phillumenist

From phil- (“love of”) + Latin lumen (“light”) + -ist.

There is a new and happy breed, the Phillumenists, better known as Match-box Label collectors.

1948 May, A. J. Cruse, “I am a Phillumenist: Match-Box Labels as a Hobby”, in Chambers's Journal, page 238:

To be a real phillumenist, however, requires that one take his assorted books and "shuck" them, "press" them, and then categorize them according to subject, era, size, and maker.

1984, Stephen Hughes, Pop Culture Mania: Collecting 20th-Century Americana for Fun and Profit, New York: McGraw-Hill, →ISBN, →OL, page 207:

This matchbox is a Swedish safety match from the Jönköping match factory. It's manufactured in 1858, just in time for the American Civil War. I like it very much. I guess that makes me something of a phillumenist.

2012 January 23, Jennifer Johnson, “Kit Nelson” (30:10 from the start), in Alcatraz, season 1, episode 3, spoken by Edwin James (Jonny Coyne):

A person who collects match-related items, like matchbox labels, matchboxes, matchbooks, or matchbook covers.


ICQ

Pun on the pronunciation of "I seek you."

(amateur radio) A call for acknowledgement.


thin

From Middle English thinne, thünne, thenne, from Old English þynne, from Proto-West Germanic *þunnī, from Proto-Germanic *þunnuz (“thin”) – compare *þanjaną (“to stretch, spread out”) – from Proto-Indo-European *ténh₂us (“thin”), from *ten- (“to stretch”).
Cognate with German dünn, Dutch dun, West Frisian tin, Icelandic þunnur, Danish tynd, Swedish tunn, Latin tenuis, Irish tanaí, Welsh tenau, Latvian tievs, Polish cienki, Russian тонкий (tonkij), Sanskrit तनु (tanú, “thin”), Persian تنگ (tang, “narrow”). Doublet of tenuis. Also related to tenuous.

(philately) A loss or tearing of paper from the back of a stamp, although not sufficient to create a complete hole.


approval

en-noun

approval (countable and uncountable, plural approvals)

authorization

in some legal contexts, authorization is different from approval

(especially philately) Something mailed by a seller to a collector to match their stated interests; the collector can approve of or return the item.

시제품

(chiefly philately) item sent to a collector


tick

From Middle English *tik, tek, tyche (“light touch, tap”), from the verb (see Etymology 3 below). Compare Dutch tik (“a pat, tap”), Middle High German zic (“a slight touch”).

cog

There are few birders who have not had stringy ticks on their lists at some stage.

1980, Bill Oddie, Bill Oddie's Little Black Bird Book, page 76:

A twitcher's list is very democratic. Each bird counts as one tick. There are no extra points for beauty or rarity. The humble sparrow counts just as much as a Wedge-tailed Eagle or a Paradise Parrot.

2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 41:

(birdwatching) A bird seen (or heard) by a birdwatcher, for the first time that day, year, trip, etc., and thus added to a list of observed birds.


tick

en-verb

tick (third-person singular simple present ticks, present participle ticking, simple past and past participle ticked)

ticks (present singular third-person)
ticking (participle present)
ticked (participle past)
ticked (past)

From Middle English ticken, tiken, probably from Old English *ticcian (“to touch, tap”), from Proto-West Germanic *tikkōn (“to touch, tap”), cognate with German zecken (“to nudge, poke, jab”). Doublet of tig.

inh

(birdwatching, transitive) To add (a bird) to a list of birds that have been seen (or heard).


red

en-noun

red (countable and uncountable, plural reds)

From Middle English red, from Old English rēad, from Proto-West Germanic *raud, from Proto-Germanic *raudaz from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rowdʰós, from the root *h₁rewdʰ-.
Cognates
See also West Frisian read, Low German root, rod, Dutch rood, German rot, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål rød, Norwegian Nynorsk raud; also Welsh rhudd, Latin ruber, rufus, Tocharian A rtär, Tocharian B ratre, Ancient Greek ἐρυθρός (eruthrós), Albanian pruth (“redhead”), Russian ру́дый (rúdyj) ("red", "redhaired"). Czech rudý, Lithuanian raúdas, Finnish rauta, Estonian raud, Serbo-Croatian riđ ("reddish", "red"), Avestan 𐬭𐬀𐬊𐬌𐬛𐬌𐬙𐬀 (raoidita), Sanskrit रुधिर (rudhirá, “red, bloody”).

sekobarbitaali

slang: secobarbital — see also secobarbital

(countable, informal, UK, birdwatching) A redshank.


MS

MS (countable and uncountable, plural MSes)


apple

Book of Genesis
Frans Floris
Malmö Art Museum
The Fall of Man

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *h₂ébōl
Proto-Germanic *aplaz
Proto-West Germanic *applu
Old English æppel
Middle English appel
English apple
The noun is derived from Middle English appel (“Malus domestica fruit or tree, apple; any type of fruit, nut, or tuber; tree bearing fruit; (figurative) ball, sphere; (Christianity) forbidden fruit in Eden”), from Old English æppel (“apple; any type of fruit; (figurative) ball, sphere; eyeball”), from Proto-West Germanic *applu (“apple; any type of fruit”), from Proto-Germanic *aplaz (“apple; any type of fruit”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ébōl, *h₂ébl̥ (“apple”).
As regards sense 1.4 (“forbidden fruit”), the type of fruit eaten by Adam and Eve is not identified in the Book of Genesis in the Bible. It may have come to be identified with the apple because of the similarity between Latin mālum (“apple”) and malum (“evil; misery, torment; wrongdoing”).
The verb is derived from the noun.
Cognates
Cognate with Danish æble, Dutch appel, German Apfel, Irish úll, Lithuanian óbuolỹs, Russian я́блоко (jábloko), Scots aipple, Swedish äpple, Welsh afal, West Frisian apel, possibly Ancient Greek ἄμπελος (ámpelos, “vine”).

ref

From the collection of the Malmö Art Museum in Malmö, Scania, Sweden.

чӏва

common, firm, round fruit produced by a tree of the genus Malus; fruit of the tree Malus domestica

omena

something which resembles the fruit of Malus domestica in shape or colour

the apple doesn't fall far from the tree

the apples on the other side of the wall are the sweetest

Because of overcrowding, many a CB enthusiast (called an "apple") is strapping an illegal linear amplifier ("boots") on to his transceiver ("ears") which is limited by the Federal Communications Commission ("Big Daddy" in the US) to an output power of no more than five watts.

1977, Bernard Dixon, editor, New Scientist, volume 74, London: IPC Magazines, page 764, column 1:

(amateur radio) Synonym of CBer (“a CB radio enthusiast”)


PB

en-noun

PB (countable and uncountable, plural PBs)


MX

MX (countable and uncountable, plural MXs)

(philately) on early British stamps, Maltese Cross cancellation mark.


AR

AR (countable and uncountable, plural ARs)

(philately, post) Initialism of acknowledgment of receipt.


have

en-verb

have (third-person singular simple present has, present participle having, simple past and past participle had)

has (present singular third-person)
having (participle present)
had (participle past)
had (past)
have (infinitive)

From Middle English haven, from Old English habban (“to have”), from Proto-West Germanic *habbjan, from Proto-Germanic *habjaną (“to have”), durative of *habjaną (“to lift, take up”), from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂pyéti, present tense of *keh₂p- (“to take, seize, catch”). Related to heave.
Since there is no common Indo-European root for a transitive possessive verb have (notice that Latin habeō is not etymologically related to English have), Proto-Indo-European probably lacked the have structure. Instead, the third person forms of be were used, with the possessor in dative case, compare Latin mihi est / sunt, literally to me is / are.
Cognates
Cognate with Saterland Frisian hääbe (“to have”), West Frisian hawwe (“to have”), Dutch hebben (“to have”), Afrikaans hê (“to have”), Low German hebben, hewwen (“to have”), German haben (“to have”), Danish have (“to have”), Swedish hava (“to have”), Norwegian Nynorsk ha (“to have”), Icelandic hafa (“to have”), Albanian kap (“I grab, catch, grip”), Latin capiō (“take”, verb), Russian хапать (xapatʹ, “to seize”).

saada

in some cases; normally a direct sentence would be used

For some reason, "I had a Freckled Duck today" never seems to work as a pick-up line.

2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 57:

(transitive, birdwatching) To make an observation of (a bird species).


string

en-noun

string (countable and uncountable, plural strings)

Tok Pisin: string

→ Dutch: string

→ Finnish: stringit

→ French: string

→ German: String

desc

מחרוז//מַחְרֹזֶת

→ Hebrew: מחרוז /מַחְרֹזֶת (makhrózet) (semantic loan)

→ Japanese: ストリング (sutoringu)

→ Norwegian Bokmål: streng (semantic loan)

→ Norwegian Nynorsk: streng (semantic loan)

→ Polish: stringi

→ Portuguese: estrém; string

→ Swedish: string

From Middle English string, streng, strynge, from Old English strenġ, from Proto-West Germanic *strangi, from Proto-Germanic *strangiz (“string”), from Proto-Indo-European *strengʰ- (“rope, cord, strand; to tighten”).
Cognate with Scots string (“string”), Dutch streng (“cord, strand”), Low German strenge (“strand, cord, rope”), German Strang (“strand, cord, rope”), Danish streng (“string”), Swedish sträng (“string, cord, wire”), Icelandic strengur (“string”), Latvian stringt (“to be tight, wither”), Latin stringō (“I tighten”), Ancient Greek στραγγαλόομαι (strangalóomai, “to strangle”), from στραγγάλη (strangálē, “halter”), Ancient Greek στραγγός (strangós, “tied together, entangled, twisted”).

cog

στραγγαλόομαι

弦

any similar long, thin and flexible object

弓弦

ゆづる, yuzuru, ゆみづる, yumizuru, ゆんづる, yunzuru

(billiards, pool) The line from behind and over which the cue ball must be played after being out of play, as by being pocketed or knocked off the table; also called the string line.


string

en-verb

string (third-person singular simple present strings, present participle stringing, simple past strung or (colloquial) stringed or strang, past participle strung or (colloquial) stringed)

strings (present singular third-person)
stringing (participle present)
strung (past)
stringed (colloquial past)
strang (past)
strung (participle past)
stringed (colloquial participle past)

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

To be honest, you'd be better off trying to string a Skylark as a Richard's Pipit rather than as a Pectoral Sandpiper.

1980, Bill Oddie, Bill Oddie's Little Black Bird Book, page 81:

For instance he might see a White-eared Honeyeater, a not uncommon bird in the heathy areas at Bunyip, but in his excitement to call it, something in his brain scrambled and came out as: `White-cheeked Honeyeater!' White-cheeked Honeyeater is an absolute stonking crippler in Victoria, but Stu was not actually trying to string a rarity, he'd just got such a flood of new information swirling around his brain that sometimes it got jumbled up.

2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 67:

(birdwatching) To deliberately state that a certain bird is present when it is not; to knowingly mislead other birders about the occurrence of a bird, especially a rarity; to misidentify a common bird as a rare species.


strike

→ Danish: strike

→ Dutch: strike

→ French: strike

→ German: Strike

→ Italian: strike

→ Japanese: ストライク (sutoraiku)

→ Korean: 스트라이크 (seuteuraikeu)

→ Portuguese: strike

→ Russian: страйк (strajk)

→ Spanish: strike

→ Swedish: strike

→ Danish: strejke

→ Esperanto: striko

→ Hungarian: sztrájk

→ Japanese: ストライキ (sutoraiki)

desctree

→ German: Streik
→ Kashubian: sztrajk
→ Macedonian: штрајк (štrajk)
→ Serbo-Croatian: štrȁjk /штра̏јк
→ Slovak: štrajk

→ Polish: strajk
→ Belarusian: страйк (strajk)
→ Ukrainian: страйк (strajk)

→ Swedish: strejk

→ Welsh: streic

From Middle English stryken, from Old English strīcan, from Proto-West Germanic *strīkan, from Proto-Germanic *strīkaną, from Proto-Indo-European *streyg- (“to stroke, rub, press”).
Cognate with Dutch strijken, German streichen, Danish stryge, Icelandic strýkja, strýkva.


plate

en-verb

plate (third-person singular simple present plates, present participle plating, simple past and past participle plated)

plates (present singular third-person)
plating (participle present)
plated (participle past)
plated (past)

From Middle English platen, from Old English platian and Old French plater, both ultimately from Latin plata (see above).

(philately) to categorise stamps based on their position on the original sheet, in order to reconstruct an entire sheet.

(philately, particularly with early British stamps) To identify the printing plate used.


cover

en-noun

cover (countable and uncountable, plural covers)

→ Hijazi Arabic: كَڤَر (kavar)

→ Portuguese: cover

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *ḱe-?
Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm
Proto-Italic *kom
Old Latin com
Latin cum
Latin con-
Proto-Indo-European *h₁ep-?
Proto-Indo-European *h₁epi
Proto-Indo-European *h₂wer-
Proto-Indo-European *-yeti
Latin operiō
Latin cooperiō
Old French covrirbor.
Middle English coveren
English cover
From Middle English coveren, borrowed from Old French covrir, cueuvrir (modern French couvrir), from Late Latin coperire, from Latin cooperiō (“I cover completely”), from co- (intensive prefix) + operiō (“I close, cover”). Displaced native Middle English thecchen and bethecchen (“to cover”) (from Old English þeccan, beþeccan (“to cover”)), Middle English helen, (over)helen, (for)helen (“to cover, conceal”) (from Old English helan (“to conceal, cover, hide”)), Middle English wrien, (be)wreon (“to cover”) (from Old English (be)wrēon (“to cover”)), Middle English hodren, hothren (“to cover up”) (from Low German hudren (“to cover up”)).
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the original sense of the verb and noun cover was “hide from view” as in its cognate covert. Except in the limited sense of “cover again”, the word recover is unrelated and is cognate with recuperate. Cognate with Spanish cubrir (“to cover”).

cumhdach

A cloth or similar material used to protect underlying items from dust, sunlight, insects etc. when not being used.

throw nickels around like manhole covers

(philately) An envelope complete with stamps and postmarks etc.


sarnie

From sarn- (“perhaps from a dialectal pronunciation of the first syllable of sandwich”) + -ie. Alternatively, perhaps a misreading or an intentional dissimilation of samie (i.e. sammie), where the 'm' is mistaken for or replaced with 'rn'.

suffix

perhaps from a dialectal pronunciation of the first syllable of <i class="Latn mention" lang="en">sandwich</i>


mint

From Middle English mynt, münet (“money, coin”), from Old English mynet (“coin”), from late Proto-West Germanic *munit, from Latin monēta (“place for making coins, coined money”), from the temple of Juno Moneta (named for Monēta mother of the Muses), where coins were made. Doublet of money and manat.
The verb is from the noun; Old English mynetian (“to mint”) is a parallel formation.

der

(philately) Unused with original gum; as issued originally.


Sc

(philately, chiefly US/Canada) The Scott catalogue of stamp values.


MM

(amateur radio) Initialism of maritime mobile.


omnibus

en-noun

omnibus (plural omnibuses or omnibusses or (nonstandard) omnibi)

omnibuses (plural)
omnibusses (plural)
omnibi (nonstandard plural)

Borrowed from French (voiture) omnibus (“(carriage) for all”), from Latin omnibus (“for all”), dative plural of omnis (“all”).

bor+

[M]any of the African nations issuing the World Cup stamps have pandered to international collectors, with some stamps not even sold in the country of issue. These ‘omnibus’ stamps featured topics and individuals with no links to the issuing country. African stamps displaying Disney themes, Princess Diana, Michael Jackson and Sylvester Stallone all belong to this category.

2013, Agbenyega Adedze, “Visualizing the Game: The Iconography of Football on African Postage Stamps”, in Susann Baller, Giorgio Miescher, Ciraj Rassool, editors, Global Perspectives on Football in Africa: Visualising the Game (Sport in the Global Society: Contemporary Perspectives), Abingdon, Oxon., New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 163:

(philately) A stamp issue, usually commemorative, that appears simultaneously in several countries as a joint issue.


rust

en-noun

rust (countable and uncountable, plural rusts)

From Middle English rust, rost, roust, from Old English rust, rūst (“rust”), from Proto-West Germanic *rust, from Proto-Germanic *rustaz (“rust”), from Proto-Indo-European *rudʰso- (“red”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rewdʰ- (“red”).
Cognate with Scots roust (“rust”), Saterland Frisian rust (“rust”), West Frisian roast (“rust”), Dutch roest (“rust”), German Rost (“rust”), Danish rust (“rust”), Swedish rost (“rust”), Norwegian rust, ryst (“rust”), Finnish ruoste, Estonian rooste. Related to red.

ҡыҙғылт көрән

qıźğılt körən

front-runner-itis runs: rust: myrtle rust

(philately) Damage caused to stamps and album pages by a fungal infection.


plastic

en-adj

plastic (comparative more plastic, superlative most plastic)

more plastic (comparative)
most plastic (superlative)

From Latin plasticus (“of molding”), from Ancient Greek πλαστικός (plastikós), from πλάσσω (plássō, “to mold, form”). Doublet of plastique.

A superb — and apparently wild, not plastic — Baikal Teal was located at RSPB Greylake in Somerset[.]

2024 January 14, Ian Reid, “South Aussie birding on the other side of the world”, in The Feathered Variety (blog), archived from the original on 2024-01-14:

(informal, birdwatching, of an individual bird) Escaped from captivity, rather than wild.

I was checking into my motel while a Red-whiskered Bulbul called outside – a Queensland plastic rarity which was somewhat amusing.

2018 August 12, Corwin Caelin, “The bucket list – a Wallaby and a Wombat – part 1”, in Go Birding (blog), archived from the original on 2018-08-23:

(informal, birdwatching, of a species or individual bird) Introduced, rather than native or naturally vagrant.


peep

From Middle English pepen. Compare Dutch piepen (“peep”), German Low German piepen (“to peep”), German piepen and pfeifen, all probably onomatopoeic.

(birdwatching, colloquial) A sandpiper or other small wader.


killer

en-noun

killer (countable and uncountable, plural killers)

→ German: Killer

→ Italian: killer

→ Japanese: キラー (kirā)

→ Russian: ки́ллер (kíller)

From Middle English killer, kyller. By surface analysis, kill + -er.

(philately) A particularly heavy type of handstamp, or portion of one, often obscuring a large part of the postage stamp.


entire

entire (countable and uncountable, plural entires)

From Middle English entere, enter, borrowed from Anglo-Norman entier, from Latin integrum, accusative of integer (“whole”), from Proto-Italic *əntagros (“untouched”). Doublet of entier and integer.

(philately) A complete envelope with stamps and all official markings: (prior to the use of envelopes) a page folded and posted.


numismatist

One who studies and/or collects coins and/or currencies.

錢幣學家 /钱币学家

one who collects coins and/or currencies


wallpaper

wallpaper (countable and uncountable, plural wallpapers)

(philately, informal) Gaudy mass-produced stamps, typically of little or no value and only produced for sale to collectors.


essay

Since late 16th century, borrowed from Middle French essay, essai (“essay”), meaning coined by Montaigne in the same time, from the same words in earlier meanings 'experiment; assay; attempt', from Old French essay, essai, assay, assai, from Latin exagium (“weight; weighing, testing on the balance”), from exigere + -ium.

der

(philately, finance) A proposed design for a postage stamp or a banknote.


bricolage

en-noun

bricolage (countable and uncountable, plural bricolages)

/ˌbɹi.kəʊˈlɑːʒ/

(uncountable) Construction using whatever was available at the time.


obliterate

en-verb

obliterate (third-person singular simple present obliterates, present participle obliterating, simple past and past participle obliterated)

obliterates (present singular third-person)
obliterating (participle present)
obliterated (participle past)
obliterated (past)
obliterate (infinitive)

PIE word
 *h₁epi
(start of 17th century) From earlier obliterat, learned borrowing from Latin obliterātus, oblitterātus (“having been blotted out, effaced, erased; having been forgotten”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix, of participial origin)). Obliterātus and oblitterātus are respectively the perfect passive participles of obliterō and oblitterō (“to blot out, efface, erase, obliterate; to cause to be forgotten”), probably either:
* from ob- (prefix meaning ‘against; towards’) + littera (“letter of the alphabet; (metonymically) handwriting”) (further etymology unknown); or
* from oblītus (“disregarded, neglected; forgotten”), influenced by littera. Oblītus is the perfect passive participle of oblinō (“to daub over, besmear”), from ob- + possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁lengʷʰ- (“not heavy, light; brief; swift”).
cognates
* Catalan obliterar (“to erase; to cancel (a stamp); to close up or fill (a body cavity, vessel, etc.)”)
* Middle French oblitérer (modern French oblitérer (“to cause (memories) to fade; to block, obstruct; to cancel (a stamp, ticket, etc.) so it cannot be reused”))
* Portuguese obliterar (“to destroy completely; to erase”)
* Spanish obliterar (“to destroy completely; to erase”)

cog

/əˈblɪtəˌɹeɪt/

obliterar

to impair the function and/or structure of (a body cavity, vessel, etc.) by ablating or occluding it

(philately) To cancel (a postage stamp) with a postmark so it cannot be reused.


cachet

en-noun

cachet (countable and uncountable, plural cachets)

Borrowed from French cachet, first appearing in Scottish English, from 1630.

The Alcatraz pelican cachet turned out to have a unique history of its own which had been lost over the years. Master cachet designer and artist John Coulthard (1903-1966) of 17 Elm Street Modesto, California, was the creator of the stamp.

2011, Jerry Lewis Champion Jr., The Fading Voices of Alcatraz, page 160:

(philately) A commemorative stamped design or inscription on an envelope, other than a cancellation or pre-printed postage.


cachet

en-verb

cachet (third-person singular simple present cachets, present participle cacheting, simple past and past participle cacheted)

cachets (present singular third-person)
cacheting (participle present)
cacheted (participle past)
cacheted (past)

(transitive, philately) To mark (an envelope) with a commemorative stamped design or inscription.


fringer

(scrapbooks) A device for making paper fringes


block

→ Dutch: block

→ German: Block

→ Irish: bloc

→ Manx: block

→ Maori: poraka

→ Norwegian: blokk

→ Polish: blok

desctree

→ Russian: блок (blok)
→ Armenian: բլոկ (blok)
→ Yakut: блок (blok)

→ Spanish: block

→ Vietnamese: lốc

From Middle English blok (“log, stump, solid piece”), from Old French bloc (“log, block”), from Middle Dutch blok (“treetrunk”), from Old Dutch *blok (“log”), from Proto-West Germanic *blokk, from Proto-Germanic *blukką (“beam, log”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵ- (“thick plank, beam, pile, prop”). Cognate with Old Frisian blok, Old Saxon blok, Old High German bloh, bloc (“block”), Old English bolca (“gangway of a ship, plank”), Old Norse bǫlkr (“divider, partition”). More at balk. See also bloc, bulk.

طَابُوقَة

substantial often approximately cuboid piece

թաղամաս

group of buildings demarcated by streets

A physical area or extent of something, often rectangular or approximately rectangular.

(philately) A joined group of four (or in some cases nine) postage stamps, forming a roughly square shape.

neliö

philately: joined group of stamps, forming square


Cinderella

/ˌsɪndəˈɹɛlə/

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

(philately) A stamp or stamp-like label issued for purposes other than postal administration, not issued by a central government, or not listed in most general catalogues.


postage stamp

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

The postage stamps on the letters from overseas were almost as interesting as the letters themselves.

A small piece of printed paper stuck on an item to be mailed, indicating that postage has been paid.

posseël

piece of paper indicating postage has been paid

डाक का टिकट

ḍāk kā ṭikaṭ

could be written on the back of a postage stamp

could fit on the back of a postage stamp


frame

→ Korean: 프레임 (peureim)

→ Swahili: fremu

From Middle English frame (“profit, benefit, advantage; a structure composed according to a plan”), from the verb (above) and also from Old Norse frami (“advantage, fame, bravery, efficiency, privilege, honor”); and frame (“a framework or structure of any kind”) which is of uncertain origin. The latter is usually regarded as a derivative of former; however, compare the rare Anglo-Norman and Old French frame, fraine (“frame, framework”), itself of uncertain origin, which might be a borrowing from the English, from the Norse, or even possibly ultimately from Frankish *hramu (“frame”) related to Dutch raam (“window frame”).

der

(philately) The outer decorated portion of a stamp's image, often repeated on several issues although the inner picture may change.

(philately) The outer circle of a cancellation mark.


stamp

From Middle English stampen (“to pound, crush”), from assumed Old English *stampian, variant of Old English stempan (“to crush, pound, pound in mortar, stamp”), from Proto-West Germanic *stampōn, *stampijan, from Proto-Germanic *stampōną, *stampijaną (“to trample, beat”), from Proto-Indo-European *stemb- (“to trample down”). Cognate with Dutch stampen (“to stamp, pitch”), German stampfen (“to stamp”), Danish stampe (“to stamp”), Swedish stampa (“to stomp”), Occitan estampar, Polish stąpać (“to step, treat”). See also stomp, step. Marks indicating that postage had been paid were originally made by stamping the item to be mailed; when affixed pieces of paper were introduced for this purpose, the term “stamp” was transferred to cover this new form.

postage stamp

paper used to indicate payment has been paid

I need one first-class stamp to send this letter.

Now that commerce is done electronically, tax stamps are no longer issued here.

A small piece of paper, with a design and a face value, used to prepay postage or other dues such as tax or licence fees.

These stamps have a Christmas theme.

A small piece of paper bearing a design on one side and adhesive on the other, used to decorate letters or craft work.

طَابَع

any small piece of paper bearing a design on one side and adhesive on the other — see also postage stamp

lysergic acid diethylamide
lysergic acid diethylamide

(slang) A single dose of lysergic acid diethylamide.


stamp

en-verb

stamp (third-person singular simple present stamps, present participle stamping, simple past and past participle stamped)

stamps (present singular third-person)
stamping (participle present)
stamped (participle past)
stamped (past)
stamp (infinitive)

I forgot to stamp this letter.

(transitive) To apply postage stamps to.


postcard

Enjoy your trip to Malaysia, and send me a postcard!

(post) A rectangular piece of thick paper or thin cardboard intended to be written on and mailed without an envelope. In the case of a picture postcard, one side displays a picture or photograph.

briefkaart

rectangular piece of thick paper to be mailed without an envelope


bisect

From bi- (“bi-, two”) + Latin secāre (“to cut”).

affix

(philately) An envelope, card, or fragment thereof showing an affixed cut half of a regular issued stamp, over which one or more postal markings have been applied. Typically used in wartime when normal lower rate stamps may not be available.


nibbed

en-adj

nibbed (comparative more nibbed, superlative most nibbed)

more nibbed (comparative)
most nibbed (superlative)

(philately) Of a stamp: having the nib of its perforation removed or damaged.


lister

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

(birdwatching) A birdwatcher who keeps track of birds using different checklists.


cancellation

en-noun

cancellation (countable and uncountable, plural cancellations)

From Latin cancellātiō, from cancellō + -tiō.

(philately) A postmark that marks a postage stamp so as to prevent its reuse.


roulette

roulette (countable and uncountable, plural roulettes)

Borrowed from French roulette (“roulette, little wheel”). The sense "situation with a random chance of incurring serious harm" may be abstracted from Russian roulette.

bor

(philately) Any of the small incisions on a sheet of stamps, used as an alternative to perforations.


vignette

First attested in 1751. From French vignette, diminutive of vigne (“vine”), from Latin vīnea, from vīnum (“wine”). Replaced earlier Middle English vynet.

At the top of the stamp and centered slightly to the right is the wording, “U. S. Postage,” in white Gothic. Below the vignette are the words, “Little White House,” in quotations, with “Warm Springs,” centered directly below in dark Gothic, […]

1967, Postage Stamps of the United States, U.S. Government Printing Office:

(philately) The central pictorial image on a postage stamp.


bibliophile

First attested in 1824. From French bibliophile, from Ancient Greek βιβλίον (biblíon, “paper, document, tablet”) + φίλος (phílos, “beloved”). By surface analysis, biblio- + -phile.

uder

why buy a book when you can join a library

A bad example often finds imitators, and every season there crop up for public sale one or two such collections formed by bibliomaniacs who, although calling themselves bibliophiles, ought really to be ranked among the worst enemies of books.

1880, William Blades, The Enemies of Books, page 97:

[A] savage passage of 14th-century invective about the text-obsessed nerdiness of the Florentine bibliophile and friend of Petrarch, Niccolò Niccoli ...

2013 September 14, Jane Shilling, “The Golden Thread: the Story of Writing, by Ewan Clayton, review [print edition: Illuminating language]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review), page R28:

bibliofiel

person who loves books — see also book lover

One who collects books, not necessarily due to any interest in reading them.


triptych

From Ancient Greek τρίπτυχος (tríptukhos, “consisting of three layers, threefold”), from τρι- (tri-) + πτυχή (ptukhḗ, “a fold”).

Hieronymus Bosch
The Garden of Earthly Delights
triptych

(by extension) A group of three people or works, especially when considered representative of a particular field or theme.

(philately) A set of three se-tenant postage stamps that form a composite picture.


variety

en-noun

variety (countable and uncountable, plural varieties)

From Middle French varieté (“variety”) (modern French variété (“variety; genre, type”)) or directly from its etymon Latin varietās (“difference; diversity, variety”) + English -ty (suffix forming abstract nouns from adjectives). Varietās is derived from varius (“different, diverse, various; variegated”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- (“to abandon; to give out; to leave”)) + -tās (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns indicating a state of being). The English word displaced the native Old English mislīcnes.
Sense 1.3.2 (“total number of distinct states of a system; logarithm to the base 2 of the total number of distinct states of a system”) was coined by the English psychiatrist William Ross Ashby (1903–1972) in his work An Introduction to Cybernetics (1956).
cognates
* Galician variedade (“variety”)
* Italian varietà (“difference; variety”)
* Portuguese variedade (“variety”)
* Spanish variedad (“breed; variety”)

der

(philately) A stamp, or set of stamps, which has one or more characteristics (such as colour, paper, etc.) differing from other stamps in the same issue, especially if such differences are intentionally introduced.


catalogue

en-verb

catalogue (third-person singular simple present catalogues, present participle cataloguing, simple past and past participle catalogued)

catalogues (present singular third-person)
cataloguing (participle present)
catalogued (participle past)
catalogued (past)

/ˈkæt.əˌlɒɡ/

/ˈkæt.əˌlɔɡ/

/ˈkæt.əˌlɑɡ/

From Middle English cathaloge, from Old French catalogue, from Late Latin catalogus, itself from Ancient Greek κατάλογος (katálogos, “enrollment, register”), from καταλέγω (katalégō, “to recount, make a list”), from κατα- (kata-, “downwards, towards”) + λέγω (légō, “to say, to speak, to tell”).

der

(philately) to value or sort stamps using a catalogue


oenophile

The oenophile had a large wine cellar stocked with bottles from around the world.

With this kind of experience and depth in the wine cellar, the servers can offer exotic flights and other temptations for oenophiles that few Orange County restaurants can equal.

2008 December, Anne Valdespino, “Mr. Stox”, in Orange Coast, volume 34, number 12, →ISSN, page 139:

Wines can be described with words like cigar box and “pencil lead,” or flinty or with hints of sandalwood — oenophiles can veer into what many might deem pretentiousness pretty quick.

2023 March 24, Laura Reiley, “Could nonalcoholic wine be the toast of the town?”, in The Washington Post:

A person who has a fondness or appreciation for wine.


CV

en-noun

CV (countable and uncountable, plural CVs)

Abbreviation
* (anime, Japanimation): From Japanese CV (CV), from English character+voice
* (aircraft carrier): Initialism of cruiser (“croiseur”) + French voler (“to fly”).

initialism of

(philately) Initialism of catalog value.


fist

From Middle English fist, from Old English fȳst (“fist”), from Proto-West Germanic *fūsti, of uncertain origin. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Fääste (“fist”), West Frisian fûst (“fist”), Dutch vuist (“fist”), German Low German Fuust (“fist”), German Faust (“fist”). More at five.

(amateur radio) The characteristic signaling rhythm of an individual telegraph or CW operator when sending Morse code.

pulso

(ham radio) the characteristic signaling rhythm


linen tester

A folding magnifying glass which, when unfolded, forms a frame for the lens at a pre-focussed distance. Commonly used in stamp collecting.


PUC

Postal Union Congress
w:Postal Union Congress


dip

en-noun

dip (countable and uncountable, plural dips)

From Middle English dippen, from Old English dyppan, from Proto-West Germanic *duppjan, from Proto-Germanic *dupjaną; see *daupijaną (“to dip”). Related to deep.

(bodybuilding) A gymnastic or bodybuilding exercise on parallel bars in which the performer, resting on his hands, lets his arms bend and his body sink until his chin is level with the bars, and then raises himself by straightening his arms.

I'd missed them by a couple of hours. This dip did not bode well for the Hudwit.

2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 124:

(birdwatching, colloquial) The act of missing out on seeing a sought after bird.

My Dad, God bless him, rarely cooked anything, but if he ever did he would make himself an egg banjo! Fried bread? Or ‘dip’?

2020 May 29, Bocca della Verita (@BocaVerite), Twitter:

(UK, dialect, uncountable, Birmingham) Fried bread.


dip

en-verb

dip (third-person singular simple present dips, present participle dipping, simple past and past participle dipped)

dips (present singular third-person)
dipping (participle present)
dipped (participle past)
dipped (past)

dip me in honey and throw me to the lesbians

I assured him that I'd been birding long enough to know that there were no guarantees with birds and I wouldn't have held it against him if I'd dipped.

(birdwatching, colloquial) To miss out on seeing a sought after bird.


birdo

/ˈbɜː(ɹ)dəʊ/

I encountered a few of these "birdos", as we call them in Australia, when I visited Oak Hammock Marsh[.]

2014, Rod Giblett, Canadian Wetlands: Places and People, page 182:

(Australia, slang) A birder or birdwatcher.


illegal

en-adj

illegal (comparative more illegal, superlative most illegal)

more illegal (comparative)
most illegal (superlative)

Borrowed from French illégal, from Medieval Latin illegalis, from Latin legalis, by surface analysis, il- + legal. In senses relating to immigration, via clipping from illegal alien or illegal immigrant.

(philately, of an issue printed for collectors) Totally fictitious, and often issued on behalf of a non-existent territory or country.


scope

en-verb

scope (third-person singular simple present scopes, present participle scoping, simple past and past participle scoped)

scopes (present singular third-person)
scoping (participle present)
scoped (participle past)
scoped (past)

From Italian scopo (“purpose”), from Latin scopus (“target”), from Ancient Greek σκοπός (skopós), from σκέπτομαι (sképtomai), from Proto-Indo-European *speḱ-. Etymologically related to skeptic and spectrum.

`Maybe there was another darker bird and it had flown away before we could scope it?' `Yes there must have been,' came the grim-faced reply.

2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 199:

(birdwatching, informal) To observe a bird using a spotting scope.


spacefiller

(philately) A stamp in poor condition used to fill a space in an album until a better quality example becomes available, or if the better example is prohibitively expensive.


bogus

en-adj

bogus (comparative more bogus, superlative most bogus)

more bogus (comparative)
most bogus (superlative)

First attested as an underworld term for an apparatus for creating counterfeit coins, then the coins themselves. Later, the word was applied to anything of poor quality. The newest use to mean useless is probably from the slang of computer hackers.
The origin is unknown, but there are at least two theories that try to trace its origin:
* From Hausa boko (“to fake”). Since bogus first appeared in the United States, it may be possible that its ancestor was brought there on a slave ship.
* From criminal slang as a short form of tantrabogus, a 19th-century slang term for a menacing object, making some believe that bogus might be linked to bogy or bogey (see bogeyman). In this sense, Bogus might be related to Bogle – a traditional trickster from the Scottish Borders, noted for achieving acts of household trickery; confusing, but not usually damaging.

Bogus stamps are labels made to deceive stamp collectors. Many bogus stamps were made prior to 1900 when some had names of imaginary countries.

1962, Douglas Patrick, The International Guide to Stamps and Stamp Collecting: Includes the Answers to 1200 Questions Most Often Asked about Stamps:

(philately) Of a totally fictitious issue printed for collectors, often issued on behalf of a non-existent territory or country (not to be confused with forgery, which is an illegitimate copy of a genuine stamp).


Scott

(philately, US, Canada) The Scott catalogue of postage stamps.


twitch

en-noun

twitch (countable and uncountable, plural twitches)

From Middle English twicchen, from Old English *twiċċan, from Proto-West Germanic *twikkijan (“to nail, pin, fasten, clasp, pinch”).
Cognate with English tweak, Low German twikken, German Low German twicken (“to pinch, pinch off”), zweckōn and gizwickan (> German zwicken (“to pinch”)).

cog

(birdwatching) A trip taken in order to observe a rare bird.


gutter

Sranan Tongo: gotro

From Middle English gutter, guttur, goter, from Anglo-Norman guttere, from Old French goutiere (French gouttière), ultimately from Latin gutta (“drop”).

(philately) An unprinted space between rows of stamps.

marginaali

philately: unprinted space between rows of stamps


forerunner

From Middle English forrenner, foreriner. Calque of Latin praecursor (“one who runs before, a forerunner”). Equivalent to fore- + runner and/or forerun + -er.

cal

(philately) A postage stamp used in the time before a region or area issues stamps of its own.


BOB

(philately) Back-of-the-book; denoting those stamps in a catalogue that are not used for the payment of regular postage fees, and are displayed separately in the catalogue after that listing; the division between these two groups varies with the publisher.


court fee

(philately) Adhesive stamps, attached to court papers to pay fees. Previously common in India and now popular with collectors.


USS

(India, historical, philately) Initialism of United States of Saurashtra.


killer cancel

(philately) A cancellation mark that is so heavy that it defaces the postage stamp to which it is applied, devaluing it from a collector's point of view.


se-tenant

From French se tenant (“holding each other”), present participle of se tenir (“to hold each other”).

(philately) A set of postage stamps with differing values, colours, etc, but printed on the same sheet.


perforate

From Latin perforō (“I bore or pierce through; I perforate”), from per- (“through, thorough”) + forō (“I bore, I pierce”).

uder

A species of remarkable appearance with mature leaf laminae often so profoundly perforate as to resemble a fragile net of tissue.

1999, Nguyen Van Dzu, Peter C. Boyce, Kew Bulletin, 54(2):379-393:


watermark

/ˈwɔːtəmɑːk/

(by extension) A logo superimposed on a digital image, a television broadcast, etc.


jizz

en-noun

jizz (usually uncountable, plural jizzes)

The earliest known appearance in print dates from 1922, in Thomas Coward's "Country Diary" column for the Manchester Guardian of 6 December 1921; the piece was subsequently included in his 1922 book Bird Haunts and Nature Memories. He attributed it to "a west-coast Irishman", and explained:
:if we are walking on the road and see, far ahead, someone whom we recognise although we can neither distinguish features nor particular clothes, we may be certain that we are not mistaken; there is something in the carriage, the walk, the general appearance which is familiar; it is, in fact, the individual's jizz.
There are several theories as to the etymology of “jizz”:
* From the military term GIS (“general impression and shape”).
* Possible contraction of just is (in the sense that a particular bird species “just is” that species).
An essay by Greenwood and Greenwood in 2018 debunks these theories. Other suggestions include variants of guise, gist and gestalt (mispronounced).

A West Coast Irishman was familiar with the wild creatures which dwelt on or visited his rocks and shores; at a glance he could name them, usually correctly, but if asked how he knew them would reply ‘By their "jizz".’

1922, TA Coward, Bird Haunts and Nature Memories, London: Warne:

Political cartoonists rely a lot on jizz. When a new president or prime minister comes into office it usually takes the cartoonists a little while to decide which features to select as field marks but they then stylise these in ways that make them instantly recognisable to the rest of us, even though they may be grossly exaggerated.

2009, Jeremy Mynott, chapter 3, in Birdscapes, Princeton and Oxford: Princeton, page 74:

His birds are not carefully posed to illustrate every plumage detail; they are impressions rather than portraits. With a few deft strokes of his pencil, he captures their 'jizz'.

2015, Nick Davies, chapter 3, in Cuckoo - Cheating by Nature (paperback), London: Bloomsbury, page 53:

(ornithology, birdwatching) The physical and behavioural characteristics of a bird that enable it to be immediately recognised by an experienced birder as a certain type of bird, especially to family or genus level.


train spotting

The hobby of collecting the numbers and names of locomotives seen at railway stations and other vantage points.

觀察火車 /观察火车

hobby of collecting locomotive numbers and names


bander

He got a banding permit in the early 30s and was an active bander for the rest of his life.

1993 November 26, Jerry Sullivan, “Field & Street”, in Chicago Reader:


perfin

From the first syllables of perforated initial.

(philately) Perforated initial; a series of small holes punched into a stamp and forming a letter, series of letters or other design for the purpose of preventing the unauthorized use of the stamps.

(philately) A stamp marked with perforated initials.


airmail

en-verb

airmail (third-person singular simple present airmails, present participle airmailing, simple past and past participle airmailed)

airmails (present singular third-person)
airmailing (participle present)
airmailed (participle past)
airmailed (past)

(baseball) To (unintentionally) throw the ball well over a fielder's head where that fielder is unable to make a play on the ball.


tied

en-adj

tied (comparative more tied, superlative most tied)

more tied (comparative)
most tied (superlative)

Southern US, African-American Vernacular

(philately) A cover having a stamp where the postmark cancellation overlaps the stamp.


philatelist

A person who collects and studies postage stamps.


philatelic

philatelic (comparative more philatelic, superlative most philatelic)

more philatelic (comparative)
most philatelic (superlative)

Jane was a member of the Philatelic Society.

Of or relating to philately or of interest to philatelists.


ballooning

en-noun

ballooning (countable and uncountable, plural balloonings)

When he retired, he took up ballooning.

Like most human activities, ballooning has sponsored heroes and hucksters and a good deal in between. For every dedicated scientist patiently recording atmospheric pressure and wind speed while shivering at high altitudes, there is a carnival barker with a bevy of pretty girls willing to dangle from a basket or parachute down to earth.

2013 June 7, David Simpson, “Fantasy of navigation”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 36:

(uncountable) The sport or hobby of flying in a hot-air balloon.

baloniarstwo

the sport or hobby of flying in a hot-air balloon


Slav

From Middle English sclave, borrowed from Medieval Latin Sclavus, from Byzantine Greek Σκλάβος (Sklábos); see that entry for more. Doublet of slave and ciao. Displaced native Old English Wined.

(British, birdwatching) The Slavonian grebe.


ticker

(birdwatching, slang) A birdwatcher who aims to see (and tick off on a list) as many bird species as possible.


detectorist

Detectorists may also carry headphones, a metal detecting shovel, hand tools such as a hori-hori (a serrated, steel hand shovel), a “finds pouch,” and a hand-held precision detector called a pinpointer.

2021 May 31, Alexandra Marvar, “The New Detectorists”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

A person whose hobby is the use of a metal detector to search for buried coins, etc.


F

Abbreviation.
# (stenoscript) Abbreviation of full, fully.
# (stenoscript) suffixes -full, -fully.

ng

<i class="Latn mention" lang="en">fully</i>.


cartophily

the hobby of collecting trade cards, especially cigarette cards


deltiology

/ˌdɛltɪˈɒlədʒɪ/

Formed by suffixing the Ancient Greek δελτίον (deltíon) (deltion; the diminutive form of δέλτος (déltos), deltos, “writing tablet”) with the English -logy.


CU

(philately) in stamp descriptions, commercially used.


aerophilately

(philately) The study or collection of airmail stamps, cancellations, etc.

aerofilatelia

the study or collection of airmail stamps


HR

en-noun

HR (countable and uncountable, plural HRs)

/eɪt͡ʃ ɑː(ɹ)/

(philately) Initialism of hinge remnant.


CTO

Audio (US)

cancelled to order
cancelled to order#English

(philately) Initialism of cancelled to order.


CAM

(US, historical, philately) Initialism of contract air mail (often followed by the route number, eg, CAM 21).


SON

socked on the nose
socked on the nose#English

(philately) Initialism of socked on the nose.


MH

Loose mixed lot, with duplication, of the Portugal & Colonies first decimal definitive designs. Very mixed condition, from VF to junk, all "mint" in some form or another, some MNH, some MH, some MHH, some MNG, etc.

1995 February 12, R L Silverman, “For Sale: Portugal/Colonies "Ceres" 1912-1931”, in rec.collecting.stamps (Usenet):


audiophile

However, almost every serious audiophile or electronics hobbyist already knows that bar/graph displays are close to useless for the application they are most commonly used for, which is the attempt to indicate output power levels of audio power amplifiers.

2001, G. Randy Slone, The Audiophile's Project Sourcebook: 120 High-Performance Audio Electronics Projects, McGraw-Hill, →ISBN, page 246:

A person with an interest in high fidelity music and/or sound reproduction and its associated technology.


astrophilately

The branch of philately dealing with space flight and similar subjects.


specimen

specimen (plural specimens or (extremely rare) specimina)

specimens (plural)
specimina (plural rare)

From Latin specimen (“mark, sign, example”), from speciō (“observe, watch”).

An individual instance that represents a class; an example.

(philately) A postage stamp sent to postmasters and postal administrations so that they are able to identify valid stamps and to avoid forgeries


stringer

(sports) A person who plays on a particular string.

(baseball, slang, 1800s) A hard-hit ball.

[T]hose fellows know how to spot a stringer at work.

1980, Bill Oddie, Bill Oddie's Little Black Bird Book, page 82:

(birdwatching) A person who deliberately states that a certain bird is present when it is not; one who knowingly misleads other birders about the occurrence of a bird, especially a rarity.


sea horse

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

From Middle English sehors (“walrus”), equivalent to sea + horse. Probably a calque of obsolete French cheval de mer or directly of Late Latin caballus marinus.

(philately) any of a series of British high value stamps issued during the reign of King George V featuring a depiction of Britannia on a chariot in choppy seas.


aerogram

A thin piece of foldable and gummed paper for writing a letter and serving as its own envelope for transit via airmail.

aerogram

aerogram 1. A roentgenogram of an organ afer it has been injected with air; also called pneumogram.

1935, William Alexander Newman Dorland, E. C. Miller, Illustrated medical dictionary, 17th edition, page 53:


cruciverbalist

From cruci- (“cross”) + verbal (“words”) + -ist (“agent, person”), from Latin roots crux (“cross”) and verbum (“word”).

confix

A person who constructs or solves crosswords.


gen

Nose around any modest-sized station and the odds are you'll find that the chargeman's office doubles as a bashers' club, a place where shivering spotters can get warm and catch up on the gen.

2015, Nicholas Whittaker, Platform Souls: The Trainspotter as 20th-Century Hero:

(chiefly UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, informal) Information.

I had some recent gen that they had been seen quite recently at Kunoth Well, a little dot on the map on the edge of the Tanami Desert.

2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 172:

(birdwatching) Information about the location of a bird.

(fandom slang) Fan fiction that does not specifically focus on romance or sex.


gen

(slang) A generator (device that converts mechanical to electrical energy).


FU

(philately) Initialism of fine used. (in stamp descriptions)


collecting

en-noun

collecting (countable and uncountable, plural collectings)

The task of data gathering is not a random walk, a sensual search, or the bemused collectings of a beachcomber.

2009, Melissa A Hardy, Alan Bryman, Handbook of Data Analysis, page 568:

A hobby including seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing, and maintaining whatever items are of interest to the individual collector.


definitive

en-adj

definitive (comparative more definitive, superlative most definitive)

more definitive (comparative)
most definitive (superlative)

(philately) general, not issued for commemorative purposes

yleis-

philately: not issued for commemorative purposes


definitive

(philately) an ordinary postage stamp that is part of a series of all denominations or is reprinted as needed to meet demand


bourse

Borrowed from French bourse, from Old French borse, from Latin bursa, from Ancient Greek βύρσα (búrsa). Doublet of purse, compare Danish børs, Swedish börs, German Börse. See also bursar.

(philately) A meeting of stamp collectors and/or dealers, where stamps and covers are sold or exchanged.


timbromania

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

From timbre (“postage stamp”) + -o- + -mania, borrowed from French timbromanie.


provisional

/pɹəˈvɪʒənəl/

From Middle French provisionnal (compare French provisionnel).

(philately) A postage stamp issued locally before an official issue is released.


selvage

en-noun

selvage (countable and uncountable, plural selvages)

From early modern Dutch selfegghe (Modern Dutch zelfkant (“selvage”)), equivalent to self + edge.

(printing) The excess area of any printed or perforated sheet, such as the border on a sheet of postage stamps or the wide margins of an engraving.

reunus

excess area of printed or perforated sheet


ham radio

See Etymology of ham radio on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

pedia

(colloquial) The hobby of amateur radio communication.


birder

Many of the crofters on Fair Isle and Shetland know as much about the birds as the birders.

1980, Bill Oddie, Bill Oddie's Little Black Bird Book, page 47:

It's good to be the king. Even if the kingdom is rather small. It is amazing how often really good birders are borderline megalomaniacs.

2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 37:


twitching

en-noun

twitching (countable and uncountable, plural twitchings)

(birdwatching) Compulsive birdwatching by people (twitchers) who travel long distances to see rare species.


amateur radio

The hobby or pastime of communicating by two-way radio, often striving for “DX” QSOs that are challenging because of distance.


twitcher

I do not consider myself either a twitcher or an expert.

2000, Bill Oddie, Gripping Yarns, page 21:

An eager birdwatcher who is willing to travel long distances to see rare species. (See the Wikipedia article for origin.)


birdwatcher

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

Alec Warner was gazing like a bird-watcher at Charmian, who plucked at the rug round her knees, waiting to tell her own story.

1959, Muriel Spark, chapter 5, in Memento Mori, London: Macmillan:

(birdwatching) A person who observes or identifies wild birds in their natural environment.

觀鳥者 /观鸟者

a person who observes or identifies wild birds in their natural environment


birdwatching

/ˈbɜː(ɹ)dˌwɒtʃ.ɪŋ/

Observing or identifying wild birds in their natural environment.


postmark

He looked at the mauve envelope doubtfully, and examined the postmark. "Where is Pudlington, James? and one might almost ask—why is Pudlington? No town has any right to such an offensive name."

1920, Herman Cyril McNeile, chapter 1, in Bulldog Drummond:

A marking made by a postal service on a delivery, usually indicating the place where and the date and time when the item was received or processed for the first time, mostly serving to cancel a postage stamp.

пощенски печат

marking made by a postal service on a letter


trading stamp

A small paper coupon, given by a retailer to a customer, that may be saved up and redeemed for goods.


topical

beautiful Pictorials, topicals, commemoratives, airmails. Introductory selection 40% discount. Ralph Rice, 15 Longlane, West Hartford 7, Conn.

1956 December, “Classified Advertisements: Stamp collecting”, in Popular Mechanics, volume 106, number 6, page 57:

(philately) A postage stamp depicting a particular theme or subject (such as birds or trains), potentially sought out by topical stamp collectors.


traffic light

ពន្លឺចរាចរណ៍

pɔɔnlɨɨ cɑɑraacɑɑ

(philately) The colored dots on stamp sheet margins printed with offset printing or photogravure methods, used by the printers to check color accuracy.


kiloware

(philately) Postage stamps bought by weight, rather than numerical quantity, and commonly still on paper.


stamp collecting

The hobby of collecting and displaying postage stamps and related items.


philatelically inspired

en-adj

philatelically inspired (not comparable)

(philately) Produced by the postal authorities, but intended for stamp collectors rather than normal postage usage.


mission mix

en-noun

mission mix (usually uncountable, plural mission mixes)

Bulk stamps which include duplication accumulated by missions and charities, then sold to the collecting trade.


mission mixture

bulk stamps which include duplication accumulated by missions and charities, then sold to the collecting trade.


postally used

(philately) Of a postage stamp, cancelled in the normal course of postal business, rather than to devalue it for sale to collectors.


bank mix

(philately) bulk stamps collected by banks and other large businesses, then sold to the collecting trade to raise funds for charities.


philatelic forgery

philatelic forgery (plural philatelic forgeries)

A forged stamp intended to defraud stamp collectors, rather than the postal authorities.


postal forgery

postal forgery (plural postal forgeries)

A forged stamp intended to defraud the post office, rather than defrauding stamp collectors.


first day cover

first day cover (plural first day covers)

Coordinate term: second day cover

(philately) A letter or card with a new stamp, postmarked on the day that the stamp was first issued.


postage

postage (countable and uncountable, plural postages)

/ˈpəʊstɪd͡ʒ/

The postage stamp, or similar token, affixed to an item of post as evidence of payment.

郵票 /邮票

postage stamp affixed as evidence of payment — see also postage stamp


lifer

I saw six species of honeyeaters new to me and went home with 16 lifers and some bad sandfly bites.

2013, Sue Taylor, Best 100 Birdwatching Sites in Australia:

(birdwatching) A bird species seen for the first time by a birder who is keeping a list of all the species he or she has ever seen.


indicia

From Latin indicia, plural of indicium (“a notice, information, discovery, sign, mark, token”), from index (“index”); see index.

(philately) A preprinted marking on a mailpiece which shows that postage has been paid by the sender.


penge

The ‘PENGE’ flaw which is caused by a white defect on letter ‘C’ of PENCE giving the effect of a ‘G’. This is at # 116 on Plate I.

2017, Alan Griffiths, The 1879 First Sideface Issue of Queensland, page 21:

(philately) (typically penge flaw or penge error) a printing flaw on early Australian stamps where the c in pence appeared like the letter g.


arctophile

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *h₂ŕ̥tḱos
Ancient Greek ἄρκτος (árktos)lbor.
Proto-Indo-European *bʰil-
Proto-Indo-European *-os
Proto-Hellenic *pʰílos
Ancient Greek φίλος (phílos)bor.
Latin -philalbor.
English -phile
English arctophile
Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek ἄρκτος (árktos, “bear”) + English -phile.

lbor

On the other hand I am appalled by the ways these "arctophiles" seem to feel for their childhood friends not an informed, reminiscent emotion, but exactly what they felt at 6 with no development at all.

1969 October 15, Gillian Tindall, “The bear facts”, in The Guardian (Woman’s Guardian section), London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 7, column 2, “Love letters”:

One who has a fondness for teddy bears, usually a collector of them.


MUH

(philately) Initialism of mint unhinged.


MNH

All concentrate on pre-1930 items, and contain many better stamps not found in typical collections. The Netherlands starts with the first issues (imperf and perf, with shade varieties) and contains better later items, some MNH.

2006 October 23, Eric Hochman, “FA: Classic Collections -- Netherlands & Colonies, Cuba, and Haiti”, in rec.collecting.stamps.marketplace (Usenet):

(philately) Initialism of mint, never hinged.


UM

(philately) Initialism of unmounted mint.


glassine

en-noun

glassine (countable and uncountable, plural glassines)

(philately, usually used as a plural) A small stamp packet made from glassine paper.


Downey Heads

(philately) British stamps with the image of King George V, based on a photograph by the court photographers W & D Downey.


pictorial

Latin pictōrius (“of painting”), from pictor (“painter”).

(philately) A stamp featuring a vignette of local scenery or culture.


feudatory state

feudatory state (plural feudatory states)

(philately) any of the Indian feudal states which operated their own internal postal services during the time of the British Empire, issuing stamps that were only valid within the state.


convention state

convention state (plural convention states)

(philately, historical) Any of the Indian feudal states which, during the time of the British Empire, used overprinted Indian stamps valid for postage outside the state.


prexie

(philately, colloquial) A definitive stamp of the presidential series issued by the United States from 1938 to 1954.


square circle

(philately) A cancellation mark consisting of an outer ring of concentric circles, cropped into a square shape.


IEF

(philately, overprint on stamps) Initialism of Indian Expeditionary Forces.


EAF

(philately, as an overprint on British stamps) Initialism of East African Forces.


MEF

(philately, overprint on British stamps) Initialism of Middle East Forces.


UPU

Universal Postal Union
Universal Postal Union#English


Morocco agencies

(philately, historical) The British post offices in Morocco; used as an overprint on British stamps.


On HMS

(philately, overprint on British Empire stamps) On Her (or His) Majesty's Service.


overprint

/ˈəʊvə(ɹ)ˌpɹɪnt/

/ˌəʊvə(ɹ)ˈpɹɪnt/

(philately) The addition of new text on a previously printed stamp, usually to add a surcharge or change the face value.

felülnyomás

the addition of new text on a previously printed stamp


overprint

en-verb

overprint (third-person singular simple present overprints, present participle overprinting, simple past and past participle overprinted)

overprints (present singular third-person)
overprinting (participle present)
overprinted (participle past)
overprinted (past)

/ˈəʊvə(ɹ)ˌpɹɪnt/

/ˌəʊvə(ɹ)ˈpɹɪnt/

(transitive, philately) To add an overprint to (a stamp).


surcharge

/ˈsɜː(ɹ)t͡ʃɑː(ɹ)d͡ʒ/

From Middle French surcharge, from Old French. By surface analysis, sur- + charge. Doublet of supercharge.

(philately) An overprint on a stamp that alters (usually raises) the original nominal value of the stamp; used especially in times of hyperinflation.


perforation gauge

en-noun

perforation gauge (plural perforation gauges)

The perforation-gauge is surrounded by a neat border, and inscription indicating the price — one shilling — and the publisher's address.

1872, The Stamp-collector's magazine, volume 10, page 110:

We desperately need starter materials such as stamps, albums, perforation gauges, hinges or mounts, and magnifying glasses — any materials that a novice collector requires to get started.

2001, The American Philatelist, volume 115, page 686:

It is far easier to use a perforation gauge which for a few dollars can be found on eBay.

2014, Adam Gregory Koch, Philatelic Philosophy: Stamp Collecting Wisdom & Opportunity:

(philately) A device for measuring the number of perforations per 2 centimetre distance along the edge of a postage stamp.


Cape triangle

Some of the Cape Triangles are very rare and expensive, depending on grade and condition.

(informal) One of several denominations of triangular postage stamps issued by the Cape of Good Hope during the period 1853-1864.


Penny Black

(philately) The world's first official national mail postage stamp, issued in 1840 in the United Kingdom as part of the postal reforms establishing a uniform penny post.


bullseye

→ German: Bullauge (calque)

→ Esperanto: bovokulo (calque)

From bull's + eye. May have come from the practice of English archers shooting an arrow through the eye socket of a bull's skull as a test of skill. The connection to philately comes from the shape of the key plate or vignette.

(philately, informal) Any of the first postage stamps produced in Brazil from 1843.


imperf

(philately) Clipping of imperforate or imperforated.


imperforate

(philately) A postage stamp that has not been perforated.


perf

(philately) Abbreviation of perforated. When followed by a number, eg, perf 14, this indicates the number of perforations per two centimetres.


baldie

The bald eagle is the national bird of the United States. Plus the bird is endangered. So, yeah, I'd probably have a problem with sitting down to a plate of baldie for dinner.

1999 August 15, Staca Hiatt, “Re: Anyone ever tried emu?”, in alt.support.diet.low-fat (Usenet):

They are almost always accompanied by immature bald eagles that, although about the same size as a mature baldie, have a darkened head and mottled feathers.

2010, Bruce Squiers, “Winter's Majesty”, in Marty Becker, Gina Spadafori, Mikkel Becker Shannon, editors, The Ultimate Bird Lover: Stories and Advice on Our Feathered Friends at Home and in the Wild, Health Communications, Inc., →ISBN, page 161:

Haliaeetus leucocephalus
Haliaeetus leucocephalus#Translingual

(birdwatching, slang) A bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus).


Universal Postal Union

A worldwide postal organization, part of the United Nations.


MILY ADMN

(philately, overprint on British Empire stamps of Burma) Acronym of military administration.


underprint

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

(philately) Printing underneath the main design of a stamp, intended to prevent forgery or removal of the postmark.

(philately, considered incorrect usage) a logo or advertising printed on the underside of a stamp; backprint.


paquebot

Borrowed from French paquebot (“mailboat”). First used in Great Britain in 1894, the term was adopted for general use by the Universal Postal Union in 1897.

(postal history) a postal marking or cancellation stamped on mail posted at sea or in a harbour for processing by the postal authorities at the next port of call. Mail so marked in one country will often carry the stamps of another country.


Lady McLeod

(informal) A local stamp inscribed "L. MCl." to represent the ship Lady McLeod, produced by David Bryce, the owner of the ship, in Trinidad in 1847. It was the first stamp produced in a British colony, but is considered by many to be a Cinderella.


tegestologist

someone who collects beer mats or coasters


rhykenologist

From Ancient Greek ρυκανή (rukanḗ, “a woodworking plane”) (hence Lat. runcina)

der

Bring your interesting planes to describe or share results of current research with other rhykenologists.

1987, in Shavings, published by the Early American Industries Association

A person who collects woodworking planes.


dipping

en-noun

dipping (countable and uncountable, plural dippings)

That same trip would have to go down as the greatest dipping fest in Australian birding history. I had five target species and never saw one, despite spending a week looking for them.

2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 35:

(birdwatching) The act or fact of missing out on seeing a bird.


plating

From Middle English *platynge, from Old English platung (“plate, thin piece of metal”), equivalent to plate + -ing.

inh

(philately) An act of determining where a postage stamp is positioned on a sheet.


Machin

From machun, from Anglo-Norman machun, masson, from Frankish *makjo (“maker; builder; see make”). More at mason.

der

(philately) Any of a British series of definitive stamps designed by Arnold Machin, first issued in 1967 and featuring a side view portrait of Queen Elizabeth II.


postage meter

A machine used to print prepaid labels onto pieces of mail, and to record total postage charges.


geocaching

From geo- + caching. First attested in 2000. See additional etymology at geocache.

In addition to the uses cited, a sport called geocaching — a high-tech version of hide and seek or orienteering — has evolved that uses GPS to locate points of interest and hidden items, or caches.

2007, Susan Lynn, Darla Castelli, Peter Werner, Stephen Cone, Seminar in Physical Education: From Student Teaching to Teaching Students, page 206:

State parks officials were a little stunned— and thrilled— with the response to the Geocaching History Challenge. Though it was difficult to determine how many people participated, clearly geocaching was exploding in popularity.

2010, Doug Ohman, Chris Niskanen, Prairie, Lake, Forest: Minnesota's State Parks, page 104:

Virtually any academic task can be incorporated into geocaching activities, and thus geocaching can facilitate the learning of less-palatable but important academic skills.

2010, Jeff Steffen, Jim Stiehl, Teaching Lifetime Outdoor Pursuits, page 136:

A pastime in which participants use a GPS receiver to find a hidden container at a specific latitude and longitude, or to hide a container to be found in this manner.


museophile

From Greek mouseîon (seat of the Muses), μουσείον, museum, + -phile.

For quotations using this term, see Citations:museophile.


HH

(philately) Initialism of heavily hinged.


stringy

en-adj

stringy (comparative stringier, superlative stringiest)

stringier (comparative)
stringiest (superlative)

There are few birders who have not had stringy ticks on their lists at some stage.

1980, Bill Oddie, Bill Oddie's Little Black Bird Book, page 76:

(birdwatching) Of a sighting, unlikely to be accurate; probably based on a misidentification, whether innocent or deliberate.


FDC

(philately) Initialism of first day cover.


woodblock

(philately) The emergency issue of the Cape triangles, printed in 1861.


confiding

confiding (comparative more confiding, superlative most confiding)

more confiding (comparative)
most confiding (superlative)

(birdwatching) Of a bird, allowing the close approach of humans.


tête-bêche

From French tête-bêche (literally “head-to-foot”).

bor

Liu himself is a professional stamp collector, and in 1972 he bought a tête-bêche pair of Qing dynasty stamps from an auction in London.

2017, David Der-wei Wang, A New Literary History of Modern China, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 704:

(philately) Of a postage stamp, printed upside down relative to the following stamp of the same row or column.


franking

en-noun

franking (countable and uncountable, plural frankings)

(countable) A device or marking such as postage stamp, printed or stamped impressions, codings, labels, manuscript writings, or any other authorized form of markings affixed or applied to mails to qualify them to be postally serviced.


unhinged

en-adj

unhinged (comparative more unhinged, superlative most unhinged)

more unhinged (comparative)
most unhinged (superlative)

(philately, of a stamp) Not having ever been mounted using a stamp hinge.


commemorative

beautiful Pictorials, topicals, commemoratives, airmails. Introductory selection 40% discount. Ralph Rice, 15 Longlane, West Hartford 7, Conn.

1956 December, “Classified Advertisements: Stamp collecting”, in Popular Mechanics, volume 106, number 6, page 57:

(philately) A postage stamp issued to commemorate, usually a person or event; also commonly applied to thematic (topical) stamp issues.


lepidopterist

Someone who studies lepidoptery; someone who studies butterflies and moths.


phillumeny

From phil- + Latin lumen (“light”) + -y.

The hobby of collecting matchbox labels and other match-related items


LH

(philately) Initialism of lightly hinged.


sharpie

It is harder to gauge the shorter tail of sharpies, but on sitting birds the tail shape is a more useful character than it is on flying birds. Sharpies of all ages and sexes almost always show a notched tail when they are sitting.

2005, Bill Thompson, Eirik A. T. Blom, Jeffrey A. Gordon, Identify Yourself: The 50 Most Common Birding Identification Challenges, page 93:

My mother had lost a considerable number of spring chicks to a raiding sharpie.

2010, Era S. VanDenburg, The Natural World of Ivy Lane, page 48:

sharp-shinned hawk
sharp-shinned hawk#English

(birdwatching) Clipping of sharp-shinned hawk.


tuppenny

A Lord High Chancellor is a personage of great dignity, who should never, under any circumstances, place himself in the position of being told to tuck in his tuppenny, except by noblemen of his own rank.

(British, dated, juvenile) In the children's game of leapfrog, the head (perhaps named from a tuppenny loaf).


vexillophile

Flags with conservative meanings were flown outside Justice Samuel Alito’s home and beach house, apparently by the justice’s vexillophile wife.

2024, Michael Linhorst, The Supreme Court Is on Collision Course With Its Ethics Struggles, in: The New Republic, September 30 2024

A person who collects and displays flags.

A person who studies flags and their history and meaning.


precancel

en-verb

precancel (third-person singular simple present precancels, present participle precanceling or precancelling, simple past and past participle precanceled or precancelled)

precancels (present singular third-person)
precanceling (participle present)
precancelling (participle present)
precanceled (participle past)
precanceled (past)
precancelled (participle past)
precancelled (past)

(transitive) To cancel or frank (a postage stamp) prior to posting it.


precancel

A postage stamp or mail item that has been precancelled.


do it yourself

THE LONDON & NORTH WESTERN RAILWAY. By O. S. Nock. Ian Allan. 30s.
[...] One scarcely imagined, for example, that the great steel works at Crewe owed its existence to Sir Richard Moon's penchant for the principle of "Do it yourself", a principle born of a methodical, economical and far-seeing mind.

1960 October, “New reading on railways”, in Trains Illustrated, page 640:

The practice of doing home improvements and maintenance oneself, rather than employing a professional.

bricolatge

practice of doing home improvements and maintenance oneself — see also DIY


do-it-yourselfer

During the past year or so, numerous new books have been published which can be helpful to do‐it‐yourselfers and home craftsmen, as well as to those readers on the lookout for new ideas and money‐saving suggestions on how to improve and maintain their homes and apartments.

1974 December 29, Bernard Gladstone, “New Books for Do‐It‐Yourselfers”, in The New York Times:

Since the store's opening last November, do-it-yourselfers in the Washington area have been coming to Brookstone for tools and gadgets they have not been able to find anywhere else.

1981 April 4, “THRIVING ON DO-IT YOURSELFERS”, in The New York Times:

And it does seem that everything at the company is moving faster these days. Mr. Nardelli, who calls himself the "consummate do-it-yourselfer," has spent the last seven months installing management systems that Home Depot had never before imagined, and pressing the fast-forward button on ones it had just begun to consider.

2001 July 29, Claudia H. Deutsch, “A Do-It-Yourselfer Takes On Home Depot”, in The New York Times:


KUT

(philately) Initialism of Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika, used to signify the joint issue of stamps by these countries from the mid-1930s to the early 1960s.

Postage stamps and postal history of Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika


geocacher

From geocache + -er. First attested in 2000. See additional etymology at geocache.

Couple of geocachers found a floater at Wilson's Pond about an hour ago. Nasty. The perp took her tongue and her face. [...]

2008, Colleen Coble, Abomination, page 20:

Whatever a cache leads to, the process of finding the cache will usually stir the geocacher's curiosity to the point of learning something. As geocachers learn more about the area in which they are caching, they will have a natural tendency to pay attention to the setting and their surroundings.

2010, J. Kevin Taylor, DuAnn Kremer, Katherine Pebworth, Peter Werner, Geocaching for Schools and Communities, Human Kinetics, page 20:

Like any outdoor activity, geocaching involves some inherent risk, and many geocachers enjoy manageable risks.

2011, Terry Marsh, Geocaching in the UK, page 113:

A person who hides or seeks objects as part of the pastime of geocaching.

geokätköilijä

person who hides or seeks objects as part of the sport of geocaching


SG

(philately) Initialism of Stanley Gibbons, stamp dealer and catalogue publisher.


LBJ

little brown job
little brown job#English

(birdwatching) Initialism of little brown job.


trading card

/ˈtɹeɪd.ɪŋ ˌkɑɹd/

A collectible card, sometimes sticker, usually made out of paperboard or thick paper, which usually contains an image of a certain person, place or thing (fictional or real) and a short description of the picture, along with other text (attacks, statistics, or trivia). There is a wide variation of different types of cards, like sports, cars, natural history, film characters or other information of interest to purchasers. Sometimes is included with tobacco, food or confectionery products.

kromo

collectible card featuring information of interest to purchasers


EF

(philately) Initialism of extremely fine or extra fine; also XF.


GISS

Variant of jizz as though originating from initialism of general impression size and shape (a popular folk etymology).

initialism of

(birdwatching) The general look of a bird.


rubber ducky

(amateur radio, slang) A small, flexible fixed-length antenna covered with a vinyl or rubber coating, frequently used with a handy talkie or other portable radio equipment.


write up

en-verb

write up (third-person singular simple present writes up, present participle writing up, simple past wrote up, past participle written up)

writes up (present singular third-person)
writing up (participle present)
wrote up (past)
written up (participle past)

(philately) To annotate a stamp album page with details about the stamp, such as die used or colour variety.


uprate

uprate (third-person singular simple present uprates, present participle uprating, simple past and past participle uprated)

uprates (present singular third-person)
uprating (participle present)
uprated (participle past)
uprated (past)

(transitive, philately) To put a higher value of postage on (a letter) than required by the official rate.


VF

Loose mixed lot, with duplication, of the Portugal & Colonies first decimal definitive designs. Very mixed condition, from VF to junk, all "mint" in some form or another, some MNH, some MH, some MHH, some MNG, etc.

1995 February 12, R L Silverman, “For Sale: Portugal/Colonies "Ceres" 1912-1931”, in rec.collecting.stamps (Usenet):


videophile

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

A connoisseur of video, particularly one who values high-definition and otherwise high-quality video


Frama

From the name of Frama AG, an early manufacturer of such machines.

(philately) A postage stamp printed on demand from a vending machine.


postal history

A Wisconsin Postal History Collection, comprising a master collection of covers and postmarks which display in detail the postal history of Wisconsin.

1950, Proceedings [of the] annual business meeting, State Historical Society of Wisconsin - History, page 29:

It is an outstanding series and belongs in the library of every serious stamp collector whether they collect postal history or not.

1957, Lauren Robert Januz, The American Philatelist, volume 71:

Items such as covers and associated material illustrating historical episodes of postal systems.


stamp hinge

A small gummed strip of folded glassine paper, used to mount stamps on an album page.

frimærkehængsel

gummed strip of paper for mounting stamps on album


moonbounce

en-noun

moonbounce (countable and uncountable, plural moonbounces)

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

(uncountable, amateur radio) A form of transmission in which the signal is reflected off the Moon, so that it can be picked up on Earth wherever the Moon is above the horizon.


red-throat

(British, birdwatching) The red-throated diver.


black-throat

black-throated diver
black-throated diver

Gavia arctica
Gavia arctica#Translingual

(British, birdwatching) The black-throated diver (Gavia arctica).


crestie

(Northern England, birdwatching) the great crested grebe.


court card

Unlike the numbered cards, these represent people of the kind that might be found at a royal court.

(chiefly UK, historical, deltiology) A postcard measuring approximately 4·75″ × 3·5″, in use mainly in the United Kingdom circa 1894–1902.


red-leg

red-legged partridge
red-legged partridge

(UK, birdwatching) The red-legged partridge.


great crest

(UK, informal, rare, birdwatching) the great crested grebe.


spotshank

(UK, birdwatching, informal) The spotted redshank.


spot-red

(UK, birdwatching, slang) The spotted redshank.


rosy tern

(Yorkshire, birdwatching) the roseate tern.


blackwit

(Yorkshire, birdwatching) the black-tailed godwit.


goldie

Young "baldies" look just like "goldies" and are often shot by mistake.

[…] the golden eagle is the champion predator. And the most handsome, according to ornithologists, who affectionately call their subjects "goldies".

Golden eagles took up old eyries on Hebridean sea cliffs only after the white-tailed sea eagle became extinct. Goldies may hunt seabirds but never fish, and they always resort to flying inland for rabbits or hares as preferred prey.

2009, John A. Love, A natural history of St. Kilda:

Something which is golden in color.
(UK, birdwatching) The golden eagle.

Something which is golden in color.
The golden eagle.

“Each time the golden plover moved, its dunlin attendant followed, but when the goldie flew off to land on a wooden post, it triggered a bizarre cameo.

2005, Mark Cocker, Richard Mabey, Birds Britannica:

Both grey and golden had the folk name "whistling plover" in Britain, but you know from the habitat that Burns must have had the goldie in mind in his line, The deep-toned plover gray, wild whistling on the hill

2009, Jeremy Mynott, Birdscapes: Birds in Our Imagination and Experience:

Dunlins, 'the plover's page', lay their eggs in wetter flows, usually those having a complex of small pools; we often watched the dunlins following the goldies.

2010, Desmond Nethersole-Thompson, Waders: their Breeding, Haunts and Watchers, page 107:

Something which is golden in color.
(UK, birdwatching) The golden plover.

Something which is golden in color.
The golden plover.


kingy

From kingfisher + -y (“diminutive suffix”).

Alcedo atthis
Alcedo atthis#Translingual

(UK, slang, birdwatching) the kingfisher, Alcedo atthis.


revenue stamp

A stamp to be affixed as proof that the tax due on the marked product has been paid.


tropo

(amateur radio) Tropospheric propagation.


uglies

The Feudatory States' stamps, with their distinctive designs, are philatelically known as "uglies", a tee well deserved in many cases.

1960, The Illustrated Weekly of India, Publisher, Times of India, Volume 81, Issue 2 - Page 67

British collectors have sometimes referred to these as “the Uglies,” though it’s unclear when or where this term originated.

2017, India feudatory ‘Uglies’ shine at Cherrystone auction, Author:

(philately, derogatory, informal) The stamps of the Indian feudatory states.


miscut

miscut (countable and uncountable, plural miscuts)

(philately) Incorrect separation of postage stamps; a postage stamp resulted from such an error.


WF

(philately) Initialism of Washington Franklin. (USA stamp series, 1909 - 1920)


oologist

a person who studies or specializes in oology


ventriloquial

en-adj

ventriloquial (comparative more ventriloquial, superlative most ventriloquial)

more ventriloquial (comparative)
most ventriloquial (superlative)

He threw half-crowns up into the air until they disappeared into the central blue, and then held a ventriloquial conversation, not in the best of taste, with the celestial spirits, who having caught the coins announced their intention of sticking to them.


international reply coupon

en-noun

international reply coupon (plural international reply coupons)

A prepaid international postage voucher.


charity label

A label sold by charities in form of a cinderella stamp to raise funds.


cinderella stamp

cinderella stamp (plural cinderella stamps)

Named after Cinderella, a folk-tale underdog heroine who was treated as inferior within her family. Cinderella stamps similarly were considered inferior to postage stamps.

A label resembling a postage stamp, but not issued for postal purposes by a government postal administration.


bicycle mail

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

mail delivered by bicycle and identified by stamp and/or postal mark.


charity stamp

A postage stamp which includes a premium for charitable causes in addition to the charge for postal service.


Christmas seal

A charity label placed on mail during the Christmas season as a form of cinderella stamp.

julemærke

charity label in form of a cinderella stamp


balloon mail

(post, philately) The transport of mail, usually for weight reasons, in the form of a postcard carrying the name of the sender by means of an unguided hydrogen or helium balloon.


stampless

(philately) Prior to the introduction of adhesive postal stamps.


first flight cover

first flight cover (plural first flight covers)

philatelically inspired
philatelically inspired

(philately) A philatelically inspired letter flown on the first flight of a new airline service.


mute cancel

(philately) A postal cancellation that does not state any location or date, used in wartime to prevent the enemy gathering information about troop movements from captured mail.


sheetlet

(philately) A small sheet of postage stamps sold as a unit.


socked on the nose

(philately) Having a cancellation mark, typically round, centered on the stamp.


megatick

From mega- + tick (as in ticking off species on a checklist).

gloss

Megacrex is surely a megatick! I know of only two birders who have seen this bird, and thus I had no expectation of seeing it myself during a trip to New Guinea...

1992, American Birding Association, Birding, Volumes 24-25, page 69:

They all looked as if they walked the Pennine Way for a megatick before breakfast.

2000, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Birds, Volume 18, page 128:

Birders come here to look for Finch's francolin, Congo moor chat and black- chinned weaver, among others. Other 'megaticks' include the distinctive black-collared bulbul, Petit's cuckoo-shrike, Salvadori's eremomela, yellow-bellied hyliota, Joanna's sunbird, the sought-after black-headed bee-eater and Ludher's bush shrike.

2003, Sophie Warne, Gabon, São Tomé and Príncipe, page 30:

(slang, bird watching) A greatly desirable addition to the list of birds one has seen, usually because it is rare or seldom seen.


CEF

(philately, on postage stamps of India, 1900-1921): China Expeditionary Force

(philately, with surcharge on stamps of Kamerun, 1915): Cameroon Expeditionary Force


DLR

(philately) Initialism of De La Rue. (stamp and banknote printers)


widow's weeds

From (now) fossil word weeds (“garments, esp. mourning garments”), from Old English wǣd (“garment”).

(philately) a stamp bearing a portrait of Queen Victoria wearing mourning clothes


tickable

tickable boxes in a questionnaire

That can be ticked; capable of being marked with a tick or check mark.

(birdwatching) Of a bird, located so that it may be travelled to and viewed.

On landing the dark forms of the jungle fowl could be seen scattering across the airfield, but we were moving too fast for me to get a tickable view.

2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 109:

(birdwatching) Of an observation, good enough to ensure correct identification and therefore allow the bird to be added to a list of observed birds.


Columbian

United States of America
United States of America

(dated or poetic) American, from the United States of America


Columbian

en-noun

Columbian (countable and uncountable, plural Columbians)

(dated or poetic) An American, a person from the United States of America.

(uncountable, US printing, dated) A size of type between English and great primer, standardized as 16-point.


phraseologist

The author of Poetæ Rusticantis literatum Otium is but a mere phraseologist, the philological publisher is but a translator; but I expected better usage from Mr. Abel Roper, who is an original.

1802, Alexander Chalmers, The British Essayists: The Guardian, page 204:

They have descriptive powers, write charmingly, and tickle our sense of profundity with high-wounding dogmas and moral theories, which seem, indeed, plausible enough; but on comparing the description with the work describe, we find, now unfrequently, that the eloquent and dainty phraseologist could not distinguish between ugly and handsome, valueless fact and vital truth, archæology and imagination, good painting and bad; and when we meditate on the moral basis of his aesthetical theories, we find them, in all likelihood, something one-sided, ungenial, contracted, ascetic; their evil influence being indeed traceable in the falsely cramped and rigid lines of the pencils led by them.

1865 December, “Mr. Church's Pictures”, in Eclectic Magazine, volume 2, page 692:

In these works Mr. Hardy writes an English of strength and purity, with an almost Latin clearness and weight of words, avoiding for the most part the temptation to be too curious a phraseologist, which has sometimes proved too much for him.

1911, Lionel Pigot Johnson, Thomas Whittemore, Post Liminium: Essays and Critical Papers, page 148:

When the officers of the corps made him a visit, he made us no speech; he was not a phraseologist by nature, he spoke but little, but what he said always made an impression, because it came from the heart.

1911, Elzéar Blaze, Recollections of an Officer of Napoleon's Army, page 196:

The phraseologist of that ominous question is a southern gentleman named Chanler, who was at one time "convicted" in New York of being out of his in wits and incarcerated an insane asylum .

1912 September 1, “Who is Luny Now?”, in The Engraver and Electrotyper, volume 16, number 9, page 14:

A phraseologist like Sinatra overlays the metre with something like confiding speech.

2018, Joe Moran, First You Write a Sentence:

A writer or speaker who coins clever phrases; One who is eloquent.


DX

en-verb

DX (third-person singular simple present DXs, present participle DXing, simple past and past participle DXed)

DXs (present singular third-person)
DXing (participle present)
DXed (participle past)
DXed (past)

(amateur radio) To complete a long-distance two-way radio information exchange, especially on amateur radio bands.


baseball card

A type of trading card that features a picture of a baseball player on one side and information about the player on the other side.


bundleware

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

(philately) Postage stamps of the same issue tied together in small bundles, usually for bulk sorting or sale.


lotologist

Possibly lotology + -ist, or lot(tery) + -ologist.

[Alfred] Ricks is a lotologist, one of a growing number of people who collect, study and admire lottery tickets – not for the prizes they promise, but for their art and value as collectors' items.

1998 August 23, Richard Stewart, “Hobby doesn’t start from scratch: Unused lottery tickets worth more than their prizes to collectors”, in The Houston Chronicle, Houston, Tex.: Hearst Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2012-05-02, section A, page 1:

Star Trek scratch-off tickets are probably the most valuable of all the California games because they are prized by thousands of Trekkies as well as "lotologists."

1998 October 22, “Resisting the Urge to Scratch”, in The Sacramento Bee, Sacramento, Calif.: The McClatchy Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:

Held this year in northeast Philadelphia, the gathering is an opportunity to meet other self-described "lotologists," trade tickets and take a gander at the never-ending multitude of collectible material.

2011 July 29, The Denver Post, Denver, Colo.: Digital First Media, published 3 May 2016 (updated), →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2019-03-20:

Although most lotologists collect scratch tickets that have already been scratched, approximately 15% of lotologists collect unscratched tickets.

2014, Eric LeMay, In Praise of Nothing: Essays, Memoir, and Experiments, New York, N.Y.: Emergency Press, →ISBN:

A person who collects lottery tickets as a hobby.


little brown job

en-noun

little brown job (plural little brown jobs)

(birdwatching, informal) One of any number of small, nondescript, sparrow-like bird species that are very hard to tell apart.


PNC

I gave up plate blocks long ago, but still obtain PNC's - but only one of each issue and without regard to the particular number.

1997 June 18, R Sumner, “Re: Why collect new U.S.?”, in rec.collecting.stamps (Usenet):

plate number coil
plate number coil#English

(philately) Initialism of plate number coil.

philatelic numismatic cover
philatelic numismatic cover#English

(philately) Initialism of philatelic numismatic cover.


maximaphily

(philately) A branch of philately involving the study and creation of maximum cards.


NVI

(philately) Initialism of (a stamp with) no value indicated.


big year

And so the record stood. Nobody seemed to be much concerned with it, unlike in Britain or the States where Big Years are hotly contested amongst twitchers.

2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 21:

An informal competition among birdwatchers to determine who can see or hear the largest number of species of birds within a single calendar year and within a specific geographical area.


HCV

(philately) Initialism of high catalogue value.


aerophilatelist

One who practices aerophilately; a collector of airmail stamps.


stock sheet

(philately) A strong card, typically black, with firm clear plastic strips placed horizontally, used to store or display stamps.


Hagner

(philately) A stamp display stock sheet made by Hagner UK, or, through trademark erosion, any similar stock sheet.


radio amateur

A person who practises the hobby of amateur radio. Radio amateurs must possess a licence issued by the relevant authority in the country in which they live, and must pass an exam before they can obtain a licence to operate.


birdwatch

en-verb

birdwatch (third-person singular simple present birdwatches, present participle birdwatching, simple past and past participle birdwatched)

birdwatches (present singular third-person)
birdwatching (participle present)
birdwatched (participle past)
birdwatched (past)

(intransitive) To take part in birdwatching; to observe and identify birds.


odontometer

The idea of an odontometer is due to Dr. Magnus—the very word, signifying literally a tooth-measurer, was laid down by him; and in Le Timbre-Poste, five years ago, the first odontometer was published by him in illustration of an article on perforations.

1872, “Reviews of Postal Publications”, in The Stamp-Collector's Magazine, volume 10, page 110:


PBC

(historical, philately) Initialism of passed by censor.


crafternoon

En masse, they hurried from the crafternoon room, down the hall to the main part of the library.

2013, "Amber", quoted in Lucy H. Pearce, The Rainbow Way
Crafternoons have been a way to connect with my crafty womenfolk once a month that is both nurturing for the spirit as well as for the creative mama in all of us.

An afternoon gathering dedicated to crafts, or other hobby activities.


IARU

International Amateur Radio Union
w:International Amateur Radio Union

(amateur radio) Initialism of International Amateur Radio Union.


TNC

terminal node controller
w:terminal node controller

(amateur radio) Initialism of terminal node controller.


cartophilist

A person who collects cigarette cards as a hobby.


poster stamp

(philately, advertising) A label, resembling a postage stamp, issued to advertise or commemorate a product or event.


railway stamp

(philately) A stamp issued to pay the cost of the conveyance of a letter or parcel by rail.


artistamp

A small piece of art resembling a postage stamp, usually affixed to mail along with the legitimate stamps.


life bird

(birdwatching) A bird species seen for the first time by a birder who is keeping a list of all the species he or she has ever seen.


life list

I added twenty species for the year, fourteen of which I couldn't hope to see anywhere else but Mike forked out a lot of money to come a long way with not a single addition to his life list to show for it.

2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 112:

(birdwatching) A cumulative list of all the bird species a birder has ever sighted and identified.


stamp collector

en-noun

stamp collector (plural stamp collectors)

stamp collecting
stamp collecting#English

A person who takes part in stamp collecting.


first-day cover

first-day cover (plural first-day covers)

(philately) Alternative form of first day cover.


lakatoi

(philately, early 20th century) any of the series of postage stamps issued in British New Guinea and Papua featuring a design of a lakatoi.


prestamp

a stampless cover

(philately) Prior to the introduction of adhesive postal stamps.


Wilding

(philately) Any of a series of British stamps that have an image of Queen Elizabeth II based on a portrait by Dorothy Wilding.


semi-postal stamp

semi-postal stamp (plural semi-postal stamps)

A postage stamp which includes a premium for charitable causes in addition to the charge for postal service.


Zepp

This is about your last chance to buy cheaply as the stock in the U. S. is cleaned up. Remember the Zepps, including the 50c one!! Postage 3c.

1936 January 11, “The $5.00 No. 480 [advertisement]”, in Linn's Weekly Stamp News, volume 8, number 11, Columbus, Ohio, page 234:


conspirophile

1993 September 25, Chris Burian, "crime with computers?", alt.conspiracy/alt.society.civil-liberty https://groups.google.com/d/msg/alt.society.civil-liberty/5eRRUmy2XRo/NtJ-n4bdZGIJ (crossposted on both groups).
Being a conspirophile, I do see a connection between recent BBS porn busts, encryption busts, and even "anarchy" text-file busts. I also see them connected with Waco, S-8, and suggestions that the National Guard be used for border patrol.

2014 January 24, Desiree Erasmus, "Brethren, let us conspire", Hillcrest Fever: Your 24/7 local connection, page 6.
The NWO has been adopted by religious and secular conspirophiles alike and goes something like this: The world is secretly controlled by a small corporate-affiliated elite that belong to secret societies such as the Illuminati, Bilderbergers, Bohemian Grove and so on.

(very rare) A person who subscribes to conspiracy theories.


cancelled to order

(philately) postage stamps not intended for postal use that are pre-cancelled prior to sale to collectors


Sibe

(birdwatching, colloquial) A Siberian crane.