Tantalus

From Latin Tantalus, from Ancient Greek Τάνταλος (Tántalos). Doublet of tantalus.

(Greek mythology) A Phrygian king who was condemned to remain in Tartarus, chin-deep in water, with fruit-laden branches hanging above his head; whenever he tried to drink or eat, the water and fruit receded out of reach.


Aesculapius

Learned borrowing from Latin Aesculāpius.

lbor

(Roman mythology) The god of medicine and healing. Greek counterpart: Asclepius.


balteus

Borrowed from Latin balteus (“belt, girdle”).

bor+

(Ancient Rome) A swordbelt worn by Roman legionaries.


Christmas tree bill

en-noun

Christmas tree bill (plural Christmas tree bills)

(idiomatic, US politics) A bill consisting of many riders that attracts many, often unrelated, floor amendments, which may provide special benefits to various groups or interests.


doughface

(derogatory) A person, especially a politician, who is perceived to be pliable or moldable.

In particular, in the antebellum United States, a Northerner who espoused sympathies with the Southern Slave Power, especially a Northern Democrat who was more allied with the ideology of Southern Democrats than that of the majority of Northerners.


netroots

(politics, US politics) Grassroots political activism on the internet, especially on blogs.


Eos

From Ancient Greek Ἠώς (Ēṓs, “Greek goddess of the dawn”), from ἠώς (ēṓs, “dawn, daybreak; morning; day; east”). Doublet of Aurora.

der

(Greek mythology) The Greek goddess of the dawn; daughter of Hyperion and Theia, sister of Helios and Selene, wife of Astraeus (god of the dusk), and mother of the four Anemoi ("Winds"), and the five Astra Planeta ("Wandering Stars/Planets"). Her Roman counterpart is Aurora.


King Cotton

/ˌkɪŋˈkɒtn̩/

(obsolete) A personification of the cotton production of the southern United States.


Anubis

From Latin Anūbis, from Ancient Greek Ἄνουβις (Ánoubis), from Egyptian jnpw, i-n:p-w-E16

(Egyptian mythology) In the mythology of ancient Egypt, the god of the dead and tombs, commonly depicted with the head of a jackal.


optimate

From Latin optimātēs, masculine plural form of optimās (“best, noblest”).

The elaboration of her sateen costume (somewhat dirty and torn now) showed that she was an optimate.

1980, Gene Wolfe, chapter XII, in The Shadow of the Torturer (The Book of the New Sun; 1), New York: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 112:

Over the same decade, the upper stratum of Visigothic society, the optimates gradually lost their influence.

2011, Norman Davies, Vanished Kingdoms, Penguin, published 2012, page 23:

(historical) A member of the patrician ruling class in republican Ancient Rome; an aristocrat, a noble.


Nixon

From Nick + -son, an alteration of Nickson, originally a patronymic meaning "son of Nicholas".

Nickson (alternative)
Nixson (alternative)

An English surname transferred from the given name.

Richard Nixon, 37th President of the United States of America

A township in DeWitt County, Illinois, United States, named after early settlers George, William and Morris Nixon.

census-designated place
census-designated place

A census-designated place in Washoe County, Nevada, United States, named in honor of George S. Nixon, Nevada senator.


sloka meter

(poetry, Hinduism) A Sanskrit meter consisting of two lines of sixteen syllables each.


firefox

Calque of Finnish tulikettu or Finnish tulirepo.

A mythical creature in Finnish folklore, a fox with fiery or radiant fur, the reflection of which produces the northern lights.


jodi

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *yewg-
Proto-Indo-European *-tós
Proto-Indo-European *yugtós
Sanskrit युक्त (yukta)
Prakrit 𑀚𑀼𑀢𑁆𑀢 (jutta)
Proto-Indo-European *-yeti
Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti
Sanskrit -अयति (-ayati)
Prakrit -𑀏𑀇 (-ei)
Prakrit 𑀚𑁄𑀟𑁂𑀇 (joḍei)
Prakrit 𑀚𑁄𑀟 (joḍa)
Hindi जोड़ी (joṛī)bor.
English jodi
Borrowed from Hindi जोड़ी (joṛī) or Marathi जोडी (joḍī); possibly through Bollywood.

etymon

Just over five years after coming together at the top of the Indian lineup, they already boast among the greatest-ever numbers for an opening partnership in the format. Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma, to many, in particular in India, are the ‘Jodi No. 1’ of the 2010s...

2019 January 30, “‘Jodi No. 1’: Dhawan’s Special Post for ‘Partner in Crime’ Rohit”, in The Quint:

For the last seven years, they have been projected as India’s political jodi number one.

2021 May 6, Rajdeep Sardesai, “A political and policy blow to the Centre”, in Hindustan Times :


Qapla'

/q͡χɑpʰˈlɑʔ/

success (n) Qapla'

1985, Marc Okrand, The Klingon Dictionary, Pocket Books, →ISBN, pages 103, 155:

It is hoped that this report . . . will help lead to the reconciliation of the two governments. Qapla'.

1996, Marc Okrand, The Klingon Way: A Warrior's Guide, Pocket Books, →ISBN, page x:

Maltz, we are honored to still be your students. Qapla'.

1997, Marc Okrand, Klingon for the Galactic Traveler, Pocket Books,, →ISBN, page 5:

Qapla!

2000, Brian Proffitt, Add Red Hat Linux 7 to your Windows desktop in a weekend, Prima Tech,, →ISBN, page 133:

Tina shrugged her shoulders, nodding helplessly. She was beat. “Qapla!” she said, grinning back at Leigh. / “Success!” Leigh laughed, translating the word from the alien Klingon language[…]

2000, Jacqueline Guest, Rookie Season, James Lorimer & Company,, →ISBN, page 5:

“Well, in that case, good luck and—er—Qapla'.”

2003, L. A. Graf et al., Day Of Honor: The bestselling Klingon™ saga—complete in one volume!:

Thank you for all the years of patiently being there, especially on those dark and stormy nights when things detonated unexpectedly and I needed rescuing yet again. Qapla'!

2004, Jacqueline Guest, Racing Fear, James Lorimer & Company, 5

2004, Trey Parker, Matt Stone, and Pam Brady, Team America: World Police, Paramount Pictures
Sean Penn: Qapla’!

Go forth and hack, Qapla!

2005 October 19-21, Andrew Chalmers, “Hurd is where I hide.”, AUUGN 2005: Conference Proceedings, Sydney, page 145

Unable to resist a sudden temptation, he threw out his arm in a Klingon salute. / “Qapla’!” / He vanished into the photo on his phone.

2009, Greg Cox, The 4400: Welcome to Promise City, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 187:

A phrase said to wish fortune on someone, particularly fortune in some form of honourable battle.


exarch

Borrowed from Ecclesiastical Latin exarchus.

(historical) In the Byzantine Empire, a governor of a distant province.


Coptic

The Afroasiatic language traditionally spoken by the Copts in Egypt, now extinct and used only as a liturgical language.


Wu

Romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 吳 /吴 (Wú). Doublet of O.

(historical) Suzhou, a city in southern Jiangsu province in China, whence:

(historical) A county of imperial and Republican China around Suzhou.

The finest private gardens were built in Suzhou, a graceful old city with a network of canals and a cultured ambiance. It was founded in the sixth century B.C. as the capital of the kingdom of Wu and flourished as a center of trade and scholarship under successive dynasties.

1984 June 3, Christopher S. Wren, “WHERE THE CHINESE GARDEN BLOOMS”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2015-05-24, Travel:

A historic and cultural region of China around the mouth of the Yangtze River, whence:

(historical) The kingdom ruled by the Ji family from Wuxi and then Suzhou during the Spring and Autumn period of China's Zhou dynasty.

I deeply regretted having to miss seeing Hsing-ping, a very old town built by the ruler of the Wu Kingdom in the Three Kingdoms period of the third century.

1977, Yee Chiang, “Kuei-lin and Yang-shuo”, in China Revisited, New York: W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 155:

(historical) The kingdom ruled by the Sun family from Ezhou and Nanjing during the Three Kingdoms interregnum following China's Han dynasty.


Wu

Romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 巫 (Wū or Wú, “shaman, sorceror, witch”).

der

A river in Hunan, China, a tributary of the Yuan.


Wu

Romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 㵲 (Wǔ).


cross-bench

cross-benches (plural)
crossbench (alternative)

(UK politics) A bench placed perpendicular to others, especially certain such benches in the House of Lords on which independent or neutral members traditionally sit.


cross-bench

en-adj

cross-bench (comparative more cross-bench, superlative most cross-bench)

more cross-bench (comparative)
most cross-bench (superlative)
crossbench (alternative)

(UK politics) Of or pertaining to the cross-benches in the UK houses of parliament.


boogaloo

en-noun

boogaloo (countable and uncountable, plural boogaloos)

/ˈbuːɡəˌluː/

/ˌbuːɡəˈluː/

Attested as a style of dance since at least January 1966 (and found in the titles of many songs around that time), perhaps from boogie (for the ending, compare crackaloo, hullabaloo). (Compare Spanish bugalú, the Spanish name for the style of music and dance.) Kent Harris used the stage name "Boogaloo" in the 1950s. The sense "sequel or repetition" refers to the title of Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo (1984), a sequel which was considered to be so bad it became a cult classic. Compare the sense "black person" to boogalee, a term for a Cajun, attested since 1960 or earlier.

Today, boogaloo has seeped out of the gaming community and found fertile ground in militant fringe movements. That includes anarchists and others on the far left. But it's especially popular among right-wing militias and self-described patriot groups.

2020 January 10, Hannah Allam, “'Boogaloo' Is The New Far-Right Slang For Civil War”, in NPR:

This month, the party involved itself once again with the boogaloo movement, when Cohen spoke at a gun rights rally co-hosted by a self-described “boogaloo boy” in Richmond, Virginia. Cohen used his speech to argue relaxing gun laws could end police violence.

2020 August 23, Adam Gabbatt, “The Libertarian party was up and coming in 2016. What happened?”, in The Guardian:

(Internet slang, US politics) A hypothetical second American Civil War, in which far-right or antigovernment activists rise up against the government.


beam up

en-verb

beam up (third-person singular simple present beams up, present participle beaming up, simple past and past participle beamed up)

beams up (present singular third-person)
beaming up (participle present)
beamed up (participle past)
beamed up (past)

(science fiction, transitive) To teleport (someone or something) using a (fictional) device, especially from the surface of a planet to an orbiting starship.


ostmark

German Democratic Republic
German Democratic Republic

(historical) The currency unit of the former German Democratic Republic (aka GDR, DDR, East Germany) until 1990, abbreviated DDM.


Maia

(Greek mythology) Daughter of Atlas and mother of Hermes.

(Roman mythology) The goddess of growth after whom the month May (Latin maius) was named.


backwoodsman

(informal, UK politics) A Peer who is seldom present in the House of Lords of the United Kingdom Parliament, who may be encouraged to attend when a very important vote is expected.


conquistador

en-noun

conquistador (plural conquistadors or conquistadores)

conquistadors (plural)
conquistadores (plural)

A conqueror, but especially one of the Spanish soldiers that invaded Central and South America otherwise known as the doorways to the new world, in the 16th century and defeated the Incas and Aztecs.


programma

Borrowed from Ancient Greek πρόγραμμα (prógramma). Doublet of program.

(obsolete, historical, Ancient Greece) Any law, which, after it had passed the Athenian senate, was fixed on a tablet for public inspection before being proposed to the general assembly of the people.


consulship

consulship (countable and uncountable, plural consulships)

The office of a consul, in its various senses.


UDF

United Democratic Front (Kerala)
w:United Democratic Front (Kerala)

(Indian politics) Initialism of United Democratic Front (Kerala)


Bolshevism

Bolshevism (countable and uncountable, plural Bolshevisms)

Bolshevisms (plural)
bolshevism (alternative)

/ˈbɑlʃəˌvɪzəm/

Borrowed from Russian большеви́зм (bolʹševízm, “Bolshevism”), from большинство (bolʹšinstvo, “majority, most”) (referring to the fact that the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party won on the majority of the important issues at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in 1903) + -и́зм (-ízm, “-ism”, suffix forming the names of systems, schools of thought or theories based on the names of their subjects or objects). большинство is derived from большо́й (bolʹšój, “great, large”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bel-) + -ство (-stvo, suffix forming a neuter noun, usually an abstract noun denoting a relation, social status, scientific discipline, quality or state) (from Proto-Slavic *-ьstvo (suffix forming nouns denoting a condition or state)).

der

The split between the two trends of Bolshevism issued from questions of a very practical nature. [Alexander] Bogdanov and his group condemned participation in parliamentary, "bourgeois" politics. [Vladimir] Lenin, on the other hand, set the struggle for political power as the main task of the party. He was not occupied with creating and implanting an idea of the future of socialism; he thought of this more as a development to be expected from the period following the revolution. Instead he was preparing the organizational and political-intellectual grounds for a revolution that would be capable of overthrowing tsarism.

2015, Tamás Krausz, “Organization and Revolution”, in Bálint Bethlenfalvy, Mario Fenyo, transl., Reconstructing Lenin: An Intellectual Biography, New York, N.Y.: Monthly Review Press, →ISBN, page 127:

The strategy used by the Bolsheviks in attempting to gain power in Russia.

We of this generation owe it to the countless dead, to the peoples now living, to our children and children's children not to let the present situation go by without attempting in good faith to establish among those nations that will tolerate neither Kaiserism nor Bolshevism such a form of international court and police power as will have for its purpose the ringing out of an age of war and the ringing in of an age of peace.

1919, J[oseph] A[lfred] A[rner] Burnquist, Inaugural Message of Gov. J. A. A. Burnquist to the Legislature of Minnesota, [Minn.]: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 4:

Let me ask you then, first, to consider what Bolshevism really is. Well, politically it is the usurpation of power over the whole by a small section of the community. […] The fundamental idea or principle of Bolshevism is that the proletariat, that is to say the lowest stratum of society, the most ignorant, the least educated, should be the basis of the State, should in fact absolutely control the State. Instead of the principle announced in the Declaration of Independence—that all men are created free and equal, Bolshevism proceeds upon the principle that only the proletariat has any rights or should enjoy any freedom; all other classes of the community are anathema.

1919 April 6, Randolph H. McKim, The Peril of Bolshevism and the Duty of America: A Sermon Delivered in the Church of the Epiphany, Washington, D.C., on Sunday, April 6, 1919 by the Rector, Washington, D.C.: Vestry of the Church of the Epiphany, →OCLC, page 4:

You can never tell to what length of devilry men will go when, setting out to see justice done, they give rein to the spirit of vindictiveness and are bent only on revenge and reprisals. The results may be terrible when the Simeons and Levis of society take law and justice into their own hands. Often it has worked out into grossest inhumanity and vilest bolshevism.

[1923], Thomas Tully, “Simeon and Levi—Evil Confederates”, in The Sons of Jacob and Their Tribal Blessings: Character Studies: A Series of Sunday Afternoon Addresses, London: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC, page 32:

The task of educating the workers and all toilers in the spirit of proletarian internationalism is one of the fundamental tasks of every Communist Party. But whoever thinks that this permits him, or even compels him, to sneer at all the national sentiments of the broad toiling masses is far from genuine Bolshevism, and has understood nothing of the teaching of [Vladimir] Lenin and [Joseph] Stalin on the national question.

1935 September, Georgi Dimitroff (reporter), “United Front of the Working Class against Fascism”, in Working Class Unity—Bulwark against Fascism: The Fascist Offensive and the Tasks of the Communist International in the Fight for the Unity of the Working Class against Fascism: Seventh World Congress of the Communist International: Report, New York, N.Y.: Workers Library Publishers, →OCLC, pages 79–80:

Important for our purposes is the recognition that the proletariat could be seduced from its historic mission, at least for significant periods of time, by controlled propaganda and capitalist blandishments. The conviction, conjoined with Lenin's elitism, produced a fateful compound: Bolshevism.

1974, A[nthony] James Gregor, “The Twentieth Century and the Crisis of Classical Marxism”, in The Fascist Persuasion in Radical Politics, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, →ISBN, page 127:

[…] Stalin was never able to monopolise Marxism, and the same deficiencies in theory which facilitate the claim of Stalinism to be a Marxism, allowed alternatives – even other Bolshevisms – to become subversive doctrines in relation to the reality of Stalinist power.

1992, M[ichael] C[harles] Howard, J[ohn] E[dward] King, “The Political Economy of Stalin”, in A History of Marxian Economics, volumes II (1929–1990), Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, →ISBN, page 40:

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

The Communist political ideology adopted by the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; Marxism-Leninism.


FSB

From Russian ФСБ (FSB), initialism of Федеральная Служба Безопасности (Federalʹnaja Služba Bezopasnosti, “Federal Security Service”).

Possible victims included Roman Tsepov, Putin’s bodyguard in 1990s St Petersburg, who died after drinking tea in 2004 at a local FSB office.

2020 August 20, Luke Harding, “Alexei Navalny and the long history of poisoned Kremlin critics”, in The Guardian:

(initialism, Russia, politics, espionage, law enforcement) The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation.


tetradrachm

tetradrachms (plural)
tetradrachma (alternative)
tetradrachmon (alternative)

/ˈtɛtɹədɹæm/

From Ancient Greek τετράδραχμον (tetrádrakhmon). See tetra- (“four”).

uder

τετράδραχμον

(historical, numismatics) A silver coin in Ancient Greece, equivalent to four drachms.

Alexander the Great
Heracles
Temnos
Zeus


Wizard of Oz

The name of a character from the 1900 book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, or any of its adaptations, about the journey of Dorothy through the magical Land of Oz in search of a way home.

The goal of Neimo is to provide designers with a "Wizard of Oz" environment to observe and evaluate how users interact with multimodal interfaces.

1992, Wayne D. Gray, William E. Hefley, Dianne Murray, “NEIMO, A MULTIMODAL WIZARD OF OZ PLATFORM”, in Proceedings of the 1993 International Workshop on ..., page 204:

Once a preliminary application design is complete, a wizard-of-oz study can help test and refine the interface.

2006, E. K. Brown, Anne Anderson, Encyclopedia of Language & Linguistics, volume 11, page 769:

A Wizard of Oz prototype is an incomplete system that a designer can simulate "behind a curtain" (usually by taking the place of a recognizer) while observing the reactions of real end users (see Figure 1).

2007, Proceedings of the ACM Symposium on User Interface Software ..., page 119:

(engineering, social sciences, usually attributive) A person simulating the operation of a supposed intelligent device, usually in an experiment.


boll weevil

As the veteran columnist John Chamberlain put it back in 1982, the ATARI Democrats ‘include many of the Southern “boll weevil” contingent that has supported Reagan on taxes, [and]^([sic]) is for using government to channel investment money to the newer “high tech” industries.

2019, Richard Carr, quoting John Chamberlain, March of the Moderates […] , Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN:

(US politics, informal, dated) A conservative Southern Democrat.


Cerberus

From Latin Cerberus, from Ancient Greek Κέρβερος (Kérberos), of unknown origin.

(Greek mythology) The giant three-headed dog who guards the entrance to Hades; and one of the many offspring of Echidna and Typhon.


BSP

Bahujan Samaj Party
w:Bahujan Samaj Party

(Indian politics) Initialism of Bahujan Samaj Party, a political party.


Olympian

en-adj

Olympian (not generally comparable, comparative more Olympian, superlative most Olympian)

more Olympian (comparative)
most Olympian (superlative)

From Late Middle English Olympyan, from Latin Olympius (“of or relating to Mount Olympus”) and its etymon Ancient Greek Ὀλῠ́μπῐος (Olŭ́mpĭos, “of or relating to Mount Olympus; living on Mount Olympus; Olympian”) + English -an (suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘of or pertaining to’, or forming agent nouns). Ὀλῠ́μπῐος (Olŭ́mpĭos) is derived from Ὄλῠμπος (Ólŭmpos, “Mount Olympus”) (from Pre-Greek) + -ῐος (-ĭos, suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘of or pertaining to’).

affix

Namely, the Olympian Iove, to whom Antiochus [IV Epiphanes] conſecrated the Temple of God, 2 Mac[cabees] 6.2. and ſo he placed him, as it were, in Gods own cittadell, ver. 31. […] [T]he ſaid Olympian Iove was an Athenian Idoll, and not a Syrian one: which was Antiochus his native Country.

1648, John Diodati [i.e., Giovanni Diodati], “Annotations upon Daniel”, in R. G., transl., Pious and Learned Annotations upon the Holy Bible: Plainly Expounding the Most Difficult Places thereof: […], 2nd edition, London: […] Miles Flesher, for Nicholas Fussell, →OCLC, page 611, column 2:

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:

Twelve Days were paſt, and now the dawning Light / The Gods had ſummon'd to th' Olympian Height.

1715, Homer, translated by Alexander Pope, “Book I”, in The Iliad of Homer, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC, page 30, lines 640–641:

When the great pow'r that e'en the gods commands, / Who ſends the bolts from his [Jupiter's] almighty hands, / Summon'd th' immortals, who obey'd his call, / He thus addreſs'd them in th' olympian hall.

1740, Hesiod, “The Theogony, or the Generation of the Gods”, in [Thomas] Cooke, transl., The Works of Hesiod Translated from the Greek, 2nd edition, London: […] John Wilson for John Wood and Ch. Woodward, […], →OCLC, page 170, lines 603–606:

[O]ther light / Though it be quick and sharp enough to blight / The Olympian eagle's vision, is dark, / Dark as the parentage of chaos.

1818, John Keats, “Book II”, in Endymion: A Poetic Romance, London: […] T[homas] Miller, […] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, page 96, lines 912–915:

[…] Hetty was quite uneducated—a simple farmer's girl, to whom a gentleman with a white hand was dazzling as an Olympian god.

1859, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “Hetty’s World”, in Adam Bede […], volume I, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book first, pages 184–185:

(not comparable) Of or relating to Mount Olympus, the highest mountain in Greece; or (Greek mythology) the Greek gods and goddesses who were believed to live there.

божествен

of or relating to the Greek gods and goddesses believed to live on Mount Olympus


Olympian

Pauſanias's account is related pretty faithfully there, if we except two errors, one, that Arcas an Olympian mixed ſome Hippomanes with the brazen ſtatue, the other that he caſt a mare. […] We do not find in the author's Latin, that Arcas the Olympian mixed ſome Hippomanes, &c.

1741, [Pierre] Bayle, “A Dissertation Concerning the Hippomanes”, in John Peter Bernard, Thomas Birch, John Lockman, et al., transl., A General Dictionary, Historical and Critical: […], volume X, London: […] James Bettenham, for G[eorge] Strahan, J. Clarke, […], →OCLC, page 361:

Midas longed for gold, and insulted the Olympians. He got gold, so that whatsoever he touched became gold—and he, with his long ears, was little the better for it.

1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “Morrison’s Pill”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book I (Proem), page 15:

(Greek mythology) Any of the 12 principal gods and goddesses of the Greek pantheon (Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Ares, Hermes, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Demeter, and Hades); (specifically) preceded by the: Zeus, the supreme ruler of the Greek deities.

olympolainen

any of the 12 principal gods and goddesses of the Greek pantheon


the die is cast

/ðə ˌdaɪ ɪz ˈkɑːst/

Calque of Latin iacta ālea est, a grammatically, and thereby semantically, incorrect translation by the Roman historian Suetonius (c. 69 – p. 122 C.E.) in his work Vīta Dīvī Iūlī (On the Life of the Caesars, 121 C.E.) of the Ancient Greek ἀνερρίφθω κύβος (anerrhíphthō kúbos), which was said to have been spoken by Julius Caesar (100 – 44 B.C.E.) when he crossed the Rubicon to irreversibly begin a civil war in the Roman Republic (see cross the Rubicon).
Caesar was quoting from the comedy Ἀρρηφόρῳ (Arrhēphórōi, The Bearer of Ritual Objects) by the dramatist Menander (c. 342 or 341 – c. 290 B.C.E.). The Greek phrase is more accurately translated as “let the die be cast” (meaning “let the game be played” and implying “let us proceed irreversibly”), and refers a game of chance in which the outcome is determined by the throwing of dice or a single die.

noncog

ἀνερρίφθω κύβος

nb...

With an English Translation by Bernadotte Perrin.

lang

Ἑλληνιστὶ πρὸς τοὺς παρόντας ἐκβοήσας, ‘Ἀνερρίφθω κύβος,’ διεβίβαζε τὸν στρατόν.

Δειπνοσοφισταί

Δειπνοσοφισταί

Δεδογμένον τὸ πρᾶγμ’ · ἀνερρίφθω κύβος

Δεδογμένον τὸ πρᾶγμ’ · ἀνερρίφθω κύβος

nb...

par Athénéé, Traduit, tant sur les Textes imprimés, que sur plusieurs Manuscrits, par M. Lefebvre de Villebrune.

Is the die caſt, muſt / At this one throvv all thou haſt gaind be loſt? / The VVorlds a Lott'ry; He that dravves may vvin: / VVho nothing ventur's, looks for nothing;[…]

[1634, H. H., “[Dedication by H. H.]”, in T[homas] H[erbert], A Relation of Some Yeares Trauaile, Begunne Anno 1626. into Afrique and the Greater Asia, […], London: […] William Stansby, and Jacob Bloome, →OCLC:

The die is cast. I cannot go back. I must get ready. Will you see me to the station?

1879, George Meredith, “At the Railway Station”, in The Egoist: A Comedy in Narrative. […], volume II, London: C[harles] Kegan Paul & Co., […], →OCLC, page 188:

you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube

(idiomatic) Conclusive action has been taken, so events will proceed in an irreversible manner; the point of no return has been passed; the future is determined; there are no more options.

Athenaeus
Bernadotte Perrin
Harvard University Press
Julius Caesar
Loeb Classical Library
Menander
On the Life of the Caesars
Suetonius

سبق السيف العذل

conclusive action has been taken, so events will proceed in an irreversible manner

木已成舟 (mùyǐchéngzhōu, literally “the wood has already been made into a boat”)


Blairism

(UK politics) The political ideology attributed to the governments of British Prime Minister Tony Blair


Brownism

(UK politics) The political ideology of former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.


Brownite

Brownites (plural)
Broonite (alternative)

From Brown + -ite, from the surname of Gordon Brown, British Prime Minister 2007-2010.

(UK politics, informal) A supporter of Gordon Brown, or his economic or political policies


Brownite

(UK politics) Of, or relating to Brownites, or Gordon Brown's government and policies.


ludus

"[…] and I'd just as soon not set foot in another ludus." "I've had my fill of ludi, believe me," he mutters. "But I've falsified a life before. I can do it again." Then he smiles. "I hear Rome is lovely." I wrinkle my nose . " I'd rather live in Pompeii's sewer[…]"

2016 November 6, Ann Gallagher, The Left Hand of Calvus: M/M Trans Historical Romantic Suspence, GallagherWitt, →ISBN:

(historical, Ancient Rome) A school, in particular:

A school, in particular:
A gladiatorial training school.

[…] the routine of the Roman ludus emphasized strenuous discipline and corporal punishment. An institution for developing the skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic, the ludus was attended by children from the ages of seven through twelve.

1994 December 14, Gerald L. Gutek, A History of the Western Educational Experience: Second Edition, Waveland Press, →ISBN, page 63:

A private school for teaching children reading, writing, arithmetic, and sometimes Greek.


Sunyavadi

en-noun

Sunyavadi (plural Sunyavadis or Sunyavadi)

(colloquial, derogatory, Hindu, India, religious slur) A Buddhist, Taoist, or other impersonal worshipper.


ithyphallic

en-adj

ithyphallic (comparative more ithyphallic, superlative most ithyphallic)

more ithyphallic (comparative)
most ithyphallic (superlative)

/ˌɪθɪˈfælɪk/

/ˌɪθɪˈfælɪk/

Borrowed from Late Latin ithyphallicus, from Ancient Greek ἰθυφαλλικός (ithuphallikós), from ῑ̓θῠ́φαλλος (īthŭ́phallos, “phallus carried in festivals of Bacchus; ode sung in honour of the phallus; dance accompanying such an ode; dancer performing such a dance”) + -ῐκός (-ĭkós, suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘of or pertaining to’). ῑ̓θῠ́φαλλος is derived from ἰθῠ́ς (ithŭ́s) (variant of εὐθῠ́ς (euthŭ́s, “straight”)) + φαλλός (phallós, “penis; image of a penis, phallus”). The English word can be analysed as ithyphallus + -ic.
As regards the noun, compare Latin ithyphallicum (“poem with the same metre as the hymns to Priapus”).

refn

From the collection of the Museum of London in London, England, UK.

cog

The title ΣΟΤΗΡ ΚΟΣΜΟΥ upon the composite priapic figure published by La Chausse is well known; and it is probable that the ithyphallic ceremonies, which the gross flattery of the degenerate Greeks sometimes employed to honor the Macedonian princes, had the same meaning as this title of Saviour, which was frequently conferred upon, or assumed by them.

1822 June, R. P. Knight, “An Inquiry into the Symbolical Language of Ancient Art and Mythology”, in The Classical Journal, volume XXV, number L, London: Printed by A[braham] J[ohn] Valpy, […]; sold by Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown [et al.], →OCLC, part VI, paragraph 138, page 243:

In late classical and Hellenistic times the theatre could be the site of a prolonged and climactic performance by phallic choruses: Hyperides mentions the ithyphalloi dancing in the orchestra and Semos' account of both ithyphalloi and phallophoroi focuses on the moment that the choruses enter the theatre. But the ithyphalloi remained primarily processional and non-theatrical, as is clear from Demochares' account of the ithyphallic procession to meet Demetrius the Besieger.

2013, Eric Csapo, “Comedy and the Pompe: Dionysian Genre-crossing”, in E[mmanuela] Bakola, L[ucia] Prauscello, M[ario] Telò, editors, Greek Comedy and the Discourse of Genres, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, pages 67–68:

(historical, Ancient Rome) Of or pertaining to the erect phallus that was carried in bacchic processions.

Ithyphallic verse, which, because it consists of one periodic order, ought to have all pure trochees, and admits no other foot, except a tribrach, […] and that scarcely in the last place, because the rhythm ought to be more remiss at the end, is used chiefly by lyric poets in place of an epode.

1830, [Johann Gottfried Jakob] Hermann, “Of Ithyphallic Verse”, in John Seager, transl., Hermann’s Elements of the Doctrine of Metres, Abridged and Translated into English, London: Printed by A[braham] J[ohn] Valpy, […]; sold by Longman & Co. [et al.], →OCLC, § 131, page 29:

Archilochus and other writers of epodes frequently use the ithyphallic in distich composition, and in asynartete verses as the closing rhythm. The ithyphallic occurs sometimes in the beginning, or middle, […]

1844, Edward Munk [i.e., Eduard Munk], “Rhythms, the Fundamental Foot of which is Tripletimed; the Double or Trochaic-Iambic Class”, in Charles Beck, C[ornelius] C[onway] Felton, transl., The Metres of the Greeks and Romans. A Manual for Schools and Private Study. Translated from the German, Boston, Mass.: James Munroe and Company, →OCLC, part II (The Application of the Laws of Rhythm to Poetry by the Greeks and Romans), section I (Simple Rhythms), page 70:

(specifically) Of a poem or song: having the metre of an ode sung in honour of the bacchic phallus.


Mordred

Alteration of Modred, from Latin Modredus, from Proto-Brythonic *Modrọd (whence Old Breton Modrot, Old Cornish Modred, Old Welsh Medraut), perhaps from Latin Moderātus.

(Arthurian legend) The illegitimate son of King Arthur, who ultimately killed him in battle.

莫德雷德

in Arthurian legend, the son of King Arthur


Laestrygonian

From Ancient Greek Λαιστρυγόνες (Laistrugónes).

bor

Λαιστρυγόνες

1900, (translated by) George Herbert Palmer, The Odyssey of Homer, Houghton, Mifflin and Company
Before town they met a maiden drawing water, the stately daughter of the Laestrygonian Antiphades.

(Greek mythology) A member of a mythical Greek tribe of man-eating giants.


Laestrygonian

Λαιστρυγόνες

(Greek mythology) Of or relating to that tribe.


yuga

yugas (plural)
yug (alternative)
Yuga (alternative)

From Sanskrit युग (yuga). Doublet of yoke.

To Biardeau the linear nature of the declining dharma and the cyclical nature of the yugas make an unhappy marriage, and she ultimately rejects the idea of a true correspondence or rapport between the appearance of Vișņu as avatāra and the yuga cycle.

1991, Deborah A. Soifer, The Myths of Narasimha and Vamana: Two Avatars in Cosmological Perspective, page 147:

There is, you will note, a pattern of decreased duration in the yugas. Moving from the Krta Yuga, the yuga closest to primordial perfection, each progressive yuga grows shorter and shorter, as chaos and decrepitude increase in prominence.

1998, Sean M. O'Shea, Meryl A. Walker, The Millennium Myth: The Ever-Ending Story, page 39:

To explain further, there are four ages or millenniums called yugas. The duration of Satya-yuga is 1,728,000 years. The duration of Treta-yuga is 1,296,000 years. The duration of Dvapara-yuga is 864,000 years. The duration of Kali-yuga, the present age, is 432,000 years, and began around 5,000 years ago. These four yugas make one cycle, and one thousand cycles equal one day of Brahma, after which there is a partial annihilation of the universe during Brahma's night. Lord Brahma lives for 100 years, 360 days in each year.

2005, Stephen Knapp, The Heart of Hinduism: The Eastern Path to Freedom, Empowerment and Illumination, pages 386, 489:

(Hinduism) In Hindu theology, a period of a few hundred or thousand years, or an epoch or era within a cycle of four ages: the Satya Yuga (or Krita Yuga), the Dvapara Yuga, the Treta Yuga and finally the Kali Yuga, with lengths ranging from 432,000 to 1,728,000 years.


Dreamtime

A false calque of Eastern Arrernte Altyerrenge (“the Dreaming”), based on the incorrect assumption that the word is related to altyerre (“a dream”) or altyerre areme (“to dream”). "-time" is an addition unrooted in Aboriginal language.

calque

Dream Time (alternative)
Dream-time (alternative)
dreamtime (alternative)

No, Brian Elliott's hobby-horse is not the Jindyworobaks' political links—it is his conviction that they are to be remembered and well respected for their awareness of Aboriginal myth and legend and for their understanding and symbolic poetical use of the alcheringa concept (the Dreamtime myth of the creation of geological Australia and its flora and fauna with the related religious and moral connotations of site-worship and animism) .

The tall slender birds were performing a legendary fight in the Dreamtime story – one that the old law had marked on them forever with a wattle of flaming red skin on the back of their heads.

2013, Alexis Wright, The Swan Book, Constable (2016), page 101:

(Australian Aboriginal mythology) The time of the creation of the world, by the ancestors out of their own essence.

time of creation of the world in Australian mythology

夢幻時光 /梦幻时光 (mènghuàn shíguāng) (no equivalent exists; lit. "fantasy time")


Ida

(Greek mythology) Name of two sacred mountains situated in present-day Turkey and Crete, also called Mount Ida.


Tito

Josip Broz Tito, a Yugoslav revolutionary and politician.


War on Terror

A list obtained and partially verified by the AP cites the names of more than 10,000 Uyghurs sent to prison in just Konasheher county alone, one of dozens in southern Xinjiang. In recent years, China has waged a brutal crackdown on the Uyghurs, a largely Muslim minority, which it has described as a war on terror.

2022 May 16, Huizhong Wu, Drake Kang, “Uyghur country in China has highest prison rate in the world”, in AP News, archived from the original on 2022-05-16:

War on Terrorism
War on Terrorism#English


War on Terrorism

(US) An ongoing campaign by the United States (and some of its allies) the stated aim of which is to counter international terrorism, but especially to counter al-Qaeda and other militant Muslim groups.

反恐戰爭 /反恐战争

ongoing campaign by the US and its allies


tetartemorion

From Ancient Greek τεταρτημόριον (tetartēmórion).

der

τεταρτημόριον

(historical) A silver coin minted in Ancient Greece, valued at 1/4 of an obolus.


Tir

Transliteration of Old Armenian Տիր (Tir), which is related to the Persian month name.

translit

(Armenian mythology) A scribe/writer god, in Hellenistic times identified with the Greek Apollo.


CPI

Communist Party of India
w:Communist Party of India

(Indian politics) Initialism of Communist Party of India, a political party.


Dido

(Greek mythology) Founder and first Queen of Carthage.


muckraker

John Bunyan
The Pilgrim's Progress
Theodore Roosevelt
muckraker

From muck + raker. Believed to have been coined following a 1906 speech by United States President Theodore Roosevelt, in which he likened the investigative journalist to ‘the Man with the Muck-rake’, a character in John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress.

"Oh, in many ways. There are two classes of people who are not welcomed on the Canal Zone—magazine writers and applicants for positions who have political influence back of them. The former are regarded as muckrakers, the latter as spies."

"Lady," says he, "the goil's nutty! You got a bughouse patient on your bands! This here talk about the white-slave traffic, ma'am… it's all the work o' these magazine muckrakers!"

en:Progressive-Era justice-seeker in 1890s-1920s span

(US, historical) One of a group of American investigative reporters, novelists and critics of the Progressive Era (the 1890s to the 1920s).


Maui

From Hawaiian Maui, probably a contraction of Māui (a Hawaiian trickster god); or borrowed from Maori Māui.

(Polynesian mythology) Alternative spelling of Māui


Maui

A barangay of Delfin Albano, Isabela, Philippines.

A barangay of Caramoran, Catanduanes, Philippines.


Élysée

The official residence of the President of France.


Reichstag

Borrowed from German Reichstag (“imperial parliament”).


Gilead

Another wrote: "Just to clarify women who chose not to take their husband's surname or have children with a partner they are not married to will be subject to increased border measures. This is what freedom looks like under a Tory government? Straight out of Gilead."

2018 August 3, Nicola Oakley, Emma Gill, “Parents with different surnames to their kids face questioning at UK airports on family holidays”, in Mirror (UK):

On Tuesday, the ACLU filed an official complaint with Meijer Pharmacy’s CEO for an incident that’s straight out of Gilead.

2018 October 18, Elura Nanos, “‘Good Catholic’ Pharmacist Doesn’t Know Difference Between Miscarriage and Abortion, But He’ll Learn in Court”, in Law & Crime:

"But people often don't understand these things. The same thing would apply, I think, when it comes to feminism, for example: people saying things about women or having views that they shouldn't have. It doesn't mean they're misogynist or straight out of Gilead."

2019 December 22, Barry Egan, quoting Leo Varadkar, “'He makes me laugh. He could get a job writing Christmas cracker jokes'”, in Independent:

(derogatory) An illiberal and oppressive place, especially on matters related to women's rights, reproduction, or sex (from the theocratic dystopia in Margaret Atwood's novel The Handmaid's Tale).


Parti Quebecois

(Canadian politics) A provincial political party in Quebec, Canada, with the central goal of some form of political independence or sovereignty for Quebec.


Bloc Québécois

the Bloc Québécois (canonical)
Bloc Quebecois (alternative)

From Canadian French Bloc québécois, from bloc (“block”) + québécois (“Quebec [adj.]”).

(Canadian politics) A Canadian federal political party, with the goal of sovereignty for Quebec.


SV

S.V. (alternative)
S. V. (alternative)
S.V. (alternative)
S. V. (alternative)
S/V (alternative)
Sv (alternative)
Sv. (alternative)
SV. (alternative)

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
w:Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

(fandom slang) Initialism of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.


Enrolled Bill

(US politics) Legislation that has been passed by both houses of Congress, signed by their presiding officers, and sent to the President for signature.


New Democratic Party

A Canadian social-democratic political party which fields candidates in both federal and provincial elections.


NDP

Larry Daley, president of the Newfoundland Federation of Labor, said today that while labor will support and endorse the NDP, many candidates will not be associated with trade unions.

1959 August 4, “Labor Law Vital Issue Confronting Smallwood”, in The Globe and Mail, Toronto, →ISSN, page 15:

Newfoundland Democratic Party
w:Newfoundland Democratic Party

(Canadian politics, historical) Initialism of Newfoundland Democratic Party.

But it was decided that a member of the Federal Parliament could not be president or associate president of the party. A NDP member elected in such party office would, however, be entitled to complete his parliamentary term.

1961 August 4, “Delegates Reject Full-Time Treasurer”, in The Globe and Mail, Toronto, →ISSN, page 9:

Mr. Green agreed that the Columbia River treaty was indeed a problem. He said that the Liberals and the NDP both wanted re-negotiation.

1962 July 17, Willis C. Armstrong, “Telegram from the Embassy in Canada to the Department of State”, in Charles S. Sampson, James E. Miller, editors, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961–1963, volumes 13, West Europe and Canada, Washington: US Government Publishing Office, published 1994, →ISBN, page 1188:

New Democratic Party
New Democratic Party#English

(Canada) Initialism of New Democratic Party.


NDPer

"What's not to like?" the NDPer asks. "He talks about the environment and social justice like he's motivated about them."

2007, Glenn Wheeler, “NDP's stealth threat”, in NOW, Toronto, vol 26 no 12, 23-29 Nov:

Langen, who has been volunteering on NDPer Keith Bellamy's council campaign in Daniel McIntyre, said he got a call from a local union asking for a top-tier campaign manager willing to kick May's campaign into high gear.

2010 October 14, Mary Agnes Welch, “NDP calls in top organizer: St. Norbert ward is ‘in play’”, in Winnipeg Free Press, page B4:

New Democratic Party
New Democratic Party

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


jnana

en-noun

jnana (countable and uncountable, plural jnanas)

jnanas (plural)
gnana (alternative)
gyan (alternative)
jñāna (alternative)

/dʒəˈnɑː.nə/

From Sanskrit ज्ञान (jñāna, “knowledge”).

1969, Swami Rāmānandasarasvatī, The Hindu Ideal, Sri Ramananda Centenary Memorial Committee, page 291,
The dualists, Sri Vaishnavas in particular, seem to entertain a strong opinion that Bhakti alone is the cause of Moksha, and that Jnana is but a step towards Bhakti.

1986, The Vedanta Kesari, Ramakrishna Math, page 316,
The knower of Atman realizes Him by Jnana Yoga (the path of knowledge).

Jnana is a direct knowing of things as they really are.

2004, M. G. Chitkara, Vedic Religious Tradition, APH Publishing Corporation, page 375:

(Hinduism) The knowledge, acquired through meditation, that one's self (atman) is identical with Ultimate Reality (Brahman).


raita

From the Hindi idiom रायता फैलाना (rāytā phailānā), which means to "spill the raita" or "make a mess".

(India, derogatory, politics, online slang) A Hindu who does not support Hindutva, a liberal Hindu, especially (highly derogatory) as considered a traitor to India or race traitor towards Indians.


regio

Learned borrowing from Latin regiō. Doublet of region.

The British School has unearthed a city of continuous houses, more than 400 feet long by 350 broad, whose many blocks or "insul[ae]" might seem almost to need the more elaborate grouping of the "regiones" of Pompeii.

1907, Ronald M. Burrows, The Discoveries In Crete, page 27:


framer

the Framers of the Constitution

In a real sense, US democracy has died this month. It doesn’t mean it’s dead for the long term but at this moment the idea of an accountable representative system, as the framers of the constitution wrote it, is no longer present.

2025 February 7, David Smith, quoting Lawrence R. Jacobs, “‘In a real sense, US democracy has died’: how Trump is emulating Hungary’s Orbán”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(historical, US politics, sometimes capitalized, usually in the plural) Any of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention that drafted the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights.


kalpa

From Sanskrit कल्प (kalpa, literally “formation”).

bor

(Hinduism, Buddhism) A period of 4.32 billion years (1000 chatur-yugas or cycles of the four yugas).


Aborigines

Learned borrowing from Latin aborīginēs, which see for more.

(Roman mythology) The earliest inhabitants of central Italy, from whom the Latins were said to have descended.

aborígines

the earliest inhabitants of central Italy


comfort woman

Calque from Japanese 慰(い)安(あん)婦(ふ) (ianfu).

She carefully watches the efforts of Koreans who are suing Japan to get reparations for the comfort women. It was only in 1993 that Japan formally recognized its involvement in the forced prostitution.

1995 September 10, Jane H. Lii, “The Memories of a Comfort Woman”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(idiomatic, historical, euphemistic) A woman forced, or supposedly recruited, into brothels by the Japanese occupation forces before or during World War II.

일본군 성노예(日本軍性奴隸) (ilbon'gun seongnoye, literally “sex slave to Japanese troops”)


nobilissimus

Changing my manner somewhat, I began with gentle censure of the Nobilissimus.

1979. Michael Psellus. Fourteen Byzantine Rulers..., p. 146

A senior title of nobility conferred on members of the Roman and Byzantine imperial families.


Kalevala

The mythical location where the heroes of Kalevala live.

Kalevalsky District
Kalevalsky District#English

Republic of Karelia
Republic of Karelia#English

An urban-type settlement, the administrative capital of the Kalevalsky District, Republic of Karelia, in northwestern Russia; also historically known as Uhtua.


bigly

en-adj

bigly (comparative more bigly, superlative most bigly)

more bigly (comparative)
most bigly (superlative)
biglie (alternative)
bygly (alternative)

From Middle English bygly, biglie, byggly (“comfortable, stately, perfect”), borrowed from Old Norse byggiligr, byggviligr (“habitable”); equivalent to big (“to build, construct, live in, reside, dwell”) + -ly. Cognate with Icelandic byggilegur (“inhabitable, liveable”).

cog

"And steek it weel, thy biglie bower, / And by the rood thee sain; / And tell thy bedes in haly guise, / Till this ae night is gane!"

1806, Robert Jamieson, “Donul and Evir”, in Robert Jamieson, editor, Popular Ballads and Songs, from Tradition, Manuscripts, and Scarce Editions; with Translations of Similar Pieces from the Ancient Danish Language, and a Few Originals by the Editor, volume I, Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable and Co. Edinburgh; Cadell and Davies, and John Murray, London, →OCLC, page 235:

When I was in my bigly bower, / I wore but what I would; / This night I'm lighter 'mang Willie's horse feet, / I fear I'll die for cold.

1828, Peter Buchan, “Burd Helen”, in Ancient Ballads and Songs of the North of Scotland, hitherto Unpublished. With Explanatory Notes, by Peter Buchan, Corresponding Member of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, volume II, Edinburgh: Printed for W[illiam] & D[avid] Laing, and J. Stevenson [et al.], →OCLC, page 35:

(Scotland, now obsolete elsewhere) Habitable, liveable; hence delightful, pleasant, pleasing.


Pandarus

(Greek mythology) An archer on the side of Troy in the Trojan War who precipitated the war by breaking a truce.


duplicando

(Scots law) Alternative form of duplicand


Hermione

From the Ancient Greek Ἑρμῐόνη (Hermĭónē). Not related to German Hermine.

(Greek mythology) Daughter of Helen and Menelaus, wife of Orestes.


Laverna

(Roman mythology) A goddess of thieves and impostors.


kausia

He had even been known to go out and about dressed in ancient Macedonian style to mimic his hero – the flat kausia hat and the crepidae shoes.

2019, Alex Gough, Emperor’s Knife (The Imperial Assassin; 2), London: Canelo, published 2022, →ISBN:

(historical) A flat hat used in the ancient kingdom of Macedonia.


Rus

en-proper noun

Rus (countable and uncountable, plural Rus)

Rus (plural)
Rus' (alternative)
Rūs (alternative)

Earlier form Russ from German Russe etc., from Old East Slavic Русь (Rusĭ). More recent use influenced by Russian Русь (Rusʹ), from Old East Slavic Русь (Rusĭ). Use with macron was probably influenced by the transliteration of Arabic رُوس (rūs).
Compare Russ, Russian, Russie, Russniak, Rusyn, Ruthenian.
Also compare Swedish Ryss, Dutch Rus, German Russe, French Russe, Byzantine Greek Ῥῶς (Rhôs), Russian Русь (Rusʹ), Belarusian Русь (Rusʹ), Ukrainian Русь (Rusʹ). Also compare Russian ру́сский (rússkij, “Ethnic Russian, of Rus”), россия́нин (rossijánin, “Russian national”), Росси́я (Rossíja, “Russia”).
See further Etymology of Rus and derivatives.

Ռուսիա

any of the medieval East Slavic principalities

Kievan Rus', the medieval East Slavic state established by these same warrior merchants in the 9th century, whose capital was in Kiev.

(poetic) The nation of Russia, especially in a transcendent or romantic sense referring to the history and culture of the country.


Tom Sawyer

The verb is a reference to the title character of the novel.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, a popular 1876 novel by Mark Twain about a young boy growing up in the Antebellum South on the Mississippi River.


self-criticism

[ˌsɛlfˈkɹɪɾəˌsɪzəm]

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

to commit self-criticism

... commit self - criticism and allow other people to criticize him . If we do all these things , then there is hope and there is a future for Marxism . The most important thing is consistency . If you make a promise you must keep it[…]

1991, Edward A. Gargan, China's Fate: A People's Turbulent Struggle with Reform and Repression, 1980-1990, Doubleday Books:

(communism, Juche) a practice of confessing and criticizing one's real or imagined transgressions in public settings, especially in East Asia.


Mazandaran

Borrowed from Persian مازندران (mâzandarân, literally “the gate or the valley of the giants”).

bor

(Iranian mythology) A land mentioned in Shahnameh and Avesta.


astricted

en-adj

astricted (comparative more astricted, superlative most astricted)

more astricted (comparative)
most astricted (superlative)

(Scots law, historical, of land) From which corn must be sent to a particular mill, paying multure or thirlage on it.


logothete

From Medieval Latin logotheta, from Ancient Greek λογοθέτης (logothétēs, “auditor of accounts”), from λόγος (lógos, “account”) + stem of τιθέναι (tithénai, “set”) + -της (-tēs) agent suffix.

der

Bardas rode to the imperial pavilion, where he seated himself next to his nephew and listened with every show of attention while one of the Logothetes read out the morning report.

1997, John Julius Norwich, A Short History of Byzantium, Penguin, published 1998, page 149:

(historical) Any of various state officials or functionaries in the Byzantine Empire.

լոգոթետ

any of various state officials or functionaries in the Byzantine Empire


pollard

From poll (“head, scalp”) + -ard. The coin sense derives from the original penny's uncrowned obverse bust, as opposed to the laurel-wreathed form appearing on the rosary. The verb derives from the noun.

The enclosure was indeed little beyond that of a good-sized paddock – its boundaries were visible on every side – but swelling uplands, covered with massy foliage sloped down to its wild irregular turf soil – soil poor for pasturage, but pleasant to the eye; with dell and dingle, bosks of fantastic pollards – dotted oaks of vast growth – here and there a weird hollow thorn-tree – patches of fern and gorse.

1857, Pisistratus Caxton [pseudonym; Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter I, in What will He Do with It? (Collection of British Authors; CCCCVII), Tauchnitz edition, volume I, Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, →OCLC, book II, page 140:

Only a little pollard hedge kept us from their blood-shot eyes.

1869, Richard Doddridge Blackmore, “Chapter 65”, in Lorna Doone:

Nothing was to be seen save flat meadows, cows feeding unconcernedly for the most part, and silvery pollard willows motionless in the warm sunlight.

1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 98:

And at this place there was a long, straight causeway, with two long rows of pollard willows, one upon either hand.

1903, Howard Pyle, The Story of King Arthur and His Knights, Part III, Chapter Third, page 116

(often attributive) A pruned tree; the wood of such trees.

Squalius cephalus
Squalius cephalus#Translingual

Leuciscus cephalus
Leuciscus cephalus#Translingual

(obsolete, rare) A European chub (Squalius cephalus, syn. Leuciscus cephalus), a kind of fish.

(now Australia) A fine grade of bran including some flour. The fine cell layer between bran layers and endosperm, used for animal feed.

(numismatics, historical) A 13th-century European coin minted as a debased counterfeit of the sterling silver penny of Edward I of England, at first legally accepted as a halfpenny and then outlawed.


pollard

en-verb

pollard (third-person singular simple present pollards, present participle pollarding, simple past and past participle pollarded)

pollards (present singular third-person)
pollarding (participle present)
pollarded (participle past)
pollarded (past)

I didn't know one could pollard elms. I thought one only pollarded willows.

1910, Edward Morgan Forster, chapter 11, in Howards End:

As well as coppicing, other trees were pollarded, or lopped about 6 ft up the trunk so that the resulting growth was beyond the reach of grazing animals. Pollarding lengthens the life of trees, and the frequently made estimate '1,000 years old' could well be true of some sturdy old trunks.

1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 118:

Cutting back to the same position annually is usually referred to as pollarding; cutting nearly to the ground is usually called stooling. Both are good methods of controlling height and maintaining vigor on plants that would normally grow to a large size.

2011, Edward F. Gilman, An Illustrated Guide to Pruning, 3rd edition, Clifton Park, N.Y.: Delmar, Cengage Learning, →ISBN, page 411:

I walked up the path, passing under a heavily pollarded oak.

2019, Ian McEwan, Machines Like Me, Jonathan Cape, page 287:

(horticulture) To prune a tree heavily, cutting branches back to the trunk, so that it produces dense new growth.


remembrancer

In one respect at least the Corporation acts as the superior body: it imposes on the House of Commons a figure called the remembrancer: an official lobbyist who sits behind the Speaker's chair and ensures that, whatever our elected representatives might think, the City's rights and privileges are protected.

[2011 October 31, George Monbiot, “The medieval, unaccountable Corporation of London is ripe for protest”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

City of London Corporation
City of London Corporation

(UK politics) Alternative letter-case form of Remembrancer: an official of the City of London Corporation.


Remembrancer

(UK politics) Any of several former officials in the Court of Exchequer.

“Thank you. Tuesday evening, in four days’ time, Daedra West hosts a gathering, the venue yet to be announced. Possibly one of the guildhalls. Her guest list, so far, is interesting.” She looked at Lev. “The Remembrancer himself may be there. Lesser faces from the City.[…]

2014, William Gibson, The Peripheral, G. P. Putnam's Sons, →ISBN, page 222:

In particular, Harkaway told him about the unelected offices of the Lord Mayor and the City Remembrancer, who can be mistaken for figureheads but, in fact, have extensive powers.

2014 November 16, Ned Beauman, “William Gibson: ‘We always think of ourselves as the cream of creation’”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(UK politics) A similar official of the City of London Corporation.


Dione

en-proper noun

Dione (countable and uncountable, plural Diones)

From Latin Diōnē (“of Jupiter”), from Ancient Greek Διώνη (Diṓnē, “of Zeus”).

(Greek mythology) Mother of Aphrodite, and possibly the same as the goddess Rhea.


Reagan

Audio (US)

Anglicized from Irish Gaelic Ó Riagáin "descendant of Riagán", a personal name possibly derived from ríodhgach "impulsive, furious".

Regan (alternative)
Riggen (alternative)

Of the administration of Ronald Reagan, U.S. President from 1981–1989.

When a rival meatpacker filed an antitrust lawsuit to block the deal, the Reagan administration intervened on the side of Cargill.

2022 January 15, Binyamin Appelbaum, “Building a Better Meatpacking Industry”, in The New York Times:

A male given name transferred from the surname, of occasional usage.

A female given name transferred from the surname, of 1970s and later American usage.


heritor

heritors (plural)
heretor (alternative)
heritour (alternative)

Compare Latin herator, from Latin heres (“an heir”).

The printed statement reads (abridged in parts):—
"To the Interested HERITORS in the Counties of Mid-Lothian, Roxburgh, Selkirk, and Berwick. […]

1951 February, Michael Robbins, “Sir Walter Scott and Two Early Railway Schemes”, in Railway Magazine, page 87:

(Scots law) A proprietor or landholder in a parish.


ostruble

(historical) A former currency of Germany and Lithuania in the 1910s and 1920s.


Confederate States of America

the Confederate States of America (canonical)

United States of America
United States of America

(historical) An unrecognized nation existing from 1861–1865, consisting of the eleven Southern states who sought independence from the United States of America over the issue of slavery.


lectica

From Latin lectica (“litter”), from lectus (“bed, couch”) + -ica (“forming related nouns”), q.v.

(historical) A kind of Roman litter, typically with bedding, curtains, and four legs.


terce

en-noun

terce (countable and uncountable, plural terces)

Late Middle English, from Old French terce, from Latin tertia (“third; the third hour”).

(Scots law) A widow's right, where she has no conventional provision, to a liferent of a third of the husband's heritable property.


Liber

(Roman mythology) A god of viticulture and wine, as well as male fertility and freedom.


Manassas

Μανασσας

city in the northeastern part of the state of Virginia in the United States

Prince William County
Prince William County#English

An independent city, the county seat of Prince William County, in northeastern Virginia, United States, known as Manassas Junction in the 19th century.

A minor city in Tattnall County, Georgia, United States.


Pandion

(Greek mythology) The name of two kings of Athens (Pandion I and Pandion II).


praetorian

/pɹɪˈtɔːɹiən/

From Middle English pretorian, from Latin praetōriānus.

pretorian (alternative)
prætorian (alternative)

praetorian guard: the bodyguard of the emperor in Ancient Rome

(Ancient Rome) Of or pertaining to a praetor.

The praetorian gate was directly in front of the general's tent, and nearest to the enemy.

(Ancient Rome) Of or pertaining to the pretorium in an ancient Roman camp.

praetorian guard

Hey, sir? Sir, excuse me?” The blonde was calling out to him, in imperious tones that insisted on a reply. Her satraps became watchful, like a Praetorian guard.

2001, Salman Rushdie, Fury: A Novel, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 4:

(Ancient Rome) Of or pertaining to the special bodyguard force used by Roman emperors.


praetorian

praetorians (plural)
pretorian (alternative)
prætorian (alternative)

/pɹɪˈtɔːɹiən/

I am so rich, I could have given bid for bid with the wealthiest Prætorians at the auction of the Roman empire (which was the world’s); and yet I owe for the flesh in the tongue I brag with.

1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 108, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

(Ancient Rome) A praetor; a person of praetorian rank.

Durry's work is still cited as the definitive study of the praetorians, and in fact most modern scholarship on the praetorians is based on material from his work.

2013, Sandra Bingham, The Praetorian Guard, I.B.Tauris, page 6:

(Ancient Rome) Alternative letter-case form of Praetorian (“member of a special bodyguard force used by Roman emperors”).


praetor

From Middle English pretour, pretor, from the Anglo-Norman pretour, pretore, the Middle French preteur (from the Old French pretor; compare the Modern French préteur), and their etymon, the Classical Latin praetor (“leader”, “commander”, “magistrate”); the Latin praetor being contracted from *praeitor (“one who goes before”), from praeeō (“I go before”), from prae (“before”) + eō (“I go”); compare the Italian pretore, the Portuguese pretor, and the Spanish pretor.

der

(history) The title designating a Roman administrative official whose role changed over time:

(originally) A consul in command of the army.

praetor peregrīnus
praetor peregrinus#Latin

(after 366 BC) An annually-elected curule magistrate, subordinate to the consuls in provincial administration, and who performed some of their duties; numbering initially only one, later two (either of the praetor urbānus (“urban praetor”) or the praetor peregrīnus (“peregrine praetor”)), and eventually eighteen.

(historical, translating Italian "pretore") The title of the chief magistrate, the mayor, and/or the podestà in Palermo, in Verona, and in various other parts of 17th- and 18th-century Italy.


GMA

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
w:Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

(Philippine politics) Initialism of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the 14th President of the Philippines


Clintonesque

en-adj

Clintonesque (comparative more Clintonesque, superlative most Clintonesque)

more Clintonesque (comparative)
most Clintonesque (superlative)

In a manner reminiscent of the style of politician and Bill's wife Hillary Clinton.


vexillation

A company of soldiers (especially in ancient Rome) grouped under the same flag.


C of E

Lasdun’s parents were Jews who converted to the C of E, and Nasreen’s communications quickly became virulently anti-semitic […]

2013, Nick Richardson, “Internet-Enabled”, in London Review of Books, volume 35, number 8:

Church of England
Church of England#English


simpliciter

From the Latin simpliciter (“simply”, “plainly”), from simplex (“simple”).

The charge was reduced from aggravated assault to assault simpliciter.

Paragraph 68, Public Prosecutor v CJH ([2022] SGHC 303)
Leaving aside this report, I make the general observation firstly that the CA has pointed out in PP v UI [2008] 4 SLR(R) 500 […] that rape simpliciter "is already ‘an inherently odious and reprehensible act’… that exacts ‘irretrievable physical, emotional and psychological scars on [the] victim’”[…]

(philosophy, law, originally chiefly Scots law, Canadian law) Simply, absolutely; without any qualification or condition.


appraising

(Scots law, historical) Alternative form of apprising


apprising

(Scots law, historical) The appraisal of the value of goods, land, etc., often in order to pay the debts of a deceased person.


mossback

From moss + back (in senses 1 (“person with old-fashioned views; one who is very conservative or reactionary”) and 2.3 (“fish that is large and old”) probably a variant of mossyback, which is attested earlier), alluding to someone or something that is so old or has remained so unmoving that it is as if moss has grown on them or it.
Sense 2.4 (“largemouth bass”) may refer to the back of the fish being a dark green colour.

(informal, historical) A person who stayed hidden to evade conscription (especially by the Confederate States Army) during the American Civil War (1861–1865); a mossyback.


gahmen

[ˈɡɑː˧.mən(˦)]

Variant pronunciation of government with second syllable omitted.

Without doubt, gahmen must medically subsidise the lowest 10% of the population.

2006 January 30, George Soros, “Should Singapore subsidise medical care?”, in soc.culture.malaysia (Usenet):

Pronunciation spelling
pronunciation spelling

(Manglish, Singlish, derogatory, politics) Pronunciation spelling of government.


Confucian

One who follows the teachings of Confucius.

confucià

one who follows the teachings of Confucius


pronoia

en-noun

pronoia (countable and uncountable, plural pronoiae or pronoiai or pronoias)

pronoiae (plural)
pronoiai (plural)
pronoias (plural)

Borrowed from Ancient Greek πρόνοιᾰ (prónoiă, “foreknowledge, foresight; providence; form of land grant”), from πρόνοος (prónoos, “careful, prudent”) + -ῐᾰ (-ĭă, suffix forming nouns). πρόνοος is derived from προ- (pro-, prefix indicating a coming forth) + νόος (nóos, “the mind; act of the mind”). The English word is cognate with Latin pronoea (“providence”).
The plural form pronoiae is probably a modification of Latin pronoeae, while pronoiai is from Ancient Greek πρόνοιαι (prónoiai).

der

Unlike fiefs, pronoiai were granted only by the emperor, and so they played no role in producing the subinfeudation and the hierarchical social and political structure characteristic of Western feudalism. Pronoia was a fiscal and administrative institution; the fief territorial and personal. The grant of a pronoia was primarily a grant of revenue expressed as a monetary sum (the posotes), not in terms of a quantity of property.

1992, Mark C. Bartusis, “Smallholding and Pronoia Soldiers and Their Financing”, in Ruth Mazo Karras, editor, The Late Byzantine Army: Arms and Society, 1204–1453 (The Middle Ages Series), Philadelphia, Pa.: University of Pennsylvania Press, →ISBN, part 2 (The Army as Institution), page 183:

By 1270 Michael VIII had issued charters to two monasteries in eastern Thessaly near the Gulf of Volos (Makrinitisa and Neopetra), showing he had acquired that region. From these years imperial grants of pronoias and of tax exemptions to various notables of east Thessaly begin appearing. Thus probably in 1267/68 the Byzantines regained some or all of Thessaly's east coast.

1987, John V[an] A[ntwerp] Fine, Jr., “The Second Half of the Thirteenth Century”, in The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, →ISBN, page 170:

The economic composition of the pronoia belonging to a heavy cavalryman in the fourteenth century, such as those who served in the mega allagion (regiment) of Thessalonike in the fourteenth century, is known to us from some of the praktika of pronoia holders that have survived. […] According to the praktikon, the revenue of the pronoiarios consisted of two parts. The first was the oikoumenon, that is, the sum of all the personal taxes paid to the pronoia holder by his paroikoi resident on the pronoia, depending on the means of production at the disposal of each paroikos. […] The second part consisted of secondary taxes and rights (e.g., on fishing, the ennomion, and the tax on flax-retting units), but above all of land, on which, theoretically, the full tax was payable[…].

2002, Nicolas Oikonomides, “The Role of the Byzantine State in the Economy”, in John Solman, transl., edited by Angeliki E. Laiou, The Economic History of Byzantium: From the Seventh through the Fifteenth Century, volume 3, Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, →ISBN, part 5 (Economic Institutions and the State), pages 1045–1046:

(historical, Byzantine Empire) An imperial grant to an individual of temporary fiscal rights in the form of land, incomes or taxes from land, fishing rights, etc., sometimes carrying with it an obligation of military service.


tricorder

The name of such a device in Star Trek, from tri- (referring to its three input keys, which by default cover geological, meteorological, and biological functions) + (re)corder

PLEASE TURN OFF ALL CELL PHONES AND TRICORDERS

1999-2003, Matt Groening, opening title screen from the start, in Futurama, FOX Television Network:

(fiction) A fictional futuristic handheld device used for scanning, which may be specialized for medical, technical, or other purposes.

(slang) A real-world advanced handheld medical scanner.


stoa

en-noun

stoa (plural stoae or stoæ or stoai or stoas)

stoae (plural)
stoæ (plural)
stoai (plural)
stoas (plural)

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek στοά (stoá).

lbor

They could not vote, attend the theater, or walk in the stoa talking philosophy.

1990, Camille Paglia, Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson:

In Ancient Greece, a walkway with a roof supported by colonnades, often with a wall on one side; specifically, the Great Hall in Athens.


Xanatos

(Greek mythology) Alternative spelling of Thanatos


annate

(Scots law) The half-year's stipend payable for the vacant half-year after the death of a parish minister, to which his family or nearest of kin have right under an act of 1672.


decennials

en-noun

decennials pl (normally plural, singular decennial)

(historical) Synonym of decennalia, the festivals and religious rituals held in the 10th year of a Roman emperor's reign.


Reaganism

Reaganism (countable and uncountable, plural Reaganisms)

(uncountable) The specific conservative ideology associated with the Reagan administration, 1981-1989.

(countable) A statement or position commonly associated with Ronald Reagan.


Discordia

(Roman mythology) The goddess of discord, confusion, and strife.


Purana

Borrowed from Sanskrit पुराण (purāṇá, literally “old, ancient”).

bor

(Hinduism) A text that is part of an ancient Indian genre of Hindu or Jain written literature, concerning various topics, including cosmogony and mythology.


sampradaya

Borrowed from Sanskrit सम्प्रदाय (sampradāya).

bor+

(Hinduism) Any of several Hindu sects or denominations


Pelasgian

From Ancient Greek Πελασγός (Pelasgós) + -ian, presumably based on a Pre-Greek ethnonym. Compare Egyptian pwrꜣsꜣtj, an ethnonym listed as one of the Sea Peoples attacking Egypt around 1190 BCE.

1869, Journal of the Ethnological Society of London, New Series, Volume 1, Ethnological Society of London, Trübner and Co. page 324,
Pelasgian, therefore, is regarded by him as convertible with Illyrian, and that with Gueg, subject to modifications of Tosk and relations therewith.

[…]Malte-Brun described Pelasgian as a primitive version of Greek, and distinguished it from Illyrian, which he regarded as a branch of the Thracian language.

2002, Noel Malcolm, “Myths of Albanian National Identity”, in Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers, Bernd Jürgen Fischer, editors, Albanian Identities, Indiana University Press, page 76:


knez

knezes (plural)
knezi (plural)
kniaz (alternative)
knyaz (alternative)

From Belarusian князь (knjazʹ) and Ukrainian князь (knjazʹ) (from Old Ruthenian кнѧзь (knjazʹ)) and Russian князь (knjazʹ); all from Old East Slavic кънѧзь (kŭnęzĭ), кнѧзь (knęzĭ), from Proto-Slavic *kъ̏nędzь (“prince”), from earlier *kъnęgъ, by consensus ultimately from Proto-Germanic *kuningaz (“king”). Doublet of cyning and king.

(historical) A leader of the Vlach (or Romanian) communities in the medieval Kingdom of Hungary.


mudra

The Kechari Mudra is accomplished by thrusting the tongue into the gullet, by turning it over itself, and keeping the eyesight in the middle.

1915 [14th century], Pancham Sinh., Hatha Yoga Pradipika, translation of original by Swami Swatmarama:

(Hinduism) Any of the formal body positions and postures used in yoga and meditation.


Fine Gael

/ˌfɪnə ˈɡeɪl/

From Irish Fine Gael (literally “family of Gaels”).

bor

Ireland’s ruling Fine Gael party and its longtime rival Fianna Fáil have moved closer to forming an unprecedented coalition government.

2020 April 14, Rory Carroll, “Ireland’s Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil close to forming coalition government”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

An Irish political party founded in the 1930s.


Hundred Years' War

A series of conflicts between France and England, lasting 116 years from 1337 to 1453.


Captain Kirk

From a character in Star Trek, 1960s science-fiction TV series.

1984, Nena, 99 Red Balloons (English version of 99 Luftballons from 1983).
Everyone's a superhero. Everyone's a Captain Kirk.

There may be times when he is undone by his genius and it is the emotion-rich perspective of a Captain Kirk that finally saves the day, but this is the "mystery of being human."

1999, Peter D. Hershock, Reinventing the Wheel: A Buddhist Response to the Information Age, page 90:

Whatever the crisis may be, Captain Kirk is always at the helm making the decisions.

2003, Dan A. Kimball, The Emerging Church: Vintage Christianity for New Generations:

Flight engineer is not exactly a Captain Kirk position, either. But so what?

A heroic person, particularly one with exaggerated bravery and leadership characteristics.


agoge

en-noun

agoge (countable and uncountable, plural agoges)

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀγωγή (agōgḗ).

In ancient Greek music, tempo or pace; rhythmical movement.


Lib

(Australian politics) A member of the Liberal Party of Australia.

The same people will have you believe that François Legault — a man who calls himself “prime minister of the Quebec nation” — would gladly watch his beloved nation’s hospital system crumble just to own the Libs.

2022 December 22, Rahim Mohamed, “Rahim Mohamed: Team Trudeau gaslighting Canadians on health transfers”, in National Post:

(Canadian politics) A member of the Liberal Party of Canada.


sanskara

sanskaras (plural)
samskara (alternative)

From Sanskrit संस्कार (saṃskāra, “impression”).

uder

(Hinduism) The imprints left on the mind by past experiences (often in past lives) that then condition future responses and behavior


titanides

(Greek mythology) The daughters of Uranus and Gaia; the female titans.


aegipan

aegipans (plural)
aegipanes (plural)
oegipan (alternative)

From Latin Aegipān, from Hellenistic Ancient Greek Αἰγίπαν (Aigípan), from αἴξ (aíx, “goat”) + Πάν (Pán, “Pan”).

there were passages in Pomponius Mela, about the old African Satyrs and Oegipans, over which Usher would sit dreaming for hours.

1839, Edgar Allan Poe, The Fall of the House of Usher:

"No," Shin said, "I don't think that folk who were warned that you were arriving on an ogre would be terrified to learn that an aegipan was part of the group also. Though I'm flattered that you'd consider such a possibility."

2007, David Drake, The Mirror of Worlds:

(Greek mythology) A goat-like creature resembling a satyr, sometimes portrayed as having a fish's tail.


Helle

(Greek mythology) A daughter of king Athamas, who, together with her brother Phrixus, fled from their stepmother Ino to Colchis on a golden ram. On their way, she fell from its back and was drowned in the strait called, after her, Hellespont.


Aeneid

Aeneids (plural)
Eneid (alternative)
Æneid (alternative)

From Latin Aeneis (Greek third declension, genitive Aeneidos).

A classic epic poem, written in Latin by Virgil in the 1st century BCE (between 29 and 19 BCE), that tells the legendary story of Aeneas fleeing Troy and settling in Italy as ancestor of the Romans.

Էնեական

Classic epic poem that tells the story of Aeneas fleeing Troy and settling in Italy.


Aulis

(historical) An ancient port town in Boeotia, Greece, where, according to legend, the Greek fleet gathered to set off for Troy, and where Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia.


otaku

[əʊ̯ˈtʰɑːkʰuː]

[o̞ʊ̯ˈtʰɑkʰu]

From Japanese オタク (otaku, “anime obsessive, geek”) originally used in reference to the 1982 Macross fandom, from the honorific form お宅 (otaku, “you”), from the honorific form 宅 (taku, “home”).

bor

(fandom slang) One with an obsessive interest in something, particularly (originally derogatory) obsessive Japanese fans of anime or manga.

أُوتَاكُو

one with an obsessive interest in something such as anime or manga

死宅

one obsessed with Japanese things/weeaboo


Shermanesque

en-adj

Shermanesque (comparative more Shermanesque, superlative most Shermanesque)

more Shermanesque (comparative)
most Shermanesque (superlative)

From Sherman + -esque, after American Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman, who declined when being considered as a possible Republican candidate for the presidential election of 1884, saying, "I will not accept if nominated and will not serve if elected."

Having the intent of refusing a nomination to public office, or of refusing to serve in such office if elected.

Shermanesque statement
William Tecumseh Sherman


four score and seven years ago

en-adv

four score and seven years ago (not comparable)

fourscore and seven years ago (alternative)
four score seven years ago (alternative)

/ˈfɔː skɔː‿ɹən ˌsɛvən jɪəz əˌɡəʊ/

/ˈfɔɹ skɔɹ ən ˌsɛvən jɪɹz əˌɡoʊ/

En-au-four score and seven years ago.ogg

Literally, “87 years ago” (score sense: “group of 20”) the beginning of the Gettysburg Address made on November 19, 1863, by United States President Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865). The widespread familiarity of Lincoln’s address, the unusual and poetic wording, and its status as the first words of the speech have caused the phrase to enter the public consciousness.

It was established four score and seven years ago, and since that time its activities have been intertwined with the internal development of the Nation itself.

1936 April 16, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Address at the Dedication of the New Department of the Interior Building:

I imagined momentarily that it was four score and seven years ago, that I had just been brought forth from my mother […]

2010 December 23, Phillip Roth, “Prologue”, in The Great American Novel, →ISBN, page 21:

Four score and seven years ago, I began writing an annual letter to be enclosed in my Christmas cards.

2012 February 20, Vicky DeCoster, “The Letter”, in The Wacky World of Womanhood, →ISBN, page 93:

(idiomatic, often humorous) Used (sometimes sarcastically) to indicate that a past event being mentioned is particularly important: a long time ago; many years ago.


two-tier

two-tier policing

two-tier Keir (nickname for prime minister Keir Starmer)

(UK politics, derogatory) Giving preferential treatment to left-wingers over right-wingers.


Juneteenth

en-proper noun

Juneteenth (countable and uncountable, plural Juneteenths)

Juneteenths (plural)
juneteenth (alternative)

Blend of June + nineteenth, commemorating the anniversary of June 19, 1865, when Union Army General Gordon Granger (1821–1876) issued General Order No. 3 in Galveston, Texas, to enforce President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of September 22, 1862. The General Order stated that all previously enslaved people in Texas were now free. Entered wider usage after becoming a federal holiday in 2021.

There was^([sic – meaning were]) not so many colored people in the city as usual on Saturday evening, all of them, very near, being out at the "Juneteenth siliibration."

1891 June 25, “Local news”, in Brenham Weekly Banner, volume XXVI, number 26, Brenham, Tex.: J[ohn] G. Rankin, →OCLC, page [7], column 1:

If there is plenty of sunshine within the next ten days there will be sufficient supply of watermelons in Southwest Texas to take care of the "Juneteenth" celebrations of San Antonio's colored population.

1912 June 15, “Watermelons are Moving”, in Fruit Trade Journal and Produce Record, volume XXXXVII, number 10, New York, N.Y.: Fruit Trade Journal Company, →OCLC, page 12:

"'Twere Juneteenth day," she began reverentially, "when my light firs' broke. The darkies all bunched up down in the live oak grove were a-singin' an' a-dancin', 'spressin' their glory 'cause they warnt no mo' slaves nohow.["]

1921, Julia Walcott Hoffman, chapter I, in Pearl o’ Great Price or A Woman’s ’Sperience, Chicago, Ill.: Gift and Music Shop, →OCLC, page 11:

"But whut if it rains?" asked Josy. "It always do rain on Juneteenth." / "Dat's jes' de way of it," said John. "Someone is always a-th'owin' cold water on eve'ything I does."

1922, Hubert Anthony Shands, chapter VIII, in White and Black, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Company, →OCLC, page 50:

He had invited her to attend the Juneteenth picnic as his guest all day. And now he had done something that never, in all his life, had he heard of any colored boy doing before—planned an expensive outing right on the eve of the big annual event. [...] "Juneteenth"—white people also pretty generally use the phrase—is their Emancipation Day, and it is the one day in the year when every Caucasian is supposed to consider the comfort and enjoyment of his negro friends ahead of his own.

1925, J. Frank Davis, “Episode I. Juneteenth and Joada”, in Almanzar Evarts, Hero, Macon, Ga.: J. W. Burke Company, →OCLC, pages 13–14:

Truck drivers, business men, and school teachers belonging to the racial group have told me tales, but the best of tale-tellers has been some ex-slave buoyed up by the spirit of a Nineteenth of June celebration—the "Juneteenth"—the day on which all colored people in the South commemorate the freedom of their race from slavery. The significance of the day is so great and the tales I have collected are so bound up with the legalized slavery which, in 1865, this day put an end to, that I have used Juneteenth as a title. Nobody who does not understand a Juneteenth celebration can ever understand the Negro or his songs and tales.

1932, J[ohn] Mason Brewer, “Juneteenth”, in J[ames] Frank Dobie, editor, Tone the Bell Easy (Publications of the Texas Folk-lore Society; no. 10), Austin, Tex.: Texas Folk-lore Society, →OCLC, pages 8–54:

The annual celebration by Negroes of June 19—the day when emancipation from slavery became effective in the State [...]—is general; few Texas Negroes would consider working on "Juneteenth" if it can be avoided. The holiday is generally observed by a picnic at which everyone eats, dances and sings to his heart's content.

1940, Writers’ Program, Work Projects Administration, Texas, “Folklore and Folkways”, in Texas: A Guide to the Lone Star State (American Guides Series), New York, N.Y.: Hastings House, published 1943, →OCLC, part I (Texas: Yesterday and Today), page 97:

As I chewed on my extra-hot barbecue sandwich, Mr. Artis Lovelady, the vendor and celebration sponsor, explained why he was having a Juneteenth observance: "I just wanted to do something, just wanted to kinda bring back old times and let the younger people see what we used to do to celebrate it on account of our Emancipation Proclamation."

1987, William H. Wiggins, Jr., “Following the Freedom Trail”, in O Freedom!: Afro-American Emancipation Celebrations, Knoxville, Tenn.: University of Tennessee Press, published 2000, →ISBN, page 5:

But what they [black people] chose to emphasize by means of traditional activities each year was the memory of gaining freedom. Consequently in African-American communities, especially in the South, a day of prayer, preaching, and festivities usually known as "Juneteenth" came to be observed [...].

1991, Michael Kammen, “The Civil War Remembered—but Unreconciled”, in Mystic Chords of Memory: The Transformation of Tradition in American Culture, 1st Vintage Books edition, New York, N.Y.: Vintage Books, published February 1993, →ISBN, part 2 (Circa 1870 to 1915), page 122:

There's been a heap of Juneteenths before this one and I tell you there'll be a heap more before we're truly free!

1999, Ralph Ellison, chapter 7, in John F. Callahan, editor, Juneteenth: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Random House, →ISBN, page 131:

On June 19, 1883, an eighteen-gun salute on the plaza in front of the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, signaled the start of the annual Juneteenth observance.

2005, W[illiam] Fitzhugh Brundage, “Celebrating Black Memory in the Postbellum South”, in The Southern Past: A Clash of Race and Memory, Cambridge, Mass., London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 55:

Proud Pelham in Navarro County had a long history of major Juneteenths. Every year on June 19, pigs and goats roasted over open pits or old bedsprings, while fish deep-fried in lard in big washpots hung from trees.

2005, Thad Sitton, James H. Conrad, “Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings”, in Freedom Colonies: Independent Black Texans in the Time of Jim Crow (Jack and Doris Smothers Series in Texas History, Life, and Culture; no. 15), Austin, Tex.: University of Texas Press, →ISBN, page 105:

Senator Taylor, with unanimous consent, asked that when the Senate adjourn, it do so in honor of "Juneteenth Day," to symbolize the struggle for freedom and equality in the United States. [...] Indeed, Juneteenth Day is much more about the future than the past. It is a day where we gather to continue the struggle. We all realize the true freedom still eludes many of us.

2009 June 17, Lena C. Taylor, “Announcements, Adjournment Honors, and Remarks under Special Privilege”, in State of Wisconsin Senate Journal: Ninety-ninth Regular Session (Wisconsin State Senate), Madison, Wis.: State Printer, →OCLC, page 218, column 2:

[M]aking Juneteenth a federal holiday is both urgent and necessary. [...] A Juneteenth federal holiday would be more than a "day off," but one filled with educational experiences about the institution and affliction of slavery, community conversations on race and reconciliation, and cultural experiences that bring the history, challenges, and contributions of Black Americans to the forefront of the nation's consciousness.

2020 June 14, Seth Cohen, “No More Excuses – It’s Time to Declare Juneteenth a Federal Holiday”, in Forbes, New York, N.Y.: Forbes, Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2020-06-14:

(US) Also more fully as Juneteenth Day: the United States national holiday commemorating the end of slavery, observed on June 19.

Abraham Lincoln
Emancipation Proclamation
General Order No. 3
Gordon Granger
Union Army

Dia De l'Emancipació

holiday celebrated in the U.S. on June 19, commemorating the end of slavery


Nestor

From Ancient Greek Νέστωρ (Néstōr), possibly from νέομαι (néomai, “to return safely”), νόστος (nóstos, “homecoming”).

(Greek mythology) An old and wise king in Homer's Iliad.


Berlin Wall

German Democratic Republic
German Democratic Republic#English

(history) A wall that parted the city of Berlin until 1989, constructed by the German Democratic Republic to keep East Germans from escaping to West Berlin.


Berlin Wall

(politics) Any barrier designed to keep people from crossing a border, e.g. the one proposed to keep people from crossing from Mexico into the United States.


fasti

(Ancient Rome) The calendar, which gave the days for festivals, courts, etc., corresponding to a modern almanac. They were generally engraved on stone, e.g. marble


atman

atmans (plural)
aatma (alternative)
aatman (alternative)
atma (alternative)
Atman (alternative)
Ātman (alternative)

From Sanskrit आत्मन् (ātmán, “soul; self; ego; essence”). Doublet of edder (“blood vessel”) and cognate with Old English ǣþm (“breath”).

bor

However, we have been led beyond this to a threefold analysis which in its western version is body-soul-spirit and in its eastern version body-mind-atman.

1994, John Hick, Death and Eternal Life, page 450:

Atman is the manifestation of brahman in the human body. The central theme of the Upanishads is that in the liberated state the atman is identical with brahman.[…]The word atman is generally translated as soul, self or spirit. However, in view of the Western definition of the soul, atman and soul are not the same.[…]In the Western view, the soul is created by God. In the Hindu view, the atman, being eternal, is not created by God. It is a part of God.

2005, Bansi Pandit, Explore Hinduism, page 63:

The human being in Hindu thought comprises Atman (or Punisha) and Maya (or Prakriti). The Hindu doctrine of Atman concerns one's deepest identity.

2006, Donald Goergen, Fire of Love: Encountering the Holy Spirit, page 151:

The priests who were immersed in the ritual science of the Brahmanas began to speculate on the nature of the self, and gradually the word "atman" came to refer to the essential and eternal core of the human person, which made him or her unique.

2006, Karen Armstrong, The Great Transformation, Atlantic Books, published 2007, page 84:

The Brahmanic tradition that Buddhism is both connected to and a reaction against was, according to almost every scholar, over the top as regards atman. So, not only were individuals possessed of an immutable, indestructible atman. Some, perhaps many Brahmins were asserting that they were ATMAN.

2011, Owen Flanagan, The Bodhisattva's Brain: Buddhism Naturalized, page 124:

(Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Vedanta) The true self of an individual beyond identification with worldly phenomena, the essence of an individual, an infinitesimal part of Brahman.


PWA

Public Works Administration
w:Public Works Administration

(historical, US politics, 1933–1943) Initialism of Public Works Administration.


Disneyland

The archetypical theme park, located in Anaheim, California. Other Disneyland theme parks exist in other cities such as Chessy (Seine-et-Marne, France), Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong.


Argive

en-adj

Argive (comparative more Argive, superlative most Argive)

more Argive (comparative)
most Argive (superlative)

From Latin Argīvus, from Ancient Greek Ἀργεῖος (Argeîos).

(Ancient Greece) Of, from or pertaining to Argos.

[…] And many an old philosophy
On Argive heights divinely sang,
And round us all the thicket rang
To many a flute of Arcady.

1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto XXIII, page 40:


Argive

The Greeks generally think that this fate came upon him because he induced the Pythoness to pronounce against Demaratus; the Athenians differ from all others in saying that it was because he cut down the sacred grove of the goddesses when he made his invasion by Eleusis; while the Argives ascribe it to his having taken from their refuge and cut to pieces certain argives who had fled from battle into a precinct sacred to Argus, where Cleomenes slew them, burning likewise at the same time, through irreverence, the grove itself.

1942, “Erato”, in George Rawlinson, transl., The Persian Wars, translation of original by Herodotus:

(Ancient Greece) An inhabitant of Argos.

(Ancient Greece, poetic) In the Homeric Iliad and Odyssey, and in later classical epics, an alternate name for an Achaean, or Greek in general.


Great Firewall of China

Blend of Great Wall of China + firewall, popularized in a issue of Wired in 1997.

Behind this hypothetical Great Firewall of China, most users would be allowed to exchange information with foreign sites if they were on the approved list

1997, A. Michael Froomkin, “Jurisdiction in Cyberspace: The Role of Intermediaries”, in Borders in Cyberspace: Information Policy and the Global Information Infrastructure, →OCLC, page 146:

The "Great Firewall of China" is failing, largely due to the increased volume of Internet traffic in China.

2001, Greg Walton, China's Golden Shield: Corporations and the Development of Surveillance Technology in the People's Republic of China, →OCLC, page 5:

The Great Firewall of China is a case of corporate collaboration in censorship.

2007, Dinah PoKempner, “A Shrinking Realm: Freedom of Expression Since 9/11”, in Human Rights Watch World Report 2007, →ISBN, page 76:

The targets suggest the attackers are sympathetic to the vast censorship apparatus known as the Great Firewall of China.

2015 March 31, Dan Goodin, “Massive denial-of-service attack on GitHub tied to Chinese government”, in Ars Technica, retrieved 2015-04-01:

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

(originally humorous, derogatory) Internet censorship by the Government of the People's Republic of China.


Dark Ages

the Dark Ages (canonical)
Dark Age (alternative)
dark Ages (alternative)
dark ages (alternative)
darke ages (alternative)

/ˈdɑːˌkeɪd͡ʒɪz/

The phrase appears in writing of the English Reformation by Richard Sibbes (1620) and by George Abbot (1624), the archbishop of Canterbury. Both authors use it to refer to the period of papal supremacy before the Reformation. The earliest citation in Oxford English Dictionary is dated 1687. Use is specific to English therefore not likely to be from Latin.

(Ancient Greece) The Greek Dark Ages (c. 1100–750 BCE).


Hooverville

From Hoover + -ville, named after Herbert Hoover.

(historical) Any of many shantytowns established by the homeless in the United States in the Great Depression of the early twentieth century.


Clintonian

Clintonian (comparative more Clintonian, superlative most Clintonian)

more Clintonian (comparative)
most Clintonian (superlative)

"Obama's Clintonian circle: the abundance of Clinton veterans recruited by Obama may not be the change voters had in mind." (Yahoo Home Page, November 19, 2008 2:58PM (PST) ).

(US politics) Of or relating to Bill Clinton (born 1946), US politician who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001.

(US politics) Of or relating to Hillary Clinton (born 1947), US politician and wife of Bill Clinton.

(US politics) Of or relating to DeWitt Clinton (born 1769), US politician.


states' rights

(US politics, conservatism) Rights reserved to the 50 state governments of the United States that allow each one to set policy on some issues, rather than being subject to federal policy, especially in reference to their right to allow slavery before the Civil War.


redargue

en-verb

redargue (third-person singular simple present redargues, present participle redarguing, simple past and past participle redargued)

redargues (present singular third-person)
redarguing (participle present)
redargued (participle past)
redargued (past)

/ɹɪˈdɑːɡjuː/

From Late Middle English redarguen, redargue (“to defeat (someone) in an argument; to rebuke, reprove”), from Middle French redarguer and Old French redargüer (“to disprove, refute; to accuse, blame; to rebuke, reprove”) (modern French rédarguer), and from their etymon Latin redarguere (“to disprove, refute”) (compare Late Latin redarguere (“to rebuke, reprove”)), the present active infinitive of redarguō (“to disprove, refute; to contradict”), from red- (a variant of re- (prefix meaning ‘again’)) + arguō (“to assert, declare; to clarify, make plain; to prove, show; to accuse, charge with; to censure, rebuke, reprove; to blame; to denounce as false”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂erǵ- (“argent, white; glittering”), in the sense of casting light on something to make it clear). Doublet of argue.
Cognates
* Catalan redargüir
* Italian redarguire
* Old Occitan redarguir
* Portuguese redargüir
* Spanish redargüir

der

Dia[ph Silkworm]. Sir, Ile redargue you, / By diſputation. / Com[passe]. O let's heare this! / I long to heare a man diſpute in his ſhirt / Of valour, and his ſvvord dravvne in his hand.

1632 (first performance), Benjamin Jonson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “The Magnetick Lady: Or, Humors Reconcil’d. A Comedy […]”, in The Workes of Benjamin Jonson. The Second Volume. […] (Second Folio), London: […] Richard Meighen, published 1640, →OCLC, Act III, scene vi, page 39:

To disprove or refute (someone) in an argument.

Nathaniel Carpenter [i.e., Nathanael Carpenter] late Fellow of Exceter Colledge in Oxford, in the ſecond booke and ſeventh chapter of his learned Geographicall concluſions, thus fully redargues that forgerie.

1635, George Hakewill, “Touching Grammar, Rhetorique, Logicke, the Mathematiques, Philosophy, Architecture, the Arts of Painting and Navigation”, in An Apologie or Declaration of the Power and Providence of God in the Government of the World. […], 3rd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] William Turner […], →OCLC, book III, section 4 (Of the Art of Navigation, […]), page 310:

[T]he objections you mention, I humbly conceive, are ſuch as may be redargued, if not entirely removed— […]

1771, [Tobias Smollett], “To Mr. Henry Davis, Bookseller, in London”, in The Expedition of Humphry Clinker […], volume I, London: […] W. Johnston, […]; and B. Collins, […], →OCLC, pages v–vi:

To rebut or refute (an argument, a proposition, etc.).


Grecian knot

A way of knotting up a woman's hair in imitation of the Ancient Greek style.


Elysian

Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon
Sebastiaen Vrancx

From Latin Elysium (from Ancient Greek Ἠλύσιον (Ēlúsion, “Elysium; an Elysian Field; one of the Elysian Fields”)) + -an (adjective-forming suffix).

(Greek mythology) Elysium (“the home of the blessed after death”).