harpy

Ultimately from Middle French harpie, from Latin harpyia, from Ancient Greek Ἅρπυια (Hárpuia, literally “snatcher”), from ἁρπάζω (harpázō, “I snatch, seize”). Compare rapacious. Middle English had arpie.

harpía

fabulous winged monster with the face of a woman

Both table and provisions vanish'd quite,
With sound of harpies' wings and talons heard.

1671, John Milton, “The Second Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC:

(mythology) A mythological creature generally depicted as a bird-of-prey with the head of a maiden, a face pale with hunger and long claws on her hands personifying the destructive power of storm winds.

c. 1772, Oliver Goldsmith, letter to Mrs. Bunbury
The harpies about me all pocket the pool.

One who is rapacious or ravenous; an extortioner.

Circus aeruginosus
Circus aeruginosus#Translingual

The European moor buzzard or marsh harrier (Circus aeruginosus).

Harpia harpyja
Harpia harpyja#Translingual

A large and powerful double-crested, short-winged American eagle (Harpia harpyja).


flange

From dialectal English flange (“to project”), flanch (“a projection”), from Middle French flanche, from Old French flanche (“flank, side”), from Frankish *hlanka, from Proto-Germanic *hlankō (“bend, curve; side, flank”). See flank. As a term for a group of baboons, it was popularized in the comedy TV series Not the Nine O'Clock News.

[The] enduring problem with the Gathering is that [players] can't affect anything that happens ... whatever they do, the LT just flange it back to the original plot line.

1998, Mr MI Pennington, “Can the Players be Trusted?”, in rec.games.frp.live-action (Usenet):

2007, "balor", Changing the metaphysics on Rule 7 https://web.archive.org/web/20071014193135/http://forums.rule7.co.uk/Topic28357-44-2.aspx
'Oh look, the amulet of flange has been activated, this means all Paladins now only have one heal per day instead of two.'

(roleplaying games) An ability in a role-playing game which is not commonly available, overpowered or arbitrarily imposed by the referees.


ganger

From Middle English ganger, from Old English gangere (“a ganger, footman”), equivalent to gang + -er. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Gunger, West Frisian gonger, Dutch ganger, German Gänger, Danish gjænger, ganger, Swedish gängare, Icelandic gangari.

inh

(nautical) A length of chain, one end of which is fastened to an anchor when let go, when the other end is fastened to a hawser.


marlin

A contraction of marlinspike, named so because of its pointed snout.

Any species of game fish belonging to either of the genera Tetrapturus or Makaira, with a crested dorsal fin and a pointed, spear-like projection of the upper jaw.


gannet

From Middle English ganet, gante, from Old English ganot, from Proto-West Germanic *ganat, *ganatō, from Proto-Germanic *ganatuz, *ganutô (“gander”), ultimately related to Proto-Germanic *ganzô.
Cognates
Cognate with Dutch gent, Middle Low German gante, German Ganter, Ganser, all “gander, male goose”.

Any of three species of large seabird in the genus Morus, of the family Sulidae. They have black and white bodies and long pointed wings, and hunt for fish by plunge diving and pursuing their prey underwater.


lumper

(biology, linguistics) A scientist in one of various fields who prefers to keep categories such as species or dialects together in larger groups.


merle

From Middle English merle, from Old French merle (French merle), from Latin merula (“blackbird”) (whence the directly borrowed Middle English merule, and compare the taxonomic name Turdus merula), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂mes- (“black, blackbird”). Compare Breton moualch (“ouzel”), Welsh mwyalch (“blackbird, thrush”). Distantly related to the synonymous ouzel.

der

Turdus merula
Turdus merula#Translingual


pewee

en-noun

pewee (countable and uncountable, plural pewees)

(countable) The common American tyrant flycatcher (of the genus Contopus).


ouzel

From Middle English osel, from Old English ōsle, from Proto-West Germanic *ą̄slā, *amslā, from Proto-Germanic *amslǭ. Cognate with German Amsel.
For the spelling, compare Early Modern English bloud (“blood”).

(chiefly Canada, US) A water ouzel, an aquatic perching bird (Cinclus mexicanus).


oxeye

From ox + eye. Apparently in some senses, specifically Buphthalmum, translated from Arabic عَيْن الْبَقَر (ʕayn al-baqar, literally “ox-eye”), as also the case for French œil-de-bœuf.

calque

عَيْن الْبَقَر

A titmouse, especially the great titmouse (Parus major) or the blue titmouse (Parus caeruleus).

A fish of species Boops boops (bogue, box)


gam

Uncertain but surely formed within English; etymons may include game or gammon.

But what is a Gam? You might wear out your index-finger running up and down the columns of dictionaries, and never find the word, Dr. Johnson never attained to that erudition; Noah Webster’s ark does not hold it. Nevertheless, this same expressive word has now for many years been in constant use among some fifteen thousand true born Yankees. Certainly, it needs a definition, and should be incorporated into the Lexicon. With that view, let me learnedly define it. Gam. NOUN—A social meeting of two (or more) Whaleships, generally on a cruising-ground; when, after exchanging hails, they exchange visits by boats’ crews, the two captains remaining, for the time, on board of one ship, and the two chief mates on the other.

1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 53”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

There is still that yearning for news from Nantucket that there was when the whale-ships stopped for a gam out in the far-distant Pacific Ocean […]

1916, Harry B. Turner, “Nantucket's Early Telegraph Service”, in Proceedings of the Nantucket Historical Association, page 50:

If time was available, whaling prospects poor, and the weather gentle, a gam might last all day and include tea and dinner.

1997, Gillies Ross, Margaret Penny, This Distant and Unsurveyed Country, →ISBN, page 14:

Twice each year, the Russian Navy sent out such ships to provision Russian whalers in the Sea of Okhotsk. In sailing toward the supposed Russian ship, the Abigail’s captain, Ebenezer Nye, was hoping for a gam with the ship's officers […]

2007, Tom Chaffin, Sea of Gray: The Around-the-World Odyssey of the Confederate Raider Shenandoah, →ISBN, page 230:

(by extension) A social gathering of whalers (whaling ships).


pard

From Middle English parde, from Old French, from Latin pardus, from Ancient Greek πάρδος (párdos), possibly of Iranian origin and related to other Sanskrit and Ancient Greek terms (see leopard).

Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel …

c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vii], lines 1047-49:

Ten Brace, and more, of Greyhounds, snowy fair,
And tall as Stags, ran loose, and cours'd around his Chair,
A Match for Pards in flight, in grappling, for the Bear

1700, John Dryden, Palamon and Arcite, Book III:

In a mistake of the gall-bladder for some part of South America it is mostly found in the pard […]

1813, John Mason Good, Pantologia. A new (cabinet) cyclopædia, by J.M. Good, O. Gregory, and N. Bosworth assisted by other gentlemen of eminence, page 41:

St. Jerome takes the pard of Jeremiah to mean the onslaught of Alexander upon India. His contemporary, St. Ambrose, avers that the pard’s variety of hue signifies the various impulses of the soul.

1902, Richard Thayer Holbrook, Dante and the Animal Kingdom:

Centuries ago it was believed that the leopard was a cross between a lion and a pard, hence its title of leo-pard. Some authorities said that a pard was another name for a panther and others stated that a panther was a female leopard. The relationship between the pard, the panther and the leopard kept changing until, at last, the great Dr Johnson in his 1760 dictionary declared bluntly that a panther was a pard and that a pard was a leopard. In other words, the three animals were one and the same. After Johnson's time the pard faded into history, but the panther managed to survive […].

2014 June 15, Desmond Morris, Leopard, Reaktion Books, →ISBN:

(archaic, literary) A leopard; a panther.


ocelot

From French ocelot, a word formed by Buffon from Nahuatl ōcēlōtl (“jaguar”).

Leopardus pardalis
Leopardus pardalis#Translingual

Felis pardalis
Felis pardalis#Translingual

An American feline carnivore (Leopardus pardalis, syn. Felis pardalis) covered with blackish ocellated spots and blotches which are variously arranged.


gait

From Middle English gate (“way”), from Old Norse gata (“road”), from Proto-Germanic *gatwǭ. Compare gate.

(equestrianism) One of the different ways in which a horse can move, either naturally or as a result of training.


hod

Probably an alteration of hot (“(Northern England, Scotland) large basket for carrying earth, etc.”), from Middle English hott, hote, hotte (“large basket or pannier for carrying earth, etc.; unit of measure for grain; hut or shed (perhaps originally of wattlework); lump of dirt (?)”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman and Old French hote, hotte (“large basket carried on the back”) (modern French hotte (“carrying basket”)), from Frankish *hotta (“basket”), perhaps from Proto-Germanic *hud- (“to shake”) (see further at etymology 1), ultimately an onomatopoeia of the swaying movement of such a basket (compare Middle Dutch hotten (“to jolt; shake”)).
cognates
* German Hotte (“wooden basket carried on the back; (specifically) basket for collecting grapes from a vineyard”) (Rhineland, Swabia), Hutte (“basket for collecting grapes from a vineyard”) (Alsace, Switzerland)
* Late Latin hotta, hottus (“hod”)

cog

'Clerking' is perhaps the most difficult and most admired job on a racecourse. The next time you see a bookmaker at his hod, waving his ticket-filled hands, shouting the odds, look to his left, just back a bit—out of the limelight. The bloke sitting there with his head buried deep in a ledger is the clerk.

2006, Tommy Steele, chapter 6, in Bermondsey Boy: Memories of a Forgotten World, large print edition, Bath, Somerset: Windsor Paragon; BBC Audiobooks, published 2007, →ISBN, page 64:


rhesus

From New Latin rhēsus, arbitrary formation from Latin Rhēsus, from Ancient Greek Ῥῆσος (Rhêsos), mythical Thracian king.


scoter

When I went birdwatching, I saw lots of scoters.

Any one of several species of northern sea ducks of the genus Melanitta.


siskin

From dialectal German Sisschen, Zeischen, diminutive form of Middle High German zisec, apparently ultimately from Proto-Slavic *čižь (compare e.g. Polish czyżyk).

Any of various similar birds in subfamily Carduelinae, principally in the genus Spinus.


gilt

From Middle English gilt, gylt, from Old Norse gyltr; compare geld and yelt.

(UK, regional) A young female pig, at or nearing the age of first breeding.


scaup

See scalp (“a bed of oysters or mussels”).

Or spot gaggles of Canada geese, ducks and scaups flying over schools of bluefish.

2009 March 29, Deborah Baldwin, “A Waterside Village With a Big-City Backdrop”, in New York Times:

Any of three species of small diving duck in the genus Aythya.


gecko

The modern form was probably borrowed into English and other European languages from Dutch gekko (1718). Contemporary English forms were chacco (1711) and jackoa (1724). The further origin is not quite clear. Some sources mention a supposed Malay gekok, gekoq, or gekop, which would be imitative of the gecko’s chirping sound. Another theory derives it from Acehnese gèh-gòh (“busy”).

Order II. Sauria. […] The heart has two auricles. The body is covered with scales, and there are three or four feet. The lungs are large, and extend along the back. The mouth is armed with teeth, and the toes with claws. The tail is long, and often thick at the base. […] Geckotida—geco

1839, William Rhind, “Reptiles”, in Elements of Zoology; Embracing a View of Life as Manifested in the Various Gradations of Organized Beings, Edinburgh: Fraser & Crawford; John Anderson, Junior; and Maclachlan & Stewart; Smith, Elder, & Co. and H. Washbourne, London; W. Curry, Junior, & Co. Dublin, →OCLC, pages 85–86:

Leishmania infantum in Experimental Animals.—Experiments were carried out with geckoes, white mice, field mice (Microtus güntheri) and hamsters (Cricetus auratus and Cricetulus griseus).

1931, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London: Biological Sciences, volume 108, London: Royal Society of London, →OCLC, page 456:

GECKOES constitute a family of lizards remarkable for the large number of species it contains. They are also remarkable for a number of other features: for the readiness with which they have taken to living in houses, for their voices, the structure of their feet, the variation in the shape of the tail and for their eyes. […] As with the more familiar lizards, geckoes have the ability to cast the tail, and counts show that in some species two out of every five individuals have cast the tail and regenerated a new one.

1962, Maurice Burton, “Geckoes”, in The Illustrated London News, volume CCXL, number II, London: Illustrated London News & Sketch Ltd., →OCLC, page 548:

Family Gekkonidae (gekkos). In gekkos the skull is short and flat; the upper temporal bone arch is missing; the post-orbital and lacrimal bones are absent; and the jugal bone is very reduced.

1971, Victorian Year Book, Melbourne, Vic.: Government Printer, →OCLC, page 23:

Many lizards, including the British common and sand lizards of the family Lacertidae, clamber over rocks with great agility; none matches the geckoes, some of which can run up, down, or across vertical glass as easily as most beasts run on the flat, and indeed can happily traverse ceilings.

1975 September 27, Colin Tudge, “How Gekko gecko defies gravity: A careful anatomical study of geckoes, those extremely agile climbing lizards, reveals an extraordinary degree of adaptation of the foot bones and muscles”, in New Scientist, volume 67, number 968, London: New Science Publications, →OCLC, page 696:

Other reptiles found in the district are the chamaeleon, geco and monitor lizard, the last getting extinct due to netting and shooting. It is now protected by law.

1988, Uttar Pradesh District Gazetteers: Aligarh, volume 20, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India: Government of Uttar Pradesh, →OCLC, page 15:

The marvelous ability of geckos to run down trees, surefooted and head first, was first noted by Aristotle over two thousand years ago. However, Aristotle was not able to see the tiny hairs, called setae, that cover the toes of geckos and empower this feat. The setae are part of an adhesive system that allows geckos to maneuver on a wide variety of substrates, to run upside-down, and to arrest their falls. Geckos can run vertically at over 1 m/s and can carry over twice their body weight up smooth, vertical surfaces.

2009 January, Ginel Corina Hill, “Introduction”, in Dual-axis MEMS Force Sensors for Gecko Adhesion Studies (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation), Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University, →OCLC, page 1:

The potential uses for gecko-inspired adhesive products are nearly endless. People have found possible uses for them from sports and robotics, to medicine and home improvement.

2014, Wil Mara, From Gecko Feet to Adhesive Tape (Innovations from Nature), Ann Arbor, Mich.: Cherry Lake Publishing, →ISBN, pages 21–22:

By day, Golden-tailed Geckoes rest under curls of bark, the underside of branches, or in tree hollows but they seem to be fond of heat so these geckoes may even be in a situation where the sun shines on their daytime retreat all day. The Golden-tailed Gecko is an invertebrate-eater and by night its adhesive toe pads allow it to prowl the branches of Brigalow trees with ease, looking for small insects and spiders to capture.

2016, Martyn Robinson, Australian Wildlife after Dark, Clayton, Vic.: CSIRO Publishing, →ISBN:

Any lizard of the family Gekkonidae. They are small, carnivorous, mostly nocturnal animals with large eyes and adhesive toes enabling them to climb on vertical and upside-down surfaces.


lop

From Middle English loppe (“flea, spider”), from Old English loppe (“spider, silk-worm, flea”), from Proto-Germanic *luppǭ (“flea, sandflea", originally, "jumper”), from Proto-Germanic *luppijaną (“to jump, dart”). Cognate with Danish loppe (“flea”), Swedish loppa (“flea”). Compare also Middle High German lüpfen, lupfen (“to raise”, obsolete also “to rise”).

der

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

Hadway wi ye man, ye liftin wi lops.

Lice, That's nick name to the stuff called Lops

1651, John Cleveland, “The Hue and Cry after Sir John Presbiter”, in Poems:


lop

"He's a lop; it mentions here about his getting up to the stand with his crippled leg but it doesn't say which one."

1935, Rex Stout, The League of Frightened Men, page 5:

(US, dated, slang) (usually offensive) A disabled person, a cripple.

Any of several breeds of rabbits whose ears lie flat.


saker

From Middle English sacre, from Middle French sacre, from Old Spanish sacro, from Arabic صَقْر (ṣaqr).

Falco cherrug
Falco cherrug#Translingual

A falcon (Falco cherrug) native of Southern Europe and Asia.


tarpon

Compare Dutch tarpoen. Suggestions that the term derives from a Native American term are unlikely.

You're a lucky guy to be eating anything right now. Instead you might easily be feeding the tunny fish and tarpon, to say nothing of the astronesthes and myctophids--

2021, Edward Stratemeyer, Don Sturdy on the Ocean Bottom:

Any of several fishes of the family Elopidae or Megalopidae, especially a large silvery game fish.


puffin

From Middle English poffin, poffoun, puffon, equivalent to puff + -ing, or perhaps ultimately from Middle Cornish (compare Breton poc'han (“puffin”)).

Naturally the Chickies and the Gooverooskies and the Epatkas—the Burgomaster Gulls and the Kittiwakes and the Puffins, who are always looking for a chance to be rude—took up the cry, and—so Limmershin told me—for nearly five minutes you could not have heard a gun fired on Walrus Islet.

1894 May, Rudyard Kipling, “The White Seal”, in The Jungle Book, London, New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., published June 1894, →OCLC, page 110:

Fratercula arctica
Fratercula arctica#Translingual

The Atlantic puffin (Fratercula arctica) or (by extension) any of the other various small seabirds of the genera Fratercula and Lunda that are black and white with a brightly-coloured beak.


shad

From Middle English shadde, from Old English sceadd, possibly from Celtic (compare Scottish Gaelic sgadan (“herring”), Welsh ysgadan) or from Scandinavian/North Germanic (compare dialectal Norwegian skadd (“small whitefish”), Old Norse skata (“kind of fish”)), but the order of borrowing is unclear and the ultimate origin of these words is obscure.

Each river had its village and its iron bridge that the train crossed with a blast of its whistle, and the girls bathing in the icy water leaped like shad as it passed, unsettling travelers with their fleeting breasts.

2003, Gabriel García Márquez, chapter 1, in Edith Grossman, transl., Living to Tell the Tale:

Any one of several species of food fishes that make up the genus Alosa in the family Clupeidae, to which the herrings also belong; river herring.


towhee

Imitative of the call of the eastern towhee, Pipilo erythrophthalmus.

Any of several species of birds of the genera Pipilo and Melozone.


sambar

Borrowed from Hindi सांभर (sāmbhar), साँभर (sāmbhar), from Sanskrit शम्बर (śambara, “a kind of deer”).

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

(zoology) A Southeast Asian deer (Rusa unicolor).


veery

Probably imitative of the bird's call. Attested since the 19th century.

In such safe retreats, when the somber shade is brightened here and there with stray beams of sunlight, in the warmth of which myriad insects bathe their wings and flutter away their little span of life, humming a quaint refrain to the gargle of the rivulet, the Veery meets his mate — the song rises — the wooed is won — the home is made.

1878, Elliott Coues, “Wilson’s Thrush, or Veery”, in Birds of the Colorado Valley, page 42:

Catharus fuscescens
Catharus fuscescens#Translingual

An American thrush (Catharus fuscescens) common in the Northern United States and Canada.


peal

From Middle English pele, peil, probably an apheretic variant of Middle English apel, appel, from Old French apel (“an appeal; pealing of bells”). Compare appeal.

Ingulphus, the chronicler of Croyland Abbey, mentions that a peal of seven bells was put up there in the tenth century, and that there was not such a harmonious peal in the whole of England; which implies that rings of bells were then common.

1908, H. B. Walters, chapter 1, in Church Bells:

(collective) A set of bells tuned to each other according to the diatonic scale.


jigger

→ Catalan: gigre

From jig + -er (agent suffix). Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary suggests a possible link to Old High German gīga (“fiddle”).

(horse racing) An illicit electric shock device used to urge on a horse during a race.


tusker

The massive tusker leading the herd stopped in his tracks. His ears went out, his long sinuous trunk up.

1928 June, Fred Graves, “Houdini of the Desert: Face to Face with Savage Elephants”, in Popular Science, page 19:

Negotiations to acquire a fine tusker from one young partner in another village fell through; so on the eve of the actual feast, Songi humiliated him by asking him to come to the feast as if he were the rival chief, the guest of honor. The man was deeply shamed by the invitation since he could not possibly reciprocate, and he had to send the tusker itself as payment for the invitation gifts.

1998, Alexander Moore, Cultural Anthropology: The Field Study of Human Beings, page 267:

An animal, such as a bull elephant or a boar, with large tusks.


washy

en-adj

washy (comparative washier, superlative washiest)

washier (comparative)
washiest (superlative)

a washy horse

(US, dialect, archaic or horse racing) Not firm or hardy; liable to sweat profusely with labour.


spitz

From German Spitz, from spitz (“pointed”); so called from the tapering shape of its muzzle.

Any of several Nordic breeds of dog such as the Pomeranian or Samoyed.


mew

From Middle English mewe, mowe, meau, from Old English mǣw, from Proto-West Germanic *maiwī, from Proto-Germanic *mai(h)waz (“seagull”). See also West Frisian meau, miuw, Dutch meeuw, German Möwe; akin to Latvian maût (“to roar”), Old Church Slavonic мꙑꙗти (myjati, “to mew”).

A daungerous and detestable place, / To which nor fish nor fowle did once approch, / But yelling Meawes, with Seagulles hoarse and bace […]

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

From helm to sea they saw him leap, / As arrow from the string, / And dive into the water deep, / As mew upon the wing.

1954, J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring:

(archaic, poetic, dialectal) A gull, seagull.


mew

From Middle English mewe, mue, mwe, from Anglo-Norman mue, muwe, and Middle French mue (“shedding feathers; cage for moulting birds; prison”), from muer (“to moult”).

der

(falconry, in the plural) A building or set of buildings where moulting birds are kept.


mew

en-verb

mew (third-person singular simple present mews, present participle mewing, simple past and past participle mewed)

mews (present singular third-person)
mewing (participle present)
mewed (participle past)
mewed (past)

More pity that the eagle should be mew’d,
While kites and buzzards prey at liberty.

c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

To mew me in a Ship, is to inthrall
Mee in a prison, that weare like to fall;

c. 1596, John Donne, “Elegie XX: Loves Warre”, in Charles M. Coffin, editor, The Complete Poetry and Selected Prose of John Donne, New York: Modern Library, page 84:

1693, John Dryden (translator), The Satires of Juvenal, London: Jacob Tonson, Satire 1, p. 10,
[…] Nay some have learn’d the trick
To beg for absent persons; feign them sick,
Close mew’d in their Sedans, for fear of air:

When it came to his turn to mention Sir John Sparkle, he represented him as a man of an immense estate and narrow disposition, who mewed up his only child, a fine young lady, from the conversation of mankind, under the strict watch and inspection of an old governante, who was either so honest, envious, or insatiable, that nobody had been as yet able to make her a friend, or get access to her charge, though numbers attempted it every day […]

1748, Tobias Smollett, chapter 50, in The Adventures of Roderick Random.:

[…] it was all very well for Orlando to mew herself in her house at Blackfriars and pretend that the climate was the same […]

1928, Virginia Woolf, chapter 5, in Orlando: A Biography, London: The Hogarth Press, →OCLC; republished as Orlando: A Biography (eBook no. 0200331h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, July 2015:

(archaic) To shut away, confine, lock up.


waler

From (New South) Wale(s) + -er, the horse having been bred in the then colony of New South Wales in the 19th century.

Without reason, against prudence, and at a moment's notice, he fell in love with a frivolous, golden-haired girl who used to tear about Simla Mall on a high, rough waler, with a blue velvet jockey-cap crammed over her eyes.

1888, Rudyard Kipling, “Wressley of the Foreign Office”, in Plain Tales from the Hills, Folio Society, published 2004, page 204:

There were Arabs of high degree, thoroughbred English horses, and very good-looking Walers among them, besides some tiny ponies, four of which, when harnessed together, drew a real Cinderella coach of solid silver.

1889, Annie Brassey, The Last Voyage, to India and Australia, in the ‘Sunbeam’, published 2010, page 46:

2007, "Waler", entry in Bonnie L. Hendricks, International Encyclopedia of Horse Breeds, page 434,
Some maintain that the Waler is extinct, its blood living on only in the modern Australian Stock Horse and some of the feral brumbies that roam the outback.

By the 1850s, there was a thriving trade in selling the horses to the Indian Army as 'remounts'. Between 1834 and 1937, more than 300,000 Walers were sent to India.

2013, Peter Macinnis, The Big Book of Australian History, page 134:

(Australia, India) A breed of light saddle horse from Australia, once favoured as a warhorse.


boa

From Middle English boa, from Latin boa (“large snake”), a species of serpent mentioned in Pliny's Naturalis Historia (Natural History). The scarf was named attributively, for its resemblance to the snake when worn.

Any of a group of large American snakes, of the genus Boa, subfamily Boinae, or family Boidae, including the boa constrictor and the emperor boa of Mexico.


wapiti

From Shawnee waapiti (“elk; white rump”).

Of deer there are in North America perhaps eight species : the black-tailed deer of the Pacific coast ; the mule-deer, and the white-tailed deer, of the Upper Missouri region and westward; the common deer of the United States east of the Missouri ; the wapiti of the northern and northwestern portions of the United States; one or two species of reindeer ; and the moose of the northern portion of the continent. […] Next to the moose, the wapiti or American elk (Cervus Canadensis) is the largest deer in North America.

1877 April, Sanborn Tenney, “The Plant-Eaters of North America”, in Popular Science Monthly, volume 10:

In connection with the work of the forest reserves I desire again to urge upon the Congress the importance of authorizing the President to set aside certain portions of these reserves or other public lands as game refuges for the preservation of the bison, the wapiti, and other large beasts once so abundant in our woods and mountains and on our great plains, and now tending toward extinction.

1904 December 6, Theodore Roosevelt, Fourth State of the Union Address:

You see, if we could keep giraffes or reindeer or some other species of browsing animal there we could explain the general absence of vegetation by a reference to the fauna of the garden: ‘You can’t have wapiti and Darwin tulips, you know, so we didn’t put down any bulbs last year.’ As it is, we haven’t got the wapiti, and the Darwin tulips haven’t survived the fact that most of the cats of the neighbourhood hold a parliament in the centre of the tulip bed; […].

1919, Saki, “The Occasional Garden”, in The Toys of Peace, and Other Papers:

Cervus canadensis
Cervus canadensis#Translingual

(US, Canada) The American elk (Cervus canadensis). It was formerly considered to be in the same species as the European red deer, which it somewhat exceeds in size.


taring

Sterna hirundo
Sterna hirundo#Translingual


compound

compound (third-person singular simple present compounds, present participle compounding, simple past and past participle compounded)

compounds (present singular third-person)
compounding (participle present)
compounded (participle past)
compounded (past)

From Middle English compounen, from Middle French componre, compondre (“to put together”), from Latin componō, from Latin com- (“together”) + ponō (“to put”).

At the hill, the Warrior must have been at least ten lengths in front of Wild Dayrell; but he compounded about 200 yards on the T. Y. C. side of the Red House.

1855, The Sporting Review, volume 34, page 240:

(horse racing, intransitive) Of a horse: to fail to maintain speed.


sora

Early 19th-century sources observe that this term was in use in Virginia; presumably it is from an Indigenous American language of that area.

Porzana carolina
Porzana carolina#Translingual

A rail (Porzana carolina) bird of North, Central, and northern South America.


winker

From wink (“blinking of only one eye”) + -er (suffix forming agent nouns).

silmäniskijä

[T]his Censurer slaundereth manie men, another might say of him, he is the cōmon packhorse of the Papistes, to carrie any fardell of lyes deuised against any Christian man or booke that commeth in his way, and the rather because he weareth a paire of winkers ouer his eyes like a milhorse, being ashamed to shewe either his face or his name.

1583, William Fulke, “A Briefe Confutation of Sundry Cavils and Quarels, Uttered by Diuerse Papistes in Their Seuerall Bookes & Pamphlets against the Writings of William Fulke”, in A Defense of the Sincere and True Translations of the Holie Scriptures into the English Tong against the Manifolde Cauils, Friuolous Quarels, and Impudent Slaunders of Gregorie Martin, […], London: […] Henrie Bynneman, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2020-06-24, page 32:

Take the winkers off that donkey's face, and let him get a bit to eat; there's grass enough, God knows, and it's good grass.

1914, James Stephens, chapter I, in The Demi-Gods, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC, book I (Patsy Mac Cann), page 4:

The collar of his cambric shirt, English fashion, is highly starched and looks like winkers, its points projecting upward in front with a wide gap between.

1964, Aleksandr Pushkin, translated by Vladimir Nabokov, Eugene Onegin: A Novel in Verse […], volumes 2 (Commentary on Preliminaries and Chapters One to Five), New York, N.Y.: Bollingen Foundation, →OCLC, page 168:

A thing which is used to wink with, or which winks.

(equestrianism, also attributive and figurative) Chiefly in the plural: synonym of blinker (“a shield attached to the bridle of a horse or other domesticated animal to prevent it from seeing things behind it and to its side”)


ibis

en-noun

ibis (plural ibis or ibises or ibides or ibes)

ibis (plural)
ibises (plural)
ibides (plural)
ibes (plural)

Mentioned in the Wycliffe Bible as ybyn or ibin, as ibys from 16th century and ibis shortly after. From Latin ībis, from Ancient Greek ἶβις (îbis), from Egyptian h-b-G26 (hbj) (compare Coptic ϩⲓⲃⲱⲓ (hibōi) or ϩⲓⲡ (hip)).

It is out of the idolatrous dotings of the old Egyptians upon broiled ibis and roasted river horse, that you see the mummies of those creatures in their huge bake-houses the pyramids.

1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “Loomings”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 4:

Any of various long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae, having long downcurved bills used to probe the mud for prey such as crustaceans.


spavin

spavin (countable and uncountable, plural spavins)

The noun is derived from Middle English spavein, spaveine (“swelling on horse’s leg causing lameness; disease causing lameness in horses”), from Old French espavain, a variant of esparvain, esprevain, esprevin (modern French éparvin, épervin). The further etymology is unknown; one suggestion is that it is from Frankish *sparwan (“sparrow”), though this is seen as quite tenuous.
The verb is derived from the noun.

[H]is horſe hip'd vvith an olde mothy ſaddle, and ſtirrops of no kindred: beſides poſſeſt vvith the glanders, and like to moſe in the chine, troubled vvith the Lampaſſe, infected vvith the faſhions, full of VVindegalls, ſped vvith Spauins, raied vvith the Yellovvs, […]

c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 219, column 1:

Of ſpauens, there be tvvo kindes, the bone Spauen and the blood: for the bone Spauen, you ſhall dreſſe it in all things like the ſplent, and it vvil heale it. For the bloud ſpauen you ſhall take vp the veane, and vvhen it hath bled vve pull out the bladder vvhich holdes the ſpauen, and ſtop the vvound vvith Sage and ſalt, and it vvill heale it.

1607, Gervase Markham, “Of Spauens”, in Cauelarice, or The English Horseman: […], London: […] [Edward Allde and W[illiam] Jaggard] for Edward White, […], →OCLC, 7th book, page 78:

Doubtleſſe a Spauen is an euil ſorance, and cauſeth a horſe to haule principally in the beginning of his griefe, it appeareth on the hinder Legges vvithin, and againſt the ioynt, and it vvill bee a little ſvvolne, and ſome horſes haue a thorough Spauen, vvhich appeareth both vvithin and vvithout. Of the Spauen there are tvvo kindes, the one hard the other ſoft: That is: bone-Spauen, and a blood-Spauen, […] Caſt the horſe and vvith a hot yron ſlitte the fleſh that couereth the Spauen, and then lay vpon the Spauen, Cantharides and Euforbium boyled together in oile de Bay, […]

1607, Conradus Gesnerus [i.e., Conrad Gessner], Edward Topsell, “Of the Horsse. [Of the Spauen, both Bone and Blood.]”, in The Historie of Foure-footed Beastes. […], London: […] William Iaggard, →OCLC, page 407:

Mr. Field had seen the same horses brought to his forge from day to day, and year to year, with large spavins, yet continuing perfectly sound.

1829 November 19, “Veterinary Medical Society, 21st Oct. 1829. Discussion on Mr. W. Percivall’s Paper on Soundness.”, in [William] Percivall, [William] Youatt, editors, The Veterinarian, volume II, number 24, London: […] Compton and Ritchie, […] [for] Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, & Green, […], published December 1829, →OCLC, page 509:

(countable) A bony swelling which develops in a horse's leg where the shank and splint bone meet, caused by inflammation of the cartilage connecting those bones; also, a similar swelling caused by inflammation of the hock bones.

[N]ovv the Bots, the Spauin, and the Glanders, and ſome doſen diſeaſes more, light on him, & his Moyles.

1601, Ben Jonson, Poetaster or The Arraignment: […], London: […] [R. Bradock] for M[atthew] L[ownes] […], published 1602, →OCLC, Act I, scene ii, signature B2, verso:

(uncountable) A disease of horses caused by this bony swelling (sense 1.1).


spavin

en-verb

spavin (third-person singular simple present spavins, present participle spavining, simple past and past participle spavined)

spavins (present singular third-person)
spavining (participle present)
spavined (participle past)
spavined (past)

Mr. Lythe had seen many horses which Mr. Field had passed as sound although they were spavined; and he does not recollect a single instance of lameness among them.

The witches that dance on the Brocken on Valpurgis Eve would be spoken of in a different spirit from the village hag who spavins the horse and curdles the milk.

1867, John Hill Burton, “Heathendom”, in The History of Scotland from Agricola’s Invasion to the Revolution of 1688, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, page 224:

And oh! Onesiphorus, the old brown mare / Is spavining for love, as also we; […]

1884 February 23, “Astray from San Rafael” [pseudonym], “Dudetic Leap Year”, in The Wasp, volume XII, number 8, San Francisco, Calif.: E[dward] C[reamor] Macfarlane & Co., →OCLC, stanza 4, page 11, column 1:

The plaintiff introduced evidence tending to prove that the horse was spavined, and that Kuntzman had warranted the soundness of the horse. The fourth exception on the part of the defendant and the plaintiff in error was to the rejection of the evidence that the horse was not spavined while in Weaver's stable, some two months after the sale.

1886, A[braham] C[lark] Freeman, “Kuntzman v. Weaver”, in The American Decisions […], volume LIX, San Francisco, Calif.: Bancroft-Whitney Co. […], →OCLC, page 740:

In order to obviate the straining, spavining, and weakness of back, to which horses are subject, caused by the effort of starting heavy cars, Mr. Henry P. Holt designed a tramcar starting gear, patented in May, 1879, […]

1894, D[aniel] Kinnear Clark, “Resistance to Traction on Tramways”, in Tramways: Their Construction and Working […], 2nd edition, London: Crosby Lockwood and Son […], →OCLC, page 402:

(farriery, veterinary medicine) To cause (a horse or its leg) to have spavin (noun sense 1.2).

aiheuttaa kinnerpatti

to cause (a horse or its leg) to have spavin


junco

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

Borrowed from Spanish junco (“reed, rush”), from Latin iuncus (“reed, rush”). Doublet of juncus and possibly junk.

Junco, the Reed-Sparrow; a Bird.

[1658, Edward Phillips, compiler, “Junco”, in The New World of English Words: Or, A General Dictionary: […], London: […] E. Tyler, for Nath[aniel] Brook […], →OCLC:

Arundinaceus. Brown-ferruginous; beneath whitiſh-teſtaceous; with tail-feathers banded and reddiſh at the apex. The junco of Geſner [i.e., Conrad Gessner], Aldrovand [i.e., Ulisse Aldrovandi], [John] Ray, and [Francis] Willughby.

1819, Abraham Rees, “TURDUS”, in The Cyclopædia; or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature. […], volume XXXVI, London: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, & Brown, […] [et al.], →OCLC, column 1:

Emberiza schoeniclus
Emberiza schoeniclus#Translingual

(obsolete) The common reed bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus), a bird found in Europe and much of the Palearctic.


tapir

Borrowed from French tapir, from Old Tupi tapi'ira.

Once a dark, clumsy tapir stared at us from a gap in the bushes, and then lumbered away through the forest; once, too, the yellow, sinuous form of a great puma whisked amid the brushwood, and its green, baleful eyes glared hatred at us over its tawny shoulder.

1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

Any one of the species of large odd-toed ungulates of the taxonomic family Tapiridae with a long prehensile upper lip, of which all four surviving species are in genus Tapirus.

National Museum of Singapore
William Farquhar

tapir

large odd-toed ungulate with a long prehensile upper lip of the family Tapiridae

macho de monte (Panamá, Colombian Pacific Coast)


lazy

Attested since 1540, origin uncertain. Probably from Low German and Middle Low German lasich (“slack, feeble, lazy”), from las, from Proto-Germanic *lasiwaz, *laskaz (“feeble, weak”), from Proto-Indo-European *las- (“weak”).
Akin to Dutch leuzig (“lazy”), Old Norse lasinn (“limpy, tired, weak”), Old English lesu, lysu (“false, evil, base”). More at lush.
An alternate etymology traces lazy to Early Modern English laysy, a derivative of lay (plural lays + -y) in the same way that tipsy is derived from tip. See lay.

der

To strenuous minds there is an inquietude in overquietness, and no laboriousness in labour; and to tread a mile after the slow pace of a snail, or the heavy measures of the lazy of Brazilia, were a most tiring pennance, and worse than a race of some furlongs at the Olympicks.

1716, Thomas Browne, edited by Samuel Johnson, Christian Morals, 2nd edition, London: J. Payne, published 1756, pages 49–50:


umber

en-noun

umber (countable and uncountable, plural umbers)

From Middle French ombre (“umber”), from terre d'ombre (“dark ochre”), from Old French umbre (“shade, shadow”), from Latin umbra. Doublet of umbra.

Scopus umbretta
Scopus umbretta#Translingual

A dusky brown African wading bird (Scopus umbretta) allied to the shoebill and herons; a hamerkop.


pooch

Of uncertain origin. One (unsubstantiated) conjecture is that the word comes from Putzi, a common German name given to lapdogs. The name Putzi is possibly formed from German Putz + -i, influenced by German putzig (“funny, cute, small”, adjective).

noncog

My thoughts are disturbed by a man and pooch trying to get off the front of the train. Despite hitting the door button, they refused to open.

2022 November 2, Paul Bigland, “New trains, old trains, and splendid scenery”, in RAIL, number 969, page 58:


pooch

en-noun

pooch (countable and uncountable, plural pooches)

There's a pooch in the plastic where it got too hot.

Her left sleeve has more pooch at the shoulder than the right.


pooch

en-verb

pooch (third-person singular simple present pooches, present participle pooching, simple past and past participle pooched)

pooches (present singular third-person)
pooching (participle present)
pooched (participle past)
pooched (past)

Inflate that tire too much and the tube may pooch out of the cut in the sidewall.

There were rustling sounds from the tent and the sides pooched out as if they were trying to stand up.

1969, Maya Angelou, chapter 21, in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, New York: Bantam, published 1971, page 124:

To distend, to swell or extend beyond normal limits; usually used with out.


bream

From Middle English breme, from Old French breme, bresme, braisme, brasme (whence French brème), from Frankish *brahsma, *brahsima (whence Dutch brasem), from Proto-West Germanic *brahsmō (whence Old High German brahsma, brahsmo, brahsina, brehsina (whence German Brasse, Brachse (“bream”))), from Proto-Germanic *brahsmô, *brahsinō, *brahsmaz (“bream”), perhaps from Proto-Germanic *brehwanaz (“shining, glittery, sparkly”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerek- (“to shine”) (see braid (verb)).

der

A European fresh-water cyprinoid fish of the genus Abramis, little valued as food. Several species are known.

Abramis brama
Abramis brama#Translingual

(British) A species in that genus, Abramis brama.

An American fresh-water fish, of various species of Lepomis and allied genera, which are also called sunfishes and pondfishes.

mudfish

American freshwater fish, of various species of Pomotis and allied genera

A marine sparoid fish of the genus Pagellus, and allied genera.


coquette

Though, I confeſs, Paris has its Charms; but to me they are like thoſe of a Coquette, gay and gavvdy; they ſerve to amuſe vvith, but a Man vvould not chuſe to be marry'd to them.

1721, [Colley] Cibber, The Refusal; or, The Ladies Philosophy: A Comedy. […], London: […] B[arnaby Bernard] Lintot, […]; W[illiam] Mears, […]; and W[illiam Rufus] Chetwood, […], →OCLC, Act I, page 2:

She was a big, sexy brunette—as Garcia said, «Something straight out of Degas,» and generally like a beautiful Parisian coquette.

1957, Jack Kerouac, chapter 11, in On the Road, Viking Press, →OCLC, part 3:

I was playing with him, leading him on, sending him messages of encouragement then turning away from him. I was a tease, a coquette.

1997, Ian McEwan, Enduring Love, Vintage, published 1998, page 141:

Knox takes us through the lives of memorable seducers and their critics, in sometimes academic and sometimes rococo prose dappled with doges, coups de foudre, rakes, bawds, coquettes, coxcombs and procuresses — with guest appearances by members of the Frankfurt School sunning themselves in La Jolla.

2020 April 2, Alex Kuczynski, “Philanderers, Predators and Pickup Artists: A History”, in The New York Times:

A woman who flirts or plays with people's affections.


braise

Pagellus bogaraveo
Pagellus bogaraveo#Translingual

Pagellus centrodontus
Pagellus centrodontus#Translingual

Pagellus bogaraveo, syn. Pagellus centrodontus (sea bream)


troop

Attested in English since 1545, from French troupe (back-formation of troupeau, diminutive of Medieval Latin troppus "flock") and Middle French trouppe (from Old French trope (“band, company, troop”)), both of Germanic origin from Frankish *þorp (“assembly, gathering”), from Proto-Germanic *þurpą (“village, land, estate”), from Proto-Indo-European *treb- (“dwelling, settlement”).
Doublet of troupe, and possibly also of thorp and dorp. Cognate with German Dorf (“village”).

A detachment of soldiers or police, especially horse artillery, armour, or state troopers.

Lord Baden-Powell of Gilwell (1920) Aids To Scoutmastership, page 6: “It is the Patrol System that makes the Troop, and all Scouting for that matter, a real co-operative effort.”

(scouting) A chapter of a national girl or boy scouts organization, consisting of one or more patrols of 6 to 8 youngsters each.

A group of meerkat families living together.

(mycology) A group of mushrooms that are close but not close enough to be called a cluster.


troop

en-verb

troop (third-person singular simple present troops, present participle trooping, simple past and past participle trooped)

troops (present singular third-person)
trooping (participle present)
trooped (participle past)
trooped (past)

Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing was pronounced. The choir and the clergy trooped out slowly, […], down the nave to the western door. […] At a seemingly immense distance the surpliced group stopped to say the last prayer.

1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

To move in numbers; to come or gather in crowds or troops.


equitation

en-noun

equitation (usually uncountable, plural equitations)

The art, practice or act of horseriding.

езда

the art, practice or act of riding a horse


tog

en-verb

tog (third-person singular simple present togs, present participle togging, simple past and past participle togged)

togs (present singular third-person)
togging (participle present)
togged (participle past)
togged (past)

Another mindset that seems to work well for new togging recruits is to ask them to wait until the fish ‘takes the rod down’.

2023, Jason Colby, “Tog Jigging: Do It Your Way!”, in The Fisherman:


chimera

monolith

antonym(s) of “anything composed of very disparate parts”

Variant of Middle English chimere, chymere, & chymera under renewed Latin influence from the 16th century, from French chimère, from Latin Chimaera, from Ancient Greek Χίμαιρα (Khímaira, “fire-breathing mythological monster, fire-spewing Lycian or Cilician mountain”), from χίμαιρα (khímaira, “she-goat”, from χίμαρος (khímaros, “male goat”) + -α (-a)), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰey-. In reference to the fish, directly from Latin Chimaera, used by Linnaeus. In reference to organisms with distinct areas of different genetic makeups, a calque of German Chimäre, used by Hans Winkler in 1907.

af

The chimeras […] are an extant group of about 30 species. They have the upper jaw fused with the cranium and a gill cover over the four gill slits. They also have toothy plates that give them a ratlike appearance, thus the common name "ratfish." The group occurs in ocean depths worldwide, where they mainly feed on invertebrates.

2012, Harold M. Tyus, “Diversity 1: Chordates to Sharks”, in Ecology and Conservation of Fishes, Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, →ISBN, pages 34–35:

(zoology) Alternative form of chimaera, a cartilaginous marine fish in the subclass Holocephali and especially the order Chimaeriformes, with a blunt snout, long tail, and a spine before the first dorsal fin.


mort

en-noun

mort (countable and uncountable, plural morts)

From Middle English mort, from Old French mort (“death”).

(UK, Scotland, dialect) The skin of a sheep or lamb that has died of disease.

(card games) A variety of dummy whist for three players.


mort

(Internet, informal) A player in a multi-user dungeon who does not have special administrator privileges and whose character can be killed.


mort

UK circa 1560–1890. Unknown. Documented possibilities include:
* From mort (“A three-year-old salmon”), by equation of women with fish.
* From Welsh modryb (“aunt”)
* From Welsh morwyn (“maid, virgin”)
* From French amourette (“a crush”)
* From, or cognate with, Dutch mot (“pig, lewd woman”), from Middle Low German mutte.
* From French motte (“mound, esp. mons veneris”)
* From Romani mintš (“female genitals”). Cognate with English minge.

unk

Unknown

der

Male gypsies all, not a mort among them.

1621, Ben Jonson, The Gypsies Metamorphosed:

"Yes, master! I and my mort worships something besides good ale; don't we, Sue?" and then he leered at the mort, who leered at him, and both made odd motions backwards and forwards, causing the baskets which hung round them to creak and rustle, and uttering loud shouts of laughter, which roused the echoes of the neighbouring hills.

KINCHIN-MORTS, the Twenty-seventh and last Order of the Canting Crew, being girls of a year or two old whom the Morts (their Mothers) carry at their Backs in Slates (Sheets) and if they have no children of their own they[…]

1896, John Stephen Farmer, Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present: A Dictionary ... with Synonyms in English, French ... Etc. Compiled by J.S. Farmer [and W.E. Henley], page 109:

(obsolete, UK, thieves' cant) A woman; a female.


macho

Borrowed from Spanish macho (“male”), from Latin masculus. Doublet of male.

You can tell a macho, he has a funky walk / His western shirts and leather, always look so boss

1978, “Macho Man”, performed by Village People:

A macho person; a man who is masculine in an overly assertive or aggressive way.


bleak

From Middle English bleke (“small river fish, bleak, blay”), perhaps an alteration (due to Old English blǣc (“bright”) or Old Norse bleikja) of Old English blǣġe (“bleak, blay, gudgeon”); or perhaps from a diminutive of Middle English *bleye (“blay”), equivalent to blay + -ock or blay + -kin. See blay.

inh

Alburnus alburnus
Alburnus alburnus#Translingual

A small European river fish (Alburnus alburnus), of the family Cyprinidae.


crest

From Middle English creste, from Old French creste (modern French crête) and perhaps continuing Old English cræsta (“crest, tuft, plume”); both ultimately from Vulgar Latin *cresta, from Latin crista. Doublet of crista.
The informal meaning “design, logo” (sense 11) stems from a misinterpretation of the heraldic sense 4, which specifically refers to the object placed on top of the helm.

Any of several birds in the family Regulidae, including the goldcrests and firecrests.


grebe

Any of several waterbirds in the cosmopolitan family Podicipedidae. They have strong, sharp bills, and lobate toes.

somorguyu

any of several waterbirds in the family Podicipedidae

鳰

にお, nio, かいつぶり, kaitsuburi, かいつむり, kaitsumuri


dun

From Middle English dun, donn, dunne, from Old English dunn (“dun, dingy brown, bark-colored, brownish black”), from Proto-West Germanic *duʀn, from Proto-Germanic *duznaz, *dusnaz (“brown, yellow”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- (“to smoke, raise dust”). Cognate with Old Saxon dun (“brown, dark”), Old High German tusin (“ash-gray, dull brown, pale yellow, dark”), Old Norse dunna (“female mallard; duck”).
Alternative etymology derives the Old English word from Brythonic (compare Middle Welsh dwnn (“dark (red)”)), from Proto-Celtic *dusnos (compare Old Irish donn and Scottish Gaelic donn (“brown”)), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰews- (compare Old Saxon dosan (“chestnut brown”)). More at dusk.

cog

dun:


chute

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

(horse racing) An extension to a straightway on either the home stretch or the backstretch, to avoid having a turn at the start of the race.


caper

From Latin capparis, from Ancient Greek κάππαρις (kápparis).


hircine

en-adj

hircine (comparative more hircine, superlative most hircine)

more hircine (comparative)
most hircine (superlative)

First attested in its present form in 1650–1660: From Middle English hircyne, from Latin hircīnus (“of a goat”, “goat-scented”); equivalent to hircus (“a male goat”) + -īnus (“-ine”). Cognate with French hircin. Compare caprine, haedine.

der

They are monſtrouſly fat, and have a moſt hircine ſmell.

1781, Thomas Pennant, History of Quadrupeds, volume 2, page 528:

1838, Hypericaceæ, entry in The Penny Cyclopaedia, Volume 12, page 411,
Many are objects of ornament, but they are little cultivated because they have frequently a disagreeable hircine odour.

People always smiled a little when they looked at Skøieren, and it was surely true that this dog had a most whimsical appearance, practically lost as he was in the depths of his hircine coat of fur.

1992, Helge Ingstad, Land of Feast and Famine, page 291:

Linnæus formed seven classes of odours of medicines; namely, the aromatic, fragrant, ambrosiac, alliaceous, hircine, fetid, and nauseous.

1820, J. J. Virsey, The Natural History of Medicines, Aliments and Poisons, taken from the Kingdoms of Nature: The London Medical and Physical Journal, volume 44, page 247:

(book word, not comparable) Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of goats.

مَعَزِيّ

of, pertaining to, or characteristic of goats

Possessed of an odour reminiscent of goats.


hircine

(mineralogy) A fossil amorphous resin which, when burnt, gives off a pungent, hircinous aroma.


char

Unknown, perhaps from Celtic, such as Irish ceara (“fiery red”) (found in personal names). Or, perhaps borrowed from Middle Low German schar (“flounder, dab”), from Proto-Germanic *skardaz, related to *skeraną (“to cut”), referring to its shape. If so, related to shard.

Among other native delicacies, they give you fresh char.

Any of the several species of fishes of the genus Salvelinus.


flake

From Middle English flake (“a flake of snow”), from Old English flacca and/or Old Norse flak (“loose or torn piece”) (compare Old Norse flakna (“to flake or chip”)), from Proto-Germanic *flaką (“something flat”), from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- (“flat, broad, plain”). Cognate with Norwegian flak (“slice, sliver”, literally “piece torn off”), Swedish flak (“a thin slice”), Danish flage (“flake”), German Flocke (“flake”), Dutch vlak (“smooth surface, plain”) and vlok (“flake”), as well as with Latin plaga (“flat surface, district, region”) and Welsh llech (“slate, tablet”). Doublet of plage.


flake

A name given to dogfish to improve its marketability as a food, perhaps from etymology 1.

Larger shark received about 10%/kg less than those in the 4-6 kg range. Most of the Victorian landed product is wholesaled as carcasses on the Melbourne Fish Market where it is sold to fish and chip shops, the retail sector and through restaurants as ‘flake’.

1999, R. Shotton, Case studies of the management of elasmobranch fisheries, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Part 1, page 746:

Susan said, ‘Get me a piece of flake and a serve of chips.’

2002, Alex Miller, Journey to the Stone Country, Allen & Unwin, published 2003, page 72:

The local fish shop sold a bit of flake (shark) but most people were too spoiled to eat shark. The main item on the Kiwi table was still snapper, and there was plenty of them, caught by the Kiwis themselves, so no shortage whatsoever.

2007, Archie Gerzee, WOW! Tales of a Larrikin Adventurer, page 141:

(Australia) The meat of the gummy shark.


horseback

en-noun

horseback (countable and uncountable, plural horsebacks)

From Middle English horsebacke, horsebak, horsbak, equivalent to horse + back.

set a beggar on horseback and he'll ride to the Devil

They came on horseback across the plains.

(usually with on, upon, etc.) The back of a horse.

(countable) A ridge of sand, gravel, and boulders.


horseback

He rode horseback into town.


merganser

From Late Latin merganser, from Latin mergus (“waterfowl, diver”), from mergō (“to dip, immerse”) + ānser (“goose”).

Any of various diving ducks of the genera Mergus or Lophodytes, which feed on fish and have a sharply serrated bill.


pica

pica (countable and uncountable, plural picas)

From Medieval Latin pica (“pica: a service book”), possibly from Latin pīca (“magpie”) after the piebald appearance of the typeset page (cf. pie (“disordered type”)). The relation to the printer's measure is unclear, as no edition of the text in pica type is known. The French pica derives from English rather than vice versa.

der

I had been at Baldwin's before dinner in consequence of a letter from him which showed me that, by using a pica instead of an English letter in printing my book, I might comprise it within such a number of sheets as a guinea-volume should contain […].

1790, James Boswell, edited by Danziger & Brady, Boswell: The Great Biographer, Yale, published 1989, page 30:

(typography, printing, uncountable) A size of type between small pica and English, now standardized as 12-point.


knacker

From Old Norse hnak (“saddle”) (whence Icelandic hnakkur (“saddle”)), hur (“horse”) — the profession of saddlemaker.

Travelling Community
Travelling Community

(Ireland, British, offensive) A member of the Travelling Community; a Rom (Gypsy).

antoušek

one who separates animals for reuse — see also flayer


martinet

After the example of 17th-century French army officer Jean Martinet.

Before I met Mr. Bowen Cooke I had been given to understand that he was of a reserved nature, and on occasion could be a "bit of a martinet"; [...].

1942 July-August, Chas. S. Lake, “Some C.M.Es. I Have Known: II—C. J. Bowen Cooke”, in Railway Magazine, page 223:

(figuratively) Anyone who lays stress on a rigid adherence to the details of discipline, or to forms and fixed methods or rules.


pug

Origin unknown, possibly related to West Flemish pugge (“(adjective) small; (noun) short person; pet name derived from the first name Pugge”); though it is uncertain whether sense 1 (“senses relating to someone or something small”) and sense 2 (“senses relating to people”) are derived from the same source.
Sense 1.8 (“small demon”) was probably influenced by, though not a variant of, puck.

pentu

It is to be observed in this experiment, […] that the loss of weight by feeding (tegs or pugs) on turnips, is remarkable: […]

1808, Thomas Batchelor, “Live Stock”, in General View of the Agriculture of the County of Bedford. […], London: […] [B. MᶜMillan] for Richard Phillips, […], →OCLC, section 2 (Sheep), page 541:

Senses relating to someone or something small.

(UK, regional, archaic) Also used as a proper name: any of various animals, such as a ferret, hare, squirrel, or young salmon.

(specifically) Synonym of teg (“a sheep (originally a ewe) in its second year, or from the time it is weaned until it is first shorn”)

teg

[…] I heard her call him dear pug, and found him to be her favourite monkey.

1712 October 13 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “THURSDAY, October 2, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 499; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume V, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 454:

Its proper Povver to hurt, each Creature feels, / Bulls aim their Horns, and Aſſes lift their Heels, / 'Tis a Bear's Talent not to kick, but hug, / And no Man vvonders he's not ſtung by Pug: […]

1733, Alexander Pope, The First Satire of the Second Book of Horace, […], London [actually Edinburgh]: […] L[awton] G[illiver] and sold by A. Dodd […], E[lizabeth] Nutt […], →OCLC, page 13:

Take avvay the pug, ſaid I, to the attendants—Take it avvay vvhile any of it is left—They reſcued the ſtill ſmiling babe, and run avvay vvith it.

1753 (indicated as 1754), [Samuel Richardson], “Letter XLIII. Lady G. to Lady Grandison.”, in The History of Sir Charles Grandison. […], 2nd edition, volume VI, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; [a]nd sold by C. Hitch and L. Hawes, […], →OCLC, page 211:

Or, is the Monkey sick, he takes his bed; / Old Slop is sent for, to prescribe for Pug.— […]

1812, Peter Pindar [pseudonym; John Wolcot], “Tristia; or, The Sorrows of Peter: […]. Elegy.”, in The Works of Peter Pindar, Esq. […], new edition, volume V, London: […] J[ohn] Walker, G. Wilkie and J. Robinson, G. Robinson, […]; and G. Goulding and Co. […], →OCLC, page 297:

(specifically, obsolete) An ape, a monkey; also (by extension) a human child.

[T]here is a dead silence, till pug is well out of cover, and the whole pack well in: then cheer the hounds with tally ho! till your lungs crack. Away he goes in gallant style, and the whole field is hard up, till pug takes a stiff country: […]

1812, [Maria] Edgeworth, “The Absentee. Chapter VIII.”, in Tales of Fashionable Life (2nd series), volume VI, London: […] [Heney] for J[oseph] Johnson and Co., […], →OCLC, pages 93–94:

That spell was broken by the sight of poor wearied pug, his once gracefully-floating brush all draggled and drooping, as he toiled up the sheep-paths toward the open down above.

1848, [Charles Kingsley], “The Philosophy of Fox-hunting”, in Yeast: A Problem. […], London: John W[illiam] Parker, […], published 1851, →OCLC, page 16:

Dear, delicate Madam, I am your little Paraquit, your Sparrovv, your Shock, your Pugg, your Squirrel.

1685 July (first performance), N[ahum] Tate, Cuckolds-Haven: Or, An Alderman No Conjurer. A Farce. […], London: […] J. H. and are to be sold by Edward Poole, […], published 1685, →OCLC, Act I, scene ii, page 5:

Squirrels / Are not uncommon in the plantings on the broad edges, where they may be seen feeding on the deal-apples, as the Broadsmen call the fir-cones; nuts and acorns too they are fond of. […] Stoats sometimes chase them, but "pug" generally manages to escape, an[d] he can get to a tree first—he is a much more daring jumper.

1895, P[eter] H[enry] Emerson, “Shrew Mouse, or Rana, and Squirrels”, in Birds, Beasts and Fishes of the Norfolk Broadland, London: David Nutt, […], →OCLC, page 363:


hake

From Middle English hake, probably a shortened form (due to North Germanic influence) of English dialectal haked (“pike”). Compare Norwegian hakefisk (“trout, salmon”), Middle Low German haken (“kipper”). More at haked.

Hake is an expensive fish—and is also very vulnerable to damage by mis-handling.

1964 October, P. Baxter, “Fleetwood is sceptical of BR's fish train plan”, in Modern Railways, page 255:

Off the United States, the National Marine Fisheries Service is helping industry explore fisheries for deep shrimp, rattails, chimeras, orange roughy, smoothheads, slackjaw eels, blue hake, skates and dogfish, which the National Fisheries Institute, an industry group, in an effort to improve their marketability, has renamed cape shark.

1995 December 26, William J. Broad, “Creatures of the Deep Find Their Way to the Table”, in The New York Times:

One of several species of marine gadoid fishes, of the genera Phycis, Merluccius, and allies.


ophidian

From Latin ophidia (from Ancient Greek ὄφις (óphis, “snake”)) + -ian.

Vertebral structure is critical for the identification of fossil snakes, because vertebrae are among the most easily fossilized parts of ophidians.

1997, Olivier Rieppel, “chapter 2: The Lepidosauromorpha: an overview with special emphasis on the Squamata”, in Nicholas C. Fraser, Hans-Dieter Sues, editors, In the Shadow of the Dinosaurs: Early Mesozoic Tetrapods, page 31:

It has long been known that ophidians have lost not only their front legs but also every embryonic trace of these limbs and their associated shoulder girdle (to such a degree that we cannot determine how many cervical vertebrae they have).

2011, Didier Marchand, “Chapter 11: The Logic of Forms in the Light of Developmental Biology and Palaeontology”, in Paul Bourgine, editor, Morphogenesis, page 205:

Siamese or double monsters are well known in saurians, chelonians, and ophidians, as are bicephalic, two-tailed and conjoined bodies (thoracodymus, ischiodymus, etc.).

2012, Bruce M. Rothschild, Hans-Peter Schultze, Rodrigo Pellegrini, Herpetological Osteopathology: Annotated Bibliography of Amphibians and Reptiles, page 226:

Any species of the suborder Serpentes; a snake or serpent.


hag

From Middle English hagge, hegge (“demon, old woman”), shortening of Old English hægtesse, hægtes (“harpy, witch”), from Proto-West Germanic *hagatussjā. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Häkse (“witch”), Dutch heks, German Hexe (“witch”). Doublet of hex.

A hagfish; one of various eel-like fish of the family Myxinidae, allied to the lamprey, with a suctorial mouth, labial appendages, and a single pair of gill openings.

A hagdon or shearwater; one of various sea birds of the genus Puffinus.


hag

From Middle English hag (denoting a gap in a cliff), from Old Norse hǫgg (“cut, gap, breach”), derivative of hǫggva (“to hack, hew”). Compare English hew, Old Swedish hug (“blow, stroke”).

This said, he led me over hoults and hags; / Through thorns and bushes scant my legs I drew

1845, Edward Fairfax (tr.), Godfrey of Bulloigne; or, The Recovery of Jerusalem: Done into English Heroical Verse, page 168:

(Northern England) A small wood, or part of a wood or copse, which is marked off or enclosed for felling, or which has been felled.


philander

From the given name Philander, used as a name for flirtatious characters in several 18th century stories, from Ancient Greek Φίλανδρος (Phílandros), name of the mythological son of the nymph Acacallis and the god Apollo. Semantically disconnected from the adjective φίλανδρος (phílandros, “loving one’s husband; excessively attracted to males, slutty, boy crazy”).

A South American opossum, bare-tailed woolly opossum, of species Caluromys philander (syn. Didelphis philander).


molly

From Mollienesia, an invalid taxonomic name for the genus, influenced by the personal name Molly.

A fish of the genus Poecilia, except for those known as guppies.


arrest

en-noun

arrest (countable and uncountable, plural arrests)

From Middle English arest (noun) and aresten (verb), from Old French areste (noun) and arester (“to stay, stop”, verb), from Vulgar Latin *arrestō, from Latin ad- (“to”) + restō (“to stop, remain behind, stay back”), from re- (“back”) + stō (“to stand”), from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand”), equivalent to ad- + rest. Compare French arrêter (“to stop”).

der

(farriery) A scurfiness of the back part of the hind leg of a horse


nanny

Constantijn Huygens Jr.
Nanny (disambiguation)

(1795) It has often been assumed that the English term was originally a widespread child's word for "female adult other than mother" (compare Greek νάννα (nánna, “aunt”), nanna). See also Welsh nain (“grandmother”).
On the other hand, according to recent research of the Dutch historical linguists Hans Beelen and Nicoline van der Sijs (published in Onze Taal, September 2018), on which see also etymologiebank.nl, in Dutch), the term nanny (and the British colloquial nan for "grandmother") may actually be eponymous, viz. being originally an affective form (i.e. a hypocoristic) of the popular female name Anne. The Dutch statesman and scientist Constantijn Huygens Jr. made the following observation during one of his many sojourns in England (noted in his Journaal, dated 13 December 1692): "Yesterday I received 10lb of chocolate again, from niece Becker, and she had Nanny, her maid, bringing me the money that she had owed me" (Gisteren kreegh 10 ℔ choccolate wederom van nicht Becker, en had Nanny, haer meidt, geweest om mij 't geldt, dat van haer hebben most, te brengen). Beelen and van der Sijs therefore assumed that "since many female domestic servants were named "Nan" or "Nanny", the name became a sobriquet for the profession of "maid, childminder" in the 18ᵗʰ century". ("Omdat veel vrouwelijke huisbedienden in het Engels de voornaam Nan of Nanny hadden, verschoof de betekenis in de achttiende eeuw naar die van een beroepsaanduiding: ‘meid, kindermeisje’")

onomatopoeic

child's word

Breeding is a consuming goal, and the ascendance of the sex drive is nearly as apparent in the behavior of a mountain goat billy. So given over is he to following and defending a succession of nannies as he searches for one in heat (estrus), he loses interest in food altogether; […]

1983, Douglas H. Chadwick, A Beast the Color of Winter: The Mountain Goat Observed, Bison Books, published 2002, →ISBN, page 159:

Nannies and billies look very similar, both having dangerously sharp, curved black horns.

2005, Richard Cannings, The Rockies: A Natural History, Greystone Books, published 2005, →ISBN, page 103:

A farmer friend keeps a video camera in the barn so she can turn on her goat cam and observe her animals at any time of the day or night. A baby monitor picks up the sounds of a nanny when she goes into labor—if the nanny is one who changes the usual pitch of her voice or nervously bleats during kidding.

2013, Janet Hurst, The Whole Goat Handbook: Recipes, Cheese, Soap, Crafts & More, Voyageur Press, published 2013, →ISBN, page 28:


ruff

In the same genus there is another species which makes better eating. This is A[rripis] georgianus, popularly known as the ruff or tommy ruff (again, nothing to do with anything bearing that name in the Old World), but now officially called 'Australian herring' (another aberration). [...] The ruff, on the other hand, although a smaller fish, makes good eating; its flesh is tender and tasty.

2014, Alan Davidson, “Australasian ‘salmon’”, in Tom Jaine, editor, The Oxford Companion to Food, 3rd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 44:

A fish of species Arripis georgianus, found in cool waters off the southern coast of Australia


reeve

From Middle English reve, from Old English rēfa, an aphetism of ġerēfa (also groefa), from Proto-West Germanic *garāfijō (“officer, official”). Compare Danish greve, Swedish greve, Dutch graaf, German Graf.
The role, and eventually the word, was mostly replaced by bailiff, of Anglo-Norman origin.

inh

A list of new titles was manufactured as follows: Ensign, Lieutenant, Flight-Leader, Squadron-Leader, Reeve, Banneret, Fourth-Ardian, Third-Ardian, Second-Ardian, Ardian, Air Marshal. […] “Reeve”, perhaps, savoured a little too much of legal authority.

1936, The Periodical, volumes 21-22, Oxford University Press, page 67:

(military, historical) The holder of a proposed but unadopted commissioned rank of the Royal Air Force, equivalent to wing commander.


muster

From Middle English musteren, borrowed from Anglo-Norman mostrer, Middle French monstrer, moustrer (whence the noun monstre, which gave the English noun), from Latin mōnstrō (“to show”), from moneō (“to admonish”). Cognate with French montrer (“to show”), Italian mostrare (“to show”), Spanish mostrar (“to show”). See also monster.

Ye publish the musters of your own bands, and proclaim them to amount of thousands.

1594–1597, Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Will[iam] Stansby [for Matthew Lownes], published 1611, →OCLC, (please specify the page):

The sum total of an army when assembled for review and inspection; the whole number of effective men in an army.

McGuire took the two of them out to Kidman's Bore on the Sylvester River where about two dozen stockmen from different stations had gathered to tend the muster along the edge of the Simpson Desert.

2006, John Gilfoyle, Bloody Jackaroos!, Boolarong Press:

(Australia, New Zealand) A roundup of livestock for inspection, branding, drenching, shearing etc.

He (the tailor) never measures you; he only asks master for muster, as he terms it, that is for a pattern.

(obsolete) Something shown for imitation; a pattern.


muster

en-verb

muster (third-person singular simple present musters, present participle mustering, simple past and past participle mustered)

musters (present singular third-person)
mustering (participle present)
mustered (participle past)
mustered (past)

We were then in the third week of November; but, we took our measures so vigorously, and were so well seconded by the friends in whom we confided, that there was still a week of the month unexpired, when our party all came down together merrily, and mustered in the haunted house.

1859, Charles Dickens, The Haunted House:

The whole male population, men and boys, mustered on the top of the hill.

1900, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 3, page 268:

(intransitive) To be gathered together for parade, inspection, exercise, or the like (especially of a military force); to come together as parts of a force or body.

(transitive, Australia, New Zealand) To gather or round up livestock.


shaker

→ French: shaker

→ Korean: 셰이커 (syeikeo)

→ Russian: шейкер (šejker)

One who holds railroad spikes while they are hammered.


overreach

overreach (third-person singular simple present overreaches, present participle overreaching, simple past and past participle overreached or (obsolete) overraught)

overreaches (present singular third-person)
overreaching (participle present)
overreached (participle past)
overreached (past)
overraught (obsolete participle past)
overraught (obsolete past)

/ˌəʊvəˈɹiːt͡ʃ/

/ˌoʊvə(ɹ)ˈɹit͡ʃ/

The verb is from Middle English overrechen (“to rise above; to extend beyond or over; to encroach; to catch, overtake; to reach; to obtain wrongfully (?); to take up (a book) to revise it”) [and other forms], equivalent to over- + reach; the noun is derived from the verb or from the phrase to reach over.

nb...

overreche, overreiche, (Northern England) overreke

أَنَافَ

to reach above or beyond, especially to an excessive degree

Attinto, [...] Alſo when a horſe is tainted or hurt, or ouerreacheth one foote with another, and withal doth hurt a ſinew.

1598, John Florio, “Attinto”, in A Worlde of Words, or Most Copious, and Exact Dictionarie in Italian and English, […], London: […] Arnold Hatfield for Edw[ard] Blount, →OCLC, page 32, column 3:

Defective or bad form will predispose a horse to overreach. Bad shoeing will also be liable to cause the hind-foot to catch the forward one.

1864, John Nicholson Navin, “Vices of the Horse”, in Navin’s Veterinary Practice: Or Explanatory Horse Doctor. […], Indianapolis, Ind.: Published for the author; stereotyped at the Franklin Type Foundry, […], →OCLC, division I, page 287:

(transitive, intransitive, reflexive, equestrianism) Of a horse: to strike the heel of a forefoot with the toe of a hindfoot.


overreach

en-noun

overreach (countable and uncountable, plural overreaches)

/ˈəʊvə(ˌ)ɹiːt͡ʃ/

/ˈoʊvə(ɹ)ˌɹit͡ʃ/

The hunter's [i.e., hunting horse's] legs should be washed with warm water, carefully examined for thorns, overreaches, &c., and the legs should be rubbed dry, and well hand rubbed, by which means a free circulation of the blood will be promoted.

1833 April, “Teaching the Horse to Leap”, in T. B. Johnson, editor, The Sportsman’s Cabinet, and Town and Country Magazine, volume I, number 6, London: Published by Sherwood, Gilbert, & Piper, […], →OCLC, page 424:

Overreach.—This unpleasant noise, known also by the terms ‘clicking’, ‘overreach’, &c., arises from the toe of the hind foot knocking against the shoe of the fore foot.

1833 October, “Art. LXVI.—The Vices, and Disagreeable or Dangerous Habits of the Horse. [From the Library of Useful Knowledge.]”, in John D. Legare, editor, The Southern Agriculturist, and Register of Rural Affairs; […], volume VI, number 10, Charleston, S.C.: Printed and published for the editor, by A. E. Miller, […], →OCLC, part II (Selections), page 547:

(equestrianism) Of a horse: an act of striking the heel of a forefoot with the toe of a hindfoot; an injury caused by this action.


scaly

From Middle English scali, skaly. By surface analysis, scale + -y.

(South Africa) The scaly yellowfish (Labeobarbus natalensis).


stickleback

From dialectal stickle (“a prickle, spine, sting”), from Old English sticel + bæc. See stick (transitive verb) and compare banstickle.

[I]n my exile and irkeſome diſcontented abandonment, the ſillieſt millers thombe, or contemptible ſtickle-banck of my enemies, is as buſie nibbling about my fame, as if I were a deade man throwne amongeſt them to feede vpon.

1599, [Thomas] Nashe, Nashes Lenten Stuffe, […], London: […] [Thomas Judson and Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] L[ing] and C[uthbert] B[urby] […], →OCLC, page 1:

Any one of numerous species of small fish of the family Gasterosteidae. The back is armed with two or more sharp spines. They inhabit both salt and brackish water, and construct nests from weeds.


pout

From Middle English *poute, from Old English *pūte as in ǣlepūta, ǣlepūte (“eelpout”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bew- (“to swell”). Related to pout (“to push one's lip out”).

Ameiurus nebulosus
Ameiurus nebulosus#Translingual

Trisopterus luscus
Trisopterus luscus#Translingual

(rare) Any of various fishes such as the hornpout (Ameiurus nebulosus, the brown bullhead), the pouting (Trisopterus luscus) and the eelpouts (Zoarcidae).


sedge

sedge (countable and uncountable, plural sedges)

Etymology tree
Proto-Germanic *sagjaz
Proto-West Germanic *sagi
Old English seċġ
Middle English segge
English sedge
From Middle English segge, from Old English seċġ, from Proto-West Germanic *sagi, from Proto-Germanic *sagjaz, from Proto-Indo-European *sak- (“marsh plant”).
Cognate with Dutch zegge and German Segge, dialectal German Saher (“reeds”).

inh

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

But when the moon rose and the breeze awakened, and the sedges stirred, and the cat's-paws raced across the moonlit ponds, and the far surf off Wonder Head intoned the hymn of the four winds, the trinity, earth and sky and water, became one thunderous symphony—a harmony of sound and colour silvered to a monochrome by the moon.

1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VIII, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

Any plant of the genus Carex, the true sedges; perennial, endogenous herbs with triangular jointless stems, a spiked inflorescence, and long grass-like leaves which are usually rough on the margins and midrib.

Andropogon virginicus
Andropogon virginicus#Translingual

Any other plants resembling sedges, such as Gentiana rubricaulis and Andropogon virginicus.


sedge

(fishing) A dry fly used in fly fishing, designed to resemble a sedge or caddis fly.


toxotes

From Ancient Greek τοξότης (toxótēs, “bowman, archer”).

uder

Any fish of genus Toxotes, the archerfishes.


sprig

From Middle English sprig, sprigge, of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Middle Low German sprik, spricke (“a dry, easily broken twig that has fallen from a tree; sprig”). Compare also dialectal English sprag (“sprig, twig”), Old English spræc (“a shoot”), German Low German Spricke, Sprick (“dry branch, twig”).

One of the separate pieces of lace fastened on a ground in applique lace.

A small eyebolt ragged or barbed at the point.


sprig

en-verb

sprig (third-person singular simple present sprigs, present participle sprigging, simple past and past participle sprigged)

sprigs (present singular third-person)
sprigging (participle present)
sprigged (participle past)
sprigged (past)

To decorate with sprigs, or with representations of sprigs, as in embroidery or pottery.


sprite

→ Japanese: スプライト (supuraito)

→ Russian: спрайт (sprajt)

From Middle English sprite, spryt, spreyte, from Old French esprit (“spirit”), from Latin spiritus. Doublet of spirit, spiritus, spirytus, spright, and esprit.
(computer graphics): First used by Danny Hillis at Texas Instruments in the late 1970s.
(meteorology): An acronym for Stratospheric Perturbations Resulting from Intense Thunderstorm Electrification.

doublet

(obsolete) Alternative form of spright (“frame of mind, disposition”)


nag

From Middle English nagg, nage, nagge (“horse, small riding horse, pony”), cognate with Dutch negge, neg (“horse”), German Nickel (“small horse”). Perhaps related to English neigh.

We used to lure the nags into the back of our truck with oats and sugar, then we'd drive back to town to this warehouse and inject the nags with small quantities of morphine I'd stolen.

2011, James Ellroy, Clandestine, →ISBN, page 245:


nag

en-verb

nag (third-person singular simple present nags, present participle nagging, simple past and past participle nagged)

nags (present singular third-person)
nagging (participle present)
nagged (participle past)
nagged (past)

Probably from a North Germanic source; compare Swedish nagga (“to gnaw, grumble”), Danish nage, Icelandic nagga (“to complain”).

I guess it happens all the time in crime stories where the detective suddenly remembers a bit of conversation that nags him in some way, then for some inexplicable reason, it's just right there in front of you, like a sign pointing 'here!

2010, John David Wells, Diamonds of Affection and Other Stories, →ISBN, page 100:

Sometimes I write because there is a question that nags at me, sometimes because there is a question that nags at other people.

2010, John Goldingay, Key Questions about Christian Faith: Old Testament Answers, →ISBN:

You are sleeping on your side in the bed in your flat, heavily embroiled in a dream which sucks and nags at you and makes no sense; an old primary school teacher is there and a cat you have to take to a supermarket; you are in a canoe.

2013, Ra Page, L.E. Yates, Ann Winter, Parenthesis: A New Generation in Short Fiction:

The notion that he forgot something nagged him the rest of the day.

To bother with persistent thoughts or memories.

But at night, around the uncertain edge of dreams, and when the wind nags, there are few whom an odd sound will not thrill

1999, Tim Parks, Adultery and Other Diversions, →ISBN:

When a breeze comes up and nags the surface, it sparkles like a gemstone.

We are well accustomed as we look out upon Nature at close range to see great creatures harrassed^([sic]) by little creatures. The lot of each big one seems to be in the keeping of some little one, which never quits it, nags it, stings it, wears it out, drives it desperate, makes life somewhat a burden to it and death somewhat a relief.

2014, James Lane Allen, The Last Christmas Tree: An Idyl of Immortality, →ISBN, page 8:

a nagging pain in his left knee

a nagging north wind

To bother or disturb persistently in any way.


nag

'That fellow is a nag.' 'Aye, the worst kind,' agreed Hamish, and then smiled, and at that smile, Miss Gunnery thawed even more.

2011, M.C. Beaton -, Death of a Nag, →ISBN:

When we see Wolfe struggling with many depictions of woman characters throughout the novel (the earlier ones being nags and white trash), we greatly admire the development of this living tribute to Aline Bernstein, a woman whom he ends up despising in his later life.

2014, Louise Hathaway, Nags, Sluts, and A Deep-Breasted Soulmate from the Shining City, →ISBN:

But, pchA has to produce more than awareness, always-on alerts/nags, or edu-tainment.

2015 -, Dwight McNeill, Using Person-Centered Health Analytics to Live Longer, →ISBN:

All that while there was a little nag going on at the back of his mind, which he strove to disregard. But it insisted on attention, and to get rid of it he put down his palette abruptly and got out his mustard-tin cash-box and counted his money.

1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 152:

During my lengthy aerobic strolls (which more or less served as a tool of meditation), that thought about “college” became a persistent nag.

2009, James Swift, How I Survived Three Years at a Two-Year Community College, →ISBN:

There are two ways to get rid of our nags. We can either use Ninja decision-making to turn them quickly into actions, stored in our second brain to be revisited when we have some time. Or we can simply just capture and collect the nag, knowing that our systems will ensure we return to it later.

2014, Graham Allcott, How to be a Productivity Ninja, →ISBN:

That feeling turned into a very persistent nag.

2016, Sarah Lowndes, The DIY Movement in Art, Music and Publishing, →ISBN:

A persistent, bothersome thought or worry.


unsound

en-adj

unsound (comparative more unsound or unsounder, superlative most unsound or unsoundest)

more unsound (comparative)
unsounder (comparative)
most unsound (superlative)
unsoundest (superlative)

... A horse labouring under a temporary injury, capable of being speedily cured, is not unsound within the meaning of a warranty of soundness ...

1822, Sir John Comyns, Anthony Hammond, A Digest of the Laws of England:

(especially of equestrianism) Infirm, diseased.


wrasse

Plural of dialectal (Cornwall) wrah, wraugh, wrath, from Cornish wragh (“old woman, hag; wrasse”), lenited form of gwragh.

bor

Any one of numerous edible, marine, spiny-finned fishes of the family Labridae, of which several species are found in the Mediterranean and on the Atlantic coast of Europe. Many of the species are brightly colored.


snipe

Either from sneap or a figurative development from Etymology 1.

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


neat

en-adj

neat (comparative neater, superlative neatest)

neater (comparative)
neatest (superlative)

on the rocks

antonym(s) of “undiluted liquor or cocktail”

From Middle English nete, net, nette, from Anglo-Norman neit (“good, desirable, clean”), a variant of Old French net, nette (“clean, clear, pure”), from Latin nitidus (“gleaming”), derived from nitēre (“to shine”). Doublet of net and nitid. Cognate with German nett (“nice, kind”).

der

My room is neat because I tidied it this morning.  She has very neat hair.

Then his sallow face brightened, for the hall had been carefully furnished, and was very clean. ¶ There was a neat hat-and-umbrella stand, and the stranger's weary feet fell soft on a good, serviceable dark-red drugget, which matched in colour the flock-paper on the walls.

1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter II, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC, page 0091:

A very neat old woman, still in her good outdoor coat and best beehive hat, was sitting at a polished mahogany table on whose surface there were several scored scratches so deep that a triangular piece of the veneer had come cleanly away,[…].

1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

Clean, tidy; free from dirt or impurities.


neat

artificial intelligence
artificial intelligence

(informal) An artificial intelligence researcher who believes that solutions should be elegant, clear and provably correct. Compare scruffy.


neat

From Middle English nete, neat, from Old English nēat (“animal, beast, ox, cow, cattle”), from Proto-West Germanic *naut, from Proto-Germanic *nautą (“foredeal, profit, property, livestock”), from Proto-Indo-European *newd- (“to acquire, make use of”). Cognate with Dutch noot (“cow, cattle”, in compounds), dialectal German Noß (“livestock”), Alemannic German Nooss (“young sheep or goat”), Swedish nöt (“cattle”), Icelandic naut (“cattle, bull”) and Faroese neyt (“cattle”). More at note.

cog

From thence into the open fields he fled, / Whereas the Heardes were keeping of their neat / And shepheards singing to their flockes, that fed,

1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 467:

And yet the steer, the heifer, and the calf / Are all call’d neat.

c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:

There on a Hillock thou mayſt ſing / Unto a handſome Shepardling; / Or to a Girle (that keeps the Neat) / VVith breath more ſvveet then Violet.

1648, Robert Herrick, “To his Muse”, in Hesperides: Or, The Works both Humane & Divine […], London: […] John Williams, and Francis Eglesfield, and are to be sold by Tho[mas] Hunt, […], →OCLC, page 2:


sett

A variant of set to distinguish various technical senses.

But it is quite sad to reflect that some 4,500 badger setts were already wiped out using poisoned gas between 1975 and 1982. When you consider that an average sett can contain up to 15 animals, parents and cubs, it is easy to imagine the scale of suffering involved.

2006, David Kavanagh, A Country Pillow Book, page 69:

The system of tunnels that is the home of a badger.

(weaving) The number of warp ends per inch in the cloth.

(weaving, England) The number of reeds or splits per inch – one half the number of ends per inch.

Very durable grey granite has been quarried near Aberdeen for more than 300 years, and blocked and dressed paving "setts," kerb and building stones, and monumental and other ornamental work of granite have long been exported from the district to all parts of the world.

1911, “Aberdeen”, in Hugh Chisholm, editor, The Encyclopædia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature and General Information, 11th edition, volume I, Cambridge, Mass., New York, N.Y.: At the University Press, →OCLC, page 49:

Three horses trotted abreast, with the clatter of hoofs on the granite setts, and the yellow, uproarious machine jolted violently behind them, […]

1912, Joseph Conrad, chapter 7, in A Personal Record, New York, N.Y., London: Harper & Bros. Publishers, →OCLC:

The old market-square was not very large, a mere bare patch of granite setts, usually with a few fruit-stalls under a wall.

1920, D[avid] H[erbert Richards] Lawrence, chapter 26, in Women in Love, New York, N.Y.: Privately printed for subscribers only, →OCLC:

This path, which consists of some 60,000 setts laid directly into the earth, is perhaps the single most noteworthy 'feature' of the design, lending the whole conception a feeling of unity and coherence, enhancing the sense that one has been absorbed into both the place and the journey through it.

2013 November 16, Tim Richardson, “The JFK memorial at Runnymede is fit to stand forever: Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe's wonderful tribute to JFK at Runnymede hinges on the power of landscape [print edition: A memorial to JFK fit to stand forever]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Gardening), archived from the original on 2015-07-03, page G8:

A small, square-cut piece of quarried stone used for paving and edging.


whaler

without the wine–whine merger, non-rhotic

Composed of whale + -er. In sense 1, displaced Old English hwælhunta (literally “whale hunter”).

ncog

The whalers (or requiem sharks) are one of the largest and best known family of sharks. Worldwide there are 48 species in 12 genera. However, relatively few species are on the Great Barrier Reef.

1997, John Ernest Randall, Gerald R Allen, Roger C. Steene, Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef, 2nd edition, page 17:

2003, Mark Thornley, Veda Dante, Peter Wilson, Action Guide: Surfing Australia, Tuttle Publishing, HK, page 264,
The whaler shark family, which includes the grey reef shark (Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos),silvertip (Carcharhinus albimarginatus), bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas) and bronze whaler (Carcharhinus brachyurus) are fast moving, territorial and have bitten divers snd surfers in the past.

You can also take a dip with lemon, whaler and other nonpredatory sharks.

2008, Alan Murphy, Justin Flynn, Olivia Pozzan, Paul Harding, Queensland & the Great Barrier Reef, 5th edition, Lonely Planet, page 219:

(Australia) Any shark of the family Carcharhinidae; a requiem shark.


pride

en-noun

pride (countable and uncountable, plural prides)

shame

antonym(s) of “a sense of one's own worth”

humility

antonym(s) of “proud or disdainful behavior”

From Middle English pryde, pride, from Old English prȳde, prȳte (“pride”) (compare Old Norse prýði (“bravery, pomp”)), derivative of Old English prūd (“proud”). More at proud. The verb derives from the noun, at least since the 12th century.

The quality or state of being proud; an unreasonable overestimation of one's own superiority in terms of talents, looks, wealth, importance etc., which comes across as being lofty, distant, and often showing contempt of others.

𒌨

quality or state of being proud; inordinate self-esteem; an unreasonable conceit of one's own superiority in talents, beauty, wealth, rank etc.


snout

From Middle English snowte, snoute, from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German snute (alternatively spelled snuut, snuyt), from Proto-West Germanic *snūt, from Proto-Germanic *snūtaz.
Compare Saterland Frisian Snuute, Dutch snuit or snoet (“snout; cute face”), German Schnauze, Schnute. Doublet of snoot.

морон

anterior prolongation of head of weevil and other insects

(Bob, p. 55:) Charlie was the most vicious screw on the block ... He caught me with the two ounces of snout right in my hand, caught me by the hair, and swung me round in the exercise yard ...
(Spider, p. 175:) She brings me snout and sweets, and sometimes a cake from Mum.

LIZ. I only got one left. / FRED (calls). Get us some snout. / MIKE. Five or ten?

Also he was "doing his nut" for some "snout." I said I would provide cigarettes.

2000, Joe Randolph Ackerley, P N Furbank, We Think the World of You:

Raymond rolled a neat cigarette. "What about some snout, then?" "No, thanks." He laughed. Smoke drifted from his open mouth.

2004, Allan Sillitoe, New and Collected Stories:


route

From Middle English route, from Old French route, from Latin [rupta] via (literally “a path made by force”). Compare Modern French route.

der

(horse racing) A race longer than one mile.


marl

(Australia) A species of bandicoot, Perameles myosurus, of southern Western Australia.


tabby

en-adj

tabby (comparative tabbier, superlative tabbiest)

tabbier (comparative)
tabbiest (superlative)

Mid 17th century French tabis, from Arabic عَتَّابِيّ (ʕattābiyy), ultimately from Arabic الْعَتَّابِيَّة (al-ʕattābiyya), a quarter of Baghdad (named for a Prince عَتَّاب (ʕattāb)) which is associated with the manufacture of a certain type of waved silk. See also taffeta, another type of silk whose name derives from the Persian تافته (tâfta, “woven cloth”) and shares a similar etymological origin.

uder

الْعَتَّابِيَّة

a tabby cat


scout

From Middle English scout, scoult, from Old French escoute (“action of listening”), verbal noun from escouter (“to listen, heed”), from Latin auscultō (“to listen”). The verb comes from the noun.

der

A member of any number of youth organizations belonging to the international scout movement, such as the Boy Scouts of America or Girl Scouts of the United States.

He has also been good enough to recommend to me many tradesmen who are ready to supply these articles in any quantities; each of whom has been here already a dozen times, cap in hand, and vowing that it is quite immaterial when I pay—which is very kind of them; but, with the highest respect for friend Perkins (my scout) and his obliging friends, I shall make some enquiries before "letting in" with any of them.

1859–1861, [Thomas Hughes], chapter I, in Tom Brown at Oxford: […], (please specify |part=1 or 2), Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, published 1861, →OCLC:

(Oxford University, Harvard University, Yale University, historical) A domestic servant, generally male, who would attend (usually several) students in a variety of ways, including cleaning; generally equivalent to a gyp at Cambridge University or a skip at Trinity College, Dublin.

Oxford University; Harvard University; Yale University; Oxford University; Harvard University; Yale University

(historical, UK, up until 1920s) A fighter aircraft.


scout

From Middle English scoute, skoute (also schoute, shoute, schuyt), from Middle Low German schûte or Middle Dutch schute; or possibly from Old Norse skúta (“a small craft or cutter”).

So we took a scout, very much pleased with the manner and conversation of the passengers.

1660, Samuel Pepys, diary entry 18th May 1660:


budgie

She keeps a ton of budgies in her home.


wedgie

The white-bellied sea eagle is almost as big as a wedgie and handsomely marked in grey and white.

2003, Susannah Farfor, David Andrew, Hugh Finlay, Northern Territory, page 27:

Well over a century later the ‘wedgie’ continues to be persecuted, with some rural Tasmanians taking a gun to it when they can.

2024, David Owen, David Pemberton, Tasmanian Devil, Allen & Unwin, page 58:


pinkie

From Dutch pinkje (literally “little finger”), which in the Holland dialects takes the form pinkie.

bor

(informal) A little finger, the finger furthest on a hand from the thumb.


ranidaphobia

Now, you have no reason to suffer from ranidophobia – the fear of frogs.

2001 May 22, Kathy Antoniotti, “Make a frog from papier machie and Styrofoam”, in Rome News-Tribune, page T1:

One published case documented a woman who developed ranidaphobia, as it is known, after running over a knot of frogs with a lawn-mower.

2013, Nick Haslam, “What are phobias?”, in The Explainer: From Déjà Vu to Why the Sky Is Blue, and Other Conundrums, CSIRO Publishing, →ISBN, page 231:

However Marinaccio's ranidaphobia may soon be quieted, as Clarence, N.Y., recently awarded him a $1.6 million settlement after he sued both the town and development firm Kieffer Enterprises for diverting the water runoff from a nearby development onto his land.

2013 April 10, Derek Prall, “Man sues town over plague of frogs”, in American City & County:


bunny rabbit

(childish or endearing) A bunny; a rabbit.


veal

en-noun

veal (countable and uncountable, plural veals)

From Middle English veel, from Anglo-Norman veel, from Latin vitellus, diminutive of vitulus (“calf”). Doublet of vitellus.

The flesh of a calf (i.e. a young bovine) used for food.