kappa

en-noun

kappa (countable and uncountable, plural kappas)

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek κάππα (káppa), ultimately from Proto-Semitic *kapp- (“palm, hand”). Doublet of kaph.

lbor

(finance) A measurement of the sensitivity of the value of an option to changes in the implied volatility of the price of the underlying asset.


kappa

It was not quite possible for a kappa to go pale, but this one managed, shrinking partly into its shell.

2013, Laura VanArendonk Baugh, Kitsune-Mochi: Kitsune Tales #2, page 94:

(Japanese mythology) A tortoise-like demon or imp.


SM

(science fiction) Initialism of space marine.


ununennium

Element 119: Ununennium (Uue) This has yet to be reported. From its position in the periodic table, in group 1 below francium, this element should have the physical properties of an alkali metal and, were it long-lived enough, the element should display the singly-charged ion M⁺ as its most favoured chemical state.

2001, John Emsley, “The Elements (A–Z)”, in Nature’s Building Blocks: An A–Z Guide to the Elements, Oxford: Oxford University Press, published 2002 printing, →ISBN, page 468:

"[…] Clemson had element 119 and somehow it attached itself to the oxygen atoms on Earth. The commission wants this element 119 to be called Ununennium based on the element number, one, one, and nine." / Sandi speaks into the telephone, "That is ridiculous! Can't you change the name of the element to the person that found the gas cloud back at SETI, Rich Tolt?" / "I can make a recommendation to the rest of the commission, but rarely do they change names. The names for the next ten elements have been chosen based on the element number and the Latin names of that number to make it easier for the world."

2007, Steven Comas, chapter 10, in The Trojan Horse Cloud, Bloomington, Ind.: AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 77:

Our question at the beginning of this essay was "are there more elements to be discovered?" The next elements would be ununennium (atomic number 119) and unbinilium (atomic number 120). The problems in trying to produce these elements by accelerating an ion beam into a target are the short half-lives of possible target elements and the extended times required for a successful observation of a new element. So far, elements 119 and 120 have eluded discovery. But you can expect that scientists will continue to search for new elements.

2017, Darrell D. Ebbing, Steven D. Gammon, “Atoms, Molecules, and Ions”, in General Chemistry, 11th edition, Boston, Mass.: Cengage Learning, →ISBN, page 46:

systematic element name
systematic element name

The systematic element name for the (as yet undiscovered) chemical element with atomic number 119 (symbol Uue).


artificial intelligence

en-noun

artificial intelligence (countable and uncountable, plural artificial intelligences)

Coined by American computer scientist and cognitive scientist John McCarthy in 1955, and popularized at the Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence, 1956.

kunsmatige intelligensie

intelligence exhibited by an artificial entity

ሠው ሰራሽ ዕውቀት

śäw säraš ʿəwḳät

artificially intelligent → artificially intelligently

Research in the modern science of Artificial Intelligence started only in the 1950's, stimulated by the invention of modern computers. This inspired a flood of new ideas about how machines could do what only minds had done previously.

1988, Marvin Minsky, The Society of Mind:

Intelligence exhibited by an artificial (non-natural, man-made) entity.

(computer science) The branch of computer science dealing with the reproduction or mimicking of human-level intelligence, self-awareness, knowledge, conscience, thought in computer programs.

This computer possesses artificial intelligence.

A United Nations agency says the United States, China and Japan are leading the world in developing artificial intelligence, or AI, technology.
Audio (US): (file)

2019 February 3, “UN Study: China, US, Japan Lead World AI Development”, in Voice of America, archived from the original on 2019-02-07

The essential quality of a machine which thinks in a manner similar to or on the same general level as a real human being.

(countable, computing) A computer system or software package which is artificially intelligent.

While the humans scurried in confusion, the Artificial Intelligence (AI) created by MIT/Bell Labs linked itself into the network of high-speed, twentieth generation computers placed at its disposal by a Red Alert Priority, evaluated data thoughtfully for a minute and a half and then proceeded to get in touch with its opposite number in the Russian Republics.

1973, Gardner Dozois, Chains of the Sea, →ISBN, Chains of the Sea, page 83:

What Daedadus really is, is the world's first successful wholly autonomous AI. Whatever mysterious organization managed to create the first true artificial intelligence succeeded so well that their creation managed to convince them that they'd failed... and then escaped.

2000, Sheldon Pacotti (writer) & Warren Spector (director/producer), Deus Ex

Dylan Hunt: "This is Captain Dylan Hunt of the High Guard. Investigation has shown that an Artificial Intelligence was involved in the tragic death of your President. In such a case, Commonwealth law demands that the AI's personality be completely erased."

2001 January 15, Walter Jon Williams, All Great Neptune's Ocean (Andromeda), season 1, episode 10:

Also remember that Skynet's an artificial intelligence. Intelligence, for our purpose, means being able to use reason in order to achieve your goals.

2009, Josh Weisberg, “It Stands to Reason: Skynet and Self-preservation”, in Terminator and Philosophy: I'll Be Back, Therefore I Am, →ISBN:

(countable, chiefly science fiction) An intelligent, self-aware computer or computer program.

kunstmatige intelligentie

science fiction: intelligent, self-aware computer or computer program


exobiology

en-noun

exobiology (usually uncountable, plural exobiologies)

From exo- + biology, coined by American molecular biologist Joshua Lederberg.

coin

Biology has lately given rise to a new discipline: exobiology, the study of extraterrestrial life. Ever since 1959, when analysis of a piece of meteor substance showed traces of organic compounds, a controversy has raged as to whether these compounds came into the atmosphere with the meteorite or whether they originate on earth.

1973, Lyall Watson, Supernature, page ix. 310:

(biology, science fiction) The branch of biology dealing with lifeforms originating a different planet.

exobiologia

biology dealing with extraterrestrial lifeforms


extraterrestrial

Smith returns in Men In Black 3 as a veteran agent of a secret organization dedicated to policing the earth’s many extraterrestrials.

2012 May 24, Nathan Rabin, “Film: Reviews: Men In Black 3”, in The Onion AV Club:

A being originating from outside of the Earth's atmosphere, from space, or from another planet; an alien.


PG

Prince George's County
Prince George's County#English


omega

From Middle English, from Ancient Greek ὦ μέγα (ô méga), meaning “great ω” (omega is a long vowel in Ancient Greek).

Often omegas go into heat and release pheromones that drive alphas wild.

2013, Kristina Busse, “Pon Farr, Mpreg, Bonds, and the Rise of the Omegaverse”, in Anne Jamison, editor, Fic: Why Fanfiction Is Taking Over the World, page 317:

By writing a male character as an omega, experiences of being treated as other in female-coded ways are imagined to be experienced by a character who represents the male norm.

2017, Marianne Gunderson, "What is an omega? Rewriting sex and gender in omegaverse fanfiction", thesis submitted to the University of Oslo, page 5

Sweet as Peaches on the Tongue can be defined as the typical dark A/B/O story, wherein a rich alpha gentleman (Dr. Hannibal Lecter) comes across a very young, virginal omega (Will Graham) by accident.

2018, Laura Campillo Arnaiz, “When the Omega Empath Met the Alpha Doctor: An Analysis of Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics in the Hannibal Fandom”, in Ashton Spacey, editor, The Darker Side of Slash Fan Fiction, page 126:

(fandom slang) In omegaverse fiction, a person of a submissive secondary sex driven by biology, magic, or other means to bond with an alpha, with males of this type often being able to get pregnant.


Vulcan

From Latin Vulcānus, probably from Etruscan although very unclear, but unknown meaning and further origin (see more in Latin entry). Doublet of bolcane and volcano.

A town in Vulcan County, southern Alberta, Canada.

A ghost town in Gunnison County, Colorado.

An unincorporated community in Norway Township, Dickinson County, Michigan.

Dickinson County
Dickinson County#English

An unincorporated community in Iron County, Missouri.

An inactive volcano in New Mexico, United States.


Vulcan

From Vulcan (etymology 1), from the Star Trek TV series of the 1960s.

language constructed
constructed language

A language constructed for the Star Trek franchise, spoken by the fictional Vulcan species.


champion

Etymology tree
Proto-Italic *kampos
Latin campusbor.
Proto-West Germanic *kamp
Proto-Indo-European *-yéti
Proto-Germanic *-janą
Proto-West Germanic *-jan
Proto-West Germanic *kampijan
Proto-Germanic *-jô
Proto-West Germanic *-jō
Frankish *kampijōbor.
Medieval Latin campiō
Old French champiunbor.
Middle English champioun
English champion
From Middle English champioun, from Old French champion, from Medieval Latin campio (“combatant in a duel, champion”), from Frankish *kampijō (“fighter”), from Proto-West Germanic *kampijō (“combat soldier”), a derivative of Proto-West Germanic *kampijan (“to battle, to campaign”), itself a derivative of Proto-West Germanic *kamp (“battlefield, battle”), ultimately a borrowing in West-Germanic from Latin campus (“a field, a plain, a place of action”).

der

(attributive) Excellent; beyond compare.


utopia

en-noun

utopia (countable and uncountable, plural utopia or utopias or utopiae)

utopia (plural)
utopias (plural)
utopiae (plural)

From New Latin Ūtopia, the name of a fictional island possessing a seemingly perfect socio-politico-legal system in the book Utopia (1516) by Sir Thomas More. Coined from Ancient Greek οὐ (ou, “not”) + τόπος (tópos, “place, region”) + -ία (-ía). Compare English topos and -ia.

Errors in time must be kept in mind when analyzing myths and utopiae. Utopiae are merely projections, on a less personal and wider scale, of Cinderella’s longing for a happy future.

1945, Chimera: A Literary Quarterly, page 22:

« Some peoples of Central or South Africa have conceived downright utopiae which enable them to build up a reality more tolerable than that in which they have to live daily ».

As everyone knows, almost all booked passenger and freight trains are diagrammed into rosters for engines and men, and in an operating Utopia everything would work out daily according to plan.

1962 August, G. Freeman Allen, “Traffic control on the Great Northern Line”, in Modern Railways, page 131:

Efficiency for the sake of efficiency, unchallenged authority conferred upon those who know well a few things and ignore everything else, disdain for the ordinary and humble elements that introduce happiness in our lives, worship of unattainable utopiae, are some of the features of the scheme which leads inevitably to the suppression of the eternal gifts bestowed by God upon every human person and to the frightful prospect of being ruled by what he vividly names “the Empire of the Insect.”

Orwell had correctly seen that the achievement of Wells’s ideas would be far from the frivolity of “Utopiae full of nude women” and visions of “super garden cities.”

1979, Ian Scott-Kilvert, editor, British Writers, →ISBN, page 242:

An interesting observation is that folk verses while talking of high standards of morality refer only to precedent generations and not to would-be utopiae, which in fact would rule out the possibility of evolution of a civilization absent before.

According to his model, palace and poetry function in tandem in order to communicate to an audience the ideas of utopiae of power, victory, eternity, and perfection. […] The ruins function, not as an evocation of past civilizations, but as the setting for the poet's dallying and revelry in youthful pleasures; his "noble companions" (probably Christians, given the reference to the length of their hair) are subjugated to the length of their pleasure, a reference to the "stopping of time", one of the utopiae out of which was constructed the licentious world of the khamriyya. […] I believe that these two utopiae are related to a profound consciousness, on the part of taifa royalty and courtiers, of the particular mutability of their reality: […]

1995, Cynthia Robinson, Palace Architecture and Ornament in the "Courtly" Discourse of the Muluk Al-tawaʻif: Metaphor and Utopia, pages 96, 326, and 582:

So in order to conclude, how can we combine all these different aspects of the characteristic cross-relationship of negative and positive utopiae which are to be understood as counter projects to what there actually is?

2006, Können uns und euch und niemand helfen, →ISBN, page 121:

As towns continue to grow, replanting vegetation has become a form of urban utopia and green roofs are spreading fast. Last year 1m square metres of plant-covered roofing was built in France, as much as in the US, and 10 times more than in Germany, the pioneer in this field.

2013 May 10, Audrey Garric, “Urban canopies let nature bloom”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 22, page 30:

A world in which everything and everyone works in perfect harmony.


slash

Originally a verb of uncertain etymology. Possibly from French esclachier (“to break”). Used in the Wycliffe Bible as slascht (see 1 Kings 5:18) but otherwise unattested until 16th century. Conjunctive use from various applications of the punctuation mark ⟨/⟩. See also slash fiction.

Comments merely allow readers to proclaim themselves mortally offended by the content of a story, despite having been warned in large block letters of INCEST or SLASH (any kind of sex between two men or two women: the term originated with the Kirk/Spock pairing – it described the literal slash between their names).

2013, Katherine Arcement, “Diary”, in London Review of Books, volume 35, number 5:

(fandom slang) Slash fiction; fan fiction focused on homoerotic pairing of fictional characters.


slash

en-verb

slash (third-person singular simple present slashes, present participle slashing, simple past and past participle slashed)

slashes (present singular third-person)
slashing (participle present)
slashed (participle past)
slashed (past)

Having read slash for other fandoms (mainly X-Files and Sentinel), I can say the whole gay issue gets dealt with more often in that slash than it does in Trek slash. That's not to say that all the slashers who slash in a "modern-era" show deal with AIDS, homophobia and other gay issues, but some of them do.

1997 December 17, ASCEM, quoting Ruth Gifford, “Re: An Interesting Question, re Slash vs. Gay Fiction”, in alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated (Usenet):

(intransitive, fandom slang) To write slash fiction.


fireball

/ˈfaɪəɹˌbɔl/

Chelyabinsk meteor
Nevada Test Site
Operation Upshot–Knothole

The noun is derived from fire (noun) + ball (noun). The adjective and verb are derived from the noun.

tulipallo

bag or ball filled with combustible material; (heraldry) charge depicting a disc-shaped bombshell

He placed his arms in a blocking position, but even so, the fireball threw all three of them, Kylie, Percival, and Kelly, onto the wall.

2008, Franklin Newman, “Sleeping with the Enemy”, in The Princess of Flourae (The Knights of Callistor; 2), [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 90:

At 7:45 p.m. there was a sudden “whooshing” noise, and a mercilessly intense fireball exploded from under the escalator, ballooned up into the ticket hall and ignited all combustible material in the area. As a result of the flashover of the fireball, the temperature rose by several hundred degrees in a matter of seconds, and it was believed that it reached 600°C with zero visibility.

2011, Nick Bracken, Sue Black, “King’s Cross Underground Fire, November 18, 1987”, in Sue Black, G. Sunderland, Lucina Hackman, Xanthé Mallett, editors, Disaster Victim Identification: Experience and Practice (Global Perspectives on Disaster Victim Identification Series), Boca Raton, Fla.; London: CRC Press, →ISBN, page 65:

In a moment, he was caught by the blast. He threw up his arms to cover his head as the surge of energy created by the fireball threw him aside.

2014 October, Don Pendleton [pseudonym], chapter 14, in Maximum Chaos (A Gold Eagle Book; The Executioner; 431), Don Mills, Ont.: Worldwide Library, →ISBN, page 121:

At the time of this photo, Royal Marine Gunner Bryan Gasson is pretty much dead centre in this photo, and yes, that means he is literally inside that socking great fireball as the magazines detonate.

2021 March 14, Drachinifel [pseudonym], 1:05:17 from the start, in The Drydock – Episode 137, archived from the original on 2022-11-08:

A ball of fire, especially one associated with an explosion, or (fiction, mythology) thrown as a weapon.


fireball

fireball (third-person singular simple present fireballs, present participle fireballing, simple past and past participle fireballed)

fireballs (present singular third-person)
fireballing (participle present)
fireballed (participle past)
fireballed (past)

/ˈfaɪəɹˌbɔl/

(transitive, fiction, chiefly fantasy, science fiction) To attack (someone or something) with balls of fire.

hyökätä tulipalloin

to attack (someone or something) with balls of fire


ship

(fandom slang) A fictional romantic relationship between two characters, either real or themselves fictional, especially one explored in fan fiction.


ship

ship (third-person singular simple present ships, present participle shipping, simple past and past participle shipped)

ships (present singular third-person)
shipping (participle present)
shipped (participle past)
shipped (past)

→ Spanish: shippear, shipear

→ Portuguese: shippar

I ship Kirk and Spock in “Star Trek”.

I ship Peggy and Angie in “Marvel's Agent Carter”.

I should warn you that I could not identify a ‘dank meme’ if the fate of the working class depended on it and that I shall not be ‘shipping’ Lenin and Trotsky.

2017, Helen Razer, Total Propaganda: Basic Marxist Brainwashing for the Angry and the Young, Allen & Unwin, →ISBN:

(fandom slang, transitive) To support or approve of a fictional romantic relationship between two characters, typically in fan fiction or other fandom contexts.


protagonist

Penguin Books
The Independent
The Sense of Style
protagonist

From Ancient Greek πρωταγωνιστής (prōtagōnistḗs, “a chief actor”), from πρῶτος (prôtos, “first”) + ἀγωνιστής (agōnistḗs, “a combatant, pleader, actor”). By surface analysis, prot- (“first”) + agonist (“combatant, participant”).

der

πρωταγωνιστής

surf

(authorship) The main character, or one of the main characters, in any story, such as a literary work or drama.


clairvoyance

en-noun

clairvoyance (usually uncountable, plural clairvoyances)

(parapsychology) The power to see or perceive things objects or events beyond the natural range of the senses, such as the past or the future.

яснови́дство

the power to perceive objects that are not accessible to the senses

Acute intuitive insight or perceptiveness; sagacity.


android

From New Latin androides, from Ancient Greek ἀνδρός (andrós, genitive of ἀνήρ (anḗr, “man, human”)) + -ειδής (-eidḗs, itself from εἶδος (eîdos, “form, image, shape, appearance, look”)). Note the form ἀνδρώδης (andrṓdēs, “manly”) already existed in Ancient Greek. By surface analysis, andr- + -oid.

af

genitive of <i class="Polyt mention" lang="grc">ἀνήρ</i> (anḗr, “man, human”)

itself from <i class="Polyt mention" lang="grc">εἶδος</i> (eîdos, “form, image, shape, appearance, look”)

A robot that is designed to look and act like a human being (not necessarily a male one).


android

en-adj

android (comparative more android, superlative most android)

more android (comparative)
most android (superlative)

(anatomy, in pelvimetry) Of the pelvis, having a narrow anterior segment and a heart-shaped brim, typically found in the male.

an android fat distribution


Saturnian

(science fiction) An inhabitant of the planet Saturn.


mail

en-noun

mail (usually uncountable, plural mails)

From Middle English mayle (“mail armor”), borrowed from Old French maille (“loop, stitch”), from Vulgar Latin *macla, from Latin macula (“blemish, mesh”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *smh₁-tleh₂, from *smeh₁- (“smear, rub”).

thurak

armour consisting of metal rings or plates linked together

(uncountable, by extension, now fiction, fantasy) Armour consisting of small plates linked together.


heat

heat (countable and uncountable, plural heats)

From Middle English hete, from Old English hǣtu, from Proto-West Germanic *haitī, from Proto-Germanic *haitį̄ (“heat”), from Proto-Indo-European *keHy- (“heat; hot”). Cognate with Scots hete (“heat”), North Frisian hiet (“heat”), Old High German heizī (“heat”). Related also to Dutch hitte (“heat”), German Hitze (“heat”), Swedish hetta (“heat”), Icelandic hiti (“heat”).

op hitte

Some stories engage in dub-con scenarios where one or both partners are out of their minds with heat lust and lose all reasoning and inhibitions.

2013, Kristina Busse, “Pon Farr, Mpreg, Bonds, and the Rise of the Omegaverse”, in Anne Jamison, editor, Fic: Why Fanfiction Is Taking Over the World, page 321:

When Yuri goes into his first heat, it is not only an uncomfortable and traumatic physical experience, it is also an identity crisis: this is the moment realizes that he is an omega, and not a beta as he had previously assumed.

2017, Marianne Gunderson, "What is an omega? Rewriting sex and gender in omegaverse fanfiction", thesis submitted to the University of Oslo, page 40

Hannibal's first kiss and his alpha saliva trigger Will's heat, […]

2018, Laura Campillo Arnaiz, “When the Omega Empath Met the Alpha Doctor: An Analysis of Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics in the Hannibal Fandom”, in Ashton Spacey, editor, The Darker Side of Slash Fan Fiction, page 127:

(uncountable) A condition where a mammal is aroused sexually or where it is especially fertile and therefore eager to mate; oestrus.

(countable, fandom slang) In omegaverse fiction, a cyclical period in which omegas experience an intense, sometimes irresistible biological urge to mate.


matrix

From Middle English matris, matrice, matrix, from Old French matrice (“pregnant animal”), or from Latin mātrīx (“dam, womb”), both ultimately from māter (“mother”). Doublet of mother from Indo-European ancestor.
Slang usage coined with the 1999 sci-fi action film The Matrix.

基質 /基质

analytical chemistry: sampling environment

He'd operated on an almost permanent adrenaline high, a byproduct of youth and proficiency, jacked into a custom cyberspace deck that projected his disembodied consciousness into the consensual hallucination that was the matrix.

1984, William Gibson, Neuromancer (Sprawl; book 1), New York, N.Y.: Ace Books, →ISBN, page 5:

Mari Otsu, a 25-year-old Japanese-Hawaiian artist, tells me she was “desperately lonely” while she was studying at New York University, when she “realised that [she]^([sic]) was in the matrix”. I ask her what she means.

2023 October 28, Jemima Kelly, “Back to school”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 20:

(slang, figurative, science fiction) Alternative letter-case form of Matrix; a controlled environment or situation in which people behave in ways that conform to pre-determined roles.


slave

Inherited from Middle English sclave, from Old French sclave, from Medieval Latin sclavus (“slave”), from Late Latin Sclavus (“Slav”), traditionally assumed to be because Slavs were often forced into slavery in the Middle Ages. The Latin word is from Byzantine Greek Σκλάβος (Sklábos); see that entry and Slav for more. Displaced native Old English þēow. Thrall and bondsman/bondswoman, however, remain common synonyms. Doublet of ciao and Slav.
An alternative hypothesis derives sclavus from Ancient Greek σκῡλεύω (skūleúō), σκῡλάω (skūláō, “to strip or despoil a slain enemy”).

Fear of their cargo bred a savage cruelty into the crew. One captain, to strike terror into the rest, killed a slave and dividing heart, liver and entrails into 300 pieces made each of the slaves eat one, threatening those who refused with the same torture. Such incidents were not rare.

1963, C.L.R. James, The Black Jacobins, 2nd Revised edition, page 9:

A person who is held in servitude as the property of another person, and whose labor (and often also whose body and life) is subject to the owner's volition and control.


draconian

en-adj

draconian (comparative more draconian, superlative most draconian)

more draconian (comparative)
most draconian (superlative)

From Latin Dracō (stem Dracōn-) + -ian, from Ancient Greek Δράκων (Drákōn), after the Athenian lawmaker Draco, known for making harsh laws. See δράκων (drákōn, “dragon”).

The Soviet regime was draconian.

The mayor announced draconian budget cuts today.

The conflict in the countryside resulted in a far more draconian punishment. The Southern Cross flag flew over the camps of striking shearers, who in revenge for their victimisation burned grass, fences, buildings and even riverboats[…]

2009, Stuart Macintyre, A Concise History of Australia, page 125:

Perhaps lessons had already been learned from the Draconian infrastructure cuts on the Waterloo-Exeter route.

2020 April 8, Howard Johnston, “East-ended? When the ECML was at risk”, in Rail, page 65:

And that movement, while it was eventually crushed through the extensive use of the draconian lese majeste law, shattered the taboo, by calling openly, for the first time, for the powers and financing of the monarchy to be accountable.

2023 May 8, Jonathan Head, “Thailand election: The young radicals shaking up politics”, in BBC News (World):


psi

en-noun

psi (countable and uncountable, plural psis)

From Ancient Greek ψεῖ (pseî), the name for the twenty-third letter of the alphabet (Ψ, ψ).

‘Come, lad,’ he said. ‘We will take tea together and speak of the noumenon, the psi and other more heterogenous phenomena.’

When an event is classified as a psi phenomenon, it is claimed that all known channels for the apparent interaction have been eliminated.

1996, Michael F. Stoeber, Hugo Anthony Meynell, Critical Reflections on the Paranormal (page 60)

It traces the growth of homo gestalt with the uniting of six lovely outcasts of society who have psi powers and come together as a hive mind, thus creating a gestalt super-being.

2005, Michael Ashley, Transformations: The History of the Science Fiction Magazine 1950 to 1970, Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, page 133:

(uncountable, parapsychology, science fiction) A form of psychic energy.


glass

en-verb

glass (third-person singular simple present glasses, present participle glassing, simple past and past participle glassed)

glasses (present singular third-person)
glassing (participle present)
glassed (participle past)
glassed (past)

From Middle English glas, from Old English glæs, from Proto-West Germanic *glas, from Proto-Germanic *glasą, possibly related to Proto-Germanic *glōaną (“to shine”) (compare glow), and ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root *ǵʰel- (“to shine, shimmer, glow”). Cognate with West Frisian glês, Dutch glas, Low German Glas, German Glas, Swedish glas, Icelandic gler.

“The Covenant don’t ‘miss’ anything when they glass a planet,” the Master Chief replied.

2003, Eric Nylund, Halo: First Strike, New York: Del Rey, →ISBN, page 155:

(transitive, science fiction) To bombard an area with such intensity (by means of a nuclear bomb, fusion bomb, etc) as to melt the landscape into glass.


Ugandan

Back-formation from Ugandan discussions.

Margaret, Duchess of Argyll...depicts this charming old gentleman, who often kisses young girls outside Annabel's, as a narrow-minded, boring Ugandan expert.

1975, Private Eye, numbers 340–366, page 161:

Eight ladies with Ugandan associations had ascended the fire escape and were making their way through his room.

1975, Private Eye, numbers 340–366, page 198:

They have a bit of a 'how was it for you' session referring to the night and/or evening before, and we are left not knowing whether they enjoyed Ugandan Relations between the sheets or not.

1998 August 19, Peter Dewhirst, “Dewey's Monday update for 3rd August.”, in rec.arts.tv.uk.coronation-st (Usenet):

I'm in serious need of some ugandan activities. Any of you birds out there at a loose end and want to get the dirty water off your chest?

2000 January 25, Baz, “Any birds want a good seeing to?”, in uk.local.birmingham (Usenet):

Serif's question: where is Mister? The Eagle's answer: engaged in Ugandan practices.

2001, Gerald Seymour, The Untouchables, →ISBN, page 345:

I recall her once snatching a copy of the hated Private Eye, in which I'd been reading about the Ugandan activities of a prominent member of her party.

2013 April 8, Lord Powell, “The Margaret Thatcher I knew”, in The Guardian:

Jones denied last week that he was in a Ugandan situation with Morris, but did say "I am very fond of anyone who helps me lose six and a half stone..."

2015, Rotten Boroughs, “Going for the Burn”, in Private Eye, number 1407:

(UK, informal, euphemistic) Sexual, highlights a double entendre.


turn

turn (third-person singular simple present turns, present participle turning, simple past and past participle turned or (obsolete) turnt)

turns (present singular third-person)
turning (participle present)
turned (participle past)
turned (past)
turnt (obsolete participle past)
turnt (obsolete past)
turn (infinitive)

From Middle English turnen, from Old English turnian, tyrnan (“to turn, rotate, revolve”) and Old French torner (“to turn”), both from Latin tornāre (“to round off, turn in a lathe”), from tornus (“lathe”), from Ancient Greek τόρνος (tórnos, “turning-lathe: a tool used for making circles”), from Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- (“to rub, rub by turning, turn, twist, bore”). Cognate with Old English þrāwan (“to turn, twist, wind”), whence English throw. Displaced native Middle English wenden from Old English wendan (see wend), and Middle English trenden from Old English trendan (see trend), among several other terms.

lyödä kierre

in cricket, make the ball move sideways when it bounces

kiertää

of a cricket ball, move sideways when it bounces

-ul

e.g. “turn yellow”: sárga → sárgul, “turn brown”: barna → barnul

How long ago was he turned?

His companions had turned him on purpose. Annie, bless her heart, was immune.

2017, Michael J. Totten, Into the Wasteland: A Zombie Novel:

(intransitive or transitive) To change condition or attitude.

To change fundamentally; to metamorphose.

(transitive, fantasy) To change (a person) into a vampire, werewolf, zombie, etc.

Bruce Banner turns when he is angry: he becomes the Hulk, an incredibly powerful green monster.

(intransitive, fantasy) To transform into a vampire, werewolf, zombie, etc.


hound

en-verb

hound (third-person singular simple present hounds, present participle hounding, simple past and past participle hounded)

hounds (present singular third-person)
hounding (participle present)
hounded (participle past)
hounded (past)

From Middle English hounden, from the noun (see above).

We both thought we saw what had the appearance to be a fox, and hounded the dogs at it, but they would not pursue it.

1897, Andrew Lang, The Book of Dreams and Ghosts, page 162:

(transitive) To urge on against; to set (dogs) upon in hunting.


invisible

From Middle English invisible, from Old French invisible, from Late Latin invīsibilis. Displaced native Old English unġesewenlīċ.
Morphologically in- + visible.

The physical covering of this image limited the Christians’ view, rendering the image invisible on all but a few occasions.

2024, Katherine Aron-Beller, chapter 6, in Christian Images and Their Jewish Desecrators: The History of an Allegation, 400–1700, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, →ISBN, page 261:


ser

A Song of Ice and Fire
George R. R. Martin

From Middle English ser. Popularised in modern fantasy by George R. R. Martin in the A Song of Ice and Fire series starting in 1996.

Would ser care to dine this evening?

"Ser Willem is a good man and true,” said Ser Oswell.
“But not of the Kingsguard,” Ser Gerold pointed out.

1996, George R. R. Martin, A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book One, Bantam, →ISBN:

Lady Mary – the Queen's handmaiden – was Ser Gawain's lady; her veil fluttered from his shoulder.

2014 January 16, Miles Cameron, The Fell Sword, Hachette UK, →ISBN:

You don't strike me as an ordinary soldier, are you perchance Ser Lancelot Germaine of the Round Table?

2023 July 21, Ivan Lekoski, Invictus, Austin Macauley Publishers, →ISBN:

(archaic, now chiefly fantasy) Alternative spelling of sir


hybrid

Known in English since 1601, but rare before c.1850. From Latin hybrida, a variant of hibrida (“a mongrel; specifically, offspring of a tame sow and a wild boar”).

mulard

of a domestic variety of mallard × female muscovy

All our family drive hybrids because they're greener.

Something of mixed origin or composition; often, a tool or technology that combines the benefits of formerly separate tools or technologies.

A hybrid vehicle (especially a car), one that runs on both fuel (gasoline/diesel) and electricity (battery or energy from the sun).

хибри́д

car that runs on both fuel and electricity

autocinetum materiae propulsoriae miscellae

An electronic circuit constructed of individual devices bonded to a substrate or PCB.

A computer that is part analog computer and part digital computer.


hybrid

en-adj

hybrid (comparative more hybrid, superlative most hybrid)

more hybrid (comparative)
most hybrid (superlative)

a hybrid mix of jazz and punk

Brooklyn has opted for hybrid SUVs, at least, to show environmental consciousness.

2022, N. K. Jemisin, The World We Make, Orbit, page 270:

(of a car) Running on both fuel (gasoline/diesel) and electricity (battery or energy from the sun).


antelope

→ Irish: antalóp

→ Manx: antelope

From Middle English antelope, from Old French antelop, from Medieval Latin antilops, from Byzantine Greek ἀνθόλοψ (anthólops), which is of obscure origin.

(archaic, mythology) A fierce legendary creature said to live on the banks of the Euphrates, having long serrated horns and being hard to catch.


Python

From Ancient Greek Πύθων (Púthōn), from Πῡθώ (Pūthṓ), the early name of Delphi, from πύθω (púthō, “to rot, to decay”).
The programming language is named after Monty Python.

Here Apollo killed a serpent called the Python, and established a great prophetic shrine. Sometimes it is said that the Titaness Themis had the shrine before him, and this, as well as the killing of the Python, suggests that Apollo took over a place already of religious significance, associated with chthonic (i.e., earth) powers.

1995, Gordon MacDonald Kirkwood, A Short Guide to Classical Mythology, page 11:

It would seem, therefore, that what we have on the Phasian phiale is the Python coiled round the omphalos.[…]Paintings on Greek pottery and coins have preserved many an example of gods seated on an omphalos, including those of Apollo, Nike, Asclepius and others.⁴¹³ Python on the omphalos must have carried some symbolic meaning.

2000, Otar Lordkipanidze, Phasis: The River and City in Colchis, page 70:

Python, says Bailey, is derived from Putho to putrify, and the serpent Python being slain by Apollo, is thus interpreted: by Python is understood the ruin of the waters; Apollo slew this serpent with his arrows; that is, the beams of the sun dispersed the noxious vapours, which destroyed man like a devouring serpent.

2005, M. A. Dwight, Taylor Lewis, Grecian and Roman Mythology, page 183:

(Greek mythology) The earth-dragon of Delphi, represented as a serpent, killed by Apollo.

programming language
programming language

(computing) An interpreted, high-level, general-purpose programming language invented by Guido van Rossum.


Python

John Cleese is perhaps the best-known of the Pythons.

(informal) Any member of the comedy troupe Monty Python: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones or Michael Palin.


witch

The noun is from Middle English wicche, from Old English wiċċe (“witch (female), sorceress”) and wiċċa (“witch (male), sorcerer, warlock”), deverbative from wiċċian (“to practice sorcery”), from Proto-Germanic *wikkōną (compare West Frisian wikje, wikke (“to foretell, warn”), German Low German wicken (“to soothsay”), Dutch wikken, wichelen (“to dowse, divine”)), from Proto-Indo-European *wik-néh₂-, derivation of *weyk- (“to consecrate; separate”); akin to Latin victima (“sacrificial victim”), Lithuanian viẽkas (“life-force”), Sanskrit विनक्ति (vinákti, “to set apart, separate out”). Possibly related to wicked; see that entry for more. The verb derives from the noun.

cog

One given to mischief, especially a woman or child.

(geometry) A certain curve of the third order, described by Maria Agnesi under the name versiera.

Glyptocephalus cynoglossus (Torbay sole), found in the North Atlantic.

Lepidorhombus whiffiagonis (megrim), found in the North Atlantic.


Gothic

en-adj

Gothic (comparative more Gothic, superlative most Gothic)

more Gothic (comparative)
most Gothic (superlative)

From Late Latin gothicus (“Gothic, barbaric”), from Ancient Greek Γοτθικός (Gotthikós), from Ancient Greek Γότθοι (Gótthoi, “Goths”) + -ικός (-ikós, “-ic”), proposed to derive from unattested Gothic *𐌲𐌿𐍄𐌰 (*guta). Equivalent to Goth + -ic. The various usages of the adjective are introduced nearly simultaneously in the first half of the 17th century. The literal meaning “of the Goths” is found in the 1611 preface of the King James Bible, in reference to the Gothicke tongue. The generalized meaning of “Germanic, Teutonic” appears in the 1640s. Reference to the medieval period in Western Europe, and specifically the architecture of that period (“barbaric style”, initially a term of abuse), also appears in the 1640s, as does reference to “Gothic characters” or “Gothic letters” in typography.

готически

of the type formerly used for printing German

“[W]hat he holds of all things to be most gothic, is gallantry to the women.”

1782, Frances Burney, Cecilia, II.iii.6:

Enormities which gleam like comets through the darkness of gothic and superstitious ages.

1812 letter, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Prose Works, volume II, quoted in OED, published 1888, page 384:

(figuratively) Barbarous, rude, unpolished, belonging to the “Dark Ages”, medieval as opposed to classical.

Gothic arches

Or does the L.C.C. [London County Council] dislike nineteenth century Gothic?

1944 January and February, C. F. Cobon, “The County of London Plan”, in Railway Magazine, page 24:

The Gothic style did not cease to exist: it did, however, cease to be all-powerful, and it almost ceased to create new forms. Gothic architects had by this time drawn every possible conclusion from the premises which had been laid down […]

2000, Paul Frankl, Paul Crossley, Gothic Architecture, Yale University Press, →ISBN, page 258:

(architecture) Of or relating to the architectural style favored in Western Europe in the 12th to 16th centuries, with high-pointed arches, clustered columns, etc.

գոթական

of or relating to the architectural style

Gothic tales

Shelley's two early novels Zastrozzi and St. Irvyne are, as many scholars have noted, obviously connected to the tradition of the Gothic novel; as well, two volumes of early poetry contain Gothic elements and his tragedy The Cenci has been […]

1975, John V. Murphy, The Dark Angel: Gothic Elements in Shelley's Works, Bucknell University Press, →ISBN, page 9:

(literature) Of or relating to the style of fictional writing associated with Gothic fiction, emphasizing violent or macabre events in a mysterious, desolate setting.

готически

of or relating to a style of fictional writing

Gothic letters

black letter
black letter#English:_typography

(typography, England) Synonym of black letter


Gothic

One hundred fifty Gothics sold over 1.5 million copies a month last spring.

1996, Nora Sayre, Sixties going on seventies, page 180:


prep

en-noun

prep (countable and uncountable, plural preps)

(informal, countable) A student or graduate of a prep school, a preppy.


haunt

en-verb

haunt (third-person singular simple present haunts, present participle haunting, simple past and past participle haunted)

haunts (present singular third-person)
haunting (participle present)
haunted (participle past)
haunted (past)

From Middle English haunten (“to reside, inhabit, use, employ”), from Old French hanter (“to inhabit, frequent, resort to”), from Old Northern French hanter (“to go back home, frequent”), from Old Norse heimta (“to bring home, fetch”) or/and from Old English hāmettan (“to bring home; house; cohabit with”); both from Proto-Germanic *haimatjaną (“to house, bring home”), from Proto-Germanic *haimaz (“village, home”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóymos (“village”).
Cognate with Old English hǣman (“to cohabit, lie with, marry”); related to Old English hām (“home, village”), Old French hantin (“a stay, a place frequented by”) from the same Germanic source. Another descendant from the French is Dutch hanteren, whence German hantieren, Swedish hantera, Danish håndtere. More at home.

cog

A couple of ghosts haunt the old, burnt-down house.

You wrong me Sir,thus ſtill to haunt my houſe.

c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv], page 52, column 1:

Foul spirits haunt my resting place.

1600, [Torquato Tasso], “(please specify |book=1 to 20)”, in Edward Fairefax [i.e., Edward Fairfax], transl., Godfrey of Bulloigne, or The Recouerie of Ierusalem. […], London: […] Ar[nold] Hatfield, for I[saac] Iaggard and M[atthew] Lownes, →OCLC:

those cares that haunt the court and town

1713, Jonathan Swift, Imitation of Horace, Book I. Ep. VII:

(transitive) To inhabit or to visit frequently (most often used in reference to ghosts).

[…]haunte thi silf to pite [or pitee].

c. 1382–1395, John Wycliffe [et al.], edited by Josiah Forshall and Frederic Madden, The Holy Bible, […], volume I (in Middle English), Oxford: At the University Press, published 1850, →OCLC, I. Timothy 4:7, columns 1, 2:

(transitive, UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To accustom; habituate; make accustomed to.

Leave honest pleasure, and haunt no good pastime.

a. 1569 (date written), Roger Ascham, edited by Margaret Ascham, The Scholemaster: Or Plaine and Perfite Way of Teaching Children, to Vnderstand, Write, and Speake, the Latin Tong, […], London: […] John Daye, […], published 1570, →OCLC:

(transitive, UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To practise; to devote oneself to.


haunt

The lofty mountains roſe faint to the ſight and loſt their foreheads in the diſtant ſkies: the little hills, cloathed in darker green and ſkirted with embroidered vales, diſcovered the ſecret haunts of kids and bounding roes.

1769, Firishta, translated by Alexander Dow, Tales translated from the Persian of Inatulla of Delhi, volume I, Dublin: P. and W. Wilson et al., page iv:


double agent

Coordinate term: triple agent

(espionage) A spy who pretends to work for one side, when they are actually working for or passing information to the other.


antagonist

From Latin antagonista, from Ancient Greek ἀνταγωνιστής (antagōnistḗs, “opponent”) (ἀντί (antí, “against”) + ἀγωνιστής (agōnistḗs, “a combatant, pleader, actor”)), from ἀνταγωνίζομαι (antagōnízomai, “to antagonize”).

der

ἀνταγωνιστής

So God forbid I'm seen just as an average human being / I mean, imagine if antagonists lacked any evil scheme

2022, Will Wood (musician) (lyrics and music), “The Main Character”, in In case I make it,, performed by Will Wood:

(authorship) The main character or force opposing the protagonist in a literary work or drama.


sie

head

sie (third person singular, gender-neutral, nominative case, accusative sir, possessive adjective hir, possessive noun hirs, reflexive hirself)

en-pron

sir (accusative)
hir (adjective possessive)
hirs (noun possessive)
hirself (reflexive)

If the child is about the intellectual equal of the parent, sie will eventually start holding hir own in discussions, […]

1993 September 24, Alex Martelli, “punishment vs ethics (was Re: Discipline my daughters)”, in alt.sex.bondage (Usenet):

"You must be Ash," sie said, hir voice a shade deeper than Amaranth's.

2010 September 16, Jessica Freely, Amaranth and Ash, La Vergne: Lightning Source, →ISBN, page 101:

Sie may feel that hir actual identity of hir gender is supposed to be both/neither male or female, outside of gender, third gender, beyond gender, absence of gender, mixing gender, changing gender, or all genders.

2011 May 19, Ken Wickham, The Other Genders: Androgyne, Genderqueer, Non-Binary Gender Variant, CreateSpace, →ISBN, page 7:

When I asked hir about hir preferred self-identification in this scene, sie offered me this language, 'sie sharply performs the hotness of teasing all the audience from the edge-space of androgyny.'

2011 August 16, Petra Kuppers, Disability Culture and Community Performance: Find a Strange and Twisted Shape, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, →ISBN, →LCCN, LCC PN1590.H36 K87 2011, page 18:

(rare, nonstandard) Gender-neutral subject pronoun, grammatically equivalent to the gendered pronouns he and she


raw

From Middle English rawe, raw, rau, from Old English hrēaw (“raw, uncooked”), from Proto-West Germanic *hrau, from Proto-Germanic *hrawaz, *hrēwaz (“raw”), from Proto-Indo-European *krewh₂- (“raw meat, fresh blood”).
Cognate with Scots raw (“raw”), Dutch rauw (“raw”), German roh (“raw”), Swedish rå (“raw”), Icelandic hrár (“raw”), Latin crūdus (“raw, bloody, uncooked”), Irish cró (“blood”), Lithuanian kraujas (“blood”), Russian кровь (krovʹ, “blood”). Related also to Old English hrēow, hrēoh (“rough, fierce, wild, angry, disturbed, troubled, sad, stormy, tempestuous”). More at ree.

der

(anime fandom slang) A recording or rip of a show that has not been fansubbed.

生肉

anime fandom: a recording or rip that has not been fansubbed

(manga fandom slang) A scan that has not been cleaned (purged of blemishes arising from the scanning process) and has not been scanlated.

生肉

manga fandom: a scan that has not been cleaned and scanlated


muggle

See Muggle. The verb sense (“to deface a geocache”) derives from the fact that people interfering with such items are assumed not to be geocachers: see the noun sense 1.2.1.

The magical and the muggle are separated by a river, wide and deep. I could see across, but I couldn't get across, [...].

2005, Christine Wicker, Not in Kansas Anymore: A Curious Tale of How Magic is Transforming America, New York, N.Y.: HarperSanFrancisco, →ISBN, page 194:

As it was nearing Halloween, we were able to join a potions class where we could change liquids into myriad colours with the addition of substances like dragon spit (muggle’s lemon juice).

2007 November 11, Lesley Oldfield, “Family break a eureka moment”, in Sunday Sun, Newcastle upon Tyne: Reach plc, →ISSN, →OCLC:

There's another guy playing [Bob] Dylan as a formal poet facing some kind of muggle inquisition, but this is the movie's briefest and least consequential thread.

2007 November 21, Gary Thompson, “Dylan divided by six”, in The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia, Pa.: The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC, →ISSN, →OCLC:

Alternative letter-case form of Muggle
A person who has no magical abilities.

Some activists might know little of this ‘exterior’, such is their facility to move between activist spaces and places without having to encounter the ever-increasingly one-dimensional world in which the ‘muggles’ live.

2005, David Harvie, Ben Trott, Keir Milburn, editors, Shut Them Down!: The G8, Gleneagles 2005 and the Movement of Movements, Leeds, West Yorkshire: Dissent!; Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.: Autonomedia, →ISBN, page 343:

(by extension) A person who lacks a particular ability or skill; a non-specialist; also, a person who is not a member of a group; an outsider.

Try not to let the muggles see you find a Cache.

2006, Wisconsin Natural Resources, Madison, Wis.: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 89:

Use Stealth. Commonly used in a place with a high muggle-to-geocacher ratio.

2010, Paul Gillin, Dana Gillin, “Appendix A: Glossary”, in The Joy of Geocaching […], Fresno, Calif.: Quill Driver Books, →ISBN, page 235:

Each time we made a find [Teresa] Hinton would check there were no muggles, or non-geocachers, around before taking the container from its hiding place.

2016 February 16, Selina Powell, “The hidden world of geocaching in Marlborough”, in Marlborough Express (reproduced on Stuff), Blenheim, New Zealand: Stuff, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2020-05-16:

Caches can be hidden in a disguised container, or very small package, and one element of difficulty is hiding caches in urban locations, where the hunter will have to avoid being spotted by ‘muggles’ – the name given to those unaware of the sport. Muggles will be surprised at the scale of the secret game taking place under their noses.

2018 February 6, Joseph Smith, “The ‘dead drop’ in Stokes Croft may be more than it appears”, in Bristol Post, Bristol, Somerset: Reach plc, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2018-02-10:

(geocaching, specifically) A person not involved in the pastime of geocaching.


doppelganger

/ˈdɒp(ə)lˌɡɛŋə/

/ˈdɑp(ə)lˌɡɛŋəɹ/

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

Borrowed from German Doppelgänger (“ghostly spirit”, literally “double-walker”).

bor

A ghostly double of a living person, especially one that haunts such a person.

(fantasy) A monster that takes the forms of people, usually after killing them.


poltergeist

en-noun

poltergeist (plural poltergeists or poltergeister)

poltergeists (plural)
poltergeister (plural)

Unadapted borrowing from German Poltergeist, from poltern (“to rumble”) + Geist (“ghost”). Cognate with English boulder and ghost.

ubor

A poltergeist haunts the house by moving objects around, making chain-rattling noises and throwing things.

The chapel is haunted by a demonic poltergeist.

"Perhaps even a small poltergeist might come your way. Any trifle would be welcome." His bull's bellow of laughter followed them into the lift.

1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:

I risk becoming nothing more than a common poltergeist wallowing in regrets and introspection and other terrible things.

2013, Kazerad, Aggy: Approach, in: Prequel -or- Making a Cat Cry: The Adventure (webcomic), November 22 2013

(parapsychology) An unseen ghost which makes noises and causes disruption, especially by causing physical objects to move or fly about.


ghost

en-noun

ghost (countable and uncountable, plural ghosts)

→ Japanese: ゴースト (gōsuto)

Inherited from Middle English gost, from Old English gāst (which was the word for “spirit” as well as “ghost”; the original sense survives in Modern English Holy Ghost), from Proto-West Germanic *gaist, from Proto-Germanic *gaistaz, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰéysdos, derived from *ǵʰéysd- (“anger, agitation”).
The ⟨h⟩ in the spelling appears in the Prologue to William Caxton's Royal Book, printed in 1484, in a reference to the ‘Holy Ghoost’, likely introduced by Caxton's assistant, Wynkyn de Worde, as a result of Flemish influence, where it was spelled gheest at the time. Doublet of geist.

Everyone believed that the ghost of an old lady haunted the crypt.

The mighty ghosts of our great Harries rose.

1667, John Dryden, Annus Mirabilis: The Year of Wonders, 1666. […], London: […] Henry Herringman, […], →OCLC, (please specify the stanza number):

I thought that I had died in sleep/And was a blessed ghost

1798, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere:

For a moment I was puzzled, but presently, of course, it struck me that he must have seen Ayesha, wrapped in her grave-like garment, and been deceived by the extraordinary undulating smoothness of her walk into a belief that she was a white ghost gliding towards him.

1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

Hepaticology, outside the temperate parts of the Northern Hemisphere, still lies deep in the shadow cast by that ultimate "closet taxonomist," Franz Stephani—a ghost whose shadow falls over us all.

1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page vii:

The disembodied soul; the soul or spirit of a deceased person; a spirit appearing after death.

Spicy or mild, lovely bells or scary ghosts, peppers belong in your garden. Not only are they delicious, they add a gorgeous pop of color to vegetable gardens. When starting pepper seeds, consider using a heat mat.

2018 October 2, Julie Thompson-Adolf, Starting & Saving Seeds: Grow the Perfect Vegetables, Fruits, Herbs, and Flowers for Your Garden, Cool Springs Press, →ISBN, page 68:

Fresh chili has a glossy smooth skin like a bell pepper...unless you're in scorching territory, with the likes of Ghosts or Reapers (their name should give the game away), where the skin looks [wrinkled].

2022 July 5, Alice Zaslavsky, In Praise of Veg: The Ultimate Cookbook for Vegetable Lovers, Appetite by Random House, →ISBN:


ghost

en-verb

ghost (third-person singular simple present ghosts, present participle ghosting, simple past and past participle ghosted)

ghosts (present singular third-person)
ghosting (participle present)
ghosted (participle past)
ghosted (past)

Whenever a menu or menu item is inappropriate or unavailable for selection, it should be ghosted. Never allow the user to select something that does nothing in response.

1991, Amiga User Interface Style Guide, page 76:

graphical user interface
graphical user interface

(graphical user interface) To gray out (a visual item) to indicate that it is unavailable.

kiszürkít

graphical user interface: to gray out (a visual item) to indicate that it is unavailable — see also gray out


once upon a time

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Persent101-once upon a time.wav

Once upon a time, in a faraway land, there lived a beautiful princess.

There was once upon a time a charcoal-burner who had a son, and he was also a charcoal-burner.

1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 308:

Once upon a time, there was a Goblin Queen
And she lived in a grand palace...

2023, A. C. MacDonald, Twistwood Tales (comic), Andrews McMeel, →ISBN, page 138:

A long time ago; at some time in the past (a traditional beginning of children's stories, especially fairy tales).

agwa

traditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales

iq̇o da ara iq̇o ra, ɣvtis uḳetesi ra ikneboda

იყო და არა იყო რა, ღვთის უკეთესი რა იქნებოდა


drake

From Middle English drake (“dragon; Satan”), from Old English draca (“dragon, sea monster, huge serpent”), from Proto-West Germanic *drakō (“dragon”), from Latin dracō (“dragon”), from Ancient Greek δράκων (drákōn, “serpent, giant seafish”), from δέρκομαι (dérkomai, “I see clearly”). Compare Middle Dutch drake and German Drache. Doublet of dragon.


vixen

Alteration of earlier fixen, from Middle English fixen, from Old English fyxe, from Proto-West Germanic *fuhsini, from Proto-Germanic *fuhsinī; the voiced v- comes from the Southern dialectal forms of Middle English. Alternatively, from the Old English adjective fyxen (“of the fox”), as in the phrase fixen hȳd (“fox skin”; compare Middle English foxen fox).

2018, ‘Stag’ men love watching other guys have sex with their wives… but it’s not cuckolding
The stag gets a thrill from watching his vixen have sex with another man.

(colloquial) A wife who has sex with other men with her husband's consent.


nix

From German nix, colloquial form of nichts (“nothing”). Compare also Dutch niks (“nothing”), informal for niets (“nothing”). More at naught.

"That's a clean lift from Kipling—or is it Conan Doyle? Anyway, I've read something just like it before. Say, kid, guess what these magazine guys get for a full page ad.? Nix. That's just like a woman. Three thousand straight. Fact."

1912, Edna Ferber, “Maymeys from Cuba”, in Buttered Side Down:

"I can take you down, Miss Conover, but I cannot take Mr. Hawksley. When the boss gives me an order I obey it—if I possibly can. On the day the boss tells me you can go strolling, I'll give you the key to the city. Until then, nix! No use arguing, Mr. Hawksley."

1920, Harold MacGrath, chapter 26, in The Drums of Jeopardy:


Quenya

From Noldorin Quenya Quenya, ultimately derived from the Primitive Quendian root *kwene ("person"), being the name for the language invented by J. R. R. Tolkien as the language spoken by the Elves in his books.

constructed language
constructed language

A constructed language created by J. R. R. Tolkien modelled on Greek, Latin and Finnish.


extragalactic

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

(science fiction) Originating outside of the local galaxy.


hydra

en-noun

hydra (plural hydras or hydrae or hydræ)

hydras (plural)
hydrae (plural)
hydræ (plural)

After the Hydra, from Greek mythology, which grew two new heads every time one of its heads was cut off. The biology sense alludes to the budding method of asexual reproduction that the hydra practices, similar to growing new heads. The figurative sense refers to how the creature could not be killed by a swift, decisive solution (in contrast to a Gordian knot).

(fantasy) A dragon-like creature with many heads and the ability to regrow them when maimed.


alce

Ar. a fesse betw. three alces’ or griffins’ heads erased sa.

1842, John Burke, John Bernard Burke, A General Armory of England, Scotland, and Ireland, London: […] Edward Churton, […]:

Alce. The Male Griffin. […] Alice, or Alce. The Male Gryphon.

[1889, Charles Norton Elvin, A Dictionary of Heraldry with Upwards of Two Thousand Five Hundred Illustrations, London: Kent & Cᵒ […]; East Dereham: W. H. Brown, […], page 4, column 2:

XV. CHARGES taken from MONSTERS. Monsters with Wings. Griffin. Dragon. Alce. Opinicus. […] Alce. See Griffin. […] The term Alce is given, as if used by writers for a kind of griffin, but no example can be quoted.

[1894, Henry Gough, James Parker, A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry, new edition, Oxford, Oxon, London: James Parker and Co., pages xvii, 9, and 294:

[…] griffin seems to have an existence in theory only; nevertheless he must be catalogued, together with the word alce, which is accepted (though not without dissent) as the individual name for the horned griffin.

[1963, Julian Franklyn, Shield and Crest: An Account of the Art and Science of Heraldry, 2nd edition, MacGibbon & Kee, page 149:

Infrequently, a griffin is portrayed without wings; in 15th-century and later heraldry such a beast may be called an ‘alce’ or a ‘keythong.’

[2001, Osita Iroku, A Day in the Life of God, →ISBN, page 85:

Folks gave the beast many names. Griffin, griffon, gryphon, alce, keythong, gryphen, griffen, gryphen, and opinicus…

[2009, Benjamin Towe, The First Wandmaker (Elfdreams of Parallan; II), Bloomington, Ind.: AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 20:

"It has no wings! I thought that griffins were lions with an eagle head and wings." / "I'm sure that this female Alce doesn't prefer to be called 'it,'" Ryu said pointedly. / "Alce?" / "Yes. A so-called wingless griffin. But they are two different creatures."

2009, Nicole Zoltack, Woman of Honor (The Kingdom of Arnhem; 1), Newhall, Calif.: Desert Breeze Publishing, Inc., →ISBN:

The more common representation of the griffin is the female griffin, a creature with wings. Male griffins do NOT have wings and are termed “alces” or “keythongs.”

[2009 June, The Celator, volume 23, number 6:

They’d befriended him because he fed them the tastiest morsels, Alce, the gilded griffin, preferred Marvel while Keythong, the agate stone one, craved DC Comics.

2010, Shirin Dubbin, Dreams’ Dark Kiss, Carina Press, Harlequin Enterprises, →ISBN:

figure 11 Cloven-hoofed, wingless griffin (also called an alce or a keythong in later heraldry) symbolizing the sun, and two-legged dragon (wyvern) symbolizing the moon.

[2011, Marc Michael Epstein, The Medieval Haggadah: Art, Narrative, and Religious Imagination, New Haven, Conn., London: Yale University Press, →ISBN, page 58:

Alce / Variations: Anthalops, Alcida, Calopus, Keythong, Panthalops, Tapopus / In heraldic symbology the alce is a wingless, male griffin with rays or spikes of gold protruding from several parts of its body; on occasion it also sports two long straight horns atop its head. A pair of such creatures is present on the coat of arms of the Earl of Ormande.

2016, Theresa Bane, Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore, Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, →ISBN, page 22, column 1:

Adventurer’s Tip: Do not confuse [the griffin] with similar hybrids, such as the alce (a wingless griffin) or the alphyn (a lion with eagle claws for front legs).

2019, Blanca Martínez de Rituerto, Joe Sparrow, Dungeons & Drawings: An Illustrated Compendium of Creatures, Kansas City, Mo.: Andrews McMeel Publishing, →ISBN:

(rare, mythology) A mythical beast resembling a griffin with no wings, often classified as a male griffin.


teleporter

(science fiction) A device used for teleporting.


cyberspace

cyberspace (countable and uncountable, plural cyberspaces)

Blend of cybernetics + space, equivalent to cyber- + space, coined by American-Canadian speculative fiction writer William Gibson in his short story collection Burning Chrome (1982) and popularized in his novel Neuromancer (1984).

coin

I knew every chip in Bobby's simulator by heart; it looked like your workaday Ono-Sendai VII, the ‘Cyberspace Seven’, but I'd rebuilt it so many times that you'd have had a hard time finding a square millimetre of factory circuitry in all that silicon.

1982 July, William Gibson, “Burning Chrome”, in Omni, volume 4, number 10, page 72:

Cyberspace. A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation, by children being taught mathematical concepts… A graphic representation of data abstracted from banks of every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity. Lines of light ranged in the nonspace of the mind, clusters and constellations of data. Like city lights, receding…

1984, William Gibson, Neuromancer (Sprawl; book 1), New York, N.Y.: Ace Books, →ISBN, page 51:

(science fiction) A three-dimensional representation of virtual space in a computer network.

կիբերտարածք

science fiction: three-dimensional representation of virtual space


chortle

Perhaps a blend of chuckle + snort. Coined by Lewis Carroll in his poem Jabberwocky, completed in 1855 but only introduced to the public in his 1871 novel Through the Looking-Glass.

A similar sounding vocalisation of various birds.


urchin

From Middle English yrchoun, irchoun (“hedgehog; sea urchin”), from Old Northern French irechon, from Vulgar Latin *ērīciōnem, from Latin ericius. Compare modern French hérisson, whence the English doublet herisson.

(historical) A neutron-generating device that triggered the nuclear detonation of the earliest plutonium atomic bombs.


manticore

/ˈmæntɪˌkɔɹ/

From Latin mantichōras, from Ancient Greek μαρτιχόρας (martikhóras, “man-eater; tiger”), from Old Persian *martyahvārah (“man-eater”), from 𐎶𐎼𐎫𐎡𐎹 (m-r-t-i-y /martyaʰ/, “man”).

der

Now may I present to you the basilisk?
Please down your goggles if you wish to resist
From the fiery depths of the planet’s core
The never sleeping for want of eating unholy stench of the manticore

2005, “Circus Maximus”, performed by Clutch:

(Greek mythology) A beast with the body of a lion (usually red), the tail of a scorpion, and the head/face of a man with a mouth filled with multiple rows of sharp teeth (like a shark), said to be able to shoot spikes from its tail or mane to paralyse prey. It may be horned, winged, or both; its voice is described as a mixture of pipes and trumpets.


griffin

Chinese Pidgin English: griffin

From Middle English griffoun, from Old French griffon, from Latin gryphus, from Ancient Greek γρύψ (grúps).

A large vulture (Gyps fulvus) found in the mountainous parts of Southern Europe, North Africa, and Asia Minor, supposed to be the "eagle" of the Bible.


nerd

→ Dutch: nerd

→ Faroese: nørdur

→ Finnish: nörtti

→ Icelandic: nörd

→ Norwegian Bokmål: nerd

→ Norwegian Nynorsk: nerd

→ Polish: nerd

→ Portuguese: nerd

→ Spanish: nerd

→ Swedish: nörd

→ Turkish: nörd

Unknown. Attested since 1951 as US student slang.
* Perhaps an alteration of nerts (“nuts", "crazy”); see references below.
* The word, capitalized, appeared in 1950 in Dr. Seuss’s If I Ran the Zoo as the name of an imaginary animal:
*: And then, just to show them, I’ll sail to Katroo / And bring back an It-Kutch, a Preep and a Proo, / A Nerkle, a Nerd and a Seersucker too!
* Possibly a rebracketing of inert as a nert, as in he's inert = he's a nerd, in reference to one's lack of competence or athletic ability.
* Various unlikely folk etymologies and less likely backronymic speculations also exist.

(informal, sometimes derogatory) A member of a subculture revolving around intellectualism, technology, video games, fantasy and science fiction, comic books and assorted media. [from 1980s]


idiot

From Middle English idiote, ydiote, from Old French idiote (later idiot), from Latin idiota, from Ancient Greek ἰδιώτης (idiṓtēs, “a private citizen, one who has no professional knowledge, layman”), from ἴδιος (ídios, “one's own, pertaining to oneself, private”). Doublet of idiota.

Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class IV § 450a. Absence of intellect

Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class IV § 499. Imbecility

Idiots were thought to be peculiarly under the care of the Deity, and it was believed that those who treated them kindly would be blessed.

1896, Clifton Johnson, “Folks”, in What They Say in New England (non-fiction), Boston, Massachusetts, United States: Lee and Shepard Publishers, page 105:

It is an offence for a man to have unlawful sexual intercourse with a woman whom he knows to be an idiot or imbecile.

1956, Parliament of the United Kingdom, “Part I, section 7”, in Sexual Offences Act 1956, page 2:

(obsolete, medicine, psychology) A person of the lowest intellectual standing, a person who lacks the capacity to develop beyond the mental age of a normal four-year-old; a person with an IQ below 30.


entity

From the Medieval Latin entitās, from ēns (“being”) (stem: ent-) + -tās (compare essentia), see there for more information.

Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class I § 1. Existence

(science fiction) An alien lifeform that has no corporeal body.

生命體 /生命体

(science fiction) alien lifeform that has no corporeal body


unicorn

From Middle English unicorne, unikorn, from Anglo-Norman unicorne, Old French unicorne, and their source, Latin ūnicornis, from ūnus (“one”) + cornū (“horn”). Other senses from either rarity (e.g., possessing multiple skills) or by physical resemblance to having a horn (e.g., howitzer). The finance sense was coined by American investor Aileen Lee and first used in a 2013 article.

God brought him forth out of Egypt, he hath as it were the ſtrength of an Vnicorne: he ſhall eate vp the nations his enemies, and ſhall breake their bones, and pierce them thorow with his arrowes.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Numbers 24:8, column 1:

רְאֵם ראם#Hebrew

(historical) In various Bible translations, used to render the Latin unicornis or rhinoceros (representing Hebrew רְאֵם): a reem or wild ox.

Any large beetle having a horn-like prominence on the head or prothorax, especially the Hercules beetle, Dynastes tityus.

But I also think, “They’re looking for a unicorn — a magical designer who can solve all their problems.” It’s too bad unicorns don’t exist. … I have never met a designer who is an expert in all those skill areas. … Even if you find a unicorn designer with all those skills, actually doing all those things at your company is a huge amount of work.

2011 November 1, Braden Kowitz, “Hiring a designer: hunting the unicorn”, in Google Ventures:

He believes that good data scientists, “otherwise known as unicorn data scientists,” have three types of expertise.

2015 October 3, Gil Press, “These Are The Skills You Need To (Eventually) Become A $240,000+ Unicorn Data Scientist”, in Forbes:

en:someone or something rare and hard to find

en:person with so much multidisciplinary expertise as to be rare

Someone or something that is rare and hard to find.

(business) A person with multidisciplinary expertise, especially a laundry list of three or more skills in a young field such as UX design or data science (e.g., domain knowledge, statistics, and software engineering).

Coordinate term: decacorn

As the price of Web hosting plummeted and PCs and cell phones proliferated, college and grad-school dropouts like Mark Zuckerberg or Larry Page and Sergey Brin could suddenly conjure unicorns on their laptops.

2016 October 3, Tad Friend, “Sam Altman’s Manifest Destiny”, in The New Yorker:

In May 2016, out of 163 global unicorns, China had 31, with a total valuation of $154 billion or about 26 percent of global unicorn valuation.

2017, Pongsak Hoontrakul, Economic Transformation and Business Opportunities in Asia, Springer, →ISBN, page 273:

(finance) A startup company whose valuation has exceeded one billion U.S. dollars, which is solely backed by venture capitalists, and which has yet to have an IPO.


unicorn

en-verb

unicorn (third-person singular simple present unicorns, present participle unicorning, simple past and past participle unicorned)

unicorns (present singular third-person)
unicorning (participle present)
unicorned (participle past)
unicorned (past)

Since Waze, Soluto and Onavo, both Israeli startups, have had great exits in consumer tech, and Wix “unicorned” through its IPO.

2014 November 3, Itay Hod, “The Airbnb of Home-Cooked Meals”, in Daily Beast:

For eager investors looking to score in a future IPO, the eight still-private martech unicorns might be tempting. That list includes Domo, Slack, Sprinklr, Shopify, and EventBrite, all of which have “unicorned,” or surpassed the billion-dollar valuation mark, in the past year or two.

2015 April 30, John Koetsier, “29 martech unicorns: There are now almost 30 $1B+ marketing technology vendors”, in Venture Beat:

For instance, at the same time as Intercom was announcing its unicorning moment, a young Dublin tech company called Let's Get Checked (letsgetchecked.com) raised €10m in a funding round.

2018 April 1, Adrian Weckler, “Admit it: Irish tech is on the up”, in The Independent:

(finance) To exceed a valuation of one billion U.S. dollars, while solely backed by venture capitalists.


dragon

→ Fijian: drekoni

→ Japanese: ドラゴン (doragon)

desc

→ Korean: 드래곤 (deuraegon), 드래건 (deuraegeon)

→ Marathi: ड्रॅगन (ḍrĕgan)

→ Marshallese: tūrāikōn

→ Niuean: tarākoni

→ Swahili: dragoni

→ Tamil: டிராகன் (ṭirākaṉ)

→ Yoruba: dírágónì

From Middle English dragoun, borrowed from Old French dragon, from Latin dracō(n), from Ancient Greek δράκων (drákōn, “a serpent of huge size, a python, a dragon”), probably from δέρκομαι (dérkomai, “I see clearly”). Displaced native Old English draca—a doublet of dragon, as are Draco, dracone, and dragoon.

taniwha

Maori mythological creature similar to a dragon

These tapestries were magnificently figured with golden dragons; and as the serpentine bodies gleamed and shimmered in the increasing radiance, each dragon, I thought, intertwined its glittering coils more closely with those of another.

1913, Sax Rohmer, chapter XIII, in The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu:

A legendary serpentine or reptilian creature.

In Eastern Asian mythologies, a large, snake-like monster with the eyes of a hare, the horns of a stag and the claws of a tiger, usually beneficent.

An animal of various species that resemble a dragon in appearance:

Any of various agamid lizards of the genera Draco, Physignathus or Pogona.

My father compounded with my mother vnder the Dragons taile, and my nativity was vnder Vrsa Maior.

c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:

(astronomy, with definite article, often capitalized) The constellation Draco.

Daemons and Dragons. The print spooler is an example of a DAEMON, a program that executes in the background and provides a service […] Strictly speaking, a dragon is a daemon that is not invoked explicitly but is always there, waiting in the background […]

1995, Harley Hahn, The UNIX Companion, page 420:

Many of the postmaster functions are actually handled by computer software such as dragons and mailer daemons.

2018, J. K. Petersen, Fiber Optics Illustrated Dictionary:

(computing, rare) A background process similar to a daemon.


centaur

From Latin centaurus, from Ancient Greek κένταυρος (kéntauros), from Κένταυρος (Kéntauros, “a member of a savage race from Thessaly”).

(Greek mythology) A mythical beast having a horse's body with a man's head and torso in place of the head and neck of the horse.


basilisk

From Middle English basilicke, borrowed from Old French basilique, from Latin basiliscus, from Ancient Greek βασιλίσκος (basilískos) (literally "minor king or chieftain", possibly based on descriptions or rare encounters with different types of cobra which have crown-like patterns on their head; the "deadly gaze" could have been from the spitting cobra's ability to spit venom into the eyes of predators or prey from a distance), from βασιλεύς (basileús, “king”). The cognitohazard/infohazard sense is by analogy with the deadly gaze of the mythical creature.

the deadly look of the basilisk

The queſtion is in vvhat part of this Serpent the poyſon doth lye; Some ſay in the head alone, and that therefore the Bazeliske is deafe, bycauſe the Ayre vvhich ſerueth the Organe of hearing, is reſolued by the intenſiue calidity: but this ſeemeth not to bee true, […]

1608, Edward Topsell, “Of the Cockatrice”, in The Historie of Serpents. Or, The Second Booke of Liuing Creatures: […], London: […] William Jaggard, →OCLC, page 124:

And without more ado she […] fixed her wonderful eyes upon me - more deadly than any Basilisk's - and pierced me through and through with their beauty, and sent her light laugh ringing through the air like chimes of silver bells.

1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

As a revolutionary act of prophecy in an age of political science, Wissenkunst is a unique and anarchic expression of freedom, and not a new and aspiring system of indoctrination. If Wissenkunst is itself turned into political apologetics, then the fabulous plumed serpent is turned into a monster, a basilisk.

1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 249:

(mythology) A mythical snake-like dragon, so venomous that even its gaze is deadly.

A basilisk, in this context, is information that can hurt you simply because you are aware of it.

2019 June 13, Tom Chivers, The AI Does Not Hate You, Orion Publishing Group, →ISBN:

(science fiction) An infohazard or cognitohazard, especially a Langford's basilisk.


hippogriff

From French hippogriffe, from Ancient Greek ἵππος (híppos, “horse”) (English hippo-) + γρύψ (grúps, “griffin”).

To talk of being able to ride with stirrups, is trifling: get on Pegasus, bestride the hippogryph, or mount the white nag in the Revelation.

1732, July 18, Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, D.D., volume 12 published 1801, page 478

Je crains done qu'il faudra que nous nous contentions de quelque moyen plus simple et plus facile, comme d'un enchanteur à gages, un hippogriffe, ou au moins de quelque génie bienfaisant, …
So I doubt we must be content with some more simple and easy method, such as a magician in our pay, a hippogryph, or at least some kind genius, …

1753, November 12, Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, published with English translation in 1779 in Miscellaneous Works of the Late Philip Dormer Stanhope, second edition, volume 3, lettre LXXIII, pages 298–299

Yet the work is surely not a mere map of the hippogryffon wanderings of some disordered imagination…

1800 Dec, Sir Richard Phillips, The Monthly magazine, volume 10, number 66, page 407:

I imagine a Hippogryph. The Hippogryph is at once the object of the act and the act itself. Abstract the one, the other has no existence: deny me the consciousness of the Hippogryph, you deny me the consciousness of the imagination; I am conscious of zero; I am not conscious at all.

1831, The Edinburgh Review, or Critical Journal, volume 52, page 164:

Oceanus himself follows on a hippogriff, and counsels Prometheus to submit to Zeus.

1908, Edmund Doidge Anderson Morshead, Four Plays of Aeschylus, Introduction, page xiv:

a mythical beast, half griffin and half horse, supposedly the offspring of a griffin and a filly.


carrier

но́сьбіт

And each was hideously powerful: an attack carrier could destroy a world, a force of cruisers and spinship destroyers could destroy a sun.

1990, Dan Simmons, The Fall of Hyperion, 1st edition, New York: Doubleday, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 114:

The first carrier completely ignored us, sir! Blew through the Malta’s debris field and headed straight for Earth!

2004 November 9, Bungie, Halo 2, spoken by Cortana (Jen Taylor), Microsoft Game Studios, Xbox, level/area: Cairo Station:

In fleet combat, carriers stay clear of battle, launching fighters bearing disruptor torpedoes. Fighters are the primary striking power of the ship; if a carrier enters mass accelerator range of the enemy, things have gone very wrong.
It is possible to recover and rearm fighters during combat, though most carriers seal the flight deck and try to stay out of the way. The flight deck is essentially a corridor through the armor and into the heart of the vessel. A single well-placed torpedo is enough to gut a carrier.
Alliance carriers are named after great leaders, artists, and intellectuals from human history.

2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Starships: Carriers Codex entry:

aircraft carrier
aircraft carrier#English

A person or object that carries someone or something else.

(science fiction, by extension) A starship designed to carry starfighters


Eeyore

From the donkey in A.A. Milne's books Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner, whose name is onomatopoeic from a donkey's bray (compare hee-haw).

SVEN nods toward SNORRI THE MISERABLE - an Eeyore of a Viking if ever there were one.

1989, Terry Jones, Erik the Viking, Hal Leonard Corporation, published 1990, →ISBN, page 39:

Ecclesiastes, who sometimes seems to cast himself as the Eeyore of the Old Testament, would simply shrug his shoulders and tell you to make the best of what you had.

2003, The Resurrection of the Son of God, volume 3, of Christian origins and the question of God, Nicholas Thomas Wright, Fortress Press, →ISBN, page 108:

You can't succeed as a Pollyanna or an Eeyore in the Product Management role — the glass is neither half full nor half empty, simply something that must eventually be washed.

2008, Steven Haines, The Product Manager's Desk Reference, McGraw-Hill Professional, →ISBN, page 99:

(figuratively) An excessively negative or pessimistic person.


worm

From Middle English worm, werm, wurm, wirm, from Old English wyrm (“worm, snake”), from Proto-Germanic *wurmiz, from Proto-Indo-European *wr̥mis, possibly from *wer- (“to turn”). Doublet of vermin and wyrm, the latter of which is a fairly recent borrowing directly from the Old English.
(computing): First computer usage by John Brunner in his 1975 book The Shockwave Rider.
Cognates
Germanic cognates include Dutch worm, West Frisian wjirm, German Wurm, Swedish orm (“snake”), Norwegian Nynorsk orm (“earthworm or snake”), Danish orm and Yiddish וואָרעם (vorem).
Indo-European cognates include Latin vermis (“worm”), Lithuanian var̃mas (“insect, midge”), Albanian rrime (“rainworm”), Ancient Greek ῥόμος (rhómos, “woodworm”).

шнек

something helical, especially the thread of a screw

Mongolian death worm
Mongolian death worm

(fantasy, science fiction) Either a mythical "dragon" (especially wingless), a gigantic sea serpent, or a creature that resembles a Mongolian death worm.


spirit

en-noun

spirit (countable and uncountable, plural spirits)

From Middle English spirit, from Old French espirit (“spirit”), from Latin spīritus (“breath; spirit”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peys- (“to blow, breathe”). Compare inspire, respire, transpire, all ultimately from Latin spīrō (“I breathe, blow, respire”). In this sense, displaced native Middle English gast (from Old English gāst), whence modern English ghost. Doublet of spiritus, spirytus, sprite, spright, and esprit.

doublet

the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak

A wandering spirit haunts the island.

Whilst young, preserve his tender mind from all impressions and notions of spirits and goblins[…] in the dark.

1693, John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education:

An unusual custom is followed at Llangennith, when shotguns are fired at a wedding - to scare off evil spirits from the newlyweds.

1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 258:

Walk slowly with a spirit by your side.

2009, Alexander Perls (lyrics and music), “With a Spirit” (track 10), in 009 Sound System, performed by Alexander Perls:

A supernatural being, often but not exclusively without physical form; ghost, fairy, angel.


credit

en-noun

credit (countable and uncountable, plural credits)

Borrowed from Middle French crédit (“belief, trust”), from Latin crēditum (“a loan, credit”), neuter of crēditus, past participle of crēdere (“to believe”). The verb is from the noun. Doublet of shraddha, creed.

To repair your star cruiser will cost 100,000 credits.

Aside from the fact that she means nearly ten million credits investment, which no one will insure on this trip, there will necessarily be seventy-three men aboard.

1934 December, John W. Campbell, Jr., “The Mightiest Machine”, in Astounding Stories, volume XIV, number 4, Street & Smith, page 12:

The standard credit was established by the Citadel's Unified Banking Act as the currency of interstellar trade. The credit has a managed floating exchange rate, calculated in real time by the central bank to maintain the average value of all participating currencies. Some regional currencies are worth more than a credit and some less.

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

"First the Patrons wipe-out our home world, now you blow any chance of us making any credits," Kane said in his gruff sinking voice.

2016, A.K. Brown, Jumpstart (Champagne Universe Series: Book 1), page 19:

(science fiction) A unit of currency used in a fictional universe or timeframe.


fool

full (accents with FOOT-GOOSE merger or full-fool merger)

From Middle English fole (“fool”), from Old French fol (cf. modern French fou (“mad”)) from Latin follis. Doublet of fals and follis. Displaced native Old English dwæs.

(literature) A stock character typified by unintelligence, naïveté or lucklessness, usually as a form of comic relief; often used as a source of insight or pathos for the audience, as such characters are generally less bound by social expectations.


rogue

en-adj

rogue (comparative more rogue, superlative most rogue)

more rogue (comparative)
most rogue (superlative)

Uncertain. From either:
* Earlier English roger (“a begging vagabond who pretends to be a poor scholar from Oxford or Cambridge”), possibly from Latin rogō (“I ask”).
* Middle French rogue (“arrogant, haughty”), from Old Northern French rogre (“aggressive”), from Old Norse hrokr (“excess, exuberance”), for which see Icelandic hroki (“arrogance”), though OED does not document this.
* Celtic; see Breton rog (“haughty”).

der

(by extension) Large, destructive and unpredictable.


leviathan

From Middle English levyethan, levyathan, etc., from Late Latin leviathan, a transliteration of Biblical Hebrew לִוְיָתָן (liv'yatán).

Canſt thou dravv out Leuiathan vvith an hooke? or his tongue vvith a corde vvhich thou letteſt dovvne?

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 41:1, column 1:

The fog seemed to break away as though split by a wedge, and the bow of a steamboat emerged, trailing fog-wreaths on either side like seaweed on the snout of Leviathan.

1904, Jack London, chapter 1, in The Sea-Wolf (Macmillan’s Standard Library), New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, →OCLC:

(biblical, mythology) A vast sea monster of tremendous strength, described as the most powerful and dangerous creature in the ocean.


dandy

→ Dutch: dandy

→ Esperanto: dando

→ Finnish: dandy

→ French: dandy, → French: dundee

→ German: Dandy

desc

→ Japanese: ダンディ, ダンディー

→ Japanese: ダンディ, ダンディー

→ Limburgish: dèndie

→ Polish: dandy

→ Spanish: dandy

Borrowed from Scots dandy (“a fop; one who is well-dressed”). Of uncertain origin.
Possibly from Dandy, a diminutive of Andrew, yet the Scots word is used also in reference to women. Alternatively, possibly a back-formation of Scots dandilly, dandillie (“one who is spoiled or pampered; a "pet"”). Compare English dandle and dander.


incubus

From Late Latin incubus, from Latin incubō (“nightmare, one who lies down on the sleeper”), from incubō (“to lie upon, to hatch”, from in- (“on”) + cubō (“to lie down”)).

der

it increaseth fearful dreams, incubus, night-walking, crying out, and much unquietness […] .

Burton with W.H. Gass, The Anatomy of Melancholy, NYRB Classics ser. (New York: New York Review Books, 2001, orig. 1932), vol. 1, p. 249

A feeling of oppression during sleep, sleep paralysis; night terrors, a nightmare.


succubus

Alteration in Middle English (based on incubus m) of Late Latin succuba (“strumpet, especially a mythological fiend in female form who has intercourse with men in their sleep”), from Latin succubo (“to lie under”), from sub- (“under”) + cubare (“to lie down”).

Coordinate term: incubus

1977 Italo Calvino, The Castle of Crossed Destinies, Part 2, Chapter 5, 1969. Translated from Italian by William Weaver.
When the Sabbath is caught by the first ray of the rising sun, all the witches and the vampires, incubi and succubi, take flight, some transforming themselves into noctules, some into other bats, some into still other species of Chiroptera.

(mediaeval folklore) A female demon which comes to men, especially monks, in their dreams to seduce them and have sexual intercourse, drawing energy from the men to sustain themselves, often until the point of exhaustion or death.


portal

From Middle English portal, porttol, from Old French portal and Medieval Latin portāle, from porta.

jet bridge

elevated corridor permitting access to a plane from an airport

(science fiction and fantasy) A magical or technological doorway leading to another location; period in time or dimension.


portal

en-verb

portal (third-person singular simple present portals, present participle portaling or portalling, simple past and past participle portaled or portalled)

portals (present singular third-person)
portaling (participle present)
portalling (participle present)
portaled (participle past)
portaled (past)
portalled (participle past)
portalled (past)

(science fiction, fantasy) To use a portal (magical or technological doorway).


work of fiction

en-noun

work of fiction (plural works of fiction)


nymph

From Middle English nimphe, from Old English nymphē and Old French nimphe, both from Latin nympha (“nymph, bride”), from Ancient Greek νύμφη (númphē, “bride”). Doublet of nympha.

(Greek mythology, Roman mythology) Any female nature spirit associated with water, forests, grotto, wind, etc.

нимфа

mythology: water, forest or mountain spirit

(entomology) The larva of certain insects.


nymph

en-verb

nymph (third-person singular simple present nymphs, present participle nymphing, simple past and past participle nymphed)

nymphs (present singular third-person)
nymphing (participle present)
nymphed (participle past)
nymphed (past)

Kuster meanwhile nymphed the middle of the Snag. When I joined him, I threw my streamer between the main channel's flow and the skinnier side-channel flow, […]

2019, James W. White, Fly-fishing the Arctic Circle to Tasmania, page 253:

(fishing) To fish using a nymph larva as bait.


maniac

→ Cebuano: manyak, manyakis

→ Malay: maniak

→ Tagalog: manyak, manyakis

From mania + -ac. Borrowed from French maniaque, from Late Latin maniacus, from Ancient Greek μανιακός (maniakós), adjectival form of μανία (manía, “madness”). Doublet of manic.


Sleeping Beauty

en-proper noun

Sleeping Beauty (plural Sleeping Beauties)

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

In the genetics sense, so called because the transposon was brought back to activity from a long evolutionary sleep.

A fairy tale originally titled La Belle au bois dormant by Charles Perrault.

How far have we come since the days of our favorite childhood fairy tales if women still need a rescuer like the Cinderellas, Sleeping Beauties, and other helpless maidens of the past?

2012, Vera Sonja Maass, Finding Love That Lasts: Breaking the Pattern of Dead End Relationships, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 81:

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:

They emote and are long-winded about it; they express affection and passion and have sex and revel in it; they are cruel and vengeful; they whine and complain, gossip, browbeat, and nag—in short, everything that we have always suspected is behind the refractive exteriors of the more famous Cinderellas and Sleeping Beauties. […] It features a storyteller who, tired of telling the same old Cinderellas and Sleeping Beauties, meets up with some fairies in a wood as he is searching for new material.

2023, Nancy L. Canepa, transl., The Enchanted Boot: Italian Fairy Tales & Their Tellers, Wayne State University Press, →ISBN:

The main character in this story, who is in unbroken slumber under a magical spell, awaiting the kiss of a prince.


Sleeping Beauty

Alternative form of sleeping beauty (Oxalis corniculata).


fairy

en-noun

fairy (countable and uncountable, plural fairies)

From Middle English faierie, fairie, from Old French faerie, from fae + -erie, from Latin fāta (“goddess of fate”). Equivalent to fey + -ry. Attested in English from about 1330, in King Alisaunder, first in the sense of "enchantment, illusion, dream" ("that thou herdest is fairye") and shortly thereafter "realm of the fays, fairy-land" and "the inhabitants of fairyland, collectively". The re-interpretation of the term as a countable noun denoting individual inhabitants of fairy-land can be traced to the 1390s, but became common only in the 16th century, perhaps due to reinterpreting phrases like faerie knight.

"They used to say there were fairies in that hill, I must tell you!"

1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 51:

(mythology) A mythical being of human form with magical powers, known in many sizes and descriptions, although often depicted in modern illustrations only as a small sprite with gauze-like wings, especially one that is female. Fairies are revered in some modern forms of paganism.

The cripple returned the smile and stuck out his hand. Miss Lonelyhearts clasped it, and they stood this way, smiling and holding hands, until Mrs. Doyle reëntered the room.
"What a sweet pair of fairies you guys are," she said.
The cripple pulled his hand away and made as though to strike his wife.

1933, Nathanael West, 'Miss Lonelyhearts' : [Miss Lonelyhearts is male.]:

We saw a horrible sight in the bar: a white hipster fairy had come in wearing a Hawaiian shirt and was asking the big drummer if he could sit in.

1957, Jack Kerouac, chapter 4, in On the Road, Viking Press, →OCLC, part 3:

Wimpy names—e.g., Cecil, Clarence, and Wendell—also seem to carry homosexual overtones, because we all know that fairies are meek and wimpy, just as we know that all wimps are ‘fags’ in one sense or the other.

1989, Marshall Kirk, Hunter Madsen, After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the '90s, Doubleday Books, page 20:

(Northern England, US, derogatory, colloquial) A male homosexual, especially one who is effeminate.

педера́ст

(derogatory slang) effeminate male homosexual


tale

From Middle English tale, from Old English talu (“tale, series, calculation”), from Proto-West Germanic *talu, from Proto-Germanic *talō (“calculation, number”), from Proto-Indo-European *del- (“to reckon, count”).
Cognate with West Frisian taal (“speech, language”), Dutch taal (“language, speech”), German Zahl (“number, figure”), Danish tale (“speech”), Icelandic tala (“speech, talk, discourse, number, figure”), Latin dolus (“guile, deceit, fraud”), Ancient Greek δόλος (dólos, “wile, bait”), Albanian ndjell (“to lure”), Northern Kurdish til (“finger”), Old Armenian տող (toł, “row”). Related to tell, talk.

cog

And the tale of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall not diminish ought thereof: for they be idle; therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God.

Both number twice a day the milky dams
And once she takes the tale of all the lambs.

1697, John Dryden, The Works of Virgil, Pastoral III:

To appease the angry god, two hundred children of the noblest families were picked out for sacrifice, and the tale of victims was swelled by not less than three hundred more who volunteered to die for the fatherland.

1890, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 1, page 237:


imp

From Middle English impe, ympe (“tree branch; shoot, sprig; graft, scion; young tree, sapling, seedling; tree”) [and other forms], from Old English impa, impe (“shoot, sprig; graft, scion; young tree, sapling, seedling”), from impian, ġeimpian (“to graft”) (see etymology 1).

"Yes, there are a great, great many coming after us; at least a score," said the lad.—"Well, that's the troll," said the horse; "he is coming after us with his imps."

1881, P. Chr. Asbjörnsen [i.e., Peter Christen Asbjørnsen], “The Widow’s Son”, in H[ans] L[ien] Brækstad, transl., Round the Yule Log: Norwegian Folk and Fairy Tales, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, →OCLC, page 218:

It was as if there were little imps dancing in my mouth, and every so often, when a situation arose, they'd get together, giggle wickedly, and try to push words out of my open mouth.

1981 December 1, Ruth Geller, “The Lesbian Teacher”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 20, page 5:

(chiefly fiction and mythology) A small, mischievous sprite or a malevolent supernatural creature, somewhat comparable to a demon but smaller and less powerful, formerly regarded as the child of the devil or a demon (see sense 3.2).

чарцяня́

Concourſe, and noiſe, and toil, he ever fled; / Nor cared to mingle in the clamorous fray / Of ſquabbling imps; but to the foreſt ſped, / Or roam'd at large the lonely mountain's head; […]

1771, James Beattie, The Minstrel; or, The Progress of Genius. A Poem. Book the First, London: […] E[dward] & C[harles] Dilly, […]; Edinburgh: A[lexander] Kincaid and W[illiam] Creech; and J[ohn] Bell, […], →OCLC, stanza XIX, page 10:

[…] I've left my young children to look after themselves, and a more mischievous and troublesome set of young imps doesn't exist, ma'am; […]

1908 October, Kenneth Grahame, “The Further Adventures of Toad”, in The Wind in the Willows, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 221:

(by extension)
(often humorous) A mischievous child.

(British, colloquial) A supporter (or less commonly, a player) of the Lincoln City Football Club.


imp

(video games, slang) Synonym of god (“person who owns and runs a multi-user dungeon”)


tripod

PIE word
 *tréyes
Borrowed from Latin tripūs, tripodis, from Ancient Greek τρίπους (trípous); equivalent to tri- + -pod. Doublet of tripus and teapoy.

(science fiction) A fictional three-legged Martian war machine from H.G. Wells's novel The War of the Worlds (1897).


sphinx

From Middle English Spynx, from Latin Sphinx, from Ancient Greek Σφίγξ (Sphínx), perhaps either from σφίγγω (sphíngō, “to squeeze, to strangle”) (whence also sphincter), of Pre-Greek origin, or from Egyptian Szp:p-A53-anx-n:x (šzp-ꜥnḫ, “divine image”, literally “living image”).

der

<i class="Latn mention" lang="egy">šzp-ꜥnḫ</i>

[W]hatsoe'er of strange / Sculptured on alabaster obelisk, / Or jasper tomb, or mutilated sphynx, / Dark Æthiopia in her desert hills. / Conceals.

1815 September 10 – December 14, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Alastor; or, The Spirit of Solitude”, in Alastor; or, The Spirit of Solitude: And Other Poems, London: […] Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy, […]; and Carpenter and Son, […] [b]y S[amuel] Hamilton, […], published 1816, →OCLC, page 9:

(mythology) A creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal, commonly a lion.

أَبُو الهَوْل

mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal