (thiⁿ lo̍h âng-hō͘, bé seⁿ/siⁿ kak, literally “when rain is red and horses grow horns”)

烏頭白，馬生角 (wū tóu bái, mǎ shēng jiǎo, literally “when crows have white heads and horses grow horns”)

天雨粟，馬生角 (tiān yù sù, mǎ shēng jiǎo, literally “when it rains millets and horses grow horns”)

除非太陽從西邊出來 /除非太阳从西边出来 (chúfēi tàiyáng cóng xībiān chūlái, literally “when the sun rises in the west”)

wanneer Pasen en Pinksteren op één dag vallen

wenn Ostern und Pfingsten auf einen Tag fallen

כשחזירים יעופו (k'shekhazirím ya'úfu, literally “when pigs fly”)

सूरज पश्चिम से उगेगा (sūraj paścim se ugegā, literally “when the sun rises in the west”)

majd ha cigánygyerekek potyognak az égből

ᑐᓗᒃᑲᑦ ᖃᑯᖅᓯᒃᐸᑕ (tolokkat qakoqsikpata, literally “when the ravens turn white”)

枯れ木に花咲く (kareki ni hana saku, literally “dead trees blossom”)

കാക്ക മലന്നു പറക്കും (kākka malannu paṟakkuṁ, literally “the crow will fly upside down”)

وقت گل نی (vaght e gol e ney, literally “when the reed plant blossoms”)

когда́ рак на горе́ сви́стнет (kogdá rak na goré svístnet, literally “when a crayfish whistles on the mountain”)

по́сле до́ждичка в четве́рг (pósle dóždička v četvérg, literally “after a small rain on Thursday”)

جب زمین اور آسمان ایک ہونگے (jab zamīn aur āsmān ek hōngē, literally “when the sky and the Earth meet”)


bow-wow

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

Lord Pembroke said once to me at Wilton, with a happy pleasantry, and some truth, that “Dr. Johnson’s sayings would not appear so extraordinary were it not for his bow-wow way;” but I admit the truth of this only on some occasions.

1785, James Boswell, The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, London: Charles Dilly, page 8:

1826, Walter Scott, Diary entry for 14 March, 1826, in The Complete Works of Sir Walter Scott; with a Biography, New York: Conner & Cooke, 1833, Volume 7, Chapter 68, p. 475,
Miss Austen […] had a talent for describing the involvements, and feelings, and characters of ordinary life, which is to me the most wonderful I ever met with. The Big Bow-wow strain I can do myself like any now going; but the exquisite touch, which renders ordinary commonplace things and characters interesting, from the truth of the description and the sentiment, is denied to me.

(dated, informal, of language) Grandiose.


serpentine

From Middle English serpentine, from Old French serpentin, from Latin serpentīnus, from serpēns (“serpent”), equivalent to serpent + -ine.

(equestrianism) In dressage, a winding walk across on the arena.


monotreme

(zoology) A mammal of the order Monotremata that lays eggs and has a single orifice for urogenital and digestive functions (cloaca); an echidna or a platypus.

однопрохо́дное

млекопита́ющее

яйцекладу́щее

млекопита́ющее

клоа́чное

млекопита́ющее


Afrikaner

/ˌæfɹɪˈkɑːnɚ/

Audio (US)

A member of an ethnic group of northwestern European ancestry and associated with southern Africa and the Afrikaans language.


Cashmere

Borrowed from Hindustani कश्मीर / کشمیر (kaśmīr, “Kashmir”), from Sanskrit कश्मीर (kaśmīra).


Himalayan

A domestic cat breed similar to (and, in some places, considered a variety of) the Persian breed, but with the colourpoint coat pattern of the Siamese.


Jersey

From Middle English Gersey, from Anglo-Norman Gersui, further etymology disputed. Probably from Old Norse [Term?], compound of Geirs (“Geirr's”) + ey (“island”). Also occasionally and historically connected to Latin Caesarea, a common name given to locations conquered by the Romans in honor of Caesar (compare French Césarée). The latter theory still bestows the Latin translation of the island.

unk

disputed


Rex

Rex Lex (meaning that the King is the law)

Lex Rex (meaning that the King is not absolute but subject to the law)

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ-
Proto-Indo-European *-s
Proto-Indo-European *h₃rḗǵs
Proto-Italic *rēks
Latin rēxbor.
English Rex
From Latin rēx (“king”). Doublet of rajah and roy.

etymon

census-designated place
census-designated place

A census-designated place in Robeson County, North Carolina, United States.


Savannah

The cities are named after the Savannah River, possibly derived from Shawnee or Algonquian.

Los Angeles County
Los Angeles County#English

The name of a river and several cities in the United States:

A ghost town in Los Angeles County, California.

A city, the county seat of Andrew County, Missouri.

A census-designated place in Denton County, Texas.


morocco

en-noun

morocco (countable and uncountable, plural moroccos)

From the country name of Morocco, from which this leather was originally imported. Compare maroquin.

The purple morocco cases accompanying the latter contained a handsome set of gold ornaments. Louisa was deeply gratified, even more on Charles's account than on her own; it was such injustice on the part of her family to treat him with such insolence as Lady Anne and Lady Rotheles displayed.

1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIV, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 184:

Piers put the letter in an envelope and slipped it into a green morocco-covered volume on the window seat – his sister's diary.

1974, Lawrence Durrell, Monsieur, Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 164:

A soft leather, made from goatskin, used especially in bookbinding.


hackney

From Middle English hakeney, from the placename Hackney (formerly a town; now a borough of London), used for grazing horses before sale, from Old English Hacan īeġ (“Haca's Island”, literally “Hook's Island”). The Old French haquenée (“ambling mare for ladies”), Latinized in England to hakeneius, is originally from the English.

cog

hackney authors

his accumulative and hackney tongue

a. 1685, Wentworth Dillon, 4th Earl of Roscommon, The Ghost of the old House of Commons to the new one appointed to meet at Oxford.:


cantle

From Middle English cantle, cantel, from Old Northern French cantel, Old French chantel (Modern French chanteau, Bourguignon chainteâ), from Medieval Latin cantellus, diminutive of Latin cantus (“corner”). Compare cant (Etymology 3).

See how this river comes me cranking in, / And cuts me from the best of all my land / A huge half-moon, a monstrous cantle out.

Their armors forged were of metal frail; / On every side thereof huge cantles flies; / The land was strewed all with plate and mail, / That on the earth, on that their warm blood lies.

1600, Edward Fairfax (tr.), The Jerusalem Delivered of Tasso, Book VI, xlviii

In one cantle of his law.

1644, J[ohn] M[ilton], The Doctrine or Discipline of Divorce: […], 2nd edition, London: [s.n.], →OCLC, book:

(obsolete) A splinter, slice, or sliver broken off something.


gimmer

From Middle English gimbyre, from Old Norse gymbr (“one-year-old ewe lamb”), from Proto-Germanic *gimrį̄ (“a yearling ewe-lamb”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰyem- (“winter”).

der

(Northern English dialect) A ewe between one and two years old.


kuri

An extinct bushy-tailed, short-legged dog of New Zealand.


beefalo

en-noun

beefalo (plural beefalo or beefalos or beefaloes)

beefalo (plural)
beefalos (plural)
beefaloes (plural)

A cross between a domestic cow and an American buffalo or bison.


bison

bison (plural bison or (chiefly dated) bisons or (rare) bisontes)

bison (plural)
bisons (dated plural)
bisontes (plural rare)

From Middle English bysontes, bysountes pl, from Middle French bison, from Latin bisōn, bisōnt- (“wild ox”).
The Latin term is recorded in the 1st century, likely a direct loan from Proto-Germanic *wisundaz (“wild ox, aurochs”) (see for full etymology). Akin to Old High German wisunt (“bison”), German Wisent (“bison”), Old English wesend, wusend (“bison, buffalo, wild ox”), Middle Dutch wēsent (“wild ox”). Doublet of wisent.


jumbuck

Unknown, from pidgin, possibly from an Australian Aboriginal language, although it appears also to have moved from pidgin to Aboriginal. Numerous derivations have been proposed.
* Mr A. Meston of Brisbane, in the Sydney Bulletin of 18 April 1896, cited Aboriginal words jimba, jombock (also jombok), dombock and dumbog, all meaning "white mist preceding a shower," which a flock of sheep supposedly resembles.
* Charles Harpur in a handwritten footnote in his papers cites Aboriginal word junbuc or jimbuc (his handwriting is unclear), "a kind of kangaroo or wallaby", and states that the aborigines of the Hunter region call the sheep thus for the hairiness of one and the wooliness of the other.
* Also suggested is jumbock ("to communicate").
* An English derivation is suggested in a corruption of the phrase "jump up".

Allan told them all that he thought necessary ; but, as he did not know what jumbucks were, he candidly said so.
“Why, sheep, man, sheep! They are jumbucks in this country.”

1855, William Howitt, A Boy's Adventures in the Wilds of Australia: or, Herbert's Note-Book, page 128:

Down came a jumbuck to drink at the billabong,
Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him with glee.

1895, “Waltzing Matilda”, Banjo Paterson (lyrics):

You may rip a sheep open whilst watching for the boss's boots or yarning to a pen-mate, and then when you have stuffed the works back into the animal, and put a stitch in the slit, and poked it somewhere with a tar-stick (it doesn′t matter much where) the jumbuck will be all right and just as lively as ever, and turn up next shearing without the ghost of a scratch on its skin.

1896, Henry Lawson, “Across the Straits”, in While the Billy Boils, Sydney, N.S.W.: Angus and Robertson […], →OCLC, page 179:


howdah

From Hindi हौदा (haudā), from Arabic هَوْدَج (hawdaj, “litter carried by a camel”) (1774).

der

They don't ask for palanquins and howdahs.

I shot a couple […] Only from the safety of a howdah, of course.

I felt the corporeal elephant on whose back my world was supported amble effortlessly along, rather than it being necessary for me to lean out from the howdah of my head and goad him.

A seat, usually with a canopy, carried on the back of an elephant or camel.

An ornate carriage which is positioned on the back of elephants or occasionally other animals, used most often in the past for rich people who travelled in India via elephant.


pillion

From Scottish Gaelic pillean (“little rug”), from Latin pellis (“animal skin, pelt”).

Riding behind the driving rider, as when positioned on the rump of a mount.


napoleon

en-noun

napoleon (countable and uncountable, plural napoleons)

/nəˈpəʊlɪən/

Borrowed from French Napoléon (“given name, usually in reference to Napoleon Bonaparte”). In reference to coins, via French napoléon (“(slang) a coin that originally had the appearance of Napoleon's face in the obverse”). In reference to guns and possibly cards, in reference to Napoleon III.

bor

(historical weaponry) Clipping of Napoleon gun: a 12-pounder cannon first used by the Second French Empire.

наполео́н

12-pounder cannon of the Second French Empire

(rare UK horse racing slang, obsolete) Alternative form of nap: a horse to go nap on, a sure thing, a certain winner; a prediction of such a horse; a bet on such a horse.

nap

Fascinated, Miss Manvers thrust aside a garnished plate, took a gulp of the decoction called coffee, and attacked her napoleon.

1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published 1915, →OCLC, chapter I (Anarchy), page 373, column 1:

(food, originally US slang) Clipping of Napoleon cake: another name for a millefeuille pastry.


dead cat bounce

en-noun

dead cat bounce (plural dead cat bounces)

From the idea that a cat dropped from a height might bounce without this indicating any actual life after hitting the ground.

Now, if you look at the chart of a stock that has suffered a collapse, you will see that at the bottom of each drop there is a small uptick, a rise in the price. This uptick, representing the smart money getting out because it knows what is coming, and fools getting in because they don't, is known as the dead cat bounce, so-called because if you drop a dead cat off a skyscraper the cat will bounce, too, but the movement doesn't mean the cat is alive.

1988, Sarah Graves [pseudonym; Mary Squibb], The Dead Cat Bounce (Home Repair is Homicide Series; 1), New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, →ISBN:

There's this thing called the Dead Cat Bounce. It's a stock market term, I believe. What it's talking about is the fact that even a stock that is essentially worthless and really going nowhere but down for ever can register a slight upward movement, just for a bit, because there is generally a floor for almost everything. The comparison rests on the fact that even when a cat hits the pavement from forty stories high and dies instantly, it'll still bounce back up a little.

2002, Iain Banks, “Dead Cat Bounce”, in Dead Air, London: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN:

Avoid taking a position in stocks that show dead-cat bounces. Those stocks see their price drop at least 15 percent in one session. A stock showing a dead-cat bounce tends to bounce higher and then decline, sometimes suffering additional dead-cat bounces three and six months later (if earnings related[…]).

2013, Thomas N. Bulkowski, “Swinging Tools and Setups”, in Swing and Day Trading: Evolution of a Trader, Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 163:

financial instrument
financial instrument

(trading, idiomatic) A temporary recovery in the price of a financial instrument which has fallen rapidly and is expected to fall further in the long run.

Library of Congress
New York Stock Exchange
U.S. News & World Report

Dead-Cat-Bounce

temporary recovery in the price of an instrument


billy goat

There were once upon a time three Billy-goats, who were going up into the hills to get fat.

1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 141:


Great Dane

A mastiff known for its great size, bred in Germany to hunt boar and large game.


Bengal

Borrowed from Portuguese Bengala, from Classical Persian بَنْگَالَه (bangāla), from Middle Bengali বাঙ্গালা (baṅgala), said to be from the Vanga Kingdom, of uncertain ultimate origin. Vangalam has been attested in medieval South India. Doublet of Bangla.

A short-haired domestic cat of a particular breed that originated in the United States.


withers

withers pl (normally plural, singular wither)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-withers.wav

From dialectal English wither (“against”) (compare wither-) + -s; see with. So-named because it is the part of the horse that pushes against a load. Compare German Widerrist (“withers”), from wider (“against”) + Rist (“wrist”).

The part of the back of a four-legged animal that is between the shoulder blades; in many species the highest point of the body and the standard place to measure the animal's height.


hog

en-verb

hog (third-person singular simple present hogs, present participle hogging, simple past and past participle hogged)

hogs (present singular third-person)
hogging (participle present)
hogged (participle past)
hogged (past)

From Middle English hog, from Old English hogg, hocg (“hog”), possibly from Old Norse hǫggva (“to strike, chop, cut”), from Proto-Germanic *hawwaną (“to hew, forge”), from Proto-Indo-European *kewh₂- (“to beat, hew, forge”).
Cognate with Old High German houwan, Old Saxon hauwan, Old English hēawan (English hew). Hog originally meant a castrated male pig, hence a sense of “the cut one”. (Compare hogget for a castrated male sheep.) More at hew.
Alternatively from a Brythonic language, from Proto-Celtic *sukkos, from Proto-Indo-European *suH- and thus cognate with Welsh hwch (“sow”) and Cornish hogh (“pig”).

der

(machining) To take a rough cut, quickly removing material; to hog out.


kangaroo mouse

Either of the two species in the genus Microdipodops, native to the deserts of the South-western United States.


goa

A Tibetan gazelle of species Procapra picticaudata, an antelope that inhabits the Tibetan Plateau.


tuan

brush-tailed phascogale
brush-tailed phascogale

A brush-tailed phascogale (Phascogale tapoatafa), endemic to Australia.


spanker

beyond the broad white wing of the spanker sail

1839, Charlotte Elizabeth, Glimpses of the Past:

(nautical) A fore-and-aft gaff-rigged sail on the aft-most mast of a square-rigged vessel.


bandog

(specifically) A type of large, ferocious dog, bred by crossing American pit bull terriers with Neapolitan mastiffs.

amerikanbandoggi

American pit bull terrior and Neapolitan mastiff cross


barker

From Middle English barker; equivalent to bark (“surface of tree”) + -er.

The profession of barker has been made largely obsolete by the realization that in most cases saplings can be cultivated far more profitably.

(historical) A person who removes needed or valuable tree bark, as on a cinnamon or cinchona plantation.

cascador

a person who strips needed or valuable bark


catnap

en-verb

catnap (third-person singular simple present catnaps, present participle catnapping, simple past and past participle catnapped)

catnaps (present singular third-person)
catnapping (participle present)
catnapped (participle past)
catnapped (past)

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

A toddler who is still having two day sleeps will generally have one good sleep and one catnap, and a toddler who is around three years of age and getting close to dropping her day sleep will catnap.

2010, Tizzie Hall, Save Our Sleep: Toddler, page 117:

(intransitive) To take a catnap (short sleep or nap).


white elephant

In Siam, elephants were working animals. However, white (albino) elephants were considered sacred and therefore were not to be put to work. The owner was then left to feed the elephant but could get no work from it. It is said that the King of Siam used to make a present of a white elephant to courtiers he wanted to ruin.

South Australia's "white elephant" was really going to prove a valuable possession after all!

1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 140:

Some of the stadiums being built for the World Cup soccer tournament, scheduled for next year, have also been criticized for delays and cost overruns, and have become subjects of derision as protesters question whether they will become white elephants.

2013 June 18, Simon Romero, “Protests Widen as Brazilians Chide Leaders”, in New York Times, retrieved 2013-06-21:

(idiomatic) A possession that is unwanted or is a financial burden; an unprofitable investment.

nutzloser Besitz

unwanted possession, financial burden, unprofitable investment


doodle

Extracted from Labradoodle, itself a blend of labrador and poodle

Any crossbreed of a poodle with a different breed of dog.


hearing dog

A dog trained to assist the deaf, alerting the deaf person to doorbells, smoke alarms etc.


horsiculture

(chiefly British, slang) the commercial development of the countryside for pasturing or exercising horses


sperm whale

Physeter catodon
Physeter catodon#Translingual

Physeter macrocephalus
Physeter macrocephalus#Translingual

A whale (Physeter catodon, syn. Physeter macrocephalus), the largest of the toothed whales.


humpback whale

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

Megaptera novaeangliae
Megaptera novaeangliae#Translingual

A species of baleen whale (Megaptera novaeangliae).


free rein

/ˌfɹiː ˈɹeɪn/

I needed no whip, or spur, for I was as eager as my rider: he saw it, and giving me a free rein, and leaning a little forward, we dashed after them.

[1877], Anna Sewell, “The Lady Anne, or a Runaway Horse”, in Black Beauty: […], London: Jarrold and Sons, […], →OCLC, part II, page 113:

[I]n the rise during the leap, just previous to the spring, no efforts whatever must be made by the rider to support the horse, or to lift him, but instead, she should simply hold the reins so lightly that his mouth can just be felt, which is called "giving a free rein."

1884, Elizabeth [Platt] Karr, “The Leap—the Standing Leap—the Flying Leap”, in The American Horsewoman, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC, page 256:

So ceased the sea's uproar, when its grave Sire / Looked o'er th' expanse, and, riding on in light, / Flung free rein to his winged obedient car.

1908, Virgil, “Book I”, in Theodore C[hickering] Williams, transl., The Æneid of Virgil Translated into English Verse, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Company […], published [1910], →OCLC, page 8:

(equestrianism) A rein of a horse held loosely so that the animal can move more freely; also, the free condition that this gives to a horse.

löysät ohjakset

rein of a horse held loosely so that the animal can move more freely; free condition that this gives to a horse


puss

en-noun

puss (countable and uncountable, plural pusses)

Probably from Middle Low German pūs, pūskatte or Dutch poes (“puss, cat”, slang for “vulva”), ultimately from a common Germanic word for cat, perhaps ultimately imitative of a sound made to get its attention (compare Arabic بسة (bissa)).
Akin to West Frisian poes, Low German Puus, Puuskatte, Danish pus, dialectal Swedish kattepus, Norwegian pus.
Found also in several other European, North African and Asian languages; compare Romanian pisică, Persian پیشی (piši), Tamil பூசை (pūcai), Tagalog pusa
and Sardinian pisittu.

onomatopoeic

imitative

He then began to beat about, in the ſame Language, and in the ſame Manner, as if he had been beating for a Hare, and at laſt cried out, 'Soho! Puſs is not far off. Here's her Form, upon my Soul; I believe I may cry ſtole away.'

1749, Henry Fielding, “In which is seen a more moving Spectacle, than all the Blood in the Bodies of Thwackum and Blifil and of Twenty other such, is capable of producing”, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume II, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book V, page 220:

'[…] It won't kill Puss any better for that.' / "'But, goodness gracious, what can that hare be made of?' I asked.

1881, P. Chr. Asbjörnsen [i.e., Peter Christen Asbjørnsen], “A Day with the Capercailzies”, in H. L. Brækstad, transl., Round the Yule Log. Norwegian Folk and Fairy Tales, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, →OCLC, page 77:


stripper

(automotive, informal) A base or entry-level trim level of a car model, lacking amenities or features found in higher trim levels.

(manufacturing) Short for stripper plate.


quokka

At least 673 quokkas were re-introduced from Rottnest Island to the Marsupial Research Station of the University of Western Australia (254 ha) at Jandakot from 1972 to 1988.

2003, John Long, Introduced Mammals of the World: Their History, Distribution and Influence, page 29:

Tammars, quokkas and black-footed rock wallabies inhabit islands in the southwest, while three species of hare wallaby, the burrowing bettong and five species of rock wallaby inhabit various islands in the northwest.

2005, Hugh Tyndale-Biscoe, Life of Marsupials, page 354:

Older unburnt areas (more than 25 years) on their own appear unable to sustain a quokka population.
The largest number of quokkas occurs on Rottnest Island near Perth, where the population estimates vary from 8000 to 12,000 individuals.

2012, Ken Richardson, Australia's Amazing Kangaroos: Their Conservation, Unique Biology and Coexisternce with Humans, page 125:

Setonix brachyurus
Setonix brachyurus#Translingual

A cat-sized marsupial, Setonix brachyurus, of southwestern Australia.


opossum

→ Catalan: opòssum

→ Finnish: opossumi

→ Irish: apasam

From Powhatan aposoum (“white animal”), from Proto-Algonquian *wa·p-aʔθemwa (“white dog”); compare Ojibwe waabasim (“white dog”).

der

Didelphis virginiana
Didelphis virginiana#Translingual

Any American marsupial of the order Didelphimorphia. The common species of the United States is Didelphis virginiana.


bidet

A low-mounted plumbing fixture or type of sink intended for washing the external genitalia and the anus.

شَطَّاف

low-mounted plumbing fixture for cleaning the genitalia and anus


ambler

From Middle English amblere; equivalent to amble + -er.

A slow-moving, comfortable horse or mule.


puku

A medium-sized antelope found in Central Africa (Kobus vardonii).


cunny

en-adj

cunny (comparative more cunny, superlative most cunny)

more cunny (comparative)
most cunny (superlative)

Nevertheless, she was a "cunny Jamaican woman" who knew 'what side her bread was buttered on.'

2000, Donna Maxine Weir, Beyond Binaries: Creolized Forms of Resistance in African-American and Caribbean Literatures, page 175:


saddle

en-verb

saddle (third-person singular simple present saddles, present participle saddling, simple past and past participle saddled)

saddles (present singular third-person)
saddling (participle present)
saddled (participle past)
saddled (past)
saddle (infinitive)

From Middle English sadelen (“to put a saddle on (an animal), to saddle”) [and other forms], from Old English sadolian, sadelian, sadilian (“to saddle”), from Proto-Germanic *sadulōną (“to saddle”), from *sadulaz (“a saddle”, noun) (see further at etymology 1) + *-ōną (suffix forming denominative verbs from nouns).
Cognates
* Middle Dutch sādelen (modern Dutch zadelen)
* Middle Low German sādelen
* Old Danish sathlæ (modern Danish sadle)
* Old High German satalōn, satulōn (Middle High German satelen, sateln, German satteln)
* Old Norse sǫðla
* Old Swedish saþla (modern Swedish sadla)

nb...

(Late Middle English) saddull, sadylle, (Middle English) saddil, saddull, saddyll, sadel, sadele, sadil, sadille, sadillen, sadle, sadlen, sadul, sadulle, sadyl, sadyll, (Early Middle English) sadeli (West Midlands), sadelie (West Midlands), sadelien

nshiuedz

(transitive) to put a saddle on (an animal)

kiinnittää

to put (something) on to another thing like a saddle on an animal

satuloida

(intransitive) to put a saddle on an animal

Next day, while we were saddling, Ali and Abd el Kader appeared.

1922 (date written; published 1926), T[homas] E[dward] Lawrence, “Book VI: The Raid upon the Bridges. Chapter LXXI.”, in Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Doran & Company, published 1937, →OCLC, page 394:

(intransitive, chiefly Canada, US) Often followed by up.

Often followed by up.
To put a saddle on an animal.

Till the dead midnight we saddled not,— / I have journeyed far and fast— / And hither I come to carry thee back / Ere the darkness shall be past.

c. 1844 June (date written), Gottfried August Bürger, translated by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Lenore […], London: Ellis and Elvey, […], published 1900, →OCLC, page 26:

[A]y, every churl who owns a manor, if he dares—must needs arm and saddle, and levy war on his own behalf, and harry and slay the King's lieges, if he have not garlic to his roast goose every time he chooses […]

1866, C[harles] Kingsley, “How Hereward was Outlawed, and Went North to Seek His Fortunes”, in Hereward the Wake, “Last of the English.” […], volume I, London, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 61:

Often followed by up.
Of a person: to get into a saddle.


trooper

From troop + -er, from French troupe. The sense of “one who endures adversity” comes from trouper (“member of an acting troupe”) but through assimilation with the sense of “soldier” has come to be usually spelled “trooper”.

(US, law enforcement) Ellipsis of state trooper.


hurcheon

A variant of urchin, from Middle English hirchoun (“hedgehog”), from Old French heriçon (“hedgehog”). Compare Scots hurcheon.


off side

en-noun

off side (countable and uncountable, plural off sides)

(equestrianism) The right-hand side of a horse.


shabrack

From Turkish çaprak, Ottoman Turkish چاپراق.

Oudet and Papilette, two of the best sub-officers in the regiment, were at their head. When I had them formed up in fours, all in silver grey and upon chestnut horses, with their leopard skin shabracks and their little red panaches, my heart beat high at the sight.

1896, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard:


tester

From Middle English tester, equivalent to test + -er.

(cycling) A cyclist who focuses on success in time trials.


palomino

Borrowed from Spanish palomino, from paloma (“dove, pigeon”) + diminutive suffix -ino.

I mount my palomino and ride off; his flaxen mane and tail are full of the wind.

2009, Percival Everett, I Am Not Sidney Poitier, Influx Press, page 217:

A horse with a golden-colored coat and a white or cream-colored mane and tail.

llaeth a chwrw (noun phrase used as attributive adjective)


surcingle

/ˈsɜːsɪŋɡ(ə)l/

/ˈsɜɹˌsɪŋ.ɡəl/

From Old French surcengle, formed with sur (“over”) and cengle (“girdle”).

He was standing on the offside of his horse, holding up the flap of his saddle, with the surcingle loosened, and was pointing to the girths. Close to their attachment to the saddle they had been almost cut through with a knife.

1929, Baldwyn Dyke Acland, chapter 8, in Filibuster:

A long unpadded strap to pass over and keep in place a blanket, pack or saddle on an animal.


snaffle

Apparently from Dutch snavel, from Middle Dutch snavel, snabel (“snout”), diminutive of Middle Dutch snabbe, snebbe (“bird's bill, neb”). Akin to Old Frisian snavel (“mouth”), Middle Low German snabbe (“neb, beak”), Old English nebb (“beak, bill, nose, face”). More at neb.

Captain went out in the cab all the morning. Harry came in after school to feed me and give me water. In the afternoon I was put into the cab. Jerry took as much pains to see if the collar and bridle fitted comfortably, as if he had been John Manly over again. When the crupper was let out a hole or two, it all fitted well. There was no bearing rein—no curb—nothing but a plain ring snaffle. What a blessing that was!

[1877], Anna Sewell, “A London Cab Horse”, in Black Beauty: […], London: Jarrold and Sons, […], →OCLC, part III, page 158:

A broad-mouthed, loose-ringed bit (metal in a horse's mouth). It brings pressure to bear on the tongue and bars and corners of the mouth, and is often used as a training bit.

Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke.[…]A silver snaffle on a heavy leather watch guard which connected the pockets of his corduroy waistcoat, together with a huge gold stirrup in his Ascot tie, sufficiently proclaimed his tastes.

1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

(figuratively) Decorative wear that looks like a snaffle.


snaffle

en-verb

snaffle (third-person singular simple present snaffles, present participle snaffling, simple past and past participle snaffled)

snaffles (present singular third-person)
snaffling (participle present)
snaffled (participle past)
snaffled (past)


martingale

From Middle French martingale, from Occitan martegalo, feminine form of martegal, an inhabitant of Martigues, which is from Latin maritima. Alternatively from Spanish almártaga.
The meaning in gambling may come from an old usage of "à la martingale" to mean absurdly, foolishly.https://people.math.harvard.edu/~ctm/home/text/class/sem/html/home/notes/martingales/martingales.pdf

(nautical) A spar, or piece of rigging that strengthens the bowsprit.


dressage

en-noun

dressage (countable and uncountable, plural dressages)

Borrowed from French dressage (“training”).

(uncountable) An equestrian sport in which the horse and rider perform a test of specific movements in an arena, and are judged on the horse's obedience, acceptance of the bridle and of the rider's aids, gaits, impulsion, and the harmony between horse and rider.

I'm competing in two dressages and a jumping show this weekend.

(countable) An event or competition of the sport of dressage.


stalker

From Middle English stalkere, equivalent to stalk + -er.

If the class of the field is a stalker, I'm all in in terms of evaluating his chances.

2024, Jack Adler, Horse Racing: An Opinion: A New Way of Seeing the Sport of Kings:

(horse racing) A horse that tends to stay just behind the leaders in a race.


cayuse

Named after the Cayuse tribe of the Pacific Northwest. However, the etymology of this tribe name is unknown; it may be an exonym, and may in fact come from Spanish caballo (“horse”), which is the source of the word for horse in many Native American languages of western North America.


house mouse

The universally common mouse of the species Mus musculus.


ruck

rook (most accents without the foot-strut split)

From Middle English ruke, from or related to Old Norse hraukr, which is from Proto-Germanic *hraukaz (“haystack, heap”). Compare Icelandic hrúka, Swedish ruka.

меле

contest for possession of the ball in Rugby

Australian rules football
Australian rules football#English

A contest in games in which the ball is thrown or bounced in the air and two players from opposing teams attempt to give their team an advantage, typically by tapping the ball to a teammate.

A player who competes in said contests; a ruckman or ruckwoman.

(now rare) Either of a ruckman or a ruck rover, but not a rover.

Any one of a ruckman, a ruck rover or a rover; a follower.

(rugby union) The situation formed when a player carrying the ball is brought to the ground and one or more members of each side are engaged above the ball, trying to win possession of it; a loose scrum.


labrador

Named after Labrador Peninsula in Canada where the breed was developed.


roller

→ Welsh: rholer

* From Middle English rollere, equivalent to roll + -er.
* (credits in TV or film): These were originally printed on a physical cylinder that was rotated in front of the camera.