watchphone

Elaborate Swiss watchphones peeked from their sleeves.

1989, Bruce Sterling, Islands in the net:

Products will run the gamut from digital assistants to Dick Tracy-style wireless watchphones.

1996, Michael Moynihan, The coming American renaissance:

The watchphone would have a detachable microphone and earpiece.

1997, Popular Science, volume 250, number 6, page 64:

Damien's watchphone beeps, and from it Heavitree's voice emerges:

2002, Don Sakers, Dance for the Ivory Madonna: a romance of psiberspace, page 16:

(chiefly science fiction) A watch with telephone capabilities.


hovercycle

(science fiction) A bicycle capable of levitation.


Klingonist

If a controversy breaks out among scholars about the dating of the Great Vowel Shift, or among Klingonists about the correct translation of 'loaves and fishes', the effect on most people's lives is negligible.

1995, Deborah Cameron, Verbal hygiene, page 223:


spellfire

Just the tiniest speck of spellfire pushed into his palm.

1995, Lucy Sussex, Judith Raphael Buckrich, She's fantastical, page 191:

She gains one level of spellfire energy for every spell level absorbed and can store a number of spellfire energy levels equal to her Constitution.

2001, Sean K. Reynolds, Angel Leigh McCoy, Duane Maxwell, Magic of Faerun:

Jerzy watched the two of them, coming to Agreement over the flickering tendrils of spellfire, and felt something twist in his gut.

2009, Laura Anne Gilman, Flesh and Fire, page 370:

(fantasy) The exchange of shots or explosive blasts of spells (from a wand, staff, etc.) as in magical combat.


Unknown Soldier

In 1920, following World War I, a monument to an Unknown Warrior was established in London and Paris simultaneously to the common memories of all soldiers killed in any war. Since then, monuments to the Unknown Soldier have been raised in many countries, each containing the body of one such unidentified soldier.

The representative of military personnel who have died unidentified without proper burial, usually in war.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Tomb of the Unknown Warrior

tuntematon sotilas

representative of unidentified fallen soldiers


warg

Learned borrowing from Old Norse vargr (“wolf”), reintroduced by J. R. R. Tolkien; compare also Old English wearg.

lbor

But even the wild Wargs (for so the evil wolves over the Edge of the Wild were named) cannot climb trees. […] Every now and then all the Wargs in the circle would answer their grey chief all together, and their dreadful clamour almost made the hobbit fall out of his pine-tree.

1937 September 21, J[ohn] R[onald] R[euel] Tolkien, “Out of the Frying-pan into the Fire”, in The Hobbit: Or There and Back Again, revised edition, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, published February 1966 (August 1967 printing), →OCLC, page 105:

My question is do all of the executable versions for PC compatibles have the color option enabled? If so, what am I missing to not get say yellow for a hill orc, grey for a goblin, white for my pet, red for a wolf, brown for a warg, etc?

1993, jbatka, “Multiple colors for PC compatible”, in rec.hack (Usenet):

He'd bought a ton of silver to forge magic swords that would slay the Stark wargs.

1999, George R. R. Martin, A Clash of Kings, Bantam, published 2011, page 462:

The monsters are identified not as trolls, a word apparently not available in English at the time, but (among other things) as wargs, whatever that means; Grendel is called a heoro-wearh at line 1267 and his mother a grund-wyrgen at line 1518.

2007, Stephen O. Glosecki, Myth in Northwest Europe:

(fantasy, mythology) A type of particularly wild or hostile wolf.


lobsterwoman

From lobster + -woman, modelled after lobsterman.

Coordinate term: lobsterman (m)

Pat's looks like a washerwoman, and mine, which I like the best, is a lobsterwoman with a lobsterbaby on her lap.

1996, Joan MacCracken, The Sun, the Rain, and the Insulin: Growing Up with Diabetes, page 210:

'You can't be Pamela Macx,' says Pierre, his back to the wall, keeping the sword point before the lobsterwoman-thing.

They ranged from the display of tattooed women as exotic pictures—like Salome/ "the famous Oriental beauty tattooed in seven colors," seen at Luna Park in 1912 (ATP, Fonds Soury, vol. 19, 149 top and bottom), a deeply erotic, nonnormative performance—to the virile displays of the female animal tamer's courage, to the gender inappropriate but familiar woman wrestler, and to the “monsters” such as mule women or lobster women.

2010, W. Spurlin, J. Hayes, Margaret R. Higonnet, Comparatively Queer:

The low-budget 1964 horror movie Vengeance of the Lobsterwoman provided Meryl Streep with her first starring role, opposite Roger Moore who played the Lobsterwoman.

2013, Graeme Garden, Jon Naismith, The Unbelievable Truth, page 185:

(fiction) A female alien or monster that appears like a hybrid of a human and a lobster.


wereleopard

They are believed to be "Ju-Ju" or were-leopards, and in this guise to roam through the forest in bands, bent on evil and destruction.

1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 168:

A) “One of them was a wereleopard; the other was a werewolf; both of them were strippers.”

2008 June 22, Dwight Garner, “Inside the List”, in New York Times:

While there'd been whispers about the Pack being unhappy with me for entangling myself with a wereleopard, Caitlyn wasn't just a wereleopard to me. She was my mate. A wolf didn't choose those kinds of things.

2019, Sarah Makela, The Leopard Who Claimed A Wolf: New Adult Shifter Romance, Kissa Press LLC, →ISBN:

(fantasy, mythology) A shapeshifter who can change between leopard and human form.

léopard-garou

shapeshifter assuming the shape of a leopard


Crusoe

Perhaps from French Crusiaux, a topographic surname from a diminutive of creux (“hollow”), or alternatively a variant of Croiseau, a habitational surname.

A male given name transferred from the surname.


Xenaphile

[…] but devout Xenaphiles end up squinting at blurry, freeze-framed images on their TV screens in hopes of finding out which mythological entity was not injured or otherwise inconvenienced this week.

1998, Greg Cox, Battle On!: An Unauthorized, Irreverent Look at Xena: Warrior Princess, page 8:

In light of this inexplicit story line — what gay and straight Xenaphiles refer to casually as "the subtext" — the opening voice-over's weekly refrain, "In a time of ancient gods, warlords, and kings," begins to sound gendered.

1998 April, Heather Findlay, “Xena-philia!”, in Girlfriends, page 29:

New York correspondent and Xenaphile Dan Scapperotti provides this issue's look behind-the-scenes at the making of the show, including an exclusive interview with New Zealand star Lucy Lawless.

1999, Cinefantastique, volume 31, numbers 1-6, page 3:

(fandom slang) A fan of the television series Xena: Warrior Princess.


orgasmatron

From orgasm + -tron, introduced in the film Sleeper (1973).

We do not know of any real-life orgasmatrons, even vibrators.

2002, Steve Bodansky, Vera Bodansky, The Illustrated Guide to Extended Massive Orgasm, page 225:

Among the eras have been Louis Quatorze (1967), Space Odyssey Moderne (2001) and perpetual futuristic spins on picture-palace Deco, including last year’s show, hosted by Jon Stewart, in which towering Oscars were encased in see-through capsules, resembling the orgasmatron in Woody Allen’s 1973 film “Sleeper.”

2009 February 15, Patricia Leigh Brown, “The Little Gold Man in a New Blue World”, in New York Times:

(science fiction) A hypothetical device capable of inducing orgasm.


Bondlike

en-adj

Bondlike (comparative more Bondlike, superlative most Bondlike)

more Bondlike (comparative)
most Bondlike (superlative)


rusalka

en-noun

rusalka (plural rusalkas or rusalky or rusalki)

rusalkas (plural)
rusalky (plural)
rusalki (plural)

From Russian руса́лка (rusálka, “mermaid, siren”). Doublet of rosalia.

bor

She is now a rusalka, a water spirit; in revenge she sends their daughter, a rusalochka, to lure him into the water.

2009 March 1, Alastair Macaulay, “What Do Aquawomen Want?”, in New York Times:

(Slavic mythology) A female water spirit that leads handsome men to their deaths underwater.


vampirette

The bond with the dead, at once sister and young bride, may give us another perspective on the same-sex eroticism that, all agree, this male writer imagines and creates between the vampirette and her victim.

1999, Laurence A. Rickels, The vampire lectures, page 161:

There will be no stores open at midnight for the latest Pinkwater, no nerd swarms, girl gaggles or nerd-girl swaggles, cloaked as wizards or vampirettes, whining at the doors, demanding completion.

2009 April 12, Larry Doyle, “Iggy in Underland”, in New York Times:


Haietlik

(mythology) A mythical sea serpent from Nootka mythology.


technothriller

Coordinate term: spy-fi

The techno-thriller and its practitioners may be standing athwart. Tom Clancy, for one, made it clear to me that he has no interest in contemporary literature as Literature. He perennially scorns any salon environs.

1993, William F. Ryan, “The Techno-Thriller”, in The Virginia Quarterly Review:

Few filmmakers have his feel for the flux and transience of life as we live it, and his movies are especially eloquent in depicting the passage of time, whether it’s the one-year period of awkward realignments among a constellation of Parisian friends in “Late August, Early September” (1998) or the entire life cycle of a marriage in the period epic “Les Destinées Sentimentales” (2000) or even the jet-lagged permanent-present tense of the technothriller “Demonlover” (2002).

2009 May 3, Dennis Lim, “In Familial Bric-a-Brac, Finding Himself”, in New York Times:

A genre of thriller combining action, fantasy, and science fiction elements, including detailed technical explanations.


telepaper

But, as the anchorwoman assures us at the end, with a two-hour download time (at $5 an hour), “the new telepaper won’t be much competition for the 20-cent street edition.”

2009 May 10, Frank Rich, “The American Press on Suicide Watch”, in New York Times:

(rare, chiefly science fiction) A newspaper that can be downloaded in an electronic format.


antivampire

en-adj

antivampire (comparative more antivampire, superlative most antivampire)

more antivampire (comparative)
most antivampire (superlative)

This is a revealing passage, for van Helsing is the stern realist, the guiding hand directing the antivampire confederacy.

1996, Howard L. Malchow, Gothic images of race in nineteenth-century Britain, page 146:

The Oscar, Time, and Murrow formed a magical antivampire crucifix that would do more than protect Mr. S from the bloodsuckers of Hollywood; this figurative talisman would also convert the naysayers into idolators.

2003, George Jacobs, William Stadiem, Mr. S: my life with Frank Sinatra, page 137:

(folklore, fantasy) Opposing or countering vampires.


weredog

Weredogs dread the same things which vampires, viscera suckers, and witches fear. But weredogs and witches are especially afraid of the sting ray's tail.

1968, California Folklore Society, Western folklore: Volumes 27-28:

(fiction) A shapeshifter who can change between dog and human form.


werecat

(fantasy, mythology) A shapeshifter who can change between cat and human form.

貓人 /猫人

shapeshifter assuming the shape of a cat


werelion

She dies before Anita can explain that it's unnecessary; but in a scuffle, one of the werelions is mortally wounded, and Anita uses his death to call up her power.

2011, Candace R. Benefiel, Reading Laurell K. Hamilton, page 60:

(fiction) A shapeshifter who can change between lion and human form.

lion-garou

shapeshifter assuming the shape of a lion


planetside

For Kincaid, that planet represented the chance to finally take part in a planetside assault out of the Marine legends on which he'd been weaned—a chance this mass butchery misnamed a war had offered in all too short supply.

2002, David Weber, Steve White, The Shiva option:


planetside

EOS (HNS) - Dead Coming Home
The remains of colonists who died in the first attempts to settle Eos are coming home. Remains from Sites 1 and 2 have finally been recovered, giving closure to numerous families aboard the Nexus. There are now calls for an inquiry into why the bodies were left planetside after two failed attempts to establish outposts.

2017, BioWare, Mass Effect: Andromeda (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2020-11-12, PC, scene: Nexus:


stardate

Captain's log, stardate 3087.6. While investigating an uncharted planet, the Enterprise and at least this entire quadrant of space, has been subjected to violent, unexplained stress and force.

1967, Star Trek, The Alternative Factor, season 1, episode 27, spoken by William Shatner:

And to avoid any quantum entanglement, make sure that if you visit the show before it closes on the stardate equivalent to Sept. 20, your transporter is in working order.

2009 May 30, Edward Rothstein, “The U.S.S. Enterprise, in Strange New World of Museum”, in New York Times:

(science fiction) A date according to the fictional system of time measurement developed for Star Trek.


cryosleep

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

“Constantly shifting positions and priorities. Outright deception. And behind it all, the possibility we'll be hit again by this Scourge. Despite all that, their solution is for us to return to cryo. Just take a little nap and all our problems will go away.”[…]
What had Calix and his team become? This was no simple protest. His speech had implied as much. To resist the order to return to cryo-sleep, by definition it made these people a resistance.

2017 March, Jason M. Hough, K. C. Alexander, Mass Effect Andromeda: Nexus Uprising, 1st edition (Science Fiction), Titan Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, pages 369–370:

(science fiction) A deep sleep during which the body is stored at very cold temperature, to preserve it; cryogenic sleep.


grande dame

/ˌɡɹɒ̃ ˈdɑːm/

/ˌɡɹɑnd ˈdɑm/

Borrowed from French grande dame, from grande (the feminine form of grand (“great, grand”)) + dame (“lady”). Doublet of grandam.
The plural form grandes dames is borrowed from French grandes dames.

In general the Continental, or at least the Belgian old women permit themselves a license of manners, speech, and aspect, such as our venerable grand-dames would recoil from as absolutely disreputable, […]

a. 1856 (date written), Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter VIII, in A[rthur] B[ell] Nicholls, editor, The Professor, a Tale. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], published 1857, →OCLC, page 140:

You only 'make love' languidly to some grande dame, who blinds him with sandal-wood and stifles him in lace; […]

1865, Ouida [pseudonym; Maria Louise Ramé], “Feathery Seeds that were Freighted with Fruit of the Future”, in Strathmore: A Romance […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, page 219:

Now the Baronne de Ribaumont Walwyn was a veritable grande dame, and Madame Croquelebois, in spite of her sharp nose, and sharper tongue, was quite cowed by her, and absolutely driven to confess that she had not heard a word against Madame la Contesse.

1883, Charlotte M[ary] Yonge, “A Patient Grisel”, in Stray Pearls: Memoirs of Margaret de Ribaumont, Viscountess of Bellaise, volume I, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, pages 232–233:

Do you no longer want to go to Europe? to court? to be grande dame and converse with princes?

1902 March, Gertrude Franklin Atherton, chapter III, in The Conqueror: Being the True and Romantic Story of Alexander Hamilton, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC, book I (Rachel Levine), page 15:

"Beatniks," snorted one grande dame as she pushed her way toward her chauffeur-driven limousine.

1966 August 19, “Resorts: Happening at the Hamptons”, in Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2010-10-28:

She has been buying (under my guidance) new clothes and she looks quite the grande dame.

1985, Peter Carey, Illywhacker, Faber and Faber, published 2003, page 141:

A woman who is high-ranking, socially prominent, or has a dignified character, especially one who is advanced in age and haughty.


ghast

Poetic abbreviation of ghastly. Use as a noun influenced by ghost.

The cliff-ghast wrenched off the fox's head, and fought his brothers for the entrails.

2000, Philip Pullman, The Amber Spyglass:

The most powerful of all undead creatures, ghasts feed on ghosts, dead souls and, most especially, live ones. They want to take over Iltior and set up a ghast empire.

2007, Ian Irvine, Runcible Jones & the Buried City:

(fantasy) An evil spirit or monster; a ghoul.


skycycle

“The blasters and lasers on the skycycles are fully charged and set on the highest level of power,” answered Tiffany in her high voice.

2005, Matthew T Bird, The Scumball Saga, page 126:

Ethics does not compel you to make it a family heirloom, passing it down from generation to generation, into the distant future, when the cool kids are riding those antigravity skycycles.

2009 July 12, Randy Cohen, “Co-Worker Concerns”, in New York Times:

(science fiction) A bicycle capable of levitation.


alienlike

alienlike (comparative more alienlike, superlative most alienlike)

more alienlike (comparative)
most alienlike (superlative)

On the screen there was this creepy image: a giant head, mouth agape, with clawing hands reaching out of it, alienlike, toward the figure of a girl.

2009 July 14, Melena Ryzik, “Curtain Down, Light the Lights!”, in New York Times:

(science fiction) Resembling or characteristic of an alien.


FMC

Coordinate term: MMC

Twister works on multiple levels and while I can make a sound case it’s a romance (based on the genre definition—the story focuses on the MMC and FMC and their relationship and ends with an HFN) the underlying framework is that of a road trip.

2022 June 22, Lesli Richardson [pseudonym; Tymber Dalton], “Road Trip!”, in Blow Shit Up! A Guide to Method, Mayhem, Madness, and Magic for Writers Stuck in a Rut, →ISBN, part IV (Now Push the Plunger), “Actions & Consequences” section:

The MMC of the current story is with his best friend at the local bar talking about his problems with the current FMC.

2024 March 19, Sadie B. King, “How to Create a Binge-worthy Series”, in Writing Short Romance for Pleasure and Profit: How I Became a Six-Figure Author Writing Short Romance, →ISBN, step 2 (Plan like a Pro):

The MMC—that stands for male main character—is in an argument with the FMC.

2024 October 9, Laurelin Paige, “Adly”, in Brutal Bargain (Brutal Billionaires; 4), [Leander, Tex.]: Paige Press, →ISBN:

The MMC (male main character) is the definition of “if he wanted to he would” — we see a man who is thoughtful, caring, and understanding. […] A+ chemistry between the MMC and FMC (female main character).

2024 December 20, Angela Tricarico, quoting Marissa and Obebe, “The 17 best contemporary romance novels of 2024, per avid romance readers”, in New York Post, New York, N.Y.: News Corp, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2024-12-21:

(romance fiction) Initialism of female main character.


thwop

(chiefly pornographic manga) Alternative form of fwop.


quidditch

Muggle quidditch
Muggle quidditch#English


churel

As a churel she now prowls about the neighbourhood with her child in her arms.

1895, William Crooke, North Indian Notes and Queries, page 39:

The Churel, or woman dying in chold-birth, has been mentioned elsewhere.

1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 32:

He talked in whispers, and with the utmost respect, of the churel that might be listening overhead.

1953, The Virginia Quarterly Review, volume 29, page 410:

In Hindu folklore, the ghost of a woman who died during childbirth, pregnancy; or a witch.


padawan

→ Japanese: パダワン (padawan)

→ Spanish: padawan

→ Portuguese: padawan

→ French: padawan

→ Korean: 파다원 (padawon)

→ Russian: падава́н (padaván)

→ Esperanto: padavano

Générations Star Wars et Science Fiction

Coined by American filmmaker George Lucas as early as 1973 (in the manuscript Journal of the Whills, where it was spelled padawaan), but not used in his Star Wars film franchise until Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace which premiered on 16 May 1999.

coin

Just as Plato requires a training program that combines physical and mental skills, so does Yoda. The training you'll receive will probably be similar to the training young Luke Skywalker receives from Yoda, since you're probably nearer his age than younger padawans. Throughout his training, Luke questions Yoda about good and evil, the Force, and other concepts important to a Jedi. Likewise, Plato's Republic features a question-and-answer interplay between teacher and students as Socrates's "padawans" question him about justice and injustice, the nature of the Good, and the ideal government.

2005, Judith Barad, “The Aspiring Jedi’s Handbook of Virtue”, in Kevin S. Decker, Jason T. Eberl, editors, Star Wars and Philosophy: More Powerful than You Can Possibly Imagine (Popular Culture and Philosophy; 12), Chicago, Ill.: Open Court Publishing Company, →ISBN:

Like, practically every day in third grade, Auggie and I would hang out together on FaceChat. We had decided to grow our Padawan braids before I moved away, so it was a great way to check how long they had gotten.

2015, R. J. Palacio, “FaceChat”, in Pluto: A Wonder Story, New York, N.Y.: Knopf Books for Young Readers, →ISBN:

Her underlings flanked her, like Padawans studying beneath some great Jedi.

2017, Marnie Riches, Born Bad, London: Avon, →ISBN:


mannerpunk

I have a fondness for mannerpunk mysteries....

1998, Misha MCM, “Blue Eyes”, in soc.bi (Usenet):

This type of POV is particularly valuable for stories which are heavy on characters and theme, those that "say something." One wouldn't ordinarily choose it for a PWP (plot? what plot?) romp unless engaged in mannerpunk.

1998, Macedon, “Craft of Writing 3 (point of view)”, in alt.startrek.creative (Usenet):

A subgenre of fantasy literature that takes place within an elaborate social structure and resembles a comedy of manners.


shetani

Borrowed from Swahili shetani, from Arabic شَيْطَان (šayṭān).

der

Arabic شَيْطَان (šayṭān)

An evil spirit from East African mythology, often the subject of artwork.


slashy

en-adj

slashy (comparative slashier, superlative slashiest)

slashier (comparative)
slashiest (superlative)

It was the first slashy story published after the threats to expose slash to the producers and actors in Starsky and Hutch.

2001, Kelly Simca Boyd, "'One Index Finger On The Mouse Scroll And The Other On My Clit': Slash Writers' Views On Pornography, Censorship, Feminism and Risk", thesis submitted to Simon Fraser University, page 156

One amazing claim to fame, though, is that very soon after this collating party at my house, Roberta published her slashy/raunchy stories in a fanzine that was called, I think, GRIP (a sendup of zines Grope and Grup) […]

2013, Jacqueline Lichtenberg, “Recollections of a Collating Party”, in Anne Jamison, editor, Fic: Why Fanfiction Is Taking Over the World, page 92:

As this vidder's website modestly states: "I think of this vid as my proof of how slashy these shows are. […]

2014, Kathryn Hill, “'Easy to Associate Angsty Lyrics with Buffy': An Introduction to a Participatory Fan Culture: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Vidders, Popular Music and the Internet”, in Mary Kirby-Diaz, editor, Buffy and Angel Conquer the Internet: Essays on Online Fandom, page 182:

(fandom slang) Characteristic of or related to slash fiction.


ahegao

en-noun

ahegao (countable and uncountable, plural ahegao or ahegaos)

From Japanese アヘ顔(がお) (ahegao), from アヘアヘ (aheahe, “panting”) + 顔(かお) (kao, “face”).

"The ahegao you draw is the best ever, ■■-sensei!."

2017, Takashi Kajii, My Little Sister Can Read Kanji: Volume 3, unnumbered page:

During the set of intercourse at the end of the story, Sherlock is also drawn featuring ahegao expressions, frequently used in hentai or pornographic works.

2017, Carolina Lindström, "'The power of characterization': A comparative analysis of the transformative works created by the English-language and Japanese-language fandoms of BBC Sherlock", thesis submitted to Stockholm University, page 26

Without anime I would never have been introduced to such thought provoking concepts as ahegao or 15 year old girls with boobs the size of basketballs.

2019 March 6, “Personals”, in The Medium, Rutgers University, page A6:

(chiefly Japanese fiction) An exaggerated facial expression consisting of flushed cheeks, rolled-back eyes, and the tongue hanging out, intended to depict a person having an orgasm.


refrigerator mother

refrigerator mother (plural refrigerator mothers)

It was not until 1943 that Dr. Leo Kanner, an American pschiatrist, first diagnosed the syndrome in 11 children. . . . Kanner and others once postulated that these children were the products of "refrigerator mothers," women who are overly cold and intellectual.

1979 April 7, Helen Kohl, “The Strange Ones" Autism can be brought into our world”, in Montreal Gazette, Canada, retrieved 2012-11-18:

No present-day researcher takes the idea of the refrigerator mother as the cause of autism seriously.

2010, John W. Oller Jr, Stephen D. Oller, Autism: The Diagnosis, Treatment, & Etiology of the Undeniable Epidemic, →ISBN, page 49:

(psychology, dated, idiomatic, derogatory) An emotionally frigid mother, who does not exhibit normal care or love for her child or children.


mad hatter

The term is attested since at least the 1790s. See mad as a hatter.


Disneyish

en-adj

Disneyish (comparative more Disneyish, superlative most Disneyish)

more Disneyish (comparative)
most Disneyish (superlative)

In the first act Giselle's cottage and Albrecht's hut look too Disneyish, while the architecture of the background castle is reminiscent of the high baroque of the monastery at Melk and clashes with the costumes.

At the end, there's an appearance by the famous stampeding horses, much loved by academic explicators, and a big rainbow, seemingly painted in the sky in Disneyish candy colors.

1989 May 29, New York Magazine, The Rainbow, volume 22, number 22, page 65:

Characteristic of The Walt Disney Company or its productions.


kikimora

(Slavic mythology) a female house spirit in the Slavic mythology


bulette

From a derogatory gallicization of bullet; coined by Tim Kask in the first edition of the official D&D magazine, Dragon, as an addition to the original Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game.

The Bulette (pronounced boo-lay), has only two semi-vulnerable spots.

1976-06, "The Bulette (a.k.a. Landshark)", "Creatures Features", The Dragon, volume 1, number 1, page 19

The classic monsters (Frankenstein, Dracula, Godzilla, most hauntings, even the dinosaurs in _Jurassic Park_, etc) are all manifestations or consequences of human arrogance and ignorance; so violence, prejudice, ethical blindness and your local bulette are all part of the same idea.

1995-06-29, The Amorphous Mass <robin...@blue.weeg.uiowa.edu>, "Re: Rotten, Sexist, Racist Worlds (WAS: Females playing...)", rec.games.frp.dnd,rec.games.frp.misc, <Pine.A32.3.91.950629164923.38897A-100000@red.weeg.uiowa.edu>#1/1

Rippersnapper was a land shark. By the mythical name, this is a bulette.

1997-04-07, Dan Davis <DAV...@docker.com>, "Re: Mithical Cretures Hits Beast Wars.", alt.toys.transformers, <33498C02.17C0@docker.com>#1/1

2001-04-20, "dave" <JobberToSt...@yahoo.com>, "OK what is a "bulette"", rec.games.roguelike.adom, <9bppfs$igu$1@uns-a.ucl.ac.uk>
My orcish barbarian who found a nice eternium 2hs in SMC was killed by a bulette in the second level of the unremarkable dungeon.

Bulettes can automatically sense the location of anything within 60 feet that is in contact with the ground.

2003, Steven Creech, Kevin Ruesch, “Torn Asunder: Critical Hits”, in Inc., Bastion Press, page 93:

The creation of some unknown arcanist in millennia past, the bulette has bred true to become one of the fiercest predators of the hills.

2009-09, Jason Bulmahn, "Bulette", Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Bestiary, Paizo Publishing, page 39

(fantasy roleplaying games) A fictional species of land-dwelling shark in various fantasy settings, such as Dungeons & Dragons.


wolfkin

Arun is in training to be a priest of the Fire God when he is abruptly plucked from his peaceful studies, bespelled and staked out as bait to capture a monster—a wolfkin. But the wolfkin isn't quite what Arun expected.

2009, Maia Strong, The Ballad of Jimothy Redwing:

There was a rumour that the rare wolfkin had been sighted in the botanical gardens in the west of the city.

2010, Kate Atkinson, Not The End Of The World, →ISBN, page 31:

Wolfkin are humanoid wolves. They have long wolf faces and thick fur. They walk on the tips of their long feet and have thick ragged wolf tails.

2014, Heather Gunn, Aspect Core Rulebook FC 2015 SC, →ISBN, page 41:

(fantasy) Any of various nonhuman and non-wolf fantasy creatures that have features of a wolf.


jetter

/ˈd͡ʒɛtə(ɹ)/

The jetter was upon us and it was a piston-powered engine.

1956, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Armed Services, Aircraft Production Costs and Profits, page 1823:

Five hundred and forty-two men moved by jetter to Colorado Springs;thence, by helicopter, to the canyon hideaway.

1958 October, Robert Bloch, “This Crowded Earth”, in Amazing Science Fiction Stories:

Kiron maneuvered the jetter around obstacles, and glided into the open ocean.

Miles' and MERC's attempts to remove a crate of fireworks from their star-jetter sends it hurtling into space, requiring the team to pursue it in the jetter with Grandmother Po Po piloting.

2019, William D. Crump, Happy Holidays--Animated!, page 177:

(often science fiction) A vehicle or engine that works by jet propulsion.


United States of Europe

And let us be clear: anything less than a United States of Europe will not be powerful enough to prevent the looming disaster.

2011, Joschka Fischer, Europeanizing Europe:

United States of America
United States of America

(politics) A name given to several similar hypothetical scenarios of the unification of Europe, as a single nation and a single federation of states, similar to the United States of America.


narnauk

Allegedly, this word is of Tsimshian origin.

(in the mythology of the First Nations of Canada) A supernatural being which can transform into an animal and back into human form by putting on and taking off an animal skin it has.


dragonskin

en-noun

dragonskin (countable and uncountable, plural dragonskins)

They carried dragonskin shields and wore matching dragonskin boots.

(fantasy) The skin of a dragon, or leather made from it.


shipside

(science fiction) On a spaceship, rather than on a planet etc.


monstery

en-adj

monstery (comparative more monstery, superlative most monstery)

more monstery (comparative)
most monstery (superlative)


vampirey

vampirey (comparative more vampirey, superlative most vampirey)

more vampirey (comparative)
most vampirey (superlative)

Even though virtually every character in the novel, besides Cody, is a vampire, Vampire High is not at all a vampirey novel. Rees's vampires are born as vampires who marry and produce little vampires. Justin explains that they no longer kill for ...

2006, Deborah Wilson Overstreet, Not Your Mother's Vampire: Vampires in Young Adult Fiction, Scarecrow Press, →ISBN, page 44:

I'd gotten fed up before, tired of the vampirey stuff I had to learn to accommodate, frightened of getting in deeper. Sometimes, I just wanted to see humans for a while. So for over three weeks, that was what I did. I didn't call Bill; he didn't call me.

2009, Charlaine Harris, Living Dead In Dallas: A True Blood Novel, Hachette UK, →ISBN:

(Too vampirey.) Yield to the forbidden music of my soul. (Way too vampirey.) Dear Chloe, please can I sink my teeth into your neck and drink your blood? (One step at a time, Nigel.)

2010, Tim Collins, Notes from a Totally Lame Vampire: Because the Undead Have Feelings Too!, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN:

“Last week,” he says, “I sent 'The Winning Shot' to Temple Bar—a very ghastly Animal Magnetism vampirey sort of tale. It came back again but with a very complimentary letter, & Hogg says he should like to see it.”

2013, Arthur Conan Doyle, Vampire Stories, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc., →ISBN:

(informal) Of, relating to, or characteristic of vampires.


vampirize

en-verb

vampirize (third-person singular simple present vampirizes, present participle vampirizing, simple past and past participle vampirized)

vampirizes (present singular third-person)
vampirizing (participle present)
vampirized (participle past)
vampirized (past)


vampirization

en-noun

vampirization (countable and uncountable, plural vampirizations)

Nowhere is Rice's revision of these gender politics more evident than in the scenes surrounding the vampirization of Claudia, the orphan child.

1996, Gary Hoppenstand, Ray Broadus Browne, The Gothic World of Anne Rice, page 98:

Vampiric behaviour; the predatory draining of blood or (figurative) energy etc.


monsterize

en-verb

monsterize (third-person singular simple present monsterizes, present participle monsterizing, simple past and past participle monsterized)

monsterizes (present singular third-person)
monsterizing (participle present)
monsterized (participle past)
monsterized (past)

"IRON-ON" MONSTERS Itie newest way to "Monsterize" your shirts. T-shirts, sweat shirts, jeans, jackets, notebooks-any tiling

2010, Forrest J Ackerman, Vampirella Archives, volume 1, page 331:

To make something or someone into a monster.

Vilification/monsterization denies agency by insisting upon the evil nature of the murderess, thus causing her to lose

2003, Belinda Morrissey, When women kill: questions of agency and subjectivity, page 25:

The particular conjunction of politics and 'monsters' in Richard III 'monsterizes' an already 'monstrous' language and institution, a reflection of the level of anxiety generated by the succession crisis in the 1590s.

2002, Mark Thornton Burnett, Constructing 'monsters' in Shakespearean drama and early modern culture, page 93:

“I'd admit the past & monsterize myself in the eyes of the jury,” he wrote. “I would try to be emotionless, to add credibility to that monsterization.

2006, Michael Finkel, True Story: Murder, Memoir, Mea Culpa:

To give someone a very bad reputation; demonize, vilify.


werewolfism

lycanthropy; the transformation of a person into a wolf


moonling

From moon + -ling. Compare moon-related origins of lunacy and lunatic.

The sky was not quite as blue as her—Thunderation, he was no moonling!

2011, Barbara Metzger, A Suspicious Affair:

Remaining there long enough to hear Those words that moonling longs to hear...I love you

2013, Zara Borthwick, Nicholas Arnold, Wonderful, page 55:

Here he was, reputed to be a rake among rakes, but he discovered, where Thea was concerned, he was as vulnerable and uncertain as the greenest moonling in love for the first time.

2017, Shirlee Busbee, Swear by Moonlight:

(archaic or poetic) One who is lovesick; one who moons over a beloved.

"I see. He's a black man. But Jacob Millhaven is not black. Eldridge was left on his doorstep as a baby, and the philosopher adopted him." "Oh! Then he's a moonling! He doesn't seem to suffer from any stigma."

2011, M. P. Rogers, Oona Paraselene, page 140:

A shy moonling hangs on the suit of an astronaut and is taken back to earth.

1981, Ruth Beall Heinig, Lyda Stillwell, Creative Drama for the Classroom Teacher, page 248:

For a given walking speed, will an earthling astronaut or a moonling do less, equal, or more work when taking a stroll on the Moon, and by what factor?

2010, Michael M. Domach, Introduction to Biomedical Engineering, page 204:

This, together with the 'balloon manufactured entirely of dirty newspaper' in which the dwarf/moonling descends at the tale's opening, points to some self-referential satire on behalf of Poe, a newspaperman himself.

2016, Adam Roberts, The History of Science Fiction, page 142:

(science fiction) Someone from the Moon.


jetcar

(science fiction) A car capable of travelling at very high speeds.


sea king

(mythology or fiction) Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: A ruler of the seas, e.g. Poseidon.


ghostology

en-noun

ghostology (usually uncountable, plural ghostologies)

/ɡəʊsˈtɒləd͡ʒi/

[…] it seemed even more unaccountable than if it had been a thing of ghostology and witchcraft.

1872, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Septimius Felton; or, the Elixir of Life:

This, as all students of ghostology are aware, has frequently been the case; and it was precisely the case with the ghost seen by the famous Lord Brougham, […]

1908, H. Addington Bruce, “The Ghost Seen by Lord Brougham”, in Historic Ghosts and Ghost Hunters:

Experts in ghostology know exactly, where ghosts live, how they behave, how to deal with them, how to make them appear and disappear.

1957, William L. Fischer, Critical Notes on Evolution, page 30:

The knowledge, or study of ghosts or spirits; the science of the supernatural; spiritism.


opinicus

Coordinate term: griffin

Two opinici vert, beaked sable, wings gules, support the insignia of the Plasterers’ Company.

1847, A Glossary of Terms Used in British Heraldry: With a Chronological Table, Illustrative of Its Rise and Progress, Oxford: John Henry Parker, page 233:

Urcheons, bagwyns, opinici and musimons, represented statant, sejant or segreant, and in every variety of metal, colour and fur, completed an exhibition which was both boastfully heraldic and pompously powerful.

No blood need be shed in settling these anatomical problems, as opinici are of little importance, there being barely a dozen examples.

1963, Julian Franklyn, Shield and Crest: An Account of the Art and Science of Heraldry, page 150:

Even when they ascend to the loftiest perch for their kind and earn the right to serve on the Council of Keythongs, the wingless ones are still not permitted the same rights as gryphons and opinici.

2019, Paula Grover, The Gryphon, FriesenPress, →ISBN, page 22:

(heraldry) A heraldic imaginary creature with an eagle's head, a short tail, and sometimes wings.


Laputan

en-adj

Laputan (comparative more Laputan, superlative most Laputan)

more Laputan (comparative)
most Laputan (superlative)

Gulliver's Travels
Jonathan Swift
Laputa

From Laputa + -an, after Laputa, an imaginary flying island described in Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels (1726).

He could not, they observed, want all his various knowledge and Laputan ideas for his periodical writing which brought him most of his bread, and he would do well to use his talents in getting a speciality that would fit him for a post.

[1879], George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “[Impressions of Theophrastus Such.] How We Encourage Research.”, in Impressions of Theophrastus Such, Essays and Leaves from a Note-book, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, page 33:

Fanciful; preposterous; absurd in philosophy or science.


aircar

(science fiction) A car capable of flight.


reptiloid

Somewhere in the cosmos, he said, along with all the planets inhabited by humanoids, reptiloids, fishoids, walking treeoids and superintelligent shades of the colour blue, there was also a planet entirely given over to ballpoint life forms.

1979 October 12, Douglas Adams, chapter 15, in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, London: Pan Books, →ISBN:

(science fiction) A reptilian humanoid creature.


omnipercipient

An omnipercipient Omnipreſence, which does hear and ſee what-ever is ſaid or tranſacted in the World, […]

1669, Henry More, “[An Antidote against Idolatry: […].] What is Idolatry According to the Determination of Clear and Free Reason.”, in An Exposition of the Seven Epistles to the Seven Churches; […], London: […] James Flesher, →OCLC, paragraph 5, page 20:


meteorometer

By gravitometer and meteorometer readings, Curt located the few solid bodies in the cloud

2013, Edmond Hamilton, The Magician of Mars, page .:

(science fiction) A device for locating meteors.


zombic

zombic (comparative more zombic, superlative most zombic)

more zombic (comparative)
most zombic (superlative)

For a time I wasn't sure of their purpose—neither, it seemed, were they—and I dreaded the possible need for another zombic performance.

1991, C. S. Friedman, The Madness Season, New York: Daw, →ISBN:

[…]there has been a gradual process of distillation, leaving just about all the reactionaries, for all their disagreements among themselves, united in the conviction that there is a real difference between a conscious person and a perfect zombie–let's call that intuition the Zombic Hunch–leading them to the thesis of Zombism: that the fundamental flaw in any mechanistic theory of consciousness is that it cannot account for this important difference.

1999 November 28, Daniel Dennett, “The Zombic Hunch: Extinction of an Intuition?”, in Sweet Dreams: Philosophical Obstacles to a Science of Consciousness, Cambridge, London: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, published 2005, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, LCC B945.D393S94 2005, page 14:

The atoms are in a superposition of both possibilities, and the poor cat, too, is hanging on in a zombic combination of life and death.

2010 November 9, Martin Bojowald, Once Before Time: A Whole Story of the Universe, Knopf, →ISBN, →LCCN, LCC QB981.B684 2010:


earthdrake

From Middle English *erthedrake, from Old English eorþdraca (“earth dragon”), equivalent of earth + drake.

[…] he sacrifices his own life in destroying a frightful earthdrake, […]

1876, William Spalding, The History of English Literature, page 40:

While attempting to remain as true to history as possible, I created a world of witches and wizards, earthdrakes and talking ravens, according to my imagination.

2008, M.C. Halliday, The King's Daughter - Page 196:

Aric had heard improbable tales of earth drakes eating entire mekillots. Seeing this one, however, he no longer had reason to doubt.

2010, Jeff Mariotte, City Under the Sand: A Dark Sun Novel:

(in early Anglo-Saxon literature, fantasy) a dragon.


Gothamite

(fiction) An inhabitant of the fictional Gotham City, the home of the superhero Batman.


Mothman

(cryptozoology, ufology) A legendary creature, regarded as a cryptid or alien, reportedly seen in West Virginia in the mid-1960s.


dickgirl

(colloquial, vulgar) A person with a female body plus a penis; usually either a futanari, or a non-op or pre-op trans woman.


teleshow

(chiefly science fiction) a television show.


podder

Brrrtr had even sent Hrrryr, a podder. They had been born in the same pod.

2007, Samuel Blankson, The Kolumbas Affair, page 195:

'It's the essential meat gunk that is supplied to the still-living podders,' she explained.

2010, Robertski Brothers, The McAtrix Derided:

Paul says he started out as a Podder. He tried to do development deals with the Inner and Outer Systems, and he only became a renegade when he was betrayed by both.'

2013, Charles Sheffield, Proteus Unbound:

(science fiction) One who was born in or lives in a pod.


podder

en-noun

podder (countable and uncountable, plural podders)

If Ah'd only got some podder, Ah can mek Fourt' of July raght here.

1894 July 5, “Fourth of July at Highfield Poorhouse”, in Youth's Companion, volume 67, page 307:

Thursday the Therd Day: I Kept Laising aBought all Day for I was very Laisay only I made a Stople to a podder Horn : and So on:

1966, Bulletin of the Fort Ticonderoga Museum - Volume 12, page 281:

And when I remarked I couldn't provide 'em with no meat since I was out of podder for my rifle, Micajah--or Big Harpe as some calls him-- he smiled, sorta chuckled, and lent over the table, and said, 'No man oughta be without podder,' — or something like that and then poured out of his own horn.

2005, Kenneth Tucker, A Wilderness of Tigers, page 5:

Pronunciation spelling
pronunciation spelling


femslash

The demographics of femslash are a little more complicated than regular slash; stories are written by straight and lesbian women and sometimes straight men.

2005, Phyllis M. Japp, Mark Meister, Debra K. Japp, Communication Ethics, Media & Popular Culture, page 178:

One of the driving forces behind slash and femslash is the pervading heterosexism of commercial media – if television will not give us the due proportion of same-sex eroticism we are entitled to expect, then we will make it for ourselves.

2010, Stacey Abbott, The Cult TV Book, page 245:

The point of slash is that the orientation of one or more canonical characters is changed, which is why slashing is strongest in fandoms where the source parades heteronormativity or machismo. Kirk/Spock, Bodie/Doyle, Aragorn/Boromir, Darcy/Bingley and Harry/Snape stories all slash their canons, but a story featuring, say, Sebastian Flyte and Anthony Blanche in bed would not be slash, nor would a relationship between two lesbian characters in The L Word qualify as femslash.

2013, John Lennard, London Review of Books, letter, vol. 35, no. 6:

(fandom slang) Slash fiction that focuses on romantic and/or sexual relationships between female characters.


splatterpunk

splatterpunk (countable and uncountable, plural splatterpunks)

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

From splatter + -punk, coined in 1986 by David J. Schow at the Twelfth World Fantasy Convention in Providence, Rhode Island, USA.

(uncountable) A movement within horror fiction distinguished by its graphic, often gory, depictions of violence.


infravision

(fantasy, gaming) A superhuman ability to see in the dark.


wallcrawling

(science fiction) Having the ability to crawl upon vertical surfaces.


wallcrawl

en-verb

wallcrawl (third-person singular simple present wallcrawls, present participle wallcrawling, simple past and past participle wallcrawled)

wallcrawls (present singular third-person)
wallcrawling (participle present)
wallcrawled (participle past)
wallcrawled (past)

To adhere to and crawl upon a solid surface, as a spider does.


wallcrawler

This big wallcrawler has remained somewhat obscure, probably due to its indistinct appearance.

When DC Comics tweaked Marvel in the 1960s, they almost always did so through Spider-Man: Jerry Lewis became "the Fearless Tarantula" in an issue of The Adventures of Jerry Lewis, while a teenage DC hero in the "Legion of Superheroes" serials compared himself, quote favorably, to the webbed wallcrawler.

2004 September 1, Jordan Raphael with Tom Spurgeon, Stan Lee and the Rise and Fall of the American Comic Book, →ISBN, page 119:

Sandman looked up and saw the masked face of Spider-Man staring down at him. The wallcrawler was leaning against the rear doors of the armored car, apparently having dropped through the hole that Sandman had created.

2007 March 7, Peter David, Spider-Man 3, New York: Pocket Books, pages 171–172:

something which adheres to and crawls upon vertical surfaces


metallokinesis

(science fiction) The psychic ability to manipulate or control metals


technopathy

In a shocking turn of events, the President's aid, Valerie Cooper, discovers that Reverend Stryker is actually a mutant himself with the power of technopathy – the ability to mentally manipulate machinery.

2012, Nick Spencer, Ultimate Comics X-Men by Nick Spencer Vol. 1, Marvel Entertainment, →ISBN:

Now that he was able to think, he reached out with his technopathy, searching the fishing hut. To his relief, he sensed a battery-operated light inside. He turned it on.

2019, Pittacus Lore, Into the Fire: The Legacy Chronicles, Penguin Books, →ISBN:

(science fiction) A psychic ability to control electronic machinery and/or read electronic signals, especially hardware.


chrysopoeia

/kɹɪsəˈpiːə/

Actually, in the beginning, Toledo himself was as bent on reperforming the chrysopoeia as anyone. He was driven by greed, more than the hunger for discovery and glory, which is what drove our father.

Cassanda Ryan, The Kingdom of Sagely - Legacy of a Dragoness (page 262)


bodyswap

(fiction) The act or event of two people or other thinking creatures exchanging minds (by magic, technology, or other means), so that each one ends up in the physical body of the other.


wall-crawler

As Mother Jones goes to press, the masked, web-slinging wall-crawler is busy foiling a computer technician's evil designs to brainwash people through subliminal advertising in video games.

1983 September-October, Bob Sanders, “Our Kind Of Superhero”, in Mother Jones, volume 8, number 8, page 9:

You're not just buying and selling with a wizard and a scholar in tow. What's so important that you have to hire a wall-crawler?

1999 January 7, Juliet E. McKenna, The Thief's Gamble (Tales of Einarinn), Orbit, →ISBN, →OL:

Her fingers slipped, and she felt herself starting to fall. At that same moment the wall-crawler sprang down at her, gripping the carved inscriptions in the black glossy surface with its left hand while its right swung down to clamp around her throat.

2010 December 28, Joe Schreiber, Red Harvest (Star Wars), New York: LucasBooks, →ISBN, chapter 42:


starman

(science fiction) An alien; a person who comes from another star system.

(science fiction) An inhabitant of a star.


astroscope

astroscopes and other high precision optical devices

1952, Moody's Industrials - Volume 24, page 2825:

[…] refractors, catadioptric reflectors, astroscopes as well as binoculars.

1987, Monthly Notes of the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa, page 24:

I, for one, want to go back to when there were only seven planets! Before the lies of the astroscopes, telling us there are two more in the sky named Neptune and Pluto!

2012, Justin Mazzotta, Corp.Se Commander: Tactics of Corporate Warfare, page 39:

Well, think about it; we can see Rrth from here using astroscopes and the like, but the light we're seeing left Rrth many orbits ago.

They tempted him into this thing, setting out an astroscope on the hills. . .hoping to be the first ones to spot aliens!

2017, Philip Byron Philips, Towers of Royal City, page 46:

In a spacious apartment on the third floor which contained two powerful telescopes, constructed on principles of entirely modern invention, being capable of revealing the distant suns to an extent never before dreamt of, was Mercia surrounded by curious astroscopes, stellar-spectroscopes, and wonderfully constructed cameras, which delineated in an instant the starry heights, the glory of which has been the ambition of astronomers in all ages to fathom.

2023, A. Garland Mears, Mercia, the astronomer royal:

(chiefly science fiction) A telescope powerful enough to see astronomical bodies.


airling

This queen immortal loved the knight, And so she sent an airling brood To lead him thro ' the bosky wood Until he knew no left nor right; And as he paused upon a steep That rose from out a fountain place, They sprinkled dew-drops on his face, And so he fell asleep.

1855, Thomas Bailey Aldrich, The Bells: A Collection of Chimes, page 37:

In the pointed bill, the gradually enlarging head and neck, we behold a ready means of penetrating the yelding air, the fine turned and prow-like breast, flexible and idispensable rudder, tail, the balanced and buoyant wings, the feathery investment of body, all permeated with air-cells, the hollow bones also, and the air chambers and air sacks through the organization, all communicating with the air, in which the airling floats, giving lightness to the structure as well as strength and tenacity, by a wise arrangement of parts, all bearing relation not only to each other, but to the surrounding medium in which the creature is to fly, a part of it itself floating in its own element, in aeriel grandeur; how could these beautiful arrangements, with these nice adaptations, with such admirable relationships, be the work of chance?

1873, "Ornithon", “Ornithology: A Plea for the Birds”, in Transactions of the Illinois State Agricultural Society, page 180:

Airon, an airling, jumped high and spun quickly.

2015, Noreen Arangies, Keepers of Equilibria, page 1:

(fantasy or poetic) A creature of the air, such as a bird, fairy, etc.


water witch

(fantasy) Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: a witch who lives in, controls, or is otherwise connected with, water.


homiform

In the homiform frame embruted, to the classes of the grades

1883, George Thomas May, The Ever-living Life:

The droids belonging to the renegade faction were slaves, despite often having superior intellect and physical prowess, “athletic” capabilities (at least this was so with many of the homiform “androids”)

2013, Dean Vyas, Pastimes of the Unseen:

(obsolete, rare or science fiction) In human form.


magicker

Better magickers were given fragments of the ball he'd rescued and used them as foci to deflect incoming shots.

2002, Michael A. Stackpole, When dragons rage:

Those who blasphemed in a holy place; those who spouted heresies; those who sought the services of a magicker[…]

2010, David Farland, The Wyrmling Horde:

(fantasy) One who does magic; a sorcerer or magician.


EBE

Initialism of extraterrestrial biological entity.


meet cute

Claudette Colbert
Ernst Lubitsch
Gary Cooper

Accidentally coined by German-American film director Ernst Lubitsch (1892–1947), who had difficulty speaking English, to describe the encounter between the characters played by Claudette Colbert and Gary Cooper in the 1938 film Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife.

If this is a distortion of reality, it is a knowingly utopian gesture, and the wit of such conceits lies in placing in tension the ideal with the real and so being more than a series of fancy ‘meet cutes’: […]

1989, Bruce Babington, Peter William Evans, Affairs to Remember: The Hollywood Comedy of the Sexes, Manchester, New York, N.Y.: Manchester University Press, →ISBN, page 11:

The hunt for love saturates Western culture. […] Romantic comedies have characters discover one another serendipitously, called "meet-cutes." The lead clumsily spills a drink on his future love interest, setting off a chain of events to love. Meet-cutes affirm the idea that possibility is all around us: love can happen anywhere, at anytime, and with anyone.

2013, Jaime Woo, “How to Find Love on Grindr (if You Hafta)”, in Meet Grindr: How One App Changed the Way We Connect, Canada: [Lulu.com], →ISBN, page 108, column 1:

In some respects, it might be too faithful to the genre it savages; as in many real rom-coms, the energy flags during the plot’s backstretch, and audiences may share the drifting interest of Kyle (Bill Hader) and Karen (Ellie Kemper), who come to regret ever asking Joel and Molly to chronicle their meet-cute.

2014 June 26, A. A. Dowd, “Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler Spoof Rom-com Clichés in They Came Together”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 2017-12-07:

When Wade first crosses paths with Art3mis (Olivia Cooke), the ass-kicking fellow “gunter” (or egg hunter) with whom he becomes infatuated, the pair’s meet cute is predicated on the swapping of favorite pop-culture quotes.

2018 March 26, A. A. Dowd, “Steven Spielberg Finds Fun, and maybe even a Soul, in the Pandering Pastiche of Ready Player One”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 2018-05-31:

Café Pick Me Up was a cosy little place with a low pressed-metal ceiling, crammed full of tiny tables, with French cafe chairs and mellow lighting. If you were to write a romcom featuring a meet cute, you’d set it there.

2021 December 26, Alys Fowler, “My winter of love: I was homesick in New York. The quiet Danish poet was just what I was longing for”, in The Guardian:

(narratology, informal) A situation in a film, television series, etc., in which a potential romantic couple meet for the first time in a way that is considered adorable, amusing, or cute.


transtemporal

At the same time that their protagonists "step off the edge" of known experience by participating in interplanetary, interdimensional, or transtemporal travel, such writers as Dorothy Bryant, Mary Staton, and (to a lesser degree) Ursula K. Le Guin propose through their narratives' complexity that the reader abandon the safety of a "readerly" text's conventional discourse.

1984, Natalie Myra Rosinsky, Feminist futures--contemporary women's speculative fiction, page 29:

However, the Internet has also reversed the way we communicate in terms of the transspatial and transtemporal perspective.

2009, Frank H. P. Fitzek, Hassan Charaf, Mobile peer to peer (P2P): a tutorial guide, page 24:

The fact is that many relations we are familiar with are transtemporal, that is, they obtain between entities located a different times.

2012, Fabrice Correia, Andrea Iacona, Around the Tree, →ISBN, page 38:

“So, what, time travel?” “You accepted translocation, but transtemporal is too far?”

2014, Ann Aguirre, Mortal Danger, →ISBN:

Transcending time; relating to time travel or to the influence or communication between one time and another.


gynosphinx

en-noun

gynosphinx (plural gynosphinxes or gynosphinges)

gynosphinxes (plural)
gynosphinges (plural)

(mythology) A sphinx with the head of a woman.


newhalf

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

Calque of Japanese ニューハーフ (nyūhāfu, “new half”). ニューハーフ is wasei eigo, from English.

calque

(anime, manga, slang) A character with a female body but only male genitals.


batmobile

en-verb

batmobile (third-person singular simple present batmobiles, present participle batmobiling, simple past and past participle batmobiled)

batmobiles (present singular third-person)
batmobiling (participle present)
batmobiled (participle past)
batmobiled (past)

From the Batmobile driven by superhero Batman in the eponymous media franchise, from bat + -mobile. The second verb sense references the retractable shielding featured on the vehicle in the 1989 film.

Genericans live on fast food bought with $20 bills (Yuppie food coupons) taken out of automatic teller machines.
They tend to be young men and women prone to batmobiling, defined as "putting up protective emotional shields just as a relationship enters an intimate vulnerable stage," like the steel plates that cloak Batman's car.

1997 June 8, James Coates, “Generica, Semisweet Land Of Jitterati”, in Chicago Tribune:

Baby's antennae stood straight up. She tried to read him but Jake was too quick for her. He was batmobiling. His deflector screens had shot up—he was an emotional escape vehicle, complete with tinted windows. Bullet-proof, bomb-proof, utterly impenetrable.

1998, Linda Jaivin, Rock 'n' Roll Babes from Outer Space, page 243:

Meredith (Gillian Anderson) is a frosty, uptight theatre director being romanced by an architect (John Stewart), but she is, as we say in the 90s, batmobiling - her defences are up.

1999 August 6, Peter Bradshaw, “Sex in the windy city”, in The Guardian:

(dated slang) To put up an emotional or intellectual shield, especially to protect oneself from something that makes one uncomfortable.


boldly go where no man has gone before

boldly go<goes,,went,gone> where no man has gone before

boldly go where no man has gone before (third-person singular simple present boldly goes where no man has gone before, present participle boldly going where no man has gone before, simple past boldly went where no man has gone before, past participle boldly gone where no man has gone before)

en-au-boldly go where no man has gone before.ogg

A line from the opening sequence of the Star Trek TV series.

While Strauss would not exactly be boldly going where no man has gone before if he led England to victories this year in away Test series against Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India, he set foot on an airbus to Dubai knowing that 2012 represents the last great examination of his side.

2012 January 2, Paul Newman, “Tough Trek ahead but Strauss' men know winning in Asia is the final frontier”, in the Mail online:

E-Racer Based loosely upon one of the original Rutan designs, the airplane goes where no man has gone before. In the first place, the composite canard machine is the first known example of the Rutan Long-EZ clones to have

1998 April, Budd Davisson, “Skyburners”, in Popular Mechanics, volume 165, page 68:

These were the voyages of Scott, Amundsen, Shackleton and Mawson, Nordenskjold, Borchgrevink, de Gerlache and von Drygalski, Filchner, Shirase, Bruce and Bull, national heroes most of them, who boldly went where no man had gone before.

1990, John Stewart, Antarctica: an encyclopedia: Volume 1:


Spock ears

(idiomatic) Pointy ears, resembling those of Spock, a Star Trek character.


isochronon

A bedside isochronon diffused a soft-light 9:30

1980, Felix C. Gotschalk, “The Wishes of Maidens”, in George R. R. Martin, editor, New Voices III: The Campbell Award Nominees, page 175:

(chiefly science fiction) A clock designed to keep very accurate time.


what-iffery

[…] what if Jonah is a piece of what-iffery, a story, an experiment with words, rather than a carefully honed piece of polemic […]

2000, Yvonne Sherwood, A biblical text and its afterlives, page 209:

The film's what-iffery becomes even more compelling when Blair, played, as in A Very Social Secretary, by a twitchingly reptilian Robert Lindsay, decides to stand down shortly before the 2010 general election.

2007 January 9, Stuart Jeffries, “A prime minister in the dock”, in The Guardian:

My name is Greg Jenner, and I'm pathologically sceptical towards historical what-iffery. Let me clarify—there's nothing wrong with asking, ‘What if this hadn't happened?’

2021, Greg Jenner, Ask A Historian: 50 Surprising Answers to Things You Always Wanted to Know, Hachette, →ISBN:

(informal) Speculation as to what might have happened if things had happened differently.


ancient astronaut

en-noun

ancient astronaut (plural ancient astronauts)

Is it possible for scientists to demonstrate that ancient astronauts have ever been here? No.

2001, Charles M. Wynn, Arthur W. Wiggins, Sidney Harris, Quantum leaps in the wrong direction: where real science ends-- and pseudoscience begins, Joseph Henry Press, page 58

Although academics have spent many hours showing the errors in von Däniken's reasoning, the Ancient Astronaut notion remains alive.

2002, Michael Shermer, The Skeptic encyclopedia of pseudoscience, Volume 2, ABC-CLIO, page 530:

According to certain authors, intelligent extraterrestrial beings called ancient astronauts or ancient aliens have visited Earth, and this contacts is connected with the origins or development of human cultures, technologies, and religions.

2011, George Romero, The Rescue, George Romero, page 32:

Any of the extraterrestrial beings that, according to the pseudoscientific belief of paleocontact, visited Earth in the distant past, influencing human culture, technology, or religion.

ancien astronaute

extraterrestrial associated with paleocontact


transpeciate

en-verb

transpeciate (third-person singular simple present transpeciates, present participle transpeciating, simple past and past participle transpeciated)

transpeciates (present singular third-person)
transpeciating (participle present)
transpeciated (participle past)
transpeciated (past)

power to transpeciate a man into a horse

1642, [Thomas Browne], “(please specify the page)”, in Religio Medici, London: […] Andrew Crooke, →OCLC:

(obsolete or fantasy, transitive, intransitive) To change from one species into another; to transform.


lemures

Coordinate term: Lares

The Lars and Lemures moan with midnight plaint.

1629, John Milton, “On the Morning of Christs Nativity”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC:

So still lay the figure, and so dim was its outline, that any other than Arbaces might have felt a superstitious fear, lest he beheld one of those grim lemures, who, above all other spots, haunted the threshold of the homes they formerly possessed.

1834, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter VII, in The Last Days of Pompeii. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […]; successor to Henry Colburn, →OCLC, book IV, page 13:

(Roman mythology) The spirits or ghosts of the dead, considered as malignant.


pegacorn

It was a flying horse — no, a unicorn — or a pegacorn? — feathery wings outstretched.

2006 July 11, Alea Bushardt, Cloud Filly, Trafford Publishing, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 42:

Pegacorns have grown in both popularity and population since their worldwide introduction during the 1980s. While they had existed for eons prior, few unicorn farmers wished to voluntarily care for both the temperamental nature of the Pegasus and the attention-craving disposition of the unicorn. However, when those farmers had the opportunity to soar high and fast into the clouds on the Pegacorn, they had an abrupt change of opinion.

2011 August 18, Jessica S. Marquis, Raising Unicorns: Your Step-by-Step Guide to Starting and Running a Successful — and Magical! — Unicorn Farm, Adams Media, →ISBN, →OL, page 18:

At the end of each episode of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, one of the show's cartoon ponies dictates a letter to the pegacorn Princess Celestia, telling her what she's learned about friendship.

2012 January 15, Lauren Davis, “GlaDOS reads her letter to Princess Celestia”, in io9, archived from the original on 2012-02-04:

(informal) A horned Pegasus or a winged unicorn.


UFO religion

Raelians follow a UFO religion.

More particularly, and important for understanding much UFO religions, is Blavatsky's belief that certain masters dwelt on Venus.

2003, Christopher Hugh Partridge, UFO religions, Routledge, page 10:

UFO religions are even stranger than science fiction.

2004, Susan J. Palmer, Aliens adored: Raël's UFO religion, Rutgers University Press, page 3:

UFO religions drink deeply from the waters of occulture, while, at the same time, seeking to reconcile their ideas with a contemporary secular and scientific worldview.

2006, Christopher Hugh Partridge, The re-enchantment of the West: alternative spiritualities, sacralization, popular culture, and occulture, Continuum International Publishing Group, page 167:

A religion in which extraterrestrials figure prominently.


gamefic

Of course, this is somewhat different than your standard gamefic, which is generally written by a gamer or an author trying to please gamers […]

2001, Sea Wasp, “Gaming Fiction”, in rec.arts.sf.written (Usenet):

Look past bland gamefic and Superman comics for a change, and you might see that conflicted characers are much more common than you like to admit.

2002, Bradd W. Szonye, “Alignment Wars and _BoVD_”, in rec.games.frp.dnd (Usenet):

(fandom slang) A work of fan fiction based on a roleplaying game.


slash fiction

en-noun

slash fiction (countable and uncountable, plural slash fictions)

From slash + fiction, from the use of the slash symbol (/) to separate the names or initials of the characters or persons involved.

But Buffy has also generated enormous amounts of slash fiction. The cult television text and the rise of the Internet have both had an important aspect on the development of slash fiction.

2005, Milly Williamson, The lure of the vampire: gender, fiction and fandom from Bram Stoker to Buffy, Wallflower Press, page 169:

They analyze slash fiction (stories about romantic and sexual relationships between two male characters, some of which involve graphic descriptions of sex), and argue that the similarities between romance novels and slash fiction prove gender differences exist.

2009, Mark Bould, The Routledge Companion to Science Fiction, Routledge, page 208:

Over the years, slash writers have started dismissing as homophobic this trope of men having sex with men without identifying as homosexual or bisexual; nevertheless, much slash fiction retains the trope's underlying sentiment of true love and devotion transcending all external rules.

2009, Robin Anne Reid, Women in Science Fiction and Fantasy, page 282:

(uncountable) A genre of fan fiction focusing on romantic and/or sexual relationships between characters of the same sex (typically men).


slashfic

slashfic (countable and uncountable, plural slashfics)

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

I must alert you all to a critical oversight in today's slashfic. Amid all the gleeful anal romping and glute-grinding cock-milking, where, o where, is the santorum?

2003 September 13, Hypatia Kosh, “A critical oversight in slashfic today!”, in alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated (Usenet), message-ID <bjubpg+bba2@eGroups.com>:

(countable, fandom slang) A work in the genre of slash fiction.

(uncountable) Short for slash fiction, a genre of fan fiction.


Spockish

en-adj

Spockish (comparative more Spockish, superlative most Spockish)

more Spockish (comparative)
most Spockish (superlative)

Gary Oldman is pale with pale blue eyes and Spockish ears.

1997, Film review: Special: Issues 18-21:

In the early shows, Leonard Nimoy and the various writers and directors struggled to find the Spockish response to emotionally charged situations.

1998, Grace Lee Whitney, Jim Denney, Leonard Nimoy, The Longest Trek: My Tour of the Galaxy, page 89:

Rather like the Spockish character Data in Star Trek: The Next Generation, psychology is coming to appreciate the power and virtues of emotions in mental life, as well as their dangers.

2009, Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence, page 41:

It is not driven by the fiction of optimization in the manner of Dr.^([sic]) Spock in Star Trek―obsessively using high-tech logic tools. Such a Spockish approach often tends to mis-characterize the nature of the problem when the environment is complex, turbulent and evolving.

2010, Ruth Hubbard, Gilles Paquet, The Case for Decentralized Federalism, page 211:

Resembling or characteristic of the Star Trek character Mr. Spock, especially in being excessively logical and emotionless.


teleportal

(science fiction) A teleporter; a device for instantaneous travel.


parseltongue

Coined as Parseltongue by J. K. Rowling in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1998). J. K. Rowling stated that she based the term on an "old word for someone who has a problem with the mouth, like a hare lip".

Now I can't get this out of my head - them hissing and whispering at one another like they're speaking in parseltongue.

2005 December 1, Aisling Willow Grey, “Re: AMC -- Kendall (and Ryan too)”, in rec.arts.tv.soaps.abc (Usenet), message-ID <0001HW.BFB4D67000210837F0284550@news.verizon.net>:

Slither around Santa Fe's Rattlesnake Museum while practicing your parseltongue.

2007 April 3, Let's Go Inc., Let's Go Roadtripping USA: The Complete Coast-to-Coast Guide to America, 2nd edition, Macmillan, page 496:

“Parseltongue, that's what I need,” I murmured out loud as I brushed my teeth. A language for communicating with snakes.

2009 September 22, Sara Paretsky, Hardball: A V.I. Warshawski Novel, New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, →ISBN, →OL:

A fictional language of snakes in the Harry Potter universe.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
J. K. Rowling


sea drake

When, after the death of the son, Beowulf and his companions pursued the mother into her retreat, they found the water full of sea-drakes and serpents (wyrm-cynnes fela), and nicers lying on the banks.

1834 July, “The National Fairy Mythology of England”, in Fraser's Magazine for Town and Country, volume 10, page 53:

Sea drakes are also known to travel up the Rhone river to spawn in Lake Geneva, creating a hazard for shipping.

2011, Jason Rice, Brent Evanger, Kingdoms of Legend: Knights of France, page 23:

The sea drake uncoiled from the palace as they approached .

2020, Natalie Grey, Saira & the Dragon's Egg:

The monster, a subspecies of dragon, was a sea drake.

2024, Hagure Metabo, A Livid Lady's Guide to Getting Even:


spaceway

At first Gallagher and his glacier were a roar of laughter that swept the spaceways[…]

1964, John Wood Campbell, Analog science fact/science fiction:

(science fiction) A route used for travel or shipping in outer space.


teleportage

At the same time there is no fantasy, as there is in the teleportage of science fiction, or in the Greek myth that requires the insemination of a woman by a swan.

2010, Jeffrey Boss, Human Consciousness of God in the Book of Job, page 158:


action hero

The hero of a work of fiction containing action, whose heroism typically includes participation in that action.


unipeg

The balck^([sic]) and silver unipeg lands and folds his wings remebering^([sic]) the big earth drac.

1999 January 27, Twyligtsky, “Re: the inn”, in alt.mythology.mythic-animals (Usenet), message-ID <19990126223406.16200.00003652@ng126.aol.com>:

But, I think it will be too risky to try and steal horses, unipegs, pegasi, or unicorns. There are spells cast on the animals to keep track of them.

2004, Myles Brandon Hibbett, Zephyr Spheres and the Lost Spell, Lincoln: iUniverse, →ISBN, page 49:

As she whistled the horse, which Aries said was a Unipeg, which was a combination of a Pegasus and a unicorn landed right there smack in front of Mary it just landed and stared her right in the eyes.

2011 October 24, Mercedes Burgos-Diaz, Meenah, the Mystical Princess of Zantel, Bloomington: iUniverse, →ISBN, →OL, page 20:


unisus

Unisi are unicorns with pegasi wings, the result of crossbreeding between the two species. A single such creature is called a unisus.

1993 February, Michael John II Wybo, “Unique Unicorns”, in Dragon Magazine, number 190, →ISBN, →ISSN, →OL, page 92:

As for her horse, it was Spirit when she was Adora, and Swift Wind the flying unicorn (unisus?) when she was She-Ra.

1995 July 30, pteryx, “He-man. she-ra's horse's”, in rec.arts.animation (Usenet), message-ID <9507301040.0EZSC00@acornbbs.com>:

Heat was a unisus and Mich's best friend. He had once belonged to a huge herd of unisi that lived in the sky, above the clouds.

1998 November 15, Piers Anthony with Julie Brady, Dream a Little Dream: A tale of myth and moonshine, Tor, →ISBN, →OL, page 19:

The beauty of the Unisus was simply extraordinary. Its silver-feathered wings stretched across the room, fifteen feet in length. Its glorious, glowing white fur was so pure that it would be invisible in the snow.

2006 September 8, Jacob Cortez, The Legend of the Teenage Sages, Central Milton Keynes: AuthorHouse, →ISBN, →OL, page 267:


owlbear

From owl + bear. Coined by Gary Gygax in the 1970s for Dungeons & Dragons.

I don't usually survive long enough to get surrounded by owlbears[…]

1997, Terence Fergusson, “Murphy's Laws of NetHack”, in rec.games.roguelike.nethack (Usenet):

He played stupid—he looked at my scars and feigned confusion as he dropped the kindling.
“What happened?” he asked.
“An owlbear attacked,” I answered wryly. He sat down with us, and between their powers, I started to heal.

2010, Maia Jacomus, Loki: Why I Began the End:

(fantasy) A monstrous creature resembling a bear with a beak.


autofiction

en-noun

autofiction (countable and uncountable, plural autofictions)

Borrowed from French autofiction, blend of autobiography + fiction.

On the other hand, autofiction has afforded many writers a means to deal with the self in a way that straddles the genres of classic literature and goes beyond its culturally determined norms. Autofiction reveals existential motives for writing, raising them to the status of components in the autobiographical debate.

2019, Martina Wagner-Egelhaaf, editor, Handbook of Autobiography / Autofiction, Walter de Gruyter, →ISBN, page 245:

A blend of autobiography and fiction; faction.


black knight

(fiction) A villain or evil character who masks their identity and that of their liege by not displaying heraldry.


mammaloid

(science fiction) A mammalian humanoid creature.


twinner

The twinner of Jack's ailing mother, a faded movie actress named Lily Cavanaugh (who was billed in her time as the “Queen of the B Movies”), […]

2016, John C. Tibbetts, The Gothic Worlds of Peter Straub, McFarland, →ISBN, page 149:

Everyone, that is, except for Jack; his twinner, Jason, died as a baby and has become something of a mythical character in the alternate world, […]

2020, Debbie Olson, Children and Childhood in the Works of Stephen King, Lexington Books, →ISBN, page 185:

(fiction, uncommon) One who is identical, is similar, or is a counterpart, to another person.


drighten

From Middle English drihten, from Old English dryhten (“a ruler, king, lord, prince, the supreme ruler, the Lord, God, Christ”), from Proto-Germanic *druhtinaz (“leader, chief, lord”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrewgʰ- (“to hold, hold fast, support”), equivalent to dright (“army, host”) + -en. Cognate with Scots drichtin, drichtine (“lord, the Lord”), and with Old Frisian drochten (“lord”), Old Saxon drohtin (“lord”), Old High German truhtin, Middle High German truhten, trohten (“ruler, lord”) (dialectal German Trechtin, Trechtein (“lord, God”)), Danish drot (“king”), Swedish drott (“king, ruler, sovereign”), Icelandic dróttinn (“hero, ruler, lord”), Finnish ruhtinas (“sovereign prince”). Related also to Old English dryht (“a multitude, an army, company, body of retainers, nation, a people, men”), Old English ġedryht (“fortune, fate”), Old English drēogan (“to serve in the military, endure”). More at dree.

cog

Believe me, my drighten, there is not one of us that has ever slacked on watch before!

(historical, Anglo-Saxon, Norse mythology, fantasy, paganism) A lord; ruler; sovereign; chief; leader; prince.


asteroidian

But you remained conservative, A changeless asteroidian.

1932, California Poets: An Anthology of 244 Contemporaries, page 706:

Whatever else can be said about the world inhabited by Lesabéndio and his fellow asteroidians, this much is certain: their proper names derive from the first sounds they emit, not from a procedure of designation akin to the establishment of technical terms, and the laws governing the waxing and waning of their bodies are unlike those under which the bodies on the surface of the earth fall.

2011, Peter Fenves, The Messianic Reduction: Walter Benjamin and the Shape of Time, page 230:

What gags Flora is that Rod blew the Saturnienne to protect the asteroidians against North American culture , even though that cut him off from one wife, one concubine, and one son.

2014, E. Hoffmann Price, Operation Longlife, page 157:

(science fiction) One who is from or lives on an asteroid.


iguanoid

Because rumor has it, that they are three times as ugly, meaner, greedier and war mongering than the Earthlings, could ever be. Yes, if you can believe it, they are even worse than the Iguanoids.

2013, R. J. Denardo, The Captain's Propensity: The Andromeda Incident II, page 179:

Iguanoids stand three foot five to five five and use their long tail for balance.

2021, Craig Campobasso, The Extraterrestrial Species Almanac, page 231:

The Chameleons, another species connected to the Iguanoids, are characterized as a colorful race of reptilians that serve as watchers or guards for the Draco Reptilians, informing them of the political events taking place around the galaxy.

2023, Malik Bade, The Matrix & The Forbidden Knowledge - Extraterrestrial Edition, page 161:

(science fiction) A type of reptilian (reptilian alien)


kitbash

en-verb

kitbash (third-person singular simple present kitbashes, present participle kitbashing, simple past and past participle kitbashed)

kitbashes (present singular third-person)
kitbashing (participle present)
kitbashed (participle past)
kitbashed (past)

But, a nicely kitbashed hull and cool interior backlights don't help with the major technical hurdles the robot has yet to overcome.

2017 April 30, Captain Disillusion, The Method Robot | Quick D, archived from the original on 2023-12-20:

To create a new scale model using pieces from existing commercial kits.


-punk

First used when coining cyberpunk or as a back-formation to coin steampunk. Probably from the influence of the punk subculture on these genres.

Denotes a futuristic, aesthetically-oriented genre of fiction based on the noun to which it is suffixed, usually involving ahistorical or anachronistic technology and its effects on society.


clockpunk

The term [steampunk] is also frequently applied to works set in original worlds drawing inspiration from nineteenth century culture and technology, and at times is even used to refer to comparable blends of alternate history and retro-futurism across a much wider historical span (blurring with categories like Renaissance-era "clockpunk" and interwar "dieselpunk").

2011, Nader Elhefnawy, After the New Wave: Science Fiction Since 1980, Createspace, →ISBN:

Then sometime in the early 90's^([sic]) came steampunk. Alright, that's a little goofy, but people understood what it meant. It was the "punk"-like hacker culture from cyberpunk using Victorian era, steam based technology. […] But authors couldn't stop there! No, they had to go back further and write about clockpunk: hackers in Da Vinci's time making things run on springs and gears and other clockwork.

2011, Ted Stoltz, Universal Serendipity, Lulu Press, →ISBN, pages 43–44:

Oddly enough, K. W. Jeter wrote a clockpunk novel in 1987 called Infernal Devices. The story takes place in London and involves human-fish hybrids and a brilliant clockwork maker whose father had been experimenting with building automata, clockwork humans.

2013, Lois H. Gresh, The Mortal Instruments Companion, St. Martin's Press, →ISBN, page 132:

A subgenre of speculative fiction, based on the technology and society of the Renaissance.


sandalpunk

Do you have something against sandalpunk or something? If you don't like that, try some Bacon. Roger Bacon, that is.

2006 March 15, Llewelyn Jones <llywelynjones@yahoo.co.uk>, “ASBs Invade”, in soc.history.what-if (Usenet), message-ID <4769418477491436>:

I've been planning out a sort of sandalpunk-leading-to-steampunk alternate history setting for a while, but I've not yet gotten to a satisfactory level of detail or plausibility to do anything but the most basic story-idea-outlining in it.

2006 May 26, Logan Kearsley <chrono.surfer@verizon.net>, “Telling time in antiquity”, in rec.arts.sf.composition (Usenet), message-ID <9d3eaa093f0d1c9d>:

The specificity of steampunk's Victorian setting, particular in light of the relative presence and notoriety of steampunk vis-à-vis similar subgenres set in other time periods ('clockpunk' or 'sailpunk' set in the Renaissance, such as Paul McAuley's Pasquale's Angel; 'sandalpunk,' set in a technologically innovative ancient world; 'dieselpunk,' 'stonepunk,' etc.) argues for the importance to the present of shifts in technological culture that took place during the Victorian era.

2011, Noam S. Cohen, Speculative Nostalgias: Metafiction, Science Fiction and the Putative Death of the Novel, →ISBN:

A subgenre of speculative fiction, based on the technology and society of the Iron Age, especially the Roman Empire.


sailpunk

Don't forget about chain - great for shredding your target's rigging and not half bad as an antipersonnel round too. (Well, if you're in a "SailPunk" setting it's useful, anyway... Arrr, matey; scupper me wi' a handspike if it ain't so.)

1996 April 27, Carl Perkins <carl@gergo.tamu.edu>, “Re: Barriers”, in rec.games.frp.cyber (Usenet), message-ID <f2ab6ed35a112b8d>:

I notice also that on paper are available nifty and *original* places for live sailpunk RPG'ing but I fear that RN and USN will really frown at the idea of a bunch of live role-players fooling aboard HMS Victory and USS Constitution respectively...

2010 April 25, dott.Piergiorgio <dott.PiergiorgioNIHON@KAIGUN.fastwebnet.it>, “Re: Steampunk Martians”, in sci.military.naval (Usenet), message-ID <854ef539444badc6>:

A subgenre of speculative fiction, focusing on life at sea during the eras of exploration and piracy.


atompunk

In fact, there was a fair amount of stuff around in the 60s and 70s that can only be explained as cross-dimensional leakage from an Atompunk universe.

2001 October 31, Simon Bradshaw, “Re: Steampunk Recommendations?”, in rec.arts.sf.written (Usenet), message-ID <memo.20011031191447.43761C@sjbradshaw.compulink.co.uk>:

Perfect "atompunk" feel – reactors with nervous engineers and analog controls.

2002 June 10, Mike Simone, “Re: Land Battleships”, in rec.arts.sf.science, rec.games.design (Usenet), message-ID <152bbdf6.0206101038.72e312be@posting.google.com>:

For the Legion, we're looking at 20th century futures rather than 19th. Analogies with steampunk might be "dieselpunk", "atompunk", or "rocketpunk" – but any Legion of Super-Heroes worthy of the name seems to be as far from the "punk" aspect as it's possible to get.

2004 March 6, Michael S. Schiffer, “Re: Earth-2 Legion Synopsis”, in rec.arts.comics.dc.lsh (Usenet), message-ID <Xns94A49BD7E514mss2mediaonenet@130.133.1.4>:

According to a mailing list from the Netherlands, Atompunk is devoted to the cultural period (mostly of the United States) of between 1945 to 1965. While the moniker hasn't become a part of our country's vernacular yet (though I'm sure some of you already started using it ages ago), it sounds just annoyingly catchy enough to warrant a New York Times trend piece in about eight years.

2012 April 8, Elaine Chow, “Space Age Fetishism Getting Silly New Moniker: Atompunk”, in Gizmodo, archived from the original on 2016-08-28:

Atompunk covers the pre-digital period of 1945–1965, including mid-century Modernism, the Atomic Age and Space Age. Throw Roger Thornhill's suits in this basket, and everything ever worn on Mad Men. This takes us right up to the mid '60s, when the fictional worlds of yesterday abut the real worlds you grew up in.

2012, William J. Thompson, “Time Travel”, in Dress Like a Grownup!: A Complete Tutorial for the Average Guy, 2nd edition, volume 1, [Morrisville, N.C.]: Lulu.com, →ISBN, part 2 (Advanced Theory), page 55:

You keep imagining someone 20 years from now reading The Peripheral the way that we read Neuromancer today, perplexed at the now-unfathomable ubiquity of cassettes and modems. We laugh at the past or mine it for influence – think of steampunk, atompunk, dieselpunk, and the million other microgenres based on the incongruity of old societies and future tech – but someday, the future is going to do the same to us.

2014 October 27, Adi Robertson, “William Gibson’s ‘The Peripheral’: Looking Back at the Future: A Smart, Nuanced Twist on Time Travel”, in The Verge, archived from the original on 2017-05-05:

Additionally, while [Sebastian] Faulks aspires to write as [Ian] Fleming, he takes care to increase the serving of action, in fact including some interesting bits of atompunk—a nuclear-powered ekranoplan, Vulcan bombers.

2015, Nader Elhefnawy, The Forgotten James Bond, [s.l.]: [s.n.]:

(science fiction) A subgenre of speculative fiction, based on the society and technology of the Atomic Age (c. 1945–1969).


fanac

This, however, is only part of the story—just as fanzines and fan activity (Fanac) are only a part of the totality which is fandom.

1956 September, Robert Bloch, “Some of Best Fans are Friends”, in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, volume 11, number 3, page 57:

It must be emphasised that this was genuinely a 'historical' action; letter-writing to the prozines is currently a discouraged area of fanac.

1977, Brian Ash, The Visual encyclopedia of science fiction, Harmony Books, page 274:

The advent of the computer and the modem means that an increasingly large number of fans indulge in most of their fanac online.

2002, Mike Resnick, Once a Fan..., Wildside Press LLC, page 274:

(dated, fandom slang) The activity of fans, particularly of science fiction.


hypospray

(chiefly science fiction) A kind of jet injector.


jotun

Learned borrowing from Old Norse jǫtunn, from Proto-Germanic *etunaz (“giant”). Doublet of ettin.

Some with disdain his reasons heard, / While others wisht the cause deferr'd. / Then Ormur spake, in speech of scorn, / Ormur, the friend of Asbiorn, / Who, daring singly to engage, / A jotun, proved his fatal rage.

1831, Walter Savage Landor, “Gunlaug”, in Gebir, Count Julian, and Other Poems, London: Edward Moxon, 64, New Bond Street, →OCLC, page 279:

When Christianity became the religion of the people the trolls gradually assumed something of the role formerly played by the more powerful Jotuns.

1908, The Elementary School Teacher, volume 8, Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press, →OCLC, page 214:

When Odin was still young – before he had hanged himself on Yggdrasil and drunk from the Well of Wisdom – his eyes had fallen on a jotun named Loki.

1967, Ingri D'Aulaire; Edgar Parin D'aulaire, “Loki, the God of the Jotun Race”, in Norse Gods and Giants, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, ISBN 978-0-385-04908-5; republished as D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths, New York, N.Y.: New York Review of Books, 2005, ISBN 978-1-59017-125-7, page 42

The world in which the æsir and jötnar play out their struggle has its own set of place-names but is essentially recognizable as Scandinavia. There are rivers, mountains, forests, oceans, storms, cold weather, fierce winters, eagles, ravens, salmon, and snakes.

2001, John Lindow, “The Historical Background”, in Handbook of Norse Mythology (Handbooks of World Mythology), Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, page 2:

(Norse mythology) A member of a race of giants who usually stand in opposition to the Æsir and especially to Thor.

Arthur Rackham
Der Ring des Nibelungen
Fafnir
Freyja
Richard Wagner


worldbuilder

Many mistake my approach as hostile to the sacrosanct memory of J. R. R. Tolkien, undoubtedly one of the greatest worldbuilders of the 20th century and indirectly the father of both a literary and a gaming genre.

2001, Neal Hallford, Jana Hallford, Swords and circuitry: a designer's guide to computer role playing games, page 207:

We are weary of theoretical worldbuilders who strive to construct logical designs that weave together all components of the social fabric.

1989, Stanford M. Lyman, Marvin B. Scott, A Sociology of the Absurd:

One who constructs a world, especially a convincing fictional world for literature etc.


mindpower

en-noun

mindpower (countable and uncountable, plural mindpowers)

mental power; any power of the mind, such as lateral thinking or psychic ability


mer-

merlady, merfolk, merwife, mermonster

(fantasy) Of, pertaining to, or associated with the realm of mermaids and mermen.


merwife

From Old English merewīf (“water witch, mermaid”), from Proto-West Germanic *mariwīb, from Proto-Germanic *mariwībą (“mermaid, siren”). By surface analysis, mer- + wife. Cognate with Old High German meriwīb.


merbaby

"She should have stayed in the ocean where she belonged. She could have married some nice young merman and had some cute little merbabies and lived a long, happy life—"

1997, Elizabeth Lane, The Tycoon and the Townie, Harlequin, →ISBN:

There were mermaids with gold chains around slinky long tails, swimming along with little merchildren. One had a merbaby on her back, the tiniest little pink tail sticking out from under its sling.

2003, Liz Kessler, The Tail of Emily Windsnap, Scholastic, →ISBN, page 57:

But Anna held the merbaby tight and carried her towards the sea.

2009, Penny Kendal, Merbaby, Evans Brothers Limited, →ISBN, page 35:


merhusband

A human female starts to long for all her friends and relations ashore, and eventually forsakes her merhusband. A mermaid begins to yearn for the wild freedom of life among the waves, and finds it is very difficult to adjust to the dry [...]

1987, Michael F. Page, Robert R. Ingpen, Encyclopedia of things that never were: creatures, places, and people:

A merman, especially one who is married; a merman taken as a husband.


merqueen

Have you ever met any from the sea clan Merqueen and Saxon merman […]

2006, Lunar-k, Angels, Fairies, Mermaids & Warriors:

Then Brigit followed singing: The merqueen picks the dolphin, The merqueen picks the dolphin, High, ho, the dario, The merqueen picks the dolphin.

2009, Clark Smith, Patricia Clark Smith, Baiting Hollow: A Time of Enchantment:

A mermaid, especially one who is a queen.


merkingdom

Thus, Eric fulfills his role as heroic rescuer by saving the woman he loves and the merkingdom from danger, and thus a relationship is constructed between a strong, invulnerable heroic protector and weak, vulnerable victims (Ariel and the kingdom).

2011, Justin Charlebois, Gender and the Construction of Hegemonic and Oppositional Femininities, Lexington Books, →ISBN, page 98:

Merpeople came from all over the merkingdom to visit and study.

2012, Debbie Dadey, Whale of a Tale, Aladdin, →ISBN, page 24:

Marrying Sabyn to get control of a merkingdom that had obviously decided it didn't want me as a ruler was not an acceptable thing to do.

2013, Tracy Deebs, Tempest Revealed, Walker Books for Young Readers, →ISBN:


merworld

"I consider myself a reasonable merman," Triton thundered, "but contact between the merworld and the human world is strictly forbidden. Why did you disobey me and rescue that human?"

1996, Disney's Treasury of Children's Classics: From the Fox and the Hound to the Hunchback of Notre Dame, Disney Press, →ISBN, page 85:

Oliver hadn't written any stories about the merworld, but knowing him there were probably at least a couple pages of notes about the place somewhere in his notebook.

2010, Frédérick S. Parker, Finding the Kingdom of the Centaurs, AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 171:

Reflecting a slightly modified version of the hero narrative, Eric rescues Ariel from Ursula and concomitantly saves the merworld from a diabolical female in lieu of a male villain.

(fantasy) The undersea world of merfolk.


merking

The merking's castle stood in the very deepest spot. The palace walls were made of coral. The roof was oyster shells. And the windows stood open to let the fish swim in and out.

2002, Sarah Hines Stephen, Hans Christian Andersen, The Little Mermaid: And Other Stories:

A mermaid king; the king of the merfolk.


merknight

[…] while merknights in full armour give their own demonstration of fishy combat tactics.

1967, Bridget Ann Henisch, Medieval Armchair Travels, Carnation Press (1967), page 38

However, it is the scilla's cousin the "merknight" (Fig. 107) who most closely resembles the curious armored fish men that Bosch portrays.

1981, Laurinda S. Dixon, Alchemical Imagery in Bosch's Garden of Delights, UMI Research Press, →ISBN, page 44:

It is etched and gilded overall, the themes of the decoration including, on the leg defences, the labours of Hercules, and on the upper half a merknight and mermaid, supplemented with elephants and castles, and various putti and animals.

2009, Graeme Rimer, Thom Richardson, J.P.D. Cooper, editors, Henry VIII: Arms and the Man, 1509-2009, Royal Armouries, →ISBN, page 151:


merguard

He and his merguard surrounded her before she could say a word. "What kind of Conch Queen of Doom are you?" he griped, angrily jabbing at Sabrina with his trident.

1999, Bobbi J. G. Weiss, David Cody Weiss, Age of Aquariums, Archway Paperback, →ISBN, page 133:

Two muscular merguards twisted my arms behind my back and tangled my legs in seaweed.

2009, Delia Sherman, The Magic Mirror of the Mermaid Queen, Viking, →ISBN:

Mer-guards flanked the front opening to the palace.

2011, L-J Baker, Promises, Promises, Lethe Press, →ISBN, page 148:


mermother

"I shall never see my merfather or my mermother any more, or the mermaids, or the fish-king, or the merry dolphins, or-r-r-r " —
"Never mind!" cried Elfie, crying too, and she put her arms around the sad little mermaid's neck.

1882, E. L. P, Elfie Under the Sea and Other Stories, Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co., page 21:

Suddenly a lovely sound filled the air. Ariel turned toward it. Nefazia was sitting on the rock, singing. Her song was low and sweet, like a mermother crooning to her baby.

1993, Suzanne Weyn, Nefazia Visits the Palace, The Trumpet Club, →ISBN, page 43:

A mermother pushed an infant merbaby along the street in an old stroller. Soon Sabrina and the merman reached an enormous palace, nearly five stories high.

2007, Michael Buckley, Peter Ferguson, The Problem Child:


merfather

"Danya, you think if you believe in your merfather and Ayralon, it's like rejecting your parents. Especially your stepfather. Is that true?"

2004, Vicki Blum, The Mermaid Secret, Scholastic, →ISBN, page 63:

Two eighth-graders (Emma Roberts and JoJo) befriend a mermaid (Sara Paxton) who has three days to prove to her merfather that love exists.

2006 March 3, Roger Ebert, “'Aquamarine'”, in Orange County Register:


merland

"I know what you would say and I know what I should answer, dear Ulfin, if you were only a commoner of Merland. ... and I am a Mermaid, […]"

[…] or she could bolt and hurry back to the shore, hoping that two wolphins might return to haul her tired body back to Merland off Oregon.

2010, Judith Gilman, Mermaids of the Siuslaw:

A mythical land of mermaids and merfolk.


MSTing

The intent may not have been deliberately malicious; but it was negligent and in bad taste not to ask the author's permission first, which in no way precludes the MSTing from being hurtful.

1995 February 4, Roberta Chi-Woon Kwong, “Re: MSTied fanfic (long)”, in alt.tv.x-files.creative (Usenet):

I love all the discussions and especially enjoy reading MSTings of fan fiction.

2003 April 4, Andrew Mitchell, “Delurking”, in alt.fan.harry-potter (Usenet):

I once did a MSTing of the Power Rangers movie script, and there are MAJOR differences between it and what we see on screen.

2003 August 13, Fish Eye no Miko, “Re: Hermione in COS”, in alt.fan.harry-potter (Usenet):

(fandom slang) A parody fanfic created by inserting satirical commentary into an existing work.


Bats

A Northeast Caucasian language of the Nakh family, spoken in Georgia.


Bats

From Bat(man) + -s (hypocoristic suffix).

The Dark Knight Returns, published in four installments in 1986, is an extremely grim vision of a near-future Batman in a crime-ridden Gotham (reminiscent of Death Wish–era New York) that went to seed after Bats hung up the cape and cowl years prior.

2014 July 23, Abraham Riesman, “Dear Hollywood: Stop Using Frank Miller’s Batman Stories As Source Material”, in Vulture:


hillman

Indian hillmen of exceptional intelligence and resource, specially trained in clandestine surveying techniques, were despatched across the frontier disguised as Muslim holy men or Buddhist pilgrims.

1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society, published 2010, page 6:

A native or inhabitant of hilly or mountainous country; a tribesman who lives in the mountains.


netherverse

His death "created a netherverse, one which has temporarily absorbed your two universes."

2006, Mark Voger, Kathy Voglesong, The Dark Age:

The council believes whoever it is has been active for quite sometime mucking up the netherverse.

2007, Arthur Roberts, The Sorcerer's Song and the Cat's Meow:

When death seems to be grinning back at us from the netherverse, most meet his stare with fear, in their eyes.

(fantasy) A lower universe, realm, or region; underworld.