portmanteau

en-noun

portmanteau (plural portmanteaus or portmanteaux)

portmanteaus (plural)
portmanteaux (plural)

Jabberwocky
Lewis Carroll
Through the Looking-Glass
portmanteau

First used by Lewis Carroll in Through the Looking-Glass to describe the words he coined in “Jabberwocky”.

His long-awaited portmanteau, which premiered in Cannes on Monday, is the most Anderson of all Anderson films. It's Anderson distilled, Anderson squared, Anderson to the nth degree.

2021 July 12, Nicholas Barber, “The French Dispatch: Four stars for Wes Anderson's latest”, in BBC:


chortle

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

A similar sounding vocalisation of various birds.


slithy

Blend of lithe + slimy, coined by Lewis Carroll in 1871.

The squid wrapped its slithy tentacles around its prey.

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves / Did gyre and gimble in the wabe.

She wanted to wear these slithy, snaky gowns you see in the pictures in the hallways of the $3 photographers.

1906, Good Housekeeping, volume 43, page 130:

Such a carriage is known as “an araba,” or alternatively as an yaili—a name which is probably onomatopœic, for it is about the “slithiest” thing that runs on wheels.

1914, Edgar Thomas Ainger Wigram, The Cradle of Mankind: Life in Eastern Kurdistan:

Falling roof, hidden shafts, slithiest snakes could not have stopped me after that. I arrived in the sparkling area.

1917, Gertrude Singleton Mathews, Treasure, page 126:

He sweeps down; a frog is pinioned / Swift arrives his faithful soul-mate / True-loves share their slithy dinner.

2013, Jane Wilson-Howarth, A Glimpse of Eternal Snows:

The Beast, slithier even than the Jabberwock and certainly a deal more manxsome as a foe, grips in its claws a dreaded P45 from Piers marking the end of employment at Gussage Court.

2014, Timothy Edward, Lessons in Humiliation, page 157:

Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There


brillig

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves / Did gyre and gimble in the wabe

A nonce word in Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky, explained by Humpty Dumpty as "four o'clock in the afternoon — the time when you begin broiling things for dinner."


Jabberwocky

The name of a nonsense poem from the children's book Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1872) by Lewis Carroll. Apparently based on the Jabberwock, the monster described therein, with the suffix -y in imitation of classical epics such as the Odyssey.

A nonsensical poem that appears in Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll.


Snark

Coined by Lewis Carroll as a nonce word in The Hunting of the Snark (1874). According to Beatrice Hatch, Carroll created this word as a blend of snail + shark.

A fictional animal in Lewis Carroll’s The Hunting of the Snark.

A ketch built by Jack London named after Lewis Carroll's poem The Hunting of the Snark


Tweedle-dee

The names "Tweedledum" and "Tweedledee" first appeared in print in one of John Byrom's epigrams, which satirised the disagreements between Handel and Bononcini. They were made popular by Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass.

A fictional little fat man who is the twin brother of Tweedle-dum and appears in multiple artistic works, including certain nursery rhymes and Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass.


Tweedle-dum

A fictional little fat man who is the twin brother of Tweedle-dee and appears in multiple artistic works, including certain nursery rhymes and Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass.


looking-glass

/ˈlʊkɪŋ ˌɡlɑːs/

/ˈlʊkɪŋ ˌɡlæs/

* (way into a bizarre world): From the book Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1871) by Lewis Carroll.

It has been quite a week in politics. […] I know that some Republicans feel as if they've fallen through the looking glass.

2016 July 29, Paul Krugman, “Who loves America?”, in The New York Times:


mimsy

en-adj

mimsy (comparative mimsier, superlative mimsiest)

mimsier (comparative)
mimsiest (superlative)

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves / Did gyre and gimble in the wade^([sic – meaning wabe]); / All mimsy were the borogoves, / And the mome raths outgrabe.

1871, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, “I. Looking-Glass House”, in Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There:

Down he sank in a chair—ran his hands through his hair— / And chanted in mimsiest tones

1876, Lewis Carroll, The Hunting of the Snark […] , London: Macmillan, Fit the Seventh. The Banker's Fate:

(nonce word) A nonce word in Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky


frabjous

frabjous (comparative more frabjous, superlative most frabjous)

more frabjous (comparative)
most frabjous (superlative)

/ˈfɹæbd͡ʒəs/

Audio (US)

Originally a nonce word in Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky; probably a blend of fair, fabulous, and joyous.

“[…] / O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!” / He chortled in his joy.

[Owl, deluded his candidate was elected:] My dark horse!... Oh, frabjous day!

1960 November 15, Walt Kelly, Pogo, comic strip, →ISBN, page 198:

"Tomorrow there'll be so much to do," as the Dixie Chicks remind us, "so tonight I'll drift in a dream with you." I want her life to be frabjous, not weighed down with mimsy.

2012 March 15, “To Be a Fully Developed Person (and Leader), You Need to Dream”, in Minneapolis Star Tribune:

Beginning in the final months leading up to the bombing of Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, and ending in 1953, “Barefoot Gen” takes us inside war from the civilians’ view with none of the propaganda and all of the flawed and frabjous potential of humanity.

2016 January 23, Kris Kosaka, “Barefoot Gen”, in The Japan Times:

It's the sugar rush that quickens the pulse. It's the headlong chocolate-dopamine surge that excites. It's the frabjous joy of tearing into a well-wrapped bar. It's love, love, love.

2017 January 31, Jim Myers, “Nashvill'es Best Candies for Valentine's Day”, in Tennesseean:

O frabjous day! We are all bored out of our minds with Brexit when a demented looking gnome is pulled out of the Ecuadorian embassy by the secret police of the deep state. Or “the met” as normal people call them.

2019 April 12, Suzanne Moore, “Wikileaks was the future once. Then it became Julian Assange”, in NewStatesman:


galumphing

From Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky; perhaps a blend of galloping + triumph.

(nonce word) Galloping in a heavy and inelegant manner.


wonderland

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

Where other trav'lers, fraught with terror, roam, Lo! Bruce in Wonder-land is quite at home.

1790 J. Wolcot Compl. Epist. to Bruce 332, in Wks. (1812) II. 368

It's a geological wonderland, with great exposures of colorful and varied sedimentary rocks.

2012, Chinle Miller, In Mesozoic Lands: The Mesozoic Geology of Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, Kindle edition:

An imaginary or real place full of wonder or marvels.

بلاد العجائب

Imaginary or real place full of wonder or marvels


vorpal

vorpal (comparative more vorpal, superlative most vorpal)

more vorpal (comparative)
most vorpal (superlative)

Coined by Lewis Carroll in the poem Jabberwocky to describe a sword, likely modeled after warp and vortex.


Bandersnatch

Coined by Lewis Carroll in 1863 (see quotation).

Beware the jabberwock, my son.
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch

1863, Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There:

An obscure fictional creature mentioned in two of Lewis Carroll's poems.


tulgey

The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame, / Came whiffling through the tulgey wood

1871, Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-glass, "Jabberwocky":

I battled for a while with Professor Aschloch's tulgey prose – only German poets have ever written lucid German prose – then closed my eyes, wondering bitterly which of my enemies the nice American worked for.

1973, Kyril Bonfiglioli, Don't Point That Thing at Me, Penguin 2001, page 69:

Thick, dense, dark (originally in reference to a wood).


borogove

/ˈbɒɹə(ʊ)ɡəʊv/

The borogove let out a quiet chirp. Another, larger borogove squirmed in through the hole in the fabric.

2006, David Brown, Kara Willey, The Worlds of Naughtenny Moore, →ISBN:

Its knee bent the wrong way, though Albert thought it was certainly the right way for the borogove . Another borogove popped out of the forest and followed the first across the road, then a third and a fourth .

2013, Mel Gilden, The Jabberwock Came Whiffling: A Novel of Fantasy, →ISBN, page 22:

It smelled like a wet borogove.

2014, Daniel Coleman, Jabberwocky: A Novel, →ISBN:

With the Borogove's long legs, they hop and step over some incoming attacks.

2015, Donald Weis, Monster Lore 2, →ISBN, page 12:

An animal introduced in the nonsense poem Jabberwocky. According to Humpty Dumpty, a borogove is "a thin shabby-looking bird with its feathers sticking out all round, something like a live mop." According to Mischmasch, it is "an extinct kind of parrot. They had no wings, beaks turned up, and made their nests under sun-dials: lived on veal."


snicker-snack

Coined by Lewis Carroll in his poem Jabberwocky, probably relating to snickersnee.

(nonce word) An onomatopoeia of unclear meaning, possibly referring to sharpness, or the sound of a blade cutting through something.


mad as a March hare

Possibly from the boisterous behaviour of hares in their breeding season.

[S]he was with childe in hir huſbande his abſence, or that hir louer vſed hir fondly in open preſence, as the preſumption was not onely vehement, but alſo the fact too too apparent. Hir vnfortunat huſband had not ſooner notice gyuen him vpon his returne of theſe ſorowfull newes, then his fingers began to nibble, hys teeth to grinne, hys eyes to trickle, his eares to dindle, his heade to dezell, in ſomuch as his heart being ſkeared wyth ialouſie, & his wits enſtalde through Phrenſie, he became as madde, as a marche hare.

1577, Richard Stanyhurst [i.e., Richard Stanihurst], “[The Historie of Irelande […].] A Treatise Contayning a Playne and Perfect Description of Irelande, […].”, in Raphaell Holinshed, The Firste Volume of the Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande […], volume I, London: […] [Henry Bynneman] for Iohn Hunne, →OCLC, folio 14, recto, column 1:


rabbit hole

rabbit + hole. Extended senses reference Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, where Alice travels down a rabbit hole into a bizarre world.

These mushrooms will take you down the rabbit hole, man.

You take the blue pill, the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.

1999, The Wachowskis, 0:29:05 from the start, in The Matrix, spoken by Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne):

Tumbling down the rabbit hole, she encountered a whole new level of existence where the laws of physics were turned upside down, shaken inside out and taken to the cleaners.

2012, Linda Hoy, The Effect, John Hunt Publishing, →ISBN, page vii:

(usually with article) A way into such a world.


caucus race

From caucus (“special party meeting for vote allocation”) + race (“contest between people”).

Mr. Gingrich, who is now the minority whip, announced last week that he had rounded up more than 100 commitments from House Republicans for the caucus race to come after the election next year.

1993 October 16, “Solomon Drops Out of Race To Be G.O.P. House Leader”, in New York Times:

(US, idiomatic) The competitive process in which a political party selects their candidate, especially presidential; a primary election via caucus.

[…] she was backing southern moderate John Spratt in his strong but unsuccessful caucus race for Budget Committee chairman.

1993, M. Barone, G. Ujifusa, R. E. Cohen, “The Almanac of American Politics 1994”, in National Journal, page 176:

(US, idiomatic) A political competition; the game of campaigning and one-upmanship to get votes and be elected.


caucus race

From caucus (“regular party committee meeting of elected MPs”) + race (“contest between people”); a reference to Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, chapter III "A Caucus-Race and a Long Tale", being a nonsensical satire thereof: all participants have to run in circles until an arbitrary end is called and everyone is declared a winner; Alice has to give prizes to them all, and being declared a winner too, the Dodo solemnly takes her thimble and awards it back to her.

With the dominant figure in U.S. politics forced to the sidelines for—perhaps—the rest of the year, the national political situation last week began to take on the unreal air of the Dodo's caucus race.

1955 October 17, "The Dodo's Dance", in Time magazine

The American economic system is beginning to resemble the caucus race in Alice in Wonderland. Is it not something of a contradiction to cut taxes to facilitate the resurgence of buying power that will increase the demand for appliances and, especially, vehicles —and at the same time enforce a reduction in demand for the petroleum fuels that must drive the cars and power the machines that will manufacture the appliances?

1975 February 17, John Rossouw, "To the Editors", in Time magazine

A more free and easy attitude prevailed in selecting research topics than today, when the funding squeeze keeps most academic scientists in a tight caucus race of grant getting and paper production that precludes forays into risky serendipitous pursuits.

1997, Christopher Scholz, chapter 1, in Fieldwork: A Geologist's Memoir of the Kalahari, Princeton University Press, →ISBN:

(originally British, idiomatic) A laborious but arbitrary and futile activity; an activity that amounts to running around in a circle, expending great energy but not accomplishing anything.


Carrollian

Carrollian (comparative more Carrollian, superlative most Carrollian)

more Carrollian (comparative)
most Carrollian (superlative)

Of or pertaining to Lewis Carroll (1832-1898, real name Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) or his writings, most notably a type of imaginative fantasy involving humorous plays on words and logic.


Jabberwock

Nonsense word coined by Lewis Carroll in his poem Jabberwocky (q.v.), from the children's book Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1872). Carroll stated later, "The Anglo-Saxon word 'wocer' or 'wocor' signifies 'offspring' or 'fruit' [see oker]. Taking 'jabber' in its ordinary acceptation of 'excited and voluble discussion', this would give the meaning of 'the result of much excited and voluble discussion'..."

A fantastical dreaded monster with flaming eyes.


jabberwocky

en-noun

jabberwocky (usually uncountable, plural jabberwockies)

From Jabberwocky, a nonsense poem written by Lewis Carroll.

"I like the way your mind works, Hosler," Stanley said. "You go after concrete proof of your contentions - none of this scientific jabborwocky."

1962, J. Hunter Holly, The Flying Eyes, page 47:

Invented or meaningless language; nonsense.


unbirthday

From un- + birthday, coined by English writer Lewis Carroll (1832–1898) in Through the Looking-Glass (1871).

"They gave it me," Humpty Dumpty continued thoughtfully, as he crossed one knee over the other and clasped his hands round it, "they gave it me⸺for an un-birthday present." / "I beg your pardon?" Alice said with a puzzled air." / "I'm not offended," said Humpty Dumpty. / "I mean, what is an un-birthday present?" / "A present given when it isn't your birthday, of course."

1871 December 27 (indicated as 1872), Lewis Carroll [pseudonym; Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], “Humpty Dumpty”, in Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, pages 121–122:

Hunting for treasures on any special day (like Easter, Christmas, birthdays or unbirthdays) can be fun for children and parents alike.

1995, Terry Orlick, Nice on My Feelings: Nurturing the Best in Children and Parents:

Another way to look at unbirthdays is as an opportunity to celebrate every day of life. You can throw a party for no particular reason, except for FUN!

1998, Alison Molinare Boteler, Matthew Klein, The Disney Party Handbook: 14 Fun Filled Parties:

Make an unbirthday cake and wear party hats when you blow out the candles together.

2006, Sheila Ellison, 365 Games Smart Toddlers Play: Creative Time to Imagine, Grow and Learn:

I got some great photos with the unbirthday camera you left for me in the suitcase. Thanks.

"This is just an unbirthday party. Wait till you see your birthday party. When is your birthday, Peg?"

A day that is not one's birthday but is celebrated as though it were.


Cheshire cat

the Cheshire cat (canonical)
Cheshire cats (plural)

/ˌtʃɛʃə ˈkat/

/ˌtʃɛʃɚ ˈkæt/

Term attested since at least the 1780s in the expression grin like a Cheshire cat. The reason why Cheshire was combined with cat is disputed: see here for more information.

CHESHIRE CAT. He grins like a Cheshire cat; said of any one who shows his teeth and gums in laughing.

1788, Francis Grose, A classical dictionary of the vulgar tongue, 2nd corrected and enlarged edition, London:

“Please would you tell me,” said Alice, a little timidly, for she was not quite sure whether it was good manners for her to speak first, “why your cat grins like that?” “It’s a Cheshire-Cat,” said the Duchess, “and that’s why.”

1865, Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland:

‘It’s almost as if we’ve gone silly with happiness,’ said Marcus two days later. ‘Everyone in the house going round grinning like a lot of Cheshire Cats! The family I mean.’ ‘And Jess,’ said Kitto quickly. ‘Oh well, Jess is as good as family,’ said Fanny comfortably. Jessamy said nothing, but she looked up quickly and her smile would have rivalled any Cheshire Cat.

1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, →ISBN, page 127:

A fictional cat with a broad fixed grin, made popular by Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865).


Alice band

From Lewis Carroll's fictional Alice, often depicted wearing the headband in Through the Looking-Glass.


Queen of Hearts

Queen of Hearts (plural Queens of Hearts)

At eighteen she was the Queen of Hearts and conscious of the fact: an exacting, dictatorial, haughty woman...

Extravagantly pretty, with a delicate figure and great dark-blue eyes, cordial, charming and a winning hostess, she was the Queen of Hearts in Weimar...

1956, Eliza Marian Butler, Byron and Goethe:

A woman who has gained the adoration of the public.


Alice in Wonderland

en-adj

Alice in Wonderland (comparative more Alice in Wonderland, superlative most Alice in Wonderland)

more Alice in Wonderland (comparative)
most Alice in Wonderland (superlative)

Derived from the children's fantasy story Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

It is an Alice in Wonderland question. Let me answer it this way: To design a car, you must — emphasize must — have restrictions to guide you.

1978 Apr, Popular Mechanics, volume 149, number 4, page 204:

The law-making affair often has an Alice in Wonderland touch. Terms are defined by law, and if the law says black is white, then for the purpose of the law, black is white.

IBM's current system and network management story has an Alice in Wonderland touch to it, with incongruity as the prevailing theme. Just as it is in Wonderland, most things in IBM's management story are not what they appear to be.

1992 September 7, Network World, volume 9, number 36, page 37:

What makes this debate an Alice in Wonderland debate is that the people who support this bill are the very people who will benefit from taking the American people out of the debate by limiting the ability of people to put up their time.

2001, Phil Gramm, Congressional Record-Senate, March 29, 2001, page 5053:

It became more Alice in Wonderland all the time: was I now to navigate as well?

2002, Alan Stripp, Codebreaker in the Far East, page 35:

This is all a little more Alice in Wonderland than I had expected.

2008, Lisa Margonelli, Oil on the Brain: Petroleum's Long, Strange Trip to Your Tank, page 68:

Herzog further noted that the United Nations developed an Alice in Wonderland perspective on Israel.

2012, Danny Danon, Israel: The Will to Prevail, page 69:

Tautology is not a problem in an Alice in Wonderland world in which a junior official can be said to coordinate the work of the Secretary of State.

2014, L. Pope, The Demilitarization of American Diplomacy:

As in a surreal fairy tale where things work at odds to the way they do in the real world.


Alice in Wonderland

en-noun

Alice in Wonderland (plural Alices in Wonderland or Alice in Wonderlands)

Alices in Wonderland (plural)
Alice in Wonderlands (plural)

After three years of meeting in a tiny room in the student center, we were stunned that we could all get in one room and move around without stepping on each other. It wasn't crowded; and besides that, it was beautiful. We felt like 50 Alices in Wonderland.

1965, Alpha Omicron Pi, To Dragma - Volume 56, Issue 11, page 24:

But I do not live in a riding that represents the Alice in Wonderlands of the world, Mr. Speaker.

1980, Canada. Parliament. House of Commons, House of Commons Debates, Official Report - Volume 3, page 3251:

I'm giddy. I haven't even stopped to notice my surroundings. I'm not much of an Alice in Wonderland.

2014, Jane Peranteau, Jumping: A Novel, page 189:

Brackett views the community rather as might an Alice in Wonderland according to the entries in his diaries, although the same diary entries do not reflect his later claim that he “was assigned to twelve different stories in my first year."

2014, Anthony Slide, It's the Pictures That Got Small, page 4:

An observer of strange, incomprehensible or disorienting situations.

I think it is an Alice in Wonderland to say we are going to approve another drug, yet the whole fundamental thing is we still have exactly the same mortality and nobody has anything that impacts on it.

2012, J. Morganroth, E. Neil Moore, Congestive Heart Failure:

Sgt. Pepper seemed to be nothing less than an Alice in Wonderland for the brave new psychedelic world.

2014, Penelope Rowlands, The Beatles Are Here!::

Some context: The Aviary is like the Alice in Wonderland of cocktail bars, a place where drinks are served in porthole vessels or in sphere/foam/gelee form (there’s an outpost in New York City, but the original is in Chicago).

2019 June 26, Kevin Pang, “Eric Trump went to a fancy Chicago cocktail bar and got spat on”, in The Takeout:

A strange, fantasy-like creation or situation that follows its own bizarre logic.


Alice in Wonderland syndrome

Alice in Wonderland syndrome (uncountable)

After Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865; often known as Alice in Wonderland), in which the protagonist changes size after consuming a potion and a cake.

Three cases of "Alice in Wonderland" syndrome (metamorphopsia) are presented and described as a presenting symptom of infectious mono nucleosis in a preadolescent male and in two late teenage females.

1977 February, Stuart M. Copperman, “" Alice in Wonderland" Syndrome as a Presenting Symptom of Infectious Mononucleosis in Children: A Description of Three Affected Young People”, in Clinical pediatrics, volume 16, number 2, page 143:

Alice in Wonderland syndrome (AIWS) is characterized by visual hallucinations and bizarre perceptual distortions.

1998 August, Yung-Ting Kuo, Nan-Chang Chiu, Ein-Yiao Shen, Che-Sheng Ho, Ming-CheWu, “Cerebral perfusion in children with Alice in Wonderland syndrome”, in Pediatric neurology, volume 19, number 2, page 105:

After all, Alice in Wonderland syndrome was, until recently, believed to be so rare that most university courses in medicine, psychology and the neurosciences did not even bother to address it.

2019, Jan Dirk Blom, Alice in Wonderland Syndrome:

(medicine, neurology) A disorienting neurological condition involving micropsia, macropsia, or size distortion of other sensory modalities.

Alice in Wonderland syndrome
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Lewis Carroll

syndrome d’Alice au pays des merveilles

neurological condition affecting the perception of size

síndrome de Alice no país das maravilhas


mad hatter

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


Red Queen hypothesis

An allusion to a remark by the Red Queen in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass: "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place." The hypothesis was advanced in 1973 by American biologist Leigh Van Valen, who called it the Red Queen's hypothesis.

Stenseth and Maynard Smith (1984) reformulated this hypothesis by including the idea of evolutionary lag and dismissing Van Valen's zero-sum assumption. They contrast the Red-Queen hypothesis with the stationary hypothesis, q.v. Hoffman and Kitchell (1984 in Lewin 1985a, 400) offer some support for the Red-Queen hypothesis.

2000, Edward M. Barrows, Animal Behavior Desk Reference, 2nd edition, CRC Press, page 358:

We extend the Red Queen hypothesis, a mechanism proposed to maintain genetic diversity at the population level, to explain diversity at the community level.

2008, Keith Clay et al., “Chapter 7: Red Queen Communities”, in Richard S. Ostfeld, Felicia Keesing, Valerie T. Eviner, editors, Infectious Disease Ecology, Princeton University Press, page 145:

The Red Queen hypothesis defines evolution as a kind of arms race, in which species must constantly evolve and adapt merely to survive.

2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 219:

(evolutionary theory) An evolutionary hypothesis which proposes that organisms must constantly adapt, evolve, and proliferate not merely to gain reproductive advantage, but also simply to survive while pitted against other evolving organisms in an ever-changing environment.

Leigh Van Valen
Lewis Carroll
Red Queen (Through the Looking-Glass)
Through the Looking-Glass


frumious

en-adj

frumious (comparative more frumious, superlative most frumious)

more frumious (comparative)
most frumious (superlative)

Blend of fuming + furious, coined by Lewis Carroll in the poem Jabberwocky (1871).