bambakion

From Byzantine Greek βαμβάκιον (bambákion).

In his quilted gray bambakion with its frayed hood, worn over a ragged white tunic, there was a hint of service in the armies of Byzantium, while the brass eyelets on the straps of his buskins suggested a sojourn in the West.

2007, Michael Chabon, Gentlemen of the Road, Sceptre, published 2008, page 4:

(historical) A type of padded under-garment, worn under armour, especially by Byzantine troops.


Valerius

"Here you are!" said George, pointing with his cigar. "Cato - Publius Valerius by Virgil out of Lydia. That's what you want. Publius Valerius is Christian enough."
Dartie, on arriving home, had informed Winifred. She had been charmed. It was so 'chic'. And Publius Valerius became the baby's name, though it afterwards transpired that they had got hold of the inferior Cato. In 1890, however, when little Publius was nearly ten, the word 'chic' went out of fashion, and sobriety came in; Winifred began to have doubts. They were confirmed by little Publius himself, who returned from his first term at school complaining that life was a burden to him - they called him Pubby. Winifred - a woman of real decision - promptly changed his school and his name to Val, the Publius being dropped even as an initial.

1920 John Galsworthy, The Forsyte Saga: In Chancery:I: Chapter 2

A male given name from Latin of mostly historical use in English.


CCS

(animanga, Japanimation) Initialism of Cardcaptor Sakura. (manga and anime series)


early day motion

en-noun

early day motion (plural early day motions)

(UK politics) A formal motion submitted for debate in the House of Commons.


Jacobite

From Latin Jācōbus (“James”) + -ite, equivalent to Jacob + -ite.

Syriac Orthodox Church
Syriac Orthodox Church

(Christianity, dated) A member of the Syriac Orthodox Church, or historically any miaphysite or monophysite. [from 15th c.]


Archimedes

är′kə-mēʹdēz

/ˌɑːɹkɪˈmiːdiːz/

Learned borrowing from Latin Archimēdēs, from Ancient Greek Ἀρχιμήδης (Arkhimḗdēs).

A transliteration of the Ancient Greek male given name Ἀρχιμήδης (Arkhimḗdēs), notably borne by Archimedes of Syracuse, an Ancient Greek mathematician, physicist and engineer (c. 287–212 BCE).


Election Day

Election Days (plural)
election day (alternative)

Voters returned nearly 64 million mail-in ballots before Election Day, a pandemic-driven record that is certain to make for a more complicated vote count this year but could also reshape American elections for years to come.

2020 November 3, Stephanie Saul, Danny Hakim, “As Counting Begins, a Flood of Mail Ballots Complicates Vote Tallies”, in New York Times:

(US politics, specifically) The day on which general elections are held in the United States, usually the Tuesday following the first Monday in November.

(Philippine politics, specifically) The day on which general elections are held in the Philippines, usually on the second Monday of May.


Obamanomics

Blend of Obama + economics, equivalent to Obama + -nomics. See Related terms below.

(US politics, economics, neologism) The economic policies of Barack Obama.


Nixonomics

Blend of Nixon + economics, equivalent to Nixon + -nomics. Coined in a speech of the same title by Walter Heller in October 1969. This is believed to be the first such term coined by blending a president's surname with the word "economics." http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CEEDB153AF932A35752C1A964958260 Similar blends have been used to describe the economic policies of all subsequent US presidents, though Fordonomics is rare.

Senators William Proxmire and Hubert Humphrey, among others, hinted that the new Nixonomics may be due for some design changes when it reaches the Senate.

1971 September 6, “Nixon's Freeze and the Mood of Labor”, in Time Magazine, archived from the original on 2008-12-21:

(US politics) The economic policies of the Richard Nixon administration, 1969-1974.


Carternomics

Blend of Carter + economics, equivalent to Carter + -nomics.

Carternomics stimulates the economy to reduce unemployment and help the "old" poor, while it causes runaway inflation that creates legions of the new poor.

1978 June 1, William Safire, “The New Poor”, in The New York Times:

Mr. Bush's return to Carternomics killed the Reagan boom, resulting in higher unemployment, lower incomes and higher deficits.

1993 October 31, “Taxing the patience in Jersey election”, in The Washington Times, archived from the original on 2021-01-31:

(US politics, often derogatory) Economic policies associated with the administration of Jimmy Carter, 1977–1981.


Clintonomics

Blend of Clinton + economics, equivalent to Clinton + -nomics.

But I am not yet persuaded that Clintonomics will make much of a dent in the persistent problems of unemployment in the U.S. economy.

1992 December 6, David M. Gordon, “Clinton May Fall Short on Easing Unemployment”, in Los Angeles Times, archived from the original on 2013-06-30, page D2:

(US politics) The economic policies associated with the administration of William Jefferson Clinton, 1993–2001.


Bushonomics

Blend of Bush + economics, equivalent to Bush + -o- + -nomics.

Ross Perot's advisers suggest he may push a much bolder plan, investing hundreds of billions in infrastructure; but until he delivers, Clinton clearly occupies the high ground against Bushonomics.

1992 July 8, David Gergen, “Democrats' 'Comeback Kid' Revels in Latest Returns”, in Rocky Mountain News:

(US politics) The economic policies associated with the presidency of George Herbert Walker Bush, 1989–1993.

According to the Democratic nominee, Bushonomics would "squander" the surplus.

2000 August 18, Richard S. Dunham, “Battlin' Al Comes Out Swinging”, in Business Week:

(US politics) The economic policies associated with the presidency of George W. Bush, 2001–2009.


McCainiac

And, as Bush learned painfully, there are plenty of McCainiacs in pivotal Michigan.

2000 March 2, “After Primaries, Focus Turns to the Vice Presidential Slot”, in Philadelphia Inquirer, page A1:

The McCainiacs are warning John McCain's conservative opponents that unless they stop criticizing their candidate immediately, he'll never recover in time for the general election.

2008 February 18, David Limbaugh, “Grassroots hurdle?”, in Washington Times:

(US politics, informal) An ardent follower or supporter of John McCain in his campaigns for the presidency in 2000 and 2008.


fusionism

But it means being open to the possibility that the old fusionism, battered and bruised as it is, may still hold as much promise for the advancement of libertarian policy goals as "liberaltarianism" ever will.

2009 February 13, Ross Douthat, “The Future of Liberaltarianism (II)”, in The Atlantic:

(chiefly US politics) A political philosophy advocating fusion of traditionalist social conservatism with right-libertarianism.


spinmeister

From spin (“favourable comment or interpretation intended to bias opinion on an otherwise unpleasant situation”) + -meister.

affix

Republican spinmeisters were quick to offer their opinions last week on Nashua Mayor Jim Donchess' decision not to challenge Portsmouth lawyer Paul McEachern for the Democratic nomination for governor.

1988, Laura A. Kiernan, “...And Then There Was One”, in The Boston Globe, archived from the original on 2016-03-07:

The reporting on Al Gore’s selection of Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman to be his running mate illustrates yet again the willingness of America’s dominant liberal media to accept without question the tales woven by Democratic spinmeisters.

2000 August 9, James Young, “The ‘conscience’ of the Senate”, in Potomac News, volume 41, number 320, Woodbridge, Va., page A6:

(US politics, slang) A media liaison or spokesperson, charged with presenting the spin for their political side.


overvote

An overvote that took the form of punching Gore's chad and then writing his name (or Lieberman's) in the place for a write-in candidate would unambiguously manifest the voter's intention to vote for Gore.

2001, Richard A. Posner, Breaking the Deadlock, →ISBN, page 78:

(US politics) A case in which a voter has marked a ballot for more choices than allowed by the rules


overvote

en-verb

overvote (third-person singular simple present overvotes, present participle overvoting, simple past and past participle overvoted)

overvotes (present singular third-person)
overvoting (participle present)
overvoted (participle past)
overvoted (past)

[…] a poll worker can manually override the program and accept the ballot, even though it has been overvoted or undervoted.

2005, United States Government Accountability Office, Elections, →ISBN, page 10:

(US politics) To spoil a ballot by marking it for more choices than allowed by the rules


hippocamp

(Greek mythology) A mythological creature, a cross between a horse and a fish.


Linear B

Named by British archaeologist Arthur Evans, to distinguish it from the other linear script, Linear A.

(archaeology, linguistics) A syllabary used to write Mycenaean Greek in the second millennium BC, before the invention of the Greek alphabet.


Linear A

Named by British archaeologist Arthur Evans, to distinguish it from the other linear script, Linear B.

(archaeology, linguistics) A syllabary used to write the as-yet-undeciphered Minoan language, and an apparent predecessor to other scripts, such as Linear B.


sneed

From a 1999 Simpsons episode, "E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)" featuring a farming supply store, "Sneed's Feed & Seed", from the English surname Sneed; the joke is that the sign says the shop was "Formerly Chuck's", implying it formerly rhymed with Chuck instead ("Chuck's Fuck and Suck"). The sign became a meme on the image board 4chan around 2012. It came to be used as a substitute for seethe (e.g. in the phrase "cope and seethe" → "cope and sneed"), then (as a noun) became synonymous with beta males when 4chan started automatically changing soyboy to sneed..

He then told me to "Seethe, cope and dilate you sneed."

2021 October 28, “What is the deal with sneed, cope and dilate?”, in Reddit, r/NoStupidQuestions:

(Internet slang) One who seethes; a soyboy.


Lanka

(mythology, Hinduism) The island city of Ravana in the ancient Indian epic Ramayana.


Palaeologus

The last dynasty ruling the Byzantine Empire.


NDA

National Democratic Alliance
w:National Democratic Alliance

(Indian politics) Initialism of National Democratic Alliance, a political alliance.


Tinseltown

Tinsel Town (alternative)
Tinsel-Town (alternative)

(slang, by extension) The film industry of the United States of America

Bollywood is also very commonly known as both tinsel town and B-town, neither of which is listed in the dictionaries.

2012, James Lambert, “Beyond Hobson-Jobson: A new lexicography for Indian English”, in World Englishes, page 302:

(India, slang) The Bollywood movie industry.

(India, slang) The Tollywood movie industry

(India, informal, by restriction) A nickname for Film Nagar.; A neighbourhood of Hyderabad, Telangana, India


Lemminkäinen

Borrowed from Finnish Lemminkäinen, a proper name derived from lempi (“love”) from Proto-Finnic *lempi.

(Finnic mythology, literary, poetic) Lemminkäinen of Kalevala; a young handsome charming but aloof legendary Hero of the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala.


Bhumi

(uncountable, Hinduism) The earth element in the Hindu elemental tradition.


Thatcherize

Thatcherize (third-person singular simple present Thatcherizes, present participle Thatcherizing, simple past and past participle Thatcherized)

Thatcherizes (present singular third-person)
Thatcherizing (participle present)
Thatcherized (participle past)
Thatcherized (past)
Thatcherise (alternative)

From Thatcher + -ize, named after British prime minister Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013).

named-after

Throughout the 1980s, she had been Thatcherizing the Cabinet.

1991, Bruce Anderson, John Major: The Making of the Prime Minister:

This Thatcherized ethos showed how easily militant economism worked against the Left, once the postwar settlement's corporatist scaffolding was gone […]

(transitive, UK politics) To subject to Thatcherism.

(transitive) To modify (an image) by partial inversion, so that it triggers the Thatcher effect in observers.


Adullamite

From Adullam + -ite, in the political sense from a speech by John Bright in Parliament on 13 March 1866 deriding the anti-reformist faction of Edward Horsman as a “Cave of Adullam”, i.e. a group of malcontents.

(UK politics, historical) A member of the anti-reform faction of the British Liberal Party in the 19th century.


lampad

(Greek mythology) nymph of the Underworld


National Assembly

en-proper noun

National Assembly (plural National Assemblies)

National Assemblies (plural)
national assembly (alternative)

(Canada) Provincial legislature of Quebec.


IRBM

intermediate-range ballistic missile
w:intermediate-range ballistic missile

(weaponry) Initialism of intermediate-range ballistic missile.


IUML

Indian Union Muslim League
w:Indian Union Muslim League

(Indian politics) Initialism of Indian Union Muslim League, a political party.


BQ

(Canadian politics) Initialism of Bloc Quebecois: a political party of Canada.


LPC

L.P.C. (alternative)
L. P. C. (alternative)

Liberal Party of Canada
w:Liberal Party of Canada

(Canadian politics) Initialism of Liberal Party of Canada.


PCC

parochial church council
parochial church council#English

(Church of England) Initialism of parochial church council.


CPC

C.P.C. (alternative)
C. P. C. (alternative)

(Canadian politics) Conservative Party of Canada, a political party in Canada


New Democrat

New Democratic Party
New Democratic Party

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

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

(US politics) A member of the New Democrats centrist faction of the American Democratic Party.


New Democratic

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


LPQ

L.P.Q. (alternative)
L. P. Q. (alternative)

Liberal Party of Quebec
w:Liberal Party of Quebec

(Canadian politics) Initialism of Liberal Party of Quebec.


ADQ

(Canadian politics) Action démocratique du Québec (a political party in Quebec)


Action démocratique du Québec

the Action démocratique du Québec (canonical)

Action Democratique du Quebec
Action Democratique du Quebec#English

(Canadian politics) Alternative spelling of Action Democratique du Quebec — the Action démocratique du Québec


Action démocratique

Action democratique
Action democratique#English

(Canadian politics) Alternative spelling of Action democratique


RCAP

Reform-Conservative Alliance Party
w:Canadian Alliance

(Canadian politics) Initialism of Reform-Conservative Alliance Party.


Smriti

Smṛiti (alternative)
Smṛti (alternative)
smriti (alternative)
smṛiti (alternative)
smṛti (alternative)

(Hinduism) A specific body of Hindu religious scripture.


Smriti

Smritis (plural)
Smṛiti (alternative)
Smṛti (alternative)
smriti (alternative)
smṛiti (alternative)
smṛti (alternative)

(Hinduism) Any individual text from the Smriti body of Hindu religious scripture.


despotate

From despot + -ate (forms nouns denoting rank or office, here the concrete charge of it). Compare despotat.

af

Even before the great sultan Mehmed II, known as El Fatih (the Conqueror), took power in Turkey, the Serbian despotate had become the booty of the invaders.

1974, Vladimir Dedijer, History of Yugoslavia, page 129:

δεσπότης δεσπότης

(historical) An area ruled by a despot (δεσπότης) in the late Byzantine Balkans (12th to 15th centuries).


aphroditic

en-adj

aphroditic (comparative more aphroditic, superlative most aphroditic)

more aphroditic (comparative)
most aphroditic (superlative)

(Greek mythology) Of or pertaining to Aphrodite


Vaisnavara

Vaiśvānara (alternative)
Vaisvānara (alternative)

(Hinduism) A name of the fire-god Agni, in his function as a benevolent power.


exode

(historical, Ancient Rome) A comic afterpiece, either a farce or a travesty.


Vahagn

Borrowed from Armenian Վահագն (Vahagn). Doublet of Verethragna.

(Armenian mythology) Ancient Armenian god of war, fire and courage. A dragonslayer. Lover of Astghik.


friend of Dorothy

en-noun

friend of Dorothy (plural friends of Dorothy)

friends of Dorothy (plural)
Dorothy's friend (alternative)

Commonly thought to refer to Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz (1939), portrayed by gay icon Judy Garland; alternatively (or additionally) it could be a reference to writer Dorothy Parker, who was friends with many gay men.

He's a disco-dancing, Oscar Wilde-reading, Streisand ticket-holding friend of Dorothy, know what I'm saying?

1995, Amy Heckerling, Clueless, spoken by Murray (Donald Faison):

(slang, dated, euphemistic) A homosexual man.

Dorothy Parker
Judy Garland
The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)


kykeon

kykeon (usually uncountable, plural kykeons)

From Ancient Greek κυκεών (kukeṓn), from κυκάω (kukáō, “I mix”).

An Ancient Greek drink made mainly of water, barley and herbs. Closely tied to Demeter and the seasonal celebrations of Crete.


Jurchen

Jurchens (plural)
Jurchen (plural)
Jurched (alternative)
Jurchet (alternative)
Jurgen (alternative)

From a reconstruction of Jurchen *jörcen, attested via Middle Chinese 竹里真 (ʈɨuk̚ lɨ^X t͡ɕiɪn) and Khitan 𘲮𘯤𘰭 (*ju rả n), developed under the influence of Manchu ᠵᡠᡵᠴᡳᡨ (jurcit) and Classical Mongolian ᠵᠦᠷᠴᠢᠳ (ǰürčid). Vajda argues for a derivation from a Proto-Tungusic word meaning "reindeer people", cognate with the Orochs of Russia's Khabarovsk Province and the Oroks of Sakhalin.

A member of a medieval and early modern Tungusic people, progenitors of the Manchus.


Jurchen

Jurched (alternative)
Jurchet (alternative)
Jurgen (alternative)

An extinct Tungusic language (code jur), related to Manchu.


sankyu

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

From Japanese サンキュー (sankyū), from English thank you.


yandere

/ˈjɑːndɛɹeɪ/

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

Borrowed from Japanese ヤンデレ (yandere), a portmanteau of 病んでる (yanderu), contraction of 病んでいる (yande iru), progressive tense of 病む (yamu, “to be sick”), and デレデレ (dere-dere, “in a lovey-dovey, infatuated, or lovestruck manner”, adverb).
Developed on the model of tsundere (“being cold and even hostile towards another person before gradually showing a warm and caring side over time”).

And it finally answered the question as to whether Senjougahara is tsundere or yandere.

2009 October 4, sanjian [username], “Re: Bakemonogatari - comments on the end of the TV broadcast”, in rec.arts.anime.misc (Usenet):

Looking at anime charts, there's always the harem series with the dense hero and a bunch of girls whose personalities are pulled out of a set cast of tropes (the Childhood Friend, Tsundere, Yandere, and Lolita, for instance).

2012, Jazmine Brusola, Rabble Rousers: A Fate/Zero Anime Review, Flyleaf (Ateneo Literary Association), page 14:

“Believe it, man. In fact, she's seriously creepy. Like creepier than that pink-haired girl from Future Diary.”
 “Wait, what?” Sam got that reference quickly, but was not happy with the comparison. She wasn't a psychopathic, murderous Yandere stalker, from what he could see.

2014, Olivia D. Knight, Please, Let Me Be a Seiyuu!, BookRix, →ISBN, unnumbered page:

(chiefly Japanese fiction) A character, usually a girl, who has an obsessive and possessive side in regards to their crush, ready to use violent (if not murderous) means to maintain an exclusive bond.

يَانْدِرِي

character who fits the archetype of being genuinely kind, loving, or gentle, but suddenly switching to being aggressive or deranged


pur et dur

From the French pur et dur (“hard-line”, literally “pure and hard”).

bor

Among separatists, Parizeau was known as pur et dur, hard-line and uncompromising.

2011, Robert Bothwell, Canada and Quebec: One Country, Two Histories: Revised Edition, UBC Press, →ISBN, page 256:

(Canadian politics) Being a hardliner of the Quebec independence movement.


Elissa

From Ancient Greek Ἔλῐσσᾰ (Élĭssă); probably from Phoenician 𐤀𐤋𐤀𐤎𐤕 (ʾlʾst /Elishat/), 𐤀𐤋𐤀𐤎 (ʾlʾs /Elisha/).

(Greek mythology) Dido, queen of Carthage.


Obamamania

Obamania (alternative)
Obama-mania (alternative)
Obama mania (alternative)

Obamamania sweeps the nation as millions of voters find themselves deeply impressed by Obama's views, and the fact that he was on Oprah.

2007, Dave Barry, Dave Barry's History of the Millennium (So Far), G. P. Putnam's Sons, →ISBN, page 197:

(US politics, neologism) Fervent admiration of Barack Obama.


Trudeaumania

Trudeau-mania (alternative)
Trudeau mania (alternative)

Conservatives deny that what they refer to as Trudeaumania has scared candidates from their ranks.

1968 May 4, Sally Barnes, “Trudeaumania a bonanza for Metro Liberals”, in Toronto Daily Star, Toronto, page 13:

Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Canada's own distinctive revolution in democratic political style; the swinger, the all-round athlete: Trudeaumania as overture to the Just Society.

1971, "Canada '72—dull and grey, but still very real" (editorial), Globe and Mail (Toronto), 1 Jul, p. 7

During the 1968–69 school year, remembered for its anti-Vietnam War demonstrations and Trudeaumania, Michael Ignatieff and Bob Rae shared a cheap apartment.

2006 April 17, John Geddes, “Michael Ignatieff and Bob Rae are pals. Really.”, in Macleans, Canada, retrieved 2009-01-20:

But Wright takes a rather contrarian position about the impact of emotionally charged Trudeaumania on PET’s astonishing political rise in 1968.

2016 November 20, “New books put Trudeaumania in fresh perspective”, in Toronto Star, archived from the original on 2017-08-07:

(Canadian politics) Fervent admiration of Pierre Trudeau (1919–2000), Prime Minister of Canada from 1968 to 1979 and from 1980 to 1984, especially during his 1968 election campaign and his early years in office.

Nearly eight years ago, Trudeau was swept into Canada’s highest office on a wave of “Trudeaumania,” a fresh-faced leader who championed the idea that a more progressive, diverse, and open Canada would make the country stronger and elevate its global standing.

2023 August 10, Norimitsu Onishi, “After separation, Trudeau searches for a new image: With marriage broken, he faces skeptical voters”, in The Boston Globe, volume 304, number 41, Boston, Mass., →ISSN, →OCLC, page A6, columns 2–3:

Trudeaumania, in all its selfie and handshake glory, was on full display in the city, with the crowd growing as word got out across Canada’s largest Bavarian festival that the prime minister had arrived.

2023 October 7, Robert Williams, “Keg is tapped, Oktoberfest is on: Trudeau makes surprise visit to Kitchener festival”, in Waterloo Region Record, Kitchener, Ont., →ISSN, →OCLC, page A1, column 1:

It quickly became clear PACE has been provoked by a number issue related to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh’s agenda. Phimester and Main argue Sohi’s city council is essentially an agent for this agenda and they want to reverse Trudeaumania here. “It’s so ideological,” Main said of council. “It’s trying to be pure and virtue-signally and making sure that Trudeau and Singh are happy with what they’re doing. It’s just nuts.”

2024 August 28, David Staples, “Seething anger suggests change is coming”, in Edmonton Journal, Edmonton, Alta., →ISSN, →OCLC, page A4, column 1:

(Canadian politics) Fervent admiration of Justin Trudeau (born 1971), Prime Minister of Canada since 2015.


midnight regulation

en-noun

midnight regulation (plural midnight regulations)

(US politics) A law introduced by an outgoing administration in the period between the election and inauguration of the new president.


maenad

From Latin maenas (“bacchant”), from Ancient Greek μαινάς (mainás, “raving, frantic”), from Ancient Greek μαίνομαι (maínomai, “be furious”).

uder

Blanche Stroeve was in the cruel grip of appetite. Perhaps she hated Strickland still, but she hungered for him, and everything that had made up her life till then became of no account. She ceased to be a woman, complex, kind and petulant, considerate and thoughtless; she was a Maenad. She was desire.

1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, “chapter 30”, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC:

(Greek mythology) A female follower of Dionysus, associated with intense reveling.


pomerium

pomeria (plural)
pomarium (alternative)
pomoerium (alternative)
pomœrium (alternative)

/pəʊ̆ˈmɪə.ɹɪ.əm/

From Latin pōmoerium, pōmērium (“the religious boundary of a city”), either from post (“behind”) + moerus, mūrus (“wall”) + -ium (neuter form of -ius (adjective-forming suffix)), or derived from an Etruscan word.

Nay Sidonius Apollinaris aſſures us farther, that the Place where St. Peter was buried, tho' there was then a Church built over it, was ſtill in his Time, An. 470. without the Pomœria, or Space before the Walls of Rome. For ſpeaking of his Journey to Rome, he ſays, before ever he came at the Pomœria of the City, he went and ſaluted the Church of the Apoſtles, which ſtood in the Via Triumphalis.

1722, Joseph Bingham, “Of Cemeteries,or Burying-Places, with an Enquiry, How and When the Custom of Burying in Churches First Came In”, in Origines Ecclesiasticæ: Or, The Antiquities of the Christian Church. …, volumes X (Giving an Account of Funeral Rites, or the Custom and Manner of Burying the Dead, Observed in the Ancient Church. With a Particular Enquiry, How and When the Custom of Burying in Churches First Came In), London: Printed for R. Knaplock at the Bishop's-Head in St. Paul's Churchyard, →OCLC, book XXIII (Of Funeral Rites, or the Custom and Manner of Burying the Dead, Observed in the Ancient Church), page 7:

But to return to the point from which I digressed, and to illustrate how some people spend useless efforts on these same topics, the man I referred to reported that Metellus in his triumph, after conquering the Carthaginians in Sicily, alone among all the Romans had 120 elephants led before his chariot, and that Sulla was the last of the Romans to have extended the pomerium, [footnote: The religious boundary of a city.] which it was the ancient practice to extend after acquiring Italian, but never provincial territory. Is it better to know this than to know that the Aventine Hill, as he asserted, is outside the pomerium for one of two reasons, either because the plebs withdrew to it or because when Remus took the auspices there the birds had not been favourable – and countless further theories that are either false or very close to lies?

1997, [Lucius Annaeus] Seneca; C. D. N. Costa, editor and transl., “On the Shortness of Life”, in Dialogues and Letters (Penguin Classics), London; New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books, ISBN 978-0-14-044679-1; extracted as On the Shortness of Life (Great Ideas; 1), London: Penguin Books, 2004, ISBN 978-0-141-01881-2, page 22

The myth [of Romulus and Remus] insisted on the exclusion of the Aventine from the boundary of the pomerium, emphasizing that it was a place apart from Rome proper, even if closely related to the city's sacred enclosure. And at the end of this episode, the killing of Remus underlined the sanctity of the city's boundary, dearer than any brother. The myth presents a definition of Rome. The pomerium had a physical presence too. In the imperial period it was clearly marked by massive blocks of stone, 2 m. tall and 1 m. square.

1998, Mary Beard, John North, Simon Price, “The Place of Religion: Rome in the Early Empire”, in Religions of Rome, volume 1 (A History), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, published 2004, →ISBN, page 177:

(historical) The ritually established and sacred formal boundary of the territory of a Roman city; the territory thus bound.

Giovanni Paolo Panini
National Museum of Ancient Art

pomério

tract of land denoting the formal, sacral ambit of a Roman city


Golden Week

(Asian holidays): Borrowed from Japanese ゴールデンウィーク (Gōruden Wīku), equivalent to golden + week.

(US politics, colloquial) A period of early voting time during Ohio's election season in which citizens can register to vote and cast an absentee ballot on the same day.


Electra

From Ancient Greek Ἠλέκτρα (Ēléktra), from ἤλεκτρον (ḗlektron, “amber”), related to ἠλέκτωρ (ēléktōr, “shining sun”).

(Greek mythology) Any of several mythical women, including a daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, one of the Pleiades, and one of the daughters of Oceanus and Tethys.


Jocasta

(Greek mythology) The mother and wife of Oedipus.


Euclid

From Ancient Greek Εὐκλείδης (Eukleídēs).

An unincorporated community in West Virginia.


Labourite

(UK politics) a member or supporter of the British Labour Party, the left wing party of Great Britain


loli

From Japanese ロリ or a clipping of lolicon.

(fandom slang, chiefly anime and manga) A childlike female character, particularly in the lolicon genre.


Bel

From Latin Bēlus, from Ancient Greek Βῆλος (Bêlos), ultimately from Akkadian 𒂗 (bēlum).

(Armenian mythology) An evil giant who ruled Babylon prior to his defeat by the Armenian culture hero Hayk.


cotyle

en-noun

cotyle (plural cotyles or cotylae or cotylai)

cotyles (plural)
cotylae (plural)
cotylai (plural)
cotyla (alternative)

From Latin cotylē and Ancient Greek κοτύλη (kotúlē, “cup, half-pint”). Doublet of kotyle and kotylos.

der

[…] which is often falsely called Corinthian, but is really either Attic or Attico-Boeotian: the vases are mostly cups like this, or cotylai: a few examples, the cups Athens 649 and 1106, the cup B.M. 1920, 2-16, 1, and a cotyle in Cambridge.

1973, The Journal of Hellenic Studies, volumes 47–48, page 148:

(chiefly historical) Alternative form of kotyle (“cantharus, a kind of ancient Greek and Roman cup”).

kotyle

Again, they give the patient a cotyle of hulwort, clary seed, or caper root with half a drachm of squill; or an acetabulum of germander or thyme in three cyathi of oxymel; or two cotylae of alexanders seed with three cyathi of wine; or a cotyle of fennel seed and libanotis (Latin rosmarinum, ‘rosemary’) mixed with wine; or a drachm of gum ammoniac with three cyathi of oxymel.

1950, Caelius Aurelianus, translated by Israel Edward Drabkin, On Acute Diseases and On Chronic Diseases, University of Chicago Press, page 749:

(historical) Synonym of hemina (“a unit of Roman liquid measure”)

(zootomy) Synonym of acetabulum (“any of various cup-shaped joints, organs, or skin features in various animals”).


disproven

(archaic, Scots law) Not proven, in a legal case where the jury verdict has inconclusive evidence for conviction, but sufficient to suspect guilt


mahant

Borrowed from Hindi महान्त (mahānt), from Sanskrit महान् (mahān, “great”).

(Hinduism) A head or chief of a monastery.


jivanmukti

Borrowed from Sanskrit जीवन्मुक्ति (jīvanmukti, “emancipation while still alive”).

bor+

(Hinduism) In Hinduism, the process of achieving complete self-realisation, attaining moksha during one's own life.


paramukta

Borrowed from Sanskrit परमुक्त (para-mukti, “supremely free”).

bor

(Hinduism) supremely liberated being; being liberated beyond the state of a jivanmukta


mahurat

From Hindi [Term?], from Sanskrit [Term?].

‘The mahurat, Your Highness, is at nine seventeen in the morning.’

1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins, published 2013, page 265:

(India, Hinduism) A time or moment considered lucky for beginning some project; an inauguration, now especially the start of a film production.


ecchi

en-noun

ecchi (countable and uncountable, plural ecchi)

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

From Japanese エッチ (etchi, “dirty; perverted”), which is derived from English aitch (“name of the letter ⟨H⟩”), which is an initialism of the romaji of Japanese 変態(へんたい) (hentai, “pervert”).
エッチ (etchi) is not a genre in Japanese; this is a development in English.

der

The manga fan was disturbingly proud of his extensive ecchi collection.

(uncountable) A genre, especially of anime and manga, featuring playful, tongue-in-cheek usage of sexualized scenes and situations such as double entendre or flirtation, while remaining non-pornographic. Often used to differentiate from hentai which features overt sexual themes.

There was a moment of ecchi for comic relief in the otherwise serious story.

(rare, countable, chiefly proscribed by fandom slang) A situation within a story, especially anime and manga, which ventures into the ecchi genre.


Liebercrat

Blend of Lieberman + Democrat, from Joseph Lieberman, a US Senator from Connecticut who left the Democratic Party after being defeated in the party primary in 2006.

JMS, you really need to figure out who you support. I seem to recall you giving a thumbs-up to McCain, but you now seem to come across as a Liebercrat - a decent person who has been corrupted by Clinton/Gore.

2000 December 18, Sean Ormond, “Re: OK, I'm expecting an announcement about the formation of”, in rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated (Usenet):

As result, Mr. Lambert is being called a "Liebercrat" after Sen. Joe Lieberman, of Connecticut, who won re-election as an independent after losing in the 2006 Democratic primary to Ned Lamont.

2007 March 21, Seth McLaughlin, “Virginia Democrat faces blog ire for Allen support”, in Washington Times, archived from the original on 2010-07-02:

The protesters referred to Amann as an "arrogant Liebercrat," noting that he voted against civil unions and calling him a DINO, a "Democrat in name only."

2008 January 31, Frank Juliano, “Amann officially wants to be governor”, in Connecticut Post, archived from the original on 2016-03-07:

(US politics slang) A Democrat whose politics resemble those of Joseph Lieberman; in recent use, often specifically a Democrat who acts like a Republican


HMV

(aviation) Initialism of heavy maintenance visit.

Coordinate term: PMV

(pornography) Abbreviation of hentai music video. A fan-made hentai anime clipshow set to music


Homer Simpson

Name of an amiable but stupid character who gorges on beer and doughnuts in the long-running animated television series The Simpsons. Officially named after creator Matt Groening's father, Homer Groening, but also said to be named after a character in Nathanael West's novel The Day of the Locust (1939).

A few months of this torture, and even the finest treads may begin to resemble a donut with a Homer Simpson-size bite out of it.

2001, Brent Peterson, The Complete Idiot's Guide to RVing:

Find out if you owe birth to an Albert Einstein or a Homer Simpson!

2002 December, Weekly World News, volume 24, number 16:

Sample insults calling the recipient a slut, a bookworm, bucktoothed; characterizing them as having a "Homer Simpson gut," a crooked ponytail...

2004, Serge P Shohov, Frank H Columbus, Advances in Psychology Research:

I struggle to remember even a Homer-Simpson handful of them, even those that arose from my own fevered keyboard.

2005, Tony Carlson, The How of WOW: A Guide to Giving a Speech that Will Positively Blow 'em Away:

One of the employees, apparently a Homer Simpson prototype, "goosed" the man...

A person who is foolish, easily distracted, and/or gluttonous.

Homer Groening
Homer Simpson
Matt Groening


Swaminarayan

(Hinduism) A deity worshiped in the Swaminarayan faith of Hinduism.


metropolite

Latin metropolita, from Ancient Greek μητροπολίτης (mētropolítēs).

uder

μητροπολίτης

(Ancient Greece) A citizen of a metropolis.


condescendence

en-noun

condescendence (countable and uncountable, plural condescendences)

From French condescendance, from condescendre, from Late Latin condescendere (“to let oneself down, stoop, condescend”), from Latin com- (“together”) + descendere (“to come down”). See condescend.

der

(Scots law) An articulate statement annexed to a summons, setting forth the allegations in fact upon which an action is founded.


24 Sussex Drive

From 24 + Sussex Drive. The street address of the Canadian prime minister's official residence, since 1951. Until about 1958, 24 Sussex Street (see also drive). The road was named in the early 19th century, after Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex (1773–1843).

So I guess he figured that if he kept on plugging away as he had down there, the same formula would get him into 24 Sussex Drive. But it didn't.

1975, Winnett Boyd, Kenneth McDonald, The National Dilemma and the Way Out, BMG, page 33:

By 1965 Pierre Trudeau, en route to Ottawa and 24 Sussex Drive, had concluded that advocates of an associate state or special status were ‘those who do not feel capable of saying they are separatists and carrying their thinking to its logical conclusion.’

1977, John T. Saywell, The Rise of the Parti Québécois 1967–76, University of Toronto Press, →ISBN, page 5:

(Canada) The office of Prime Minister of Canada.

24, promenade Sussex

residence on Sussex Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada


Thatcherist

(UK politics) A proponent of Thatcherism.


mandir

Transliteration of Hindi मंदिर (mandir).

On the contrary, in the afternoon, he said, “It was good that I went to the mandir. Even physically, I feel well.”

1960, The Visva-Bharati quarterly: Volumes 26-27, Shantiniketan, West Bengal, page 58:

The word mandir derives from the Sanskrit mandira, meaning a dwelling place. A mandir is a home to God as represented by the deity singled out for honour within the building's inner sanctum.

2003 September 30, Jerome Monahan, Places of worship, week 4: a mandir:

"The stories and carvings include diverse portions of India's geography and Hindu belief systems. This would include Mahabharata and Ramayana as well as the Puranas and regional histories. In fact, this mandir will be uniquely identified by its intricate mandovar facade which will share many traditional tales from across India as well as unique designs from the Gulf," he said.

2020 November 10, 25,000 Cubic Feet Of Stone Carved In India For Abu Dhabi's First Hindu Temple:


pujari

/puːˈdʒɑːɹi/

The pujari at the Kalika Mata temple lightly tolls the bell and then in a voice that is as clear and crystalline as the sky this morning sings the Surya Stotra.

1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins, published 2013, page 48:

The pujari saw the headman's anger and said to Hiranbai, 'God bless you, child, for your good work for all these God's creatures.'

2000, Bhagwan Gidwani, Return of the Aryans:

(Hinduism) Someone who performs a puja, especially a priest in a Hindu temple.


baku

Borrowed from Japanese 獏 (“spirit that feeds on nightmares”).

bor

2005, David Booth, Story Drama, 2nd edition, Pembroke Publishers, page 49,
The creature explained that he was a baku. A baku eats dreams and nightmares. To a baku, a bad dream is delicious!

2008, "Baku", entry in Brenda Rosen, The Mythical Creatures Bible, Octopus Publishing Group, page 113,
A person awakening from a nightmare should call three times saying, "Baku, eat my dreams." Thus summoned, the Baku will turn bad omens into good fortune by devouring evil influences.

Shouting out "Devour my dream, Baku!" is said to bring Baku to a child's side to take away his or her bad dreams. Not only does Baku take the dreams away, but he also leaves good fortune in their place.

2012, Kris Bradley, Mrs. B's Guide to Household Witchery, Weiser Books, page 28:

(Japanese mythology) A type of supernatural being said to devour nightmares.


saturnal

From Latin saturnalis, itself from the Roman god Saturnus + -alis '-al'.

This increased period extends in the trans-Saturnal sphere of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.

2004, Mantak Chia, Dirk Oellibrandt, Taoist Astral Healing: Chi Kung Healing Practices Using Star and Planet Energies, →ISBN, page 92:

(Roman mythology, astrology) Of or pertaining to the Ancient Roman god Saturn or to the corresponding planetary entity in astrology.


Thatcherization

From Thatcher + -ization, named after British prime minister Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013).


holodeck

holodecks (plural)
Holodeck (alternative)

From holo- + deck, coined in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation.

[…] the fact that science-fiction film, and indeed much — if not most — contemporary film, has become a technology on the way to somewhere else, whether that goal turns out to be immersive, interactive, or some holodeck-style fusion of the two.

1999, Annette Kuhn, Alien Zone II: The Spaces of Science-fiction Cinema:

Computer music might someday replace acoustic music made by human beings, but that time is far away, waiting either for Holodecks to be perfected or for a generation of listeners to arrive who are too busy and too uninvolved with their ambient surroundings to want to relate to them[.]

1999 June, Al Stevens, “Jukebox: Covering the Basses”, in Dr. Dobb's Journal, volume 24, number 6, San Francisco, Calif.: Miller Freeman, Inc., →ISSN, page 115:

Building a holodeck will require breakthroughs in sensors, robotics, and mechanical interfaces […]

2002, Kay M Stanney, Handbook of virtual environments:

In such a world, would one want to be hooked up to a pleasure machine or live on a holodeck?

2007, Fritz Allhoff, Patrick Lin, James Moor, Nanoethics:

(science fiction) A room that provides holographic simulations for recreation, training, etc.


samana

/sɑːˌmɑːnɑː/

From Pali samaṇa. Doublet of sramana and shaman in some contexts.

(religion) An ascetic, (especially) an ascetic monk who ignores the Vedas in Buddhist and Indian contexts.


Mimas

From Ancient Greek Μίμᾱς (Mímās), earlier Μίμανς (Mímans).

(Greek mythology) A son of Gaia; one of the Gigantes.


Pokéfan

This is fantastic... I've never met so many Pokéfans, and I've never seen so many Pikachu rucksacks around.

2000 November 12, Cliff Barnes, “My Whitby Diary”, in uk.people.gothic (Usenet):

When die-hard Pokéfans outside Japan discovered that portions of the original narrative were being withheld, they flocked to online chatrooms dedicated to the series, where they complained bitterly about censorship and debated various forms of protest.

2004, Hirofumi Katsuno, Jeffrey Meret, “Localizing the Pokémon TV Series for the American Market”, in Joseph Tobin, editor, Pikachu's Global Adventure: The Rise and Fall of Pokémon, Duke University Press, →ISBN, page 81:

Few of even the most hard-core Pokéfans will ever have tried this, so just pulling together a copy of Pokémon XD for GameCube and two GameCube-Game Boy cables can deliver a play experience that they've never had before.

2007, Eli Neiburger, Gamers…in the Library?!: The Why, What, and How of Videogame Tournaments for All Ages, American Library Association, published 2007, →ISBN, page 71:


Great Depression

For the first time since the Great Depression, median family income has fallen substantially over an entire decade. Income grew slowly through most of the last decade, except at the top of the distribution, before falling sharply when the financial crisis began.

2012 October 24, David Leonhardt, “Standard of Living Is in the Shadows as Election Issue”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(economics, business, finance, historical) A major economic collapse characterized by mass unemployment and limited business activity that lasted from 1929 to 1940 in the US and a similar period in many other countries.


Byzantism

The study, or the use of elements of the Byzantine culture

bizantinismo

study or use of elements of the Byzantine culture


politeia

/ˌpɒlɪˈtiːə/

From Ancient Greek πολιτεία (politeía, “city, state, system of government”). Doublet of police and policy.

bor

(historical, Ancient Greece) citizenship


Hagia Sophia

/ˈhɑːɡiə soʊˈfiə/

From Byzantine Greek and Ancient Greek Ἁγία Σοφία (Hagía Sophía, “Holy Wisdom”). Compare Sofia, Sophia.

A mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, (historical) the former patriarchal church of Greek Orthodoxy, operated as a museum 1935–2020.

Ajasofja

a former basilica, now a mosque in Turkey


senet

Borrowed from Egyptian znt — hieroglyphs: z:n-t:N24The full name of the game in Egyptian was znt nt ḥꜥb, which means "game of passing".
Compare with Coptic ⲥⲓⲛⲉ (sine, “passing, afternoon”).

cog

An Ancient Egyptian board game, probably played as a strategy game similar to chess or go.


lingchi

ling chi (alternative)
leng t'che (alternative)

The face of the dying man in the lingchi video monotonously evokes Maria Falconetti in Carl Theodor Dreyer ’s 1928 “Passion of Joan of Arc.”

2007 July 25, Roberta Smith, “Figures Moving as if in a Trance Across an Isolated, Lawless Island”, in The New York Times:

death by a thousand cuts
death by a thousand cuts

A form of execution used in China from roughly 900 to 1905 C.E., the "death by a thousand cuts", in which the condemned was killed by methodical removal of body parts with a knife.


Great Leap Forward

Calque from Chinese 大躍進／大跃进 (Dàyuèjìn). Coined by a People's Daily commentator in 1957.

zh-l

大躍進／大跃进 (Dàyuèjìn)

coinage

Louti, in Hunan Province, Central China, is one of the numerous small industrial cities that have grown up since liberation, particularly since the big leap forward.

[1960, Survey of China Mainland Press, numbers 2308-2328, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 30:

In the early 1960s, following the collapse of Mao's Great Leap Forward, Liu and Chang, as party officials in the city of I-pin (120 miles south of Szechwan's capital, Chengtu), vigorously prosecuted those cadres under their jurisdiction who had shown less than wholehearted devotion to that campaign.

1971, Thomas Jay Matthews, “The Cultural Revolution in Szechwan”, in The Cultural Revolution in the Provinces, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 96:

(historical) A vast economic and social plan lasting from 1958 to 1961 which aimed to use the Chinese population to rapidly transform the Communist China from a primarily agrarian economy by peasant farmers into a modern communist society through agriculturalization and industrialization, but failed disastrously (resulting in massive famine and the deaths of many millions of people).


DLC

The DLC also proclaimed its desire to move the Democratic Party closer to Republican positions on questions of social policy and moral traditionalism.

2022, Gary Gerstle, chapter 4, in The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order […] , New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, Part II. The Neoliberal Order, 1970–2020:

Democratic Leadership Council
w:Democratic Leadership Council

(US politics, historical, 1985–2011) Initialism of Democratic Leadership Council.


Bloquiste

(Canadian politics) A member of the Bloc Québécois.


Bloquiste

en-adj

Bloquiste (comparative more Bloquiste, superlative most Bloquiste)

more Bloquiste (comparative)
most Bloquiste (superlative)

(Canadian politics) Pertaining to the Bloc Québécois.


Pequiste

Pequistes (plural)
Pequist (alternative)

Borrowing of French péquiste, from the abbreviation PQ < Parti Québécois + -iste.

(Canadian politics) A member of the Parti Québécois.


Pequiste

Pequiste (comparative more Pequiste, superlative most Pequiste)

more Pequiste (comparative)
most Pequiste (superlative)
Pequist (alternative)

(Canadian politics) Pertaining to the Parti Québécois.


Hyacinthus

/ˌhaɪəˈsɪnθəs/

From Latin Hyacinthus, from Ancient Greek Ὑάκινθος (Huákinthos).

(Greek mythology) A Spartan youth loved and accidentally killed by Apollo. The flower hyacinth sprang from his blood.

Հիակինթոս

a Spartan youth loved and accidentally killed by Apollo


dominionism

A tendency among some conservative Christians, especially in the USA, to seek influence or control over secular civil government through political action.


philerast

philerasts (plural)
philerastes (alternative)

/ˈfɪləˌɹæst/

From Ancient Greek φιλεραστής (philerastḗs), from φίλ(ος) (phíl(os), “dear”, “friend”) or φιλ(έω) (phil(éō), “I love”) + ἐραστής (erastḗs, “lover”) (compare the English cognates phil- + erast(es)); φιλεραστής (philerastḗs) was used by Plato in his Symposium as an alternative to ἐρώμενος (erṓmenos, “eromenos”), to imply greater equitability and reciprocity and to avoid the latter term’s denotational passivity.

When in turn they reach man’s estate they love youths themselves[; i]n general terms such people are either paiderasts or philerasts, being always attracted by kindred kind. But when a boy-lover, or any other, chances to meet his own original half, they are both seized with an ecstasy of affection and intimacy and love, and can hardly bear to be separated for as much as a single instant from each other.

[…] “while they are still boys [i.e., pubescent or pre-adult], they are fond of men, and enjoy lying down together with them and twining their limbs about them, . . . but when they become men they are lovers of boys. . . . Such a man is a paederast and philerast [i.e., fond of or responsive to adult male lovers]” at different stages of his life […]

1990, David M. Halperin, One hundred years of homosexuality: and other essays on Greek love, page 20:

1997: “Leo”, uk.politics.misc (Google group): Broome House: Paedophiles, the 31st day of August at 8 o’clock a.m.
[The Ancient Greeks] also had a word which can be rendered ‘philerast’, meaning a boy who loves his lover.

Milton strained to redefine marriage as the friendship Socrates recommended — an erotics beyond the sexual. As a result, his notion of marriage sometimes looks a lot like a heteroerotic paederasty, with Adam as the paederast and Eve the philerast destined never to outgrow the role of student and beloved.

2005, Thomas H. Luxon, Single Imperfection: Milton, Marriage, and Friendship, page 140:

For more examples of the usage of this term see this entry’s citations page as well as the citations page for philerast.

(chiefly in historical usage pertaining to Ancient Greece) A boy who feels philia or more specifically anterōs, for his paederastic lover.

beloved

the junior partner in a paederastic relationship


kohai

kohais (plural)
kohai (plural)
kōhai (alternative)
kouhai (alternative)

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

Borrowed from Japanese 後(こう)輩(はい) (kōhai, literally “later cohort”). Doublet of hoobae.

ja-r

(anime and manga, fandom slang) An underclassman or younger student.


maulana

Ultimately from Arabic مَوْلَانَا (mawlānā).
The Indian slang usage of the term for any Muslim person was derived from a stereotype, especially towards Muslims who look stereotypical (beard, robes, and skullcap).

At the end of his long and cantankerous life the maulana had gone against all his high principles. He had gone to a Boston hospital to look for health; he had at the very end entrusted himself to the skill and science of the civilization he had tried to shield his followers from.

1981, V. S. Naipaul, Among the Believers: An Islamic Journey, page 168:

(Islam) A religious scholar, especially in Central and South Asia.

(India, Islam, Internet slang, religious slur) A Muslim person in general, especially an extreme conservative.


Priam

Anglicized version of Latin Priamus, from the Ancient Greek Πρίαμος (Príamos).

(Greek mythology) The king of Troy during the Iliad


Pele

When Hi‘iaka, Lohi‘au, and her companion began their return trip, the forty days allowed by Pele had passed. Most of Hi‘iaka’s chants during the homeward journey have a recurrent refrain of sorrow, for by now she had a vision of Pele’s treachery.

1989, Rita Knipe, The Water of Life: A Jungian Journey through Hawaiian Myth, University of Hawaii Press, page 146:

1989, Hi‘iaka, entry in Robert D. Craig, Dictionary of Polynesian Mythology, Bloomsbury Publishing, page 60,
Once there, Hi‘iaka learned that Lohi‘au had died out of grief for the woman (Pele) who had danced before him. Hi‘iaka was able to restore his spirit and life. Now they had [to] face the return voyage, and already the forty days had passed.

Some versions of the Pele myth say that Pele was always fighting with her sister. To separate them, their father exiled Pele to Hawaii.

2012, Jim Ollhoff, South Pacific Mythology, ABDO Publishing Company, page 28:

Later the island was visited by Christian missionaries, and a number of Hawaiians converted to Christianity. Nevertheless, Pele was not forgotten, nor was worship of Pele discontinued. Pele remained a powerful goddess in the eyes of native Hawaiians because of her ongoing unpredictable eruptions that both created and destroyed. Even in modern times, Pele is a feature of Hawaii.

2021, David Seal, Sharon K. Smith, World Mythology, Wipf and Stock, page 190:

(Hawaiian mythology) The Hawaiian goddess of fire and volcanos.


Hiʻiaka

2015 [2008 M. E. Sharpe], Josepha Sherman, Storytelling: An Encyclopedia of Mythology and Folklore, Taylor & Francis (Routledge), unnumbered page,
Hi‘iaka and Pele had several sisters, all of whom shared the name Hi‘iaka followed by a different description. The other sisters always used their full names unless grouped together, as in "the Hi‘iaka sisters." Only Hi‘iaka-i-kapoli-’o-Pele individually shortened her name to Hi‘iaka.

(Hawaiian mythology) Any of the twelve sisters of the volcano goddess Pele, especially the youngest, whom Pele was given to raise.


Simps

2000, TomServo, “Twin Peaks spoof in Simps!”, in alt.tv.simpsons (Usenet):

(fandom slang) The television program The Simpsons.


imbrex

(archaeology) A roof tile common in Ancient Greek and Roman architecture, used in an overlapping formation with the tegula.


Old Italian

Old + Italian, on the pattern of Old English

The theory that there was a spontaneous development of an obscure vowel in final position on certain occasions in Old Italian has gained general currency and has been carried on in the works of the main authorities.

1938, George Melville Bolling, Bernard Bloch, Language, volume 14, Linguistic Society of America, page 224:

[… T]his configuration, in which the infinitive clause is a prepositional complement of a noun, could not be found in the documentary evidence of (Tuscan) Old Italian. Another diverging property in this example is the preverbal subject after prepositions, no longer common in Old Italian at the end of the fifteenth century […]
[… T]he examples show the use of nonauxiliary verbs. Though similar to Old Italian, this is another difference from contemporary Italian.

2000, Guido Mensching, Infinitive Constructions with Specified Subjects: A Syntactic Analysis of the Romance Languages, pages 30 and 31 (Oxford Studies in Comparative Syntax; →ISBN, 9780195133035)

The continuum of languages derived from Vulgar Latin spoken in the Italian peninsula between circa 960 and the establishment of the Accademia della Crusca in 1582.


kobzar

Borrowed from Ukrainian кобзар (kobzar).

An itinerant Ukrainian bard, often blind, who played the kobza


xenelasia

Unadapted borrowing from Ancient Greek ξενηλᾰσῐ́ᾱ (xenēlăsĭ́ā, “expulsion of foreigners”); see further at xenelasy.

ubor

(Ancient Greece, historical) Synonym of xenelasy (“the practice of expelling foreigners in Doric Crete and Lacedaemonia”)


xeraphim

xeraphims (plural)
serafin (alternative)
seraphin (alternative)
xerafine (alternative)
xerafim (alternative)
xeraphin (alternative)
xerapheen (alternative)

From Portuguese xarafin, from Arabic اَشْرَاف (ašrāf), plural form of شَرِيف (šarīf, “highborn”).

(obsolete) An old monetary unit of Bombay, equal to three fifths of a rupee.


Cyrene

From Latin Cyrene, from Ancient Greek Κυρήνη (Kurḗnē), of uncertain origin. Classical sources considered the Thessalian demigod the etymon for the Libyan city. Modern scholars variously derive the name from the Libyan spring Κύρα (Kúra) or, noting the myth attested before the spring or city, consider an existing Proto-Berber name to have been conflated with the Thessalian myths by early Greek colonists.

(Greek mythology) A Thessalian princess and huntress demigod, companion of Artemis and lover of Apollo.


cleruchy

Borrowed from Ancient Greek κληρουχία (klēroukhía), from κληροῦχος (klēroûkhos, “cleruch”); see cleruch.

(historical, Ancient Greece) A form of Athenian colony in the time of Ancient Greece, under which the settlers or cleruchs retained their citizenship, and were assigned plots, or kleroi, of agricultural land, while the community remained a political dependency of Athens.


DAO

Dragon Age: Origins
w:Dragon Age: Origins

(fandom slang) Initialism of Dragon Age: Origins.


cist

Borrowed from Latin cista, from Ancient Greek κίστη (kístē). Doublet of chest.

(historical, Ancient Greece) A small receptacle for sacred utensils carried in festivals in Ancient Greece.


Sublime Porte

From French Sublime Porte (“high gate/portal”).

bor

High Porte (alternative)
Ottoman Porte (alternative)
Porte (alternative)

pharaoh

terms related to buildings that are also titles of monarchs

(literally) The monumental portal at the Ottoman palace where the supreme tribunals were held; became the surname of the first palace in Bursa, transferred to the even grander Topkapı palace after the capital's transfer to Istanbul (the former Byzantine imperial capital Constantinople)

He liked the pleasures of the table, and he liked attendance; he was a sort of Sublime Porte to his valets.

1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “A Matrimonial Tête-à-Tête”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 170:

(figuratively) A pars pro toto for the Ottoman sultanic court, hence for the imperial government, notably the vizierial divan and the entire empire, or a personage with a similar standing.


Proto-Romance

The reconstructed ancestor of all the Romance languages.


Anahit

(Armenian mythology) Alternative form of Anahita


Hayk

(Armenian mythology) The legendary patriarch and founder of the Armenian nation.


Bushist

A supporter of George W. Bush, or advocate of his policies.


Enyo

(Greek mythology) Goddess of violent war, acting as a counterpart and companion to the war god Ares. Identified with Bellona in Roman mythology.


Cadmus

Via Latin Cadmus, from Ancient Greek Κάδμος (Kádmos).

(Greek mythology) A Phoenician prince, son of king Agenor of Tyre. Was sent by his royal parents to seek and return his sister Europa after being abducted from Phoenicia by Zeus. Credited with founding Greek city of Thebes and inventing Greek alphabet.


Annona

(Roman mythology) A Roman goddess personifying the yearly harvest.


sadhana

en-noun

sadhana (usually uncountable, plural sadhanas)

Transliteration of Sanskrit साधना (sādhanā).

translit

(religion) A spiritual practice or discipline leading to a goal.


Smyrna

From Ancient Greek Σμύρνα (Smúrna), a variant spelling of Σμύρνη (Smúrnē), the Ionic Greek form of the original Aeolic Greek name Μύρρᾱ (Múrrhā, “Smyrna”). Doublet of Izmir.

A former settlement in Kern County, California.

A city in Cobb County, Georgia, United States.

Aroostook County
Aroostook County#English

A small town in Aroostook County, Maine.

An unincorporated community in Nuckolls County, Nebraska.

A town and village in Chenango County, New York.

A locality in Carteret County, North Carolina.


Comecon

w:Council for Mutual Economic Assistance

(historical) Abbreviation of Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, a multinational economic organization that existed in the Eastern Bloc from 1949 to 1991.


may the Force be with you

From the Star Wars film franchise, in which "the Force" is an omnipresent energy that can influence events and may be harnessed by gifted individuals.

What thoughts are you sending into the universe? Are they seeking the results you want, or are they attracting the things you don’t? The mental sharks will be drawn to you as surely as the results you desire. To be certain, be aware of the messages you are sending, and may the Force be with you, whatever you conceive it to be!

2007, Layton Park, Get Out of Your Way: Unlocking the Power of Your Mind to Get What You Want, 1st edition, Woodbury, Minnesota: Llewellyn Publications, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 87:

(idiomatic) Used to wish someone luck with a difficult endeavor.


SNP

(UK politics) Initialism of Scottish National Party.


Astghik

Astlik (alternative)
Astłik (alternative)

(Armenian mythology) Ancient Armenian goddess of sensual love, beauty, and water. Lover of Vahagn. Often identified with Aphrodite and the planet Venus.


Béarn

Béarn and the (Basque) region Lower Navarre formed the present département of the Basses-Pyrenées.

(historical) A former viscounty in the southwestern French Pyrenees, which became part of the French royal domain before it was united with the French crown, together with Navarra, as a single feudal province of the French realm.


pinda

(Hinduism) A ball of cooked rice mixed with ghee and black sesame seeds offered to ancestors during Hindu funeral rites and ancestor worship rituals.


nullifier

(US politics, historical) A person holding the belief that states could nullify federal laws within their borders.


Churchillian

en-adj

Churchillian (comparative more Churchillian, superlative most Churchillian)

more Churchillian (comparative)
most Churchillian (superlative)

/t͡ʃɜː(ɹ)ˈt͡ʃɪli.ən/

Barton was gorillian of build, all of it muscle, and Churchillian of jaw, all of it stubborn, but for all that amazingly good at not trampling over the authority of village elders.

1998, Dana Stabenow, Fire and Ice, page 77:

They are Churchillian theme parks of red pillar boxes, fish and chips and warm beer. But they want the smooth without the rough. When the neighbours cut up nasty, they demand that those whose taxes protect them should send soldiers, diplomats and lawyers to their aid.

2013 August 14, Simon Jenkins, “Gibraltar and the Falklands deny the logic of history”, in The Guardian:

Why, [Jacob Rees-]Mogg even offers the same shtick: Etonian accent, Latin tags, supposedly lovable Wodehousian eccentricity, sub-Churchillian evocation of the glorious past of this island race.

2017 October 4, Jonathan Freedland, “Boorish Boris: Johnson’s Libya joke is proof he cannot do his job”, in The Guardian:

Boris Johnson's speech to the nation on Sunday May 10 was rambly, incoherent, and he failed dismally in his attempt to sound Churchillian.

2020 May 20, Christian Wolmar, “Clarity is required on social distancing and the railways”, in Rail, page 50:

Of or pertaining to Winston Churchill (1874–1965), English statesman and author, or to his policies, speeches, or writings.


esquilax

Coined in a 1995 episode of the animated TV show The Simpsons named "Lisa's Wedding", in which a Renaissance fair sideshow falsely promotes a normal rabbit as "a horse with the head of a rabbit and the body of a rabbit".
Possibly inspired by fanciful names for creatures from Medieval Latin (e.g. basilisk, cockatrice).

Yeah, well I get to run the Circus Sideshow, and the esquilaxes.

1997, Powdered TOAST Man, “TAN: The Weasel Strikes Back”, in aus.tv.x-files (Usenet):

In fact, I am also "really weakly omnipotent," because it is logically impossible for me to fly unaided, or transform myself into an esquilax, because I am a being who cannot do those things. But I can do anything which it is logically possible for me to do.

1999, Cabrutus, “is lack of evidence a reason to lack belief?”, in alt.atheism (Usenet):

I wasn't thinking of gray elephants in Denmark, I was thinking of white esquilaxes in the Domincan ^([sic]) Republic.

2001, Anonymous Weirdo, “Have a rest”, in sk.forsale (Usenet):

Could be worse... couldve ^([sic]) been an Esquilax.

2008, Jeßus, “Found some Hydrox”, in rec.food.cooking (Usenet):


UPA

United Progressive Alliance
w:United Progressive Alliance

(Indian politics) Initialism of United Progressive Alliance, a political alliance.


lingula

From Latin lingula (“tonguelet, small unit of volume”), from lingua (“tongue”) + -ula (“-ule: forming diminutives”).

bor

(historical) A Roman unit of liquid measure reckoned as the volume of 5/12 Roman ounce of wine, equivalent to about 11 mL.

congius (144 lingulas) urna (1152 lingulas)


Saiva

Saivas (plural)
Shaiva (alternative)
Saivite (alternative)

(Hinduism) A worshiper of Shiva or practicer of Shaivism.


Shaivism

From Sanskrit शैव (śaiva, “relating, belonging or sacred to the god Shiva”) + -ism.

uder

Saivism (alternative)
Sivaism (alternative)
Shivaism (alternative)

A sect comprising the worshippers of the god Shiva.

xivaisme

a branch of Hinduism focusing on the worship of Shiva


Shaktism

A branch of Hinduism that focuses on the worship of Shakti as a supreme goddess.


Kamala

en-prop

Kamala (countable and uncountable, plural Kamalas)

Transliteration of Sanskrit कमला (kamalā). Doublet of Kamal.

translit

(Hinduism) An epithet of the Hindu goddess Lakshmi.

কমলা

Hinduism: an epithet of the Hindu goddess Lakshmi


Salagrama

Salagramas (plural)
Salagramma (alternative)
Saligrama (alternative)
Saligram (alternative)
Shaligram (alternative)
Shaligrama (alternative)
Shalagrama (alternative)

/ʃaːlaːɡɹaːmə/

From Sanskrit शालग्राम (śālagrāma, “a village in ancient India; a sacred stone”).

uder

(Hinduism) A fossil ammonite held by the Hindus to be representative of Vishnu.


pre-Socratic

/ˌpɹiːsɒˈkɹætɪk/

(historical) Existing in Ancient Greece before the flourishing of the philosopher Socrates (circa 469–399 BCE).

presocratisch

related to the pre-Socratic philosophers


birther

From birth + -er (agent noun suffix) or + -er (“supporter”).

I confess I do have some sympathy for the "birthers," though. As an outsider, it's hard to distinguish between the zany arguments that get official approval by the conservative establishment --- things like Bill Ayers, Michelle Obama's infamous "whitey" tape, the claim that Obama is a closet Marxist --- and those arguments that are considered beyond the pale.

2008 December 8, Jay Bookman, “Shut up about the birth certificate”, in Atlanta Journal-Constitution, archived from the original on 2012-01-19:

Senator Dick Durbin has suggested that the birthers and the health care protesters are one and the same; we don’t know how many of the protesters are birthers, but it wouldn’t be surprising if it’s a substantial fraction.

2009 August 7, Paul Krugman, “The Town Hall Mob”, in New York Times:

Earlier this month, columnist and birther Frank Gaffney, Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., the ranking Republican on the Intelligence Committee, and others held a news conference on Capitol Hill to release a report on Muslim religious law entitled "Shariah: The Threat to America."

2010 September 29, Mark Benjamin, “What Islamophobia really threatens”, in Salon:

(slang, derogatory, US politics) A believer in the conspiracy theory that Barack Obama, 44th president of the United States (2009–2017), is not a natural-born US citizen, and was therefore ineligible for the presidency under the United States Constitution (Article II, Section 1).

«рожде́нец»

(slang, derogatory, US politics) A believer in the conspiracy theory that Barack Obama, 44th president of the United States (2009-2017), was not born in that country, and therefore ineligible for presidency due to national law

[see title]

2020 August 13, Franco Ordoñez, “Trump and His Campaign Amplify Birther Conspiracy Against Kamala Harris”, in NPR:

On Thursday, he started floating a new birther lie about Sen. Kamala Harris, who, if elected, would be the first Black and Asian American vice president.

2020 August 13, Daniel Dale, Holmes Lybrand, Tara Subramaniam, CNN:

(slang, derogatory, US politics) More generally, anyone who questions the eligibility of a candidate for office based on their citizenship status.


birther

en-verb

birther (third-person singular simple present birthers, present participle birthering, simple past and past participle birthered)

birthers (present singular third-person)
birthering (participle present)
birthered (participle past)
birthered (past)
Birther (alternative)

2020, Andrew Solender, “'He Wasn't Born Here': Trump Birthers Biden Near Scranton Ahead Of DNC Acceptance Speech”, in Forbes:

(slang, derogatory, US politics) To question the eligibility of a candidate for office or the location of one's birth.


NuLab

New Labour rendered in Orwellian Newspeak.

We are totally opposed to the creeping privatisation of these services which NuLab has indicated it will commence once this election is safely out of the way.

2001, Patrick Harrington, Cliff Morrison, Third Way Manifesto:

(UK, informal, derogatory, UK politics) New Labour.


Flash

(DC Comics) Any of various DC Comics superheroes who have the power of superspeed, derived from an energy called the Speed Force.


Areopagus

/æɹiˈɒpəɡəs/

From Ancient Greek Ἄρειος Πάγος (Áreios Págos, literally “Rock of Ares”), which in classical times functioned as the high Court of Appeal for criminal and civil cases in Athens.

bor

Ἄρειος Πάγος

When the great emergencies of the state required his presence and attention, he was engaged in conversation with the philosopher Plotinus, wasting his time in trifling or licentious pleasures, preparing his initiation to the Grecian mysteries, or soliciting a place in the Areopagus of Athens.

1776, Edward Gibbon, chapter X, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC:

(Ancient Greece) The supreme judicial and legislative council of ancient Athens.


Dikê

Dolos and Dikê in Sophokles’ Elektra

2001: Leona MacLeod, Dolos and Dikê in Sophokles’ Elektra, volume 219, main title (Brill; →ISBN, 9789004118980)

(historical, Greek mythology) The goddess personifying the principle of justice.


congius

From Latin congius, from Ancient Greek κογχίον (konkhíon), from κόγχη (kónkhē) and κόγχος (kónkhos, “mussel shell”) + -ίον (-íon, “-y: forming diminutives”).

(historical) A Roman unit of mass instituted by Vespasian equivalent to about 3.3 kg, the weight of a congius of water.


Fatah

From Arabic فَتْح (fatḥ), a reverse acronym (meaning literally "conquest, victory or an outcome") for حَرَكَة اَلتَّحْرِير اَلْوَطَنِيّ اَلْفِلَسْطِينِيّ (ḥaraka(t) at-taḥrīr al-waṭaniyy al-filasṭīniyy, “Palestinian National Liberation Movement”).

Many Gazans scorn Fatah as corrupt and incompetent, and they dislike Hamas's overzealousness and repression.

2009 January 8, Nicholas D. Kristof, “The Gaza Boomerang”, in The New York Times:

A major Palestinian political party and the largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).


Warsaw Pact

The Warsaw Pact formalized Moscow's dominance in Europe's east.

(historical) A pact (long-term alliance treaty) signed on May 14, 1955 in Warsaw by the Soviet Union and its Communist military allies in Europe.


Nicaea

From Latin Nīcaea, from Ancient Greek Νίκαια (Níkaia), for Nicaea wife of Lysimachus, from νίκη (níkē, “victory”) + -ια (-ia, “-ia: forming feminine names”). Doublet of Iznik and Nice.

Nikaia (alternative)
Nicæa (alternative)

(historical) Former name of Iznik, a city in Turkey famed for the AD 325 church council that composed the Nicene Creed.

Lysimachus
Nicaea (city)
Nicaea of Macedon


commixtion

en-noun

commixtion (countable and uncountable, plural commixtions)

commixtions (plural)
commixion (alternative)

From Middle English commixtion, from Middle French commixtion, and its source, Latin commixtiōnem, from commiscēre (“to mix”).

(Roman law, Scots law) A method of acquiring property by mixing or blending substances belonging to different proprietors.


Juno Moneta

From New Latin Juno Moneta, varient of Classical Latin Iūnō Monēta, from Iuno (“Juno”), queen of the Roman gods equated with the Greek Hera, and Moneta, of uncertain etymology. The name has been popularly derived from monēre (“to advise or warn”) since antiquity with reference to various events in Roman legend and history, but modern archeology seems to show the worship of a goddess Moneta elsewhere in Italy prior to her introduction to Rome (cf. evocatio) in 344 BC. The connection to coinage and money derived from her temple's use to house the state mint until a fire around AD 84. Cognate with money and monetary.

(Roman mythology) Synonym of Juno, particularly as a patron of the state mint and Roman coinage.

Iūnō Monēta

Juno as advisor, warner, or patron of minting


two bob

(UK, Australia, obsolete) Two shillings; a florin.


Fianna Fáil

Unadapted borrowing from Irish Fianna Fáil. From Irish fianna, plural of fiann (“warrior”), and Fáil, genitive of Fál (a legendary name of Ireland); cf. Old Irish fál. The original meaning is thus “warriors of Fál”, but the phrase is traditionally translated as “soldiers of destiny”.

ubor

I dreamt that Ruairi Quinn was smokin' marijuana in the Dail. Barry Desmond handing Frenchies out to scuts in Fianna Fail.

1985, “Delerium Tremens” (track 2), in Ordinary Man, performed by Christy Moore:

Ireland’s largest party, Fianna Fáil, has said it will not consider going into government with Sinn Féin, a decision likely to prevent the leftwing nationalists from entering power for the first time.

2020 February 13, “Ireland: Fianna Fáil rules out coalition with Sinn Féin”, in The Guardian, sourced from Reuters, →ISSN:

A conservative Irish political party founded in the 1920s.


tribunician

en-adj

tribunician (comparative more tribunician, superlative most tribunician)

more tribunician (comparative)
most tribunician (superlative)
tribunicial (alternative)
tribunitian (alternative)

In Rome, the crucial step is taken of offering Octavian the tribunician powers for life: tribunes had personal immunity and important powers of veto.

2007, John Burrow, A History of Histories, Penguin, published 2009, page 123:

(Ancient Rome) Pertaining to a Roman tribune.


Calydon

(historical, Greek mythology) The legendary founding king and eponym of the city of Calydon, whose failure to honor the goddess Artemis in a rite resulted in her sending the Calydonian Boar to lay waste to the city.


Excalibur

From Middle English Excalaber, from Old French Escalibor, Escaliborc, prothetic form of Calliborc, alteration of Calibourne, from Medieval Latin Caliburnus (Geoffrey of Monmouth, ca. 1136), influenced by calibs (“steel”) (for chalybs), alteration of Old Welsh Caledbulch (compare modern Caledfwlch), compound of caled (“hard”) and bwlch (“cleft, crack”). Related to the Irish legendary sword Caladbolg, literally ‘hard-belly’, i.e. ‘voracious’.

Until recently, suppression of ethnicity has perhaps been the leading characteristic of the trend of thought of these Jewish intellectuals. Some, like Noam Chomsky and I. F. Stone, have been considered by some Jews to be so suppressed—or at least so overcompensating for their being Jewish—as to be regarded as anti-Semitic on some issues. Such men flaunt their universalism like Excaliburs of truth and objectivity.

1974, Stephen D. Isaacs, Jews and American Politics, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Company, Inc., →ISBN, page 53:

And we would see fish swimming among the tall bulrushes that rose like Excaliburs out of the lake.

1998, Imogen Stubbs, “The Undiscovered Road: Northumberland”, in Dea Birkett, Sara Wheeler, editors, Amazonian: The Penguin Book of Women’s New Travel Writing, Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 228:

You and I, we are not alone, and our screwdrivers are our flashing Excaliburs as we sally forth to make small parts of the fragmented world whole again.

2017, James May, The Reassembler, Hodder & Stoughton, →ISBN, page 19:

(Arthurian legend) The legendary sword of King Arthur, having magical properties.


CMA

Indeed, the more common complaint is that the regulator is too willing to accept an acquirer’s proposed remedies to competition concerns. Microsoft tried the remedy route with Activision but the CMA, unusually, wasn’t convinced. Tough.

2023 April 27, Nils Pratley, “Ignore Microsoft’s whines about the Activision takeover. The CMA did its job”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

Competition and Markets Authority
w:Competition and Markets Authority

(UK politics) Initialism of Competition and Markets Authority.


Parmenides

From Ancient Greek Παρμενίδης (Parmenídēs).

An Ancient Greek philosopher born in Elea, in southern Italy. Founder of the Eleatic school of philosophy.


Anaxagoras

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Ἀναξαγόρας (Anaxagóras).

An ancient Greek philosopher (c. 500 BCE – 428 BCE) from Clazomenae, who is famous for introducing the cosmological concept of nous (mind), as an ordering force.


Iphigenia

/ˌɪfɪd͡ʒɪˈnaɪə/

/ˌɪfɪˈd͡ʒiːnɪə/

From Ancient Greek Ῑ̓φιγένεια (Īphigéneia).

If we are convinced by the way the Iphigenia myth reworks and distorts the structure of the Metis myth, then we gain a new understanding of the logic underlying Athena's refusal to acknowledge the crime against Iphigenia.

2007, Amber Jacobs, On Matricide: Myth, Psychoanalysis, and the Law of the Mother, page 161:

The founding of the sanctuary at Braurona is related to the myths of Iphigenia and her brother, Orestes.

2008, Allan Brooks, Myths, Games and Conflict, page 8:

One such involuntary sacrifice is found in the story of Iphigenia, the daughter of Agamemnon, the famous Greek king and warrior.

2013, Willie Young, “4: Taking One for the Team: Baseball and Sacrifice”, in Eric Bronson, William Irwin, editors, Baseball and Philosophy: Thinking Outside the Batter's Box, page 63:

(Greek mythology) The daughter of Agamemnon and Clytaemnestra, who is sacrificed by her father to ensure the safe journey of the Greeks to Troy.


Memnon

(Greek mythology) An Ethiopian king and son of Tithonus and Eos. Considered a great warrior, he fought on the side of Troy and was killed by Achilles.


animanga

en-noun

animanga (countable and uncountable, plural animanga or animangas)

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

(countable) A manga created from cels from an anime.


Zeno

Via Latin Zēnō, from Ancient Greek Ζήνων (Zḗnōn), an ancient derivative of Ζεύς (Zeús), from Proto-Hellenic *dzéus, from Proto-Indo-European *dyḗws. Modern scientific and philosophical use derives from Zeno of Elea, poser of Zeno's paradoxes.


Menshevik

Menshevik (plural Mensheviks or Mensheviki)

Borrowed from Russian меньшеви́к (menʹševík), derived from меньшинство́ (menʹšinstvó, “minority”), formed in turn from Russian ме́ньше (ménʹše), the comparative of ма́лый (mályj, “little”).

В одном районе в последние 5—6 месяцев представителем был «меньшевик». Благодаря оторванности от общей работы этот район страшно ослаб.

1967 [1905 March 23 (10)], Владимир Ленин [Vladimir Lenin], “Пора кончить”, in В. И. Ленин – Полное собрание сочинений, volume 9, page 145; English translation from “Time to Call a Halt!”, in V. I. Lenin – Collected Works, volume 8, translation of original in Russian, 1977, page 36:

V odnom rajone v poslednije 5—6 mesjacev predstavitelem byl «menʹševik». Blagodarja otorvannosti ot obščej raboty etot rajon strašno oslab.

‘Better an ultra-leftist than a Menshevik,’ said Rosa Kaletsky.

1985, Peter Carey, Illywhacker, Faber and Faber 2003, page 259:

Let me be clear. The men and women on this stage have more ideas, more experience, more common sense than every participant in the Democratic debate. That debate reflected a debate between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks.

2015 October 28, Ted Cruz, quotee, “Transcript: Read the Full Text of the CNBC Republican Debate in Boulder”, in Time:

(now chiefly historical) A member of the gradualist or moderate wing of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party during the years preceding the Russian Revolution, when they split with the Bolsheviks; or a member of a later independent moderate-Marxist party formed in 1917.

մենշեւիկ

member of a minority faction of the Russian revolutionary movement


proxenos

proxenoi (plural)
proxenus (alternative)

From Ancient Greek πρόξενος (próxenos, “public guest”), from πρό (pró, “before (in preference)”) (whence English pro-) + ξένος (xénos, “recipient of hospitality”, “guest”, “stranger”) (whence English xen-, -xeny); compare proxenus; unrelated to either Latin proximus, English proxy, or their derivations.

uder

(Ancient Greece, historical) A citizen of a state appointed by another state to host its ambassadors and to represent and protect its interests there.


act of Congress

en-noun

act of Congress (plural acts of Congress)

From the literal sense of act (“legislation”) enacted by US Congress.

(literally, US politics) A statute enacted by the United States Congress.


Gorbachev

Transliteration of Russian Горбачёв (Gorbačóv), usually written Горбаче́в (Gorbačév) (see note about Russian letter ё (jo)), from горба́ч (gorbáč, “hunchback”).

transliteration

Gorbachov (alternative)
Gorbachyov (alternative)

Mikhail Gorbachev was the last General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Горбачёв Горбачёв#Russian

A transliteration of the Russian surname Горбачёв (Gorbačóv).


political machine

en-noun

political machine (plural political machines)

They had no authority beyond that; for the inspection of meat to be sold in the city and state the whole force in Packingtown consisted of three henchmen of the local political machine!

1905 April–October, Upton Sinclair, The Jungle, New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1906 February 26, →OCLC:

You have my word for it, sir. And the reason for it is that this hideous traffic is one of the main cogs in our political machine. The pimps and the panders, the cadets and maquereaux… they vote the ticket of the organization; they contribute to the campaign funds; they serve as colonizers and repeaters at the polls.

After all the discussion of the Kerner commission's report on urban problems, I've yet to hear a word concerning the consistency with which the ghetto population votes for the political machine that has abused it for so many years.

1968 March 30, Joseph A. Shea, “Letters to the Editor: Ghetto Vote for Political Machine”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

But the data was not forthcoming. It was hidden, which ended up serving the interests of the lobby group that dumped more than $2m into Cuomo’s political machine. That machine is now being deployed to vilify Kim, Biaggi and other Democrats who dare to demand answers about their constituents who were killed by Covid.

2021 February 18, David Sirota, “Cuomo-gate: a Nixonian scandal is engulfing New York”, in The Guardian, retrieved 2021-12-14:

(US politics, chiefly historical) A local political organization or individual politician that controls a large number of personal votes and can therefore exert political influence, and is therefore often viewed as scandalous.


Thatcheresque

en-adj

Thatcheresque (comparative more Thatcheresque, superlative most Thatcheresque)

more Thatcheresque (comparative)
most Thatcheresque (superlative)

Reminiscent of Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013), former British prime minister, or her policies.


Chinese restaurant syndrome

en-noun

Chinese restaurant syndrome (uncountable)

Coined by Robert Ho Man Kwok in a 1968 letter to the New England Journal of Medicine.

monosodium glutamate
monosodium glutamate

(medicine, gastroenterology) A supposed syndrome associated with consumption of the westernized version of Chinese food, characterized by various symptoms such as burning and tingling sensations, rapid heartbeat, and drowsiness, and initially ascribed to monosodium glutamate (but possibly just psychosomatic, or hypernatremia from overconsumption of salt).


antibusing

en-adj

antibusing (comparative more antibusing, superlative most antibusing)

more antibusing (comparative)
most antibusing (superlative)

In years following, local schools were shaken by angry antibusing protests.

1990 April 6, Ben Joravsky, “The next hot neighborhood is . . . the southwest side?”, in Chicago Reader:

(US politics) Opposing the use of busing to achieve racial integration in schools.


Blue Dog

Various, including the presence of the "Blue Dog" paintings of Louisiana artist George Rodrigue in the offices of Louisiana representatives where early meetings were held.

(US politics) A member of the Blue Dog Coalition, founded in 1994, of conservative and moderate members of the Democratic Party.


Cyrenaicism

This reads like an avowal of Epicureanism or of the more selfish philosophy of pleasure known as Cyrenaicism.

1882 August, Contemporary Review, p. 214

(usually derogatory) Synonym of hedonism, particularly (ethics, chiefly historical) the specific beliefs of the philosophical school of Aristippus of Cyrene, advocating pursuit of sensual pleasure as the highest good.


genius loci

head

genius loci (plural genii loci or genii locorum)

genii loci (plural)
genii locorum (plural)

jēʹnyəs lōʹkī

jēʹnyəs lōʹsī

/ˈɡɛnɪˌʊs ˈloʊki/

jēʹnyəs lōʹkī

jēʹnyəs lōʹsī

/ˈɡɛnɪˌʊs ˈləʊki/

Learned borrowing from Latin genius loci (“tutelary deity of a/the place”), from the singular genitive form of locus (“place”).

lbor

(Roman mythology) The minor deity or spirit watching over a particular place.


Talibaptist

Blend of Taliban + Baptist, from the hardline tactics of the former group and the traditionalism of the latter.

(slang, derogatory, chiefly US) A fundamentalist Christian.


kadi

From Ottoman Turkish قاضی (kadı), from Arabic قَاضِي (qāḍī), and from Arabic directly.

bor

Arabic قَاضِي (qāḍī)

Each has an imaum, but the kadi is their head, of which dignity he seems not a little proud.

"You shall go to Mecca when you grow up, and become a Hadji, and when you come back the high kadi shall take you in the mosque and make a kateeb of you," said I. "Now put your forehead to the ground and thank the good Allah that the kuching had eaten dog before he got you."

1898, Rounsevelle Wildman, Tales of the Malayan Coast:

To this the Jew agreed, and the two went together to the great hall, in which the kadi was administering justice.

Alternative spelling of qadi, Islamic judge, particularly (historical) in Ottoman contexts where they initially oversaw local administration as well as Islamic law.


pistareen

pistareens (plural)
pisterine (alternative)

Probably a corruption of the Spanish peseta + -een.

[T]hose poor souls never had more than nine pence per day, and seldom more than six pence, from their masters or owners, though they earned them three or four pisterines […].

1789, Olaudah Equiano, chapter 5, in The Interesting Narrative, volume I:

(now historical) A Spanish silver coin worth two reales, used as common currency in the Americas in the 18th century.


Salian

From Latin Salianus, from Salii + -ānus (“-an: forming adjectives”), from salīre (“to jump, to leap”) + -īus (“-y: forming adjectives”).

(historical) A member of the Salii, the chief priests of Mars in ancient Rome.


Salian

en-adj

Salian (comparative more Salian, superlative most Salian)

more Salian (comparative)
most Salian (superlative)

(historical) Of or related to the Salii, the priests of Mars in ancient Rome.


Salian

From Latin Salianus, from Salii + -ānus (“-an: forming adjectives”), from Sala (“the IJssel River”) + -īus (“-y: forming adjectives”). Cognate with Salic.

(historical) A person belonging to the German and Frankish tribes near the IJssel River in antiquity.


Salian

(historical) Of or related to the Salii, the Salian people.


castmember

castmembers (plural)
cast member (alternative)


epiclesis

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek ἐπίκλησις (epíklēsis, “invocation”).

lbor

(Greek mythology, Roman mythology) A particular appearance or aspect of a deity.


Silk Road

China had received with more or less good grace the flood of Buddhist missionaries but had long since sent out her own missionaries— priests, not of a transcendental religion of salvation, but of a secular way of life, of a worldly and refined civilization. Expansion in Turkestan and Central Asia took place simultaneously with expansion in Southeast Asia. As fast as the famed Silk Road started winding itself through thousands of miles of Eurasian deserts, swamps, jungles and mountains toward Persia and the Mediterranean world, increasingly numerous fleets of junks began to ply the warm waters of the tropical south.

1958, Amaury de Riencourt, “The Moonlight Civilizations”, in The Soul of China, Revised edition, Harper & Row, published 1965, →LCCN, →OCLC, pages 109-110:

But halfway back, he learned that there had been a change in dynasties and decided he would be better off staying where he was. And so Lu Kuang set up his own Silk Road kingdom at Wuwei in the middle of the Kansu Corridor.

2016, Bill Porter, The Silk Road: Taking the Bus to Pakistan, Counterpoint, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 172:

In this old Silk Road city in western China, a state security campaign involving the detention of vast numbers of people has moved to its next stage: demolishing their neighborhoods and purging their culture.

2019 March 21, “After mass detentions, China razes Muslim communities to build a loyal city”, in EFE, archived from the original on 2022-08-21:

Six hours are enough to devour the over 900 miles from Shanghai to Xi’an, the landlocked capital of Shaanxi Province in China’s central northwest, standing on the bones of the imperial city of Chang’an. In the seventh and eighth centuries A.D., this was the center of not only China but the globe — the eastern origin of the trade routes we call the Silk Road and the nexus of a cross-cultural traffic in ideas, technology, art and food that altered the course of history as decisively as the Columbian Exchange eight centuries later. A million people lived within Chang’an’s pounded-earth walls, including travelers and traders from Central, Southeast, South and Northeast Asia and followers of Buddhism, Taoism, Zoroastrianism, Nestorian Christianity and Manichaeism.

2020 May 11, Ligaya Mishan, “Eating in Xi’an, Where Wheat and Lamb Speak to China’s Varied Palette”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2020-05-11:

(historical) An extensive interconnected network of trade routes across Asia, North and Northeast Africa, and Europe, historically used by silk traders.

طَرِيق اَلْحَرِير

routes used by silk traders across Europe, Asia and northern Africa


Laozi

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the standard Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 老子 (“the Old One, the Venerable One”).

der

Laosi (alternative)
Lao Tse (alternative)
Lao Tu (alternative)
Lao-Tzu (alternative)
Lao-Tsu (alternative)
Laotze (alternative)
Lao Zi (alternative)
Laocius (alternative)

a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step

(Chinese history) An honorific title for the legendary Taoist philosopher Li Er, who supposedly lived in the 6th and 5th centuries BC and (Chinese mythology) has subsequently been worshipped as a Taoist god.

لَاو تْسِي

influential Chinese philosopher and founder of Taoism

(inexact, with 'the') Synonym of Tao Te Ching.


kemonomimi

en-noun

kemonomimi (plural kemonomimi or kemonomimis)

kemonomimi (plural)
kemonomimis (plural)

From Japanese 獣(けもの)耳(みみ) (kemonomimi), from 獣(けもの) (kemono, “animal”) + 耳(みみ) (mimi, “ear”).

(Japanese fiction) A humanoid fictional character who possesses animal ears and/or tails.


Kristallnacht

Unadapted borrowing from German Kristallnacht (“night of broken glass”, literally “crystal night”).

ubor

The Kristallnacht was a monumental development in Nazi anti-Jewish policy for several reasons. It was the single instance of large-scale, public, and organized physical violence against Jews inside Germany before the Second World War.

2009, Alan E. Steinweis, Kristallnacht 1938, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 4:

This is a very dangerous drift in our American thinking. Kristallnacht was unthinkable in 1930; is its descendant “progressive” radicalism unthinkable now?

2014 January 24, Tom Perkins, “Progressive Kristallnacht Coming?”, in Wall Street Journal, →ISSN:

Arnold Schwarzenegger issued a stinging rebuke of Donald Trump on Sunday, comparing the riot at the US Capitol which the president incited to Kristallnacht, the night in November 1938 when Nazi thugs attacked Jewish Germans and their property, a harbinger of horrors to come.

2021 January 10, Martin Pengelly, “Schwarzenegger rebukes Trump and compares Capitol riot to Kristallnacht”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(historical, Nazism) The night of November 9–10, 1938, when a state-organized night of terror was staged against Jews in Germany and Austria.


Callirrhoë

(Greek mythology) A naiad, daughter of Oceanus and Tethys.


abaton

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἄβατον (ábaton), nominalized neuter form of ἄβατος (ábatos, “inaccessible”).

(historical) In Ancient Greece, an enclosure in the temple of Asclepios where patients slept.


Khnum

bor+

<i class="Latn mention" lang="egy">ẖnmw</i>

One of the earliest Egyptian gods. He is said to be the source of the Nile River.


IEA

"The European economic and welfare model – I think it's over," says Mark Littlewood, director of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), like the CPS a veteran British free-market thinktank reinvigorated by current possibilities.

2012 August 22, Andy Beckett, “Britannia Unchained: the rise of the new Tory right”, in The Guardian:

Institute of Economic Affairs
w:Institute of Economic Affairs

(UK politics, economics) Initialism of Institute of Economic Affairs: a British neoliberal think tank.


Ptah

(Egyptian mythology) A god of creativity and craftsmen, sometimes also identified with the gods of death and the birth of the sun.


koban

koban (plural)
kobans (plural)
cobang (alternative)
coebang (alternative)
kobang (alternative)

Every landlord hath two koban paid him for dinner, and three for supper and lodgings at night.

1906, Ernest W[ilson] Clement, editor, Hildreth’s “Japan as it Was and Is”: A Handbook of Old Japan, volume II, Chicago, Ill.: A. C. McClurg & Co., page 40:

“Shall we say two koban for this evening—a measure of my desire to please a Lady of such merit?”

1975, James Clavell, Shōgun: A Novel of Japan, volume 2, New York, N.Y.: Atheneum, page 620:

It contained, as usual, nothing but an invitation to come to Edo to confer on matters respecting which it did not enter into any particulars, with an offer of three koban for the expenses of the journey.

2006, Timon Screech, Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns: Isaac Titsingh and Japan, 1779–1822, London, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 140:

An oval gold coin in the Edo period of feudal Japan.


koban

Borrowed from Japanese 交番(こうばん) (kōban).

Personnel of kobans change each shift; they report for duty at a police station and fan out to the kobans.

1976, David H. Bayley, Forces of Order: Police Behavior in Japan and the United States, Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, published 1978, →ISBN, page 13:

A small community police office or a police box, especially one in Japan.


Dorothy dollar

From Dorothy Gale, a character in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, whose actress Judy Garland in the 1939 film adaptation is a symbol among the LGBT community.

(US) The business generated by providing goods and services to the homosexual community.


Reaganesque

en-adj

Reaganesque (comparative more Reaganesque, superlative most Reaganesque)

more Reaganesque (comparative)
most Reaganesque (superlative)

The problem with those who denounce Reaganesque Big Tentism is twofold.

2010 February 25, Mark A. Isaacson, “Beck, Party of One”, in The Harvard Crimson:

Reminiscent of Ronald Wilson Reagan (1911–2004), 40th president of the United States (1981–1989) and 33rd governor of California (1967–1975), or his policies.


Circe

(Greek mythology) An enchantress who turned Odysseus's men into pigs.


phratry

PIE word
 *bʰréh₂tēr
From Latin phrātria, from Ancient Greek φρατρία (phratría, “tribe, clan”), from φράτηρ (phrátēr) + -ία (-ía).

uder

To be sure, he plays a decisive role at the time of the birth, since he confers on the child legitimacy, at least on the son, by taking him in his arms, walking him around the house and declaring him his son in front of the members of his phratry: in Athens, no one may obtain citizenship without these familial rites.

2016, Keith Cohen, translating Maurice Sartre, in Corbin, Courtine & Vigarello (Eds.), A History of Virility, Columbia University Press 2016, p. 40

(Ancient Greece) A clan or kinship group consisting of a number of families claiming descent from a common ancestor and having certain collective functions and responsibilities.


Hyllus

(Greek mythology) The son of Heracles and Deianira


woodnymph

woodnymphs (plural)
wood-nymph (alternative)

(Greek mythology) A nymph residing in a forest, a dryad.


Book of the Dead

A calque of German Todtenbuch (der Ägypter), used by Karl Richard Lepsius in his 1842 publication describing the text.

calque

An ancient Egyptian funerary text of the New Kingdom consisting of spells to assist the journey of the dead into the afterlife, developed from the earlier Coffin Texts.


tenpence

(rare, British, Ireland) A coin worth ten new pence.


paludamentum

The horse was not in the least like a Greek horse (nor even a Trojan), and F.M. the Duke of Wellington was not represented with the ensis or short sword in his grasp, the chlamys flying from his shoulder, or the paludamentum, as more suitable for the cool of the English climate (totidem divisos orbe &c.), the kothornos on his leg, the galea slung at the crupper? no reins, and his naked nether-man, not (as in these precious models) seated on the bare back of the bull-necked, square-jawed, dray-limbed steed.

1847, “The Wellington Statue”, in The Literary Gazette and Journal of Belles Lettres, Arts, Sciences, &c., London, page 523, column 2:

(historical, Ancient Rome) A military cloak worn by a general and his principal officers, fastened at one shoulder.


Panic

en-adj

Panic (comparative more Panic, superlative most Panic)

more Panic (comparative)
most Panic (superlative)
panic (alternative)

(Greek mythology, archaic) Synonym of Pandean (“pertaining to the Greek god Pan”)


Pannonia

Borrowed from Latin Pannonia, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pen- (“moist; wet; mud; swamp; water”), thus meaning “fenland”.

der

A province of the Roman Empire in the western part of modern Hungary and adjacent regions.


armilla

Borrowed from Latin armilla. Doublet of armill.

(Ancient Rome) An armband awarded as a military decoration in Ancient Rome.


parabasis

Borrowed from Ancient Greek παράβασις (parábasis).

(historical, Ancient Greece) The part of an Ancient Greek comedy in which the actors leave the stage and the chorus addresses the audience directly.