Jamestown

Any of numerous places in English-speaking regions:

A large number of places in the United States:

A former settlement in the Colony of Virginia, established in 1607 and named after King James I of England.

Colony of Virginia
Colony of Virginia#English

A census-designated place in Tuolumne County, California.

census-designated place
census-designated place

A statutory town in Boulder County, Colorado.

A ghost town in Chattahoochee County, Georgia.

Chattahoochee County
Chattahoochee County#English

A small community of Ware County, Georgia.

A small town in Jackson Township, Boone County and Eel River Township, Hendricks County, Indiana; named after its founder, James Mattock.

w:Jackson Township, Boone County, Indiana

w:Eel River Township, Hendricks County, Indiana

Hendricks County
Hendricks County#English

An unincorporated community in Baugo Township, Elkhart County, Indiana.

w:Baugo Township, Elkhart County, Indiana

An unincorporated community in Jamestown Township, Steuben County, Indiana.

w:Jamestown Township, Steuben County, Indiana

The original name of New Lisbon, Henry County, Indiana.

A community of the city of Dayton, Kentucky.

A small home rule city, the county seat of Russell County, Kentucky.

A village in Bienville Parish, Louisiana.

Bienville Parish
Bienville Parish#English

A city in Chautauqua County, New York; the largest city in the United States with this name; named after early settler James Prendergast.

Chautauqua County
Chautauqua County#English

A town in Guilford County, North Carolina.

A city, the county seat of Stutsman County, North Dakota; the second-largest city in the United States with this name.

An unincorporated community in Rogers County, Oklahoma.

A borough in Mercer County, Pennsylvania.

A town in Newport County, Rhode Island; named after King James II of England.

A tiny town in Berkeley County, South Carolina.

A small city, the county seat of Fentress County, Tennessee.

An unincorporated community in Smith County, Texas.

An unincorporated community in Jefferson County, West Virginia.

Jefferson County
Jefferson County#English


octaeteris

/ˌɑktaɪˈtɪɹɪs/

/ˌɒktaɪˈtɪəɹɪs/

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ὀκταετηρίς (oktaetērís, “8-year [period]”).

bor

The octaëteris, or lunæsolar cycle of eight years, is a form of the lunar reckoning of annual time totally distinct from and independent of the reckoning of solar in the primitive equable calendar.

1852, Edward Greswell, “On the Lunar in Contradistinction to the Solar Modifications of the Primitive Calendar”, in Fasti Temporis Catholici and Origines Kalendariæ. … In Four Volumes, volume I, Oxford: At the Oxford University Press, →OCLC, section V (The Octaëteris), page 564:

Synonym of octennium: An 8-year period, particularly (historical) in Greek calendrical and astronomical calculations.


pignus

Thirdly, pignus is the object itself upon which the creditor acquires such real right.

1851, Sir Patrick MacChombaich de Colquhoun, A Summary of the Roman Civil Law, page 392:

Pledge is the pignus of the Roman law; and it is from this source that most of the principles governing the subject are derived.

1895, Thomas Beven, Negligence in Law, page 937:

A commonly accepted notion is that pignus is not a generic term at all; that it is limited (1) to movables, and particularly (2) to the pledgee's possession.

1898, Harvard Law Review, volume 11, page 23:

A pignus can be given for other reasons besides money, as where one gives someone a pignus against his acting as guarantor.

1998, Alan Watson, quoting Ulpian, Edict, book 28, The Digest of Justinian, University of Pennsylvania Press, →ISBN:

Pignus was created by traditio, which is by surrender of civilis possessio to the chargee.

2004 August 26, Eva-Maria Kieninger, editor, Security Rights in Movable Property in European Private Law, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 41:

(law, obsolete, Ancient Rome) A pledge or pawn.


Solarium

From Latin Solarium Augusti (“Solarium of Augustus”).

A large monument in ancient Rome and its modern ruins.


Takamagahara

Borrowed from Japanese 高天原, literally "the plain of high heaven".

(Japanese mythology) A place in Japanese mythology, the dwelling-place of the kami, said to be connected to the Earth by a bridge.


animesque

en-adj

animesque (comparative more animesque, superlative most animesque)

more animesque (comparative)
most animesque (superlative)

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

Whilst it doesn't include anything specifically anime, there are a variety of animesque elements to the event and I'm sure some of you will find something of interest there...

2002, Happosai, “[Event] Jam:Tokyo-London”, in uk.media.animation.anime (Usenet):

His blush increasing to truly animesque proportions, the younger conjoined mutant/immortal scuffs one toe against the floor...

2003, skyefire, “AAE 8: Catch-up and wrap-up”, in alt.callahans (Usenet):

Resembling or with aspects characteristic of anime.


phonemark

en-verb

phonemark (third-person singular simple present phonemarks, present participle phonemarking, simple past and past participle phonemarked)

phonemarks (present singular third-person)
phonemarking (participle present)
phonemarked (participle past)
phonemarked (past)

Or worse, without earmarks the members of the spending committees can "phonemark" projects without anyone ever knowing

2008 June 11, “Deseret News candidate questionnaire:”, in Deseret News, Salt Lake City, Utah:

(US politics, transitive) To apply pressure on a government agency to fund a specific project as part of a more general program.


light novel

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

Calque of Japanese ライトノベル (raito noberu, ultimately from English light + novel).

calque

A Japanese novel primarily targeting young adults, typically illustrated (in an anime/manga style) and containing not more than 50,000 words.


Aphroditus

From Ancient Greek Ἀφρόδιτος (Aphróditos), masculine form of Ἀφροδίτη (Aphrodítē).

(Greek mythology) A male Aphrodite, from Cyprus, represented as a herm with a phallus, who in later mythology became known as Hermaphroditus, the son of Hermes and Aphrodite.


tsundere

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

Borrowed from Japanese ツンデレ (tsundere), from つんつん (tsun-tsun, “in a cross, aloof, or standoffish manner”, adverb) + でれでれ (dere-dere, “in a lovey-dovey, infatuated, or lovestruck manner”, adverb).

I usually draw very peaceful, happy manga, so it has been a real challenge for me to illustrate the vice president's death glare and Ri-chan's subtle tsundere attitude.

2008, Kio Shimoku, Kujibiki Unbalance 1, Del Rey/Ballantine Books, →ISBN, unnumbered page:

Even Kaname's rude and overbearing tsundere personality is explained by her having gone to school in the United States where she was socialized to just bluntly say what she thought.

2010 August 14, David Johnston, “Full Metal Panic: One Night Stand”, in rec.arts.anime.misc (Usenet):

Despite his apparent power, the boy behaves with uncharacteristic meekness toward the formidable tsundere Misato Tachibana, whose grotesquely distorted romantic feelings for Koujirou almost invariably result in her shooting him all over the school with heavy weaponry (which seems to spring out of nowhere).

2012, Dani Cavallaro, Kyoto Animation: A Critical Study and Filmography, McFarland & Company, →ISBN, page 157:

(chiefly Japanese fiction) A fictional character who fits the archetype of being cold or even hostile towards another person before gradually showing a warm and caring side.

تْسُونْدِرِي

character who fits the archetype of being cold or hostile before gradually showing a warm and caring side


eroge

Borrowed from Japanese エロゲー (erogē), a portmanteau of エロチックゲーム (erochikku gēmu), from English erotic game.


Byzantine Patriarch

en-noun

Byzantine Patriarch (plural Byzantine Patriarchs)

Ecumenical Patriarch
Ecumenical Patriarch

The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople


Hesychast controversy

(Eastern Orthodoxy, historical) A particular controversy concerning dogma in the 14th-century Byzantine Empire, over whether the idea of divine light was polytheistic, postulating two eternal substances, a visible and an invisible God.


Upper South

The northern part of the South (Southern United States), typically consisting of North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, and eastern Oklahoma, sometimes also inclusive of southern Missouri, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, eastern/southern/western Maryland, and southern Delaware.


bhajan

"No, there was never a school," said the child; "but the patwaris bibi lets us come to her of a morning, and teaches us bhajans and our letters, and when we learn well she sometimes gives us fruit."

Did I detenct Father's deep and rumbling baritone in the chorus which accompanied my wife's first bhajan of the evening?

1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins, published 2013, page 396:

(music) A type of Indian devotional song.


unstar

en-verb

unstar (third-person singular simple present unstars, present participle unstarring, simple past and past participle unstarred)

unstars (present singular third-person)
unstarring (participle present)
unstarred (participle past)
unstarred (past)

(transitive, UK politics) To demote a question from an oral one to a written one (because oral questions are conventionally marked with a star on the Order of Business in the House of Commons).


deductor

From deduct + -or under influence from Latin dēductor.

One who deducts something, particularly one who deducts tax from wages or deducts certain expenditures from payment of tax.


deductor

From Latin dēductor (“guide; founder”). See deduce.

(historical) The formal patron of a Roman colony.


Orphism

From Orpheus + -ism; art sense coined by French poet Guillaume Apollinaire in 1912 as orphisme.

coin

Coordinate term: Pythagoreanism

1974, The Emerson Society Quarterly, Issues 74-81, Emerson Society, page 125,
Thoreau's acquaintance with Orphism dated from at least as early as the summer of 1840, when he read Ralph Cudworth's True Intellectual System of the Universe and took notes on some of Cudworth's references to the Orphic religion.

1995, Dan Urman, Paul Virgil McCracken Flesher, Ancient Synagogues: Historical Analysis and Archaeological Discovery, Part 2, E. J. Brill, page 355,
The oracular poems produced by Orphism and attributed to Orpheus himself, similarly reveal neither messiah nor messianic age.

The origins of Orphism are obscure, although they seem to date back at least to the sixth century B.C.E. Orphic ideology mainly concerned the mysteries of Dionysos, which many Greeks took very seriously.

2004, Stephanie L. Budin, The Ancient Greeks: New Perspectives, ABC-CLIO, page 307:

2010, Miguel Herrero de Jáuregui, Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, De Gruyter, page 295,
The apologists' strategies distort the real image of Orphism, but they maintain a certain basis in reality in order to appear plausible.

(religion, Ancient Greece) A religious movement in antiquity, supposed to have been founded by Orpheus.


Durga

A female given name from Sanskrit, common in India. Another name of Parvati


DINO

Modelled after RINO (“Republican in name only”).

Democratic Party
w:Democratic Party (United States)

(US politics, derogatory) Acronym of Democrat in name only. Typically used by liberal members of the U.S. Democratic Party to describe Democrats whose views are conservative or perceived as conservative.


Daedalus

From Latin Daedalus, from Ancient Greek Δαίδαλος (Daídalos).

Daedalus
Daedalus (disambiguation)
Project Daedalus

(Greek mythology) Greek mythological figure who crafted the waxen wings of Icarus.


Billary

(US, slang, sometimes derogatory) The political union of Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton.


Gallo-Roman

(historical) A Romanized Gaul, i.e. a Gaulish person who adopted or adapted the culture, language etc. of the Roman Empire following the establishment of Roman rule in the region of Gaul.


SOTU

He intends to use the SOTU message as nothing more that another Hollywood stunt similar to the pep rally he had on the WH lawn after the impeachment vote.

1999 January 14, Al Shurgalla <keyp...@pacific.net.sg>, “Re: Will Congress Applaud At Clinton's State Of Union Address?”, in alt.conspiracy, alt.impeach.clinton, alt.politics.clinton (Usenet), message-ID <14>:

Bush won't be stressing those particular points as he hits the pre-SOTU stump circuit, but the "if it's good enough for 2006 it's good enough for now"

2003 January 10, “Person of the Week: George W. Bush”, in TIME:

Issue of civil discourse will "certainly play a role" in SOTU.

2011 January 13, “Gibbs Briefs”, in TIME:

(US politics) The annual State of the Union address of the President of the United States.


Saci

Borrowed from Brazilian Portuguese saci, from Old Tupi sa'si.

(folklore) A black, one-legged, prankster youngster in Brazilian folklore, who smokes a pipe and wears a magical red hat that enables him to disappear.


Saci

(Hinduism, mythology) The goddess of wrath and jealousy in Hindu mythology.


Cuca

An evil old hag in Brazilian folklore, said to attack children who don't go to bed early.


Aphrodisian

en-adj

Aphrodisian (comparative more Aphrodisian, superlative most Aphrodisian)

more Aphrodisian (comparative)
most Aphrodisian (superlative)

From Ancient Greek ἀφροδῑ́σιος (aphrodī́sios) + -an.

suffix

Near-synonym: Venusian

en:pertaining to the Greek goddess Aphrodite

(Greek mythology) Pertaining to the Greek goddess Aphrodite.


commodate

Latin commodatum (“something lent, a loan”).


Mickey Mouse Protection Act

the Mickey Mouse Protection Act (canonical)

So called because it served to prevent Disney's Mickey Mouse character from entering the public domain for a further period.

(informal, derogatory) The Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act.


pikachurin

Named after Pikachu, a Pokémon character, + -in.

(biochemistry) A dystroglycan-interacting polysaccharide which has an essential role in the precise interactions between the photoreceptor ribbon synapse and the bipolar dendrites.


Bluto

Fictional character name for the antagonist of Popeye coined in 1932 by cartoonist Elzie Crisler Segar.

He was built like Bluto. "Who the hell are you?" he said.

1986, Lee K. Abbott, Strangers in paradise, page 38:

For whatever reason, it'd taken her a little while to get out of the cab when they first got here, and when Chuck introduced me — she stood a full foot shorter than him, a tiny woman next to this Bluto of a man, a knitted green afghan over her shoulders, a white blouse and blue jeans.

2008, Bret Lott, Ancient Highway: A Novel, page 152:

His pit bull parts thinned out his back end but gave him a Bluto disproportion in his front end.

2010, Susan Wilson, One Good Dog, page 21:

It wasn't the black loudmouth I'd expected but a Bluto of a man almost filling the entire doorway.

2011, Shaun Attwood, chapter 25, in Hard Time: Life with Sheriff Joe Arpaio in America's Toughest Jail:

The customers sometimes called him Bluto. He earned the nickname by his tremendous build and great strength.

2015, Maryann Bouco, chapter 4, in The Last Stand:

A man who is large and muscular in top-heavy proportions, often combined with a comically brutish and aggressive personality.


birtherism

/ˈbɝθɚˌɪz(ə)m/

But Obama's plunge into the fever swamp of birtherism was just the latest detour on what had already been a long, strange trip—with many miles still to go.

2013, John Heilemann, Mark Halperin, Double Down, →ISBN, page 12:

United States of America
United States of America

(slang, often derogatory, US politics) A movement in the United States of America that doubts or denies that the 44th President, Barack Obama, is a natural-born U.S. citizen, thus implying that he is ineligible to be President.

Barack Obama citizenship conspiracy theories


Speedy Gonzales

After a fast-running animated mouse in Warner Bros. cartoons.

(idiomatic, informal) A fast person; someone who does something very quickly.


Buddha-dharma

Buddha-dharmas (plural)
Buddha dharma (alternative)

The teachings, practices and states of consciousness transmitted by the former Prince Siddhartha, the Shakyamuni Buddha.


Betty Boop

A feminist she is not, and we see her with many a Betty Boop look of horror as her two loutish pals make matchsticks out of every piece of barroom furniture in sight.

1997, David Howard Day, A Treasure Hard to Attain: Images of Archaeology in Popular Film, page 89:

He sits astride a motorcycle and fingers the hem of a bright red dress worn by a pert, blonde, cherry-lipped model. Her mouth is open in a Betty Boop "ooh."

2002, Catherine Orenstein, Little Red Riding Hood Uncloaked: Sex, Morality, and the Evolution of a Fairy Tale, page 192:

She had straight black hair with a Betty Boop bob cut and ruby red sweetheart lips.

2005, Stephanie Lehmann, Are You in the Mood?, page 188:

Betty: Shall we? (Her voice has now assumed a Betty Boop pitch.)

2007, James Fitzgerald, The Joys of Smoking Cigarettes, page 22:

Thirty years old when the song came out, Lauper was playacting at being a girl — and the ultimate girl, at that — with her Betty Boop voice and crazy dress-up outfits.

2010, Marisa Meltzer, Girl Power: The Nineties Revolution in Music, page 75:

A fictional female entertainer introduced in cartoons in the 1930s, characterized by a high-pitched singing and speaking voice, short and curly black hair, and sexually provocative clothing, mannerisms, and facial expressions.


kumari

Borrowed from Sanskrit कुमारी (kumārī, “princess; young girl”).

bor

Shakya […] reached puberty and 'retired' as a royal kumari, as the young Nepalese goddesses are known.

2011 February 14, Mark Magnier, “Living goddess' fall back to earth”, in Los Angeles Times, page 1:

(Hinduism, chiefly Nepal) A living goddess; a prepubescent girl worshipped as a manifestation of divine female energy.


Rin Tin Tin

From the name of a good-luck charm that French children often gave to American soldiers.

A name given to several related fictional German Shepherd dogs, particularly from the 1920s and the 1930s.


Rin-Tin-Tin

Alternative spelling of Rin Tin Tin (“the name given to certain fictional dogs”)


anatman

(Hinduism) That which is other than the atman (self), such as the body.


Scooby-Doo

Scooby-Doos (plural)
Scooby Doo (alternative)

Frank Sinatra
Scooby-Doo
Strangers in the Night

Uncertain. scooby doo appears as a vocable scatted in "The Boppenpoof Song" written in 1954, as the name of a band (The Scooby-Doo All-Stars) in 1956 and the title of a song by the Jerry Lieber Beat Band published by Zephyr Records in 1959 (both of which were signed to Zephyr Records). It is likely that such uses were an influence on the creators of the cartoon but they may also have been partially influenced by Frank Sinatra's "doo-be-doo-be-doo" improvisation in "Strangers in the Night" released in 1963 a few months prior to the first episode of Scooby-Doo being shown (also in 1963).

I knew I had to be very careful when I was crafting the story, so that it wouldn't be a Scooby Doo moment—you know, the one where the villain rips off his mask and tells you why he did it—and that he would have gotten away with it, if not for those pesky kids!

2007, Jodi Picoult, "Reader's Companion" (Washington Square Press) to the author's Plain Truth (Simon and Schuster, 2000) p.414

A mile out of town, off the Combe Martin road, discover a real Scooby Doo experience at Chambercombe Manor. It's shrouded in ghost stories and has starred in TV shows about the paranormal.

2008, Simon Heptinstall, Devon (Crimson Publishing) page 137

It was a Scooby-Doo moment: everybody looks down, everybody looks up. Maddy looks surprised. Pat looks guilty. Oh, those meddlesome kids.

2010, J. Wachowski, In Plain View, Carina Press, page 314:

"I love the Scooby-Doo of it all." And it was fun, combing through old books and papers for recognizable names.

2010, Buzzy Jackson, Shaking the Family Tree: Blue Bloods, Black Sheep, and Other Obsessions of an Accidental Genealogist, Simon and Schuster, page 171:

An American cartoon franchise, named for one of the main characters, a large dog, and featuring as protagonists four "meddling" teenagers who unravel seemingly supernatural mysteries.


Goofy

A Disney character: a slow-witted anthropomorphic dog with a goofy laugh.


Aeolian

Relating to Aeolus, the Greek god of wind.

And they played softly in the Aeolian mode a music that was like the wailing of wind through bare branches on a moonless night, and the Red Foliot leaned forth from his high seat and recited this lamentation: […]

1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros, London: Jonathan Cape, page 31:

(music) Designating the Aeolian mode or scale; the name of the minor key in modal theory.


darshan

en-noun

darshan (countable and uncountable, plural darshans)

From Sanskrit दर्शन (darśana, “vision”), from a root दृश् (dṛś, “to see”).

A common sight in India is a crowd of people gathered in the courtyard of a temple or at the doorway of a streetside shrine for the darshan of the deity.

2002, S. Brent Plate, Religion, Art, and Visual Culture: A Cross-Cultural Reader, →ISBN, page 171:

Hindus take darshan of a holy person, object, or place, believing that its mere presence, particularly the sight of it, conveys blessings.

2006, Linda Hess, chapter 8, in The Life of Hinduism, page 183:

When approaching a soul who is known to give darshan, be in the same area of the superconscious mind that you feel he must be in.

2007, Editors of Hinduism Today, What Is Hinduism?: Modern Adventures Into a Profound Global Faith, page 151:

(Hinduism, Buddhism) Hierophany, theophany; being in the presence of the divine or holy (as a person or object).


Eastern Bloc

Coordinate term: Western Bloc

(geopolitics, historical) The largely Communist countries of the eastern world, usually Eastern Europe and especially in the Cold War era.

اَلْكُتْلَة الشَّرْقِيَّة

the communist countries of the eastern world


Lotus Sutra

From a calque of Sanskrit सद्धर्मपुण्डरीकसूत्र (Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtra).

cal

सद्धर्मपुण्डरीकसूत्र

(Hinduism, Buddhism) "Sūtra on the White Lotus of the Sublime Dharma Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtra", a popular Sanskrit treatise which forms the basis of many forms of Buddhism.


meido

From Japanese メイド (meido, “maid, maidservant”), from English maid.

uder

I was really struck by how many of the bishoujo cliches it managed to bring up. We already have the older sister, younger sister, childhood friend, and exotic transfer student. We have a genki girl, a ditzy girl, a hime-sama, and a meido.

2006 October 13, Abraham Evangelista, “Re: Crescent Love - dull new anime”, in rec.arts.anime.misc (Usenet):

And then there’s Roberta, who seems like a typical meido (maid) character until she pulls out machine guns from her lacy uniform!

2008 October 12, Kitty Sensei, “Playing pirate”, in Malaysia Star:

Although this is a manga about maids, don’t expect to see the submissive and fawning maids of the meido category. The protagonist here is a faithful, skilled and courteous maid from the old English society.

2008, Memedi, "Loyal helper", Malaysia Star, 9 November 2008

(chiefly Japanese fiction) A female fictional character who is employed as a maid, typically wearing a stylized French maid outfit.


Care Bear

Brand name. The characters were introduced in 1981 for use on greeting cards and turned into plush toys in 1983.

The baby or toddler who goes to sleep alone (with a Care Bear, with his favorite blanket, or by sucking his thumb) learns valuable self-quieting behaviors that can be used for many years to come.

1994, Edward R. Christophersen, Pediatric Compliance: A Guide for the Primary Care Physician, page 171:

But the domestic turkey is about as remote from the wild animal as a Care Bear is from a grizzly.

2004, Jerry Sullivan, Hunting for Frogs on Elston, and Other Tales from Field & Street, page 68:

One of my real aspirations of this is I wanna see interstellar wars between Care Bears and Klingons.

2007 March 13, Will Wright, keynote, South by Southwest, Austin

Any of a brand of cheerful bear figures, seen on greeting cards and as stuffed toys.


rokurokubi

Borrowed from Japanese 轆(ろく)轤(ろ)首(くび) (rokurokubi).

(Japanese mythology) A yōkai in the form of a person who can stretch their neck to great lengths.


Shirime

(Japanese mythology) A yōkai whose appearance is of a person with an eye in place of the anus.


Aeaea

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Αἰαία (Aiaía).

(Greek mythology) The mythical island said to be the home of Circe.


Hindian

From Hind + -ian, or a conflation of Hindi or Hindu and Indian. The term seems to have been coined several times independently.

(Hindutva) A native Indian of whatever religion, as a person of Hindu culture


Hindian

en-adjective

Hindian (comparative more Hindian, superlative most Hindian)

more Hindian (comparative)
most Hindian (superlative)

It was for this reason that it made very good sense to continue to cultivate Agni, who had been critical of the Hindian offensive while also making clear his opposition to the methods the Tigers had adopted […] it was patently absurd to talk of a concerted Hindian foreign policy.

1989, Rajiva Wijesinha, Days of Despair, page 130,164:

The Hindian boy was consequently marched into Sister Baseball's private office and whacked solidly for an hour

2020, Marcia Macguire, Too Late to Barter, page 11:


quinquennalia

en-noun

quinquennalia (plural quinquennalia or quinquennalias)

quinquennalia (plural)
quinquennalias (plural)

From Latin quīnquennālia, from quīnquennium (“5-year period”) + -ālia (“-alia: forming the names of festivals”), from quīnquennis (“5-year”) + -ium (“-ium: forming abstract nouns”). Equivalent to quinquennium + -alia.

(historical) The festival and religious rituals sometimes observed celebrating a Roman emperor's 5th year of rule.


herostratic fame

/ˌhɪəɹəʊˌstɹætɪk ˈfeɪm/

Herostratic is derived from Herostratus (learned borrowing from Latin Hērostratus, from Ancient Greek Ἡρόστρατος (Hēróstratos) + -ic (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives from nouns)). Herostratus (died c. 356 B.C.E.) was a Greek arsonist who sought fame by destroying the second Temple of Artemis at Ephesus (now in Izmir Province, Turkey), according to tradition by setting fire to it on 21 July 356 B.C.E., the birth date of Alexander the Great.

lbor

Fame (or infamy) won through crime, destruction, or some other misdeed.

Alexander the Great
Herostratus
Temple of Artemis

Herostratuksen maine

fame (or infamy) won through crime, destruction, or some other misdeed


Brezhnev Doctrine

Named after Soviet Communist Party General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev.

named-after

A policy which stated that the Soviet Union had the right to intervene in places where capitalism threatened communism.


tripudium

(historical) A solemn religious dance of the Ancient Romans, performed in triple time.


NTR

Coordinate term: NTP

nuclear-thermal rocket
nuclear-thermal rocket#English

(astronautics) Initialism of nuclear-thermal rocket.


Mickey Mouse glove

en-noun

Mickey Mouse glove (plural Mickey Mouse gloves)

Worn by the animated character Mickey Mouse.

A glove that is white and usually four-fingered.


Mickey Mouse cap

Mickey Mouse cap (plural Mickey Mouse caps)

A black cap with two round appendages that imitate the ears of Mickey Mouse.


Mickey Mouse hat

Mickey Mouse hat (plural Mickey Mouse hats)

Mickey Mouse cap
Mickey Mouse cap#English


pseudo anime

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

An animated work that has many typical characteristics of Japanese animation but is not from Japan.


Œneus

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Οἰνεύς (Oineús).

Oeneus (alternative)
Oineus (alternative)

For they ſay, that Œneus who reigned in Ætolia, being driven from his kingdom by the ſons of Agrius, fled to Diomed at Argos; and that Diomed led an army into Calydonia, and revenged the injuries of Œneus, but told him, that he could not remain in his dominions.

1794, Pausanias, The Description of Greece, (translated from Greek) volume I, chapter XXV, page #206

(Greek mythology) King of Calydon; husband of Althaea.


Œcles

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Οἰκλῆς (Oiklês).

Oecles (alternative)
Oikles (alternative)

The gods in those days were sometimes mortals who are still worshipped, Aristæus, and Britomartis of Crete, and Hercules, the son of Alcmena, and Amphiarus, the son of Œcles, and beside them Castor and Pollux.

1917, Pausanias, quoted by Donald Mackenzie in Myths of Crete and Pre‐Hellenic Europe, re‐published by Forgotten Books, page 298

(Greek mythology) Son of Mantius and father of Amphiaraus.


visual novel

Calque of Japanese ビジュアルノベル (bijuaru noberu), from English visual + novel

cal

(video games) An interactive fiction video game of a style originated in Japan, consisting primarily of narration illustrated by anime-style images.


Œnomaus

This ſeemed totally impoſſible, and to render it more terrible, Œnomaus declared that death would be the conſequence of a defeat in the ſuitors.

1797 C.E., John Lemprière, Bibliotheca Classica, third edition, MY, page #519

For every suitor, he presented the challenge of a chariot race across the Peloponnese to the Isthmus of Corinth. If the challenger won, he got to marry the girl. If he lost, the king would kill him. Oenomaüs was weighed down with his full armor— probably so as to be ready to murder the challenger who would lose[…]

2015 July 6, Richard A. Spencer, Harry Potter and the Classical World: Greek and Roman Allusions in J.K. Rowling's Modern Epic, McFarland, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 235:

(Greek mythology) Alternative form of Oenomaus


Nancy Reagan gaze

en-noun

Nancy Reagan gaze (plural Nancy Reagan gazes)

From the attentive look Nancy Reagan was noted for fixing on her husband, Ronald Reagan, U.S. President from 1981 to 1989, when he made public appearances.

Pat Nixon held the title for most stoic [Washington] wife until Maureen Dean gave an Oscar-winning performance during her husband's Watergate testimony, sitting primly behind him, blond hair pulled back, holding the Nancy Reagan gaze before there was a Nancy Reagan gaze.

1989, Margaret Carlson, "I'M Nobody, Who Are You?", Time, May 8, 1989, ISSN 0040-781X

Peter Chernin, the head Fox TV programmer, … will titularly replace Roth and serve as Murdoch's malleable functionary. He looks at his boss with a sort of adoring Nancy Reagan gaze.

1992, Laureen Hobbs, "The Industry & The Webs", Spy, December 1992/January 1993 p. 18 ISSN 0890-1759

Joan’s attention appeared to be wandering from her leader. Instead of fixing him with the requisite Nancy Reagan gaze, she kept sneaking glances out the window.

2011 February 12, Miriam Lord, “Hard to keep up the Nancy Reagan gaze when a rugby hero undresses”, in The Irish Times:

A transfixed look upon a person taken as showing absolute devotion or affection.


Xenaverse

Many wonderful people and events have come into our lives from being part of the Xenaverse.

2002, Jo Marriott, Carly Bramwell, “Maid Marion, Meet Xena”, in Nikki Stafford, editor, How Xena Changed Our Lives: True Stories by Fans for Fans, page 72:

The task of mapping the online Xenaverse is, of course, an impossible one. The Xenaverse is too expansive, too unstructured, too fluid and fast moving to be charted; […]

2003, Sara Gwellian-Jones, “Histories, Fictions and Xena: Warrior Princess”, in Will Brooker, Deborah Jermyn, editors, The Audience Studies Reader, page 188:

For instance, when I lived in Italy a couple of years ago, I stumbled across the Italian Xenaverse.

2005, Anik LaChev, "Fan Fiction: A Genre And Its (Final?) Frontiers", Spectator, Volume 25, Number 1, Spring 2005, page 91

(fandom slang) The fandom of Xena: Warrior Princess.


Chicom

(politics, informal, sometimes offensive) A member of the Communist Party of China, a Chinese cadre.

(politics, informal, sometimes offensive) A proponent of Chinese Communism, whether Maoist or its subsequent development.

People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China

(politics, informal, inexact, sometimes offensive, ethnic slur) Any citizen of the People's Republic of China.


NIO

Stormont officials spelled out linguistic pitfalls that could offend nationalists and unionists in a 164-page guidance document for Mandelson and other new NIO ministers.

2023 August 23, Rory Carroll, “Files reveal terms ministers were warned not to use in Northern Ireland”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

Northern Ireland Office
w:Northern Ireland Office

(UK politics) Initialism of Northern Ireland Office.


PKR

Parti Keadilan Rakyat
w:Parti Keadilan Rakyat

People's Justice Party
w:People's Justice Party (Malaysia)

(Malaysian politics) Initialism of Parti Keadilan Rakyat. (People's Justice Party, Malaysian liberal political party.)


Dipper

But the Dippers should hold their applause, since their party doesn't have the grassroots organization or the roster of good candidates it needs to capitalize on their leader's popularity.

2011 April 11, Lysiane Gagnon, “In Quebec, the NDP Is No. 2”, in The Globe and Mail, Toronto, archived from the original on 2011-04-15:

New Democratic Party
New Democratic Party

(Canadian politics, informal) A member or supporter of the Canadian New Democratic Party.

It's either that or watch Dipper hopes of big overall seat gains dashed May 2 in Ontario.

2011 April 27, David Olive, “Historic Shift to NDP Confirmed in New Poll”, in Toronto Star, archived from the original on 2013-06-28:

(Canadian politics, informal, attributively) Of or pertaining to the Canadian New Democratic Party or supporters thereof.


Œnotrus

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Οἴνωτρος (Oínōtros).

[…] yet I hold it to have been a very ancient dialect, (probably brought into Latium by Œnotrus and his Arcadians, 17 generations before the Trojan war), which came off from the parent language before it was completely formed.

1789, James Burnett Monboddo, chapter III, in Of the Origin and Progress of Language, volume V, J. Balfour, page 91:

(Greek mythology) One of the younger sons of Lycaon.


animeverse

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


GoF

(politics) Abbreviation of Gang of Four.


tokusatsu

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

A Japanese genre of film and television drama featuring superheroes and special effects.


Conservative Party

the Conservative Party (canonical)
Conservative party (alternative)

Margaret Thatcher, leader of the Conservative Party, was Britain's first female Prime Minister.

(UK politics) A centre-right political party, official full name Conservative and Unionist Party, informally known as the Tory Party or Tories.

Progressive Conservative Party
Progressive Conservative Party#English

(Canadian politics) Clipping of Progressive Conservative Party.

Conservative Party of Canada
Conservative Party of Canada#English

(Canadian politics) Clipping of Conservative Party of Canada.


Socred

(Canadian politics) A member of the Social Credit Party.


Naraka

(Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism) The underworld or Hell according to Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism, where souls are sent for the expiation of their sins.


BMP

w:Best management practice for water pollution

(US politics) Initialism of Best Management Practice; management practices to prevent or reduce the pollution of waters in the USA and Canada.


asur

(India, Hinduism) Alternative spelling of Asura.


LAB

(UK politics) Abbreviation of Labour Party.


Pythia

From Ancient Greek Πυθία (Puthía), from Πυθώ (Puthṓ) + -ία (-ía).

(Ancient Greece) A priestess of Pythian Apollo, the Oracle of Delphi


Super Saturday

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

Coordinate term: Super Tuesday

(US politics) A Saturday on which a large number of U.S. states hold caucuses (elections) for the process of nominating presidential candidates.


choragus

From Latin chorāgus, from Ancient Greek χορᾱγός (khorāgós), Doric form of χορηγός (khorēgós), from χορός (khorós, “chorus”) + ἄγω (ágō, “to lead”).

af

(historical, Ancient Greece) A chorus leader, especially one who provided at his own expense and under his own supervision one of the choruses for the musical contests at Athens.


euhemerization

en-noun

euhemerization (countable and uncountable, plural euhemerizations)

euhemerizations (plural)
euhemerisation (alternative)

/juːˌhiːməɹɪzˈeɪʃən/

From euhemerize + -ation, ultimately from Latin Euhēmerus, from Ancient Greek Εὐήμερος (Euḗmeros), an ancient Greek Sicilian Skeptic who proposed most or all mythology derived from historical figures and natural events which received supernatural characteristics only through retelling.

The euhemerization of Taoist myth by Confucian historians sometimes led to the appearance of figures such as "Lord Primordial Chaos" (渾沌氏) in the imperial genealogies.

(uncountable, derogatory) The fanciful invention of plausible historical figures and events as an attempt to rationalize mythology and legends

One such euhemerization is a Rowan Atkinson bit where he presents Jesus Christ as a misunderstood street magician.

Much of Chinese mythology appears to have been the result of euhemerization, the later deification of Neolithic tribal leaders and inventors incompletely remembered through oral traditions and now-lost records.

(uncountable) Synonym of deification: the actual creation of mythology and legends from historical figures and events; (countable) an instance of this.

rationalization & pseudohistory

fanciful creation of rational explanations for the supernatural


Twelve Labours of Hercules

(Greek mythology, Roman mythology) Twelve tasks carried out by the Greek hero Herakles (romanized as Hercules) as his penance.


Palamism

From Palamite + -ism, a technical term in the field of Church history coined in the mid 20th century.

The last years of the empire witnessed in Palamism a great revival of mystical personal religion.

1949, English Historical Review, 64, p. 505:

The victory of Palamism in the fourteenth century was therefore the victory of a specifically Christian, God-centered humanism for which the Greek patristic tradition always stood.

1974, John Meyendorff, Byzantine theology: historical trends and doctrinal themes, I. v., p. 78:

(Christianity) The beliefs and practices of the Palamites.


yokai

From Japanese 妖怪 (yōkai, “ghost, phantom”).

(folklore, Japanese mythology) Any of various supernatural monsters, sometimes shapeshifters, in Japanese folklore.


warrandice

(Scots law) A form of warranty in which a person conveying property is held liable for any outstanding claims on the property.


inbring

en-verb

inbring (third-person singular simple present inbrings, present participle inbringing, simple past and past participle inbrought)

inbrings (present singular third-person)
inbringing (participle present)
inbrought (participle past)
inbrought (past)
imbring (alternative)

From Middle English inbringen, from Old English inbringan (“to bring in, bring to, present”), equivalent to in- + bring. Cognate with Scots inbring (“to inbring, import”), Dutch inbrengen (“to bring in”), German einbringen (“to introduce, bring in”), Swedish inbringa (“to bring in, fetch”).

cog

(transitive, Scots law) To bring in by legal authority; produce in court; confiscate (the goods of a condemned criminal).


CWT

Central War Time
Central War Time#English

(US, historical) Initialism of Central War Time.


Latona

From Latin Lātōna, a Latinization of Ancient Greek Λητώ (Lētṓ).

(Greek mythology) The Roman counterpart of the Greek goddess Leto and the mother of Apollo.


gynaeceum

en-noun

gynaeceum (plural gynaeceums or gynaecea)

gynaeceums (plural)
gynaecea (plural)
gynæceum (alternative)
gyneceum (alternative)

From Latin gynaecēum, gynaecīum, from Ancient Greek γυναικεῖον (gunaikeîon), from γυνή (gunḗ, “woman”). By surface analysis, gynaec- + -eum.

A master, however this may be, was very jealous of the inmates of his gyneceum, and he permitted no one to enter the place, which was protected as a sanctuary in the legislation of the Barbarians.

1926, PL Jacob, History of Prostitution, page 249:

It was agreeable to see men, after days in this gyneceum, bringing the place to life, to see waiters speeding to their command.

1984, Anita Brookner, Hotel du Lac, Penguin, published 2016, page 61:

(Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome) The women's quarters in a household; (hence, loosely) any building or area for women.


Johnsonian

en-adj

Johnsonian (comparative more Johnsonian, superlative most Johnsonian)

more Johnsonian (comparative)
most Johnsonian (superlative)

/d͡ʒɒnˈsəʊnɪ.ən/

(US politics) Of or pertaining to Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973), American politician and president of the United States from 1963 to 1969.

To stop no-deal, MPs must adopt some Johnsonian ruthlessness and be ready to bring down the prime minister and put someone else, probably Jeremy Corbyn, in his place.

2019 August 29, “The Guardian view on Johnson v parliament: an unelective dictatorship”, in The Guardian:

(UK politics) Of or pertaining to Boris Johnson (born 1964), English politician and prime minister of the United Kingdom from 2019 to 2022.


Buffy

A pet form of Elizabeth (cf. Bethy), based on a child's unsuccessful attempts to pronounce the name. Popularized by the Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchise.

A diminutive of the female given name Elizabeth.


Leda

(Greek mythology) The wife of Tyndareus and mother of Helen, Clytemnestra and Castor and Pollux hatched from eggs as a result of a seduction by Zeus in the guise of a swan


reichsmark

Unadapted borrowing from German Reichsmark.

ubor

(historical, numismatics) The monetary unit in Germany between 1924 and 1948.


Sputnik moment

A reference to the Soviet Union’s launch of the first Earth-orbiting artificial satellite Sputnik 1 in 1957 which caught the US unprepared. The event ignited the Space Race during the Cold War, and led to the US successfully launching Explorer 1 into space in 1958.

Immediately after September 11, 2001, Americans found themselves again facing a Sputnik moment. They realized that they were caught flat-footed, unprepared to confront Al Qaeda terrorists.

2004 June 22, Rush Holt, Suggested Remarks for Rep. Rush Holt: Is American Security Being Lost in Translation?, National Language Conference, U.S. Department of Defence, archived from the original on 2008-12-27, page 4:

Americans are having another Sputnik moment: one of those periodic alarms about some foreign technological and economic menace. It was the Soviets in the 1950s and early 1960s, the Germans and the Japanese in the 1970s and 1980s, and now it's the Chinese and the Indians

2005 May 25, Robert J. Samuelson, “Sputnik Scare, Updated”, in Washington Post:

Half a century ago, when the Soviets beat us into space with the launch of a satellite called Sputnik, we had no idea how we would beat them to the moon. The science wasn't even there yet. NASA didn't exist. But after investing in better research and education, we didn't just surpass the Soviets; we unleashed a wave of innovation that created new industries and millions of new jobs. This is our generation's Sputnik moment. Two years ago, I said that we needed to reach a level of research and development we haven't seen since the height of the Space Race. And in a few weeks, I will be sending a budget to Congress that helps us meet that goal.

2011 January 5, Barack Obama, Jon Favreau, speechwriter, “Remarks by the President in State of Union Address”, in White House Office of the Press Secretary, WhiteHouse.gov, archived from the original on 2016-05-06:

"It's a national call, a Sputnik moment," said Mehran Sahami, associate chairman for computer science education at Stanford, referring to the Soviet satellite launching in 1957 that pushed the United States into the space race.

2011 June 11, Claire Cain Miller, “Computer studies made cool, on film and now on campus”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 2011-06-11:

Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen may have said it best. "DeepSeek-R1 is AI's Sputnik moment," he posted to X on Sunday, referring to the satellite which kicked off the space race.

2025 January 28, Lily Jamali, “China's DeepSeek AI shakes industry and dents America's swagger”, in BBC News Online, archived from the original on 2025-01-28:

The moment when a country or a society realizes that it needs to catch up with apparent technological and scientific developments made by some other country or countries by increasing its investment into education, innovative research and development, etc.

Explorer 1
National Air and Space Museum
Sputnik 1


X-Verse

the X-Verse (canonical)
X-verse (alternative)

2009, Rebecca Housel, Jeremy Wisnewski, editors, X-Men and Philosophy: Astonishing Insight and Uncanny Argument in the Mutant X-Verse, John Wiley & Sons.:

First and most common is the charge that numerous characters in Heroes have powers of preexisting comic book characters, especially from the X-Men.[…]Even Isaac Mendez's power to paint the future predates him in a character from the X-verse—Nemesio from District X.

2009, David Kyle Johnson, Heroes and Philosophy: Buy the Book, Save the World, page 50:

And if Parfit is right, it should make you think twice about how quickly you judge all of the characters in the X-Verse (and the real world).[…] In the X-Verse we should be less dubious of Emma Frost working with the X-Men; […].

2010, William Irwin, David Kyle Johnson, Introducing Philosophy Through Pop Culture: From Socrates to South Park, page 88:

(fandom slang) The fictional world, or universe, which serves as the setting for the Marvel Comics and film series featuring the characters the X-Men.


Pokémon

en-noun

Pokémon (plural Pokémon or (nonstandard) Pokémons)

Pokémon (plural)
Pokémons (nonstandard plural)
Pokemon (alternative)

From Japanese ポケモン (Pokemon), a contraction of ポケットモンスター (Poketto Monsutā), itself from English pocket monster.

contraction

Pokémons are the latest and adamantly conformist craze among middle-childhood boys. The theme of the video games that started the craze is, as usual, the triumph of good over evil. The hero is a child, twelve-year-old Ash. His goal is to capture all 150-plus nonhuman creatures called Pokémons, train them to be good, and use them to capture the remaining wicked Pokémons that so far have escaped. In the games, Ash is not your ally: he is you. Each of the Pokémons has its own sort of power which, after conversion, accrues to Ash’s (your) favor.

2001, Sara Stein, “Games They Play”, in Noah’s Children: Restoring the Ecology of Childhood, New York, N.Y.: North Point Press, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN, page 248:

Game strategy (and tactics) are full of such learning about real life, like the rules, the strategy in games needs to be lifelike for the games to make sense, even if the characters, such as Pokémons, are purely imaginary.

2005, Marc Prensky, “Computer Games and Learning: Digital Game-Based Learning”, in Joost Raessens, Jeffrey Goldstein, editors, Handbook of Computer Game Studies, Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, →ISBN, part II (Design), page 106, column 2:

He had been delighted when his mother said, Just leave everything as it is. Not even his bed was made. He could see that little kid’s mess, his clothes, his Pokémons, his old Winnie Dubdoub, his Spiderman poster; and the truck, alone in the empty house for days now, nearly two weeks.

2005, Eva Sallis, The Marsh Birds, Crows Nest, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin, →ISBN, page 15:

Professor Oak, the world's leading Pokémon expert, is at once a genius and a bumbling, absent-minded professor

2009, Mark I. West, The Japanification of children's popular culture: from godzilla to miyazaki, page 59:

A pocket monster; a fictional creature from the universe of the Pokémon franchise.


Lincolnian

en-adj

Lincolnian (comparative more Lincolnian, superlative most Lincolnian)

more Lincolnian (comparative)
most Lincolnian (superlative)

Of or pertaining to Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), 16th president of the United States.


Aegeus

(Greek mythology) A character in the founding myth of Athens.


yaksha

Suvarnabhumi International Airport
yaksha

(Hindu mythology) A kind of supernatural being; can be a malevolent demon or a beneficent tutelary deity.

(Southeast Asia mythology) A kind of supernatural being, often depicted as having supernatural power, great strength, and frightening appearance; can be a malevolent demon or a beneficent tutelary deity.


PFLP

Israeli jets had strafed the main road during the day and PFLP guerrillas on the coast road were stunned to see the five men, all dressed in jackets and ties, hurtling down the highway towards them in the early hours.

2001 [1990], Robert Fisk, Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 410:

w:Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

(Palestinian politics) Initialism of Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.


politiquera

“I’ve been a politiquera for 20 years,” Ms. Espinoza said in an interview last week outside her trailer in the town of Pharr.

2008 May 13, Michael Luo, “A Usually Legal Practice That Wears Black Eyes”, in New York Times:

(US politics) One who is paid by an election campaign to issue fliers to householders and encourage them to go and vote for a particular candidate.


Leia

From the name of a princess in the American fantasy film Star Wars (1977).

A female given name originating as a coinage.


Justinian

Borrowed from Latin Iūstīniānus, from Iūstīnus (“Justin”) + -iānus.

A family name in Late Antiquity, notably that of Justinian I, emperor of the Byzantine Empire from 527 to 565.

Հուստինիանոս

emperor of the Byzantine or East Roman Empire from 527 to 565


thriambus

Borrowed from New Latin thriambus, from Ancient Greek θρίαμβος (thríambos), of Pre-Greek origin. Doublet of triumph and trump.

(religion, Ancient Greece) A hymn to Dionysus, sung in processions in his honour.


Zephyrus

From Middle English Zeferus, Zepherus, Zephirus, Zephyrus, from Latin zephyrus, from Ancient Greek Ζέφυρος (Zéphuros). Not related to Latin zephirum (“zero”). Doublet of zefir, zéphire, Zephyr, and zephyr.

doublet

(Greek mythology) The Ancient Greek god of the west wind, supposed to be the gentlest of the winds and the messenger of spring. His parents are Eos/Aurora and Astraeus, and his brothers are Boreas, Notus and Eurus, (the Anemoi), and the Astra Planeta. His wife is Chloris and their son is Karpos. His Roman counterpart is Favonius.


Atlanticism

From Atlantic + -ism, from the name of the Atlantic Ocean between the two continents.

Dugin’s main argument in Foundations came straight from Haushofer’s pages: the need to thwart the conspiracy of “Atlanticism” led by the United States and NATO and aimed at containing Russia within successive geographic rings of newly independent states.

2016 July 27, Charles Clover, “The Unlikely Origins of Russia's Manifest Destiny”, in Foreign Policy:

(politics) A philosophy of cooperation among Western European and North American nations.


snogger

They're nearly as pathetic as those snoggers (sad, deluded morons who believe DD and GA should be together!).

2001 July 12, Caffeine Cal, “Re: *Nasty* Doggett-Haters Website :(”, in alt.tv.x-files (Usenet):

It's a bit sad when snoggers write in to the IMDB to pass on the false information that DD has "filed for divorce" from TL: […]

2002 August 27, pam, “Re: Doggett to come back to Fox”, in alt.tv.x-files (Usenet):

While I'm not a snogger (don't look at me like that!), I do think, from what little I know of them, that David and Gillian had a kind of working relationship that in some weird cosmic way must have reflected what we saw on the screen between them.

2005 June 17, Robert Cook, “Re: Speaking of "Lost"”, in alt.tv.x-files (Usenet):

(X-Files fandom slang, derogatory) A fan who believed Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny were romantically involved or shipped them together.


puppet army

From puppet + army, a calque from Mandarin 傀儡軍／傀儡军 (kuǐlěijūn, “puppet army”).

(specifically) Such an army in China during the Sino-Japanese War.


Francoism

(historical) The period of history in Spain under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, from 1936/1939 to 1975.

frankismo

the dictatorship of Francisco Franco in Spain


duumviral

Of or belonging to the duumviri or the duumvirate.


Yajurveda

(Hinduism) The third of the four Vedas, or canonical texts of Hinduism, containing the liturgy (mantras) needed to perform the sacrifices of the religion of the Vedic period.


Klingonist

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

1995, Deborah Cameron, Verbal hygiene, page 223:


Number Ten

No 10 (alternative)
Number 10 (alternative)

Coordinate term: Number 11

10 Downing Street
10 Downing Street#English

(UK politics, colloquial) Synonym of 10 Downing Street


warg

en-verb

warg (third-person singular simple present wargs, present participle warging, simple past and past participle warged)

wargs (present singular third-person)
warging (participle present)
warged (participle past)
warged (past)

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

Learned borrowing from Old Norse vargr (“wolf”), reintroduced by J. R. R. Tolkien; compare also Old English wearg. The verb senses emerged from the use of warg in George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire novels as a noun referring to a person with a magical skin-changing ability.

lbor

I died and warged into my son, and waited around for a succession war in England.

2016 January 22, [deleted account], Reddit:

If you let yourself warg into him when you die you get his money anyway

The quickest way to unmarry an unlanded character is to land them (via console of otherwise), warg into them, divorce, go back to your character, and take the land back.

(Crusader Kings fandom slang) To switch to another player character during a game.


Hippolyte

(Greek mythology) Alternative form of Hippolyta


Uma

(Hinduism) One of the names of Hindu goddess Parvati.


Oireachtas

The Oireachtas, Ireland’s legislature, was put into a virtual lockdown for hours on Wednesday by a small but abusive group of about 200 people.

2023 September 21, Emma Graham-Harrison, “Alarm over ‘fascist-like’ protest at Ireland’s seat of government”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:


MCA

Malaysian Chinese Association
w:Malaysian Chinese Association

(Malaysian politics) Initialism of Malaysian Chinese Association. (political party for Malaysian Chinese)


Seanad Éireann

(Ireland) The upper house of the Parliament of Ireland.


Leucippus

(philosophy) an Ancient Greek philosopher from Miletus, the founder of atomism and the first thinker in western history to consider determinism as a possibility, disciple of Zeno of Elea


Ceyx

(Greek mythology) A king who was transformed into a kingfisher, together with his wife Alcyone.


Jin

The atonal Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 晉 /晋 (Jìn), adopted as the name of a river in Shanxi in antiquity. As a Zhou state, from the renaming of the marchland Tang (唐) by its second marquis Ji Xie when he relocated to the Jin River c. 1000 BC. As a surname, principally from the Zhou state and its region in China. As an empire and dynastic name, from Sima Yan's status as prince of Jin under the preceding Wei Empire. As a river in Fujian, named for the empire, which settled its banks with colonizers from China's Central Plains. As a dialect, from 晉語／晋语 (Jìnyǔ), from the region of the former Zhou state.

zh-l

晉語／晋语 (Jìnyǔ)

(historical) An empire in China (AD 265–420) established by Sima Yan's overthrow of the Wei and replaced by barbarian conquerors in the north and Liu Yu's Song Empire in the south.

(historical) A prefecture of imperial China centered on Linfen, Shanxi.


Jin

Cambridge University Press
Jin
Jin (Chinese surname)
Jin Prefecture (Shaanxi)
Jurchen Jin
Linfen

From the atonal Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 金 (Jīn, literally “gold, golden”). As a surname, legendarily derived from the descendants of Shaohao who took a golden phoenix as their tribal emblem. As an area and town in Shaanxi, named for the placer deposits of gold on the Yue River. As a Jurchen empire and dynastic name, a Chinese calque of Jurchen name of the Ashi River within modern Harbin, preserved in Chinese transcription as 按出虎 (Ànchūhǔ) (Middle Chinese: ʔan-tsyhwit-xu). As a Manchu empire and dynastic name, an early continuation of the former Jurchen name prior to the 1636 proclamation of the Qing.

der

(historical) A prefecture of imperial China centered on Ankang, Shaanxi.

(historical) An empire in northern China (AD 1115–1234) established by an invasion of Liao by the Wanyan Jurchens and overthrown by an invasion of the Mongols.


Jin

Jin
Jin Prefecture (Hunan)
Jin River (Bei River)
Jin River (Sichuan)

From the atonal Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Chinese 錦 /锦 (Jǐn).

(historical) A prefecture of imperial China centered on Luyang, Hunan.


skaith

en-noun

skaith (countable and uncountable, plural skaiths)

[…] the Commissioners of Burghs... meet yearly at Inverkeithing “to treat of the welfare of merchandize, the good rule and statutes for the common profit of burghs, and to provide for remeid upon the skaith and injuries sustained within the burghs.”

1878, William Charles Smith, "Borough" in the Encyclopædia Britannica, 9th ed., Vol. IV, p. 64

There never yet was Englishman
That came to skaith by me.

1904, William Edmonstoune Aytoun, The Bon Gaultier Ballads:

(Scots law, obsolete) Alternative form of scathe (“damage”)


SLD

Scottish Liberal Democrats
w:Scottish Liberal Democrats

(UK politics) Initialism of Scottish Liberal Democrats.

Social and Liberal Democrats
w:Social and Liberal Democrats

(UK politics) Initialism of Social and Liberal Democrats the former name of the Liberal Democrats.


veepstakes

veepstakes (plural)
Veepstakes (alternative)

Blend of veep (“(informal) Vice President of the United States”) + sweepstakes (plural of sweepstake (“lottery in which the prize or prizes constitute all the money paid by the participants”)).

blend

The candidate for the challenging party was undergoing a veepstakes.

What America needs now is comedy—so hurray, we're getting ready to elect a Vice-President! Sure, we elect a Boss Man too, but it'll be the Veepstakes that'll provide the laughs.

1952 May 13, Earl Wilson, “It happened last night: Veepstakes provide laughs even in serious campaign”, in W. E. Christenson, editor, Evening World-Herald, number 222, Omaha, Neb.: World Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 25, column 3:

[Barbara] Mikulski, who is 47, is the least chic of the women mentioned in the veepstakes. Barely 4 feet 11 inches tall, she barrels through the halls of Congress like a small tank. Her facial expressions swing from a pugnacious frown to an impish grin.

1984 June, Kaye Northcott, “Campaign 84: Only a Heartbeat Away: Will the Next Vice President of the United States be a Woman?”, in Deirdre English, editor, Mother Jones, volume IX, number V, San Francisco, Calif.: Foundation for National Progress, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 40, columns 1–2:

If [Spiro] Agnew abandoned his inflammatory rhetoric during the 1972 campaign, he did not abandon his corrosive wit altogether. The more restrained Agnew twitted Sargent Shriver, the Democratic candidate in the Veepstakes, on his personal wealth.

1994, Gerald [Clifford] Gardner, “Campaign 1972: So I Made a Mistake”, in Campaign Comedy: Political Humor from Clinton to Kennedy (Humor in Life and Letters), Detroit, Mich.: Wayne State University Press, →ISBN, page 194:

He laughed again and we talked vividly, I recall, on the topic of how many people in Washington are obsessed with where they rank, how they’re perceived. It’s a particularly acute concern in television and politics—ratings, veepstakes, poll numbers, the kind of things that mean everything and nothing in Washington.

2008 June 15, Mark Leibovich, “Tiny town: Washington after a fall”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-06-01:

Mr. [Chuck] Todd, whose ubiquity as a running-mate handicapper at his network is akin to Mel Kiper Jr.’s as an N.F.L. draft expert on ESPN, said that all the time and energy devoted to the veepstakes these days is well spent.

2008 June 22, Mark Leibovich, “The great American float”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-11-26:

The above is worth remembering as the presidential race turns the corner into its most feverishly speculative, excessively breathless phase: the veepstakes.

2012 April 2, Frank Bruni, “And now, the veepstakes”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-06-17:

Harris’s choice will come down to “who can have the hard conversations”, a former Harris aide turned US senator said as the “veepstakes” neared their conclusion.

2024 August 3, Martin Pengelly, “Crunch time in ‘veepstakes’ as Kamala Harris prepares to choose running mate”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(US politics, slang, humorous) The process by which candidates for the Presidency of the United States choose a running mate to become the Vice President if elected.


Xenaphile

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Medea

(Greek mythology) An enchantress who helped Jason obtain the Golden Fleece.


domino theory

An allusion to a row of dominoes in which the fall of one leads to a cascade of falling pieces.

(politics, historical) Synonym of domino effect


Laocoön

From Latin Lāocoōn, from Ancient Greek Λᾱοκόων (Lāokóōn).

(Greek mythology) A Trojan priest of Poseidon (or Apollo, depending on the author), whose rules he had defied (or whom he had otherwise offended), who tried to warn his fellow citizens against the Trojan horse. He was killed for this, along with his two sons, by giant snakes sent by Minerva (or Poseidon, or Apollo).

(Greek mythology) An Argonaut, son of Porthaon.


Cleggmania

Before the debate the Daily Telegraph, a Conservative-leaning newspaper, had tried to prick the Cleggmania bubble by running a story alleging that Clegg had received payments from party donors directly into his private bank account.

2010, John Bartle, Nicholas Allen, Britain at the Polls 2010, page 192:

Cleggmania briefly hit Orpington but we need to call our voters and tell them to stick to the blue corner[…]

2011, Rachel Johnson, A Diary of The Lady: My First Year As Editor:

(UK politics, informal) Enthusiasm for British Liberal Democrat politician Nick Clegg.


Tiresias

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Τειρεσίας (Teiresías).

[…]somewhere a ship's radio was blaring out the latest jazz-hit to reach Alexandria:
Old Tiresias / No one half so breezy as, / Half so free and easy as / Old Tiresias.

1958, Lawrence Durrell, Balthazar, page 35:

1997, Nicole Loraux, translated by Paula Wissing, The Experiences of Tiresias: The Feminine and the Greek Man, Princeton University Press, →ISBN:

The myth associated with how Tiresias became a hermaphrodite reveals much about relations between the sexes.

2004, Leonard Shlain, Sex, Time, and Power: How Women's Sexuality Shaped Human Evolution, page 255:

(Greek mythology) A long-lived blind soothsayer who participated over seven generations in the legendary history of (the Greek city) Thebes, noted also for being transformed into a woman for seven years, so being symbolic of androgyny.


decree arbitral

en-noun

decree arbitral (plural decrees arbitral)

(Scots law) An award made by an arbiter.


Chalcedon

From Latin Chalcēdōn, from Ancient Greek Χαλκηδών (Khalkēdṓn). See Kadıköy.

An ancient maritime town of Bithynia, in Asia Minor in modern Turkey, almost directly opposite Byzantium.


HillaryCare

Hillarycare (alternative)
Hillary-care (alternative)
Hillary Care (alternative)

Blend of Hillary + healthcare, after Hillary Rodham Clinton, chair of the task-force that developed the plan.

(US politics, chiefly derisive) The Clinton health care plan of 1993.


Morgana

(Arthurian legend) Morgaine (Morgan le Fay).


naumachia

naumachia (plural naumachias or naumachiae)

Learned borrowing from Latin naumachia, itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek ναυμαχία (naumakhía). Compare naumachy.

Our clerical guide did not fail us, but took us to see some ancient architectural remains, water tanks, a naumachia and other ruins of a similar sort.

1962, WH Auden, Elizabeth Mayer, translating JW Goethe, Italian Journey, Penguin, published 1970, page 286:

(historical) The location where such recreated sea battles took place; a building featuring an artificial body of water.

naumakhia

recreation of sea battles in Ancient Rome


stardate

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

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

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

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

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


Niobe

(Greek mythology) A daughter of Tantalus, said to have turned into stone while weeping for her children.


thesmothete

Borrowed from Ancient Greek θεσμοθέτης (thesmothétēs).

(historical, Ancient Greece) A junior archon in Ancient Greece.


taihoa

Borrowed from Maori taihoa (“wait; do not hurry”).

He found in office that the taihoa policy was not the creation of his predecessor, but was imposed by the fundamental conditions of the problem to which every Native Minister has to address himself.

1970, James A. Clifton, Applied anthropology: readings in the uses of the science of man:

The main aim of the Liberal government had always been pakeha land settlement, even through the taihoa period.

2004, Richard S. Hill, State authority, indigenous autonomy, page 101:

(New Zealand politics) Slow and cautious; gradual.


dokda

An old monetary unit of Kutch, worth one 24th of a kori.


Tecumseh

An unincorporated census-designated place in eastern Fayette Township, Vigo County, Indiana, United States.

census-designated place
census-designated place

An unincorporated community in Fairfield Township, Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States.

Tippecanoe County
Tippecanoe County#English

An unincorporated community in Shawnee County, Kansas, United States.

A city and township in Lenawee County, Michigan, United States.

An unincorporated community in Ozark County, Missouri, United States.

A city, the county seat of Johnson County, Nebraska, United States.

A city in Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma, United States.

Pottawatomie County
Pottawatomie County#English


thwop

(chiefly pornographic manga) Alternative form of fwop.


deather

(US, derogatory) One who favours the rationing of healthcare in the United States (from the perspective of those who believed that US president Barack Obama's healthcare legislation would include rationing).


churel

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


PEP

Coordinate term: PSI

Come a survey like last week’s PEP report on the extent of race prejudice, and another such wave looks like jogging the Government into introducing legislation dealing with housing and employment.

1967, “Researchers find widespread discrimination and prejudice against immigrants to Britain”, in The Observer:

Political and Economic Planning
w:Political and Economic Planning

(UK politics, historical) Initialism of Political and Economic Planning, a British policy think tank.


propylaeum

propylaeum (plural propylaea or propylaeums)

propylaea (plural)
propylaeums (plural)
propylaeon (alternative)

/ˌpɹəʊpɪˈliːəm/

From Latin propylaeum, from Ancient Greek προπύλαιον (propúlaion), from προ- (pro-, “before”, “in front of”) + πύλη (púlē, “gate”).

On either side of the road young girls stood with pitchers at the fountains which bubbled there, and behind the houses forming the propylaea of the rock rose the massive forehead of the Isle — crested at this part with its enormous ramparts as with a mural crown.

(historical, especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome) A vestibule or entrance, (especially) to a temple.


Proserpina

From Latin Prōserpina from Ancient Greek Περσεφόνη (Persephónē) by metathesis perhaps first in Magna Graecia via a Sicilian Doric Greek Προσερπίνα (Proserpína) or Ionic Greek Προσερπίνη (Proserpínē), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *pers-o- (“sheaf of corn, grain, seed”) and *gʷʰn̥-t- (“to strike”), meaning 'corn-thresher'.

der

(Roman mythology) The goddess of springtime, queen of the underworld; the Roman equivalent of Persephone.


branch stacking

(Australian politics) The recruitment of members for a branch of a political party in order to influence the outcome of internal preselections of candidates for public office.


decreet

(Scots law) The final judgment of the Court of Session, or of an inferior court, by which the question at issue is decided.


padawan

→ Japanese: パダワン (padawan)

→ Spanish: padawan

→ Portuguese: padawan

→ French: padawan

→ Korean: 파다원 (padawon)

→ Russian: падава́н (padaván)

→ Esperanto: padavano

Générations Star Wars et Science Fiction

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

coin

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

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

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

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

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

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


ahegao

en-noun

ahegao (countable and uncountable, plural ahegao or ahegaos)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Cloelia

From Latin Cloelia, feminine form of the gens name Cloelius, Cluilius, from clueo.

(Roman mythology) A woman who saved Roman hostages from the Clusian camp.


Tea Party

In reference to the Boston Tea Party of 1773, when American colonists dumped tea into Boston Harbor to protest taxation without representation.

Any of various independent, fiscally conservative political groups in the twenty-first-century United States.


Tea Party

Various independent, fiscally conservative political groups in the twenty-first-century United States, taken as a whole.


Roman Republic

Roman Republic
Roman Republic (disambiguation)

(historical) The period of Ancient Rome where its government operated as a republic (approx. 509 BC – 27 BC).

რომის რესპუბლიკა

the period of Ancient Rome where its government operated as a republic


Disneyish

en-adj

Disneyish (comparative more Disneyish, superlative most Disneyish)

more Disneyish (comparative)
most Disneyish (superlative)

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

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

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

Characteristic of The Walt Disney Company or its productions.


NPP

National People's Party (India)
w:National People's Party (India)

(Indian politics) Initialism of National People's Party (India).


flaminical

flaminical college

flaminical couple

flaminical taboo

the unclouded serenity of Christian religion , with the dark overcasting of superstitious copes and flaminical vestures

1642 (indicated as 1641), John Milton, The Reason of Church-governement Urg’d against Prelaty […], London: […] E[dward] G[riffin] for Iohn Rothwell, […], →OCLC:


peculiar institution

"Peculiar" here does not mean strange. It means "peculiar" (particular) to a certain area, in this case the Southern United States.

He became a great drunkard and a great gambler (vices intimately connected with the "peculiar institution,") and was obliged to give up his business.

1855, Peter Randolph, Illustrations of the 'Peculiar Institution':

He documents the extensiveness of the peculiar institution's presence throughout the region and establishes a much more realistic context for the emergences of abolitionist sentiments and the various forms it took.

2001, John C. Inscoe, Appalachians and Race, Introduction, page 3:


Banba

(Irish mythology) A patron goddess of Ireland.


Komsomol

Comsomol (alternative)
Consomol (alternative)
Konsomol (alternative)

Borrowed from Russian комсомо́л (komsomól), acronym of коммунисти́ческий сою́з молодёжи (kommunistíčeskij sojúz molodjóži, “Communist Union of Youth”).

acronym

коммунисти́ческий сою́з молодёжи

(historical) Young Communist League, the former youth wing of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.


Protagoras

From Ancient Greek Πρωταγόρας (Prōtagóras).

man is the measure of all things
man is the measure of all things

A pre-Socratic Greek philosopher, who famously said "man is the measure of all things".


praetexta

en-noun

praetexta (plural praetextas or praetextae)

praetextas (plural)
praetextae (plural)
prætexta (alternative)

From Latin praetexta (toga), from praetextus, past participle of praetexere (“to weave before, to fringe, border”); prae (“before”) + texere (“weave”).

The officers who had attended the proceſſion, ſtripped off the robes in which they were dreſſed, and caſt them in the flames. Women crowded to the pile, and threw upon it, as a ſacrifice to the manes of the dead, the ornaments of their own perſons, the gorgets and the prætextas of their children.

1783, Adam Ferguson, chapter II, in The History of the Progress and Termination of the Roman Republic, volume III, Dublin: Printed for Meſſrs. Price, Whitestone, Colles, […], book V, page 73:

It gave to Pompey the Great the privilege of appearing in triumphal robes, and with a golden crown at Circensian games, and with a praetexta and golden crown at theatrical plays.

1886 October 30, Claverley, “The Origin of the Drama, and Old Dramatic Writers of Tragedy”, in Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, volume 62, number 9,350, Supplement, page 2:

In ancient Rome, after a boy celebrated his sixteenth birthday he was considered a man. He threw aside the praetexta worn in his youth, and donned the toga of a full-fledged Roman citizen.

1896 May 17, “A Chicago Boys First Vote”, in The Sunday Inter Ocean, volume 25, number 54, Chicago, Ill., page 23:

(historical, Ancient Rome) A white robe with a purple border, worn by a Roman boy before he was entitled to wear the toga virilis, or until about the completion of his fourteenth year, and by girls until their marriage. It was also worn by magistrates and priests.


fosseway

(Ancient Rome) A Roman military road with a fosse or ditch on each side to keep it dry.


navarch

From Latin navarchus, from Ancient Greek ναύαρχος (naúarkhos, “leader of the ships”), corresponding to navy + -arch.

der

The commander of a fleet was called Navarch

1784-1810, William Mitford, The History of Greece:

(historical, Ancient Greece) The commander of a fleet.


LGB

"[…]The congressman who had an alleged affair with a Chinese spy for several years and inexplicably still sits on the House Intelligence and Homeland Security Committees jumped to Twitter on Christmas Day to attack the Oregon father who delivered the LGB joke during the White House holiday call."

[2021 December 27, Proud Progressive, “Democrat Rep. Eric Swalwell Blasts Pathetic Dad Who Said Lets Go Brandon to Biden”, in comp.os.linux.advocacy (Usenet):

Got gas the other day and there were two LGB stickers on the gas pump.

2021 December 27, Frank, “Do you suppose anyone told the venal, senile what LGB means?”, in alt.home.repair (Usenet):

Unfortunately for Brown, the reaction was negative. Despite being a rising NASCAR star, he said it became “extremely difficult” to attract sponsors because major corporations saw his unintentional association with the LGB meme to be divisive.

2022 January 5, “NASCAR rejects ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ sponsorship”, in RT:

That represents a 99.5 percent decline over the last 30 days, leaving a singular LGB coin effectively worthless.

2022 February 13, Technobarbarian, “‘Let’s Go Brandon’ Crypto Coin Turns Into Total Dumpster Fire”, in rec.outdoors.rv-travel (Usenet):

The gift shop is rammed. [...] I'm slightly surprised to see an "LGB" clutch above the till, until I realise it stands for "Let’s Go Brandon", code for "Fuck Joe Biden"[.]

2024 March 15, Jemima Kelly, “How the least divided place in America feels about Trump's return”, in Financial Review, archived from the original on 2024-04-09:

let's go, Brandon
let's go, Brandon#English

(Internet slang, US politics) Initialism of let's go, Brandon.


thalamegos

Borrowed from Ancient Greek θᾰλᾰμηγός (thălămēgós).

bor+

(historical) A state barge fitted with cabins, on the Nile


Quaker gun

Quaker guns (plural)
quaker gun (alternative)

An allusion to the pacifism associated with practitioners of the Quaker religion.

"At all events, your honour, I will carry the quaker in," said Joyce, tossing the stuffed figure on a shoulder. "He do to man the quaker gun at least, and may be of use in frightening some one of the other side."

1843, James Fenimore Cooper, chapter 21, in Wyandotte:

The Quaker gun found there was consigned to the flames to-day, and in its stead heavy artillery, of the genuine sort, commands all the surrounding country.

1861 October 4, “The Great Rebellion”, in New York Times, retrieved 2011-10-30:

(chiefly US, idiomatic, military, weaponry) A nonfunctional imitation of a gun or of a piece of artillery, typically made of wood and usually intended to deceive enemy forces into overestimating one's available firepower.


adrogate

en-verb

adrogate (third-person singular simple present adrogates, present participle adrogating, simple past and past participle adrogated)

adrogates (present singular third-person)
adrogating (participle present)
adrogated (participle past)
adrogated (past)

There were certain sacred rites (sacra gentilitia) which belonged to a gens, to the observance of which all the members of a gens, as such, were bound, whether they were members by birth, adoption, or adrogation. A person was freed from the observance of such sacra, and lost the privileges connected with his gentile rites, when he lost his gens, that is, when he was adrogated, adopted, or even emancipated; for adrogation, adoption, and emancipation were accompanied by a diminutio capitis.

1848, G[eorge] L[ong], “GENS”, in William Smith, editor, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, 2nd improved and enlarged edition, London: Taylor, Walton, and Maberly, Upper Gower Street; and Ivy Lane, Paternoster Row; John Murray, Albemarle Street, →OCLC, page 568, column 2:

(transitive, Ancient Rome, law, historical) To adopt (a free citizen).


Argean

en-adj

Argean (comparative more Argean, superlative most Argean)

more Argean (comparative)
most Argean (superlative)

(Greek mythology) Alternative form of Argoan (“of or pertaining to the mythical ship Argo.”)


CCP

On August 23 at Wuhan’s first Red Guard rally, Governor Chang T’i-hsueh, who was also second secretary of the Central Committee of the Hupei CCP, presided.¹⁵ Two days later the Wuhan CCP convened a rally of middle school Red Guards, while the Federation of Trade Unions convened a meeting of workers who supported the Red Guards.

1971, Deborah S. Davis, “The Cultural Revolution in Wuhan”, in The Cultural Revolution in the Provinces, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, pages 151–152:

By late August 1920, Chen established the first branch of the CCP, in Shanghai, comprising seven members.

1988, Stephen Uhalley, Jr., A History of the Chinese Communist Party, Hoover Institution Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 16:

The intelligentsia’s comments on the CCP were in many respects different from their critique of the KMT. Intellectuals in the KMT areas were naturally more familiar with the policies and performance of the Government than those of the CCP. Second, since they felt that the Government was in large measure responsible for the existing political situation, and that it still possessed the power to reform itself and end the war, they concentrated their efforts on the Government in the hope of compelling such action from it. By contrast, the CCP was relegated to the position of an opposition party which had yet to occupy any position of national power. This treatment of the CCP may have owed as much to the political restrictions under which the liberal press was operating as to the political biases of the liberals themselves. Nevertheless, their critique of the CCP, while admittedly based on less than ample information, gives the impression of having been made in good faith and was in all respects consistent with their fundamental ideological commitments.

1999, Suzanne Pepper, “The Intelligentsia's Critique of the Chinese Communists”, in Civil War in China: The Political Struggle 1945-1949, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 200:

In 1935 the CCP's defeated army retreated to Yen-an in the northern part of Shanhsi Province. This retreat was called the Long March, during which tens of thousands of marchers died.

2000, George C. Y. Wang, Taiwan (World Conflicts and Confrontations), volume 3, Salem Press, Inc., →ISBN, page 662:

Wang said that Beijing successfully backed several pro-China politicians, who won seats in the 2018 local elections. He added the CCP desperately wants to stop Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) from being re-elected.
Wang also disclosed details about CCP's plans to take over Hong Kong and Australia, reported Liberty Times.

2019, Ching-Tse Cheng, “Chinese spy confirms China's involvement in Taiwan 2020 election”, in Taiwan News:

Beijing uses a combination of threat and inducement to pressure governments, elites, corporations, think tanks, and others – often in an opaque manner – to toe the CCP line and censor free expression.

2020, “United States Strategic Approach to the People’s Republic of China”, in whitehouse.gov, archived from the original on 2020-05-22, page 4:

Jiang died of leukemia and multiple organ failure, Xinhua added.
The politician, who was born in the eastern town of Yangzhou in 1926, was appointed secretary-general of the CCP in 1989.

2022 November 30, “Former Chinese president Jiang Zemin dies aged 96”, in EFE, archived from the original on 2023-02-13:

In 1950, it moved to Fengshan after Chengdu fell into the hands of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government relocated to Taiwan.

2023 March 19, Nien-han Liao, “Whampoa academy arguments redundant”, in Taipei Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-03-21, Editorials, page 8:

Chinese Communist Party
w:Chinese Communist Party

Initialism of Chinese Communist Party. (Communist Party of China)


vexillary

From Latin vexillarius: compare French vexillaire.

In letters like to those the vexillary / Hast left crag-carven o'er the streaming Gelt— […]

1874, Alfred Tennyson, “Gareth and Lynette”, in Idylls of the King (The Works of Alfred Tennyson; V), cabinet edition, London: Henry S. King & Co., […], →OCLC, page 84:

(Ancient Rome) A standard-bearer of a vexillum.


Etrurian

A native or inhabitant of ancient Etruria.


Know-Nothingism

(historical) The doctrines, principles, or practices of the Know-Nothings.


fetialis

fetiales (plural)
fecialis (alternative)
fetial (alternative)
fecial (alternative)

This was the mode in which Roman treaties were made, the fecialis praying Jupiter to punish the infringer of the treaty as he did the animal, which he instantly dispatched with a flint stone.

1843, Thomas Dudley Fosbroke, “Heraldick Matters”, in Encyclopaedia of Antiquities and Elements of Archaeology, Classical and Mediaeval, volume 2, London, page 765:

[...] but when the theatre of war became more distant, the fetialis, consul, or praetor, contented himself with hurling his lance from a pillar near the temple of Bellona in the direction of the hostile territory, while the declaration of war itself was made by the military commander of the province through an ambassador.

1874, Theodore D. Woolsey, Introduction to the Study of International Law, 4th edition, New York: Scribner, Armstrong & Co., page 196:

Fetiales also investigated allies' claims of abuse by Romans; if substantiated, the fetiales delivered the men accused to the injured parties.

2016, Amanda J. Coles, “Ius Fetiale”, in Sara E[lise] Phang, Iain Spence, Douglas Kelly, Peter Londey, editors, Conflict in Ancient Greece and Rome: The Definitive Political, Social, and Military Encyclopedia, volumes 3 (H–Z, Roman Section), Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, page 973, column 2:

(Ancient Rome, politics, religion, historical) A fetial.


haikal

The central chapel of the three forming the sanctuary of a Coptic church. It contains the high altar, and is usually closed by an embroidered curtain.


Know-Nothing

Party members claimed to know nothing about the party when questioned.

The legacy of the Know-Nothings lived beyond its life as an organization. The seeds of bigotry, fear and hatred bore fruit again in the years after the Civil War.[…]
The First World War led to another outbreak of nativism. A new group, adopting the program of the Know-Nothings and the name of the Ku Klux Klan, came into being, denouncing everything its members disliked—Negroes, Catholics, Jews, evolutionists, religious liberals, internationalists, pacifists—in the name of true Americanism and of “Nordic superiority.”

1964, John F. Kennedy, “Immigration Policy”, in A Nation of Immigrants, Revised and Enlarged edition, Harper & Row, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 71:

(historical) A member of a secret antiforeigner political organization in the nineteenth-century United States.


interdictum

(historical, Ancient Rome) A prohibition: a legal order issued by a praetor (or, in the provinces, a proconsul) at the request of a claimant and addressed to another person, imposing a requirement either to do something or to abstain from doing something.


dicast

From Ancient Greek δικαστής (dikastḗs, “judge”).


harmost

From Ancient Greek ἁρμοστής (harmostḗs). See harmony.

(Ancient Greece) A governor or ruler appointed by the Spartans in the cities they subjugated.


Vaishnavism

From Sanskrit वैष्णव (vaiṣṇava, “related to Vishnu”) + -ism.

suffix

A branch of Hinduism focusing on the worship of Vishnu.

বৈষ্ণব

a branch of Hinduism focusing on the worship of Vishnu


onerosity

From onerous + -ity, from Latin onerositas.

It may be presumed to be a necessary ingredient in onerosity, that the obligation to be fulfilled is a legal one.

1845, John Hill Burton, The Law of Bankruptcy, Insolvency, and Mercantile Sequestration, in Scotland, W. Tait, page 145:

(Scots law) The legal state of affairs resulting from being done or given in return for receipt of something of value.


psephisma

From Latin psēphisma, and its source, Ancient Greek ψήφισμα (psḗphisma).

The ruin of the antient democracies was, that they ruled […] by occasional decrees, psephismata.

1790, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France:


Vedanta

Borrowed from Sanskrit वेदान्त (vedānta).

A Hindu system of philosophy concerned with the self-realisation by which one comes to understand the ultimate nature of reality, or Brahman.


Vulcanian

Directly from Latin Vulcāniānus or from Latin Vulcānius + -an within English, from Vulcānus + -iānus (“-ian”) or -ius (“-y: forming adjectives”). In reference to a type or stage of volcanic activity, via Italian Vulcaniano, with specific reference to Giuseppe Mercalli's observations of the 1888–90 eruptions of the Aeolian island Vulcano. Equivalent to Vulcan + -ian. Doublet of volcanian. Compare slightly earlier Middle French vulcanien.

...Nor cou'd Vulcanian Flame
The Stench abolish; or the Savour tame...

1697, John Dryden translating Vergil as Georgics, Book III, in The Works of Virgil, p. 121

(Roman mythology) Of, related to, or created by Vulcan, the Roman god of fire and metalwork, considered equivalent to the Greek Hephaestus and several German and Celtic gods.

Yet Muto, like a good Vulcanian,
An honest Cuckold, calls the bastard sonne,
And brags of that which others for him done.

1598, John Marston, “Certaine Satyres”, in The Metamorphosis of Pigmalions Image..., page 41:

(rare, obsolete) Alternative letter-case form of vulcanian, a cuckold.

In his six lectures on Volcanos, [Faujas] exhausted the subject, and showed us the difference of the several systems, the Vulcanian, the Neptunian, and the Huttonian, which is the Plutonian, and his own opinion.

1803, Stephen Weston, Praise of Paris, page 58:

The Vulcanian or Plutonian theory, which ascribes the changes on earth's surface to the agency of fire.

1870, Ebenezer Cobham Brewer, Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, page 939:

(geology, now rare, archaic) Alternative letter-case form of vulcanian, volcanic, of or related to volcanoes and volcanism.

(historical) Of or related to former theories attributing the origin of basalt and other crystalline minerals to subterranean fires.

Just as we have the ‘Plinian’ or ‘Vesuvian’ eruptions of Vesuvius accompanied by violent outbursts of ‘ashes’ and welling out of lava, and the incessant, milder ‘Strombolian’ type of eruption, so we may distinguish a ‘Vulcanian’ type.

Of or related to volcanic eruptions or phases of a volcanic eruption when repeated explosions produce a thick ash cloud.

Solinus reports it of the Vulcanian Hill in Sicily, that they which offered Sacrifice upon it, never put fire to it, but expected it should be kindled from Heaven.

1642, Ralph Cudworth, A Discourse Concerning the True Notion of the Lords Supper, page 66:

(astronomy) Of or related to the proposed planet Vulcan or a cluster of asteroids at the same location in the Solar System.


dickgirl

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


Pegasean

en-adj

Pegasean (comparative more Pegasean, superlative most Pegasean)

more Pegasean (comparative)
most Pegasean (superlative)

Deſcend from Heav'n Urania, by that name / If rightly thou art call'd, whoſe Voice divine / Following, above th' Olympian Hill I ſoare, / Above the flight of Pegaſean wing.

1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 1–4:

(Greek mythology) Of or pertaining to the mythical winged horse Pegasus.


Ancient Egypt

(historical) A civilization that existed in the valley of the Nile River from c. 3150 BCE to 30 BCE.


American Civil War

A war fought in the United States between 1861 and 1865, between the Northern states (Union) and Southern states (Confederacy).

美國內戰 /美国内战

civil war in the United States (1861-1865)


thranite

thranites (plural)
thranitae (alternative)

From Ancient Greek θρανίτης (thranítēs), from θρᾶνος (thrânos, “bench”).

(historical, Ancient Greece) One of the rowers on the topmost of the three benches in a trireme. They were usually the best rowers.


septemvir

en-noun

septemvir (plural septemvirs or septemviri)

(Ancient Rome) A member of a septemvirate; one of seven people associated in some office.


wokou

From Mandarin 倭寇 (wōkòu, “Japanese pirates”).

(historical) Pirates of a mixture of ethnicities who raided the coastlines of China and Korea from the 13th to 16th centuries.


quadragintireme

As to the Quadragintiremes, or vessels usually described as having forty ranks or tiers of oars, we cannot reconcile the report to our understandings, except by supposing them nothing more than galleys fitted with as many oars in each rank.

1799, The Naval Chronicle, volume 1, page 132:

(nautical, historical) A vessel with 40 rows of oars.


Hero

(Greek mythology) Any of a number of legendary men and women, including the priestess loved by Leander.


Astraea

Translingual: Astraea

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek Ἀστραῖα (Astraîa, literally “star maiden”)

lbor

(Greek mythology) The Greek goddess of stars and justice; similar to Dike, equivalent to the Roman goddess Justitia.


Parthenope

From Latin Parthenopē, from Ancient Greek Παρθενόπη (Parthenópē, from παρθένος (parthénos, “virgin, virginal”) + ὄψ (óps, “voice”)).

der

(Greek mythology) One of the sirens, daughter of the god Achelous and the Muse Terpsichore.

(astronomy) 11 Parthenope, a main belt asteroid.


Egeria

On the heroine of his play he dwelt with the passionate fondness of a lover: there the real mingled with the ideal: could he write of love, and not think of Ethel Churchill? She was the Egeria of his heart, who taught him all the truth of tenderness.

1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “A London Life”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 165:

(Roman mythology) A nymph or minor goddess from Roman mythology.


Eunomia

From Ancient Greek Εὐνομία (Eunomía, “Order of Law, Good Order”).


Fortuna

(Roman mythology) The Roman goddess of luck, fortune and fate, equivalent to the Greek goddess Tyche.


Bellona

But time will teach the Russ, ev'n conquering War
Has handmaid arts: aye, aye, the Russ will woo
All sciences that speed Bellona's car,
All murder's tactic arts, and win them too […]

1831, Thomas Campbell, The Power of Russia:

(Roman mythology) Roman goddess of war, wife or sister of Mars. Equivalent to the Greek goddess Enyo.


Amphitrite

From Ancient Greek Ἀμφιτρίτη (Amphitrítē).

(Greek mythology) A nymph, the wife of Poseidon.


Leukothea

From Ancient Greek Λευκοθέα; "white goddess".

(Greek mythology) A nymph or minor sea goddess of Greek mythology.


Fides

(Roman mythology) Roman goddess of trust and loyalty. Her Greek equivalent was Pistis.


Wilsonian

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

(US politics) Of or relating to US politician Woodrow Wilson or his policies.

(UK politics) Of or relating to British politician Harold Wilson or his policies.


Wilsonianism

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

An approach to foreign policy typical of US president Woodrow Wilson, characterized by the spread of capitalist democracy and an emphasis on openness, conflict resolution, and the self-determination of peoples.


Trophonian

en-adj

Trophonian (comparative more Trophonian, superlative most Trophonian)

more Trophonian (comparative)
most Trophonian (superlative)

Trophonian den

Of or pertaining to Trophonius, a mythological figure of Ancient Greece, said to have built the temple of Apollo at Delphi and the treasury of King Hyrieus in Boeotia.


Salii

From Latin Salii (“the Leapers, the Jumpers”), from salīre (“to leap, to jump”).

bor

(historical) The 12 priests of Mars Gradivus in Ancient Rome.


Lotophagi

Latin, from Ancient Greek Λωτοφάγος (Lōtophágos).

(Greek mythology) The lotus eaters; a people visited by Ulysses who subsisted on the lotus.