atrabiliary

en-adj

atrabiliary (comparative more atrabiliary, superlative most atrabiliary)

more atrabiliary (comparative)
most atrabiliary (superlative)

From Latin ātra bīlis (“black bile”) (āter (“dark, black”) + bīlis (“bile”)) + -ary.

A Cancer again is known by its renitency of touch, if it be mild it carries a black or livid colour outwards, so made by the peccant humour or atrabiliary juice; there's no heat felt on the touch, but rather a coldness in the part; […]

1703, John Browne, The Surgeon's Assistant. In which is Plainly Discovered the True Origin of Most Diseases. Treating Particularly of the Plague, French Pox, Leprosie, &c. of the Biting of Mad Dogs, and other Venemous Creatures. Also a Compleat Treatise of Cancers and Gangreens. With an Enquiry whether they have any Alliance with Contagious Diseases. Their most Easie, and Speedy Method of Cure. With Diverse Approved Receipts, London: Printed for James Knapton, at the Crown in St Paul Church-yard, →OCLC, page 83:

[…] 'Tis true, when once a Schirrus is formed in a glandular Part, no one can tell how it may terminate; becauſe various changes may ariſe from various Cauſes in the Conſtitution of the Perſon; and if the Juices ſhould degenerate into a highly acrid, or what the Ancients termed an atrabiliary State, the Schirrus will be (cæteris paribus) more liable to become a Cancer.

1753, William Norford, An Essay on the General Method of Treating Cancerous Tumours. In which the Opinions of some of the most Celebrated Authors, who have Writ on this Subject, are Examined, and Compared. The Whole Endeavouring to Shew what Stages of that Formidable Disease are Curable. Illustrated with Several Extraordinary Cases, London: Printed for J. Noon, at the White Hart in Cheapside, near the Poultry, →OCLC, page 66:

Urine of a green Colour with a thick Sediment, denotes, 1. an atrabiliary Habit; 2. that the atrabiliary Matter now begins to be diſſolved and diſcharged, and that therefore, 3. there muſt be Anxieties about the Præcordia, a Diſturbance in the Bowels, with iliacal ancolicky Pains, &c.

1757, Herman Boerhaave, Dr. Boerhaave's Academical Lectures on the Theory of Physic. Being a Genuine Translation of his Institutes and Explanatory Comment, Collated and Adjusted to Each Other, as they were Dictated to his Students at the University of Leyden, volume VI, London: Printed for J. Rivington [et al.], →OCLC, page 226:

Becauſe by theſe the blood is thinned, and the atrabiliary matter reſolved. But as the diſeaſe is of the chronic kind, theſe means muſt be continued a long time. […] We have hitherto conſidered the atrabiliary matter as equally diſperſed throughout the circulating humours; but if its quantity be increaſed, it may ſtick in divers parts of the body, and produce the worſt kinds of obſtructions.

1774, Gerard van Swieten with Herman Boerhaave, edited by Colin Hossack, An Abridgement of Baron Van Swieten's Commentaries upon the Aphorisms of the Celebrated Dr. Herman Boerhaave, Late Professor of Physic, &c. in the University of Leyden. Concerning the Knowledge and Cure of Diseases. … In Five Volumes, volume III, London: Printed for Robert Horsfield, No. 22, in Ludgate-street; and Thomas Longman, No. 39, in Pater-noster Row, →OCLC, page 249:

The four sorts of humours performed in the human body (microcosm) a part as important as the four elements did in the whole universe (macrocosm.) The bile, the blood, the pituitary and atrabiliary fluids determined, by their predominance the different temperaments, and produced the different diseases. The atrabiliary humour was, as is well known, thought to be the cause of melancholy and mania; […]

1827, [Marie François] Xavier Bichat, translated by F. Gold, Physiological Researches on Life and Death, Boston, Ma.: Richardson and Lord, →OCLC, page 206:

The cold meningitis is due either to the lymphatic or the atrabiliary humors. […] There are two kinds of hot meningitis: One, atrabiliary; the other, atrabiliary mixed with a blood component.

2005, Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies, Los Angeles and Fresno, Calif., Dearborn, Mich.: The Society, page 172:

(medicine, obsolete) Of or relating to black bile.

ATRABIL′IARY, ATRABIL′IOUS, a. Melancholic, or hypochondriacal; from the supposed preponderance of black bile. – atrabiliary capsules, the renal or supra-renal glands or capsules.

1856, John Ogilvie, editor, A Supplement to the Imperial Dictionary, English, Technological, and Scientific: Containing an Extensive Collection of Words, Terms, and Phrases, in the Various Departments of Literature, Science, and Art; together with Numerous Obsolete, Obsolescent, and Scottish Words, found in Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare, and Scott, not Included in Previous English Dictionaries, Glasgow, Edinburgh and London: Blackie and Son, →OCLC, pages 35, columns 2–3:

[…] that chronic dissatisfaction at the imperfections of ordinary mortality and that yearning after the impossible incarnation of some superhuman ideal, which are characteristic of the typical "reformer," especially in his more atrabiliary moments.

1890, The American Catholic Quarterly Review, volume 15, Philadelphia, Pa.: Hardy and Mahony, →OCLC, page 105:

But unquestionably the most atrabiliary of the men of letters whom I knew in Paris at that time was [Nicolas] Chamfort. Attacked with the disorder that produced the Jacobins, he was unable to forgive mankind for the accident of his birth.

1902, François-René, Vicomte de Chateaubriand, translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos, The Memoirs of François René, Vicomte de Chateaubriand, Sometime Ambassador to England: Being a Translation by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos of the Mémoires d'outre-tombe, with Illustrations from Contemporary Sources, London: Freemantle and Co., →OCLC, page 132:

Daily he became more atrabiliary, sinking into a state of melancholy that eliminates the joy of living into the sadness of living.

1910, Proceedings of the Literary & Philosophical Society of Liverpool, number 61, Liverpool: The Society, →OCLC, page 18:

Melancholic or hypochondriac; atrabilious.


retrophilia

At the same time, a wave of retrophilia started to crest. Clothing companies like Homage (which reproduces vintage-esque T's celebrating sports and pop culture from the '70s through the '90s) came up with unique ways to commercialize the interest in yesteryear.

2010 November 21, Kevin Alexander, “The secret to selling cool”, in Boston Globe:

The attraction to and preference for that which is from or characteristic of the past.


retrofuturism

Even the aesthetics of its interface, with a kind of Star Trek-like retrofuturism, makes users feel as if their computer is doing the things we imagined computers would be doing, rather than the humdrum business of typing, filing and storing.

2006, David Bell, Science, Technology and Culture, Open University Press, →ISBN, pages 89–90:

The revival of historical conceptions of the future in media and design.


Cymrophobia

Welshmen, as in this very case of Pistol versus Fluellen, do not always stand quiet to have their leeks knocked about their pates — so the angry Saxon adopts other, and perhaps safer modes of giving vent to his Cymrophobia.

1864 March, “St. David's Day”, in London Society, volume 5, number 28, page 221:

Paradoxically, while most immigrants of other ethnic origins are welcomed and proud to be "British", Cymrophobia still persists hundreds of years after the Anglo-Saxons labelled the original Britons as "Welch", or foreigners.

2006 April 11, Glynne Rowlands, “Letters: Touchy about Cymrophobia”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), The Guardian:

To stretch the analogy further, the English are akin to a rich and powerful family in the Big House, while the Welsh hunker down in the bwthyn, on the estate's western edge. In many ways, the attitude of the English over the years has mirrored this analogy, being characterised, at best, by a pompous paternalism and, at worst, by outright condescension and outrageous Cymrophobia.

2007, Mike Parker, Neighbours from Hell, →ISBN, page 11:

The hatred or fear of Wales, Welsh people or the Welsh language.


Armenophilia

unusual admiration or partiality for the Armenian people, or Armenian culture, language or history

հայասիրություն

unusual admiration or partiality for the Armenian people, culture, language or history


Armenophobia

Fear, dislike, or hatred of the Armenians, Republic of Armenia and the Armenian culture

հայատյացություն

the fear, dislike of, hatred or aversion to the Armenians, Republic of Armenia and the Armenian culture


little black dress

en-noun

little black dress (plural little black dresses)

When dressing up for a night out, let's not forget the sex appeal, allure, and slenderizing effect of ultrasheer black hosiery under that little black dress.

2012, Rebecca Apsan, Lessons in Lingerie: Finding Your Perfect Shade of Seduction:

A simply cut and often quite short evening or cocktail dress.


angriness

angriness (usually uncountable, plural angrinesses)

From Middle English angrynes, angrinesse; equivalent to angry + -ness.


testeria

From testes, coined as a feminist response to the use of hysteria.

(rare) Behavior exhibiting excessive irritability, aggression, or unreasonableness.


testerical

en-adj

testerical (comparative more testerical, superlative most testerical)

more testerical (comparative)
most testerical (superlative)

If the police at the G20 protests were pumped-up, testerical, itching for a fight, it was partly because their commanding officers have spent years blurring the distinction between peaceful campaigners and terrorists.

2009 April 21, George Monbiot, “G20 videos won't change the Met”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

Overly aggressive, irritable, or unreasonable, as from being overwhelmed by testosterone.


testeric

Even to raise the possibility of such research would be to invite the testerics in Congress to shut off the UN's funding.

2009 June 29, George Monbiot, “Yes, addicts need help. But all you casual cocaine users want locking up”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:


testerically

en-adv

testerically (comparative more testerically, superlative most testerically)

more testerically (comparative)
most testerically (superlative)


storge

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek στοργή (storgḗ, “affection, love (especially of parents and children)”), from στέργω (stérgō, “to love (chiefly of non-sexual affection); to show affection”) (from Proto-Indo-European *sterg- (“to cover; to protect”)) + -η (-ē, suffix forming action nouns).

ref

From the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., U.S.A.

der

[The virgins] haue choſen to expreſſe their ſeuerall qualities, thus in ſeuerall colours. The firſt, in citron colour, is natural affection, vvhich giuen vs to procure our good, is ſomtime called Storge, and as euery one is neereſt to himſelfe, ſo this hand-maid of reaſon, allovvable ſelfe-loue, as it is vvithout harme, ſo are none vvithout it: […]

1600 (first performance), Beniamin Ionson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Cynthias Reuels, or The Fountayne of Selfe-Loue. […]”, in The Workes of Beniamin Ionson (First Folio), London: […] Will[iam] Stansby, published 1616, →OCLC, Act V, scene vii (the first masque), pages 257–258:

VVherefore as this Love has reference to Propagation; ſo Storge, or Natural Tenderneſs, referreth chiefly to Children that are begot. And if more of the Storge appear in Parents, than vvhat is reciprocal; it ſhevvs, this Paſſion is implanted by Nature, as others, to a greater Degree, or a leſs, ſuitable to the Uſe or VVant there may be thereof.

1688 September (date written), Henry More, “The Use and Interpretation of Love and Hatred; which are in the Second Classis”, in R. W. [pseudonym; Edward Southwell], transl., An Account of Virtue: Or, Dr. Henry More’s Abridgment of Morals, Put into English, London: […] Benj[amin] Tooke, published 1690, →OCLC, book I, paragraph IV, pages 63–64:

As ſoon as the ſeeds are formed, it [the American cowslip (Primula sect. Dodecatheon)] erects all the flovver-ſtalks to prevent them from falling out; and thus loſes the beauty of its figure. Is this a mechanical effect, or does it indicate a vegetable ſtorgé to preſerve its offspring?

1789, [Erasmus Darwin], The Botanic Garden; a Poem, in Two Parts. […], London: J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1791, →OCLC, part II (The Loves of the Plants; 3rd edition), footnote, page 6:

I saw a Jewish lady, only yesterday, with a child at her knee, and from whose face towards the child there shone a sweetness so angelical, that it seemed to form a sort of glory round both. I protest I could have knelt before her too, and adored in her the Divine beneficence in endowing us with the maternal storgē, which began with our race and sanctifies the history of mankind.

1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, “A Pedigree and Other Family Matters”, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume I, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849, →OCLC, page 20:

The Greeks called this love storge (two syllables and the g is "hard"). I shall here call it simply Affection. My Greek Lexicon defines storge as "affection, especially of parents to offspring"; but also of offspring to parents. The image we must start with is that of a mother nursing a baby, a bitch or a cat with a basketful of puppies or kittens; all in a squeaking, nuzzling heap together; purrings, lickings, baby-talk, milk, warmth, the smell of young life.

[1960, C[live] S[taples] Lewis, “Affection”, in The Four Loves, London: Geoffrey Bles, →OCLC, page 42:

[John Alan] Lee (1973), on the basis of interviews with adults about their love relationships, postulated three primary love styles—Eros, Ludus, and Storge. These could be combined to form three further styles, Mania (eros and ludus), Pragma (ludus and storge), and Agape (storge and eros). […] [T]hose "in love now" endorsed eros, storge, mania, and agape more strongly, and ludus less strongly, than those not in love.

1997, Robert A[ubrey] Hinde, “Love and Romantic Relationships”, in Relationships: A Dialectal Perspective, Hove, East Sussex: Psychology Press Publishers, Erlbaum (UK) Taylor & Francis, →ISBN, part D (Friendship and Love), page 434:

Unlike the eros and ludus love styles, storge lovers emphasize companionship and compatibility over physical attraction. Also known as the friendship style of love, storge lovers are typically characterized as being honest and loyal with a desire to develop a relationship rather than spontaneously fall into one[…].

2012, Claire Kimberly, Jason D. Hans, “Love Styles and Their Role in Relationships”, in Michele E. Paludi, editor, The Psychology of Love, volume II (Emotion and Romance), Santa Barbara, Calif.: Praeger, →ISBN, page 159:

Natural affection or love, especially of parents for their children.

Jean Honoré Fragonard
National Gallery of Art
The Visit to the Nursery

حب أسري

natural affection or love, especially of parents for their children


slashzine

There's also a healthy B7 [Blake's 7] slashzine community.

1994, William James Moyer, “Sinclair vs. Avon (?!)”, in rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5 (Usenet):

Slashzines based on Dark Shadows characters are rare; most Dark Shadows fans have never even heard of them.

1998, Cheryl Harris, Alison Alexander, Theorizing fandom: fans, subculture, and identity:

That's why all the SW [Star Wars] slashzines are pubbed underground -- there is no sex, let alone kinky sex, in the SW universe, and by damn LucasArts is gonna see that it stays that way!

2000, Rez, “New Napster Software but for DOOM LEVELS”, in rec.games.computer.doom.misc (Usenet):


sadful

en-adj

sadful (comparative more sadful, superlative most sadful)

more sadful (comparative)
most sadful (superlative)

Who kindly answered to his knock, such a sadful sight to see […]

1985, Genevieve Lehr, Anita Best, Come and I Will Sing You:

(rare, poetic) Full of sadness; sorrowful.


nyctohylophobia

Such was the great man's nyctohylophobia (fear of dark wooded places and forests) he divided his garden into a very formal area where he felt safer and rougher woodland of which he was fearful.

2002, Country Life, volume 196, page 88:

I didn't suffer from nyctohylophobia but if I did this would have been the time and place where I would have been reduced to a screaming pile of shot nerves on the forest floor.

2008, Bill Wonders, Orion Too, AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 131:

Related to dendrophobia but less well known are hylophobia (fear of forests), nyctohylophobia (fear of dark wooded areas or forests at night) and xylophobia (fear of wooden objects).

2013, Peter Young, Oak, Reaktion Books, →ISBN, page 118:

The fear of dark forests or wooded areas.


bloodlusty

bloodlusty (comparative more bloodlusty, superlative most bloodlusty)

more bloodlusty (comparative)
most bloodlusty (superlative)

Exhibiting bloodlust; violently aggressive; bloodthirsty.


videophilia

We are spending less time in parks, less time camping and hiking, and less time in unstructured outdoor play because videophilia is replacing biophilia.

2012, Nancy Sleeth, Almost Amish: One Woman's Quest for a Slower, Simpler, More Sustainable Life, Tyndale, →ISBN, page 78:

An inactive lifestyle characterized by activities that involve spending time in front of a screen, such as television, video games, and the Internet.


aphobia

a- + (from asexual or aromantic) + -phobia

Where aphobia goes wrong is that it assumes that some ace people 'pass' as straight, and therefore experience no discrimination.

2017, Ariel Scott, “Stop Saying It's Asexual Because That's Not What It Means”, in ShOUT Zine, page 12:

Pathologizing non-conformity to sexual norms and medicalizing the distress caused by aphobia are harmful and oppressive practices.

2017, Eléa, "Anything but lacking: How asexuality can disrupt sex-normativity", The McGill Daily (McGill University), 20 November 2017, page 14

Amatonormativity—or the assumption and expectation that everyone seeks romantic love (which is generally, incorrectly, assumed to involve sexual desire by default) and prioritizes romance over other forms of intimacy—fuels aphobia.

2019, Morgan Lev Edward Holleb, The A-Z of Gender and Sexuality: From Ace to Ze, page 30:

(neologism) Fear, dislike, or hatred of asexual and/or aromantic people.


pharmacophilia

(rare) A morbid addiction to drugs; pharmacomania.


supersorry

I told her I was supersorry and that it was really dumb.

2012, Jason Myers, Run the Game, page 260:

If she had a choice between being supercautious or supersorry, she'd pick cautious every time.

2006, Marie Ferrarella, The Woman Who Wasn't There, page 58:

To top it off, Tom-Su sported a rope instead of a belt, definitely nailing down the supersorry look.

2002, Sandro Meallet, Edgewater Angels: A Novel, page 3:


Romaphobia

/ˌɹəʊ.məˈfəʊ.bi.ə/


begladden

en-verb

begladden (third-person singular simple present begladdens, present participle begladdening, simple past and past participle begladdened)

begladdens (present singular third-person)
begladdening (participle present)
begladdened (participle past)
begladdened (past)

Such a hope would begladden the heart of the most insipid.

2005, Gregory Claeys, Owenite Socialism: 1832-1837:

So acquaint me with the facts of the case for naught shall befal thee save that which shall begladden thee; and, when thou shalt have spoken sooth, fear not harm shall betide thee.

2008, Richard F. Burton, Arabian Nights:

Ruler of night and day begladdens thee with songs of rapture enclosed

2012, The Footladder of Notes Divine - Book 3 (2002) - Clover, storage.cloversites.com/.../The%20Footladder%20-%20Book%203%20(2002)%20PDF_2.pdf

(transitive) To gladden about or all over; make glad; overjoy.


Christianophobia

The need to take greater account than in the past of two developments in measures to combat racism and discrimination: the increasing intertwining of race, ethnicity, culture and religion, and the rise of anti-Semitism, Christianophobia and Islamophobia[…]

2009, Anne-Marie Mooney Cotter, Heaven Forbid, page 56:

The fear or hatred of Christians or Christianity.


blennophobia

From Ancient Greek βλέννος (blénnos, “mucus, slime”) + -phobia, from Ancient Greek φόβος (phóbos, “fear”).

der

"Well, maybe what you've really got is blennophobia — fear of slime," he said.

2002, Kate White, If Looks Could Kill, Warner Books, Inc., →ISBN:

He approaches with snurffly sounds and a twitching nose, and your blennophobia (fear of slime) kicks in, producing a hurried word of encouragement and a carrot.

2003, Joanne M. Friedman, It's a Horse's Life!: Advice and Observations for the Humans Who Choose to Share It, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 40:

Oh, they seem to be the picture of contentment, tripping about with their triple-sanitized trowels and weeding forks, but in reality these neatniks are a seething cauldron of aversions. They're beset by blennophobia, the fear of slime, and spend long hours plotting the annihilation of slugs and snails.

2006, Des Kennedy, The Passionate Gardener: Adventures of an Ardent Green Thumb, Greystone Books, →ISBN, page 208:

(very rare) The irrational fear of slime.


scaredness

The quality of being scared; fear; timidity.


sapiosexual

From Latin sapiens + -sexual. Coined by Darren Stalder in 1998 to describe his own sexuality.

You see, for a true geek there's often little difference, because when you engage our brains, which are connected to our genitals, it often turns on our lust response (we're quite often sapiosexuals - people who lust after intellect first), but it's the *brain* you aim for, the intellect, to turn us on, not our genitals.

2005 October 20, CatDeville [username], “Re: Struggling with the details”, in alt.polyamory (Usenet):

In Study 2 we tapped attitudes toward a largely unknown sexual orientation group, sapiosexuals (those sexually attracted to the human mind).
[…]
Participants indicated their familiarity with heterosexuals, homosexuals, bisexuals, asexuals, and sapiosexuals […]

2012 April 24, Cara C. MacInnis, Gordon Hodson, “Intergroup bias toward 'Group X': Evidence of prejudice, dehumanization, avoidance, and discrimination against asexuals”, in Group Processes & Intergroup Relations:

So, what attracts you? What turns you on? If you decided on abstract thought, clever humour and insight. You're a sapiosexual.

2012 May, Carolina Montejo, “Sapiosexuality: The intelligent foreplay”, in Vangardist, page 126:


romantic comedy

en-noun

romantic comedy (countable and uncountable, plural romantic comedies)

Judging from his new movie, the sublimely silly They Came Together, director and co-writer David Wain is a closet connoisseur of the modern romantic comedy.

2014 June 26, A. A. Dowd, “Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler Spoof Rom-com Clichés in They Came Together”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 2017-12-07:

(uncountable) A genre of fiction, especially film, that presents love stories in a humorous and light-hearted way.


lesbophobia

Fear, dislike, or hatred of lesbians (female homosexuals).


ing-bing

'What gets into you, Ned?' he complained. 'You go along fine for just so long and then for no reason at all you throw an ing-bing. I'll be a dirty so-and-so if I can make you out!'

1931, Dashiell Hammett, The Glass Key, Dell Publishing, published 1966, page 13:

‘Merle's at my apartment,’ I said. ‘She threw an ing-bing.’

1943, Raymond Chandler, The High Window, Penguin, published 2005, page 238:

‘He threw an ing-bing and I had to slug him,’ I explained to nobody in particular and started to dust myself down.

1949, James Hadley Chase, You Never Know with Women:


thalassophobia

“I have been endeavoring all the winter to reason away my antipathy to the sea in order to avail myself of a very favorable occasion I now have of passing it—but I have a kind of thalassophobia that resists all kind of argument”

1815, William Short, Letter to Thomas Jefferson, 11 March 1815:

1937 George M. Gould. Anomalies and curiosities of medicine. Sydenham Publishers, New York
Thalassophobia is the fear of the view of immense spaces or uninterrupted expanses. The Emperor Heraclius, at the age of fifty-nine, had an insurmountable fear of the view of the sea; and it is said that when he crossed the Bosphorus a bridge of boats was formed, garnished on both sides with plants and trees, obscuring all view of the water over which the Emperor peacefully traversed on horseback.
The moralist Nicole, was equally a thalassophobe, and always had to close his eyes at the sight of a large sheet of water, when he was seized with trembling in all his limbs. Occasionally some accident in youth has led to an aversion to traversing large sheets of water, and there have been instances in which persons who have fallen into the water in childhood have all their lives had a terror of crossing bridges.

The polka dots are scars left by the cookiecutter shark, a thalassophobia-inducing creature with jaws designed to remove round plugs of flesh.

2021 March 30, J. B. MacKinnon, “An Entire Group of Whales Has Somehow Escaped Human Attention”, in The Atlantic:

A morbid fear of the sea or, more generally, deep water such as lakes.


tokophobia

/ˌtəʊkəˈfəʊbi.ə/

From Ancient Greek τόκος (tókos, “birth”) + -φοβία (-phobía, “fear”).

af

As soon as Dr Guy Glass cured Rebecca of her tokophobia, the place would be full of children.

2002, Zadie Smith, The Autograph Man, Penguin Books (2003), page 200:

A multitude of stories are required, not just to help those telling them to work out their own narratives, or to help those looking for information, but to challenge tokophobia by enriching and complicating our cultural understanding of childbirth.

2018 September 23, Eva Wiseman, “Mumsnet forums are a guilty pleasure, but there are truths, too”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

A morbid fear of childbirth or pregnancy.


fuck like a mink

en-verb

fuck like a mink (third-person singular simple present fucks like a mink, present participle fucking like a mink, simple past and past participle fucked like a mink)

fucks like a mink (present singular third-person)
fucking like a mink (participle present)
fucked like a mink (participle past)
fucked like a mink (past)

"She's a really sweet girl, kind and honest and decent, and all of her clients tell me that she fucks like a mink."
"With that endorsement and the boots and the whips, maybe I should give her a try."

1979, Warren Murphy, Frank Stevens, Atlantic City, page 209:

"...But, for general info, she'd just as gladly slide a knife in as anything else. Don't let her fool you. On the other hand, she can fuck like a mink. Have fun. I'll take Bambi any day."

“You fuck like a mink,” Eric told me one night in his sister's bedroom. His parents were out of town, and Eric and I had the run of the house.

2011, Carolyn Briggs, Higher Ground: A Memoir of Salvation Found and Lost:

(simile, vulgar) To have sex with great enthusiasm.


cowardy custard

en-noun

cowardy custard (plural cowardy custards)

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

Probably suggesting trembling in fear in the way that custard wobbles.

(childish, derogatory) A coward; a timid or fearful person.


mommy porn

Now, as she turned the page of her book, a “mommy porn” title on every national bestseller list, she sneaked a peek at her in-flight neighbor's face.

2012, Emily Ryan-Davis, Tangled & Bound, Ellora's Cave Publishing, published 2012, →ISBN:

The sadomasochistic antics in EL James's 'mommy porn' book Fifty Shades of Grey have made it a phenomenon, despite the appalling writing.

2012 April 13, Laura Barnett, “Mommy porn?: Fifty Shades of Grey by EL James: review”, in The Telegraph:

Countless newspapers across the country reported on this “mommy porn” trend, since the majority of its audience seemed to be suburban housewives.

2013, Nicole Cammorata, Words You Should Know 2013: The 201 Words from Science, Politics, Technology, and Pop Culture That Will Change Your Life This Year, Adams Media, published 2013, →ISBN, page 101:

(informal, neologism) A genre of mainstream erotic literature that primarily appeals to the sensibilities of mothers and housewives.


scare straight

en-verb

scare straight (third-person singular simple present scares straight, present participle scaring straight, simple past and past participle scared straight)

scares straight (present singular third-person)
scaring straight (participle present)
scared straight (participle past)
scared straight (past)

Indeed, there is a streak of Reaganomics that believes the only way to motivate American workers is to scare them straight with unemployment charts.

1982 September 3, Ellen Goodman, “Work ethic remains strong as ever”, in Spokesman-Review, Spokane, USA, retrieved 2013-02-13, page 4:

Thomas credited the boot camp for scaring him straight.

2005 March 16, Pete Thamel, “Scared Straight Into the Courts of Basketball”, in New York Times, retrieved 2013-02-13:

Slimmed down and scared straight after his bypass surgery, Clinton brokers a deal to get sugary drinks out of schools.

2006 May 15, "How Bill Put the Fizz in the Fight Against Fat, Time (retrieved 13 Feb 2013)

(transitive, idiomatic) To frighten (someone) to such a degree that a significant improvement in behavior results.


heteroromantic

en-adj

heteroromantic (comparative more heteroromantic, superlative most heteroromantic)

more heteroromantic (comparative)
most heteroromantic (superlative)

Often, however, asexual people will also identify with a particular sexual orientation, minus the sexual aspect, and may define themselves as heteroromantic, homoromantic, biromantic, transromantic or panromantic.

2009, Jennifer Byrne, "He's Just Not That Into Anyone, Pop Matters, 31 August 2009

It does not address other kinds of sexuality such as demisexual (sexual attraction is experienced only when accompanied by a strong emotional attraction), pansexual (attraction across all gender identities and biological sexes. Think “gender blind”), and the romantics (Homoromantic/heteroromantic/aromantic making attraction experienced romantically rather than sexually) among others.

2012 October 5, Kristen Hammond, “Gettin’ down with the sexuality spectrum and where we fit”, in The Elm:

Thus, you can be asexual and biromantic (romantically attracted to men and women), panromantic (romantically attracted to any gender identity), homoromantic (romantically attracted to members of the same sex), or heteroromantic (romantically attracted to members of the opposite sex). Some aces are asexual and aromantic, meaning they enjoy platonic friendships, but don’t experience romantic attraction.

2013 October 21, Helena Horton, “What is Asexuality?”, in York Vision:

There are different types of ‘aces’, with asexuals being heteroromantic (romantically attracted to the opposite sex); homoromantic (to the same sex); biromantic (to both sexes); panromantic (to both sexes and transsexuals); or aromantic (experiencing little or no romantic attraction to anyone).

2015 February 23, Alix O'Neill, “What It Feels Like To Be Asexual In A Sex-Obsessed World”, in Marie Claire:

Romantically attracted to those of the opposite gender.


homoromantic

homoromantic (comparative more homoromantic, superlative most homoromantic)

more homoromantic (comparative)
most homoromantic (superlative)

Romantically attracted to those of the same gender.


homoromantic

One who is romantically attracted to people of the same gender.


heteroflexibility

Essig divides society into the categories of heteroflexibility and heterorigidity and homoflexibility and homorigidity.

2002, Robert Goss, Queering Christ: Beyond Jesus Acted Up, Pilgrim Press, →ISBN, page 232:

The L Word banks on heteroflexibility as well as queer equivocation, through its cultivation of the touristic gaze, a gaze which immersed, identifies with, and distanced, desires.

2007, Candace Moore, “Getting Wet: The Heteroflexibility of Showtime's The L Word”, in Merri Lisa Johnson, editor, Third Wave Feminism and Television: Jane Puts It in a Box, I. B. Tauris & Co., →ISBN, page 142:

It was unclear if the blatant display of her body was meant as a sexual advance or some other expression of heteroflexibility or homosociality.

2013, Heidi Hoefinger, Sex, Love and Money in Cambodia: Professional Girlfriends and Transactional Relationships, Routledge, →ISBN:


gayphobia

Homophobia concerns lesbians (lesbophobia), gay men (gayphobia), bisexual people (biphobia), and transgender people (transphobia).

2010, Caroline S. Clauss-Ehlers, Encyclopedia of Cross-Cultural School Psychology, page 524:

In fact, gayphobia occupied more media space than lesbophobia.

2017, Kristina Schulz, The Women's Liberation Movement: Impacts and Outcomes, Berghahn Books, →ISBN, page 164:


asexy

asexy (comparative more asexy, superlative most asexy)

more asexy (comparative)
most asexy (superlative)

One of the first rumored-to-be-asexy relationships can be seen in Henry James's The Bostonians, an 1886 novel that deals with the devotion between two women, Olive and Verena — the work even gave rise to the term "Boston marriages" to describe women who lived together in love with one another without having sex.

2007, Bitch: Feminist Response to Pop Culture, numbers 34-37, page 363:

And in June, while wearing an "Asexy Dyke" T-shirt, she marched with two dozen other self-described asexuals in San Francisco's Gay Pride Parade.

2009 August 24, Demian Bulwa, “Asexuals leave the closet, find community”, in San Francisco Chronicle:

Asexual and Proud! is a MySpace community whose goal is to help “asexy” people connect with one another (Bogaert, 2004).

2011, Robert Crooks, Karla Baur, Our Sexuality, Wadsworth, →ISBN, page 250:

(slang) Asexual (not experiencing sexual attraction).


aromantic

(2005) From a- + romantic. Compare asexual. First coined in 2005 in Asexual Visibility and Education Network forums.

Ours is a generation of aromantics, jaded about matters of the heart — often before gaining firsthand experience.

1986, Wanda Urbanska, The Singular Generation, Doubleday & Company, published 1986, →ISBN, page 86:

Anna is an asexual, aromantic. Before discovering those terms, she assumed herself to merely be unusually disinterested in sex or relationships.

2012, Marina Hale, "The Drop-Down Menu Identity Crisis", Glass Buffalo (University of Alberta), Spring 2012, page 51

'I let it slip one time at work that I’m an asexual aromantic [an asexual who is also not interested in making romantic attachments], and they think it’s absolutely hysterical,’ says Jean Wilson, a sales assistant and 63-year-old grandmother from Banbury. 'One of the women I work with said, “I don’t think you’ve met the right man yet.” I said: “Trish, I’m 63. If I haven’t met him by now I don’t think I’m going to.”’

2012 November 12, Olivia Gordon, “'The moment I realised I was asexual'”, in The Telegraph:

One who does not experience romantic attraction to others.


K/S

Initialism from the names of James T. Kirk and Spock, separated by a slash (/).

(fandom slang, often attributively) Fan fiction where the characters James T. Kirk and Spock from the science fiction media franchise Star Trek are shown in a homosexual relationship.


May–December

From the lyrics to the Kurt Weill/Maxwell Anderson song "September Song", first published in 1938, about such a relationship, which includes the line "It's a long, long time from May to December".

Whatever fantasy you can’t act out in real life can be fulfilled in fan fiction. May-December relationships are very popular, as are boys transforming into girls.

2013, Katherine Arcement, “Diary”, in London Review of Books, volume 35, number 5:

One of the appeals of May/December relationships in fiction, for me, is that gulf of understanding between partners whose life experiences will never share the same footing at the same time, and the frustrations and desires that come with trying to bridge that gulf.

2024, Blue Delliquanti, Adversary, →ISBN:

Pertaining to a relationship in which one person is much older than the other.


philo-Semitism

To an Englishman, German liberalism is a hybrid creature, lame of three legs and blind of one eye, and thus it is necessary to explain — if indeed explanation in its rational sense be possible — the position of the German Liberals in this matter of philo-Semitism.

1881 March 5, The Eclectic Magazine of Foreign Literature, Science, and Art, page 350:

The great sociologist Zygmunt Bauman argued that philo-Semitism and anti-Semitism both fall under “allosemitism”: literally Othering the Jew. He defined it not as resentment of what is different, which is xenophobia, but rather of what defies order and clear categories. In 1997, he wrote, “The Jew is ambivalence incarnate. And ambivalence is ambivalence mostly because it cannot be contemplated without ambivalent feeling: it is simultaneously attractive and repelling.”

2020 January 28, Mairov Zonszein, “Christian Zionist philo-Semitism is driving Trump’s Israel policy”, in The Washington Post:

Interest in or appreciation of Jewish people, their history, or the influence of Judaism, particularly on the part of a gentile.


germophobia

By surface analysis, germ + -o- + -phobia.


panromantic

en-adj

panromantic (comparative more panromantic, superlative most panromantic)

more panromantic (comparative)
most panromantic (superlative)

As Jessica, a twenty-one year old white woman who self-identifies as a bi- or panromantic asexual describes, […]

2008 October, Kristin S. Scherrer, “Coming to an Asexual Identity: Negotiating Identity, Negotiating Desire”, in Sexualities, volume 11, number 5:

Neth, a 24-year-old from the West Country, describes herself as a "panromantic asexual".

2012 February 26, Rosie Swash, “Among the asexuals”, in The Guardian:

“I feel like it’s really important to say that anyone can be queer,” said Sonja Lund, a sophomore theatre major and panromantic lesbian on panel at the event.

2012, Katie Gossen, "Residence Life defies LGBT stereotypes", The Panther (Chapman University), 22 October 2012

(neologism, sexology) Romantically attracted to people regardless of sex or gender identity.


panromantic

(neologism) A person who is panromantic.


biromantic

biromantic (comparative more biromantic, superlative most biromantic)

more biromantic (comparative)
most biromantic (superlative)

Now that he's thought longer about it, Michael also likes to describe himself as "biromantic". He is keen to have a romantic relationship with either a man or a woman.

2005 April 16, Deborah Smith, “No Sex please, I'm not into it”, in Sydney Morning Herald:

So, for example, it is not unusual for an asexual person to say that he is asexual but bi'''romantic, or that she is asexual but heteroromantic.

2012, Anthony F. Bogaert, Understanding Asexuality, Rowman & Littlefield, published 2012, →ISBN, page 15:

Though some people identify as aromantic, others identify as heteromantic, homoromantic, biromantic and everything in between.

2013 February 14, Tracey Hickey, “Asexuality should be recognized as a legitimate sexual orientation”, in The Pitt News, University of Pittsburgh:

Romantically attracted to both males and females.


biromantic

Within this group of romantic asexuals, orientation varies: heteroromantics only feel romantic attraction to the opposite sex, homoromantics to the same sex, biromantics to both sexes and panromantics without reference to sex or gender.

2011 August, Mark Carrigan, “There’s more to life than sex? Difference and commonality within the asexual community”, in Sexualities, volume 14, number 4, page 469:

For my part, I decided this year not to mention allies in the laundry list of identities represented (I also didn't mention heteroflexible biromantics), underscoring the Sisyphean task of creating an inclusive list of identities.

2014 October 8, Nino Testa, “Language, identity and National Coming Out Day”, in The Tufts Daily, volume 68, number 21, Tufts University, page 9:

Panromantics, unlike biromantics, will tend to feel that their partner's gender does little to define their relationship.

2015 February 10, Erinn Williams, “A Different Sexuality”, in The George-Anne, volume 89, number 46, Georgia Southern University, page 7:

One who is romantically attracted to both males and females.


redamancy

en-noun

redamancy (countable and uncountable, plural redamancies)

From the New Latin redamantia, from the Classical Latin redamō (“I requite love”, transitive verb).

der

For quotations using this term, see Citations:redamancy.


enochlophobia

Those who suffer enochlophobia, demophobia or ochlophobia–the fear of crowds–are not being entirely irrational.

2003 January 31, The Daily Telegraph, Sydney:


zeerust

Coined by English science fiction writer and humorist Douglas Adams and British television producer and writer John Lloyd in The Meaning of Liff (1983), from Zeerust, the name of a town in South Africa. By folk etymology, connected semantics to rust.

coin

It also features a nice bit of Zeerust in the form of a carefully reproduced Hollerith card.

2009 March 23, James Nicholl, “Since there seems to be a derth of on topic material just now”, in rec.arts.sf.written (Usenet), message-ID <gq8jkj$6u7$1@reader1.panix.com>:

If in a mere 60 years we've learned enough that the predictions of the Futurists then have become "zeerust" today, how long before the predictions on this very blog become subject of ridicule and sympathy directed at our naivete?

2010 January 21, Rick, quoting Jean Remy, “The Future of the Future”, in Rocketpunk Manifesto, retrieved 2013-05-31:

Sci-fi and futuristic- lots of potential here it seems to me, though not as many real world example rides as I expected. I wonder if it's a cost issue or a fear of getting zeerust setting in as the ride ages.

2012 June 13, Fuu, “Concept Brainstorming (aka rambling) part one”, in Project Dark Ride, retrieved 2013-05-31:

Datedness of something originally intended to seem futuristic.


moralphobia

/mɔːɹəl ˈfəʊbi.ə/

An irrational fear of doing something that could be perceived by others as wrong


bi-asexual

en-adj

bi-asexual (comparative more bi-asexual, superlative most bi-asexual)

more bi-asexual (comparative)
most bi-asexual (superlative)

Asexual people are often attracted to a specific gender just like sexual people are: you can be hetero-asexual, homo-asexual, or bi-asexual.

2006 April, “Asexuality 101”, in The Guide:

Similarly, Mona, a thirty year old white woman, said that she identifies as, “Bi-asexual. The things I find attractive, I find attractive in both sexes.”

There was a survey held in the English forum of AVEN (Asexual Visibility and Education Network), which is the longest running forum for asexual people and also claims the most members, according to which 23.7% of the users defined themselves as bi-asexual.

2011, Irina, "I am bi-asexual", Bijou, Issue 24, May 2011, page 36

(neologism) Romantically or aesthetically attracted to members of either sex, but not experiencing sexual attraction to others.


pteronophobia

From Ancient Greek πτερόν (pterón, “feather”) + -phobia.

uder

Then there are the phobes whose fear of birds is combined with a fear of feathers, pteronophobia.
One case of bird-and-feathers phobia involved a woman in her thirties who was too frightened to go outside.

1986, Brent Filson, There's a Monster in Your Closet!: Understanding Phobias, Julius Messner, →ISBN, page 55:

It is easy, for example, for a person to live with pteronophobia, aulophobia, or batrachophobia. One simply stays away from feathers, flutes, and frogs!

1989, Josie Hadley, Carol Staudacher, Hypnosis for Change, New Harbinger Publications, →ISBN, page 98:

'Um ... pteronophobia is the fear of being tickled with feathers, I think . . . '

2005, Anna Dale, Dawn Undercover, Bloomsbury, published 2006, →ISBN, page 291:


Canadaphobia

BTW, have you noticed that the xenophobia regularly shown on South Park goes way overboard when the topic is Canada? Then it becomes Canadaphobia. Are Canadians offended by this?

2001 June 11, Aaron Hirshberg, “Re: OT Surrender Canada”, in alt.tv.simpsons (Usenet):

Note to National Public Radio listeners: The preceding comment was meant as a joke and a dig at Roedy. It is not meant to seriously endorse the conquest of Canada. NPR will be standing by with smooth jazz and the favorite show, "All Things Considered" should Lockwood's "Canadaphobia" prove troublesome for some listeners.

2001 September 29, John Lockwood, “Re: Roedy's Screams...”, in comp.lang.java.advocacy (Usenet):

It's little wonder that Canadaphobia crops up among USAians, given the insufferable and boorish pig-ignorance displayed by a small contingent of Canadian commentators, typified by the Axis of Evil, Skelton and Allardice, as prize a pair of loutish lads as you'll ever meet.

2006 February 2, TOliver, “Re: Joint Chiefs Send Rare Protest Letter to 'Wash Post' Over'Reprehensible' Toles Cartoon”, in alt.books.tom-clancy (Usenet):

Fear or hatred of Canada, its citizens, and/or its culture.


ailihphilia

Deliberately constructed to be a palindrome, combining the suffix -philia with its reversed spelling.

Of course, there is also ailihphilia (palindrome fetishism). X-(:^)

1996 August 25, :Sparky: [username], “Gynadromorphophiliac Question”, in soc.support.transgendered (Usenet):

A fear of Palindromes......
 I have ailihphilia.

1999 September 30, Steve Barnes, “Re: The fear”, in rec.humor (Usenet):

Ladies and gentlemen! Children of all ages! We now present an exclusive interview with the Palindromedary himself, the two-way statement made flesh. This camel is a talking animal smitten with ailihphilia—the love of palindromes.

2006, Richard Lederer, Word Wizard: Super Bloopers, Rich Reflections, and Other Acts of Word Magic, St. Martin's Press, →ISBN, page 232:

(humorous, nonce word) A love of palindromes.


koumpounophobia

Mrs Rose said that from time to time psychiatrists had asked her whether their clients suffering from koumpounophobia, or fear of buttons, could visit the shop in Cleveland Street, Fitzrovia.

2011 December 2, Josh Loeb, “Button Maker Maureen Rose plans to celebrate Charles Dickens's bicentenary with unique design”, in West End Extra:

Years ago, I worked with the parents of a three-year-old with koumpounophobia, a fear of buttons. She violently refused to wear anything with buttons and screamed if her mom approached with buttons on her shirt.

2012, Diana R. Boggia, Parenting with a Purpose: Inspiring, Positive Alternatives to Reach and Teach Your Child How to Behave, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 79:

Meet mother-of-one Louisa Francis, whose bizarre phobia means she is terrified of buttons.
The 30-year-old panics if faced with one, and is forced to flee if they are placed too near to her.
To most people they are harmless but for Louisa they are a source of fear - because she has koumpounophobia.

2012, Leon Watson, "Unusual phobia of mother, 30, who is paralysed by fear when she sees… BUTTONS, Daily Mail, 8 March 2012

The fear of buttons (clothing fasteners).


bust a gut

en-verb

bust a gut (third-person singular simple present busts a gut, present participle busting a gut, simple past and past participle busted a gut or bust a gut)

busts a gut (present singular third-person)
busting a gut (participle present)
busted a gut (participle past)
busted a gut (past)
bust a gut (participle past)
bust a gut (past)

Something about the way he said that made me just bust a gut: I practically died laughing!

(slang) To develop a pain in the side from laughing hard.


fatphobia

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

This is because medical authorities and proponents of public health are drawing from and amplifying the Western cultural fear and loathing of fatness, or fatphobia, with claims about a global 'obesity epidemic' (WHO 1998).

2008, Lee F. Monaghan, Men and the War on Obesity: A Sociological Study, Routledge, published 2008, →ISBN, page 1:

Celebrity culture is intricately tied to fatphobia.

2009, Crystal Renn, Marjorie Ingall, Hungry: A Young Model's Story of Appetite, Ambition and the Ultimate Embrace of Curves, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, unnumbered page:

From long-lost high school friends found on Facebook to total strangers whom I'll probably never meet in person, I get asked questions from where to buy a good bra (my minimizer days are dead and buried) to how to deal with a spouse's fatphobia.

2012, Abby Weintraub, “Truce”, in Virgie Tovar, editor, Hot and Heavy: Fierce Fat Girls on Life, Love and Fashion, Seal Press, →ISBN:

There are a lot of ways for people in the obese/eligible category to feel about it: […] Ambivalent about fatphobia in medicine working in their favor, for once.

2021 March 9, Maura Judkis, “People are getting vaccinated due to their BMI. They have mixed feelings about it”, in Washington Post:

Fear and/or dislike of obese people and/or obesity.

Fear or obsessive avoidance of consuming fat.


hetfic

en-noun

hetfic (countable and uncountable, plural hetfics)

The slashers don't object to the fact that your friend (Let's call her "Mamin Mavis") writes hetfic. They object to the fact that she bitches and moans about slash on a list that's at least 50% slash-fic.

2000 October 13, trekkigrrl [username], “Re: Why some K/Sers enjoy slash”, in alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated (Usenet):

I -do- also read hetfic when there's a straight couple I like.

2002 May 26, Kirei, “Re: Fanattempts”, in alt.books.pratchett (Usenet):

Genfic and hetfic typically extend the source material along lines consistent with the producers' intentions, albeit sometimes more explicitly than the broadcast market would allow.

2008, Steve Abrams, Smaragd Grün, “Mundanes at the Gate … and Perverts Within: Managing Internal and External Threats to Community Online”, in Tyrone L. Adams, Stephen A. Smith, editors, Electronic Tribes: The Virtual Worlds of Geeks, Gamers, Shamans, and Scammers, University of Texas Press, →ISBN, page 210:

(uncountable, fandom slang) Such fan fiction collectively.


bandslash

It's an archive of bandslash about the rock group Orgy, who are best known for their hard-hitting remake of New Order's early 80s chestnut "Blue Monday."

2002 August 10, LadyCyrrh [username], “[ART] The Annex Reviews, 8/10/02”, in alt.sex.stories.gay.moderated (Usenet):

Even more amusing is that those doing the wishful humping in bandslash aren't your usual pin-ups. Bandslash has gone indie. This is a shadowy world where the boys in Franz Ferdinand are each others' fetish objects, and former Libertines Carl Barat and Pete Doherty, lovers.

2006 October 26, Kitty Empire, “Pop idols trade licks”, in The Observer:

Westcott doesn’t even consider the thornier question of fan fiction based on real and often living people, for instance, the “bandslash” or “bandfic” phenomenon built around rock-star characters and often homoerotic subplots.

2008 July 15, Keith Goetzman, “Is Fan Fiction Flouting the Law?”, in Utne Reader:

(fandom slang) Slash fan fiction which pairs real musicians, especially ones belonging to the same group.


popslash

Popslash writers use pop stars as their protagonists, constructing fictional narratives that supplement and enhance those disseminated by the media.

2006, Kristina Busse, “'I'm jealous of the fake me': Postmodern subjectivity and identity construction in boy band fan fiction”, in Su Holmes, Sean Redmond, editors, Framing Celebrity: New Directions in Celebrity Culture, Routledge, →ISBN, page 254:

Consequently, popslash grew popular among media fan writers, many of whom created similarly brilliant and science fiction-like premises to explore celebrity culture as a metaphor for gender identity and other performances of the self.

2006, Francesca Coppa, “A Brief History of Media Fandom”, in Karen Hellekson, Kristina Busse, editors, Fan Fiction and Fan Communities in the Age of the Internet: New Essays, McFarland & Company, →ISBN, page 56:

The popslash phenomenon gathered momentum after a 2001 story that imagined Chris Kirkpatrick of the band 'N Sync experiencing a sudden overnight gender change, […]

2011, Katherine Meizel, Idolized: Music, Media, and Identity in American Idol, Indiana University Press, →ISBN, page 46:

(fandom slang) Slash fan fiction which pairs pop musicians, especially ones belonging to the same boy band.


relationship anarchy

The practice of forming anti-mononormative and anti-hierarchical relationships.


noromo

Being a hard-core "noromo" (parlance for "no romancer," someone who believes the show's UST, or unresolved sexual tension, is the key to its vitality), I have also flamed "shippers" ("relationshippers," those who want Mulder and Scully to get it on in the film) with now embarrassing vituperations, such as, "Why don't you just go get the lame job you're destined for at the state budget office?"

1998 June 22, John Cloud, “Cinema: An X-Phile Confesses”, in Time:

There had always been a separation between the noromos and the shippers, but at the start of the eighth season, another significant division was born.

2002, Tom Kessenich, EXaminations: An Unauthorized Look at Seasons 6-9 of The X-Files, Featuring the Reviews of Unbound I, Trafford Publishing (2002), page 5

Once it became generally accepted that Mulder and Scully were romantically involved off screen, the noromos stopped watching in disgust, while the shippers lamented not being allowed to witness the transition in the relationship.

2002, Elizabeth Weinbloom, "'THE X-FILES'; A Botched Romance" (letter to the editor), The New York Times, 2 June 2002

(X-Files fandom slang) A person who opposes the idea of a romantic relationship between Fox Mulder and Dana Scully.


odaxelagnia

From Ancient Greek ὀδάξ (odáx) + -lagnia.

If a male can only achieve an erection and have an orgasm while engaging in odaxelagnia, being bitten by or biting his sexual partner, then he could have a problem.

2012, Senator Bill Diamond, The Evil and the Innocent, page 115:

(rare) A paraphilia in which biting or being bitten leads to sexual arousal.


selfcest

And this is where selfcest comes in. For those unfamiliar with Adventure Time, it has two series: the main, phallogocentric one, Adventure Time, and another spin-off version, Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake, in which gender-flipped versions of the original characters are presented. Marceline spawns Marshall Lee, Jake turns into Cake, Finn becomes Fionna, Princess Bubblegum is chewed up and spat out as Prince Gumball… you get the picture. Enter Fanfiction, which causes them to hook up. Creepy, yes.

2013, Boo Patrick, "Selfcest", Manifesto (University of New South Wales College of Fine Arts), April 2013, page 8

Several Loki fans shared their horror over the idea of Loki and Sylvie getting together, as it would be an example of selfcest.

2021 July 2, Sabrina Barr, “Loki fans defend Marvel series over ‘queerbaiting’ claims as director says God of Mischief’s bisexuality won’t be explored further”, in Metro, UK:

'"The Time Traveler's Wife” having selfcest was not on my 2022 bingo card,' another [Twitter] user commented.

2022 May 25, Erica Tempesta, “'Selfcest was not on my 2022 bingo card': The Time Traveler's Wife baffles viewers with 'wild' and 'disturbing' oral sex scene between the HBO show's protagonist and HIMSELF”, in The Daily Mail:

(fandom slang, fiction) Sexual activity with an alternate version of oneself, such as a clone, duplicate, alter ego, or a version of oneself from a different time or alternate universe.


leporiphobia

For quotations using this term, see Citations:leporiphobia.


Delena

And vice versa, when we want Stefan and Elena to have a moment together, how can we do that and not have our Delena fans outraged?

2012, Julie Plec, quoted in Nuzhat Naoreen, "This Week's Cover: 'The Vampire Diaries' stars talk about the red-hot Damon-Elena-Stefan triangle", Entertainment Weekly, 8 February 2012

And while you may deny having ever watched the "Vampire Diaries" in pubic, you have a strong opinion regarding team Stelena vs. team Delena.

2014, Danielle Wolk, "Netflix or Nut-flix?: A guide to Understanding Your Netflix Obsession", The Lion's Roar (Solomon Schechter School of Westchester, Hartsdale, New York), January 2014, page 6

There will never be enough swoon-worthy Delena moments to fill shippers’ hearts, […]

2014 May 4, Lanford Beard, “TV Jukebox: 'Grey's Anatomy,' 'The Following,' 'Supernatural,' and more of the week's best music-on-TV moments”, in Entertainment Weekly:

(fandom slang) The romantic pairing of the characters Damon Salvatore and Elena Gilbert from the American television series The Vampire Diaries.


FOMO

Coordinate term: FOBO

Often, because of FOMO, they are reluctant to do these things on their own, but if you can get their friends involved as well, the resistance disappears.

2010, Charlie Taylor, Divas & Door Slammers: The Secret to Having a Better Behaved Teenager, Vermillion, published 2010, →ISBN, page 197:

On those occasions, she said, her knee-jerk reaction is often to post an account of a cool thing she has done, or to upload a particularly fun picture from her weekend. This may make her feel better — but it can generate FOMO in another unsuspecting person.

2011 April 9, Jenna Worthham, “Feel Like a Wallflower? Maybe It’s Your Facebook Wall”, in The New York Times:

In a Huffington Post write-up last spring, a Georgetown University student confirmed FOMO "is a widespread problem on college campuses … Even when we'd rather catch up on sleep or melt our brain with some reality television, we feel compelled to seek bigger and better things from our weekend. We fear that if we don't partake in every Saturday night's fever, something truly amazing will happen, leaving us hopelessly behind."

2013, Daniel Reimold, Journalism of Ideas: Brainstorming, Developing, and Selling Stories in the Digital Age, Routledge, published 2013, →ISBN:

fear of missing out
fear of missing out#English


shipfic

shipfic (countable and uncountable, plural shipfics)

Just make sure you don't let me know where your shipfic is available, won't you? <g>

2001 December 6, Eva, “Re: 48 Hours: Please God, tell me that's not Daniel's replacement! ***Spoiler***”, in alt.tv.stargate-sg1 (Usenet):

HP slashfic gives me the creeps, not because of homophobia, but more because I get this imperceptible vibe that it's written by people who are obsessed with the movie stars, and in some peculiar way want to debase them because they can't have them. Actually, I shouldn't single out the slashfic. There's plenty of shipfic that gives me this same impression, too.

2003 August 20, Chistaya, “Re: and either must die at the hand of the other...”, in alt.fan.harry-potter (Usenet):

I've just started looking for DW fanfic to see if there's any Rose-meets-altuniverse-Doctor, and have been drowned in shipfic on places like ff.net (or whatever its^([sic]) called now.

2006 September 2, JACUK, “Re: What has happened to DW fanfic...?”, in alt.drwho.creative (Usenet):

(fandom slang) Fan fiction revolving around or dedicated to shipping.


anerithmon gelasma

Ancient Greek ἀνήριθμον γέλασμα (anḗrithmon gélasma), from Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound (90).

uder

ἀνήριθμον γέλασμα

With a stomach half full and a cerebrum hollow
As the tortoise-shell ere it was strung for Apollo,
Under contract to raise anerithmon gelasma
With rhymes so hard hunted they gasp with the asthma,

...give us the placid grinning kings, twanging their jolly bows over the rident horses, wounding those good-humored enemies, who tumble gayly off the towers, or drown, smiling, in the dimpling waters, amidst the anerithmon gelasma of the fish.

1855, William Makepeace Thackeray, Quarterly Review:

On one side lies the Indian Ocean, illimitable towrds the east, dimpled with its "anerithmon gelasama," and broken westward by a thin line of foam, creaming upon the whitest and finest of sand, the detritus of coralline and madrepore.

1859, Richard F. Burton, The Lake Regions of Central Africa, →ISBN:

(poetic) Uncountable laughter, said of ocean waves sparkling in sunlight.


depressoid

From depress + -oid (“derogatory suffix”).

[…] I have no time for prolonged sadness or self-pity because I am making a living. People care little about your failures and don't enjoy the company of a depressoid. […]

1982, Jean Rosenbaum, Veryl Rosenbaum, The Writer's Survival Guide, Writer's Digest Books, →ISBN, page 140:

Those who think of the Cure as a band of depressoids playing dark music for adolescent introverts could not imagine how determined it was to let the sun shine into Nassau Coliseum Friday night.

1992 May 19, Wayne Robins, “The Cure: An Antidote For Gloom”, in Newsday:

It's always been incredibly challenging for me to put pen to page, because writing, at its heart, is a solitary pursuit, designed to make people depressoids, drug addicts, misanthropes, and antisocial weirdos (see every successful writer ever except Judy Blume).

2011, Mindy Kaling, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns), Crown Archetype, →ISBN, page 142:

(slang, derogatory) A depressed or miserable person.


imzadi

From the American science-fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, in which it is a term of endearment used by the Betazoid race, said to mean "beloved."

I have a 2 year old son, and my major interests include science fiction TV (Star Trek, X-Files), music, books and movies. […] I am looking for my imzadi, and hope to meet her someday.

1994 August 30, djsst22 [username], “GWF ISO SF”, in pgh.singles (Usenet):

So I'll probably run about the neighborhood with my imzadi (what I've decided to call my 'best-friend-person' now. It's a Star Trek term, Betazoid stuff.) […]

1999 October 28, Lisa: DreaManiChicKuriousStarfire [username], “Re: Halloween: What are your plans?”, in alt.drugs.psychedelics (Usenet):

I push beyond my body
I push beyond this world of mine
Drunk without wine
myself my imzadi

2001, Cari Lynn, “To Touch The Face of God”, in Journey Without a Map, Writers Club Press, →ISBN, page 20:

(fandom slang) A person with whom one shares a profound spiritual bond; a soulmate.


on a kick

And he is now on a kick of having me make orange juice, rather than buying the frozen concentrate.

1994, Marjorie L. DeVault, Feeding the Family: The Social Organization of Caring as Gendered Work, page 145:

They have a great idea, especially since everyone is on a health kick lately.

2013, Kate Woodruff, Central Michigan Life, Fruitful beginnings: Students create plans for fruit business:

(idiomatic) Having a period of enthusiasm towards some activity.


batophobia

Batophobia, or fear that high things will fall, is not uncommon, and is matched by the perhaps still more common fear that one may fall off high places should one be perched on an altitude, or on the top of a bridge, or walking along cliffs.

1912, Edwin Ash, Nerves and the Nervous, Brentano's, page 23:

Batophobia is the specific fear of high objects, such as tall buildings. Batophobia may be related to acrophobia — the fear of high places, or to anablepophobia — the fear of looking up at high places.

1995, Mir M. Ali, Paul J. Armstrong, Architecture of Tall Buildings, McGraw-Hill, published 1995, →ISBN, page 303:

That doesn’t seem to be a problem for the wealthy investors who are wiring millions of dollars to New York to snatch up a piece of 157 West 57th Street — what will be New York City’s tallest residential building, with 90 floors overlooking Central Park.
A bigger worry for these buyers may be acrophobia (fear of heights) or batophobia (fear of being near an object of great height, like a skyscraper).

2012 February 3, Alexei Barrionuevo, “The World at Its Feet”, in The New York Times:

The fear of high objects or of high objects falling down.


Waycest

(fandom slang) The incestuous real-person pairing of the brothers Gerard Way and Mikey Way, of American rock band My Chemical Romance, in slash fan fiction.


Wincest

From Win(chester) + -cest. Possibly influenced by wincest.

Wincest stories often take their transgressive cues from the text itself; often when Sam and Dean are seducing each other in Wincest stories, the more reluctant of the two is convinced to engage in the relationship when the other reiterates that they are already outsiders in society, already isolated from the “normality” of their world—why should the prohibition of incest stand in their way when they have already broken so many other laws?

2009, Emily Turner, "Scary Just Got Sexy: Transgression in Supernatural and Its Fanfiction", in In the Hunt: Unauthorized Essays on Supernatural (ed. Supernatural.tv), BenBella Books (2009), page 159

Instead, she suggests, the romanticized, paratextual Wincest slash fiction offers Sam and Dean a redemptive happiness that they are perpetually denied by the show's writers both in a diegetic sense (via Chuck Shurley, the show's writer/prophet who publishes novels based on the boys' adventures) and in a non-diegetic sense (via Eric Kripke, Sera Gamble, and the show's returning writers).

2011, Darren Elliott-Smith, “'Go Be Gay for That Poor, Dead Intern:' Conversion Fantasies and Gay Anxieties in Supernatural”, in Stacey Abbott, David Lavery, editors, TV Goes to Hell: An Unofficial Road Map of, Supernatural , ECW Press, →ISBN, page 106:

Supernatural fandom features some of the more controversial iterations of slash, predominantly Wincest (the incestuous coupling of the show's protagonists, the Winchester brothers), […]

2013, Henry Jenkins & Suzanne Scott, "Textual Poachers, Twenty Years Later", in Henry Jenkins, Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture, Routledge (2013), page xxxiii

(fandom slang) The incestuous slash ship of the fictional brothers Dean and Sam Winchester from the television series Supernatural.


Snarry

Best Excuse for a Wandering Mind: SNARRY!, Jason Isaacs, Alan Rickman

2004 December 31, barbarella [username], “Re: That Was The Year That Was 2004”, in aus.culture.gothic (Usenet):

"Snarry is part of a subgenre of fan fiction called Slash," she says. "Snarry depicts romantic relationships between Harry Potter and Severus Snape, together - Snarry. […]

2009 July 17, David Templeton, “One geek over the line”, in Pacific Sun:

Snarry slash people (ie people who write fan fiction about Snape and Harry getting it on till the break o’dawn) are super-intense. Seriously that is one rich, rich subculture.

2009 July 22, Lev Grossman, “Notes from Azkatraz, a Harry Potter Convention”, in Time:

(fandom slang) The ship of characters Harry Potter and Severus Snape of the Harry Potter series.


H/Hr

This news group certainly seemed to filled with a lot of R/Hr people. As I am a H/Hr person and I believe that Hermione and Harry have this subtle thing that's being^([sic]) built up since the very beginning, I will elaborate on my personal beliefs.

2002 May 4, Imran [username], “Re: Ron and hermoine”, in alt.fan.harry-potter (Usenet):

I can't help but suspect it's either some sort of passive-aggressive moralistic reaction or thinly disguised sour grapes on the part of die-hard H/Hr shippers.

2007 September 7, Bill Blakely, “Re: What happens next?”, in alt.fan.harry-potter (Usenet):

For instance, those who write about or are interested in a relationship between Harry and Hermione are considered “H/Hr” shippers.

2007 Katie Greenway, "Dumbledore heats up overwhelming fanfic", The Badger Herald (University of Wisconsin-Madison), 25 October 2007

(fandom slang) The ship of characters Harry Potter and Hermione Granger of the Harry Potter series.


Destiel

His overt revulsion is caused by the Wincest fan fiction — the Sam-slash-Dean pairing that also alarms Dean in the epigraph of this paper — and to a Dean-slash-Castiel (or Destiel) kink meme in which Castiel has a crab claw for a hand.

2011, Brigid Cherry, “Becky Rosen, Fan Identity, and Interactivity in Supernatural”, in Stacey Abbott, David Lavery, editors, TV Goes to Hell: An Unofficial Road Map of, Supernatural , ECW Press, →ISBN, page 204:

All of our "feels" are on the line again as they continue to be with anything that involves Johnlock (thanks a lot, Moffat), Merthur and Destiel.

2013, Keren Lopez, "Yahoo buys Tumblr, leaves fandoms in despair", La Voz Weekly (De Anza College), Volume 46, Number 27, 3 June 2013, page 8

I'm always happy to write some sappy Destiel one shot (a one chapter story, often focused solely on fluff, or pure cuddles) when writer's block is making work on Phoenix difficult.

2013, Evangeline Warren, "Confessions of a Teenage Fangirl", INKredible!, Issue 4, Summer 2013, page 21

(fandom slang) The ship of characters Castiel and Dean Winchester from the television series Supernatural.


ship war

Oh, no, not another ship war between members of Team Edward and Team Jacob.

They seemed fascinated by my and Meg's absorption in the Harry Potter culture, so we told them stories of the ship wars […]

2008, Melissa Anelli, Harry, A History, Pocket Books, →ISBN, page 236:

'Ship wars' are discussions, usually between female fans, about who the best partner would be for their favourite character or artist, a classic example being the debates over whether Yoko Ono was good for John Lennon.

2013, Mark Duffet, Understanding Fandom: An Introduction to the Study of Media Fan Culture, Bloomsbury Academic, →ISBN, page 248:

Habermas may not have imagined ship wars as a context for practical discourse, but fandom is in fact an excellent space in which to engage in the forms of contestation he describes.

2013, Emily Regan Wills, “Fannish discourse communities and the construction of gender in The X-Files”, in Transformative Works and Cultures, volume 14:

(fandom slang) An intense and sometimes hostile disagreement between shippers of rival ships in a fandom.


Team Jacob

Of course, there are those two camps I mentioned earlier in this chapter: Team Edward and Team Jacob. Over time, Team Jacob has grown to the point where a lot of fans prefer Jacob to Edward.

2009, Lois H. Gresh, The Twilight Companion: The Unauthorized Guide to the Series, St Martin's Press, →ISBN, page 89:

However, Team Jacob members on the Anglophone boards were even more emphatic in their dismissal of Edward, and several posters argued that his behavior was abusive.

2010, Inger-Lise Kalviknes Bore, Rebecca Williams, “Transnational Twilighters: A Twilight Fan Community in Norway”, in Melissa A. Click, Jennifer Stevens Aubrey, Elizabeth Behm-Morawitz, editors, Bitten by Twilight: Youth Culture, Media, & the Vampire Franchise, Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., →ISBN, page 200:

Team Jacob argues that Jacob's warmth, support, and wolfy exuberance should have won Bella away from her vampire swain.

2010, Liv Spencer, Love Bites: The Unofficial Saga of Twilight, ECW Press, →ISBN, page 192:

(fandom slang) The faction of Twilight fandom which prefers Bella Swan in a romantic relationship with Jacob Black.


Team Edward

However, the continued conflict between Team Jacob and Team Edward shows that the series is sufficiently open to allow for the shipping of both Bella/Edward and Bella/Jacob.

2010, Inger-Lise Kalviknes Bore, Rebecca Williams, “Transnational Twilighters: A Twilight Fan Community in Norway”, in Melissa A. Click, Jennifer Stevens Aubrey, Elizabeth Behm-Morawitz, editors, Bitten by Twilight: Youth Culture, Media, & the Vampire Franchise, Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., →ISBN, page 202:

To Team Edward, the canon pairing with the stoic, troubled, immortal 17-year-old is unquestionable.

Although the tension between Team Edward and Team Jacob fans is usually expressed in playful banter, there is the possibility that this group conflict will erupt into hostility.

2011, Melissa Burkley, “Prejudice in Twilight”, in E. David Klonsky, Alexis Black, editors, The Psychology of Twilight, BenBella Books, →ISBN, page 72:

(fandom slang) The faction of Twilight fandom which prefers Bella Swan in a romantic relationship with Edward Cullen.


lesbophilia

It is his lesbophilia that sets Proust's narrator apart from the author, that marks the novel as a novel rather than a perverse exercise in selective autobiography.

1999, Elisabeth Ladenson, Proust's Lesbianism, Cornell University Press, published 1999, →ISBN, page 133:

More broadly, we might ask to what extent French literature, with its twin associations of high culture and lesbophilia, came to be an oblique but acceptable signifier for lesbianism in the popular imagination of the twentieth century.

2001, Gretchen Schultz, “Daughters of Bilitis: Literary Genealogy and Lesbian Authenticity”, in GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, volume 7, number 3:

Sweel Charity, like other backstage musicals, finds women in dressing rooms, sharing stockings and make-up, stories and sympathy in a setting that ideologically conveys rampant lesbophilia in the history of sexuality and offers spectatorial pleasures for feminist audiences.

2004, Stacy Wolf, "'Something Better than This': Sweet Charity and the Feminist Utopia of Broadway Musicals", Modern Drama, Volume 47, Number 2, Summer 2004

A fetishistic fascination (typically in non-lesbians) with lesbians and erotic contact between women.


ophiophobia

From ophio- (“snake”) + -phobia (“fear of”).


multisexual

From multi- + sexual, by analogy with bisexual.

(neologism) Someone who is sexually attracted to more than one sex or gender.


scare someone to death

en-verb

scare someone to death (third-person singular simple present scares someone to death, present participle scaring someone to death, simple past and past participle scared someone to death)

scares someone to death (present singular third-person)
scaring someone to death (participle present)
scared someone to death (participle past)
scared someone to death (past)

(idiomatic) To frighten someone very much.


sonophobia

Patients with this condition often develop so-called sonophobia marked by fears of and/or aversions to sounds that individuals with normal hearing tolerate easily and find innocuous.

2013, David Brian Arciniegas, Management of Adults with Traumatic Brain Injury, Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Publishing, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 403, →ISBN:

There is no aura, there is some photophobia, sonophobia, and he goes to bed if possible.

1999, Bernard Swerdlow, Whiplash and Related Headaches, Boca Raton: CRC-Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 595, →ISBN:

Like migraine headache, hemicrania continua is associated with nausea and vomiting, as well as sonophobia and phonophobia.

2019 September 19, Steven D. Waldman, Atlas of Uncommon Pain Syndromes E-Book, Amsterdam: Elsevier Health Sciences, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 11, →ISBN:

An unusual fear of sounds (especially loud noises).


hybristophilia

From Ancient Greek ὑβρίζειν (hubrízein, “to commit an outrage against someone”), + -philia.

bor

A paraphilia involving attraction to somebody who has committed a crime or outrage.


Johnlock

All of our "feels" are on the line again as they continue to be with anything that involves Johnlock (thanks a lot, Moffat), Merthur and Destiel.

For Karen the most exciting thing about the comeback is the reunion between Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman: “I ship Johnlock!” Karen enthused.

2013, Gerrit van de Riet, "November for Fandoms: Sneak Peek", The Window (New College, Toronto), November 2013, page 20

Across the pond, writers Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss often place characters Sherlock Holmes and John Watson in situations that suggest a relationship between them, even though the series establishes Watson as heterosexual, to placate the fans that “ship Johnlock” in the BBC series “Sherlock.”

2013, Pragya Parmita, "Fandoms: Too Powerful?", The Bottom Line (Associated Students, UC Santa Barbara), Volume 8, Issue 5, 6 November - 12 November 2013, page 8

(fandom slang) The ship of characters John Watson and Sherlock Holmes from the television series Sherlock.


korephilia

/ˌkɔɹɪˈfɪli.ə/

/kɒɹɪˈfɪlɪə/

From the Ancient Greek κόρη (kórē, “girl”) + φῐλῐ́ᾱ (philíā, “love”), coined by analogy with pedophilia.

compound

It seems safe to assume that the panelists were referring to (pick your term) man–boy love, pederasty, ephebophilia. They may also have been referring to korephilia (woman–girl) and (looking internationally) may have been referring to paedophilia, since Dutch reformers seem to have seized on this term to refer to all inter-generational sex.

1991, Geoffrey Scott Puterbaugh (username), “Morning Gays at the AHA” in soc.motss, Usenet

Paedophilia and korephilia, respectively adult male and female ‘sexual love directed towards children…in pre-puberty and early adolescence’ (PIE 1978), have been openly championed by various organisations in the recent past.

1993, David T. Evans, chapter 8, in Sexual Citizenship: The Material Construction of Sexualities, published 2004, page 220:

How many posts about korephilia are being made to already existing newsgroups at the moment?

1998, Ruediger Landmann (username), “Re: Proposal: alt.binaries.korephile” in alt.config, Usenet

Unlike pedophilia, which defines adult male or female attraction to a prepubescent girl or boy under thirteen, and korephilia, which denotes adult female attraction to girls, pederasty specifically defines emotional, intimate, and physical adult male attraction to teenage boys.

2007, James T. Sears (editor), The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Love, Courtship, & Sexuality Through History VI: The Modern World, “Pederasty”

Contemporary pederasty and korephilia differ from classical norms in that the younger partner may…take sexual initiative rather than be passive in serving the pleasures of the older partner.

2008, Bonnie G. Smith (editor), The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History III: Kaffka–Service Sector, “Pederasty”

(rare) Erotic attraction of a woman or older female toward young girls; lesbian pederasty.

korefilia

woman’s erotic attraction toward young girls


queerplatonic

en-adj

queerplatonic (comparative more queerplatonic, superlative most queerplatonic)

more queerplatonic (comparative)
most queerplatonic (superlative)

At the end of a tough day, “just friends” might simply hug, whereas a queerplatonic couple is more likely to crawl right into bed together without thinking twice. Think Hannah and Marnie from Girls rather than Rachel and Monica from Friends. The former pair's friendship is an excellent example of a queerplatonic relationship, even if they might not label it that.

2012 November 15, Ashton Strait, “Beyond bffs: cozying up to queerplatonic relationships”, in Post, volume 14, number 8, Brown University, page 3:

Outside the romantic paradigm, some people form what they’re calling “queerplatonic” relationships. The word indicates nothing about the gender of the participants, but speaks to the desire to “queer” our understandings of platonic friendships. These are relationships of care — “life partnerships” that go quite beyond what most of us consider ordinary friendship. Many sexually ambiguous literary or onscreen relationships — think Frodo and Sam, Holmes and Watson, Thelma and Louise — can also be read as queerplatonic.

2013 February 14, Tracey Hickey, “Asexuality should be recognized as a legitimate sexual orientation”, in The Pitt News, University of Pittsburgh:

After feeling these concerns, I was happy to learn about squishes and queerplatonic partners (also known as zucchinis, for some reason unclear to me).

2013 September, anonymous author, “The 'A' in LGBT”, in Counterpoint, volume 35, number 1, Wellesley College, page 8:

(neologism, of a relationship) Not romantic and (usually) not sexual, but sharing a stronger emotional bond than typical in a friendship.

kvirplatona

not romantic, but stronger emotional bond than friendship


Sterek

Some shows have released official promos that play up the fans' favorite slash couples to court fans, most recently Hawaii Five-O and Teen Wolf, whose showrunner began to write the show itself in a slashy direction when he became aware of the popularity of “Sterek,” the slash pairing of sidekick Stiles and alpha wolf Derek.

2013, Katherine Larsen, Lynn S. Zubernis, Fangasm: Supernatural Fangirls, University of Iowa Press, →ISBN, page 101:

"Teen Wolf 'Sterek' fans, we've read your (hundreds and hundreds of) comments and admire your passion," EW.com responded. "The reason Sterek didn't make the category is because it's not an acknowledged will-they-or-won't-they storyline."
This controversy led the gay entertainment news site AfterElton.com to start an annual "slash madness" tournament. Sterek won the first.

2013 October 31, Zachary Pincus-Roth, “Slash Fiction: A Fantasy World in Which Male TV Characters Find Romance — With Each Other”, in LA Weekly:

Even a nascent fandom will begin to develop its own tropes. You could see it, for instance, in the popular Sterek pairing in the Teen Wolf fandom as it took off.

2013, Anne Jamison, Fic: Why Fanfiction Is Taking Over the World, BenBella Books, →ISBN:

(fandom slang) The ship of characters Stiles Stilinski and Derek Hale from the television series Teen Wolf.


Drarry

It occurs because in canon Harry and Draco feel no emotion for each other warmer than intense dislike. […] Harry is willing to save Draco's life out of recognition of their shared humanity, but with apologies to all the Drarry shippers out there, that's as far as it goes.

2011, Aaron Schwabach, Fan Fiction and Copyright: Outsider Works and Intellectual Property Protection, Ashgate, →ISBN, pages 69–79:

2013, Anne Jamison, Fic: Why Fanfiction Is Taking Over the World, BenBella Books (2013), →ISBN, unnumbered page:draco malfoy is a beautiful creation and he should be protected by harry potter who is his second cousin and who cares if you think its gross they are adorable together let the gayness happen
Dramione shippers apparently feel the same way when too much attention is paid to Drarry.

Fanfics that depict relationships between Draco and Harry have been particularly popular, spawning a cult of ‘Drarry’ shippers – with Facebook pages, fan art and many stories all dedicated to the pairing.

2013, Sarah Dear, "Fanfiction - A Hobby for Generations of Teenagers", Impact (University of Nottingham), 26 April 2013

(fandom slang) The ship of characters Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter of the Harry Potter series.


Dramione

"I secretly ship Dramione!" one boldly asserts, while more serious blogs boast confessions along the lines of, "I moved away to college this year and haven't made any new friends."

2011, Brittany Dalton, "Away with the Niceties", The Vista (University of Central Oklahoma), 1 September 2011, page 3

This is a haven for writers and readers to converge and show their interest in a variety of genres with any characters, from the typical Dramione (Draco and Hermione) action-adventure to the absurd Filch-Peeves BDSM.

2011 September 15, Sayantan Deb, Angela Song, “Potter Legacy”, in The Harvard Independent, volume 42, number 25, page 10:

Dramione shippers apparently feel the same way when too much attention is paid to Drarry.

(fandom slang) The ship of characters Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger of the Harry Potter series.


Sculder

Alas, Jess Mabe's "Bittersweet" has a similar nickname for the Sculder baby, and Jean Robinson's "When Old Friends Meet" is likewise obsessed with dolls.

2000 October 1, story_posting [username], “Dream Life 1/1”, in alt.tv.x-files.creative (Usenet):

Do come visit to read about Mulder, Scully, Frohike, CJ, Josh, Angel, deadly spellcasting books, Cordy, Buffy, Jack the gypsy computer repairman and the Sculder sproglet in all its many gestational forms

2001 May 3, ymmv2001 [username], “New update at YMMV”, in alt.tv.x-files.creative (Usenet):

But Thackeray, like his Kirk/Spock, Johnlock, and (in the early years) “Sculder” descendants, must confront the sticky problem of canon: […]

(fandom slang) The ship of characters Dana Scully and Fox Mulder from the television series The X-Files.


Mills-and-Boonish

Mills-and-Boonish (comparative more Mills-and-Boonish, superlative most Mills-and-Boonish)

more Mills-and-Boonish (comparative)
most Mills-and-Boonish (superlative)

After the romance publisher Mills & Boon, + -ish.


wub

From a childish mispronunciation of love.

Glad to see your^([sic]) back cuz I need some of your wub!

2001 April 16, Jayess, “Re: I'M BaAaCk!!!”, in 3do.bad-attitude (Usenet):

Give Cindy my wub.

2002 October 26, zippy, “Re: For Zippy”, in 3do.bad-attitude (Usenet):

Its^([sic]) OK tiger, you just need some wub!

2008 April 16, redcoat1982, “Re: Fuck the Church of Scientology”, in alt.religion.scientology (Usenet):


pogonophobia

From pogono- + -phobia. First use appears c. 1852.

(rare) A strong dislike or aversion to beards or beardedness.


climacophobia

From Ancient Greek κλῖμαξ (klîmax, “ladder, staircase”) + New Latin -phobia, from Ancient Greek φόβος (phóbos, “fear”).

der

Lucy: Are you afraid of staircases? If you are, then you have climacophobia.

1965, Charles M. Schulz, A Charlie Brown Christmas, 05:46-05:51:

I myself have recently developed mild climacophobia (fear of falling downstairs). Don't know why, but I'm convinced that someday I'll fall down a flight of stairs and hurt myself badly.

2001 August 16, Leigh Butler, “TAN: Phobias (was Re: TAN: Summer Reading recommendations)”, in rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan (Usenet):

I once knew a tall kyphophobic man,
Who was sick of stooping so low;
Sadly he developed climacophobia,
When he moved from his bungalow.

2004, Natalie Kristina Goldstraw, “Phobos”, in Superlative: Echoes of the Postmodern Condition, Trafford Publishing, →ISBN, page 103:

The fear of staircases or of falling down stairs.


Russophobic

en-adj

Russophobic (comparative more Russophobic, superlative most Russophobic)

more Russophobic (comparative)
most Russophobic (superlative)


froth at the mouth

en-verb

froth at the mouth (third-person singular simple present froths at the mouth, present participle frothing at the mouth, simple past and past participle frothed at the mouth)

froths at the mouth (present singular third-person)
frothing at the mouth (participle present)
frothed at the mouth (participle past)
frothed at the mouth (past)

/ˈfɹɒθ ət ðə ˈmaʊθ/

/ˈfɹɔθ ət ðə ˈmaʊθ/

She was almost frothing at the mouth when she heard about the cost of the car repairs.

'Damn the Whitecoats!' cried Snitter, frothing at the mouth. 'Damn Annie, damn the policeman and the white bell-car! Damn you all, damn you! You've killed my master!'

1977, Richard Adams, “Friday the 15th October”, in The Plague Dogs, London: Allen Lane, →ISBN; republished Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books in association with Rex Collings Ltd and Allen Lane, 1978, →ISBN, page 42:

(figurative) To rage, to vent one's anger.


polyfidelity

A form of polyamory where all members are considered equal partners and agree to be sexually active only with other members of the group.


astrophilia

One wonders but cannot even approximate, just what percentage of earth's population in any given century in the past has tried to go high into the sky. I suspect that the incidence of astrophilia may have been constant throughout our complicated evolution.

1979 July, Charles S. Houston, “Introductory Address: Lessons to be Learned from High Altitude”, in Postgraduate Medical Journal, volume 55, number 645, page 447:

I still follow astronomical research with interest and participate in discussions on sci.astro. But as I matured I stopped believing in miracles. I liken the exuberance of astrophiles to the desperation of cancer patients. Ask doctors what they can do about cancer, and they can't yet offer much hope. Yet patients believe that somewhere, something that already exists must help. So they disbelieve the doctors and start popping shark cartilage or laetrile or whatever. So it is with astrophilia. Impatient with the slow pace of the careful space research that actually allows us to get a few people off this rock and return them safely, they propose hasty schemes that probably will not work, and pooh-pooh the stodgy establishment scien-tists.

1997 January 12, John Ladasky, “Re: Space junk??? Not here. Time for a new newsgroup?”, in alt.politics.greens (Usenet):

DO you really believe you have a handle on anything, let alone astrophilia and allegorical texts?

2004 June 2, Leigh_Bee, “Min's Apocalypse & Commentary - TOC (update 2 June 2004)”, in alt.astronomy (Usenet):

(rare) Love of and/or obsession with planets, stars, and outer space.


no-tell motel

Suggesting that the encounters will be kept private. Chosen for the rhyme.

There was no reason to pull off the interstate and drive twenty miles down a bumpy local road, just to stay in a dilapidated no-tell motel.

2013, Robin Wasserman, Seven Deadly Sins, volume 1: Lust; Envy, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 120:

(slang) A love hotel; a motel where brief sexual encounters are sanctioned.


wikiphobia

Wikiphobia arises out of some level of fear or dislike of the wiki.

2008, Stewart Mader, Wikipatterns, Wiley Publishing, →ISBN, page 110:

Here Comes Everybody is as crisply argued and as enlightening a book about the internet as has been written. It might even cure your wikiphobia.

2008 March 28, Julian Dibbell, “Wikiphobia and Web 2.0”, in The Telegraph:

Understand the cultural shift that needs to occur – wikiphobia is real.

2011, Government of British Columbia, "UX Toolbox: Building Better Web for Citizens", page 76


Santaphobia

You've done it again. It's practically Christmas Eve, and you haven't bought a single present. What's with you? Santaphobia?

1997 December 9, Anne Stockwell, Alan Frutkin, “More stuff for your stockings”, in The Advocate, page 66:

"The reason people dread Christmas — Santaphobia — is that it is a time of tradition, a time that arouses all kinds of memories," said Dr. Ponce.

1999, "Christmas scares the HELL out of millions of Americans", Weekly World News (satire), 21 December 1999, page 30

Even with 3 poses, it's not always easy to get a "natural" look. This one is the best we could manage. When we say "smile" to the kids they really exaggerate it. You can see that Delanie still hadn't gotten over her Santaphobia.

2002 December 23, © Mike, “Trio Visits Santa”, in alt.fan.mark-brian (Usenet):

(humorous) The fear of Santa Claus or Christmas.


gingerphobia

Last night, Tate staged a nice running gag on racism by creating a world in which the majority had an irrational hatred of "gingers", meaning redheads. Women of that persuasion were forced to hide from gingerphobia in Russet Lodge, a "ginger refuge".

2005 July 22, Ian Bell, “Those who pay the PR rarely get to call a tune as perfect as this one”, in The Herald, Glasgow:

There is a phenomenon called "gingerism" (prejudices against red-headed people) and "gingerphobia" (fear of red-headedness) in Scotland today.

2007 August 9, “Genetics Gets to the Roots of Why It Is Better to Be Red Than Dead in Cold Climates”, in Cape Times, South Africa:

Although Western civilisation needs new categories of thought-crime like a hole in the head, the idea of gingerphobia as a hate crime is probably no more absurd than many other categories.

2013 January 9, Ed West, “Why is gingerism so common in Britain?”, in The Telegraph:

(UK, informal) Fear, dislike, or hatred of people with red hair.


Dubyaphobia

A new disease of the nervous system is afflicting millions of voting-age Americans: Dubyaphobia.

2000 October 29, Jeff Cramer (quoting Michael Betzold of Common Dreams), “Dubyaphobia And It's Cure”, in alt.politics (Usenet):

If Dubyaphobia does not become widespread and cause Bush to be defeated in the upcoming presidential election, Hillary will be running against a republican nobody in the 2008 election year, and might actually win.

2003 September 17, GRaleigh345, “Re: True lies”, in alt.religion.mormon (Usenet):

The _Jewish Post_ webmonger didn't put a date on that piece that I can find, but it must have been published before Mr. Soros succumbed to acute dubyaphobia: there is no mention of his latest mental illness.

2004 May 20, John H. McCloskey, “Re: Why Soros Hates Bush”, in alt.current-events.clinton.whitewater (Usenet):

(informal) The fear or hatred of George W. Bush.


hatedom

FLCL has a substantial hatedom. It's very silly.

2010 November 12, David Johnston, “Re: What Did You Watch? 2010-11-10 (Wednesday)”, in rec.arts.tv (Usenet):

And here I thought it was some nonsense from the group's resident Wesley Crusher hatedom.

2012 April 2, elzbet, “Re: FIVE STAR POLL - Once Upon a Time Ep 18 "Stable Boy" 4/1/12”, in rec.arts.tv (Usenet):

As fandoms for various forms of contemporary entertainment have ballooned, so have "hatedoms" - groups of people who believe that a TV show, movie, play, song or book isn't good quality.

2012, Whitney Sha, "No place for hate", The Galleon (Spanish River High School, Boca Raton, Florida), Issue 6, May 2012, page 6

(fandom slang) The anti-fans of a television show, movie, book, fictional character, etc., taken as a group.


love bombing

But in cases of love bombing, attention flows in a single direction: One person tries to become the other’s whole world.

2022 January 10, Gina Cherelus, “What Is ‘Love Bombing’?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

An attempt to influence a person by lavish demonstrations of attention and affection.


anatidaephobia

From Anatidae + -phobia. Coined by Gary Larson in 1988 in a Far Side comic.

My regards to the ducks who watched me as I worked and gently encouraged me to stay on track. Even mild anatidaephobia has its uses.

2010, Amber K, True Magick: A Beginner's Guide, Llewellyn Publications, →ISBN, page 9:

Worse than that, Thomas himself suffered from anatidaephobia, the fear that you were being watched by a duck. As a youth, every time those Aflac commercials came on, Thomas had to retreat to his room in anguish.

2013, Montgomery Trevour Halle-Bouern, Objects in the Mirror Aka Vulture Culture, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 16:

For example, Aflac, the insurance company, posted an ad featuring their duck mascot on the same page as an article about anatidaephobia—the fear that you are being watched by a duck (Figure 1.2).

2014, Ahava Leibtag, The Digital Crown: Winning at Content on the Web, Morgan Kaufmann, →ISBN:

(humorous) The fear that one is being constantly watched by a duck.


angertainment

Here in the media, meanwhile, much of what used to be called journalism has morphed into "angertainment," which is to say a bunch of shouting over who's to blame for this future of less.

2009 December 23, John McCarron, “Solutions for a nation stuck in low gear”, in Chicago Tribune:

The resulting anger makes for yell radio and TV angertainment.

2012, Wayne Roberts, “Thank you, Rob Ford”, in Now, Toronto, 5 January - 12 January 2012, Volume 31, Number 19:

“We’re doing a lot better on this planet than the angertainment industry would have us believe. But Rush Limbaugh and Bill Maher don’t want you to think that way. And they are very good at it. It’s very profitable for them. […]

2013 February 18, Tim Krohn, “Big Ideas speaker says change doesn’t require new laws”, in Mankato Free Press:

(derogatory) Programming, especially talk shows and talk radio, which is characterized by anger or which provokes anger in its audience.


sapiosexuality

From Latin sapiens (“wise, judicious”) + sexuality or sapiosexual + -ity. Purportedly coined in 1998.

So a self-confessed culture vulture is a member of communities on authors, sudoku, films, chocolates and sapiosexuality (sapiosexuals are people who are apparently turned on by intelligence).

2008 August 17, Mohua Das, Malini Banerjee, “Virtual Vanities”, in The Telegraph, Calcutta:

I went to friend and psychologist Alejandro Spicker — who's both attractive and smart — and asked him what he thought of sapiosexuality.

2012 May, Carolina Montejo, “Sapiosexuality: The intelligent foreplay”, in Vangardist, page 129:

Sapiosexuality is getting aroused not by the physical appearance of a person, but through his or her intelligence.

2013 May 28, Sunayana Suresh, “Are women attracted to the sapiosexual men?”, in The Times of India:

The state of being sexually attracted to intelligence or the human mind.


bitchy-pants

Coordinate term: bitch (vulgar, offensive)

Near-synonyms: bitcher, grumpy pants, grump

I should just trust him, shouldn't I? I mean—what does Alicia Bitchy-pants know about anything?

2002, Sophie Kinsella, Shopaholic Takes Manhattan, Dial Press, published 2005, →ISBN, page 85:

That's close to what I have to put up with, only I don't think Little Ms. Bitchypants is sleeping with anyone at the office. She sure acts like it, though.

2004 March 8, Jadite, “Re: If anyone heard screams...”, in alt.support.childfree (Usenet):

"Yes, he knows Larry, but will you stop it already with your bitchy-pants, Dani? It's obvious from your crankiness that you need to get laid."

2008, Jules Asner, Whacked, Weinstein Books, published 2008, →ISBN:

(slang, vulgar, sometimes used attributively) A currently irritable or habitually unpleasant person.


grumpy pants

Near-synonym: bitchy-pants

"You fish, pal. Old grumpy-pants doesn't own the ocean!"

1954, Philip Wylie, The Best of Crunch and Des, Rinehart, page 360:

I was worried the supply teacher would be some grumpy-pants who liked sending kids out of the room if they dared to interrupt while they were speaking.

2012, Ellie Daines, Lolly Luck, Anderson Press Limited, →ISBN:

“Charming, there you are. I've been looking all over for you. Grumpy pants here wouldn't tell me where you went.”

2013, Eve Langlais, B785: Cyborg Romance, self-published, →ISBN, page 74:

(countable, informal, sometimes used attributively) Synonym of grump (“person who is currently in a bad mood or is habitually cranky”).


counterphobic

en-adj

counterphobic (comparative more counterphobic, superlative most counterphobic)

more counterphobic (comparative)
most counterphobic (superlative)

Tending to respond to fear or anxiety by actively seeking it out instead of fleeing.


schmoopiness

Warnings on the series: Contains post-Emily angst. Some Mulder/Scully schmoopiness, but emphasis on UST.

1998 August 3, JenRose [username], “New! Facing Janus chap 5 (actually a repost, but hey...)”, in alt.tv.x-files.creative (Usenet):

A bit more angst than schmoopiness, but the underlying feelings are very well communicated.

1999 April 3, | vlbb | [username], “Re: Slash Suggestions?”, in alt.tv.x-files.creative (Usenet):

I'm all for earthy romance. I know a lot of folks abhor schmoopiness, and I'm not comfortable with the term schmoopy, but I'd love to see some long romantic kisses, or just one.

2000 July 4, Deborah, “Re: "Powerful good news"?”, in alt.tv.x-files.analysis (Usenet):

(fandom slang) The state or quality of being schmoopy.