orc

→ Catalan: orc

→ Czech: ork

→ Danish: ork

→ Dutch: ork

→ Estonian: örk

→ Finnish: örkki

→ French: orc

→ Georgian: ორკი (orḳi)

→ Greek: ορκ (ork)

→ Hungarian: ork

→ Icelandic: orki

→ Japanese: オーク (ōku)

→ Korean: 오크 (okeu)

→ Latvian: orks

→ Lithuanian: orkas

→ Marathi: ऑर्क (ŏrka)

→ Norwegian: ork, orc

→ Polish: ork

→ Portuguese: orc

→ Romanian: orc

→ Russian: орк (ork)

→ Serbo-Croatian: ork / орк

→ Swedish: ork

→ Ukrainian: орк (ork)

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
J. R. R. Tolkien
orc

Probably from Italian orco (“man-eating giant”); later revived by J. R. R. Tolkien, partly after Old English orc, which he took to mean "demon". Both are from Latin Orcus (“the underworld; the god Pluto”). Doublet of ogre and Orcus.
Sense 2 is a semantic loan from Ukrainian орк (ork, “evil monstrous humanoid creature; orc”) or Russian орк (ork), both from the English word and possibly under the influence of Russian у́рка (úrka, “criminal”, prison slang). Popularized in English in 2022, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

m+

Who at one stroke didst pare away three heads from off the shoulders of an Orke, begotten by an Incubus.

1656, Samuel Holland, Don Zara del Fogo, I.1:

The chief exploit of the hero, Beowulf the Great, is the destruction of the two monsters Grendel and his mother; both like most of the evil beings in the old times, dwellers in the fens and the waters; and both, moreover, as some Christian bard has taken care to inform us, of "Cain's kin," as were also the eotens, and the elves, and the orcs (eótenas, and ylfe, and orcneas).

1834, "The National Fairy Mythology of England" in Fraser's Magazine for Town and Country, Vol. 10, p. 53

There was a flash like flame and the helm burst asunder. The orc fell with cloven head.

1954, JRR Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring:

(fantasy, mythology) A mythical evil monstrous humanoid creature, usually quite aggressive and often green.

Ukrainians themselves, including those on the right, preferred to call the events the 'Revolution of Dignity', depicted not in terms of ethnicity or class, but in simple civic black and white – a revolution of the people against Yanukovych's 'Mordor' and his 'Orcs'.

2015, Andrew Wilson, The Ukrainians: Unexpected Nation, page 354:

And now we must watch the old world go up in flames, in the mad spectacle of Putin’s orcs descending upon Kyiv to execute his macabre plan.

2022 March 1, Bruno Maçães, “Europe’s Illusion of Peace Has Been Irrevocably Shattered”, in Time:

Plenty of Belarusian exiles have gone to Europe, but if you run West, then the Orcs [a Ukrainian slang term for "Russian soldiers"] will just follow you there. It's better to risk your life as a free person than to keep running.

2022 July 25, Michael Wasiura, “Belarusian Exiles Join Ukrainians in Taking Up Arms Against Russia”, in Newsweek, retrieved 2022-07-25:

(slang, derogatory) A Russian soldier or gangster.


seaman

From Middle English seeman, seman, from Old English sǣmann. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Seemon (“seaman, sailor”), West Frisian seeman (“seaman, sailor”), Dutch zeeman (“seaman, sailor”), German Low German Seemann (“seaman, sailor”), German Seemann (“seaman, sailor”), Swedish sjöman (“seaman, sailor”), Norwegian sjømann (“seaman, sailor”). Equivalent to sea + -man.

cog

petty officer third class
petty officer third class

(US, Navy) An enlisted rate in the United States Navy and United States Coast Guard, ranking below petty officer third class and above seaman apprentice.


Alice

From Middle English Alice, from Old French Alys, Alice, from Old High German Adalheidis, proposed to derive from Proto-Germanic *aþalaz (“noble”) + *haiduz (“character”). Doublet of Adelaide.

af

"My name is Alice, but—"
"It's a stupid name enough!" Humpty Dumpty interrupted impatiently. "What does it mean?"
"Must a name mean something?" Alice asked doubtfully.
"Of course it must," Humpty Dumpty said with a short laugh, "my name means the shape I am—and a good handsome shape it is, too. With a name like yours, you might be any shape, almost."

1871, Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There, Chapter 6:

She was heavenly to look at, and graceful, both in and out of water. She was a sculptress. She was christened 'Alice', but she used to deny that she was really an Alice. I agreed. Everybody agreed. Sometime in a dream maybe I will find out what her real name was.

1968, Kurt Vonnegut, Welcome to the Monkey House, Delacorte Press, page xiv:

A female given name from the Germanic languages popular in England since the Middle Ages.

At that point in my second visit to the Alice, I'd been there only a day.[…] they're doing Australia in two weeks, with a few days each for Sydney, the Alice and the Rock, Kakadu and Cairns.

2002, Sylvia Lawson, “Budgerigars, and Positions of Ignorance”, in How Simone de Beauvoir died in Australia: stories and essays, page 17:

In 1892 my Chinese grandfather lived in Alice.

2003, Janet Judy McIntyre-Mills, quoting Olive Veverbrants, Critical systemic praxis for social and environmental justice, page 27:

"Don't waste yer time in The Alice, get out and see the country — that's what yer 'ere for."

2004, Larry Habegger, Travelers' Tales Australia: True Stories, page 7:

(Australia, slang, often with "the") The city of Alice Springs, Australia.

Jim Wells County
Jim Wells County#English

A city, the county seat of Jim Wells County, Texas.


Big Brother

Big Brother
George Orwell
Nineteen Eighty-Four

After the nominal leader of Oceania in George Orwell's dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, at the height of public concern over the emergence of a Big Brother society, privacy activism shared features in common with some of the hard-line environmental campaigns of the 1990s.

1999, Rebecca A. Grant, Colin John Bennett, Visions of privacy: policy choices for the digital age, page 244

When the agencies of the federal government spied on the political activities of US citizens, they moved into the grey area between concern with national security and a Big Brother system that violated constitutional protections.

2003, Rodney Carlisle, Rodney P. Carlisle, Complete idiot's guide to spies and espionage, page 195

Any omnipresent figurehead representing oppressive control

老大哥

a figurehead representing oppressive control


Brer Rabbit

Mr. Smith, the Brer Rabbit of House of Commons Leaders, "lay low and said nuffin."

1892, Henry Lucy, A Diary of the Salisbury Parliament, 1886-1892, page 34:

He was the "Br'er Rabbit" of politics — he lay low so that the hunters of the other side could not see him to point their guns at him.

1914, William Edgar Sackett, Modern Battles of Politics, volume 2, page 308:

It was the combination of a super-smooth shooting dog of radiant style and talent, and a Br'er Rabbit handler that stayed one bounce ahead of the fox.

2006, Mike Gaddis, Zip Zap, →ISBN, page 180:

Any trickster, or unusually quick and clever, figure.


Cinderella

/ˌsɪndəˈɹɛlə/

From cinder + -ella, as in little cinder girl. Compare French Cendrillon.

A popular fairy tale embodying a classic folk tale myth-element of unjust oppression and triumphant reward.

The girls look like Southern belles or Cinderellas. The prom’s theme is Cinderellian: “Until Midnight.” Little, clear slippers sit on the 30 cloth- and candle-covered tables on the tarp-covered gymnasium floor.

1988 May 16, Melissa Merlie, “Dancing the night away”, in Chillicothe Gazette, volume 189, number 39, Chillicothe, Ohio, page 1B, column 2:

Womanly duties, as Joan thought of them, were fine for girls who imagined themselves as Cinderellas or Sleeping Beauties, good girls rewarded for menial housework and, in the case of Sleeping Beauty, a passivity so profound it was deaf, dumb, blind, and comatose.

2014, Kathryn Harrison, Joan of Arc: A Life Transfigured, Doubleday, →ISBN:

All the miniature Cinderellas, Belles, and Ariels who fill the streets every Halloween are essentially paying homage to characters that will slowly and inevitably chip away at their sense of worth in years to come.

2018, Jen Kim, Love and…: Bad Boys, “The One” & Other Fun Ways to Sabotage Your Relationship, Skyhorse Publishing, →ISBN:

The main character in this story, a mistreated and impoverished girl.

சின்டெரெல்லா என்னும் கதையில் வரும் நாயகி

gurtimpunōcukōni oka vyakti yokka lēka vastuvuyokka prajña lēka andaṁ

గుర్తింపునోచుకోని ఒక వ్యక్తి యొక్క లేక వస్తువుయొక్క ప్రజ్ఞ లేక అందం


James Bond

Ian Fleming
James Bond
James Bond (ornithologist)

The fictional character was named after ornithologist James Bond (Ian Fleming was an avid birdwatcher).

He understood the threat. But the capability of the C.I.A.’s Directorate of Operations was far less than advertised. The Directorate of Operations would like people to think it’s a great James Bond operation, but for years it essentially assigned officers undercover as diplomats to attend cocktail parties.

A fictional British spy in the novels of Ian Fleming and the motion pictures based on these novels, famous for his suavity, ingenuity, ruthlessness and supply of gadgets.


James Bond

A secret agent of similar ability to the fictional James Bond.


Romeo

From Italian Romeo, from Ancient Greek Ῥωμαῖος (Rhōmaîos, “Roman”).

der

(fiction) One of the main characters of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare: the ardent lover of Juliet.


Juliet

/ˈd͡ʒuːlɪɛt/

Borrowed from Italian Giulietta, diminutive of Giulia, from Latin Iūlia, feminine of Iūlius, a Roman family name. Cognate with French Juliette.

For never was a story of more woe / Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.

c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]:

One of the main characters of William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet.


Count Dracula

The fictional vampire in the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker.

काउंट ड्रॅक्यूला

kāuṇṭa ḍrĕkyūlā


Dracula

Dracula
Order of the Dragon
Vlad II Dracul
Vlad the Impaler

From the name Vlad III Dracula (also known as Vlad Țepeș (“Vlad the Impaler”)), from the name of his father Vlad II Dracul, who was given the name Dracul by the Order of the Dragon. Dracul (literally “the Devil”) comes from the Romanian drac (“devil”), itself deriving from the Latin dracō (“dragon”).

(fiction) The fictional vampire in the novel of the same name by Bram Stoker.


puck

→ Danish: puck

→ German: Puck

→ Swedish: puck

From or influenced by Irish poc (“stroke in hurling, bag”). Compare poke (1861).

(computing) A pointing device with a crosshair.


yoink

Coined by writer George Meyer for the TV show The Simpsons; perhaps from yank, or imitative of the sound effect (a quick upward slide on a violin) that accompanies something being snatched in classic comedies.

Marge: But you look better, you don't sweat when you eat any more, and look – [holds up a wad of cash] You've saved more than a hundred dollars. I found it in your pants.
Homer: [snatches money] Yoink!

1993, “Duffless”, episode of the Simpsons [television]

Yoink! He snatched Granny Glee's frilly pink hat with his little feet.

2012, John Sazaklis, Candy Store Caper, →ISBN, page 24:

The way I've always done this stunt is to grab my partner and jump us over together. It's absolute hell on my knees. I lean toward Brando and raise my eyebrows. “Yoink.” “Definite yoink,” he replies, equally inspired.

2014, G. T. Almasi, Hammer of Angels: A Novel of Shadowstorm, →ISBN:

YOINK! Coach Pittman snatched the puck out of midair.

2015, Marty McKnight, Jim Nasium Is a Hockey Hazard, →ISBN, page 42:

2021 (November 13) "Olivia & Yunan" (Amphibia s3e7b) Yunan grabbing a crossbow
Ooh, ominous. After you, milady. Yoink!

(colloquial) Onomatopoeic, accompanying or describing a yank, swipe, or snatch.


foil

en-noun

foil (countable and uncountable, plural foils)

From Middle English foyle, from Middle French fueille, from Old French fueille (“plant leaf”), from Late Latin folia, the plural of folium, mistaken as a singular feminine.
The literary sense is from the practice of backing a gem with metal foil to make it shine more brilliantly.
Doublet of folio and folium, distantly also with phyllo and phyllon.

As Puss comes to realize his legendary status is not a substitute for interpersonal connection, his interactions with Kitty and the therapy dog start to take on a surprising amount of weight, while Goldilocks serves as a well-realized foil who has more in common with Puss that is at first apparent.

2022 December 20, Leigh Monson, “Puss In Boots: The Last Wish review: Antonio Banderas leads the best film yet in the Shrek franchise”, in AV Club:

(authorship, figuratively) In literature, theatre/theater, etc., a character who helps emphasize the traits of the main character and who usually acts as an opponent or antagonist, but can also serve as the sidekick of the protagonist.

contrastfiguur

character who helps emphasise the traits of the main character

As she a black silk cap on him begun / To set, for foil of his milk-white to serve.

a. 1587, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the folio)”, in [Fulke Greville; Matthew Gwinne; John Florio], editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, →OCLC:

1725-1726, William Broome, The Odyssey
Hector has also a foil to set regard

(figuratively) Anything that acts by contrast to emphasise the characteristics of something.

baggrund

anything that acts to emphasise the characteristics of something

I personally would collect all the foils from Base Set before this one, but the market is what the market is.

2016, Pojo's Unofficial Big Book of Pokémon, Triumph Books:

A premium trading card with a glossy finish.


zombie

First attested in 1871.
From a Bantu language. Compare Kongo nzambi (“god”), zumbi (“fetish”), and Kimbundu nzumbi (“ghost”) (see Portuguese zumbi), and Caribbean folklore's jumbee (“a spirit or demon”).
Origin from Spanish sombra (“shadow, phantom”) has also been suggested.
May have come through Louisiana Creole [Term?]. See also French zombi (1832).

Betsy Connell: I don't know about zombies, doctor. Just what is a zombie? / Dr. Maxwell: A ghost. A living dead. It's also a drink.

1943, Curt Siodmak, Ardel Wray, I Walked with a Zombie (motion picture):

The zombies were having fun
The party had just begun
The guests included Wolf-Man, Dracula, and his son.

1962, “Monster Mash”, Bobby "Boris" Pickett and Lenny Capizzi (lyrics), performed by Bobby (Boris) Pickett and The Crypt-Kickers:

Ashley: Dad passed on a few years back. He's probably still watching, though.
Shepard: He's not a zombie, is he?

2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: SSV Normandy:

The zombies first show up 20 minutes in, after Melanie volunteers herself as the next child to mysteriously disappear in the middle of the night. That’s when we learn that Melanie and her classmates are all “hungries,” or people infected with a toxic fungus that turns them into mindless flesh-eating animals.

2017 February 23, Katie Rife, “The Girl With All The Gifts tries to put a fresh spin on overripe zombie clichés”, in The Onion AV Club:

(voodoo, horror) A person, usually undead, animated by unnatural forces (such as magic), with no soul or will of his or her own.

An information worker who has signed a nondisclosure agreement.

She takes the taxi to the good hotel / Bon marché as far as she can tell / She drinks the zombie from the cocoa shell

1976, Walter Becker, Donald Fagen (lyrics and music), “Haitian Divorce”, in The Royal Scam, performed by Steely Dan:

The maitre d’ introduced us and I had a zombie with him. Those zombies are wicked.
[…]
I watched Mario and drank zombies out of a thermos.

1976, Harvard Advocate CX:ii, pages 8 and 380

1944, "Time for Decision," Time (US edition), 6 Nov.,
Had the time come to order Canada's home defense draftees—some 70,000 zombies idling at home—to battle overseas?

(Canada, historical, derogatory) A conscripted member of the Canadian military during World War II who was assigned to home defence rather than to combat in Europe.

Traveling in a fried-out Kombi / On a hippie trail, head full of zombie

1980, Colin Hay, Ron Strykert (lyrics and music), “Down Under”, performed by Men at Work:

(Australia, slang) Marijuana, or similar drugs.


brownie

brownie (countable and uncountable, plural brownies)

→ Belarusian: бра́ўні (bráŭni)

→ Chinese: 布朗尼 (bùlǎngní)

→ French: brownie

→ German: Brownie

→ Hungarian: brownie

→ Irish: donnóg (calque)

→ Italian: brownie

→ Japanese: ブラウニー (buraunī)

→ Lithuanian: braunis

→ Norwegian Nynorsk: brownie

→ Polish: brownie

→ Portuguese: brownie

→ Russian: бра́уни (bráuni)

→ Kazakh: брауни (brauni)

→ Spanish: brownie

→ Thai: บราวนี (bpraao-níi)

→ Turkish: brownie, browni, brovni

→ Welsh: browni

From brown + -ie (diminutive suffix). In folkloric sense, originally Scots.

It was an amusing sight to see the three of us, each with a huge hunch of “browny” (bread sweetened with brown sugar and currants) in one hand, and a lump of ice in the other, for there was no water within reach.

1883, James Edge Partington, “A Race Meeting in the Bush—A Graphic Though Ungallant Picture—Life on an Australian Stock Farm—[…]” (chapter VII), in Random Rot. A Journal of Three Years’ Wanderings about the World., Altrincham: […] [T]he Guardian Office, page 312:

They rode quietly along to the stockman’s hut, gave their message, rested their horses for half-an-hour, and had some tea without milk, and a piece of cake made of flour, fat, and sugar, commonly known as [“]browny.”

1890, E[lphinstone] Davenport Cleland, “‘The Shaking’ Mallee Tree”, in The White Kangaroo. A Tale of Colonial Life. Founded on Fact., London: Wells Gardner, Darton, & Co., […], page 57:

Four o’clock, “Smoke O!” again, and more tea and “brownie” (a bread sweetened with sugar and currants).

1890 September 20, M. Hirst Browne, “Shearing-Time in the Riverine”, in The Argus, number 13,804, Melbourne, Vic., page 13, column 6:

Roast mutton and brownie are given us to eat, and with a billy of tea beside us we are comfortable enough, prisoners and all.

1892, Gilbert Parker, “Glimpses of Australian Life: In Time of Drought”, in Round the Compass in Australia, Melbourne, Vic., […]: E[dward] W[illiam] Cole, […], part I, page 36:

Pile of “brownie” on the bare black boards at the end of the table.

1900, Henry Lawson, “‘A Rough Shed’”, in On the Track, Sydney, N.S.W.: Angus and Robertson, […], page 129:

Undoubtedly our Christmas dinner was a huge success—from a black fellow’s point of view it was the most sensible thing we Whites had ever organised; for half the Vealer, another huge pudding, several yards of sweet currant “brownie,” a new pipe apiece, and a few pounds of tobacco had found their way to the “humpy”; […]

[1908], Jeannie Gunn, chapter XXIII, in We of the Never-Never, London: Hutchinson & Co. […], page 251:

As he spoke I tossed some tea into a billy-can of boiling water and as we sipped at our pannikin of tea and ate at a slice of brownie, old Mirawong told me the story of Manbuk and the seven sisters of the heavens.

1959, W[illiam] E[dward] (Bill) Harney, “Of crocodiles and stars”, in Tales from the Aborigines, London: Robert Hale Limited, […], part one (Tales of Fantasy), page 40:

However, a couple of days later, I was passing near Old Jim’s camp and he called us over for a mug of tea and a hunk of brownie.

1959, H[arold] P[ercival] ‘Duke’ Tritton, Time Means Tucker, Arncliffe, N.S.W.: Akron Press, published 1984, →ISBN, pages 58–59:

Edward E[llis] Morris
w:Edward Ellis Morris

Macmillan and Co. Limited
w:Macmillan Publishers

Benjamin E[li] Smith
w:Benjamin Eli Smith

The Century Dictionary
w:Century Dictionary

C[harles] T[albut] Onions
w:Charles Talbut Onions

(uncountable, cooking, Australia and New Zealand) A sweet bread with brown sugar and currants.

Thus, offer Brownie a piece of bread, a cup of drink, or a new coat and hood, and he flouted at it, and perhaps, in his huff, quitted the place for ever ; but leave a nice bowl of cream, and some fresh honeycomb, in a snug private corner, and they soon disappeared, though Brownie, it was to be supposed, never knew any thing of them.

1828, Thomas Keightley, Fairy Mythology, volume II, page 169:

"Oh, auntie, do you know what Stine says?" cried a little brown-eyed beauty; "she says I shall go with her into the hayloft to-night and give the brownie his Christmas porridge."

1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 5:

1908, Dinah Craik, The Adventures of A Brownie:

Stories were told of a brownie riding horseback to fetch the midwife at childbirth or helping his master to win at checkers.

1985, The Encyclopedia Americana, volume 1, page 636:

There are no brownies in my house, though. I know because there's always a pile of dishes in the sink.

2004, Justin Hocking, Jeffrey Knutson, Jared Jacang Maher, editors, Life and Limb: Skateboarders Write from the Deep End, page 37:

(folklore) A mythical creature, a helpful elf who would secretly do people's housework for them.

He rose and jingled in his pockets for change and drew out two brownies. He went and set one on each of Monroe’s eyes[.]

1997, Charles Frazier, chapter 2, in Cold Mountain, London: Hodder and Stoughton, page 36:

A copper coin, brown in colour; a penny, halfpenny, or cent.

Alternative letter-case form of Brownie (“a girl in the first level of Girl Guides (US: Girl Scouts)”).

Brownie

(Australia, New Zealand, colloquial) A tall, long-necked beer bottle, made from brown coloured glass.


Grim Reaper

/ˈɡɹɪm ˈɹiː.pə/

/ˈɡɹɪm ˈɹi.pɚ/

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

From grim + reaper, first attested 1847. The word grim previously had a stronger meaning ("fierce, angry, sinister") and had more of an association with ghostliness (compare Old English grima (“specter, apparition”), English grim (n.)). The association between grim and death dates back to at least the late 16th century (the line "grim death, how foul and loathsome is thine image" appears in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew around 1590). The reaper element comes from the personification of Death as a reaper (harvester) of souls in connection to to the popular depiction of Death wielding a scythe. The symbol of the scythe itself comes from a partially unintentional conflation of Cronus (the Titan associated with the harvest, said to have used his scythe to castrate his father Uranus) and Chronos (the personification of Father Time).

cog

Her husband was dead, and Werper fancied that he could replace in the girl’s heart the position which had been vacated by the act of the grim reaper.

1916, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar:

"Golly, I feel like the devil!" muttered Anthony dispassionately. Relaxing, he tumbled back upon his pillow. "Bring on your grim reaper!"

1922, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, The Beautiful and Damned, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, book 2, page 220:

Mary, will you be mine? Shall we go round together? Will you fix up a match with me on the links of life which shall end only when the Grim Reaper lays us both a stymie?

1922, P. G. Wodehouse, The Clicking of Cuthbert:

On the one hand, we had a scenario where, effectively, the American admiral just went "You know what, all the destroyers attack", at which point they mowed through the Japanese destroyers like a Grim Reaper through a harvest of very, very dead gorn, especially with the Brooklyns in support.

2019 March 6, Drachinifel, 25:58 from the start, in The Battle of Samar (Alternate History) - Bring on the Battleships!, archived from the original on 2022-07-04:

But that is the likely outcome if the railway waits for Treasury's grim reaper to come a-calling.

2021 January 13, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Make freight an equal priority”, in Rail, page 3:

A personification of Death as an old man, or a skeleton, carrying a scythe, taking souls to the afterlife.

Chronos
Cronus
The Taming of the Shrew
Uranus_(mythology)

стару́ха с косо́й f (starúxa s kosój, literally “old woman with scythe”)


Tigger

From the initials of The Independent Group + -er.

Nor is there any sign that Corbyn is at present willing to make any overtures to the eight Tiggers and those who may be contemplating joining them.

2019 February 25, John Crace, “The Independent Group may have secured another Tory government. That's not an accident”, in British GQ:

For one Tigger in particular, Chuka Umunna, 2019 was quite a rollercoaster. Over the course of the year, he was an MP for Labour, an MP for The Independent Group, an MP for the Lib Dems, and then an MP for no one.

2020 January 31, Michael Deacon, “The 20 funniest moments of Brexit”, in The Telegraph:

In fact, Joan Ryan MP (the first Labour MP to jump ship to the Tiggers/Change UK) said, after I'd confessed to her about the dog shampoo, ‘Well, I think your coat looks very nice.’

2020 March 19, Rachel Johnson, Rake's Progress: My Political Midlife Crisis, →ISBN:

(informal, UK politics, historical) A member of The Independent Group for Change, a pro-European British political party that existed in 2019.


Shakespearean

en-adj

Shakespearean (comparative more Shakespearean, superlative most Shakespearean)

more Shakespearean (comparative)
most Shakespearean (superlative)

Derivative of Shakespeare's works or authorship.


shade

en-noun

shade (countable and uncountable, plural shades)

From Middle English schade, from Old English sċeadu, sċadu (“shadow; shade”), from Proto-West Germanic *skadu, from Proto-Germanic *skadwaz (“shadow; shade”). More at shadow.

inh

Too long have I been haunted by that shade.

The adventurer was attacked by a shade.

Swift as thought the flitting shade / Thro' air his momentary journey made.

1700, [John] Dryden, “Ceyx and Alcyone”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

Still, Birch House (a sop to the shade of the murdered Perak Resident) had no more than its normal share of flagellation[.]

1956, Anthony Burgess, Time for a Tiger (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 39:

(chiefly literary and fantasy) A ghost or specter; a spirit.


ingenue

Borrowed from French ingénue, the feminine form of ingénu (“guileless”), originally from the Latin ingenuus (“ingenuous”).

She was seen as a gifted pop-country ingenue when, in a now infamous moment, Kanye West interrupted Swift onstage at the 2009 VMAs while she was accepting an award. The incident set in motion a chain of events that would shape the next decade of both artists’ lives.

2023 December 6, Sam Lansky, “Person of Year 2023 : Taylor Swift”, in Time:

An innocent, unsophisticated, naïve, wholesome girl or young woman.


übermensch

Untermensch

antonym(s) of “figure in Nietzschean philosophy”

Unadapted borrowing from German Übermensch.

ubor

What does he mean when he speaks of the value of one type of man as greater than that of another? Nietzsche himself has remarked elsewhere that one can never too carefully consider the question “value for what?” And in these terms one might try to explain what he says about the value of certain men. Perhaps he means that the contribution they make to life in general — by their optimism and fearlessness for instance — makes them valuable to us all. Or perhaps he is judging their value by the contribution they make to the future. Are they not a bridge to the superior man who may come in the future — to the Übermensch? Neither suggestion tells the whole story, and the second simply shifts the problem. If the “Overman” or “Superman” is the one who gives some men value, this must be because he has value himself.

1973, Philippa Foot, “Nietzsche: The Revaluation of Values”, in Robert C. Solomon, Garden City, New York, editors, Nietzsche: A Collection of Critical Essays, Anchor Books, →ISBN, pages 162–163:

(in Nietzschean philosophy) An overman (“higher” man) who has overcome (transcended) his (mere) humanity. (There is no consensus regarding the exact nature of the figure of the übermensch in Nietzsche’s philosophy.)

(Nazism and white supremacy) A member of the proposed Aryan super race.


flapper

In this case, slide the collar of the flapper over the overflow tube until it seats against the bottom of the flush valve.

2004, David Day, Albert Jackson, Popular Mechanics Complete Home How-to, page 356:


unobtanium

en-noun

unobtanium (countable and uncountable, plural unobtaniums)

Thus the invention of high temperature fuels will enable us to consider cores which are radiation cooled; such cores would be surrounded by large tanks (cooled by water) which in turn would be penetrated by beam holes. The beam holes themselves would probably have to be made of "unobtanium". (This "unobtanium" is a word coined at Atomics International to describe the material needed to make reactor projects feasible.) In between the radiation cooled reactors and the water cooled reactors is a regime suitable for liquid metal (including boiling liquid) cooled reactors. Once again "unobtanium" is needed.

1962, Charles N. Kelber, “Research Reactors”, in Earl W. Phelan, editor, Current Trends in Nuclear Power: A Symposium Sponsored by the University of Arizona in Cooperation with Argonne National Laboratory: Tucson, Arizona, February 26 – March 12, 1962, Argonne, Ill.: Argonne National Laboratory, →OCLC, page 17, column 2:

As early as 1969, during the initial Phase A studies, Lockheed had taken the initiative in proposing a two-stage fully-reusable design with both stages built of aluminum and using silica tiles for thermal protection. [...] Though that company indeed was in the forefront in developing such tiles, they were items for laboratory research. A design that specified their use had no more intrinsic credibility than one that proposed to use the miracle metals Unobtanium and Wishalloy.

1999, T[homas] A. Heppenheimer, “A Shuttle to Fit the Budget”, in The Space Shuttle Decision: NASA’s Search for a Reusable Space Vehicle (The NASA History Series; NASA SP-4221), Washington, D.C.: Office of Policy and Plans, NASA History Office, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, →OCLC, page 331:

It was this blend of genuine, authentic Bentley parts with his recreations of the unobtanium bits that had Patrick thinking that this ruse would actually work.

2011, Kevin Gosselin, chapter 27, in Hunt for the Blower Bentley, London: MX Publishing, →ISBN:

We might recognize, here, the blind pursuit of our own unobtaniums and the ways in which our ancestors forged ahead without care for the consequences of their actions to native peoples or to their environs.

2012, Ellen Grabiner, “Did You See That?”, in Donald E. Palumbo, C. W. Sullivan III, editors, I See You: The Shifting Paradigms of James Cameron’s Avatar (Critical Explorations in Science Fiction and Fantasy; 34), Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, →ISBN, page 22:

[D]oes our device require any technologies that we're not likely to be able to develop, buy, or otherwise obtain? This unobtainable content is sometimes called unobtanium, and can take various forms: [...] Things that exist, but don't exist for us. If Acer needs a beautiful custom 15″ LCD panel that costs less than $50, they can get it, because they'll buy millions and millions of them. But for the vast majority of us, asking an LCD panel vendor for such a thing will yield little more than a chuckle.

2015 August 10, Alan Cohen, “Preliminary Planning: Can This be a Success?”, in Mike Loukides, Meghan Blanchette, editors, Prototype to Product: A Practical Guide for Getting to Market, Sebastopol, Calif.: O’Reilly Media, →ISBN, page 110:

People who think about space end up thinking about bullshit like Star Wars and Star Trek. [...] They have to invent unobtaniums, magic crystals that, for some reason, can't just be printed out by their transporter beams, or there's no story.

2017 April, Cory Doctorow, edited by Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Walkaway: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Tor Books, →ISBN, section V, pages 186–187:


blast

en-verb

blast (third-person singular simple present blasts, present participle blasting, simple past and past participle blasted)

blasts (present singular third-person)
blasting (participle present)
blasted (participle past)
blasted (past)

⇒ Italian: blastare

From Middle English blasten, blesten, from Old English blǣstan (“to blow, blast”), from Proto-West Germanic *blēstijan, from Proto-Germanic *blēstijaną. Possibly related to Middle High German blesten (“to stand out, plop, splash”).

noncog

Chewbacca blasted the Stormtroopers with his laser rifle.

(transitive, science fiction) To shoot, especially with an energy weapon (as opposed to one which fires projectiles).


realm

From Middle English rewme, realme, reaume, from Old French reaume, realme (“kingdom”), of unclear origins. A postulated *rēgālimen (“domain, kingdom”), Late Latin or Vulgar Latin cross of regimen with rēgālis is usually cited.
The modern pronunciation with /l/ is either a spelling pronunciation or influenced by the etymology.

And, of this island realm, he and his companion were the undisputed sovereigns.

1874, Horatio Alger, “Chapter XXXI”, in Brave and Bold:

1913, Leslie Alexander Toke, Catholic Encyclopedia, "St. Dunstan",
Then seeing his life was threatened he fled the realm and crossed over to Flanders, […]

(formal or law) A territory or state, as ruled by a specific power, especially by a king.

(fantasy, roleplaying games) An otherworldly dimension or domain — magical, ethereal, or otherwise — usually ruled or created by a mystical character.


immortal

From Latin immortālis, from prefix im- (“not”) (from in-) + mortālis (“mortal”) (from mors (“death”), combining form mort- + adjectival suffix -alis), equivalent to im- + mortal. Displaced native undeadly, from Old English undēadlīċ.

Not susceptible to death; living forever; never dying.

I have immortal longings in me.

c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:

Connected with or relating to immortality.


immortal

Tazmania/Middle Sphere is in need of builders, admin, and immortals. […] Immortals do not need experiance^([sic]).

1999, Corey Crawford, “RECRUITING: [circle] Tazmania/Middle Sphere: Admin, Builders, Immortals”, in rec.games.mud.announce (Usenet):

(Internet) An administrator of a multi-user dungeon.


immortality

en-noun

immortality (countable and uncountable, plural immortalities)

/ˌɪmɔːˈtæləti/

/ˌɪmɔːɹˈtæləti/

From Middle English immortalitee, immortalite, from Old French immortalité, from Latin immortālitās.
Morphologically immortal + -ity

خُلُود

condition of not being susceptible to death

In Greek mythology, Tithonus was granted immortality but not eternal youth.

In the little, as in the great things of life, are to be found the type and sign of our immortality. Every hope that looks forward is pledge of the hereafter to which it refers. Who rests content with the present? None. We have all deep within us a craving for the future.

1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Marriage Morning”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 201:

His one desire was to become the father of a man like himself, and it held him with a grip he only partially understood, for it was the first great desire, the first great passion of his life. Falling in love was a mere physical triviality, like warm sun or cool water, beside this divine hope of immortality: "I continue."

1905, E. M. Forster, Where Angels Fear to Tread, chapter 4

(religion, mythology, biology) The condition of being immortal.

The condition of being immortal.
Never dying

You have to salute Gerrard's bravery in accepting the challenge of trying to turn Rangers around given that he has zero experience in senior management. Immortality beckons if he does it.

2018 May 4, Tom English, “Steven Gerrard: A 'seriously clever or recklessly stupid' Rangers appointment”, in BBC Sport:

The condition of being immortal.
Being remembered forever


anti-gravity

(science fiction) Any concept, system or device that would oppose or cancel out the force of gravity.


were-

Back-formation from werewolf (“man-wolf”), from Old English werewulf, derived from wer (“man”) + wulf (“wolf”).

back-form

lycanthrope, used with animal names to indicate a person who changes shape into that animal.


shield

From Middle English scheld, shelde, from Old English scield (“shield”), from Proto-West Germanic *skeldu, from Proto-Germanic *skelduz (“shield”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- (“cut, split”). Cognate with West Frisian skyld, Dutch schild (“shield”), German Schild (“shield”), Danish skjold (“shield”), Icelandic skjöldur (“shield”) and Faroese skjøldur (“shield”).
Compare Latin scūtum (“shield”), Irish sciath (“shield”), Latgalian škīda (“shield”), Lithuanian skydas (“shield”), Russian щит (ščit, “shield”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH- (“to cover, protect”), *skey- (“to cut, split”).

noncog

Kinetic barriers, colloquially called "shields", provide protection against most mass accelerator weapons. Whether on a starship or a soldier's suit of armor, the basic principle remains the same.
Kinetic barriers are repulsive mass effect fields projected from tiny emitters. These shields safely deflect small objects traveling at rapid velocities. This affords protection from bullets and other dangerous projectiles, but still allows the user to sit down without knocking away their chair.

2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Kinetic Barriers ("Shields") Codex entry:

Anything that protects or defends; defense; shelter; protection.

(science fiction) A field of energy that protects or defends.

schild

sci fi: a field of energy that protects or defends


orphan

Late Middle English, from Late Latin orphanus, from Ancient Greek ὀρφανός (orphanós, “without parents, fatherless”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃órbʰos.
 PIE word
 *h₃órbʰos
Cognate with Sanskrit अर्भ (árbha), Latin orbus (“orphaned”), Old High German erbi, arbi (German Erbe (“heir”)), Old English ierfa (“heir”). More at erf.

weeskind

person whose (parent or) parents have died

anak yatim (who has lost father, literally means orphan child)

An orphan isn't harmful in a language that has garbage collection, such as Java. However, reducing the number of orphans can be expected to improve code performance.

2003, David D. Riley, The Object of Data Abstraction and Structures Using Java, page 234:


bard

(15th c.) from Scottish Gaelic bàrd, from Old Irish bard, from Proto-Celtic *bardos (“bard, poet”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷerH- (“praise”), and reinforced by Latin bardus, borrowed from Celtic. Cognate with Latin grātus (“grateful, pleasant, delightful”), Sanskrit गृणाति (gṛṇāti, “calls, praises”), Old Church Slavonic жрьти (žrĭti, “to sacrifice”).

cog

I saw a bard work a bit of magic once. He brought up a volunteer from the audience, insulted him in rather colorful fashion, and then made the man forget the insults—and then he did the same trick all over again, twice more.”

2015 August 18, Tim Pratt, Pathfinder Tales: Reign of Stars, Macmillan, →ISBN, page 116:

"Having a bard would be even less helpful than having a second wizard, " John interjects.

2024 January 9, Kristy Boyce, Dungeons and Drama, Delacorte Press, →ISBN, page 66:

(roleplaying games, fantasy) A class of character that typically focuses on charisma, magic and supporting other players; a fantasy fiction character inspired by this archetype.


bard

From French barde. English since the late 15th century.


d'oh

Audio (US)

Imitative. Popularised by the cartoon character Homer Simpson in the TV show The Simpsons. Voice actor Dan Castellaneta has said that he modelled his version on the drawn-out "do-o-o-o" sound made by Jimmy Finlayson in the films of Laurel and Hardy.
The OED has references from the BBC as far back as 1945.

—I just paid for our food. —You didn't have to. It's free. —D'oh!

Expresses frustration or anger, especially at one’s own stupidity.

British Broadcasting Corporation
Homer Simpson
Jimmy Finlayson
Laurel and Hardy
Oxford English Dictionary
The Simpsons


illusion

en-noun

illusion (countable and uncountable, plural illusions)

From Old French illusion, from Latin illūsiō, from illūdere, from in- (“at, upon”) + lūdere (“to play, mock, trick”). Displaced native Old English dwimmer.

(uncountable) The state of being deceived or misled.

delusion

a belief in something untrue, the state of being misled


vampiric

Vampirics kill to eat, not to play. Mostly.

2015, D. C. McGannon, C. Michael McGannon, Charlie Sullivan and the Monster Hunters: Council of the Hunters, page 18:

You should know Jakob; you are one of the oldest Vampirics we have here besides Braedon and me.

2020, Katlyne Marie, Unnatural, volume 1:

(fantasy) A vampire or vampire-like creature.


swashbuckler

Phillips, in his New World of Words defines, to swash, to make fly about; to clash, or make a noise with swords; and a swash-buckler, a vain glorious sword player or fencer, a meer braggadochoe, a vapouring fellow.

1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 80:

A swordsman or fencer who engages in showy or extravagant swordplay.

miekkailija

a swordsman or fencer who engages in show or extravagant swordplay


gaijin

/ˈɡaɪˌd͡ʒɪn/

From Japanese 外人 (gaijin, “foreigner”), from Middle Chinese 外人 (ŋuɑiᴴ ȵiɪn). Compare Mandarin 外人 (wàirén), from Old Chinese 外人 (*ŋʷaːds njin, “foreigner, outsider” < “non-relative”), from 外 (wài, “outside, outer”) + 人 (rén, “person”).

der

For a while he began to speak Japanese, rather slangy, never having seemed to learn it — karoshi for death from overwork, yakitaori-ya for eatery, and gaijin for clumsy foreigner.

1976, Bill Henderson, The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses, Pushcart Press, page 207:

The sarariman had been Japanese, but the Ninsei crowd was a gaijin crowd.

1984, William Gibson, Neuromancer (Sprawl; book 1), New York, N.Y.: Ace Books, →ISBN, page 10:

And I did not intend to live my life as a gaijin—not merely, like the expatriate, someone by definition permanently out of place but someone unwanted as well.

1992, David Pollack, Reading Against Culture, Cornell Press, page 230:

[...] I was placed in the gaijins' dormitory area up on the third floor.

2004, Troy Anderson, The Way of Go, Simon and Schuster, page 149:

Oh's pitchers later acknowledged that they were instructed—under penalty of a fine—to throw no strikes to the gaijin.

2006, Alan M. Klein, Growing the Game: The Globalization of Major League Baseball, page 127:

(from the perspective of a Japanese person) A non-Japanese person.


dwarf

From Middle English dwergh, dwerw, dwerf, from Old English dweorg, from Proto-West Germanic *dwerg, from Proto-Germanic *dwergaz.
Cognate with Scots dwerch; Old High German twerc (German Zwerg); Old Norse dvergr (Swedish dvärg); Old Frisian dwirg (West Frisian dwerch); Middle Low German dwerch, dwarch, twerg (German Low German Dwarg, Dwarch); Middle Dutch dwerch, dworch (Dutch dwerg).
The Modern English noun has undergone complex phonetic changes. The form dwarf is the regular continuation of Old English dweorg, but the plural dweorgas would have given rise to dwarrows and the oblique stem dweorge- would have led to dwery. These forms are sometimes found as the nominative singular in Middle English texts and in English dialects. A parallel case is that of Old English burg giving burgh, borough, burrow, bury.

dwarf standing on the shoulders of giants

Nidavellir, which is sometimes called Svartalfheim, where the dwarfs (who are also known as dark elves) live beneath the mountains and build their remarkable creations.

2017, Neil Gaiman, Norse Mythology, Bloomsbury Publishing, page 20:

(mythology) Any member of a race of beings from (especially Scandinavian and other Germanic) folklore, usually depicted as having some sort of supernatural powers and being skilled in crafting and metalworking, often as short with long beards, and sometimes as clashing with elves.

dwerg

being from folklore, underground dwelling nature spirit

(now sometimes offensive) A person of short stature, often one whose limbs are disproportionately small in relation to the body as compared with typical adults, usually as the result of a genetic condition.


dwarf

en-adj

dwarf (comparative dwarfer, superlative dwarfest)

dwarfer (comparative)
dwarfest (superlative)

The specimen is a very dwarf form of the plant.

It is possible to grow the plants as dwarf as one desires.


pygmy

From Latin Pygmaeī, from Ancient Greek πυγμαῖος (pugmaîos, “a member of a race of dwarves”), from πυγμή (pugmḗ, “fist (as small as a fist)”).

der

It was so high up that the people walking about in the street below looked like pygmies.

2015, Rosie Harris, Moving On: A family saga set in 1970’s Liverpool:

(figuratively, derogatory, offensive) Any dwarfish person or thing.


trickster

That shady trickster faked being a psychic to spread misinformation and gain profit.

A fraud or cheat (person who performs a trick or hoax full of falsehoods for the purpose of unlawful gain).


conperson

en-noun

conperson (plural conpeople or conpersons)

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

(informal) A fictional person, especially one supposed to inhabit a conworld and speak a conlang.


cyborg

Blend of cybernetic + organism. Coined by Austrian neuroscientist Manfred Clynes in 1960.

coinage

I would not classify the Tin Woodman as magical robot, but more of a magical cyborg, if anything.

1981, Teri (Pettit at PARC-MAXC), fa.sf-lovers newsgroup, "Re: SF-LOVERS Digest V3 #122", May 15

Prof. Clynes is a published poet and author of five books. He coined the word "cyborg". He also coined the word "sentics" to describe a new science entirely of his own devising.

1991, Timothy K. Smith, "Manfred Clynes Sees A Pattern in Love -- He's Got the Printouts", The Wall Street Journal, September 24, front page

... Kevin Warwick, professor of cybernetics at Reading University. Warwick is no stranger to publicity. His autobiography, I, Cyborg, which came out last month (Century, £16.99), meticulously catalogues his very many newspaper, magazine, radio and TV appearances. With commendable honesty, he also acknowledges the amount of (unfair, obviously) criticism he has received for being greedy for media attention. That isn't the main thrust of the book, though, which is rather an account of why he is turning himself into a cyborg.

2002 September 19, “Short Cuts”, in London Review of Books, volume 24, number 18, Thomas Jones:

The cyborg subject, with its pacemakers, drug regimes and artificial limbs, is usually also the first world middle to upper-class economic subject with a conscious incentive to preserve life for as long as possible under the best possible conditions.

2003, David Simpson, "Are we still tragic?", guardian.co.uk (exclusive from London Review of Books Vol. 25 No. 7, April 3), April 1

On the track of John and Kate is the T-X (Kristanna Loken), a blond female cyborg so metallically single-minded, and so impervious to blandishment and punishment alike, that, from where I was sitting, she looked to be our best hope of getting a woman into the Oval Office.

2003 July 14, Anthony Lane, “The Current Cinema -- Metal Guru”, in The New Yorker:

Opposite of natural monsters there are technological monsters such as terminators, cyborgs, and robocops—all of which undermine dichotomies between the artificial and the organic, the prosthetic and the natural.

2010, Tyson E. Lewis, Richard Kahn, Education Out of Bounds, page 1:

(science fiction) A being which is part machine and part organic.


cyborg

en-verb

cyborg (third-person singular simple present cyborgs, present participle cyborging, simple past and past participle cyborged)

cyborgs (present singular third-person)
cyborging (participle present)
cyborged (participle past)
cyborged (past)

(science fiction) To convert (something) into a cyborg.


balrog

From Sindarin, a fictional language created by J.R.R. Tolkien, meaning something akin to "mighty demon".

The Balrog made no answer. The fire in it seemed to die, but the darkness grew. It stepped forward slowly on to the bridge, and suddenly it drew itself up to a great height, and its wings were spread from wall to wall […]

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

What was released was a demon, a balrog of pure sexual energy which had been denied for too long.

2004, post on newsgroup, alt.sex.bondage:

[…] is just a big goofy Balrog as far as I'm concerned, he might make a "Green Dot" poster scared; the big dweeb.

2004, post on newsgroup, rec.skiing.alpine:

[And now, a warp-drive round of Confirm or Deny.][...]
Gandalf the Grey was cooler than Gandalf the White.
Hmm, that’s a tough one. I think in some ways he was cooler, but he kind of needed to defeat the Balrog in order to become a better wizard, I guess, and play a bigger role in defeating Sauron. But he was definitely more chill as Gandalf the Grey and had a better sense of humor.

2020 July 25, Maureen Dowd, Elon Musk, “Elon Musk, Blasting Off in Domestic Bliss”, in New York Times, archived from the original on 2020-07-25:


gollumish

en-adj

gollumish (comparative more gollumish, superlative most gollumish)

more gollumish (comparative)
most gollumish (superlative)

2003: "I do feel a bit Gollumish about it…" —alt.support.low-carb, 12 Nov 2003

2004: "With the gollumish Tony Blair never far away, urging him on, George W Bush doggedly climbed his own Mt Doom and thrust the Coalition of the Willing into the fire – along with a few thousand apparently expendable human lives." —The New Zealand Listener, Vol 191, "2003 reloaded", 27 Jan 2004

(informal) Having similar traits to the fictional character Gollum, including obsessiveness, sinisterness or talking in an unusual manner often punctuated by hissing sounds.


wraith

Borrowed from Middle Scots wraith, first attested in 1513 as a translation of the Aeneid.
The word has no certain etymology. J. R. R. Tolkien favored a link with writhe. Also compared are Scots warth and Old Norse vǫrðr (“watcher, guardian”), whence Icelandic vörður (“guard”). See also wray/bewray, from Middle English wreien. Perhaps from wrath as a wraith is a vengeful spirit.

We might indeed have been the wraiths of the departed dead upon the dead sea of that dying planet for all the sound or sign we made in passing.

1912 February–July, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Under the Moons of Mars”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as “Sola Tells Me Her Story”, in A Princess of Mars, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., 1917 October, →OCLC, pages 159–160:

Like wraiths with the impediments of bodies they stumbled in the direction of Salthill faces.

2001, Joyce Carol Oates, Middle Age: A Romance, paperback edition, Fourth Estate, page 80:

A ghost or specter, especially a person's likeness seen just after their death.

привидение

A ghost or specter, especially seen just after a person's death


Daffy Duck

The first appearance of the character was in the short Porky's Duck Hunt in 1937; from daffy + duck.

A fictional anthropomorphic black duck in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of animated cartoons by Warner Bros.


Donald Duck

desc

دُونَالْد دَاك

→ Arabic: دُونَالْد دَاك (dūnāld dāk)

→ Arabic: دُونَالْد دَاك (dūnāld dāk)

→ Armenian: Դոնալդ Դաք (Donald Dakʻ)

→ Azerbaijani: Donald Dak

→ Bulgarian: Доналд Дък (Donald Dǎk)

→ Dutch: Donald Duck

→ French: Donald Duck

→ Georgian: დონალდ დაკი (donald daḳi)

→ German: Donald Duck

Ντόναλντ Ντακ

→ Greek: Ντόναλντ Ντακ (Ntónalnt Ntak)

→ Gujarati: ડોનાલ્ડ ડક (ḍonālḍ ḍak)

דוֹנָלְד דָאק

→ Hebrew: דוֹנָלְד דָאק (Dónald Dak)

→ Hindi: डोनाल्ड डक (ḍonālḍ ḍak)

→ Hindi: डोनाल्ड डक (ḍonālḍ ḍak)

→ Japanese: ドナルドダック (donarudo dakku)

ಡೊನಾಲ್ಡ್ ಡಕ್

→ Kannada: ಡೊನಾಲ್ಡ್ ಡಕ್ (ḍonālḍ ḍak)

→ Kannada: ಡೊನಾಲ್ಡ್ ಡಕ್ (ḍonālḍ ḍak)

→ Korean: 도널드 덕 (doneoldeu deok)

→ Latvian: Donalds Daks

ഡൊണാൾഡ് ഡക്ക്

→ Malayalam: ഡൊണാൾഡ് ഡക്ക് (ḍoṇāḷḍŭ ḍakkŭ)

→ Marathi: डोनाल्ड डक (ḍonālḍa ḍak)

→ Norwegian Bokmål: Donald Duck

→ Portuguese: Pato Donald (calque)

→ Romanian: Donald Duck

→ Russian: Дональд Дак (Donalʹd Dak)

→ Spanish: Pato Donald (calque)

โดนัลด์ ดั๊ก

→ Thai: โดนัลด์ ดั๊ก (doo-nalt dák)

→ Ukrainian: Дональд Дак (Donalʹd Dak)

Single-handed [sic] he swung the staid Western Union from its ordinary singing-telegram policy to the point where local patrons can request that their greeting be sung in Donald Duck voice.

1941 March 6, “Screwy Hall Of Fame Presents A Quack”, in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

And then the most Donald Duck-like screaming and jabbering you ever heard.

1945, Ernie Pyle, edited by David Nichols, Ernie's war: the best of Ernie Pyle's World War II dispatches, Touchstone Books, published 1987, page 399:

DSP can also eliminate ghost images from TV screens and banish those irritating Donald Duck squeaks and quacks from speeded-up playback of tape-recorded voice messages.

1992 April, Gene Bylinsky, “A U.S. Comeback in Electronics”, in Fortune, volume 125, number 8, page 77:

Perched securely in the rafters and using a walkie-talkie to communicate with colleagues on the airdock's floor, Lachenmeier was amused to find his voice had risen into the Donald Duck register due to the bubble of escaping helium spreading along the ceiling.

1992 May, Sturat F. Brown, “Earthwinds Waits on the Weather”, in Popular Science, volume 240, number 5, page 80:

One of the Disney cartoon characters, an anthropomorphic white-feathered duck who usually wears a sailor suit and is known for his voice especially in tantrums.

ഡൊണാൾഡ് ഡക്ക്

ḍoṇāḷḍŭ ḍakkŭ


Elmer Fudd

The first animated appearance of the figure was as a character named "Egghead" in the short Egghead Rides Again in 1937. The figure's first animated appearance as "Elmer Fudd" was in the short Elmer's Candid Camera in 1940.

A fictional hunter, a member of the Looney Tunes, who has a distinctive squeaky and babyish voice.


possession

en-noun

possession (countable and uncountable, plural possessions)

مَسّ

the state of being possessed by a spirit or demon

Réunion is the largest of France's overseas possessions.

A territory under the rule of another country.

possessió

a territory under the rule of another country


Persephone

From Ancient Greek Περσεφόνη (Persephónē).

(Greek mythology) A minor deity, the queen of the Underworld/Hades, and goddess of the seasons and vegetation. Originally named Kore/Core, she is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter; and the wife of Hades. Her Roman counterpart is Proserpina.

(astronomy) 399 Persephone, a main belt asteroid.

‘My name is Persephone’ she says, ‘but in England everyone calls me Seph.’

2008, Gaynor McGrath, Lemniscate, Transit Lounge Publishing (2011) (e-book), chapter 23, 376

(rare) A female given name from Ancient Greek.

(science fiction) The tenth planet, orbiting beyond Pluto.


loup-garou

loup-garou (plural loup-garous or loups-garous)

loup-garous (plural)
loups-garous (plural)

/ˌlu.ɡəˈɹuː/

In this respect, it is always a full moon for a loup-garou. They are never more than half-sane to begin with, and they tend to become increasingly unstable over time.


cenobite

From Old French cenobite or Ecclesiastical Latin coenobīta, from coenobium, from Ancient Greek κοινόβιον (koinóbion, “community life, convent”), from κοινός (koinós, “common”) + βίος (bíos, “life”).

der

Lamprecht knew very well how the war was going and was perfunctory in his rounding up of Jews and cenobites.

1980, Anthony Burgess, Earthly Powers, page 418:

A new or recent member of a Greek monastic religious order; a caloyer.

Coordinate term: eremite

A monk who lives in a religious community, rather than in solitude.

cenobita

(fiction) A torturous demon creature made famous by the Hellraiser series.


geisha

Borrowed from Japanese 芸者(げいしゃ) (geisha, “artisan”), from Middle Chinese 藝 (MC ngjiejH, “art, craft”) + 者 (MC tsyaeX, “-er”).

A Japanese female entertainer skilled in various arts such as tea ceremony, dancing, singing and calligraphy.


waldo

From the Robert A. Heinlein story Waldo, published in Astounding in 1940, derived from the name of the eponymous protagonist, Waldo F. Jones, who invented remote manipulators to overcome his own myasthenia gravis.

Waldo flexed and extended his fingers gently; the two pairs of waldoes in the screen followed in exact, simultaneous parallelism.


hir

head

hir (third-person singular, gender-neutral, objective case, reflexive hirself)

en-pron

But once the disorientation had passed, hir forced hirself back to full consciousness--and worked quickly to establish hir position, and Ruskin's.

1988, Jeffrey Carver, From a Changeling Star, New York: Bantam Books, →ISBN, →OL, page 232:

I don't know what Scratch looks like in the real world, I met hir online.

1996 June, Caitlin Sullivan with Bornstein, Kate, Nearly Roadkill: an Infobahn erotic adventure, New York: Serpent's Tail, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OL, LCC PS3569.U3449 N43 1996, page 10:

Words like "freak" became attached to hir name, and I don't believe "brave" was ever a word the media associated with hir.

1997 December 18, Kate Bornstein, My Gender Workbook: How to Become a Real Man, a Real Woman, the Real You, or Something Else Entirely, London, New York: Routledge, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OL, LCC HQ1075.B69 1998, page 130:

T'Pau leveled a gaze at hir. "You are male and female ... and neither. 'It' is the proper word. We have no use for semantic games on Vulcan."

2000 August 29, Peter David, Renaissance (Star Trek New Frontier: Excalibur #10), Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OL, page 137:

(nonstandard) Them (singular). Gender-neutral third-person singular object pronoun, coordinate with him and her.


Sindarin

Developed by J. R. R. Tolkien as a language in his fantasy works, in which the word Sindarin itself is not of Sindarin origin: it is a term in Quenya (another of Tolkien's constructed languages), derived from Sindar, the Quenya name for the people who spoke it, which in turn is derived from sinda (“grey”).

constructed language
constructed language

A constructed language, partly inspired by Welsh, spoken by certain elves and others in J. R. R. Tolkien's works.


Gandalf

From Old Norse mythology Gandalfr (“elf familiar”).

A male given name from the Germanic languages known in history, and in the books of Tolkien, but not usually bestowed on children.


Disneyfication

From the US corporation Disney + -fication. Compare earlier Disneyfied and later Disneyfy.

He may even be having his first doubts about the neon chrome artyfake Disneyfication of America.

1959, Lawrence Lipton, The Holy Barbarians, Messner, pages 143–44:

Cultural diversity mirrors the biological and geographical diversity of our planet. ’Disneyfication’, like economic globalization, tends to ride roughshod over local variety. So baseball hats, blue jeans and running shoes become the uniform of teenagers in both Budapest and Bangalore while Western TV shows promote the illusion of limitless wealth.

1998 December 5, “A Reader's Guide To Disneyfication”, in New Internationalist:

The Disneyfication of Tibet
How tourism has become a tool of occupation.

2014 January/February, Pearl Sydenstricker, “The Disneyfication of Tibet”, in Washington Monthly, archived from the original on 2014-01-01, heading:

Given that Onward itself is a family-friendly project, the film thrives on these self-aware digs at Disneyfication; any good D&D mission should have a sense of real danger, so it’s worth pointing out how that’s missing from so much mainstream entertainment.

2020 February 21, David Sims, “Pixar Needs to Make More Movies Like ‘Onward’”, in The Atlantic:

The act or process whereby something is Disneyfied.


minotaur

/ˈmɪnəˌtɔː(ɹ)/

/ˈmaɪnəˌtɑɹ/

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Μινώταυρος (Minṓtauros), from Μίνως (Mínōs, “Minos, king of Crete”) + ταῦρος (taûros, “bull”).

af

(Greek mythology) Alternative letter-case form of Minotaur

مَنْطُور

monster with the head of a bull and the body of a man


Gollum

A fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth. In the story, he was originally known as Sméagol and later named Gollum after his habit of making "a horrible swallowing noise in his throat".
The name, Sméagol, comes from Old English smeagan (“to burrow”).

A person who bears the traits or has the characteristics of Gollum in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth.


Middle-earth

(fiction) The main setting of J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and other works.

Միջերկիր

fictional place on Earth where most of the stories of J. R. R. Tolkien are set

Alternative form of Middle Earth: the Earth.


Tolkien

Likely from Middle Low German Tolkin (literally “son of Tolk”), which is probably also related to Polish Tołkiny and German Tolksdorf, names for a Prussian town; the nickname Tolk is connected to Middle Low German tolk (“interpreter”), from Proto-Slavic *tъlkъ. J. R. R. Tolkien subscribed to a folk etymology that connected the name with German tollkühn (“foolhardy”).

der

(countable) A surname.
British author J. R. R. Tolkien


Indy

Clipping of Indianapolis, Indiana, and Independent + -y.

But while Dial may have all the right pieces on the board to make for another classic entry in the saga, Indy’s latest adventure is a lackluster attempt at reconciling the old with the new.

2023 June 28, Lauren Coates, “Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny review: Harrison Ford goes to the whip”, in AV Club:

(informal) The fictional character Indiana Jones.


hentai

en-noun

hentai (countable and uncountable, plural hentai or hentais)

→ Cebuano: hentai

→ Finnish: hentai

→ French: hentai

→ German: Hentai

→ Indonesian: hentai

→ Italian: hentai

→ Japanese: ヘンタイ (hentai)

→ Korean: 헨타이 (hentai)

→ Polish: hentai

→ Portuguese: hentai

→ Russian: хентай (xentaj)

→ Spanish: hentai

→ Swedish: hentai

→ Tagalog: hentai

→ Ukrainian: хента́й (xentáj)

Pseudo-Japonism, derived from 変態(へんたい) (hentai, “pervert”), short for 変態性欲者(へんたいせいよくしゃ) (hentai seiyoku-sha, literally “person with abnormal sexual desires”).

ja-r

へんたい せいよく-しゃ

There was a hentai video that I saw / I told you about the night that we first made love

2019, “Hentai”, in Cry, performed by Cigarettes After Sex:

X defines adult content as […]
This definition also applies to "AI-generated, photographic or animated content such as cartoons, hentai or anime".

2024 June 5, “Porn now officially allowed on X with safeguards for those under 18”, in Channel News Asia:

A work of anime or manga (or any similar medium) that contains heavily sexual or pornographic art.

hentai

a work of anime that contains sexual art (esp. manga or anime)


wizard

4chan
English Renaissance
Fizban the Fabulous
en:wizard

From Middle English wysard, wysarde, equivalent to wise + -ard. A uniquely medieval Anglo-Saxon word with no known morphologically exact cognates in or outside the Germanic family; did not gain distinct sense of "occultist, magic user" (as opposed to a philosopher or sage) until circa 1500s, aligning roughly with the starting English Renaissance.
The sense of "old (male) virgin" is from a Japanese Internet meme where virgins who are typically friendless, shy, outcasts, and loners who don't fit in anywhere, legendarily gain magical powers upon reaching 30 years of age; popularized ultimately by 4chan and adjacent online incel spaces.

The wizard conjured up a large fireball.

The wily wizard must be caught.

1697, John Dryden, Translation of Virgil's Georgics:

He found himself watching a couple of wizards doing what he at first mistook for the beginning of a dance, and then for a session of tai chi. But suddenly he realized they were signing.

2016 February 2, Diane Duane, Games Wizards Play, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, →ISBN:

But that's not what will make her a powerful wizard – more powerful than me, more powerful than Leesha, even more powerful than you.

2021 November 1, Dale Stubbart, The Wizard Without a Wand, Dale Stubbart:

Someone, usually male, who uses (or has skill with) magic, mystic items, and magical and mystical practices.


rishathra

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

Generalized from the term coined by author Larry Niven in his Ringworld novels.

(science fiction) Sex between any two (or more) humanoids of different species.


amputee

From French amputée, (past participle of amputer (“to amputate”)), from Latin amputatus, perfect passive participle of amputare (“to amputate”).

A person who has had one or more limbs removed.


superman

DC Comics
Friedrich Nietzsche
George Bernard Shaw
Man and Superman
Thomas Common
Thus Spoke Zarathustra

A calque of German Übermensch; super- + man. The German word was introduced by the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) in his work Also sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spoke Zarathustra, 1883), and rendered in English as superman by Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) in the play Man and Superman (1903) and by Thomas Common (1850–1919) in his 1909 translation of Nietzsche’s work. Some scholars regard this word as not properly conveying the meaning of Übermensch, and prefer to use the German word or overman.
The “person of extraordinary powers” sense was reinforced by the DC Comics’ character Superman, who first appeared in Action Comics #1 dated June 1938.

Nietzsche wrote of the coming of the superman.

Man does desire an ideal Superman with such energy as he can spare from his nutrition, and has in every age magnified the best living substitute for it he can find. His least incompetent general is set up as an Alexander; his King is the first gentleman in the world; his Pope is a saint. He is never without an array of human idols who are all nothing but sham Supermen.

1901–1903, John Tanner [pseudonym; George Bernard Shaw], “[The Revolutionist’s Handbook and Pocket Companion] Man’s Objection to His Own Improvement”, in Man and Superman. A Comedy and a Philosophy, Westminster [London]: Archibald Constable & Co., published 1903, →OCLC, page 194:

And Zarathustra spake thus unto the people: / I teach you the Superman. Man is something that is to be surpassed. What have ye done to surpass man? / … What is the ape to man? A laughing-stock, a thing of shame. And just the same shall man be to the Superman: a laughing-stock, a thing of shame.

1909, Friedrich Nietzsche; Thomas Common, transl., “Zarathustra's Prologue”, in Thus Spake Zarathustra; a Book for All and None (Complete Works of Friedrich Nietzsche; 4), Edinburgh, T. N. Foulis, OCLC 1210069; republished as Thus Spake Zarathustra, New York, N.Y.: The Modern Library, [1940s?], OCLC 11993131, page 6

"Well, what is it that he does that I don't do? Just say the word, - teetotal, vegetarian, aeronaut, theosophist, superman."

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

(chiefly philosophy) An imagined superior type of human being representing a new stage of human development; an übermensch, an overman.

[page 113] The idea of superman is as old as the world. Through all the centuries, through hundreds of centuries of its history, humanity has lived with the idea of superman. Sayings and legends of all ancient peoples are full of images of a superman. Heroes of myths, Titans, demi-gods, Prometheus, who brought fire from heaven; prophets, messiahs and saints of all religions; heroes of fairy tales and epic songs, knights who rescue captive princesses, awake sleeping beauties, vanquish dragons, and fight giants and ogres—all these are images of a superman. [...] [page 114] People dreamt of, or remembered times long past when their life was governed by supermen, who struggled against evil, upheld justice and acted as mediators between men and the Deity, governing them according to the will of the Deity, giving them laws, bringing them commandments.

1931, P[yotr] D[emianovich] Ouspensky, “Superman”, in R[eginald] R. Merton, transl., A New Model of the Universe: Principles of the Psychological Method in Its Application to Problems of Science, Religion, and Art, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, →OCLC, pages 113–114:

By the latter part of 1848, the throne of Hudson the Railway King who had been called in in 1845 as a superman to save the Eastern Counties Railway, was tottering to its fall, [...].

1941 December, Kenneth Brown, “The Newmarket & Chesterford Railway—II”, in Railway Magazine, page 533:

I had a vision of what the ideal man should be. I wanted someone whose income combined with mine could afford us a family, an apartment, a car, and all the travel, luxury, and fun we could possibly tolerate. I wanted a Superman.

2010 August, A[lex] E[chevarria] Roman, chapter 25, in The Superman Project: A Chico Santana Mystery, New York, N.Y.: Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin's Press, →ISBN, page 218:

What type of human weakness might a being of unfathomable power—a superman—inadvertently expose to the keen analytic mind of an avenging dark knight? Would he discover that a superhuman being who cannot be overcome, who is loved and adored by most, and who awes the commoner, desires to be overcome?

2016, Patrick J. Reider, “How Batman Cowed a God”, in Nicolas Michaud, editor, Batman, Superman, and Philosophy: Badass or Boyscout? (Popular Culture and Philosophy; 100), Chicago, Ill.: Open Court Publishing Company, →ISBN:

Early in Crime and Punishment, [Rodion] Raskolnikov has become obsessed with the notion that he himself is a "superman." Therefore, he thinks, he is not subject to the laws that govern ordinary people. […] However, his indecision and confusion throughout the novel indicate that he is not a superman. Moreover, in the course of the novel, [Fyodor] Dostoyevsky seeks to prove that there is no such thing as a superman. Dostoyevsky believes that every human life is precious, and no one is entitled to kill.

2016, A Study Guide for Fyodor Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment” (Novels for Students), Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale; Cengage Learning, →ISBN:

A man of extraordinary or seemingly superhuman powers.

супермэн

person of extraordinary or superhuman powers


cloak

en-verb

cloak (third-person singular simple present cloaks, present participle cloaking, simple past and past participle cloaked)

cloaks (present singular third-person)
cloaking (participle present)
cloaked (participle past)
cloaked (past)

From Middle English cloke, from Old Northern French cloque (“travelling cloak”), from Medieval Latin clocca (“travelers' cape, literally “a bell”, so called from the garment’s bell-like shape”), of Celtic origin, from Proto-Celtic *klokkos, ultimately imitative.
Doublet of cloche and clock.

onomatopoeic

imitative

The ship cloaked before entering the enemy sector of space.

(science fiction, transitive, intransitive) To render or become invisible via futuristic technology.


nicker

From Middle English niker, from Old English nicor, from Proto-Germanic *nikwis. Cognate with German Nix (“water demon”) and German Nixe (“mermaid”); also related to Old Norse nykr (“water demon”) (see there for further descendants). Doublet of nix.

And in another tale, told at Kemnitz of the Nicker, as he is there called, when he asks the midwife how much he owes her, she answers that she will take no more from him than from other people.

1891, Edwin Sidney Hartland, The Science of Fairy Tales, page 48:

A type of mythological sea creature or sea monster; also, a water sprite; a nix or nixie; a mermaid or merman.


Asterix

From French Astérix, from astérisque (“asterisk”) modified in imitation of the numerous Gaulish names ending in *rīx (“king”).

The fictional Ancient Gaulish man who is the protagonist and title character of the series.


Heidi

From Swiss German Heidi, a pet form of Adelheid, equivalent of English Adelaide and Alice. The name became internationally popular due to the children's book Heidi (1880).

"Heidi?" Kurtz echoed. "Heidi? That's a damned odd name for an English elder sister, isn't it?" "Not for Heidi, it isn't," she replied buoyantly, and scored an immediate laugh from the kids beyond the lighting. Heidi because her parents went to Switzerland for their honeymoon, she explained; and Switzerland was where Heidi was conceived. "Among the edelweiss," she added, with a sigh.

1983, John le Carré, The Little Drummer Girl, Pan Books, →ISBN, page 142:

But the purported rise in violent videos online has led some MPs to campaign for courts to have more power to remove or block material on YouTube. The Labour MP Heidi Alexander said she was appalled after a constituent was robbed at knifepoint, and the attackers could be found brandishing weapons and rapping about gang violence online.

2012 April 19, Josh Halliday, “Free speech haven or lawless cesspool – can the internet be civilised?”, in the Guardian:

A female given name from the Germanic languages.


augur

Borrowed from Latin augur, of uncertain origin; akin to augurō (“interpret omens”).

Augur of ill, whoſe tongue was never found / Without a prieſtly curſe, or boding ſound; [...]

a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “The First Book of Homer’s Ilias”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume IV, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1760, →OCLC, page 420:

A diviner who foretells events by the behaviour of birds or other animals, or by signs derived from celestial phenomena, or unusual occurrences.

faltore

diviner who foretells events by unusual occurrences


decant

en-verb

decant (third-person singular simple present decants, present participle decanting, simple past and past participle decanted)

decants (present singular third-person)
decanting (participle present)
decanted (participle past)
decanted (past)

From French décanter, from Medieval Latin dēcanthāre, from dē- + canthus (“beak of a cup or jug”).

“We also predestine and condition. We decant our babies as socialized human beings, as Alphas or Epsilons, as future sewage workers or future …” He was going to say “future World controllers,” but correcting himself, said “future Directors of Hatcheries,” instead.

(science fiction) To remove (a clone or other artificially-gestated baby) from its chamber, vat, or artificial womb.


druid

Borrowed from French druide, from Old French, via Latin Druidae, from Gaulish *druwits, from Proto-Celtic *druwits (literally either “oak-knower” or “firm knower, great sage”), from either Proto-Indo-European *dóru (“tree”) or *drew- (“solid, firm, hard”) and *weyd- (“to see, to have knowledge”).
The earliest record of the term in Latin is by Julius Caesar in the first century B.C. in his De Bello Gallico. The native Celtic word for "druid" is first attested in Latin texts as druides (plural) and other texts also employ the form druidae (akin to the Greek form). Cognate with the later insular Celtic words, Old Irish druí (“druid, sorcerer”) and early Welsh dryw (“seer”).

(historical) One of an order of priests among certain groups of Celts before the adoption of Abrahamic religions.

(fantasy, roleplaying games) A priest or mage who uses magic based on nature or trees.


elegy

From Middle French elegie, from Latin elegīa, itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek ἐλεγείᾱ (elegeíā), ellipsis of ἐλεγείᾱ ᾠδή (elegeíā ōidḗ, “an elegiac song”).

poem but with more emphasis on bitterness and impending doom

requiem

a piece of music played at a mass for the dead

A classical poem written in elegiac meter


harpy

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

harpía

fabulous winged monster with the face of a woman

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

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

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

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

One who is rapacious or ravenous; an extortioner.

Circus aeruginosus
Circus aeruginosus#Translingual

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

Harpia harpyja
Harpia harpyja#Translingual

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


hob

From Middle English Hob (a diminutive of Robin, an Old French [Term?] diminutive of Robert), through its connection with Robin Goodfellow and (later) the devil. Compare hobgoblin; see robin.

From elves, hobs, and fairies, […] Defend us, good Heaven!

1610–1616, John Fletcher, “Monsieur Thomas. A Comedy.”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act IV, scene vi:

(obsolete) A fairy; a sprite; an elf; a bogey.


pug

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

pentu

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

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

Senses relating to someone or something small.

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

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

teg

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Satan. The great diuell. / Pvg. The leſſe diuell.

1616 October or November (first performance), Ben Jonson, “The Persons of the Play”, in The Diuell is an Asse: A Comedie […], London: […] I. B. for Robert Allot, […], published 1631, →OCLC, page 93:

In Iohn Mileſius any man may reade / Of Diuels in Sarmatia honored, / Call'd Kottri, or Kibaldi; ſuch as vvee / Pugs and Hob-goblins call.

1635, Tho[mas] Heywood, “The Ninth Tractat: The Angell”, in The Hierarchie of the Blessed Angells. […], London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 574:

This is your Buſineſs Good Pug Robin, / And your Diverſion, dull Dry Bobbing: / T' intice Fanaticks in the Dirt, / And vvaſh 'em clean in Ditches for't.

1677 (indicated as 1678), [Samuel Butler], “Canto I”, in Hudibras. The Third and Last Part. […], London: […] Simon Miller, […], →OCLC, page 82:

(obsolete) A small demon; an imp, a puck, a sprite.


rut

en-noun

rut (countable and uncountable, plural ruts)

From Middle English rutte (noun) and rutten (verb), from Old French rut (“noise, roar, bellowing”), from Latin rugītus, from rugīre (“to roar”).

der

Proximity to an omega in heat can sometimes cause alphas go into rut, an aggressive need for sexual intercourse usually triggered by the scent of an omega in heat.

2017, Marianne Gunderson, "What is an omega?: Rewriting sex and gender in omegaverse fanfiction", thesis submitted to the University of Oslo, page 36

All the characters in this story pressure Dean to help Castiel through his rut, and clearly consider Dean’s resistance to be immature and an overreaction.

2019, Tessa Barone, "Just Go Find Yourself a Nice Alpha: Gender and Consent in Supernatural Fandom's Alpha/Beta/Omega Universe", thesis submitted to Oregon State University, page 34

Early in Wicked Game, Steve goes into his first-ever rut.

2019, Chris van der Vegt, "The Second Genders: Utopia and Dystopia in Stranger Things Omegaverse Fanfiction", thesis submitted to Utrecht University, page 23

(fandom slang, countable, uncountable) In omegaverse fiction, the intense biological urge of an alpha to mate, typically triggered by proximity to an omega in heat.


sage

en-adj

sage (comparative sager, superlative sagest)

sager (comparative)
sagest (superlative)

From Middle English sage, from Old French sage (11th century), from Latin *sapium, from Latin sapere (“to taste, to discern, to be wise”).
The noun meaning "man of profound wisdom" is recorded from circa 1300. Originally applied to the Seven Sages of Greece.


sage

’Tis certain, that, while we aſpire to the magnanimous Firmneſs of the philoſophic Sage, and endeavour to confine our Pleaſures altogether within our own Minds, we may, at laſt, render our Philoſophy, like that of Epictetus and other Stoics, only a more refin’d Syſtem of Selfiſhneſs, and reaſon ourſelves out of all Virtue, as well as ſocial Enjoyment.

1748, [David Hume], “Essay V. Sceptical Solution of these Doubts.”, in Philosophical Essays Concerning Human Understanding, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, part I, page 69:

A wise person or spiritual teacher; someone of gravity and wisdom, especially, a teacher venerable for years, and of sound judgment and prudence; a grave or stoic philosopher.


sage

en-noun

sage (usually uncountable, plural sages)

From Middle English sauge, from Middle French sauge, from Old French salje, from Latin salvia, from salvus (“healthy”), see safe. Doublet of salvia.

broom sage

species of Chrysothamnus, Ericameria, Lorandersonia

purple sage

Salvia leucophylla; Artemisia tridentata

silvery sage

Salvia officinalis
Salvia officinalis#Translingual

The plant Salvia officinalis and savory spice produced from it; also planted for ornamental purposes.

Any of a number of plants such as sagebrush considered to be similar to Salvia officinalis, mostly because they are small shrubs and have gray foliage or are aromatic.


sage

Borrowed from Japanese sage (sage), from Japanese 下げる (sageru, “to lower”). From 2channel.

sage in all fields

(4chan, Internet slang) Word used in the email field of imageboards to prevent a bump of the post. Used as an option rather than a word in some imageboard software.


soma

Transliteration of Sanskrit सोम (soma). Doublet of haoma.

[…] there is always soma, delicious soma, half a gramme for a half-holiday, a gramme for a week-end, two grammes for a trip to the gorgeous East, three for a dark eternity on the moon […]

1932, Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, London: Chatto & Windus:

(by extension, science fiction) Any kind of intoxicating drug.


stasis

stasis (usually uncountable, plural stases)

From New Latin stasis, from Ancient Greek στάσις (stásis). See the doublet stead.

(science fiction) A technology allowing something to be artificially frozen in time, so that it does not age or change.

pysäytin

scifi: technology allowing something to be artificially frozen in time


vamp

en-verb

vamp (third-person singular simple present vamps, present participle vamping, simple past and past participle vamped)

vamps (present singular third-person)
vamping (participle present)
vamped (participle past)
vamped (past)

From Middle English vaumpe, vaum-pei, vampe (“covering for the foot, perhaps a slipper or understocking; upper of a boot or shoe”), or from Anglo-Norman vampe, *vaumpé (“part of a stocking covering the top of the foot”), from Old French avantpied, avantpiet, variants of avantpié, from avant (“in front”) + pié (“foot”).
Noun senses 2 and 3 (“a patch; something patched up or improvised”) appear to have been extended from sense 1 (“top part of a boot or shoe”). Sense 4 (“repeated and often improvised musical accompaniment”) was probably derived from sense 3, and sense 5 (“activity to fill or stall for time”) from sense 4.
The verb senses were derived from the noun. Compare also Middle English vaum-peien (“(uncertain) to repair (footwear) with a new upper or vamp; to fabricate an upper or vamp”).

cog

Keep vamping! Something’s wrong with the mic!

She went out there to vamp since the speaker was late arriving.

(intransitive) To delay or stall for time, as for an audience.


vamp

A Fool There Was (1915 film)
Derby shoe
Oxford shoe
Theda Bara

Clipping of vampire. From a character type developed first for silent film, notably for Theda Bara's role in the 1915 film A Fool There Was.
The verb is derived from the noun.

If I knew what I know now before I got vamped, I'd do the same thing.

2004, David Sosnowski, Vamped: A Novel, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 277:

Astonishing how few peasants and regular people got vamped back in the olden days, when it wasn't regulated.

2012, Justine Larbalestier, Sarah Rees Brennan, Team Human, Harper Collins, →ISBN:

Nobody ever got the drop on Shades, not even when he was alive, and certainly not in the fifty years since he got vamped.

2017, Keith R. A. DeCandido, Blackout, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN:

(fiction, slang, transitive) To turn (someone) into a vampire.


beam

en-verb

beam (third-person singular simple present beams, present participle beaming, simple past and past participle beamed)

beams (present singular third-person)
beaming (participle present)
beamed (participle past)
beamed (past)

→ German: beamen

→ Dutch: beamen

→ Japanese: ビーム

From Middle English beem, from Old English bēam (“tree, cross, gallows, column, pillar, wood, beam, splint, post, stock, rafter, piece of wood”), from Proto-West Germanic *baum, from Proto-Germanic *baumaz (“tree, beam, balk”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰew- (“to grow, swell”). Cognate with West Frisian beam (“tree”), Saterland Frisian Boom (“tree”), Dutch boom (“tree”), German Low German Boom (“tree”), German Baum (“tree”), Luxembourgish Bam (“tree”), Albanian bimë (“a plant”). Doublet of boom.
The original English meaning of beam ("tree") is preserved in some compound words such as quickbeam.
The verb is from Middle English bemen, from Old English bēamian (“to shine, to cast forth rays or beams of light”), from the noun.

inh

Beam me up, Scotty; there's no intelligent life down here.

The injured crewmembers were immediately beamed to sickbay.

Beam me up (x4) / Beam me up town / Beam me down (x3) / Beam me back downtown

2010, “Beam Me Up”, in Walking the Midnight Streets, performed by Midnight Magic:

(transitive, science fiction) To transmit matter or information via a high-tech wireless mechanism.

säteilyttää

scifi: to transmit over high-tech wireless mechanism


berserker

Illustrations of Northern Antiquities
Swedish History Museum
Torslunda plates
Walter Scott

Borrowed from Old Norse berserkr (“Norse warrior who fights with frenzy”), probably from bjǫrn (“bear”) + serkr (“coat; shirt”), referring to the bearskins worn by the warriors. Bjǫrn is possibly ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH- (“brown”); and serkr from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“to bind, tie together; thread”). Alternatively, it has been suggested that the first element of the word is from berr (“bare, naked”), suggesting warriors who went into battle without armour, but this is now thought unlikely. Doublet of berserk.
The word was introduced in English by the Scottish author and historian Walter Scott (1771–1832) in Illustrations of Northern Antiquities (1814) (spelled berserkir), and in his novel The Pirate (1822) (spelled berserkar). The sense “type of von Neumann probe whose mission is to exterminate alien lifeforms” was coined by the American author Fred Saberhagen (1930–2007) in 1963 in his Berserker series of novels and short stories.
Cognates
* Icelandic berserkur
* Swedish bärsärk

ref

From the collection of the Swedish History Museum in Stockholm, Sweden.

coinage

(science fiction) A type of von Neumann probe whose mission is to exterminate alien lifeforms.


Charybdis

From Ancient Greek Χάρυβδις (Khárubdis).

I have never yet been able to steer my lovers through the Scylla of presence, or the Charybdis of absence.

1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Chapter XII. Lady Marchmont’s Journal.”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 85:

A dangerous whirlpool on the coast of Sicily opposite Scylla on the Italian coast.


chimera

monolith

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

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

af

...beestis clepid chymeres, that han a part of ech beest, and suche ben not, no but oonly in opynyoun...

1382, John Purvey, Bible, Prologue, p. 31

Bellerophon was commanded to destroy this monster, and with the assistance of the flying horse, Pegasus, he slew the chimera.

1860, E. Cust, “The Chimeras: An Attempt to Show that the Compound Animals of the Assyrian Marbles are Representations of those Erected by Solomon and Jeroboam (Read 1st and 8th December, 1859.)”, in Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, volume XII, Liverpool: Adam Holden, →OCLC, page 99:

The game includes a bunch of chimeras, with the lion heads shooting fire and the snake tails whipping around trying to bite the player.

(Greek mythology) Alternative letter-case form of Chimera, a supposed monster in Lycia with the head of a lion, body of a goat, and tail of a dragon or serpent, killed by the hero Bellerophon.


damnation

en-noun

damnation (countable and uncountable, plural damnations)

From Middle English dampnacioun, from Old French dampnacion, from Latin damnatio.

The state of being damned; condemnation; openly expressed disapprobation.

проклятие

(religion) Condemnation to everlasting punishment in the future state, or the punishment itself.


damnation

Oh damnation! The window doesn't shut!

Expressing annoyance or disappointment; damn; dammit.


corvette

Unadapted borrowing from French corvette.

ubor

(nautical) In a modern navy, a lightly armed and armoured blue water warship, smaller than a frigate, capable of transoceanic duty.

(science fiction, by extension) A starship of comparable role


hag

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

And that olde hag that with a staffe his staggering lymbes dooth stay

1565, Arthur Golding (tr.), The Fyrst Fower Bookes of P. Ouidius Nasos worke intitled Metamorphosis, London: William Seres, The Fovrthe Booke:

Such unaccountable masses of shades and shadows, that at first you almost thought some ambitious young artist, in the time of the New England hags, had endeavored to delineate chaos bewitched.

1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 3, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 11:

A witch, sorceress, or enchantress; a female wizard.

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

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


hag

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

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

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

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


housewife

en-noun

housewife (plural housewives or housewifes)

From Middle English houswyf, housewif, huswijf, equivalent to house + wife; a doublet of hussy, which it was long-distinguished with and displaced due to gradual negative connotation (see Online Etymology Dictionary entry). Cognate with German Hausweib.

Coordinate term: househusband

2000, Uli Kusch, "Mr. Torture", Helloween, The Dark Ride
Mr Torture sells pain / To the housewives in Spain / He knows just what they crave / Mr Torture

(plural "housewives") A woman whose main employment is homemaking, maintaining the upkeep of her home and tending to household affairs; often, such a woman whose sole [unpaid] employment is homemaking.


madman

A person who makes risky and questionable decisions.


mammy

That's what you for—to help white folks keep niggers down. That's why he sent you to me. They be calling you mammy in a few years. You be running the whole house when the old man dies.

(US, historical, often pejorative) In the southern United States, a black nanny employed to look after white children; or in the antebellum South, a female slave who was close to the household and looked after the children.


Pegasus

From Late Middle English Pegase, Pegasus, from Latin Pēgasus, from Ancient Greek Πήγασος (Pḗgasos), traditionally associated with πηγή (pēgḗ, “spring, fountain, fountain fed by a spring”), especially used to denote springs of Ocean, where Perseus killed Medusa, from whose blood Pegasus sprang. Some have dismissed this as folk etymology and suggest a pre-Greek origin because of the -ασος suffix. First attested in the 14th century.

Пегас

in Ancient Greek or other European contexts

(Greek mythology) A winged horse fabled to have sprung from the blood of Medusa when she was slain. He is noted for causing, with a blow of his hoof, Hippocrene, the inspiring fountain of the Muses, to spring from Mount Helicon. Bellerophon tamed and rode upon Pegasus when he defeated the Chimaera.

vernal equinoctial
vernal equinox#English

(astronomy) A constellation of the northern sky, near the vernal equinoctial point, representing the winged horse. Its three brightest stars, with the brightest star of Andromeda, form the asterism of the Great Square of Pegasus.


Pegasus

(originally Greek mythology, fantasy, occasionally proscribed) Any winged horse; pterippus.

Confidence in Corinthian Pegasi grew up in the Greek zone of the island in such a way that Pegasi became the accepted coin of the realm.

2007 February 15, R. J. A. Talbert, Timoleon and the Revival of Greek Sicily: 344-317 B.C., Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, →OL, page 167:

(historical) A coin of ancient Corinth with a winged horse depicted on the obverse.