bork

en-verb

bork (third-person singular simple present borks, present participle borking, simple past and past participle borked)

borks (present singular third-person)
borking (participle present)
borked (participle past)
borked (past)
Bork (alternative)

A reference to the unsuccessful 1987 United States Supreme Court nomination of Robert Bork (1927–2012); first appeared in print that same year.

In light of the current furor over trying to appoint a new Supreme Court justice, I would like to submit a new verb in the English language. Three forms would be "to bork," "borking," and "borked." This would describe the act of partisan political character assassination.

[1987 December 10, Kenneth H. Taylor, “[Voice of the People:] New verb”, in The San Bernardino County Sun, page 11, columns 3–4:

George [H. W.] Bush will almost certainly have an opportunity to nominate one or more justices. It would be a pity for all of us if they are subjected to the treatment accorded Robert Bork. Honest disagreement is one thing; "borking" is something else.

1988 November 30, William McCarthy, “Democrats ‘borked’”, in Chicago Tribune, archived from the original on 2017-10-19, page 20:

I feel strongly that he [Senator John Tower] is being borked. … The charges that have been leveled at him have all proved groundless, baseless.

1989 February 9, CBS This Morning, spoken by Malcolm Wallop:

In other words, I am intentionally borking the headline writer, for no other reason than to make my point with greater force.

1995, Lani Guinier, The Tyranny of the Majority: Fundamental Fairness in Representative Democracy, New York, N.Y.: Free Press, →ISBN, page xix:

After an eight-year hiatus, these groups are back on the scene, ready to implement an apparent vicious strategy of Borking any judicial nominee who happens to disagree with their view of how the world should be.

2002 February 7, Orrin G[rant] Hatch, “Statement of the Honorable Orrin Hatch, United States Senator, Utah [The Nomination of Charles W. Pickering to be United States Circuit Court Judge for the Fifth Circuit]”, in United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, archived from the original on 2008-09-21:

[Stephen L.] Carter believes that liberals seem to think that only conservatives "bork" and likewise conservatives seem to believe that only liberals "bork," but the unhappy truth is that everybody "borks".

2004, Joseph Michael Green, “Media Activity”, in Your Past and the Press!: Controversial Presidential Appointments: A Study Focusing on the Impact of Interest Groups and Media Activity on the Appointment Process, Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, →ISBN, page 131:

Forcing their adversaries to bork nominees may, they may think, lead voters in the middle to think less well of liberals, enhancing the distaste for Washington politics that has helped conservatives gain political power.

2005, Mark [Victor] Tushnet, “A Supreme Court United?”, in A Court Divided: The Rehnquist Court and the Future of Constitutional Law, New York, N.Y.: W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN, page 340:

Above all it discusses the best tactics to defeat a borking. Having been in the [Ronald] Reagan White House when Robert Bork was borked, I knew something about the subject, which was a huge help when the same borking guns were turned on my friend Judge [D. Brooks] Smith years later.

2006 October 30, Jeffrey Lord, “Borking Rush”, in American Spectator, archived from the original on 2017-10-17:

(ambitransitive, US politics, often derogatory) To defeat a person's appointment or election, judicial nomination, etc., through a concerted attack on the person's character, background, and philosophy.


shojo

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

From the Japanese 少女 (shōjo, “young woman”).

(anime, manga) A style of anime and manga intended for young women.


shojo

en-adj

shojo (comparative more shojo, superlative most shojo)

more shojo (comparative)
most shojo (superlative)
shoujo (alternative)

(anime, manga) Being in the style of shōjo manga or anime.


symposium

en-noun

symposium (plural symposiums or symposia)

Borrowed from Latin symposium, from Ancient Greek συμπόσιον (sumpósion, “drinking party”) from συμπίνω (sumpínō, “drink together”) συν- (sun-, “together-”) + πίνω (pínō, “drink”).

der

Symposium in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Alternative form: symposion

A drinking party in Ancient Greece, especially one with intellectual discussion.

пиршество

a drinking party in Ancient Greece, especially one with intellectual discussion


peaceful

peacefuls (plural)
peacefull (alternative)

Derived from the derogatory term religion of peace, which is used against Islam itself for its association with violent attacks by Islamic extremists, and alleged support and lack of condemnation against them by certain Muslim communities.

They only have to use a bit of code to name those people; nowadays they call them “peacefuls”. A smirking euphemism is all it takes to sail through Twitter’s filter, and keep the hate-speech flowing.

(India, Islam, Islamophobic, Internet slang, offensive) a Muslim; especially a violent member of a radical Islamist group.


Janus

From Latin Iānus (“the Roman god Janus”).

In the ages of victory, as often as the senate decreed some distant conquest, the consul denounced hostilities, by unbarring, in solemn pomp, the gates of the temple of Janus. Domestic war now rendered the admonition superfluous, and the ceremony was superseded by the establishment of a new religion. But the brazen temple of Janus was left standing in the forum; of a size sufficient only to contain the statue of the god, five cubits in height, of a human form, but with two faces, directed to the east and west.

1789, Edward Gibbon, chapter XLI, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume V, London: Printed for A[ndrew] Strahan, and T[homas] Cadell, in the Strand, OCLC 30106274; republished Philadelphia, Pa.: Published by William Y. Birch & Abraham Small, No. 37, South Second Street; printed by Robert Carr, 1805, OCLC 15453273, page 166

[K]nowing that the minds of the people, rendered ferocious by a military life, would never accommodate themſelves to the practice of theſe [principles of justice, laws, and morals], during the continuance of war, he [Numa Pompilius] reſolved, by a diſuſe of arms, to mollify the fierceneſs of their temper: with this view, he built a temple to Janus, near the foot of the hill Argiletum, which was to notify a ſtate either of war or of peace: when open, it denoted that the ſtate was engaged in war; when ſhut, that there was peace with all the ſurrounding nations.

1797, Titus Livius [Livy], translated by George Baker, The History of Rome, [...] In Six Volumes, volume I, London: Printed for A[ndrew] Strahan, and T[homas] Cadell Jun. and W. Davies (successor to Mr. Cadell) in the Strand, →OCLC, book I, page 35:

"I'll tell you what we can do," cried her persevering patroness; "we can go as masks, and Lady Juliana shall know nothing about it. That will save the scandal of an open revolt or a tiresome dispute. Half the company will be masked; so, if you keep your own secret, nobody will find it out. Come, what characters shall we choose?" / "That of Janus, I think, would be the most suitable for me," said Mary.

1810, anonymous [Susan Edmonstone Ferrier], “chapter XVI”, in Marriage, a Novel. In Three Volumes, volume II, Edinburgh: William Blackwood, Prince's-Street: and John Murray, Albemarle-Street, London, published 1818, →OCLC, page 218:

We find ourselves once again sitting in Committee of the Whole House to vote a war subsidy. The present occupants of the Treasury Bench are determined that so long as they retain their places the Temple of Janus shall not be closed.

1879 February 27, A[lexander] M[artin] Sullivan, “On the Zulu War” (speech before the House of Commons of the United Kingdom); quoted in William Jennings Bryan, editor, Irish Orations (The World's Famous Orations), volume VI, New York, N.Y.: Funk & Wagnalls, 1906, OCLC 23127203, and republished on Bartleby.com, 2002, archived from the original on 4 October 2015

Janus, with his two heads, his mystery, his depiction as both laughing and serious, and the obvious parallel this forms with the masks of attic tragedy and comedy would make him a double of the two-headed man, the conjurer, and an associate of the trickster in folk comedy as well.

2008, John Lowe, “Laughin’ up a World: Their Eyes Were Watching God and the (Wo)Man of Words”, in Harold Bloom, editor, Interpretations: Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God (Bloom’s Modern Critical Interpretations), new edition, New York, N.Y.: Bloom's Literary Criticism, Infobase Publishing, →ISBN, page 75:

Good reviews look both backward and forward; an argument could even be made that one must look backward in order to discern the way forward, that backward and forward are two sides of the same research coin. Nowhere is such a Janus-like perspective more apparent than in the current set of reviews.

2011, Robert M. Hodapp, “Preface”, in Robert M. Hodapp, editor, International Review of Research in Developmental Disabilities, volume 41, San Diego, Calif.: Academic Press, →ISBN, →ISSN, page xi:

(Roman mythology) The god of doorways, gates and transitions, and of beginnings and endings, having two faces looking in opposite directions.

Janus

Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions


JFK

John Fitzgerald Kennedy
w:John F. Kennedy

(US politics) Initialism of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th US president.

I flew into JFK, then took a cab to my hotel in Manhattan

Fortunately, most of these were former French colonies, and through a combination of quiet diplomacy and well-placed French nationals in the various air-traffic-control centers, the 300-mile-long stream of American aircraft flew the width of Africa as uneventfully as a red-eye flight from LAX to JFK.

1994, Tom Clancy, Armored Cav: A Guided Tour of an Armored Cavalry Regiment, New York: Berkley Books, →ISBN, page 281:

Buildings, facilities, ships, bridges, highways, and other public works informally known as the JFK or JFK, especially

John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City.


ICBM

Just sing out a Te Deum / When you see that ICBM / And the party will be come-as-you-are

1959, “We Will All Go Together When We Go”, in Tom Lehrer (music), An Evening Wasted with Tom Lehrer, performed by Tom Lehrer:

Iraq could test a North Korean-type ICBM that could deliver a several-hundred-kilogram payload to the United States in the last half of the next decade [the decade beginning with calendar year 2000] depending on the level of foreign assistance.

2002, Alexander T. Lennon, Contemporary Nuclear Debates: Missile Defense, Arms Control, and Arms Races in the Twenty-first Century, MIT Press, →ISBN:

(weaponry) Initialism of intercontinental ballistic missile.

МКБР

abbreviation of intercontinental ballistic missile


Bushism

From Bush + -ism, named after American presidents George W. Bush (1946–) and George H. W. Bush (1924–2018).

named-after

A turn of phrase employed by President George W. Bush that is unintentionally comical due to grammatical errors, malapropisms, etc.


Promethean

The adjective is derived from Prometheus (“demigod in Greek mythology”) + -an (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives; and forming agent nouns). Prometheus is a learned borrowing from Latin Promētheus, and from its etymon Ancient Greek Προμηθεύς (Promētheús), from προμηθής (promēthḗs, “having forethought”) (from προ- (pro-, prefix meaning ‘before’) + μᾰνθᾰ́νω (mănthắnō, “to learn; to know, understand”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to mind; to think”) + *dʰeh₁- (“to do; to place, put”), in the sense of putting one’s mind to something)) + -εύς (-eús, suffix forming a masculine noun of the person concerned with a thing).
The noun is derived from the adjective.

der

I carried with me some promethean matches, which I ignited by biting; it was thought so wonderful that a man should strike fire with his teeth, that it was usual to collect the whole family to see it: I was once offered a dollar for a single one.

1839, Charles Darwin, chapter III, in Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty’s Ships Adventure and Beagle, between the Years 1826 and 1836, […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 47:

(also attributive, historical) A kind of lucifer match consisting of a glass tube containing sulfuric acid coated on the outside with a flammable mixture of potassium chlorate and sugar and wrapped in paper rolls; the match was lit by crushing the tube with pliers, causing the acid to react with and ignite the flammable components. This type of match was superseded by the friction match which was lit by rubbing against a rough surface.


ANC

African National Congress
w:African National Congress

(South Africa) Initialism of African National Congress.


backbench

backbenches (plural)
back bench (alternative)
back-bench (alternative)

His spacious quarters indicate his transition from backbench upstart to established member of the governing team.

There was no separate back-bench organization ; indeed there were no back-bench caucuses in any Nigerian Legislative House, and any attempt to create one would probably have been regarded by the leadership concerned as a subversive move.

1963, Richard L. Sklar, Nigerian Political Parties: Power in an Emergent African Nation, published 2004, page 400:

Both Thatcher's and Major's PPSs developed the role of trying to see that those members considered loyal to the leadership won the main positions on backbench party committees.

1995, R. L. Borthwick, Churchill to Major: The British Prime Ministership Since 1945, page 153:

In fall 1984, Brian Mulroney led a cabinet with far more political experience than the Conservative backbench.

1997, David Campbell Docherty, Mr. Smith Goes to Ottawa: Life in the House of Commons:

2009, John Coakley, Michael Gallagher, Politics in the Republic of Ireland, page 301,
In situations of low ministerial turnover and increased professionalisation of politics, with most TDs regarding politics as a career, Taoisigh could find that impatience on the backbenches leads to calls for leadership turnover to effect promotions.

A bench at the back of a room or seating area.

(politics, UK, New Zealand, often attributive) In a house of legislature following the model of the Westminster system (such as the UK House of Commons), any bench behind either of the front benches and occupied by members of each party group who are not party leaders, cabinet ministers, holders of offices such as the whips, etc.


House of Commons

“House”, in this term, means a deliberative assembly, while “the Commons” stands for “the common people”, as opposed to nobility.

مَجْلِس عُمُوم

lower house in UK or Canadian parliament

When the legislation was debated by the House of Commons, Labour Deputy Leader Angela Rayner said it was "riddled with holes", while former Conservative Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg said it was "badly written".

2024 March 20, Conrad Landin, “"Farcical" Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act isn't working”, in RAIL, number 1005, page 25:

(UK politics) The lower house of the British Parliament.


castrum

Borrowed from Latin castrum. Doublet of Caister and Chester.

(historical) Among the Ancient Romans, a building or plot of land used as a military defensive position.


baka

en-adj

baka (comparative more baka, superlative most baka)

more baka (comparative)
most baka (superlative)

Borrowed from Japanese 馬鹿(ばか) (baka, “stupid”).

(anime manga, fandom slang, endearing) Stupid, silly.


baka

(anime manga, fandom slang, endearing) A foolish person, a dummy, a silly goose.


Early Modern English

The form of the English language written and spoken from the end of the 15th century to the mid-17th century.


small-l liberal

en-noun

small-l liberal (plural small-l liberals)

I was a factional warrior for the [New South Wales] Right of the [New South Wales] Libs. […] the main reason I allowed my membership to lapse was simple. I saw the conservative wing being overrun by a bunch of feral ex-lefties for whom being small “l” liberal was only a means to further their careers in the political sex industry.

2006 January 3, Irfan Yusuf, “What’s changed about me?”, in Webdiary:

Was this a reflection of [then-leader of the Victorian Liberal Party Teb] Baillieu's small-l liberal values or just a product of anger over public safety and inadequate rail services?

2010 December 4, Michael Gordon, “Big challenges for Melbourne's small-l Liberal”, in The Sunday Morning Herald:

Harry Guinness, was a policy and political adviser to Julie Bishop when she was foreign minister and deputy Liberal leader. His responsibilities included foreign aid, climate change and environmental sustainability. Last summer’s bushfires were the catalyst for Guinness — self-described as “definitely philosophically a small ‘l’ Liberal” — and colleagues to set up Blueprint as a pro-market think tank.

2021 March 12, Mike Steketee, “The revolt of the Liberal moderates”, in Inside Story:

(Australian politics) A person who is a member of, or associated with, the Moderate (centrist) faction of the Liberal Party of Australia.


Bushian

en-adj

Bushian (comparative more Bushian, superlative most Bushian)

more Bushian (comparative)
most Bushian (superlative)

2004 October 23, Geoffrey K. Pullum, “Bushian tautologies? I don't think so”, in Language Log:

Of or pertaining to a person named Bush, in particular and usually President of the United States, George W. Bush:


legendary

From legend + -ary; from Medieval Latin legendārius. Earlier it was a noun meaning "a collection of legends" (1510s) (Medieval Latin legendārium, Old French legendier), from Latin legenda. In English, both the noun and the adjective first appeared in the 16th century.


spill

en-verb

spill (third-person singular simple present spills, present participle spilling, simple past and past participle spilled or spilt)

spills (present singular third-person)
spilling (participle present)
spilled (participle past)
spilled (past)
spilt (participle past)
spilt (past)

l-vocalizing: UK, General Australian, New Zealand

From Middle English spillen, from Old English spillan, spildan (“to kill, destroy, waste”), from Proto-West Germanic *spilþijan, from Proto-Germanic *spilþijaną (“to spoil, kill, murder”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pel- (“to sunder, split, rend, tear”).
Cognate with Dutch spillen (“to use needlessly, waste”), French gaspiller ("to waste, squander" < Germanic), Bavarian spillen (“to split, cleave, splinter”), Danish spilde (“to spill, waste”), Swedish spilla (“to spill, waste”), Icelandic spilla (“to contaminate, spoil”). See also spool.

cog

(transitive, Australian politics) To open the leadership of a parliamentary party for re-election.


spill

leadership spill
leadership spill#English

(Australian politics) A declaration that the leadership of a parliamentary party is vacant, and open for re-election. Short form of leadership spill.


philosopher king

en-noun

philosopher king (plural philosopher kings)

philosopher kings (plural)
philosopher-king (alternative)

The concept comes from Plato's Republic (circa 375 BCE), which considers the ideal rulers of a city state.

(philosophy) A hypothetical ideal ruler, trained in philosophy, who has a full understanding of the Platonic ideal of the Form of the Good, and uses this for the benefit of the state.


Scáthach

(Irish mythology) The female warrior who trains Cúchulainn in the arts of war in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology.


DA

DA (countable and uncountable, plural DAs or DA's)

(UK politics) Initialism of devolved administration.


euhemerize

en-verb

euhemerize (third-person singular simple present euhemerizes, present participle euhemerizing, simple past and past participle euhemerized)

euhemerizes (present singular third-person)
euhemerizing (participle present)
euhemerized (participle past)
euhemerized (past)
euhemerise (alternative)

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

Confucian scholars frequently euhemerized the myths used to explain religious rituals to the public.

He did but extend to the New Testament the Euhemerising principles which Eichhorn had applied to the Old.

1871, Frederic William Farrar, The Witness of History to Christ, page 57:

The legend of Semiramis was a euhemerised version of the story of Istar.

1887 September 3, I. Taylor, The Academy, page 143:

(ambitransitive, derogatory) To invent a plausible but fanciful historical origin for something in order to rationalize mythology and legends.

rationalize

fanciful creation of rational explanations for the supernatural

The Yellow Emperor was perhaps euhemerized from a prehistoric tribal leader.

(ambitransitive) Synonym of deify: to actually create mythology and legends from ancient historical figures and events.

évhémériser

to explain or interpret something through euhemerism


plebiscite

Sense 1 (“referendum”) is borrowed from French plébiscite, from Latin plēbiscītum, plēbis scītum, plēbī scītum (“law of the common people or plebs”), from plēbis (the genitive singular of plēbs (“common people, plebeians”)) + scītum (“decree, ordinance, statute”).
Sense 3 (“law enacted by the common people”) is a learned borrowing from Latin plēbiscītum: see above. It is attested earlier than English plebiscitum.
Cognates
* Italian plebiscito
* Middle French plebiscite (modern French plébiscite)
* Middle Low German plebiscīt (“ordinance”)
* Spanish plebiscito, plebisçito (obsolete)

cog

(Ancient Rome, historical) Synonym of plebiscitum (“a law enacted by the common people, under the superintendence of a tribune or some subordinate plebeian magistrate, without the intervention of the senate”)


Ness

en-proper noun

Ness (countable and uncountable, plural Nesses)

Named after the River Ness, of Celtic/Pictish origin, from a Proto-Celtic word *Nesta describing great currents, according to MacBain, from the same Proto-Indo-European root that gave the river Νέστος (Néstos), possibly *ned- (“water”).

(Irish mythology) An Ulster princess and the mother of Conchobar mac Nessa and Findchoem in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. Daughter of Eochaid Sálbuide. Also the mother of Cormac Cond Longas by incest with Conchobar mac Nessa.


Eochaid Sálbuide

(Irish mythology) The king of Ulster prior to the events of the Ulster Cycle in Irish mythology. Father of Ness. He was deposed as High King by Eochaid Feidlech.


Dian Cecht

(Irish mythology) A god of healing. The healer for the Tuatha Dé Danann and the father of Cian.


Tuatha Dé Danann

From Irish Tuatha Dé Danann (literally “peoples of the goddess Danu”).

bor

(Irish mythology) The fifth group of inhabitants of Ireland according to the Lebor Gabála Érenn tradition, thought to represent the gods of the Goidelic Irish. Their Christian redactors have reduced them to historical kings and heroes.


Deirdre

From Irish Deirdre, from Old Irish Derdriu.

Derdriu (alternative)
Dierdre (alternative)

(Irish mythology) The foremost tragic heroine in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology.


Nemean Lion

(Greek mythology) A mythical lion of ancient Nemea that was invulnerable to attack by weapons and was slain by Hercules as one of his labours.


Deichtine

(Irish mythology) Female name. In the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology, the mother of Cúchulainn and sister of Conchobar mac Nessa.


placeman

Plus, contrary to hysterical prediction and uninformed innuendo, Bryant Lemuel's influence did not fill this pilot project with compliant placemen, instead leaving all appointments to the university science faculty.

2007, Christopher Brookmyre, Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks, →ISBN, page 183:

Predictably, the brow-beaten Clement in the end submitted to Philip's demands that the papal commission, which was eventually convened in November 1309, should consist predominantly of clerics who were known to be royal placemen.

2007, Edwin Mullins, The Popes of Avignon, Blue Bridge, published 2008, page 32:

(UK politics, derogatory) One appointed to an office, especially in government, as a reward for political or other support; an appointee, a yes-man.


Dii Majores

From Latin di maiores (literally “greater gods”).

der

Dei Majores (alternative)
Di Majores (alternative)
geminatio vocalium (alternative)

(Roman mythology) The twelve great gods of Roman mythology, namely Juno, Vesta, Minerva, Ceres, Diana, Venus, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Neptune, Vulcan, and Apollo.


mysteries

(Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, religion) a number of secret societies or cults


Plato

Via Latin Plato, from Ancient Greek Πλάτων (Plátōn), from πλατύς (platús, “broad, wide”), either because of Plato's robust body, or wide forehead or the breadth of his eloquence.

My name is Plato Jones. Plato Constantine Jones. Plato because my mother is Greek, and Jones because my father is Welsh, and Constantine after his father, my grandfather, who is Constantine Llewellyn Jones.

1993, Nina Bawden, The Real Plato Jones, Houghton Miffin Harcourt, →ISBN, page 1:

The Greek philosopher, 427–347 BC, follower of Socrates.


Apeliotes

From Ancient Greek Ἀπηλιώτης (Apēliṓtēs).

(Greek mythology), the Greek god of the south east winds. Apeliotes is often depicted wearing gumboots and carrying fruit.


Hansard

Legislative Council of Hong Kong
Luke Hansard
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Thomas Curson Hansard

From Hansard, the surname of Thomas Curson Hansard (1776–1833), an English printer who inherited the business of printing reports of parliamentary debates and proceedings from his father Luke Hansard (1752–1828). T. C. Hansard added his name to the title of the reports from 1829, and from about 1859 they began to be referred to generically as “Hansards”.

Mr. BURNS thought that if they were to have a Hansard at all, they should take steps to have it thoroughly well done, and he would be very glad if they could get rid of these corrections altogether. He thought the exact words, or as nearly as possible the exact words, should be put into the Hansard, and the staff should be so efficient that there would be no necessity for corrections.

1868 October 16, A[rthur] J[ohn] Burns, “Reporting Debates”, in New Zealand. Parliamentary Debates. Third Session of the Fourth Parliament. […] (House of Representatives), volume IV, Wellington: G. Didsbury, government printer, →OCLC, page 372, column 1:

Now, Hansard's Debates originated in the year 1803, and through the enterprize of a son of the late Mr. Luke Hansard, who had been so long connected with the printing of the House, these Debates had supplied the Parliament with a very accurate record of its proceedings. They were cited continually in the House, and so great was their reputation that even in Prussia they had a Preussiches Hansard; there was also a Hansard's Debates both in Canada and Australia. [...] Suppose, then, that these Debates came to an end to-morrow; [...] the newspapers would not supply them with the materials which were now contained in Hansard. It was impossible that the newspapers could report the proceedings of the House at sufficient length.

1875 May 4, Mitchell Henry, “Parliament—Publication of Debates and Exclusion of Strangers.—Resolution.”, in Hansard’s Parliamentary Debates, […] (House of Commons), volume CCXXIV (Third Series), 3rd volume of the session, London: Published by Cornelius Buck, at the office for “Hansard’s Parliamentary Debates,” […], →OCLC, columns 68–70:

He, for example, who would essay to take account of Mr. [William Ewart] Gladstone, must read much else besides Hansard; he must brush up his Homer, and set himself to acquire some theology.

1885, [Augustine Birrell], “Carlyle”, in Obiter Dicta, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 1:

In any case, the judges are not allowed to read Hansard in order to see what the sponsors, or any other member, may have said. This is a much criticised rule, but there is a certain amount to be said for it. The legislative processes, through which the parliamentary draftsman's work must pass, are confusing and muddled.

1983, Geoffrey Lewis, “Statutory Interpretation”, in Lord Atkin, London: Butterworths, →ISBN, page 118; reprinted Oxford, Oxfordshire, Portland, Or.: Hart Publishing, 1999, →ISBN:

In a country like India with a vibrant democracy, parliamentary debates play a very crucial role and are watched with keen interest by the people, who are politically conscious. The Reporters' Branch is entrusted with the responsibility of producing the Indian Hansard, i.e., the Official Report of the proceedings of Lok Sabha.

1992, “The Indian Hansard”, in Parliament of India: The Ninth Lok Sabha 1989–1991: A Study, New Delhi: Northern Book Centre for the Lok Sabha Secretariat, →ISBN, part I (Articles), page 63, column 1:

The object of the court in interpreting legislation is to give effect so far as the language permits to the intention of the legislature. If the language proves to be ambiguous I can see no sound reason not to consult Hansard to see if there is a clear statement of the meaning that the words were intended to carry. The days have long passed when the courts adopted a strict constructionist view of interpretation which required them to adopt the literal meaning of the language. [...] I cannot agree with the view that consulting Hansard will add so greatly to the cost of litigation, that on this ground alone we should refuse to do so. Modern technology greatly facilitates the recall and display of material held centrally. I have to confess that on many occasions I have had recourse to Hansard, of course only to check if my interpretation had conflicted with an express Parliamentary intention, but I can say that it does not take long to recall and assemble the relevant passages in which the particular section was dealt with in Parliament, nor does it take long to see if anything relevant was said.

1992 November 26, Lord Griffiths [Hugh Griffiths, Baron Griffiths] (judge of the House of Lords), “Pepper (Inspector of Taxes) … Respondent and Hart … Appellant [[1993] Appeal Cases 593]”, in The Law Reports of the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting: House of Lords, Judicial Committee of the Privy Council and Peerage Cases, London: Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales, published 1993, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2019-09-18, pages 617–618:

Imagine a parliamentary stenographer scribbling furiously in the days before tape recorders. His job is to record politicians' speeches so they can be written up and preserved in an official parliamentary record like Hansard. [...] When some dramatic break or swerve in the speech seems too uncertain to sort out there and then, the stenographer sticks in clumps of hyphens, partly as a signal to himself that he will need to sort this out later when "correcting" and "clarifying" his final copy for Hansard.

1993, Graham Bradshaw, “Appendix: Dashing Othello’s Spirits”, in Misrepresentations: Shakespeare and the Materialists, Ithaca, N.Y., London: Cornell University Press, →ISBN, page 258:

Following the debate in question, Tim Loughton sent an unmarked copy of Hansard to his constituent to inform him that he would no longer be acting as his MP as the constituent had made this position untenable. [...] However, and unbeknown to Loughton, the constituent reported the debate to the police as a 'hate crime' and complained that sending a copy of Hansard was 'harassment'.

2015, Roger Williams, “Harassment in Sussex”, in Rough Justice: Citizens’ Experience of Mistreatment and Injustice in the Early Stages of Law Enforcement, Hook, Hampshire: Waterside Press, →ISBN, part 1 (Contributions, Media and Experiences), page 106:

(chiefly British, Commonwealth) The official report of debates and other proceedings in the British and some Commonwealth parliaments.


D-Day

(historical) 6 June 1944, the date when the Allies invaded western Europe in World War II.


Clotho

From Latin Clōthō, from Ancient Greek Κλωθώ (Klōthṓ), from κλώθω (klṓthō, literally “to spin”).

(Greek mythology) The youngest of the three Fates, a daughter of Zeus and Themis; the spinner of the thread of life. Her Roman equivalent is Nona.


Atropos

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

From Ancient Greek Ἄτροπος (Átropos, “inflexible, not turning”), from ᾰ̓- (ă-, “not”) + -τροπος (-tropos, “turned”).

bor

(Greek mythology) One of the three Fates, or Moirae; a daughter of Zeus and Themis; the cutter of the thread of life, depicted as an old woman. Her Roman counterpart is Morta.


Morgan le Fay

/ˌmɔːɡən lə ˈfeɪ/

From Old Welsh or Old Breton Morgen (a female given name unrelated with the male one Morgan, literally “sea-born”) + Old French la fee (“the fairy”).

der

a female given name unrelated with the male one <i class="Latn mention" lang="en">Morgan</i>

(Arthurian legend) The half sister of King Arthur, known for being a powerful enchantress.


Lachesis

And if it were asked how it is known that the pocket in which Erskine kept this key was sewn on to the front of his underhose, the answer to that would be this, that one day when Erskine was doing his number one against a bush, Watt, who as Lachesis would have it was doing his number one too against the same bush, but on the other side, caught a glimpse, through the bush, for it was a deciduous bush, of the key, gleaming among the flap buttons.

1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, [Paris]: Olympia Press, →OCLC:

(Greek mythology) One of the three Fates (Moirae), daughter of Zeus and Themis; the measurer of each thread of life. Her Roman equivalent is Decima.


Decima

(Roman mythology) One of the three Fates, or Parcae, daughter of Jupiter and Justitia; the measurer of the thread of life. She is the Roman equivalent of Lachesis.


Nona

From the Latin meaning "the ninth", because she was prayed to in the ninth month of pregnancy.

(Roman mythology) The youngest of the three Fates, or Parcae, daughter of Jupiter and Justitia; the spinner of the thread of life. She is the Roman equivalent of Clotho.


Morta

(Roman mythology) One of the three Fates, or Parcae, daughter of Jupiter and Justitia; the cutter of the thread of life. She is the Roman equivalent of Atropos.


Epimetheus

From Ancient Greek Ἐπιμηθεύς (Epimētheús, “afterthought, hindsight”).

uder

(Greek mythology) Son of Iapetus and Clymene, brother to Atlas, Menoetius and Prometheus, of whom he ignored warnings to beware of any gifts from Zeus. He accepted Pandora as his wife, thereby bringing sorrow to the world; father to Pyrrha.


Erato

(Greek mythology) The goddess of lyric poetry, particularly erotic poetry, eroticism, and mimic imitation, and one of the Muses; the daughters of Zeus & Mnemosyne. Usually depicted with a crown/wreath of myrtle and roses, holding a lyre and a golden arrow and doves. Often accompanies Eros/Cupid.


Erinys

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Ἐρῑνῡ́ς (Erīnū́s). Possibly "the angry spirits" from ὀρῑ́νω (orī́nō, “to raise, stir, excite [towards anger]”).

(Greek mythology) One of the female personifications of vengeance, particularly wrong or immoral deeds on behalf of the victims.


Euterpe

(Greek mythology) The Muse of music and lyric poetry.


Gaia

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Γαῖᾰ (Gaîă, “Gaea, the Earth personified as a goddess”), from γαῖᾰ (gaîă, “the Earth”), probably related to γῆ (gê, “earth, land; country”).
Sense 1 was coined by the British scientist, environmentalist, and futurist James Lovelock (born 1919) in his book Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth (1979), at the suggestion of the British novelist, playwright, and poet William Golding (1911–1993): see the quotation.

bor

While investigating the Greek mythology, we have found reason to suppose that Juno, Ceres, and Gaia are but three different forms of the same original tradition of a divine feminine: of whom Ceres is the Pelasgian copy, Juno the vivid and powerful Hellenic development, and Gaia the original skeleton, retaining nothing of the old character, but having acquired the function of gaol-keeper for perjurors when sent to the other world.

1858, W[illiam] E[wart] Gladstone, “Ilios. The Trojans Compared and Contrasted with the Greeks.”, in Studies on Homer and the Homeric Age. … In Three Volumes, volume III, Oxford: At the University Press, →OCLC, page 153:

(Greek mythology) A Greek goddess, the personification of the earth, and one of the primordial deities from whom all the others descend.


Ganymede

From French Ganymède, from Latin Ganymēdēs, from Ancient Greek Γανυμήδης (Ganumḗdēs, “meant to please”), from γάνυμαι (gánumai, “I rejoice, I am glad”) + μήδεα (mḗdea, “thought, intention”). Doublet of catamite.

(Greek mythology) A Trojan boy who was abducted (either by Zeus or Eos), and ultimately became immortal in order to be Zeus' cupbearer.


Orpheus

From Ancient Greek Ὀρφεύς (Orpheús), built from an uncertain root with the -εύς (-eús) suffix. Perhaps root-cognate to Ancient Greek ὀρφανός (orphanós, “orphan”).

cog

(Greek mythology) A Thracian musician and poet, who failed to retrieve his wife Eurydice from Hades.


Hecate

Via Latin Hecatē from Ancient Greek Ἑκάτη (Hekátē), possibly the feminine equivalent of Ἑκατός (Hekatós) or ἑκάεργος (hekáergos), an obscure epithet of Apollo, variously interpreted as "one who works/operates from afar", "one who drives off", "the far reaching one" or "the far-darter". Some rather suggest that the name derives from Ancient Greek ἑκών (hekṓn, “will”).

(Greek mythology) A powerful goddess of magic, crossroads, fire, light, the moon, and the underworld. Her Roman counterpart is Trivia.

(astronomy) 100 Hekate, a main belt asteroid.


Helios

From Ancient Greek Ἥλιος (Hḗlios), from ἥλιος (hḗlios, “sun”).

(Greek mythology) The god of the Sun; son of Hyperion and Theia, brother of Selene and Eos, father of Phaeton amongst others. His Roman counterpart is Sol.


Hephaestus

From Ancient Greek Ἥφαιστος (Hḗphaistos), a pre-Greek word of unknown origin.

(Greek mythology) The god of fire, smithwork, metallurgy, volcanoes, and artisans, who served as blacksmith of the gods. His Roman counterpart is Vulcan.


Hercules

head

Hercules (plural Herculeses or Hercules or (obsolete) Herculesses or (obsolete) Hercules's)

Herculeses (plural)
Hercules (plural)
Herculesses (obsolete plural)
Hercules's (obsolete plural)

From Latin Herculēs, from Etruscan 𐌇𐌄𐌓𐌂𐌋𐌄 (hercle), from Ancient Greek Ἡρακλῆς (Hēraklês), apparently cognate of Ἥρα (Hḗra, “Hera”) and, according to Haudry, from Proto-Indo-European *yóh₁r̥ (“year, season”) + κλέος (kléos, “glory”).

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THere were many Hercules'''’s, but (as Tully ſays, de Nat. Deor. lib. 3.) the famous Actions of them all are aſcrib’d to him who was the Son of Jupiter, by Alcmena, the Wife of Amphitryo King of Thebes.

1698, The Pantheon, Representing the Fabulous Histories of the Heathen Gods and Most Illustrious Heroes, in a Short, Plain and Familiar Method by Way of Dialogue, 2nd edition, London: […] Charles Harper, […], page 332:

THere were many Hercules'''’s amongſt the Antients; Varro enumerates Forty four. The moſt famous were, Hercules Marguſanus, Hercules Ogmius, who was the Symbol of Eloquence amongſt the Gauls; Hercules Pollens, Hercules Thebanus, firſt called Alcides, Hercules' Tyrius, or Egyptian; and there were two of them; the Elder called Melicarthus, or Eſau, the Founder of the City of Tyre; and the Younger, who Subdu’d Geryon, and was Worſhipped in Sidon in Spain.

1705, The Antient Religion of the Gentiles, and Causes of Their Errors Consider’d: […], London: […] John Nutt, […], page 166:

Mr. Sympſon would read Theban, the Story of Omphale being, as he thinks, only applicable to him: But as there were many Hercules'''’s, and among the reſt a Libyan, the Son of Jupiter Ammon; if it is inaccurate, it ſeems the Inaccuracy of a Scholar, and not an Error of the Preſs.

1750, The Works of Mr. Francis Beaumont, and Mr. John Fletcher, volume the third, London: […] J. and R. Tonson and S. Draper […], page 70:

Supporters.] Two Herculeſſes, with clubs over their ſhoulders, proper, crined and habited about the middle, or.

1769, The New Peerage; or Present State of the Nobility of England: […], volume III, London: […] R. Davis, […]; L. Davis, […]; and W. Owen, […], page 227:

There were so many Hercules in the Grecian mythology and history, that it was necessary to specify when the principal Hercules, the son of Jupiter and Alcmena, was meant.

1795, Paradise Regained, a Poem, in Four Books, by John Milton. A New Edition, with Notes of Various Authors, by Charles Dunster, M.A., London: […] T[homas] Cadell, Jun. and W[illiam] Davies, […], page 258:

Thus he enumerates many Hercules’s, and many Mercury’s; but one part of the history of each is so much the same, that I know not how he could avoid perceiving that they were only two names of one person.

1838, L[eveson] Vernon Harcourt, The Doctrine of the Deluge; Vindicating the Scriptural Account from the Doubts Which Have Recently Been Cast upon It by Geological Speculations, volume I, London: […] Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longmans, […], page 453:

[…]—Hercules—Was Nimrod, the grand-son of Noah, and the origin of all the fabled Herculesses of all the early nations—[…]

1843, [Josiah Priest], Slavery, as It Relates to the Negro, or African Race, Examined in the Light of Circumstances, History and the Holy Scriptures; […], Albany, N.Y.: C. Van Benthuysen and Co., page VII:

Our great cities have become so many Augean stables, for the removal of whose filth as many Hercules are required.

1848, Richard B[oxall] Grantham, A Treatise on Public Slaughter-Houses, Considered in Connection with the Sanitary Question. […], London: […] J[ohn] Weale, […]; and […] Henry Renshaw, […], page 25:

“[…] Diogenes turned Hercules into ridicule; and the Roman Cynic Varro introduces three hundred Joves without heads.” From the stage abuser the sarcastic African father selects, partly from his own former observation, those of Diana being flogged, the reading of Jupiter’s will after his decease, and the three half-starved Herculesses!

1884, Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, […], page 112:

[…] and now was Hercules famous at Tyre: not he that we spoke of before: (for the more secret histories say there were many Hercules, and many father Libers) and this Hercules they make famous for twelve sundry rare exploits […]

The two Hercules are positioned on the same convex, bulging frame of the lower stern gallery as David, but furthest to the port (No. 397) and to the starboard (No. 1279) respectively of the centre line.

1986, Hans Soop, The Power and the Glory: The Sculptures of the Warship Wasa, Almqvist & Wiksell, →ISBN, page 43:

By this time, however, Maciste had lost his individuality and had become indistinguishable from the many Herculeses, Atlases, and other assorted neomythological strongmen, all played by a host of American bodybuilders.

2008, Gino Moliterno, Historical Dictionary of Italian Cinema (Historical Dictionaries of Literature and the Arts; 28), The Scarecrow Press, Inc., →ISBN, page 188:

(Roman mythology) The Roman name for the Greek divine hero Heracles, who was the son of Jupiter and Alcmene, a celebrated hero who possessed exceptional strength. Most famous for his 12 labours performed to redeem himself after killing his family.

هِرَقْل

The Roman name of Heracles — see also Heracles


Heracles

From Ancient Greek Ἡρακλῆς (Hēraklês), from Ἥρα (Hḗra, “Hera”) + κλέος (kléos, “glory”).

com

Herakles (alternative)
Hêraklês (alternative)

(Greek mythology): Son of Zeus and Alcmene, a celebrated hero who possessed exceptional strength. Most famous for his 12 labours performed to redeem himself after killing his family.


Hermes

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

From the Ancient Greek Ἑρμῆς (Hermês), itself of disputed meaning and origin, possibly of non-Indo-European substrate origin or from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“to bind, put together”).

der

(Greek mythology) The herald and messenger of the gods, and the god of roads, commerce, invention, cunning, and theft.


Hestia

From Ancient Greek Ἑστία (Hestía), from ἑστία (hestía, “hearth”).

(Greek mythology) The virgin goddess of the hearth, and the household, and therefore of domestic life.


Vesta

From Middle English Vesta, from Latin Vesta, related to Ancient Greek ἑστία (hestía, “to dwell”) and Ἑστία (Hestía, “Hestia”), all from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wes-; see also Old High German and Old English wesan (“to be”), Gothic wisan, Sanskrit वसति (vasati, “abide dwell”).
Vesta itself came to mean chaste, pure, or virgin, based from this goddess.

cog

(Roman mythology) The virgin goddess of the hearth, fire, and the household, and therefore a deity of domestic life. The Roman counterpart of Hestia.


Melpomene

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Μελπομένη (Melpoménē), from μέλπω (mélpō, “to sing”).


Menoetius

From Ancient Greek Μενοίτιος (Menoítios). The name "Menoetius" literally means "defying fate" or "ruined strength".

(Greek mythology) A Titan, son of Iapetus and Clymene, he had three brothers: Atlas, Prometheus and Epimetheus. He joined Cronus and the Titans in their unsuccessful war against the Olympian gods. Zeus killed him with a thunderbolt and sent him down to Tartarus.

(Greek mythology) One of Hades' shepherds on Erythea. He told Geryon when Heracles stole Geryon's herd.

(Greek mythology) Father of Patroclus and son of Actor. (Iliad, XI, 765)


Moirae

From Ancient Greek Μοῖραι (Moîrai, “Moirae”), from μοῖρᾰ (moîră, “lot, destiny”).

(Greek mythology) The Fates, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos, the goddesses, who controlled every person's destiny by weaving the thread of life.


Moira

(Greek mythology) The personification of fate, especially as Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos.


Nyx

(Greek mythology) The primordial goddess of night.


Oceanus

From Ancient Greek Ὠκεανός (Ōkeanós). Doublet of ocean.

(Greek mythology) Personification of vast waters or the world ocean. He was the first-born of the Titans, son of Uranus and Gaia, the god Ωκεανός Ποταμός (Ōkeanós Potamós, “River Ocean”) that encircled the earth. With his sister-wife, Tethys, he fathered all rivers and the Oceanids.


Polyhymnia

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek Πολυύμνια (Poluúmnia), Πολύμνια (Polúmnia)

lbor

(Greek mythology) The Muse of sacred music.


Tethys

(Greek mythology) Personification of fertile waters, she was a Titan daughter of Uranus and Gaia, and with her brother Oceanus gave birth to all rivers and the Oceanids.


Odysseus

From Ancient Greek Ὀδυσσεύς (Odusseús). Doublet of Ulysses.

(Greek mythology) The son of Laertes and Anticlea and father of Telemachus. A Greek leader during the Trojan War, he was responsible for the Trojan horse. He was also king of Ithaca, hero of the Iliad and protagonist of the Odyssey.

Odusseus

son of Laertes; Greek leader during the Trojan War


Urania

(Greek mythology) The Muse of astronomy.

(Greek mythology) One of the epithets of Aphrodite.


Diana

→ Hawaiian: Kiana
→ English: Kiana

→ Serbo-Croatian: Дајана, Dajana

→ Spanish: Dayana

Borrowed from Late Latin Diāna, short form of Latin Dīāna, derived by syncope from Old Latin Dīvāna, equivalent to dīvus + -āna; roughly akin to Proto-Italic *deiwā (“goddess”) + Proto-Indo-European *-néh₂.
Originally an Old Italic divinity of light and the moon; later identified as the Roman counterpart to Greek goddess Artemis. Cognate of Attic Greek Διώνη (Diṓnē), similarly syncopated from older Ancient Greek Διϝωνη (Diwōnē), whence via Latin Diōne is derived English Dione used in various ways across astronomy, chemistry, biology, and as a given name. From the same root Proto-Indo-European *dyúh₃onh₂- also potentially cognate to English June via Latin Jūnō.

So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought; but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and all the world worshippeth.

(Roman mythology) The daughter of Latona and Jupiter, and twin sister of Apollo; the goddess of the hunt, associated wild animals and the forest or wilderness, and an emblem of chastity; the Roman counterpart of Artemis.


Minerva

مِينِيرْفَا

In many works of this ſpecies, the hero is allowed to be mortal, and to become wiſe and virtuous as well as happy, by a train of events and circumſtances. The heroines, on the contrary, are to be born immaculate; and to act like goddeſſes of wiſdom, juſt come forth highly finiſhed Minervas from the head of Jove.

1798, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, “Author’s Preface”, in W[illiam] Godwin, editor, Posthumous Works of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. […], volume I, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […]; and G[eorge,] G[eorge] and J[ohn] Robinson, […], →OCLC:

(Roman mythology) The goddess of wisdom, especially strategic warfare, and the arts, especially crafts and in particular weaving. She is the Roman counterpart of Athena.


Etruria

/ɪˈtɹʊə.ɹɪ.ə/

Italian Peninsula
Italian Peninsula#English

(historical) An ancient country in Italian Peninsula, located between the Arno and Tiber rivers, corresponding to modern day Tuscany in Western Italy; the home of Etruscans.

(historical) A former kingdom in Northern Italy, lasted between 1801 and 1807.

A suburb of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England (OS grid ref SJ8646).


Andromeda

/ænˈdɹɒmɪdə/

/ænˈdɹɑmɪdə/

Borrowed from Latin Andromeda, itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek Ἀνδρομέδα (Androméda), Ἀνδρομέδη (Andromédē).

(Greek mythology) The daughter of Cepheus and Cassiopeia, king and queen of Eritrea, rescued from her sacrifice to the sea monster Cetus by Perseus, who married her; mother of Perses, ancient king of Persia.


cross the floor

en-verb

cross the floor (third-person singular simple present crosses the floor, present participle crossing the floor, simple past and past participle crossed the floor)

crosses the floor (present singular third-person)
crossing the floor (participle present)
crossed the floor (participle past)
crossed the floor (past)

(UK politics, of a member of a parliament) To vote against one’s own political party in parliament.

Two weeks ago, Mr Davies intimated to Mr Brown that he was ready to cross the floor.

2007 June 27, Philip Webster, Francis Elliott, “How Brown led his latest recruit across the floor”, in Times of London, retrieved 2008-11-09:

(UK politics, informal, of a member of a parliament) To resign from one’s political party and join another party, resulting in moving from one’s currently assigned desk or seat in the legislative chamber to a new desk or seat physically located with the other members of one’s new party.


Trojan War

For the greater part of three thousand years since the date of the Trojan War, the imagination of poets and dramatists has been busy with its story.

1952, Olivia E. Coolidge, The Trojan War, Houghton Mifflin, published 1980, page ix:

The poems of the Epic Cycle are now lost. But what we know about them from ancient evidence is extremely important for our understanding about myth of the Trojan War. The poems of the Epic Cycle share the same mythological tradition with the famous Homeric poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey, and in fact the Epic Cycle is even more representative of the Trojan War tradition than the Homeric poems.

2001, Jonathan S. Burgess, “The Tradition of the Trojan War in Homer and the Epic Cycle”, in Paperback, Johns Hopkins University Press, published 2004, page 1:

The Greeks and Romans believed that the Trojan War was both a real event and a pivotal point in world history; Herodotus and Thucydides discussed the Trojan War briefly in the opening pages of their respective books, written in the fifth century BCE.

2013, Eric H. Cline, The Trojan War: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, page 1:

(Greek mythology) A mythological decade-long war and siege, ending in the destruction of Troy, which, as described in Homer's Iliad, was waged by a coalition of Achaeans (Greeks) led by King Agamemnon against the Trojans to avenge the abduction of Helen, wife of the Spartan King Menelaus, by Paris, son of the Trojan King Priam.


anagnorisis

en-noun

anagnorisis (countable and uncountable, plural anagnorises)

/ˌænəɡˈnɒrɪsɪs/

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek ἀναγνώρισις (anagnṓrisis), from ἀναγνωρίζειν (anagnōrízein, “to recognise, discover”).

lbor

His heroines never have a true anagnorisis because the moral fault is never in themselves, only in outside conspirators.

The moment in the plot of a drama in which the hero makes a discovery that explains previously unexplained events or situations; a denouement.

anagnorisis

moment in the plot when a character makes a critical discovery


pedagogue

pedagogues (plural)
pædagogue (alternative)
pedagog (alternative)
paedagogue (alternative)

From Middle English pedagoge, from Middle French pedagogue, from Latin paedagōgus, from Ancient Greek παιδαγωγός (paidagōgós), from παῖς (paîs, “child”) + ἀγωγός (agōgós, “guide”) (from ἄγω (ágō, “lead”)). By surface analysis, ped- (“child”) + -agogue.

surf

(historical, Ancient Greece) A slave who led the master's children to school, and had the charge of them generally.


bully pulpit

From bully (“(US, slang) very good”) + pulpit (“raised desk, lectern, or platform for an orator or public speaker”), said to have been coined by the United States President Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) who used the term to refer to his office, by which he meant a terrific platform from which one can advocate an agenda: see the 1909 quotation.

compound

He [Theodore Roosevelt] was sitting at his desk reading to us his forthcoming Message. He had just finished a paragraph of a distinctly ethical character, when he suddenly stopped, swung round in his swivel chair, and said: "I suppose my critics will call that preaching, but I have got such a bully pulpit!"

1909 February 27, Lyman Abbott, “A Review of President Roosevelt’s Administration: Its Influence on Patriotism and Public Service”, in Lyman Abbott, editor, The Outlook, volume XCI, New York, N.Y.: The Outlook Company, →OCLC, page 430, column 1:

“The only option is to continue raising the issue, making it a political fight and using the bully pulpit to get more attention,” the [White House] source said.

2024, unnamed source, quoted in: James Oliphant, Joseph Ax, and Bad Brooks, Republicans scramble to contain backlash from IVF court ruling, Reuters, published in: The Christian Science Monitor, February 26 2024

At a leadership level, Ms. Hurst wishes that lawmakers would use their bully pulpit to convene constituents for more of the sorts of conversations that took place in Portugal.

2024 July 10, Stephen Humphries, Alfredo Sosa, “Stick, meet Carrot. How Portland police and activists teamed up to fight addiction.”, in The Christian Science Monitor:

But the 2024 year-end report has a much sharper message—with the Chief Justice using his bully pulpit to rail, quite aggressively, against four types of attacks on judicial independence[.]

2025 January 2, Steve Vladeck, “Bonus 115: The Chief Justice's Tone-Deaf Year-End Report”, in One First:

In his final days in office, Mr. Biden has used both his presidential power and his bully pulpit.

2025 January 16, Linda Feldmann, “Joe Biden served just one term. What will his legacy be?”, in The Christian Science Monitor:

(US, chiefly politics) An advantageous position from which to express one's views, especially a political office.


chancellor

chancellors (plural)
chanceler (alternative)
chanceller (alternative)
chancellour (alternative)
chancelor (alternative)
chancelour (alternative)
chaunceler (alternative)
chaunceller (alternative)
chauncellor (alternative)
chauncellour (alternative)
chauncelor (alternative)
chauncelour (alternative)

/ˈtʃɑːnsələ/

/ˈt͡ʃænsələ/

Angela Merkel
Frick Collection
Hans Holbein the Younger
Thomas More

From Anglo-Norman or Middle English chaunceler, chanceler, canceler (“chief administrative or executive officer of a ruler; chancellor, secretary; private secretary, scribe; Lord Chancellor of England; officer of the ruler's exchequer; a high administrative or executive officer (for example, a deputy or representative of a bishop; the head of a university)”), from Old French cancelier, chancelier (“chancellor”), from Late Latin cancellārius (“secretary; doorkeeper, porter; usher of a court of law stationed at the bars separating the public from the judges”), from Latin cancellī (plural of cancellus (“grate; bars, barrier; railings”), diminutive of cancer (“grid; barrier”), from Proto-Italic *karkros (“enclosure”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to bend, turn”)) + -ārius (suffix forming nouns denoting an agent of use).
The word was present as Late Old English canceler, cancheler, from Norman cancheler, but was displaced in the 13th century by the Old French and Anglo-Norman forms mentioned above.

refn

From the Frick Collection in New York City, New York, USA.

مُسْتَشَار

[page 111] […] Lord Falkland […] took an Opportunity to tell the King, that He had now a good Opportunity to prefer Mr. Hyde, by making him Chancellor of the Exchequer, in the Place of Sir John Colepepper; […] [page 112] He [Colepepper] ſurrendered his Office of Chancellor of the Exchequer: And the next Day Mr. Hyde was ſworn of the Privy-Council, and Knighted, and had his Patents ſealed for that Office.

[1760, Edward, Earl of Clarendon [i.e., Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon], “Part the Second”, in The Life of Edward, Earl of Clarendon, Lord High Chancellor of England, and Chancellor of the University of Oxford. […], volume I, Oxford, Oxfordshire: At the Clarendon Printing-house, →OCLC, pages 111 and 112:

Chancellor Philip Hammond has told the BBC he and other MPs will "find a way" of blocking a no-deal Brexit. […] Mr Hammond is expected to be replaced as chancellor whoever wins the Conservative leadership election later this month.

2019 July 5, “Philip Hammond: MPs will and should Stop No-deal Brexit”, in BBC News, archived from the original on 2019-07-08:

Liz Truss has sacked Kwasi Kwarteng as her chancellor and replaced him with Jeremy Hunt ahead of a U-turn on key sections of her disastrous mini-budget, as she launched a desperate attempt to restore her crumbling political authority.

2022 October 14, “Liz Truss sacks Kwasi Kwarteng before corporation tax U-turn”, in The Guardian:

Chancellor of the Exchequer
Chancellor of the Exchequer#English

A senior secretary or official with administrative or legal duties, sometimes in charge of some area of government such as finance or justice.

(UK politics) Ellipsis of Chancellor of the Exchequer.

"Have you agreed on your chancellor, gentlemen?" was the first question of the Judge. The foreman, called in Scotland the chancellor of the jury, usually the man of best rank and estimation among the assizers, stepped forward, and, with a low reverence, delivered to the Court a sealed paper, containing the verdict, […]

1818 July 25, Jedadiah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter XII, in Tales of My Landlord, Second Series, […] (The Heart of Mid-Lothian), volume II, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Company, →OCLC, pages 285–286:

The verdict must be returned to the Court by the chancellor of the jury, in presence of the accused, and of the whole jury; and, being engrossed in the record, and read aloud, it is then sealed up, in terms of the regulations 1672, No. 9, and deposited with the clerk of Court, never to be opened again but by order of the judges. The verdict, when in writing, is authenticated by the subscriptions of the chancellor and clerk of the jury, and accompanied with a list of the names of the jurors, and a state of the vote of each individual, "whether condemning or assoilzieing;" Regulations 1672, No. 9.

1826, Robert Bell, William Bell, “CRIMINAL PROSECUTION”, in A Dictionary of the Law of Scotland, 3rd revised and enlarged edition, volume I, Edinburgh: Printed for John Anderson & Co. […], and Bell & Bradfute, →OCLC, page 333:

[T]he pursuer moved the Court "for a rule to shew cause why this case should not be ordered to be tried, in respect that the verdict as it appears on the notes of the Judge furnished to the parties, was not declared by the chancellor or foreman of the jury in open Court, and taken down by the clerk of the said Court before the jury was discharged."

1853 July 16, Geo[rge] Dingwall Fordyce (reporter), James Paterson (reporter), William Gillies Tytler (reporter), Frederick Hallard (reporter), “James Mackenzie, Pursuer, v. Dunlop, Wilson and Co., Defenders.”, in Reports of Cases Decided in the Supreme Courts of Scotland, and in the House of Lords on Appeal from Scotland, [ […] Being a Continuation of The Scottish Jurist.">…


lightsaber

lightsabers (plural)
light saber (alternative)
lightsabre (alternative)

Compound of light + saber; coined by American filmmaker George Lucas for the Star Wars film franchise. First mentioned in the film Star Wars (later retitled Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope) which was released on 25 May, 1977.

coined

[Obi-Wan Kenobi to Luke Skywalker] Your father's lightsaber. This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight. Not as clumsy or random as a blaster. An elegant weapon for a more civilized age.

1977 May 25, George Lucas, Star Wars, spoken by Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness):

Wielding his flashlight like a lightsaber, Kyle sent golden shafts slicing through the swirling vapors.

2004, Rob N. Hood, Beyond the Wind, Binghamton, N.Y.: Southern Tier Editions/Harrington Park Press, →ISBN, page 1:

This was the era of Star Wars, the reinvention of science fiction with the homely Luke Skywalker. But even Luke had the Force and a tie-fighter. The Doctor was a humanist, and his spacecraft was an obsolete phone box redolent of bobbies with whistles. He would never resort to lightsabre against villains, preferring to confront them with jelly babies.

2006 September, Steve Tomkins, “Icon of the Month No. 82: Dr Who”, in Simon Jones, editor, Third Way, volume 29, number 7, Harrow, London: Third Way Trust, →ISSN, page 24:

Poster Power / Get the scheme behind the scene with Star Wars Blueprints: The Ultimate Collection. This boxed set includes five double-sided posters with blueprints of the Death Star, R2-D2, and C-3PO, lightsabers and blasters, Darth Vader and the Millennium Falcon.

2008 November, “Collecting”, in Boys' Life, volume XCVIII, number 11, Irving, Tx.: Boy Scouts of America, →ISSN, page 52:

(science fiction) A sword having a blade made of a powerful beam of light or energy.


pandit

From Sanskrit पण्डित (paṇḍita). Doublet of pundit.

(India, Nepal) An honorary title for a learned man or scholar.


Jedi

Coined by American filmmaker George Lucas as early as 1973 (in the manuscript Journal of the Whills) and first used in his 1977 film Star Wars. Said to have been adapted from Japanese 時代劇 (jidaigeki, “‘period drama’ motion pictures about samurai”), or perhaps inspired by the words Jed (King) and Jeddak (Emperor) in the Barsoom series by Edgar Rice Burroughs, which Lucas had considered adapting to film. Another potential influence on the word "Jedi" is Hebrew ידיד (yadíd, “beloved; male friend”). In his book The Secret History of Star Wars, Michael Kaminski suggests that Lucas may have been influenced by this term when creating the name for his knights. Kaminski notes that Lucas has cited Jewish mysticism as an inspiration for his work, and that he may have been drawn to the idea of his heroes being beloved protectors.

der

For quotations using this term, see Citations:Jedi.

(Star Wars) One of a fictional order of beings from the Star Wars universe who are gifted with heightened awareness of the Force.


Quirinus

(Roman mythology) An early Roman deity of possibly Sabine origin.


Second Reich

The German Empire from its consolidation in 1871 until the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1918.


Third Reich

the Third Reich (canonical)
3rd Reich (alternative)

Partial calque of German Drittes Reich (literally “third empire, third realm”). The first “Reich” in this reckoning is the Holy Roman Empire and the second is the German Empire. The Weimar Republic, although officially called Deutsches Reich as well, was rejected by the National Socialists and therefore not counted in.

partial calque

German Empire
Holy Roman Empire
Weimar Republic

Тре́тий рейх m (Trétij rejx) (various capitalisation is used)


apprise

en-verb

apprise (third-person singular simple present apprises, present participle apprising, simple past and past participle apprised)

apprises (present singular third-person)
apprising (participle present)
apprised (participle past)
apprised (past)
apprise (infinitive)
apprize (alternative)

From Middle English aprisen, apprisen (“to determine or estimate the value of (something), to appraise, evaluate; to regard (something) as important, valuable, or worthy, to esteem, prize; to praise or worship (God)”), and then either:
* from Old French apriser, aprisier (“to appraise, evaluate”), from à (“to”) + prisier, preisier (“to attribute a value to, to appraise, value”) (from Latin pretiāre, the present active infinitive of pretiō (“(Late Latin) to consider valuable, hold in high regard, to esteem, prize, value; (Medieval Latin) to estimate the worth of, appraise, assess, value”), from pretium + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs)); or
* from Old French à pris (“to (put a) price (on)”) (pris (“price; esteem, (positive) reputation”) is derived from Latin pretium).
Pretium (“cost, price; value, worth”) is ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“before, in front; first”). The English word is a doublet of appraise, appreciate, praise, price, and prize.

doublet

Infeftments are alſo extinct, vvhen the Superior adjudgeth or appriſeth from his Vaſſal; for thereby it vvas found, that the Property vvas Conſolidat vvith the Superiority,

1681, James Dalrymple of Stair [i.e., James Dalrymple, 1st Viscount of Stair], “Extinction of Infeftments”, in The Institutions of the Law of Scotland, […], 1st part, Edinburgh: […] Heir of Andrew Anderson, […], →OCLC, page 416:

[T]he infeftment of annualrent, being jus sed ignobilius, becomes extinct, if the annualrenter thereupon do apprise the property, and be infeft: and therefore, whoever appriseth for any years of the annualrent, the infeftment thereof, unless it be taken away by satisfaction or redemption, extinguisheth the infeftment of annualrent, without distinction whether the apprising be led for any years belonging to the fiar, liferenter, or any other.

1832, James, Viscount of Stair [i.e., James Dalrymple, 1st Viscount of Stair], John S[hank] More, “Title V. Infeftments of Annualrent, where, of Poinding of the Ground, and of Pensions.”, in The Institutions of the Law of Scotland, […], new edition, volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Walker] for Bell & Bradfute, →OCLC, page 387:

(specifically, Scots law) To put a price on (something) for the purpose of sale; to appraise.


Caca

(Roman mythology) goddess of the hearth.


agnomen

An additional cognomen given, as an honour, to a Roman citizen.


faun

fauns (plural)
faune (alternative)
faunus (alternative)
fawn (alternative)

From Middle English fawn, from Latin faunus.

(Roman mythology) A woodland creature with pointed ears, legs, and short horns of a goat and a fondness for unrestrained revelry.


Stonewall

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

From stone + wall. The drink is so named because its effect is likened to running into a stone wall. The riots take their name from the Stonewall Inn where they began (in the 1840s, the property was called Bonnie's Stone Wall, later renamed to Bonnie's Stonewall Inn, then the Stonewall Inn Restaurant, and then the Stonewall Inn). The Confederate general acquired his nickname after a battle in which, while other troops were in motion, fellow general Barnard E. Bee observed "there stands Jackson like a stone wall" (either resolutely, or unhelpfully). The chess setup is so named because it is a solid formation which is hard to overrun by force, like a stone wall.

Stonewall means fighting back.

(historical) A series of riots in 1969 New York City, beginning with the patrons of the gay bar "The Stonewall Inn" resisting police arrest, which marked the beginning of the militant gay rights movement.

A nickname of Confederate general Thomas Jonathan Jackson.

the Stonewall attack, a Stonewall setup, a Stonewall formation

(chess) A formation in chess (a variation of the Queen's Pawn Game) in which white plays pawns to d4 and several other positions, requiring black to react energetically (see Stonewall Attack).

Any of several places:
A town in North Carolina.

An unincorporated community in West Virginia.


JD

(Indian politics) Initialism of Janata Dal (former Indian political party)


Ajax

From Latin Aiāx, from Ancient Greek Αἴας (Aías).

In the legend of the Trojan War, Ajax was king of Salamis and son of Telamon. After Achilles, he was the bravest Greek warrior at Troy. In Homer's epic poem the Iliad, Ajax engages in many combats for...

1995, David Sacks, Oswyn Murray, A Dictionary of the Ancient Greek World, Oxford University Press, USA, →ISBN, page 11:

(Greek mythology) Either of two heroes of the Trojan War.


feng shui

Feng Shui (alternative)
fengshui (alternative)
feng-shui (alternative)

Borrowed from Mandarin 風水 /风水 (fēngshuǐ, “feng shui (Chinese system of geomancy)”, literally “wind and water”): 風 /风 (fēng, “wind”) + 水 (shuǐ, “water”). Doublet of fung shui.

bor

On my telling two missionaries here lately that this Government would not allow a road to be made to their coal mines because it would obstruct the Feng-shui, they only laughed at it. [...] The upper classes may have Feng-shui, and use it when it suits them, as the Government do; but they also, when it suits their purpose, have no difficulty in overcoming the Feng Shui.

1869 March 15, “Summary of news from the Far East. China. Tientsin.”, in The London and China Telegraph, Japan Herald, and Journal of the Eastern Archipelago, French mail edition, volume XI, number 315, London: Printed for the proprietors by Richard Kindee, […], and published by James West […], published 7 June 1869, →OCLC, page 258, column 2:

When the Hongkong Government cut a road, now known as the Gap, to the Happy Valley, the Chinese community was thrown into a state of abject terror and fright, on account of the disturbance which this amputation of the dragon's limbs would cause to the Feng-shui of Hongkong; and when many of the engineers, employed at the cutting, died of the Hongkong fever, and the foreign houses already built in the Happy Valley had to be deserted on account of malaria, the Chinese triumphantly declared, it was an act of retributory justice on the part of Feng-shui.

1873, Ernest J. Eitel [i.e., Ernst Johann Eitel], “Introductory”, in Feng-shui: Or, The Rudiments of Natural Science in China, London: Trübner & Co., →OCLC, page 2:

Feng-Shui views heaven and earth, the whole universe, as one great fetich, animated by a blind unintelligent but omnipotent vitality, a vitality in which man shares, and of which, by the exercise of his intelligent faculties, he may procure a larger and better share than would otherwise fall to his lot. As a practical art, Feng-Shui is the terrestrial sister of Astrology, a mode of deciphering the destinies of an individual as included in the vast complications of the universal whole, but in this respect the earthly sister excels her star-gazing prototype, that by means of Feng-Shui a man learns not only what his fate is, but how it may be modified to his own advantage.

1874 March, F. S. T., “Feng-Shui”, in The Cornhill Magazine, volume XXIX, number 171, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC, page 343:

The following are translated copies of placards which have been extensively posted in the city and suburbs during the past week: [...] "[...] On recovering our Feng Shui land, then the state will be prosperous, the people peaceable, the winds moderate, and the rains favorable. Let all the people exert themselves."

1878 September 15, “Mr. [M. M.] De Lano to Mr. Holcombe. [Inclosure 3 in No. 61; No. 111; The Wu Shih Shan Riot. Placards.]”, in Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, with the Annual Message of the President, December 1, 1879. […], Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, published 1879, →OCLC, page 187:

The question of the Channel Tunnel has been discussed from many points of view, commercial, naval, military; and all that can be said on the subject from a scientific or statistical standpoint has probably been exhausted. But the final clinching argument is that the tunnel would destroy our insular position; and it is there that the Press carries public opinion with it. We cannot have our insular position destroyed. The sea is England's glory and the wind and the waves her portion and her heritage, and shall these advantages be abated for the sake of a hole under the sea and a devil carriage to roar through it? Never, says John Bull; and doubtless his instinct is right. But if that isn't belief in feng-shui, which means precisely wind and water, one humble scribe would like to know what is.

1913 December 20, “The Memories of the Unattainable”, in The North-China Herald and Supreme Court & Consular Gazette: The Weekly Edition of the North-China Daily News, volume CIX (New Series), number 2419, Shanghai: Printed and published at the offices of the North-China Daily News & Herald, Ld., →OCLC, pages 904–905:

An example of public acknowledgement by Government of the legitimacy of feng-shui disputes in the Tsuen Wan area [in Hong Kong] concerned the objections of villagers in Sheung Kwai Chung to the construction of a salt water service reservoir. It was claimed that the construction of this reservoir on a ridge behind the village would adversely affect the village's feng-shui because the veins of the "green dragon" protecting the village would be severed.

1968 July, Baruch Boxer, “Space, Change and Feng-shui in Tsuen Wan’s Urbanization”, in K. Ishwaran, editor, Journal of Asian and African Studies, volume 3, numbers 3–4, Leiden: E[vert] J[an] Brill, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, pages 231–232:

(Chinese mythology) A system of spiritual energies, both good and evil, present in the natural features of landscapes.

風水 /风水

system of spiritual energies present in the natural features of landscapes


Hebe

From Ancient Greek Ἥβη (Hḗbē, literally “Youth, Prime of Life”).

uder

(Greek mythology) The goddess of youth, and a daughter of Zeus and Hera. Her Roman counterpart is Juventas.


Aba

(Greek mythology) a Thracian naiad nymph


Acropolis

the Acropolis (canonical)
Akropolis (alternative)

/əˈkɹɒpəlɪs/

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Ἀκρόπολις (Akrópolis, “Acropolis”), from ἄκρος (ákros, “highest”) + πόλις (pólis, “city”).

bor

The Athenian Acropolis. (Compare acropolis.)


Althea

From Althaia or Althaea of Greek mythology, from Ancient Greek Ἀλθαία (Althaía).

(Greek mythology) an obscure goddess who was the personification of truth


Ancient Greece

The Greek-speaking world in ancient times, geographically referring not only to modern Greece and southern Balkan peninsula but also to areas of Hellenic culture that were settled during ancient times by Greeks: Cyprus, the Aegean coast of Ionia, southern Italian peninsula and Sicily (known as Magna Graecia) and the scattered Greek settlements on the coasts of what are now Albania, Bulgaria, Egypt, Libya, southern France, southern Spain, Catalonia, Georgia, Romania, and Ukraine.


Apollo

From Latin Apollō, from Ancient Greek Ἀπόλλων (Apóllōn).

‘Blue are the hills that are far away,’ is an owercome in the countryside, and while at first on his side it may have been but a young man’s fancy, to her he was like the god Apollo descending from the skies.

1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:

(Greek mythology, Roman mythology) The son of Zeus and Leto (or Jupiter and Latona), and the twin brother of Artemis (or Diana). He was the god of light, music, medicine, and poetry; and prophecy, dance, manly beauty, and more.


Argo

From Latin Argo, from Ancient Greek Ἀργώ (Argṓ), the mythical ship of the Argonauts.

(Greek mythology) The ship in which Jason and the Argonauts sailed on their quest for the Golden Fleece.


Argonaut

/ˈɑːrɡənɔːt/

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Ἀργοναύτης (Argonaútēs).

(Greek mythology) One of the members of the Argo who sailed with Jason in search of the Golden Fleece.


Ash

en-proper noun

Ash (countable and uncountable, plural Ashes)

Ash (deity)
Ash (disambiguation)#Places
Ash (name)

(Egyptian mythology) The Egyptian god of oases.


Assembly

Nevada Assembly

New York State Assembly

(US politics) The lower legislative body of each of a number of states of the United States.


Atem

(Egyptian mythology) Alternative form of Atum


Atlas

Atlas (countable and uncountable, plural Atlases)

From Latin Ā̆tlās, from Ancient Greek Ἄτλας (Átlas), either from ἁ- (ha-, copulative prefix) + Proto-Indo-European *telh₂- (“bear, undergo, endure”) or of Pre-Greek origin.

der

(Greek mythology) The son of Iapetus and Clymene, war leader of the Titans ordered by the god Zeus to support the sky on his shoulders; father to the Hesperides, the Hyades, and the Pleiades; king of the legendary Atlantis.


Aura

en-proper noun

Aura (countable and uncountable, plural Auras)

(Greek mythology, Roman mythology) A minor female deity.


Aurora

/ʔaʊ̯ˈɾo.ɾɐ/

Aurora (disambiguation)
Gérard de Lairesse
Manuel Quezon

Ultimately from Latin Aurōra. The Philippine placenames were named after First Lady Aurora Quezon, the wife of Pres. Manuel Quezon, the 2nd president of the Philippines.

As faire Aurora in her purple pall, / Out of the East the dawning day doth call […]

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 16:

(Roman mythology) Roman goddess of the dawn; equivalent of the Greek Eos. Sister of Luna and Sol.


Barca

2000 April 19, BBC Online, "Football News":

There's only one Barca

Chelsea and Barca clash once again

Giovani committed to Barca

association football
association football

(informal, soccer) FC Barcelona, a prominent Spanish association football club.


Bast

(Egyptian mythology) Alternative spelling of Bastet


Batman

The province is named after its capital city, and the city is named after a nearby river, Batman River. See Ottoman Turkish باطمان for more information.

The capital city of Batman Province, Turkey.


Batman

From bat + man; originally the Bat-Man. By surface analysis, Bat- + man.

You’re afraid of being ashes. You’re afraid of being forgotten. And you will be forgotten, Joker. Because of me. I am vengeance! I am the night! I am Batman!

2015, Batman: Arkham Knight, spoken by Batman (Kevin Conroy), Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, via Rocksteady Studios:

“But next time—” Night vanished before the guard could finish—just kind of disappeared like Batman—which Viv found almost as annoying as the fact that he'd dragged her down a well. He didn't think he had to explain himself?

2015, Sarah Cross, Tear You Apart, Carolrhoda Lab, →ISBN, page 68:

I watched through squinted eyes as the driver-side door opened and a man stepped out wielding a Maglite, his other hand placed on his Batman-like utility belt. What all did they keep in those things? Surely the pistol, a few clips, handcuffs, ...

2019, Sean Johnson, Strange Like Me, page 212:

For quotations using this term, see Citations:Batman.

A fictional hero and the main protagonist of DC Comics, noted for his intellect and stealth, who uses a bat-themed costume and equipment (including a belt with an array of utilities) and is assisted by his sidekick Robin.


Batman

Holy guacamole, Batman!

Holy nostalgic flashback, Batman! Aly and AJ Michalka, the actor-musician sister duo known for dominating Radio Disney in the late aughts (they’ve also released some very good music since then), just sent us straight back to our tweens by wearing none other than iconic mall brand Limited Too.

2024 July 1, Elizabeth Logan, “Aly & AJ in the New Limited Too Collection Has Me Checking What Year It Is”, in Glamour:

An intensifier for interjections created with the adjective holy, in imitation of dialogue between Batman and his sidekick Robin.


Batman

en-verb

Batman (third-person singular simple present Batmans, present participle Batmanning, simple past and past participle Batmanned)

Batmans (present singular third-person)
Batmanning (participle present)
Batmanned (participle past)
Batmanned (past)

He laughed, Batmanned back up to his last piece of gear and hammered a 5/8-inch angle piton into the crack with an ascending ring like any nail met with a hammer.

2014, Ken Wylie, Buried, →ISBN, page 140:

(slang, mountaineering) Alternative form of batman (etymology 3)


Beehive

the Beehive (canonical)
beehive (alternative)


Blitz

Specific use of blitz. The Blitz was in truth not a blitzkrieg, which is a rapid ground offensive based on superior tank forces. However, the word was current at the time for the successful German campaigns in Poland and France, and was transferred to the attacks on Britain, perhaps by association of Blitz (“lightning”) with the bombings.

(historical) The series of air raids launched on various cities in Great Britain by the German air force in 1940–41 during World War II.


Blues

In reference to the ancient Roman and medieval Byzantine racing faction, a calque of Latin venetī (“Sea-Blues”) or factio veneta (“the sea-blue faction”) and Byzantine Greek Βένετοι (Bénetoi, “Blues”).

bor

(informal) Any of several sports teams whose uniform is predominantly blue, such as:


Borg

* As a Danish and Norwegian surname, from various places derived from Old Norse borg (“stronghold”).
* As a north/Low German surname, this is the Low German form of the surname Burg.
* As a Jewish surname, from Yiddish בורג (burg, “credit”), from Middle High German borgen (“to lend, borrow”), from Old High German borgēn.
* As a Maltese surname, from the noun borġ (“tower, stronghold”), distantly related to the first two senses above.


Boxer

Named Boxers by the West, since their official title was "The Fist of Righteous Harmony" (義和拳 /义和拳 (Yìhéquán)) and their symbol was a clenched fist.

(historical) A Chinese anti-imperial and xenophobic rebel of the early 1900s.


C

(UK politics, in election results) Abbreviation of Conservative.


Calliope

From Latin Calliope, from Ancient Greek Καλλιόπη (Kalliópē), from κᾰλλῐ- (kăllĭ-, “beautiful”) + ὄψ (óps, “voice”).

(Greek mythology) The Muse of eloquence and epic or heroic poetry; the mother of Orpheus with Apollo.


Calypso

(Greek mythology) A sea nymph who entertained Odysseus on her island, Ogygia, for seven years.


Capitol

From Middle English Capitolie, in historical sense, from Latin Capitōlium. Other meanings from specific instances of capitol, q.v. As a French town hall, a calque of French Capitole.

Constantine the Great
Museum of Roman Civilization
Washington Mall

(historical) The citadel and temples on the Capitoline Hill in Ancient Rome.


Chaos

From Latin chaos (“chaos”), from Ancient Greek χάος (kháos).

19521 Chaos
Chaos (Warhammer)
Chaos (cosmogony)

(Greek mythology) In Greek mythology, the primordial state of disorder that exists before the creation of the world, or the first being or deity to exist.


Chronus

(Greek mythology) Alternative form of Chronos.


Commons

Commons (disambiguation)#People
House of Commons

(UK politics, Canadian politics) The House of Commons, part of the parliament under the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy.


Con

(UK politics) Abbreviation of Conservative.


Constitution

The Constitution is anchored in English liberal thought and the Magna Carta.

The US Constitution was written in 1787.

As the search continued, I developed five criteria for the selection process. The next Chief Justice must have a top-flight legal mind; he must be young enough to serve at least ten years; he should, if possible, have experience both as a practicing lawyer and as an appeals court judge; he must generally share my view that the Court should interpret the Constitution rather than amend it by judicial fiat; and he must have a special quality of leadership that would enable him to resolve differences among his colleagues so that, as often as possible, the Court would speak decisively on major cases with one voice or at least with a strong voice for the majority opinion.

1978, Richard Nixon, RN: the Memoirs of Richard Nixon, Grosset & Dunlap, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 419:

The Constitution is very clear. My job was oversee the session of Congress where objections could be heard. And I made sure that objections would be recognized, so we would hear whatever evidence and other debate there was. But the Constitution says you open and count the votes, no more no less. The Constitution affords no authority to the Vice President or anyone else to reject votes or return votes to the states.

2023 July 5, Mike Pence, 7:52 from the start, in Watch All In With Chris Hayes Highlights: July 6, MSNBC, archived from the original on 2023-07-07:

(law) The supreme law of some countries, such as Australia, Ireland, and the United States.


Cygnus

Borrowed from Latin cygnus (“swan”), from Ancient Greek κύκνος (kúknos, “swan”).

(Greek mythology) A king of the Ligurians and relative of Phaeton who was transformed into a swan and placed in the sky as a constellation.


D

en-noun

D (countable and uncountable, plural Ds)

D-New York

(US politics) Abbreviation of Democrat, especially preceding the constituent location.


Democrat

At one point in the debate, the moderator asked a tough question that had the candidates stumped.
Moderator: "This question is for both of the candidates. Those ever-important independent voters who haven’t decided who to vote for would like to know what the real differences between you two are."
Gore: "I think the real difference between Governor Bush and I is that he is in fact a Republican, and I am currently a Democrat."
Moderator: "That doesn’t really answer the question, I am talking about issues."
Bush: "No, he is right. I am a Republican, and he is a Democrat."

2000 October 3, Tim Paluch, “Gore vs. Bush: That's Debatable”, in Iowa State Daily:

“Over the years, Democrats and Republicans have had policy differences, but this is way more than a policy difference. This is them dismantling government without the consent of the people,” Bonamici said. “This is not normal. Nothing feels normal right now.” […] A video filmed and shared on the social media site Bluesky by Florida Congressman Maxwell Frost, also a Democrat, shows Hairfield outside the building and several officers from the federal Department of Homeland Security behind the doors, labeled “All Access Entrance.”

2025 February 7, Alex Baumhardt, “Oregon Rep. Bonamici among electeds inexplicably locked out of U.S. Education Department”, in Oregon Capital Chronicle:

(US politics) A member or supporter of the Democratic Party in the United States.

民主黨人 /民主党人

supporter of the Democratic Party of the US


Devi

Borrowed from Sanskrit देवी (devī́, “goddess, female deity”).

bor+

(Hinduism) Shakti, the female aspect of the divine, as conceptualized by the Shakta tradition of Hinduism. She is the female counterpart without whom the male aspect, which represents consciousness or discrimination, remains impotent and void.

A title put at the end of any female deity's name within Hinduism (e.g. Lakshmi Devi, Saraswati Devi, Kali Devi).


Dike

From Ancient Greek Δίκη (Díkē, literally “Justice; Order; Judgement”).

bor

(Greek mythology) The goddess/personification of justice, order and judgement and one of the Horae. She is a daughter of Zeus and Themis, and her sisters are Eirene and Eunomia. Her Roman counterpart is Justitia.


Draco

Borrowed from Latin Dracō, itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek Δρᾰ́κων (Drắkōn). Doublet of dracone, dragon, and dragoon.

Draco
Draco (constellation)
Draco (lawgiver)
Draco Dwarf

(Greek mythology) One of Actaeon's hounds.


Dragon

The fifth of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar.


Echidna

From Ancient Greek Ἔχιδνα (Ékhidna, “Echidna”), from ἔχιδνα (ékhidna, “viper”).

der

Horrible, hideous, and of hellish race, / Borne of the brooding of Echidna base, / Or other like infernall furies kinde […].

1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto XI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

(Greek mythology) A female monster who, along with Typhon, mothered the vast majority of the famous monsters and creatures of Greek mythology.


Echo

60 Echo
Alexandre Cabanel
Echo (mythology)

(Greek mythology) An oread, punished by Hera by losing her own voice and only being able to mimic that of others.


Egyptology

en-noun

Egyptology (countable and uncountable, plural Egyptologies)

Egyptologies (plural)
Ægyptology (alternative)
egyptology (alternative)

/ˌid͡ʒɪpˈtɑləd͡ʒi/

/ˌiːd͡ʒɪpˈtɒləd͡ʒi/

(countable) A work concerning ancient Egypt.


Elector

In one of the conflicts, the [Holy Roman] emperor himſelf was put to flight, and very near being made priſoner by the elector of Saxony.

1788, Publius [pseudonym; James Madison], “Number XIX. The Subject [the insufficiency of the present confederation to preserve the Union] Continued, with Farther Examples.”, in The Federalist: A Collection of Essays, Written in Favour of the New Constitution, […] , volume I, New York, N.Y.: […] J. and A. M‘Lean, […], →OCLC, page 117:

[T]he seven Imperial electors who chose the [Holy Roman] emperor controlled him by the pledges exacted from him as the price of his election. These electors were the king of Bohemia, the rulers of Saxony, Brandenburg, and the Palatinate, and the "spiritual electors"—the archbishops of Cologne, Trier, and Mainz.

1961, Will Durant, Ariel Durant, “Imperial Armageddon: 1564–1648”, in The Age of Reason Begins: A History of European Civilization in the Period of Shakespeare, Bacon, Montaigne, Rembrandt, Galileo, and Descartes: 1558–1648 (The Story of Civilization; 7), New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 538:

Hanover, seat of the electors, was an attractive small town set on the River Leine. [...] The electoral court was in residence at Herrenhausen only between May and October, so that by the beginning of November 1709 the only activity was in one of the private wings where Caroline of Ansbach, wife of the elector’s heir, had chosen to give birth to her second child.

1995, Veronica P. M. Baker-Smith, “An Electoral Family”, in A Life of Anne of Hanover, Princess Royal (Publications of the Sir Thomas Browne Institute Leiden; no. 13 (New Series)), Leiden, New York, N.Y.: E[vert] J[an] Brill, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 1:

(historical) A German prince entitled to elect the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire; a prince-elector.


Eros

I'm not just talking about sexually transmitted diseases, though Eros-knows there's precious little information about them available to gay men.

1981 August 1, Ron Vachon, “To Your Health”, in Gay Community News, page 13:

(Greek mythology) The god of love and sexual desire; son of either Erebus and Nyx or Aphrodite and Ares. His Roman counterpart is Cupid.


Ether

From Old French ether, from Latin aether (“the upper pure, bright air”), from Ancient Greek αἰθήρ (aithḗr, “upper air”), from αἴθω (aíthō, “I burn, shine”). Doublet of Aether.

der

(Roman mythology) The god-personification of the bright, glowing upper air of heaven. He is the Roman counterpart of Aether.


Fauna

Feminine form of Faunus.
Some refer it to Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₂w-, whence Ancient Greek θαῦνον (thaûnon, “beast”), Illyrian-related Daunus. Some refer it to faveō.

Fatua (alternative)
Fenta Fauna (alternative)

(Roman mythology) The goddess of animals, nature, spring and fertility; she is also the consort of Faunus.


Flora

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

From Latin Flōra (Roman goddess of flowers).

(Roman mythology) the goddess of flowers, nature and spring; she is also the wife of Favonius and the mother of Karpos. She is the Roman counterpart of Chloris.


Fury

Friom Middle English Furie, from Latin Furiae, a name used for the three Erinyes, being the plural of furia ("rage").

“I don't mean all of your friends—only a small proportion—which, however, connects your circle with that deadly, idle, brainless bunch—the insolent chatterers at the opera,[…]the speed-mad fugitives from the furies of ennui, the neurotic victims of mental cirrhosis,[…]!”

1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VI, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

(Greek mythology) A female personification of vengeance.


Gemini

/ˈd͡ʒɛmɪnaɪ/

/ˈd͡ʒɛmɪniː/

Borrowed from Latin geminī, plural of geminus (“twin”), calque of Ancient Greek Δίδυμοι (Dídumoi).

calque

(Greek mythology) The twin brothers Castor and Pollux together.


Greens

In reference to the ancient Roman and medieval Byzantine racing faction, a calque of Latin prasinī (“Leek-Greens”) or factio prasina (“the leek-green faction”) and Byzantine Greek Πράσινοι (Prásinoi, “Leek-Greens”).

bor

(Australian politics) The Australian Greens, a left-wing, progressive green party in Australia

(informal) Synonym of Green Party in various other contexts.


Grit

After the Clear Grits, 19th-century reformers so named because they wanted members who were "all sand and no dirt, clear grit all the way through".

(Canadian politics) A member or supporter of the Liberal Party of Canada or one of its provincial wings (except for the Quebec provincial wing).


Grit

(Canadian politics) Of or belonging to the Liberal Party of Canada.


H

Coordinate term: M (“Muslim”)

(India, Hinduism, Internet slang) Abbreviation of Hindu; mostly used by Indian Muslim netizens primarily towards Hindutva supporters.


Han

An early romanization of the Mandarin 漢 /汉 (Hàn), later reinforced by Wade-Giles and pinyin. Originally a river within present-day Shaanxi and Hubei. As a Chinese dynasty, from the founder Liu Bang's short-lived realm in Sichuan and Shaanxi among China's Eighteen Kingdoms, named for the Qin Empire's Hanzhong Commandery, headquartered in a city which also became known as Hanzhong, named for its placement along the middle reaches of the river.
The usage for the Chinese ethnicity first appeared during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, claiming the Han dynasty as one of the golden ages of Chinese history.

Hankow, China, is located 600 miles from the coast, on the north bank of the Yang-tse-Kiang River, at its junction with the Han River.

1902 January 5, L. S. Wilcox, “Conditions in Hankow.; American Trade on the Pacific and the far East”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-09-18, ANNUAL, page 23:

“By transferring such a significant volume of water away from the Han River Basin, the project is depriving the area of the most basic input it will need to develop in the years and decades to come,” said Britt Crow-Miller, a research assistant professor at Portland State University.[…]
The Danjiangkou reservoir gets its water from the Han River, a tributary of the Yangtze River which feeds several major cities in central China such as Wuhan, an economic power house in Hubei province sporting a $144 billion GDP.

2014 September 9, Stian Reklev, Kathy Chen, “Quenching Beijing's thirst may stunt regional growth”, in Michael Perry, editor, Reuters, archived from the original on 2022-05-27, Industry, Materials and Utilities:


Harmonia

(Greek mythology) The goddess of harmony and concord, and the daughter of Ares and Aphrodite. Her Roman counterpart is Concordia.


Heaven

What Heaven has conferred is called the Nature...

1893, James Legge, transl., The Doctrine of the Mean:

...‘Heaven’ as we use it throughout the book is only a convenient but inaccurate translation of the Chinese character tian. Heaven in Chinese religions as well as in the Confucian tradition has multidimensional implications... In its metaphysical and physical connotation, Heaven... refers to... Nature. Applied in the spiritual realm, it signifies an anthropomorphic Lord or a Supreme Being who presides in Heaven, and rules over or governs directly the spiritual and material worlds.

2000, Yao Xinzhong, An Introduction to Confucianism, page 142:

It was not just the sky, but a god with wills and intentions, seen as sovereign of all... In fact, "Tian" was another reverent term to address the supreme god: "Heaven, for the help of the inferior people, made for them rulers, and made for them instructors" ("Great Declaration I" in the Book of History)...

2018, Zhuo Xinping, Religious Faith of the Chinese, page 58:

(Chinese mythology, semantic translation of 天 (tiān)) The supreme God or Nature which controls the universe.


Hector

From Latin Hectōr or Ancient Greek Ἕκτωρ (Héktōr), from ἕκτωρ (héktōr, “holding fast”), from ἔχω (ékhō, “to have, hold”), from Proto-Indo-European *seǵʰ- (“to hold; to overpower”).

der

(Greek mythology, Roman mythology) A Trojan hero in Homer's Iliad.


Hulk

Jack Kirby
Marvel Comics Universe
Stan Lee

The name of a character created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby for the Marvel Comics Universe, it has since entered the everyday English lexicon. The name itself is most likely derived from the word hulk (“large person or thing”), which predates the character. See the Wikipedia link at the bottom.

Fry: How can you say Lars is more mature than me?
Leela: Well, for one thing, his checkbook doesn't have the Hulk on it.

2007 November 27, Ken Keeler and David X. Cohen, “Bender’s Big Score”, Futurama, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

A fictional Marvel Comics character who gains superhuman strength when he becomes angry.


Hulk

A person resembling, especially physically, the Hulk in the Marvel Comics Universe.


Hydra

[ˈhaɪ̯d͡ʒɹə]

From Latin Hydra, the mythical serpent, originally from Ancient Greek ὕδρα (húdra), from Proto-Indo-European *údreh₂ (“aquatic”). Doublet of otter.

(Greek mythology) A mythological serpent with many heads, slain by Hercules as one of his twelve labours.


Hymen

From Latin Hymēn, from Ancient Greek Ῡ̔μήν (Hūmḗn).

"By the saffron robe of Hymen," cried Lord Norbourne, "but that would be a blessing! I own that I am no great friend to marriage in general; […] If a young man has his way to make in the world, a wife is a dead weight upon his hands.[…]"

1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “A Proposal of Marriage”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 131:

(Greek mythology) The god of marriage and marriage ceremonies.


I

en-noun

I (countable and uncountable, plural Is)

(US politics) Abbreviation of independent.


Io

(Greek mythology) The daughter of Inachus river god, and a lover of Zeus, turned by the latter into a heifer.


Ion

(Greek mythology) Son of Creusa and Xuthus, and the ancestor of Ionian people.