Shanghai

Shanghai
The Chicago Manual of Style
University of Chicago Press

c. 1840, likely from an English-derived romanization of the Mandarin Chinese pronunciation of Chinese 上海 (Shànghǎi), reinforced by Wade–Giles, Postal Romanization, and Hanyu Pinyin.

Guangxi · Inner Mongolia · Ningxia · Tibet Autonomous Region · Xinjiang

SHANGHAI (the emporium of Nanking) is the first town of any importance on the coast of Kiangnan province.[…]If, however, these difficulties were surmounted, and suitable precautions taken against existing dangers, the embouchure of this river would be one of the most eligible points for the establishment of British commerce in the whole empire. Be this as it may, however, certain it is that even now Shanghai carries on the greatest native trade of any port on the coast.[…]
The city of Shanghai is built on the left bank, some distance from the mouth. It is laid out with sufficient elegance, and numerous temples.

1840 September 12, “IX.—From Shanghai to Pekin.”, in The Penny Magazine, number 542, Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, →OCLC, page 358, column 2:

In January 1901, we reached Japan where Mrs. Hoover remained for the winter while I went to Shanghai in search of a method of reaching North China. The Port of Taku being frozen and there being then no railway connection between Shanghai and the north, all communication had been suspended for the winter.

1951, Herbert Hoover, “Engineering in China—1899–1902”, in The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover, Years of Adventure 1874-1920, New York: Macmillan Company, →OCLC, →OL, page 55:

By the year 2000, Shanghai is scheduled to become an international center of commerce and finance; economic strategists predict that by 2010 the city will have become the world's largest trading center. This "secret capital" of China has set some ambitious goals for itself. The population is proudly celebrating their collective "coming out," and business is booming.

1999, “Shanghai”, in The Book of the World, 2nd United States edition (Atlas), Macmillan, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 411, column 1:

Victor Li is determined to get married soon, but like many other young Chinese grappling with an uncertain economic outlook, the well-heeled Shanghai entrepreneur isn't sure he can afford to.
"It's very expensive for us to get married, especially in a big city like Shanghai," the 32-year-old said, as he took a break from a ticketed networking event for wealthier, top university-educated singles at an upmarket Shanghai jazz bar.

2024 January 17, Nicoco Chan, “Some Shanghai singles struggle to get married as economy slows”, in Reuters, archived from the original on 2024-01-21, China:

A major port city and direct-administered municipality of China, the largest urban area in China.


gimmer

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

der

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


beefalo

en-noun

beefalo (plural beefalo or beefalos or beefaloes)

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

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


guinea

→ Arabic: جُنَيْه (junayh)

→ Egyptian Arabic: جنيه (ginēh)

→ Irish: gine

→ Scottish Gaelic: gini

→ Spanish: guinea

→ Welsh: gini

From Guinea, the early modern name for West Africa, the coins originally being made of gold from the region, mostly from the 'Gold Coast' (modern Ghana) and used for African trade, and the guinea fowl being found there.

If I’m to tell the whole truth—and why not? I sure have the time!—I’ll have to start by saying I was born Richard Pinzetti, in New York’s Little Italy. My father was an Old World guinea.

(US, slang, derogatory, ethnic slur) A person of Italian descent.


jumbuck

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


hackney

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

cog

hackney authors

his accumulative and hackney tongue

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


howdah

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

der

They don't ask for palanquins and howdahs.

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

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

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

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


cantle

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

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

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

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

In one cantle of his law.

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

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


jew

The creeks gave us lots of food, too—yellow belly and jew, perch and eel.

1994, Rita Huggins & Jackie Huggins, Auntie Rita, in Heiss & Minter, Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature, Allen & Unwin 2008, p. 151


jew

Pronunciation spelling
pronunciation spelling

Pronunciation spelling of d' you, representing colloquial English.

How jew do that? ("How'd you do that?")

Pronunciation spelling of 'd you, representing colloquial English.


grayling

From Middle English greylyng, equivalent to gray + -ling.

Other similar fish
Salmo salar (Atlantic salmon)


bison

en-noun

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

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

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


dead cat bounce

en-noun

dead cat bounce (plural dead cat bounces)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

financial instrument
financial instrument

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

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

Dead-Cat-Bounce

temporary recovery in the price of an instrument


kuri

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


coelacanth

From the New Latin genus name Coelacanthus, from Ancient Greek κοῖλος (koîlos, “hollow”) + ἄκανθα (ákantha, “spine”), referring to the hollow caudal fin rays of the first fossil specimen described and named by Louis Agassiz in 1839.

Among them were ancient relatives of the piranhas and those popular aquarium fish the tetras, along with garfish and freshwater coelacanths, known as mawsonids.

2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 32:

Any lobe-finned fish in the order Coelacanthiformes, thought until 1938 to have been extinct for 70 million years.

空棘魚

any lobe-finned fish in the order Coelacanthiformes


bathydemersal

A demersed fish living and/or feeding underwater below 200 meters (650 feet).


napoleon

napoleon (countable and uncountable, plural napoleons)

/nəˈpəʊlɪən/

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

bor

Always an eloquent speaker, Polk became known as the Napoleon of the stump.

2011, Robert Morgan, Lions of the West::

(fashion, obsolete) Clipping of Napoleon boot: a form of topboot worn by officers during the Napoleonic Wars.

Napoleon boot

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

наполео́н

12-pounder cannon of the Second French Empire

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

nap

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

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

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


nase

[…] “With respect to fishes,” says Professor Rütimeyer, “many species were found which are now the most abundant in our lakes and rivers.” The following are mentioned:— The salmon (Salmo salar, Lin.), the pike (Esox lucius. Lin.), the perch (Perca fluviatilis, Lin.), the carp (Cyprinus carpio, Lin.), the dace (Cyprinus leuciscus, Lin.), the chub (Cyprinus dobula, Nilss.), the nase (Chondrostoma nasus, [Lin.] Agass.), the burbot (Lita vulgaris, Jen.), and the rud (Scardinius erythrophthalmus, [Lin.] Bon.).

1885, Charles Rau, Prehistoric Fishing in Europe and North America. Archæological Researches in Nicaragua (Smithsonian contributions to knowledge; XXV), City of Washington: Smithsonian Institution, pages 45–46:

Any of the genus Chondrostoma of freshwater potamodromous fishes.

скобар

any of the genus Chondrostoma of freshwater potamodromous fishes


Great Dane

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


pillion

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

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


billy goat

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

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


kangaroo mouse

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


colorado

A fish of the species Lutjanus colorado, the Colorado snapper.


cottonmouth

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

Agkistrodon piscivorus
Agkistrodon piscivorus#Translingual

A snake, Agkistrodon piscivorus, the water moccasin.


sardine

en-verb

sardine (third-person singular simple present sardines, present participle sardining, simple past and past participle sardined)

sardines (present singular third-person)
sardining (participle present)
sardined (participle past)
sardined (past)

Borrowed from French sardine (cognate with Spanish sardina, Italian sardina), Latin sardīna; from Ancient Greek σαρδίνη (sardínē).

No one on Monhegan says they saw them, but a man sardining says he saw it headed there, or at least some boat with people atop it.

1997, Peter Landesman, The raven: a novel:


withers

en-noun

withers pl (normally plural, singular wither)

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

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

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


goa

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


walleye

(plural "walleye" or "walleyes") A species of gamefish, Sander vitreus, native to the Northern U.S. and Canada with pale, reflective eyes.


tuan

brush-tailed phascogale
brush-tailed phascogale

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


Bengal

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

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


spanker

beyond the broad white wing of the spanker sail

1839, Charlotte Elizabeth, Glimpses of the Past:

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


bandog

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

amerikanbandoggi

American pit bull terrior and Neapolitan mastiff cross


python

From Latin pȳthon, from Ancient Greek Πύθων (Púthōn), the name of the mythological enormous serpent at Delphi slain by Apollo, probably from Πυθώ (Puthṓ), older name of Delphi.

(zoology) A type of large constricting snake.


angler

/ˈæŋ.ɡlə(ɹ)/

From Middle English angler, angleer, angeler, equivalent to angle + -er.

The angler lured a smaller fish into reach with the appendage on its head.

Lophius piscatorius
Lophius piscatorius#Translingual


barker

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

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

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

cascador

a person who strips needed or valuable bark


maggie

Any of several kinds of bird in the family Corvidae, especially Pica pica.


white elephant

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

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

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

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

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

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

nutzloser Besitz

unwanted possession, financial burden, unprofitable investment


blob

From Middle English *blob (“attested in blobby”). Possibly onomatopoeic, similarly to bleb and blubber.

inh

attested in <i class="Latn mention" lang="enm">blobby</i>

A small freshwater fish (Cottus bairdii); the miller's thumb.


catnap

en-verb

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

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

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

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

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

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


ptarmigan

en-noun

ptarmigan (plural ptarmigan or ptarmigans)

From Scottish Gaelic tarmachan, of unknown origin. The pt- comes from a mistaken belief in a Greek origin, as if related to ptero- (“wing”).

Any of three species of small grouse in the genus Lagopus found in subarctic tundra areas of North America and Eurasia.


nene

Borrowed from Hawaiian nēnē, which is imitative of the bird’s call.

Ohelo Vaccinium reticulatum (and V. peleanum) and kukaenene Coprosma ernodeoides […] are the most important berries in the Nenes’ diet, and it is probably from such juicy fruit that much of their water intake comes.

1980, Janet Kear, A. J. Berger, “The Hawaiian Goose or Nene”, in The Hawaiian Goose: An Experiment in Conservation, Calton, Staffordshire: T. & A. D. Poyser, →ISBN; reprinted London: T. & A. D. Poyser, 2010, →ISBN, page 42:

Today, both wild and domestic dogs are a serious threat to Hawai‘i's native wildlife. The dogs prey on both seabirds and open country birds, especially the Hawaiian goose, nēnē. However, feral dogs aren't all bad, because one of their favorite foods is rats.

1991, Susan Scott, Plants and Animals of Hawai‘i, Honolulu, Hi.: Bess Press, →ISBN, page 123:

Scientists think the nēnē descended from Canada geese that landed on Hawai‘i long before humans arrived. As they survived on the isolated islands for generation after generation, the geese gradually changed, becoming a new species. Today's nēnē, unlike its water-loving ancestor, is a land bird.

1993, Marion Coste, Nēnē (Kolowalu Book), Honolulu, Hi.: University of Hawaii Press, →ISBN, page 20:

The nene is a handsome bird that almost became extinct in the wild but was reintroduced successfully from ones bred in captivity.

2004, Richard [Alan] Fortey, The Earth: An Intimate History, London: HarperCollins, →ISBN; republished London: Folio Society, 2011, →OCLC, page 37:

Among the iconic flora and fauna found here are […] the endangered nene (Hawaiian goose). After almost going extinct, nene were reintroduced into the national park in 1962 when Boy Scouts carried geese that had been raised in captivity down into Haleakala volcano in their backpacks.

2011, Sara Benson, “Haleakala National Park”, in Maui: Must-do Hikes for Everyone (Top Trails), Birmingham, Ala.: Wilderness Press, →ISBN, page 197:

Branta sandvicensis
Branta sandvicensis#Translingual

The Hawaiian goose, Branta sandvicensis, which was designated the state bird of Hawaii in 1957.

Kéyah Ałkééʼ Naaznilgo Dah Ndaaʼeełídę́ę́ʼ naalʼeełítsoh noodǫ́zígíí


hog

en-verb

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

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

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

der

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


hearing dog

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


horsiculture

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


upokororo

A New Zealand fish, Prototroctes oxyrhynchus in the family Haplochitonidae, rather like a trout.


doodle

Extracted from Labradoodle, itself a blend of labrador and poodle

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


yellowfin tuna

en-noun

yellowfin tuna (countable and uncountable, plural yellowfin tunas)

The experiment in the first period targeted skipjack tuna and the second, yellowfin tuna.

1996, Gary T. Sakagawa, “Western Pacific Yellowfin Tuna Research Group Findings on Tuna Fisheries Interactions”, in Richard S. Shomura, Jacek Majkowski, Robert F. Harman, editors, Status of Interactions of Pacific Tuna Fisheries in 1995, page 310:

2009, Kurt M. Schaefer, Daniel W. Fuller, Barbara A. Block, Vertical Movements and Habitat Utilization of Skipjack (Katsuwonis pelamis), Yellowfin (Thunnus albacares), and Bigeye (Thunnus obesus) Tunas in the Equatorial Eastern Pacific Ocean, Ascertained through Archival Tag Data,
During the daytime, skipjack and yellowfin tunas occasionally exhibited repetitive bounce-dive foraging behavior well below the thermocline to depths of the deep scattering layer, between 225 and 400 m.

Ohta and Kakuma (2005) reported that adult yellowfin tuna showed a similar diurnal vertical swimming pattern and dived to depths over 200 m.

2011, Yasushi Mitsunaga, Ricardo Barbaran, C. Endo, Kazuhiko Anraku, “Swimming Behavior of Juvenile Yellowfin Tuna (Thunnus albacares) Around Fish Aggragate^([sic]) Devices (F.A.D.S.) in the Philippines”, in Hubert J. Ceccaldi, editor, Global Change: Mankind-Marine Environment Interactions, page 123:

Thunnus albacares
Thunnus albacares#Translingual

(uncountable) An edible species of tuna, Thunnus albacares, found especially in tropical seas.


diver

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

New Zealand sand diver
New Zealand sand diver


humpback whale

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

Megaptera novaeangliae
Megaptera novaeangliae#Translingual

A species of baleen whale (Megaptera novaeangliae).


scomber

[…] the familiar name by which all scombers are known at Montpelier being the peis d’avril, or April fish. […] All times and tongues have agreed to call the first of these scombers by some name allusive to the warlike weapon carried in his mouth—viz., a sword, several feet in length, finely attenuated in front, and, to the dismay of the denizens of the deep, of a temper like that of its owner, not to be trusted or trifled with. […] The size and strength of these fish are as remarkable as their pugnacity; the power, as in most scombers, residing in the muscles moving the tail.

1853 March, “The Last of the Scombers”, in Fraser’s Magazine for Town and Country, volume XLVII, number CCLXXIX, London: John W[illiam] Parker and Son, […], pages 260–262:

[…] large carongues and scombers are found in the Canarian seas, and the similarity of several species is most remarkable.

1871, E[ugène] Pégot-Ogier, translated by Frances Locock, “General Scientific Observations”, in The Fortunate Isles; or, The Archipelago of the Canaries. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley and Son, […], pages 230–231:

All of the Scombers are of the most highly organized order of fishes, most. of them being without air-bladders, being so adapted to their native element that they have no need of them.

1911 December, Charles F. Allen, “Fish and Fishing: A School of Tuna off Navesink”, in Sports Afield, volume XLVII, number 6, page 525, column 2:

The tail with its caudal fin, set vertically, is able to effect a rapid burst of speed which allows the fish to make a dash after its prey, but it cannot keep up this speed for long. At the rear it acts as a scull, beating the water first to right and then to left, and so pushing the body forward. Only some sharks and the large mackerel or scombers are capable of using this tool with an effect comparable to that attained by the cetaceans. […] The whole construction of these large scombers is designed to make of them, like fast ships, the greyhounds of the sea. […] The case of the tunny and the large scombers, whose massive bodies become considerably warmer when they are swimming, is an exception.

1935, Louis Roule, translated by Conrad Elphinstone, Fishes and Their Ways of Life, New York, N.Y.: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., pages 24–25, 32, and 232:

Scombers are being fried or marinated in every house. […] Small scombers will pass through the wide mesh of the walls but become entangled in the inner meshes; […] Kolya and I were drawing up a net we had put out for scomber the evening before, at right angles to the shore. The catch was a thoroughly poor one. About a hundred scomber were tangled in the meshes of the net, five or six ruff, a few dozen golden-hued, fat little crucians and a very great deal of jellied, nacreous medusae, looking like enormous, colorless mushroom-heads, each with a multitude of stems.

1947, Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin, translated by Bernard Guilbert Guerney, “The Læstrygonians”, in The Portable Russian Reader: A Collection Newly Translated from Classical and Present-Day Authors, New York, N.Y.: The Viking Press, pages 409, 412, and 425:

The abundant ichthyoplankton in spring are contributed from larval and early juvenile species of highly commercial fishery concerns, such as scads and scombers. […] Scads and scombers are less abundant in the southern part of the Strait, relative to the northern Strait.

1994, Tai-Sheng Chiu, Kwang-Zong Chang, “Comparison of Ichthyoplankton Fauna in Northern Taiwan Strait During Winter and Spring”, in Acta Zoologica Taiwanica, volume 5, number 1, Taipei: National Taiwan University, pages 23–32:


gummy

Over there [the UK], gummies are called smooth hound and a six kilo fish would stop the nation.

2000, Paul Worsteling, Fishing Western Port, page 12:

2007, Bill Classon, Fishing Guide to Victoria′s Coastline, Australian Fishing Network, page 60,
Western Port is a great location to find gummies. […] Gummy sharks are one of the favoured species in Western Port and for good reason: they put up a strong fight and feed of fresh flake is pretty hard to beat.

This area of vast mudflats is right at the top of the port is home to some of the best gummy shark fishing around.[…]As the water drops, the feeding gummies drop off the banks and wait in the channels for food.

2008, Rex Hunt, Fishing Guide to Melbourne and Surrounds, page 44:


ahi

Borrowed from Hawaiian ʻahi (“yellowfin tuna”).


sperm whale

Physeter catodon
Physeter catodon#Translingual

Physeter macrocephalus
Physeter macrocephalus#Translingual

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


corvine

en-adj

corvine (comparative more corvine, superlative most corvine)

more corvine (comparative)
most corvine (superlative)

Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of crows or ravens.

гарванов

of, pertaining to, or characteristic of crows or ravens


seabird

LL-Q1860 (eng)-The Editor's Apprentice-seabird.wav

Any bird that spends most of its time in coastal waters or over the oceans.

seevoël

any bird that spends most of its time in coastal waters


yellow jack

en-noun

yellow jack (countable and uncountable, plural yellow jacks)

(countable) A fish of species Carangoides bartholomaei, of warm western Atlantic waters.


American eagle

Haliaeetus leucocephalus
Haliaeetus leucocephalus#Translingual

Haliaeetus leucocephalus, a species of eagle characterized by notable white head plumage, native to North America and national bird of the United States of America.


bald eagle

Named after the white markings on its head and tail.

Haliaeetus leucocephalus, a species of eagle native to North America and notable for the white plumage on its head.


stripper

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

(manufacturing) Short for stripper plate.


tambourine

From French tambourin (“little drum”), from French tambour (“drum”). Ultimately from Arabic طُنْبُور (ṭunbūr); see it and Persian تنبور for more.

Tambourines are shy birds and do not tame easily.


quokka

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

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

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

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

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

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

Setonix brachyurus
Setonix brachyurus#Translingual

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


puss

puss (countable and uncountable, plural pusses)

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

onomatopoeic

imitative

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

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

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

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


cobweb

From Middle English copweb, coppeweb. Compare Middle Dutch kopwebbe, German Low German Kobbenwebbe (Westphalian). By surface analysis, cop (“spider”, obsolete) + web.

surf

European spotted flycatcher
European spotted flycatcher

Muscicapa striata
Muscicapa striata#Translingual

The European spotted flycatcher, Muscicapa striata.


opossum

→ Catalan: opòssum

→ Finnish: opossumi

→ Irish: apasam

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

der

Didelphis virginiana
Didelphis virginiana#Translingual

Any American marsupial of the family Didelphidae. The common species of the United States is Didelphis virginiana.


potter

From Middle English pottere, from late Old English pottere (“potter”), equivalent to pot + -er, influenced by Old French potier (“potter”). More at pot. Displaced Old English crocwyrhta (literally “pot worker”).

ncog

The chicken turtle, Deirochelys reticularia.


tinker

(US)

From Middle English tynkere, perhaps from Old English *tincere, from tin (“tin”) + *cere, as in bēocere (“beekeeper”).

if ifs and ans were pots and pans, there'd be no work for tinkers' hands

(dated, chiefly British and Ireland, offensive) A member of the Irish Traveller community or of other itinerant groups; a gypsy.

Any of various fish: chub mackerel, silverside, skate, or young mackerel about two years old.


ambler

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

A slow-moving, comfortable horse or mule.


bidet

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

شَطَّاف

low-mounted plumbing fixture for cleaning the genitalia and anus


hurcheon

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


cunny

en-adj

cunny (comparative more cunny, superlative most cunny)

more cunny (comparative)
most cunny (superlative)

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

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


vasa

Any parrot of the genus Coracopsis, native to Madagascar.


manta ray

From Spanish manta (“blanket”), after the blanket-shaped trap used to catch them.

My favorite are the manta rays. We watch them wing past. The have the largest brain of any fish, I remember.

2020, Jenny Offill, Weather, Granta Books (2021), page 181:

Any of several very large pelagic rays formerly of the genus Manta, now placed in genus Mobula, with winglike pectoral fins, a long tail, and two fins resembling horns that project from the head.


trooper

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

(US, law enforcement) Ellipsis of state trooper.


borer

дървесен червей

a wood boring insect: the larval stage of the Anobium punctatum beetle

One of the many types of mollusc that bore into soft rock.


puku

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


oriole

/ˈɔː.ɹiːˌəʊl/

A borrowing from Middle French oriol, from Old French oriol, from Latin aureolus, diminutive of aureus (“golden”). First use appears c. 1776 in the writings of Thomas Pennant.

Those at risk include the wood thrush, a well-known songbird, and the Baltimore oriole, the mascot of Maryland’s baseball team.

2019 October 10, Emily Holden, “Two-thirds of bird species in North America could vanish in climate crisis”, in The Guardian:

Any of various colourful passerine birds, the New World orioles from the family Icteridae and the Old World orioles from the family Oriolidae.

beng

any of the various colourful passerine birds


off side

en-noun

off side (countable and uncountable, plural off sides)

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


reptilian

en-adj

reptilian (comparative more reptilian, superlative most reptilian)

more reptilian (comparative)
most reptilian (superlative)

From reptile + -ian, replacing earlier reptilious and adjectival reptile.


dinosaurus

en-noun

dinosaurus (plural dinosauri or dinosauruses)

dinosauri (plural)
dinosauruses (plural)


homer

Joe is such a homer that he would never boo the Hometown Hobos, even if they are in last place in the league.

(US, sports) A person who is extremely devoted to a favorite team.


shabrack

From Turkish çaprak, Ottoman Turkish چاپراق.

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

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


dishwasher

From Middle English dysche wescheare, equivalent to dish + washer.

(Australia) A bird, the restless flycatcher (Myiagra inquieta).


griffon

A breed of dog usually called the Brussels griffon, reminiscent of the legendary creature.


hemipode

Any of a small group of birds containing 15 species, all but one of which are in the genus Turnix.


palomino

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

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

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

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

llaeth a chwrw (noun phrase used as attributive adjective)


surcingle

/ˈsɜːsɪŋɡ(ə)l/

/ˈsɜɹˌsɪŋ.ɡəl/

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

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

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

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


cayuse

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


snaffle

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

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

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

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

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

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

(figuratively) Decorative wear that looks like a snaffle.


snaffle

en-verb

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

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


dressage

en-noun

dressage (countable and uncountable, plural dressages)

Borrowed from French dressage (“training”).

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

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

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


Frenchman

From Middle English Frenshman; equivalent to French + -man.

red-legged partridge
red-legged partridge


terrapin

terrapin (countable and uncountable, plural terrapins)

From torup (“snapping turtle native to North America, especially the common snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina)”) or from its etymon Powhatan *tōrəp (“sea turtle”) + possibly English -ine (suffix forming derivative or diminutive nouns), perhaps influenced by Latin terra (“dry land; soil; planet Earth”). Cognate with Abenaki tolba (“turtle”), Penobscot dolba and Unami (pisëla)tulpe (“soft-shelled turtle”).

cog

As to the terrapin, I have not so much to say. The terrapin is a small turtle, found on the shores of Maryland and Virginia, out of which a very rich soup is made. It is cooked with wines and spices, and is served in the shape of a hash, with heaps of little bones mixed through it. […] I must, however, confess that the terrapin for me had no surpassing charms.

1862, Anthony Trollope, “From Boston to Washington”, in North America. […], volume I, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 467:

diamondback terrapin
diamondback terrapin

(countable, obsolete) Any of several small turtles native to North America that live in brackish or fresh water, especially the diamondback terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin).

сладководна костенурка

any of several small turtles native to North America that live in brackish or fresh water


martingale

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

A piece of harness used on a horse to keep it from raising its head above a desired point.

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

If a gambler plays a fair game repeatedly, his payoff over time is a martingale.

(mathematics) A stochastic process for which the conditional expectation of future values given the sequence of all prior values is equal to the current value.

martingala

a stochastic process relating random variables to earlier values

(fencing) A strap attached to the sword handle, preventing a sword being dropped if disarmed.


stalker

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

2024, Jack Adler, Horse Racing: An Opinion: A New Way of Seeing the Sport of Kings
If the class of the field is a stalker, I'm all in in terms of evaluating his chances.

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


house mouse

The universally common mouse of the species Mus musculus.


butterfly fish

en-noun

butterfly fish (plural butterfly fish or butterfly fishes)

butterfly fish (plural)
butterfly fishes (plural)

Pantodon buchholzi on Wikipedia. - Pantodon buchholzi

Pterois volitans on Wikipedia. - Pterois volitans

Dactyloptena orientalis on Wikipedia. - Dactyloptena orientalis

Exocoetus volitans on Wikipedia. - Exocoetus volitans


great grey shrike

great grey shrike (plural great grey shrikes)

Lanius excubitor
Lanius excubitor#Translingual


tester

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

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


tetra

From translingual Tetragonopterus, an obsolete genus that included these fish.

Among them were ancient relatives of the piranhas and those popular aquarium fish the tetras, along with garfish and freshwater coelacanths, known as mawsonids.

2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 32:

Any of numerous species of small freshwater fish of the South American family Characidae and West African family Alestidae, popular in home aquariums.


lamprey

lamprey (countable and uncountable, plural lampreys)

From Middle English laumprei, from Old French lampreie (modern French lamproie), from Medieval Latin lampreda, possibly alteration of Late Latin lampetra (“lamprey”), whose further origin is unknown, though it is traditionally thought to be a combination of lambō (“I lick, lap”) + petra (“stone, rock”). Doublet of limpet, which derives from Latin.

Any long slender primitive eel-like freshwater and saltwater fish of the order Petromyzontiformes, having a sucking mouth with rasping teeth but no jaw.


lungfish

lungfish (plural lungfish or lungfishes)

air-breathing fish, of the class Dipnoi, that have four limblike appendages instead of fins


pterosaur

From ptero- + -saur, literally “wing lizard”, from Ancient Greek πτερόν (pterón, “feather, wing”) and σαῦρος (saûros, “lizard, reptile”).

bor

Batsquatch, pterosaurs and the River Man. She had three weeks in Washington State tracking down the local legends. There was nothing ordinary about her job as the biologist on the television show Cryptid or Hoax?

2020, Shona Husk, Close to the Truth, HarperCollins Australia, →ISBN:

Any of several flying reptiles, of the extinct order †Pterosauria, including the pterodactyls.


effet

He had been cutting grass in the churchyard, and an effet ran at him, and bit him on the thumb.

1858, John George Wood, The common objects of the country, page 51:


cockapoo

Blend of cocker spaniel + poodle with influence from cockatoo.

A cross between an American cocker spaniel and a miniature poodle.


cero

Corruption of Spanish sierra (“sawfish”).

A large scombroid food fish (Scomberomorus regalis) found chiefly in the West Indies.


ruck

rook (most accents without the foot-strut split)

From Middle English ruke, from Old Norse. Compare Icelandic hrúka, Swedish ruka.

меле

contest for possession of the ball in Rugby

Australian rules football
Australian rules football#English

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

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

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

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

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


labrador

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


brown trout

Some brown trout live to be twenty years old. Browns are canny, the most wary of trout.

2001, Percival Everett, Erasure, Faber & Faber Limited (2021), page 67:

A nonmigratory freshwater trout of species Salmo trutta, with dark spotted skin, native to Europe and Asia.


mousy

en-adj

mousy (comparative mousier, superlative mousiest)

mousier (comparative)
mousiest (superlative)

From mouse + -y (forms adjectives from nouns).


brook trout

en-noun

brook trout (plural brook trout or brook trouts)

brook trout (plural)
brook trouts (plural)

Salvelinus fontinalis
Salvelinus fontinalis#Translingual

A fish of the species Salvelinus fontinalis.


trammel

From Middle English trameyle, from Old French tramail (“net for catching fish”), from Late Latin tremaculum, from tri- (“tri-”) + macula (“spot, speck; mesh, cell”). Cognate with Italian tramaglio (“trammel”), Spanish trasmallo (“drift net”).

affix

A vertical bar with several notches or chain of rings suspended over a fire, used to hang cooking pots by a hook which has an easily adjustable height.

чатал

device to suspend cooking pots over a fire

крючо́к

для подве́шивания котла́ над огнём

A kind of shackle used for regulating the motions of a horse and making it amble.

(engineering) An instrument for drawing ellipses, one part of which consists of a cross with two grooves at right angles to each other, the other being a beam carrying two pins (which slide in those grooves), and also the describing pencil.


rainbow trout

en-noun

rainbow trout (countable and uncountable, plural rainbow trout or rainbow trouts)

rainbow trout (plural)
rainbow trouts (plural)

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


bellwether

From Middle English belwether, belleweder, equivalent to bell + wether (“castrated ram”).

Several old ladies forthwith proclaimed their intention of following him; but, as one or two of them were deaf, and another had been threatened with an attack of that mild, but obstinate complaint, dementia senilis, many thought it was not so much the force of his arguments as a kind of tendency to jump as the bellwether jumps, well known in flocks not included in the Christian fold.

1861, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., chapter XXXI, in Elsie Venner:

The leading sheep of a flock, having a bell hung round its neck.

përçór

the leading sheep of a flock, having a bell hung round its neck

I suspect that, after all,[…]—that all this has been known, perhaps for ages, to certain ones upon this earth, a cult or order, members of which function like bellwethers to the rest of us, or as superior slaves or overseers, directing us in accordance with instructions received—from Somewhere else—in our mysterious usefulness.

1919, Charles Fort, chapter 12, in The Book of the Damned:

In December, after everyone had weighed in, Nature, a bellwether of mainstream scientific thought for more than a century, cautiously supported a future of automated scientific scrutiny in an editorial that addressed the Statcheck controversy without explicitly naming it.

2017 February 1, Stephen Buranyi, “The high-tech war on science fraud”, in The Guardian:

A bellwether election in Germany’s most populous state has shown a further eroding of support for populist parties on the far ends of the political spectrum, thrown up questions over the pulling power of the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and entrenched the growing authority of the Greens.

2022 May 16, Philip Oltermann, “German state elections show populism in decline on left and right”, in The Guardian:

(figuratively) Anything that indicates future trends.

One of my favorite sentiment indicators is bellwether stocks — key stocks that are leaders in their fields. When investors buy or sell these shares, it's usually a good sign of confidence or the lack of it in that sector of the market and sometimes even the economy.

2009, Joe Duarte, Market Timing For Dummies, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 120:

(finance, figuratively) A stock or bond that is widely believed to be an indicator of the overall market's condition.

trendsetter

a stock or bond that is widely believed to be an indicator of the overall market's condition


merlon

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

Most of the fibulae have a triangular molding above the notch, which probably contained wound wire. The crossbar is decorated either with a flat knob or with a Persian merlon.

1949, N. P. Toll, “[Fibulae.] Bow Fibulae.”, in Teresa G. Frisch, N. P. Toll, edited by M[ikhail] I[vanovich] Rostoftzeff, A. R. Bellinger, F. E. Brown, N. P. Toll, and C. B. Welles, The Excavations at Dura-Europos: Conducted by Yale University and the French Academy of Inscriptions and Letters: Final Report IV: Part IV. The Bronze Objects: Fascicle 1. Pierced Bronzes, Enameled Bronzes, and Fibulae, New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press; London: Geoffrey Cumberlege, Oxford University Press, →OCLC, page 56:

Smaller and less powerful falcons included the merlon, the hobby, and the kesterel.

1991, Thomas S. Henricks, “Sport in Feudal England”, in Disputed Pleasures: Sport and Society in Preindustrial England (Contributions to the Study of World History; 28), Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, Greenwood Publishing Group, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 23:

The connection between sporting activities and social rank is given a fanciful expression in the aforementioned The Boke of St. Albans. In that work the author lists the types of birds considered appropriate for the various stations of human life: / The eagle, the vulture, and the merlon for an emperor [...]

2003, Thomas S. Henricks, “Sport in the Later Middle Ages”, in Eric Dunning, Dominic Malcolm, editors, Sport (Critical Concepts in Sociology), volume II (The Development of Sport), London, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, part 10 (Medieval and Other Pre-modern Sports), page 160:

Alternative spelling of merlin (“a small falcon, Falco columbarius”)


seaduck

Any large duck found in coastal waters, especially those of the subfamily Merginae.


squawk

First attested in 1821. Unknown, but probably of imitative origin (compare dialectal Italian squacco (“small-crested heron”)).

American night heron
American night heron


ara

Borrowing from Dzongkha ཨ་རག་ (a rag), ultimately from Arabic عرق (ʕaraq). Doublet of arak.

A traditional alcoholic beverage consumed in Bhutan, made from rice, maize, millet, or wheat, either fermented or distilled. The beverage is usually a clear, creamy, or white color.


cockatrice

First attested 1382 as Middle English cocatrice (“basilisk”), from Old French cocatriz, from Late Latin calcātrīx (“she who treads upon something”), from Latin calcō (“tread”), from calx (“heel, hoof”).

der

“Peace reigns in happy Luxor. The lion lies down with the lamb, and the child, if it will, may harmlessly put its hand into the cockatrice’s den.”

c. 1910, Joseph Walker McSpadden, The Spell of Egypt:

(mythology) A legendary creature about the size and shape of a dragon or wyvern, but in appearance resembling a giant rooster, with some lizard-like characteristics.

For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the Lord.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Jeremiah 8:17:

(fantasy, folklore) A snake or serpent that appears to be hatched from a rooster, or cock's, egg.

this little cockatrice of a king

1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret, →OCLC:

(obsolete, figurative) Any venomous or deadly thing.


roller

→ Welsh: rholer

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


kate

Fringilla montifringilla
Fringilla montifringilla#Translingual

(UK, dialect, Kent) The brambling finch, Fringilla montifringilla.


goldeneye

/ˈɡəʊldənaɪ/

Any of several flowering plants of the subtribe Helianthinae.


saddle

en-verb

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

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

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

nb...

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

nshiuedz

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

kiinnittää

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

satuloida

(intransitive) to put a saddle on an animal

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


en-verb

run<,,ran,run> around like a chicken with its head cut off

run around like a chicken with its head cut off (third-person singular simple present runs around like a chicken with its head cut off, present participle running around like a chicken with its head cut off, simple past ran around like a chicken with its head cut off, past participle run around like a chicken with its head cut off)

En-au-run around like a chicken with its head cut off.ogg

The president doesn't know what to do. He's running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

(idiomatic) To act in a haphazard or aimless way; to act frantically or without control.

run around like a chicken with its head off


horsehide

en-noun

horsehide (countable and uncountable, plural horsehides)


menhaden

From Narragansett munnawhatteaug (“they fertilize”), influenced by poghaden.

uder

Divergence of the largescaled menhadens from the small-scaled menhadens resulted either from geographic isolation or different habitat preferences.

1970, Bulletin of the Florida State Museum: Biological sciences, Florida State Museum:

Any of several species of fish in the genera Brevoortia and Ethmidium, used for fish meal, fish oil, fertilizer, and bait.

步魚

fish of the genera Brevoortia or Ethmidium


velociraptor

From New Latin Velociraptor genus name, from vēlōx (“swift”) + raptor (“thief”).
The application to Deinonychus came about because Gregory S. Paul proposed that Velociraptor and Deinonychus were the same genus and this idea was taken up in the book leading to the Jurassic Park film series.

This is my favorite velociraptor, and that is saying a lot....That this species is sunk into Velociraptor is rather unfortunate, because the name Deinonychus Ostrom 1969a is a fine one.

1988, Gregory S. Paul, Predatory Dinosaurs of the World, New York, London, Toronto, Sydney, Tokyo: Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, pages 366–7:


langur

Borrowed from Hindustani لنگور / लंगूर (laṅgūr, “monkey”), from Sanskrit लाङ्गूल (lāṅgūla, “tail”) (compare लाङ्गूलिन् (lāṅgūlin, “tailed; monkey”)).

Any of the Old World monkeys of the subfamily Colobinae, in the genera Simias, Trachypithecus (lutungs), Presbytis (surilis), and Semnopithecus (gray langurs).


racecourse

By Savernake the train was 4½min early; we then had the thrill of sweeping through Newbury at 95 m.p.h.—and one wonders if any of the punters on the neighbouring racecourse had any eyes for our flying cavalcade as we swept by, for it was a race day—[...].

1964 June, Cecil J. Allen, “Locomotive Running Past and Present”, in Modern Railways, page 387:

(British, Australia) A racetrack where horse races are run.

хиподрум

(UK) a racetrack where horse races are run


tic-tac

(British) a system of sign language used by bookmakers at racecourses to communicate odds and bets; an associated group of words for each sign


stingray

The device mimics a cell phone tower and gets the phone to connect to it. […] Once a signal is found, the stingray measures its strength and can provide a general location on the map.

2014, Catherine Nolan, Ashley M. Wilson, JD, The Audacity to Spy: How Government, Business, and Hackers Rob Us of Privacy, Technics Publications, →ISBN, page 74:

(US law enforcement) A device that simulates a cell tower, used to intercept cell phone communications.


Lucy

Lucy
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
Saint Lucy

From Middle English Lucy, from Old French Lucie (notably after the Christian martyr Lucia of Syracuse), from Latin Lucia (feminine of Lucius, a Roman praenomen), from lux (“light”).
The name of the Australopithecus skeleton came from the Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", which was being played repeatedly at the dig site camp at the time of the discovery. The slang term for LSD also derives from the song name, which many believe is essentially a reference to the drug.

Here is Sir William Lucy, who with me / Set from our o'ermatch'd forces forth for aid.

A surname from Old French derived from place names in Normandy based on a male personal name, from Latin Lucius.


collared dove

From the fact that the species is a dove with a black collar around its neck.

Streptopelia decaocto
Streptopelia decaocto#Translingual

A bird of the species Streptopelia decaocto.


passenger pigeon

en-noun

passenger pigeon (plural passenger pigeons)

Martha was a remnant of a species that had once dominated North America; it is estimated that there were as many as four billion – yes, billion – passenger pigeons when the Europeans arrived.

2012 June 27, Helen Lewis, “Sense of an endling”, in New Statesman, archived from the original on 2012-07-11:

Revive & Restore, a branch of the Long Now Foundation, is currently attempting to de-extinct the passenger pigeon in a project called The Great Comeback.

2020, “Life Finds A Way”, in Jonathan Elmore, editor, Fiction and the Sixth Mass Extinction, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN:

Ectopistes migratorius
Ectopistes migratorius#Translingual

A bird of the extinct species †Ectopistes migratorius, formerly endemic to North America.

旅鴿

an extinct bird of the species Ectopistes migratorius


eyra

A slender, reddish-yellow wild cat (Puma yagouaroundi eyra) ranging from southern Brazil to Texas.


lyrebird

A lyrebird strolled past me on its large feet, among the granite boulders.

1983, Helen Garner, Yellow Notebook: Diaries Volume I, Text Publishing, published 2022, page 66:

Either of two large ground-dwelling Australian songbirds, of the genus Menura, named because of the beautiful tail feathers of the male of one species, the superb lyrebird (Menura novaehollandiae), which can be erected to look like a lyre, and notable for their extraordinary ability to mimic natural and artificial sounds from their environment.

քնարահավ

Australian songbirds of the genus Menura


codfish

codfish (countable and uncountable, plural codfish or codfishes)


steamer

From steam + -er. The steamer duck or steamer (sense 6.2) is apparently named for its resemblance to a paddle steamer when swimming rapidly.

A steamer duck: any of the four species of the duck genus Tachyeres which are all found in South America, three of which are flightless.

(horse racing) A racehorse the odds of which are becoming shorter (that is, decreasing) because bettors are backing it.


cichlid

Learned borrowing from New Latin Cichlidae.

lbor

Any of many tropical fish, of the family Cichlidae, popular as aquarium fish.


jake

en-noun

jake (countable and uncountable, plural jakes)

It is possible that the governments have found the cause of the poisoned “jake” in their investigations into the Jamaica ginger deaths throughout the South and Southwest.

1930, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, Administration of Federal Food and Drugs Act: Hearings..., page 1854:

(US, slang, uncountable) Jamaica ginger.


rug

Uncertain; probably of North Germanic origin; perhaps inherited via Middle English *rugge (suggested by Middle English ruggy (“hairy, shaggy, bristly”) and rugged (“hairy, shaggy, rugged”)), from Old Norse rǫgg (“shagginess, tuft”), from Proto-Germanic *rawwō (“long wool”), probably related to *rūhaz (“rough”), related to English rag and rough.
Cognate with dialectal Norwegian rugga (“coarse coverlet”), Swedish rugg (“rough entangled hair”), related to English rag and rough. Compare also Old English rȳhe (“rug, rough covering, blanket”).

cog

(historical, now rare) A cloak or mantle made of such a frieze.

(colloquial) A dense growth of chest hair.

We're the motherfuckers be fightin' when the rugs [black prisoners] start wasting people around here.

1980, John Irwin, Prisons in Turmoil, page 212:

(US, slang, ethnic slur) Short for rughead.


phoca

Borrowed from Latin phōca, from Ancient Greek φώκη (phṓkē).

His charet swift in haste he thither steard,
 Which with a teeme of scaly Phocas bound
 Was drawne vpon the waues, that fomed him around.

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

With tangled fins, behind, huge Phocæ glide,
 And Whales and Grampi swell the distant tide.

1789, Erasmus Darwin, The Loves of the Plants, J. Johnson, page 68:


phocine

From Latin phōca (“seal”) (from Ancient Greek φώκη (phṓkē)) + -ine.

Phocines anchor their hands by flexing their fingers, digging them into the substrate, and then pulling their body forward by elbow and shoulder flexion.

2007, Brian Keith Hall, Fins into Limbs, page 313:

(zoology) A member of the subfamily Phocinae, comprising the "true" or "earless" seals.


sleeper

(martial arts, wrestling) A sleeper hold.

A box-office bomb when it first came out, the film was a sleeper, becoming much more popular decades after being released.

For example, the [racehorse] trainer may have tipped a betting syndicate that he is about to unleash a sleeper […]

1968, Marvin B. Scott, The Racing Game, page 160:

Something that achieves unexpected success after an interval of time.

Any of family Odontobutidae of goby-like bottom-feeding freshwater fish.

rohmutokko

freshwater fish of the family Odontobutidae

(automotive, slang) An automobile which has been internally modified to excess, while retaining a mostly stock appearance in order to fool opponents in a drag race, or to avoid the attention of the police.


great crested grebe

en-noun

great crested grebe (plural great crested grebes)

Podiceps cristatus
Podiceps cristatus#Translingual

A freshwater bird of Europe and Asia, Podiceps cristatus.


passerine

/ˈpæsəˌɹaɪn/

Adjective sense 1 is borrowed from New Latin Passer (“bird genus”) (from Latin passer (“sparrow”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peth₂- (“to spread out; to fly (in the sense of spreading out wings)”)) + English -ine (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’).
Adjective sense 2 is borrowed from New Latin passerinus (“bird species”) + English -ine. Passerinus is derived from Latin passerīnus (“of or fit for sparrows”), from passer (“sparrow”) (see above) + -īnus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’).
The noun is borrowed from New Latin Passerinae (“former order of birds”), a calque of French passereaux, the plural of passereau (“sparrow; passerine (bird of the order Passeriformes)”), from Latin passer (“sparrow”) (see above) + -eau (suffix forming diminutive masculine nouns, specifically the names of young animals).
cognates
* French passerin (“sparrowlike”) (obsolete), Provençal French passerine (“passerine whitethroat, a bird from order Passeriformes”)

cog

Of or relating to the Passeriformes order of perching birds, which are generally anisodactyl (“having three toes pointing forward and one back, which facilitates perching”).

врабчов

of or relating to the Passeriformes order of perching birds


passerine

/ˈpæsəˌɹaɪn/

If we examine the names of the Orders of Birds, we find that they are in Latin, […] We might venture to anglicize the terminations of the names which Cuvier gives to the divisions of these Orders: thus the Predators are the Diurnals and the Nocturnals; the Passerines are the Dentirostres, the Fissirostres, the Conirostres, the Tenuirostres, and the Syndactyls: the word lustre showing that the former termination is allowable.

1840, William Whewell, “Aphorisms Concerning the Language of Science. Aphorism XVI. In the Composition and Inflexion of Technical Terms, Philological Analogies are to be Preserved if Possible, but Modified According to Scientific Convenience.”, in The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, Founded upon Their History. […], volume I, London: John W[illiam] Parker, […]; Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: J. and J. J. Deighton, →OCLC, paragraph 3, pages cx–cxi:

Any bird of the order Passeriformes, which comprises more than half of all bird species.


tilapia

From translingual Tilapia, from Tswana tlhapi (“fish”).
The drag race slang usage is a reference to the comment by Gia Gunn on entering Ru Paul's Drag Race (season 6) "Just landed like fresh tilapia".

Well I dined last night with Scarface Ron
On tilapia fishcakes and fried black swan.

2006, Tom Waits, Kathleen Brennan, Bottom of the World:

Any of various edible fish, formerly species of the genus Tilapia, but now placed in other cichlid genera (such as Oreochromis), native to Africa and the Middle East but cultivated worldwide.


South American sea lion

en-noun

South American sea lion (plural South American sea lions)

A sea lion, Otaria flavescens, found on the Chilean, Peruvian, Uruguayan and Argentine coasts, with a very large head with an upturned snout.


maned wolf

Chrysocyon brachyurus
Chrysocyon brachyurus#Translingual

One of species Chrysocyon brachyurus, the largest canid of South America,.


canid

The jaw indicates the beginning of a long tradition of the interment of dogs with people, which reveals a deep attachment between some people and canids.

2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 189:

Any member of the family Canidae, including canines (dogs, wolves, coyotes and jackals) and vulpines (foxes).


electric eel

Electrophorus electricus
Electrophorus electricus#Translingual

(strictly) Electrophorus electricus, a species of fish resembling an eel (though not related) that is capable of generating powerful electric shocks.

naʼashǫ́ʼii łóóʼ atsiniltłʼish ííłʼínígíí


field mouse

One of several species of mice in genus Akodon found in South America.


solenodon

Any of the family Solenodontidae of small nocturnal, burrowing, insectivorous mammals, with a long snout and venomous saliva.

almiquí

small nocturnal insectivorous mammal with long snout and venomous saliva


goat antelope

Any of a group of herbivore mammals, the subfamily Caprinae, that includes domestic sheep and goats.


toque

From Middle French toque (“toque”), from Arabic طَاقِيَّة (ṭāqiyya).

A variety of bonnet monkey; toque macaque, Macaca sinica.

(historical) An African nominal money of account, equal to 40 cowries.


toque

1871. Assimilated from Canadian French tuque. Likely to be a hypercorrection from the time that toque was already in the dictionaries when they did not yet list tuque as a kind of hat. The French word tuque for hat is itself not strictly a deformation of French toque: it is also related to other meanings of tuque and to its former name bonnet à la turque (lit. Turkish-style bunnet/cap).

Such is the demented nature of the universe that I was too weak to properly respond to my being hit on by carloads of Betties and Veronicas—all except for the cheeky Cheryl Anderson who gave me ‘manual release’ the day I lost my eye-brows, followed by a flood of tears and the snapping of Polaroids in which I wear a knit toque. Gush gush.

1998, Douglas Coupland, chapter 1, in Girlfriend in a Coma:

It was like entering the Millennial id. Craft beer and cucumber water poured from kitchen taps. Laptoppers in jeans and toques clacked along to MGMT in the wood-paneled common area.

2018 March, Laura Bliss, “How WeWork Has Perfectly Captured the Millennial Id”, in The Atlantic:

(Canada) A knitted hat, usually conical but of varying shape, often woollen, and sometimes topped by a pom-pom or tassel.


Nkulengu rail

Himantornis haematopus
Himantornis haematopus#Translingual

A bird from the family Rallidae, Himantornis haematopus.


Madagascar wood rail

Madagascar wood rail (plural Madagascar wood rails)

Canirallus kioloides
Canirallus kioloides#Translingual

Any bird of species Mentocrex kioloides (syn. Canirallus kioloides), rails of Madagascar.


Woodford's rail

Woodford's rail (plural Woodford's rails)

Nesoclopeus woodfordi
Nesoclopeus woodfordi#Translingual

a bird from the family Rallidae, Nesoclopeus woodfordi.


bar-winged rail

bar-winged rail (plural bar-winged rails)

Nesoclopeus poecilopterus
Nesoclopeus poecilopterus#Translingual

An extinct bird, of species †Nesoclopeus poecilopterus, that was endemic to Fiji.


grey-throated rail

grey-throated rail (plural grey-throated rails)

Canirallus oculeus
Canirallus oculeus#Translingual

a bird from the family Rallidae, Canirallus oculeus.


Colombian crake

Colombian crake (plural Colombian crakes)

A bird from the family Rallidae, Neocrex colombianus.


giant wood rail

giant wood rail (plural giant wood rails)

Aramides ypecaha
Aramides ypecaha#Translingual

A bird, Aramides ypecaha, from the family Rallidae.


invisible rail

So called because it is stealthy and difficult to spot in the wild.

Habroptila wallacii
Habroptila wallacii#Translingual

Habroptila wallacii, a flightless bird from the family Rallidae, endemic to parts of Indonesia.


paint-billed crake

paint-billed crake (plural paint-billed crakes)

Neocrex erythrops
Neocrex erythrops#Translingual

a bird from the family Rallidae (Neocrex erythrops).


uniform crake

Amaurolimnas concolor
Amaurolimnas concolor#Translingual

a bird from the family Rallidae (Amaurolimnas concolor).

Naakaii Bikéyahdę́ę́ʼ lókʼaatah noołnahii


chestnut rail

A bird from the family Rallidae, Eulabeornis castaneoventris.


New Guinea flightless rail

New Guinea flightless rail (plural New Guinea flightless rails)

Megacrex inepta
Megacrex inepta#Translingual

A bird from the family Rallidae, Megacrex inepta.


African crake

Crex egregia, a bird from the family Rallidae.

Naakaii Łizhiní Bikéyahdę́ę́ʼ haltsooítah noołnahii


grey-necked wood rail

grey-necked wood rail (plural grey-necked wood rails)

Aramides cajanea
Aramides cajanea#Translingual

Aramides cajanea, a bird from the family Rallidae.


white-throated rail

white-throated rail (plural white-throated rails)

Dryolimnas cuvieri
Dryolimnas cuvieri#Translingual

A bird, Dryolimnas cuvieri, from the family Rallidae.


ocellated crake

ocellated crake (plural ocellated crakes)

Micropygia schomburgkii
Micropygia schomburgkii#Translingual

a bird from the family Rallidae, Micropygia schomburgkii.


water rail

Rallus aquaticus
Rallus aquaticus#Translingual

a small wetland bird (Rallus aquaticus) of the family Rallidae that breeds in marshes and reedbeds across Europe and Asia.


Rouget's rail

Rougetius rougetii
Rougetius rougetii#Translingual

A bird from the family Rallidae, Rougetius rougetii.


Zapata rail

Cyanolimnas cerverai
Cyanolimnas cerverai#Translingual

A bird from the family Rallidae, Cyanolimnas cerverai.


snoring rail

Aramidopsis plateni
Aramidopsis plateni#Translingual

a bird from the family Rallidae, Aramidopsis plateni.


Calayan rail

Gallirallus calayanensis
Gallirallus calayanensis#Translingual

a flightless bird (Gallirallus calayanensis) from the family Rallidae that inhabits Calayan Island in the Philippines.


linnet

From Old French linette, from lin (“flax”), from the bird's fondness for the seeds of flax, the source of linen and Old English līnete, līnetwige (“linnet”) (> dialectal English lintwhite).

(US) A house finch (Haemorhous mexicanus), of North America.


red rail

†Aphanapteryx bonasia, an extinct species of birds from the family Rallidae, formerly endemic to Mauritius.


flying squirrel

flying squirrel (plural flying squirrels)

Lord Derby's scaly-tailed flying squirrel

Any of 43 species of squirrel-like rodents, which glide from tree to tree:

The tribe Pteromyini within the family Sciuridae, which are true squirrels.

The family Anomaluridae, which are only distantly related to the squirrels.


vika

Borrowed from Pijin vika, from Vangunu [Term?], a Solomon Islands language.

A large, tree-dwelling rodent (Uromys vika) found in the Solomon Islands


indicator

From Late Latin indicātor (“one who points out”), from Latin indicō (“point out”); see indicate.

der

(chemistry) Any of many substances, such as litmus, used to indicate the concentration of a substance, or the degree of a reaction.

(economics) A measure, such as unemployment rate, which can be used to predict economic trends.

(UK, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, South Africa, automotive) A turn signal; each of the flashing lights on each side of a vehicle which indicate a turn is being made to left or right, or a lane change etc.


wolf dog

One grisly old wolf-dog alone, with the liberty of an indulged favourite, had planted himself close by the chair of state, and occasionally ventured to solicit notice by putting his large hairy head upon his master’s knee, or pushing his nose into his hand.

1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, chapter III, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC:

Bayan was a dog, a tall gray wolf-dog. He could jump over the table with a single bound.

1916, Arthur Ransome, “The Hut in the Forest”, in Old Peter's Russian Tales:

The wolfdog sprawls on his back, wriggling obscenely with begging paws, his long black tongue lolling out.

1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 2]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:


black-throated antshrike

en-noun

black-throated antshrike (plural black-throated antshrikes)

a passerine bird of the antbird family, Frederickena viridis.


black-crested antshrike

black-crested antshrike (plural black-crested antshrikes)

Sakesphorus canadensis
Sakesphorus canadensis#Translingual

A South American passerine bird in the antbird family, living in undergrowth in mangrove or other swampy forest and thickets near water, Sakesphorus canadensis.


collared antshrike

collared antshrike (plural collared antshrikes)

A passerine bird of the antbird family (Thamnophilus bernardi, syn. Sakesphorus bernardi)


spot-backed antshrike

spot-backed antshrike (plural spot-backed antshrikes)

Hypoedaleus guttatus
Hypoedaleus guttatus#Translingual

a passerine bird of the antbird family, Hypoedaleus guttatus.


lined antshrike

lined antshrike (plural lined antshrikes)

a passerine bird of the antbird family, Thamnophilus palliatus


Acre antshrike

Thamnophilus divisorius
Thamnophilus divisorius#Translingual

A passerine bird of the antbird family, Thamnophilus divisorius.


bamboo antshrike

bamboo antshrike (plural bamboo antshrikes)

A passerine bird of the antbird family, Cymbilaimus sanctaemariae


fasciated antshrike

fasciated antshrike (plural fasciated antshrikes)

A passerine bird of the antbird family, in species Cymbilaimus lineatus (formerly Lanius lineatus).


silvery-cheeked antshrike

silvery-cheeked antshrike (plural silvery-cheeked antshrikes)

A passerine bird of the antbird family, Sakesphorus cristatus, Thamnophilus cristatus


large-tailed antshrike

large-tailed antshrike (plural large-tailed antshrikes)

a passerine bird of the antbird family, Mackenziaena leachii, syn. Thamnophilus leachii


undulated antshrike

undulated antshrike (plural undulated antshrikes)

a passerine bird of the antbird family, Frederickena unduligera.


black antshrike

black antshrike (plural black antshrikes)

A passerine bird of the antbird family, Thamnophilus nigriceps.


black-hooded antshrike

black-hooded antshrike (plural black-hooded antshrikes)

A passerine bird of the antbird family, Thamnophilus bridgesi


chestnut-backed antshrike

chestnut-backed antshrike (plural chestnut-backed antshrikes)

A passerine bird of the antbird family (Thamnophilus palliatus, syn. Lanius palliatus)


Cocha antshrike

Cocha antshrike (plural Cocha antshrikes)

A passerine bird of the antbird family, Thamnophilus praecox.


white-shouldered antshrike

white-shouldered antshrike (plural white-shouldered antshrikes)

A passerine bird of the antbird family (Thamnophilus aethiops).


barred antshrike

barred antshrike (plural barred antshrikes)

A passerine bird of the antbird family, of species Thamnophilus doliatus.


Castelnau's antshrike

Castelnau's antshrike (plural Castelnau's antshrikes)

A passerine bird of the antbird family, Thamnophilus cryptoleucus.


white-bearded antshrike

white-bearded antshrike (plural white-bearded antshrikes)

A passerine bird (Biatas nigropectus) of the antbird family.


blackish-gray antshrike

blackish-gray antshrike (plural blackish-gray antshrikes)

A passerine bird of the antbird family, Thamnophilus nigrocinereus.


upland antshrike

upland antshrike (plural upland antshrikes)

a passerine bird of the antbird family, Thamnophilus aroyae.


rufous-capped antshrike

rufous-capped antshrike (plural rufous-capped antshrikes)

a passerine bird of the antbird family, Thamnophilus ruficapillus.


glossy antshrike

glossy antshrike (plural glossy antshrikes)

A passerine bird of the antbird family (Sakesphorus luctuosus).


Chapman's antshrike

Chapman's antshrike (plural Chapman's antshrikes)

A passerine bird of the antbird family (Thamnophilus zarumae).


streak-backed antshrike

streak-backed antshrike (plural streak-backed antshrikes)

a passerine bird of the antbird family, Thamnophilus insignis.


Amazonian antshrike

Amazonian antshrike (plural Amazonian antshrikes)

Thamnophilus amazonicus
Thamnophilus amazonicus#Translingual

A passerine bird of the antbird family, Thamnophilus amazonicus.


western slaty antshrike

western slaty antshrike (plural western slaty antshrikes)

A passerine bird of the antbird family, Thamnophilus atrinucha.


Guianan slaty antshrike

Guianan slaty antshrike (plural Guianan slaty antshrikes)

A passerine bird of the antbird family, Thamnophilus punctatus, (syn. Lanius punctatus).


spot-winged antshrike

spot-winged antshrike (plural spot-winged antshrikes)

a passerine bird of the antbird family (Pygiptila stellaris, syn Thamnophilus stellaris).


great antshrike

great antshrike (plural great antshrikes)

A passerine bird of the antbird family (Taraba major, syn. Thamnophilus major).


Bolivian slaty antshrike

Bolivian slaty antshrike (plural Bolivian slaty antshrikes)

A passerine bird of the antbird family, Thamnophilus sticturus


black-backed antshrike

black-backed antshrike (plural black-backed antshrikes)

a passerine bird of the antbird family, Sakesphorus melanonotus.


pearly antshrike

pearly antshrike (plural pearly antshrikes)

Megastictus margaritatus, a passerine bird of the antbird family, native to South America.


mouse-colored antshrike

mouse-colored antshrike (plural mouse-colored antshrikes)

Thamnophilus murinus, a passerine bird of the antbird family, native to South America.


Natterer's slaty antshrike

Natterer's slaty antshrike (plural Natterer's slaty antshrikes)

Named after Johann Natterer (1787–1843), Austrian naturalist and explorer.

A passerine bird of the antbird family, Thamnophilus stictocephalus.

Johann Natterer
Natterer's slaty antshrike


rufous-winged antshrike

rufous-winged antshrike (plural rufous-winged antshrikes)

a passerine bird of the antbird family, Thamnophilus torquatus.


Planalto slaty antshrike

Planalto slaty antshrike (plural Planalto slaty antshrikes)

a passerine bird of the antbird family, Thamnophilus pelzelni (syn. Thamnophilus punctatus pelzelni)


Peruvian slaty antshrike

Peruvian slaty antshrike (plural Peruvian slaty antshrikes)

A passerine bird of the antbird family, Thamnophilus caerulescens.


band-tailed antshrike

band-tailed antshrike (plural band-tailed antshrikes)

a passerine bird of the antbird family, Sakesphorus melanothorax.


Sooretama slaty antshrike

Sooretama slaty antshrike (plural Sooretama slaty antshrikes)

The Planalto Slaty-antshrike (Thamnophilus pelzelni) and the Sooretama Slaty-antshrike (T. ambiguus) are most easily distinguished by subtle and localized changes in plumage colors of males and females.

2007, Brazilian Journal of Biology, volume 67, page 873:

A passerine bird of the antbird family, Thamnophilus ambiguus (syn. Thamnophilus naevius ambiguus).


tufted antshrike

tufted antshrike (plural tufted antshrikes)

A passerine bird of the antbird family, Mackenziaena severa.


bar-crested antshrike

bar-crested antshrike (plural bar-crested antshrikes)

A passerine bird of species Thamnophilus multistriatus, in the antbird family.


variable antshrike

variable antshrike (plural variable antshrikes)

A passerine bird of the antbird family, in species Thamnophilus caerulescens.


plain-winged antshrike

plain-winged antshrike (plural plain-winged antshrikes)

a passerine bird of the antbird family, Thamnophilus schistaceus


uniform antshrike

uniform antshrike (plural uniform antshrikes)

A passerine bird of the antbird family, Thamnophilus unicolor,


red-backed shrike

red-backed shrike (plural red-backed shrikes)

Lanius collurio
Lanius collurio#Translingual

A medium-sized bird (Lanius collurio) of the shrike family that breeds in most of Europe and western Asia and winters in tropical Africa, eating large insects, small birds, voles, and lizards.


antshrike

Any of several passerine bird species of various genera in the antbird (Thamnophilidae) family.


gaja

Audio (US)

Transliteration of Sanskrit गज (gaja, “elephant; gaja”).

translit

(Hinduism) The sacred name for the elephant


keep the wolf from the door

en-verb

keep the wolf from the door (third-person singular simple present keeps the wolf from the door, present participle keeping the wolf from the door, simple past and past participle kept the wolf from the door)

keeps the wolf from the door (present singular third-person)
keeping the wolf from the door (participle present)
kept the wolf from the door (participle past)
kept the wolf from the door (past)

The original saying may have been keep the wolf from the gate, which dates from at least 1470. By the 1500s the saying had become keep the wolf from the door, with the current meaning that it bears: see, for example, the 1645 quotation.
There is a suggestion that the phrase may have originated from French or German phrases. Compare the French manger comme un loup (“eat like a wolf”), and the German Wolfsmagen (literally “wolf’s stomach”) means “a keen appetite”.

nb...

in Metre, from the First Begynnyng of Englande, vnto the Reigne of Edwarde the Fourth, where He Made an End of His Chronicle. And from that Tyme is Added with a Continuacion of the Storie in Prose to this Our Tyme. Now First Emprinted, Gathered out of Diuerse and Soundrie Autours, of Most Certain Knowelage and Substanciall Credit, that either in Latin, or els in Our Mother Toungue, haue Writen of the Affaires of Englande.

Containing an Account of Public Transactions from the Earliest Period of English History to the Beginning of the Reign of King Edward the Fourth. Together with the Continuation by Richard Grafton, to the Thirty Fourth Year of King Henry the Eighth. The Former Part Collated with Two Manuscripts of the Author’s Own Time; the Last, with Grafton’s Duplicate Edition. To which are Added a Biographical and Literary Preface, and an Index, by Henry Ellis.

cog

They didn't earn much, but it was enough to keep the wolf from the door.

I'll grab a sandwich to keep the wolf from the door until dinner time.

And my calling be simple and poor, / Yet will I endeavour myself / To keep off the wolf from the door.

a. 1609, “Plain Dealing Man”, in Robert Bell, editor, Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of the Peasantry of England, published 1857:

Indeed 'tis very fitting that He or She ſhould have wherewith to ſupport both, according to their quality, at leaſt to keep the Wolf from the Door, otherwiſe 'twere a meer madneſs to Marry; […]

1645 May 8 (Gregorian calendar), James Howell, “LX. To Tho. Young, Esq”, in Epistolæ Ho-Elianæ. Familiar Letters Domestic and Forren. […], 3rd edition, volume I, London: […] Humphrey Mos[e]ley, […], published 1655, →OCLC, section VI, page 284:

This pittance, with a rake-off on photographs and autographs, ought to enable the heroic Viking [Fridtjof Nansen] to meet his coal-bin unflinchingly and keep the wolf from his door next summer.

1897 December 2, Joseph Smith, “The Fakir and the Milch Cow”, in Life, volume XXX, number 780, New York, N.Y.: Life Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 465, column 3:

No first night or ball was complete without him, Sagan. The very mention of his name in their articles must have kept the wolf from the door of needy reporters.

1898, Eliot Gregory, Worldly Ways & Byways, Charles Scribner's Sons:

I keep the wolf from the door but he calls me up / Calls me on the phone, tells me all the ways that he's gonna mess me up

2003, “A Wolf at the Door”, in Hail to the Thief, performed by Radiohead:

(idiomatic) To ward off poverty or hunger.


abagun

Numida meleagris
Numida meleagris#Translingual

(obsolete) A type of fowl found in Ethiopia, and said to have a sort of horn on its head; probably the helmeted guineafowl, Numida meleagris.


crested tit

Lophophanes cristatus, a small bird of the tit family Paridae, with an erectile crest, the tip of which is often recurved.


creeper

From Middle English crepere, from Old English crēopere, equivalent to creep + -er. Slang usage derived from phrase give the creeps or creep out (distinct from merely one who creeps).

Any device for causing material to move steadily from one part of a machine to another, such as an apron in a carding machine, or an inner spiral in a grain screen.

Strophitus undulatus, a freshwater mussel of the eastern United States.

Throwing it in creeper and then getting out to work alongside is strictly forbidden because it is too dangerous if anything goes wrong.

The lowest gear of some tractors or trucks: one with so low a gear ratio that the vehicle creeps along at the speed of a human's slow walk.


cottontop tamarin

en-noun

cottontop tamarin (plural cottontop tamarins)

A small New World monkey with a long crest, white hairs from forehead to nape flowing over the shoulders, Saguinus oedipus


blue tit

Cyanistes caeruleus
Cyanistes caeruleus#Translingual

A bird of species Cyanistes caeruleus of tits in family Paridae, with an azure blue crown and dark blue line passing through the eye and encircling the white cheeks to the chin.


lanternfish

lanternfish (plural lanternfish or lanternfishes)

lanternfish (plural)
lanternfishes (plural)

Any of small, deep sea fish of the large family Myctophidae, named after their conspicuous use of bioluminescence.

peix llanterna

Any small, deep sea fish of family Myctophidae


black-headed gull

black-headed gull (plural black-headed gulls)

Chroicocephalus ridibundus
Chroicocephalus ridibundus#Translingual

A small gull, Chroicocephalus ridibundus, which breeds in much of Europe and Asia, and also in coastal eastern Canada.

псытхьэрыкъуэщхьэфӏыцӏэ

psətḥɛrəqʷɛśḥɛfʼəcʼɛ

tó wónaanídę́ę́ʼ tónteel tsídii bitsiiʼ halzhinígíí


red fox

red fox (countable and uncountable, plural red foxes)

Vulpes vulpes
Vulpes vulpes#Translingual

(countable) A common species of fox, Vulpes vulpes native to North America, Asia, Europe and North Africa; small, with reddish fur, but larger than the arctic fox.


anglerfish

anglerfish (countable and uncountable, plural anglerfish or anglerfishes)

anglerfish (plural)
anglerfishes (plural)

/ˈæŋɡlɚˌfɪʃ/

/ˈæŋɡləˌfɪʃ/

Any fish of the bony fish order Lophiiformes, which have an outgrowth they wiggle to lure and catch their prey.


pika

From French, from an Evenki word which Peter Simon Pallas transcribes as piika or peeka, but which cannot be found in modern dictionaries.

Any of several small, furry mammals, similar to guinea pigs, but related to rabbits, of the family Ochotonidae, from the mountains of North America and Asia.


coalfish

coalfish (plural coalfishes or coalfish)

Pollachius virens
Pollachius virens#Translingual

Any of several blackish fish, especially Pollachius virens, a pollack, and Anoplopoma fimbria, sablefish.


moray

From Portuguese moreia, from Latin murēna (“sea eel, lamprey”), from Ancient Greek σμύραινα (smúraina), from σμύρος (smúros, “sea eel”).

Any of the large cosmopolitan carnivorous eels of the family Muraenidae.


cacique

Borrowed from Spanish cacique, from Taíno *kasike or Lokono kassequa, cazaqah (“chieftain; power”).

Mexico has loved a strong leader since before Moctezuma. Indigenous tribes were ruled by caciques, or chieftans^([sic]), and in some rural communities caciques are still unchallenged.

1993 December 5, Anthony Depalma, “Why Mexico Has Only One Big Hat In the Ring”, in New York Times:

(historical) A tribal chief in the Spanish West Indies.


pilchard

1839, John Hookham Frere (translator), The Birds, lines 76–77, in Acharnians and two other plays
He longs occasionally for human diet,
His old Athenian fare: pilchards, for instance.

Any of various small oily fish related to herrings, family Clupeidae.

sardina

a cigar-shaped fish with a short dorsal fin and forked tail


Polly

Polly wants a cracker!


blenny

From Latin blennius, blendius, from Ancient Greek βλεννός (blennós, “mucus, slime”) (whence Modern Greek βλέννα (vlénna)), because of its slimy coating. From Proto-Indo-European *mel- (“soft”).

der

A number of fish of similar appearance not closely related.

viviparous blenny (Zoarces viviparus, in family Zoarcidae)

viviparous blenny
viviparous blenny#English

Zoarces viviparus
Zoarces viviparus#Translingual


haddock

→ Irish: cadóg

→ Japanese: ハドック (hadokku)

→ Portuguese: hadoque

→ Scottish Gaelic: adag

→ Welsh: hadog

From Middle English haddok. Compare Anglo-Norman hadoc from Old French hadot, probably from an English source. Further origin uncertain, but hadot could have evolved from (h)adoux, (h)adoz, from adoub, from adouber, adober (“to prepare”), cognate with Italian addobbare (“to souse fish or meat”).
The spelling is usually regarded as a diminutive in -ok (see -ock).

cog

Melanogrammus aeglefinus
Melanogrammus aeglefinus#Translingual

A marine fish, Melanogrammus aeglefinus, of the North Atlantic, important as a food fish.


schnapper

Alteration of snapper, influenced by German Schnapper. Attested from the 19th century.

An Australasian fish, Chrysophrys guttulatus or C. auratus; the porgy or snapper.


tench

From Middle English tenche, from Old French tenche, from Late Latin tinca.

A species of freshwater game fish, Tinca tinca.


mudskipper

Any of various gobies of the subfamily Oxudercinae that are able to survive out of water by breathing through their skins and having strong pectoral fins that act as simple legs.


mako shark

Borrowed from Maori makō (“shark”), a Southern Maori dialect form of the more standard mangō (“shark”).

‘Aguedo fell through the floor into what we call the shark pool. We call it that because it is a pool filled with sharks. Mako sharks, to be precise.’

2022, Percival Everett, Dr. No, Influx Press (2023), page 101:

Either of two powerful mackerel sharks of the genus Isurus, having a large heavy body, a sharp nose and a nearly symmetrical tail, found in southern oceans.


porbeagle

Unclear, but likely from Cornish porth (“harbor”) + bugel (“shepherd”), with the latter element either influenced by English beagle or in fact formed from it, with only the first element truly being from Cornish.

In English waters, the porbeagle is considered the premier shark to catch, but in other parts of the world it is considered a nuisance, or at best a poor substitute for its more glamorous relative, the mako.

1983, Richard Ellis, The Book of Sharks, Knopf, →ISBN, page 59:

A large pelagic predatory shark, Lamna nasus, of the Atlantic.


satinette

en-noun

satinette (countable and uncountable, plural satinettes)

A faux satin usually made of synthetic fiber or cotton.


pollock

From Middle English [Term?], perhaps from Scots podlok.

Either of two lean, white marine food fishes, of the genus Pollachius, in the cod family.