bodice ripper

/ˈbɒdɪs ˌɹɪpə/

/ˈbɑdɪs ˌɹɪpɚ/

From the fact that the female protagonists in such novels would often have their bodices (blouses or corsets) removed with some force before sexual activity commenced.

My aunt would bring a stack of torrid bodice rippers with her to the beach, and would unfailingly blush if disturbed in her reading.

Publishers call them hot historicals as opposed to either the virginal variety Barbara Cartland writes or to the bodice rippers "because that's usually what happens to the heroines," Price explained.

1978 February 8, Charitey Simmons, “Dizzying passion ruffles the pages of the ‘hot’ historical novel”, in Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Ill.: Tribune Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, section 2, page 4:

The name "bodice ripper" was derived from the frequent rapes and sexual assaults that the heroines experienced. "Bodice-ripper" heroines were portrayed to be stronger and more active characters than gothic heroines. Editors of category romances, noting the popularity of the "bodice rippers," have borrowed the longer lengths, the overt sexuality and the assertive heroine from these romances.

1984, Margaret Ann Jensen, “Rivals and Writers”, in Love’s $weet Return: The Harlequin Story, Bowling Green, Oh.: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, →ISBN, page 66:

Soon bodice-rippers, the gothics, the "romance" novel advanced from paperback to hardback, from supermarket racks to book club selections.

1993, William O’Rourke, “Catholics Coming of Age”, in Signs of the Literary Times: Essays, Reviews, Profiles 1970–1992, Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, →ISBN, page 48:

This book is the last stage of a long and varied journey that began with the first UK screening of The Piano. Never having been an ardent fan of conventional ‘bodice rippers’ or nostalgic fossilisations of a past we never had, I was surprised by my reaction to the costumes.

1997, Stella Bruzzi, “Introduction: Clothing and Cinema”, in Undressing Cinema: Clothing and Identity in the Movies, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, published 2009, →ISBN, page xiii:

Indeed, Travis had been a model as a college student, working his way through John Jay Criminal College, posing for the bodice-ripper covers of romantic novels.

1999 January, Joanna Elm, chapter 17, in Delusion (A Tor Book), mass market edition, New York, N.Y.: Tom Doherty Associates, →ISBN, page 136:

These novels became known as "bodice rippers" because they were much more sexually explicit than earlier romances had been. Instead of experiencing a delicious kiss or a mystical wedding night at the end of the story, heroines in the bodice rippers were regularly ravished by the hero. Some feminist critics objected to these books as a romanticization of rape, but readers identified strongly with the heroine's powerlessness as a woman in a rigidly patriarchal society. Unlike the sweet virgins of earlier romances, the heroines of the bodice rippers were notoriously feisty.

1999, Paulette Richards, “Literary Contexts”, in Kathleen Gregory Klein, editor, Terry McMillan: A Critical Companion (Critical Companions to Popular Contemporary Writers), Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 23:

Grazia [Deledda] discovered early that a short story appeared in the last pages of each magazine; these tales were of a decidedly Romantic bent, much like today's supermarket bodice-rippers.

2006, Jan Kozma, “Translator’s Introduction”, in Marianna Sirca, translated by Jan Kozma, Grazia Deledda, Madison, Teaneck, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press; Cranbury, N.J.: Associated University Presses, →ISBN, page 9:

[M]y mother chased her dream of becoming a character in one of those frontier romance novels—buckskin bodice rippers, she called them—that she so adored.

2015, Seamus McGraw, “Sundance”, in Betting the Farm on a Drought: Stories from the Front Lines of Climate Change, Austin, Tex.: University of Texas Press, →DOI, →ISBN, page 5:

They stubbornly hung on to the idea that Outlander was a Harlequinesque bodiceripper that would only appeal to middle-age bored housewives.

2016 February 26, Beth Wesson, “Selling Outlander to the Masses … Or Selling Out?”, in My Outlander Blog, archived from the original on 2018-03-05:

(informal) A romantic novel, usually in a historical setting, with frank depictions of sexual activity, especially one in which the female protagonist is seduced; (by extension) a film, television programme, etc., featuring such activity.

racconto erotico

sexually explicit romantic novel, usually in a historical setting


dejected

en-adj

dejected (comparative more dejected, superlative most dejected)

more dejected (comparative)
most dejected (superlative)

1818, Benjamin Franklin, Memoirs, Philadelphia: T.S. Manning, Volume I, p. 73,
I pitied poor Miss Read’s unfortunate situation, who was generally dejected, seldom cheerful, and avoided company […]


blasé

blasé (comparative more blasé, superlative most blasé)

more blasé (comparative)
most blasé (superlative)

Borrowed from French blasé (“blasé, jaded”), past participle of blaser (“to blunt, dull”), from Middle Dutch blâsen (“to blow, sound, brag”), from Old Dutch *blāsan, from Proto-West Germanic *blāsan (“to blow”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₁- (“to blow; to bleat, cry”). Cognate with German blasen (“to blow”), English blast.

der

"Are people who are blasé ever in love? Just see how badly you play your part!" said Madame Wilson, laughingly; […] "Let us now speak seriously, my dear Scipion; yes, I believe you to be blasé—but blasé as regards all false pleasures, all deceptive enjoyments.[…]"

1847, Eugène Sue, “Lumineau”, in Martin the Foundling; or, The Memoirs of a Valet de Chambre, New York, N.Y.: William H. Colyer, […], →OCLC, page 21, column 1:

It is the habit of heartlessly pecking at these that shows a soul that is blasé. Of late, for example, it has been a fashion with a small minority of British writers to assert their culture by a very supercilious demeanour towards an idea which ought, beyond all others, to be sacred in this island—the idea of Liberty.

1860 May, [David Masson], “Three Vices of Current Literature”, in David Masson, editor, Macmillan’s Magazine, volume II, number 7, Cambridge: Macmillan and Co. […], →OCLC, page 11, column 2:

"I thought the last act was rather dull," said Maud. "Then you're just as bad. You are blasée, darling: I think most people are blasés. That I can't understand. Nobody who has a plan should be blasé. And as long as one has any interest in life one has a plan. I have several."

1908, Edward Frederic Benson, “Chapter 1”, in The Climber, published 1912:

[A] blasé age like our own that is familiar with pragmatism and radical empiricism, that has survived the wild castigations of a Nietzsche in the domain of morals and is popularly pleased rather than otherwise with a Bergson's pillorying of the intellect on a charge of false pretences to the power of comprehending life, is incapable of such excitement.

1913, G[eorge] R[obert] S[towe] Mead, “[Hans] Vaihinger’s Philosophy of the ‘As If’”, in Quests Old and New, London: G[eorge] Bell & Sons, Ltd., →OCLC, page 249:

He was with some gorgeous blonde, and the two of them were trying to be very blasé and all, like as if he didn't even know people were looking at him. Modest as hell.

1951, J. D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →OCLC, pages 164–165:

Often, it's considered "cool" to be blasé about almost everything by some unfortunate people and very "square" to be enthusiastic, especially about something as basic as a job. Fortunately, successful people are too busy being enthusiastic about their work to pay any attention.

1997, Joan German-Grapes, “The Elements of Job Success”, in The Teller’s Handbook: Everything a Teller Needs to Know to Succeed, 6th edition, New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill, →ISBN, part 1 (“Bankability” Basics—The Teller as a Person), page 10:

The blasé personality develops such an acute consciousness of being assailed by form that it develops a defence mechanism of indifference. Nothing surprises or enchants it. It is not moved by tragedy or triumph, but maintains an even keel in the face of all new sensory data and information. The blasé personality is really a form of social retreatism, since it is predicated on disengaging with the variety and diversity of exchange and interaction.

2007, Chris Rojek, “Georg Simmel”, in Tim Edwards, editor, Cultural Theory, London, Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Publications, →ISBN, page 44:

Unimpressed with something because of over-familiarity.

blasé

unimpressed with something because of over-familiarity


ardor

en-noun

ardor (countable and uncountable, plural ardors)

From Middle English ardour, ardowr, ardure, from Anglo-Norman ardour, from Old French ardur, from Latin ardor, from ardere (“to burn”).


temper

temper (countable and uncountable, plural tempers)

From Middle English temperen, tempren, from Old English ġetemprian, temprian, borrowed from Latin temperō (“I divide or proportion duly, I moderate, I regulate; intransitive senses I am moderate, I am temperate”), from tempus (“time, fit season”). Compare also French tempérer. Doublet of tamper. See temporal.

der

an outburst of temper

Hortense remained for several days in a condition of sullen anger—she was a cloud lit up by occasional unaccountable flashes of temper.

1919, Henry Blake Fuller, chapter 28, in Bertram Cope’s Year:

Jill suddenly flew into a temper (which is quite a likely thing to happen if you have been interrupted in a cry).

1953, C. S. Lewis, chapter 1, in The Silver Chair, London: Geoffrey Bles, published 1965:

[…] she banged the door as she left as though in temper and walked to her car.

1999, Colm Tóibín, chapter 4, in The Blackwater Lightship, New York: Scribner, page 110:


lethargic

en-adj

lethargic (comparative more lethargic, superlative most lethargic)

more lethargic (comparative)
most lethargic (superlative)

/ləˈθɑɹd͡ʒɪk/

/ləˈθɑːd͡ʒək/

/ləˈθɑː.d͡ʒɪk/

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek ληθαργικός (lēthargikós), from λήθαργος (lḗthargos, “forgetful, lethargic”), from λήθη (lḗthē, “a forgetting, forgetfulness”) (from which Lethe (“river in Hades”)) + ἀργός (argós, “not working”).


embarrass

en-verb

embarrass (third-person singular simple present embarrasses, present participle embarrassing, simple past and past participle embarrassed)

embarrasses (present singular third-person)
embarrassing (participle present)
embarrassed (participle past)
embarrassed (past)

Borrowed from French embarrasser (“to embarrass; to block, obstruct”), from Spanish embarazar, from Portuguese embaraçar, from em- (“in”) (from Latin im-) + baraço (“noose, rope”), from Arabic مَرَسَة (marasa, “rope”), ultimately from Akkadian 𒄙 (GUR /markasu/, “rope”).

bor

The crowd's laughter and jeers embarrassed him.

(transitive) to humiliate; to disrupt somebody's composure or comfort with acting publicly or freely; to abash.

أَخْجَلَ

A man or his business is embarrassed when he cannot meet his pecuniary engagements.

(transitive) To involve in difficulties concerning money matters; to encumber with debt; to beset with urgent claims or demands.

(transitive, dated) To perplex mentally; confuse, disconcert; catch off guard.


guffaw

Early 18th century, originally Scots, probably onomatopoeic.

On opening the little door, two hairy monsters flew at my throat, bearing me down, and extinguishing the light; while a mingled guffaw from Heathcliff and Hareton put the copestone on my rage and humiliation.

1847 December, Ellis Bell [pseudonym; Emily Brontë], Wuthering Heights: […], volume II, London: Thomas Cautley Newby, […], →OCLC:

He walked to the edge and they heard his hoarse guffaw of laughter as the arrows clanged and clattered against his impenetrable mail.

1905–1906, Arthur Conan Doyle, chapter XX, in Sir Nigel, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], published January 1906, →OCLC:

He heaved up with a sulfurous curse, braced his legs and glared about him, with a burst of coarse guffaws in his ears and the reek of unwashed bodies in his nostrils.

1936, Robert E. Howard, chapter 15, in The Hour of the Dragon:

When Time magazine named Ann Coulter among its 100 "most influential people" last week, alongside such heavyweights as Ariel Sharon, Bill Clinton, Nelson Mandela, Kim Jong Il and the Dalai Lama, the choice produced guffaws online.

2005 April 19, Eric Boehlert, “Time hearts Ann Coulter”, in Salon, archived from the original on 2006-05-17:


pedophilic

en-adj

pedophilic (comparative more pedophilic, superlative most pedophilic)

more pedophilic (comparative)
most pedophilic (superlative)

In a consumerist hypersexualized environment where bare-midriffed fifteen-year-olds are the pedophilic standard of desirability, becoming older is coded as a set of deficiencies.

2011, Margaret Morganroth Gullette, Agewise: Fighting the New Ageism in America, page 125:

Of, relating to, or pertaining to pedophilia.

pædofil

of, relating to, or pertaining to pedophilia


terrorism

en-noun

terrorism (usually uncountable, plural terrorisms)

/ˈtɛɹəɹɪzəm/

From French terrorisme, from terreur + -isme, equivalent to terror + -ism.
The word first appears in English in 1795 in reference to the Jacobin radicals of France, who ruled during the Reign of Terror.

തീവ്രവാദം (tīvravādaṁ, literally “extremism”)

In England I was proscribed for having vindicated the French Revolution, and I have suffered a rigorous imprisonment in France for having pursued a similar mode of conduct. During the reign of terrorism, I was a close prisoner for eight long months, and remained so above three months after the era of the tenth Thermidor.

1795 July 7, Thomas Paine, The Constitution Of 1795 (Speech in the French National Convention):

(historical) The system of fear and intimidation put into place during the Reign of Terror in Revolutionary France around 1793-94.


agita

/ˈæ.d͡ʒɪ.tə/

From Italian (southern dialectal pronunciation of) acido (“acid, heartburn”). The non-medical sense, upset of the mind rather than the stomach, developed under the influence of agitation. Doublet of acid.

Why should any of the products of culture matter when the current political moment is rife with agita and rage, precluding progress or even respectful discussion?

2020, Susan E. Kirtley, editor, With Great Power Comes Great Pedagogy: Teaching, Learning, and Comics:


brittle

en-adj

brittle (comparative brittler or more brittle, superlative brittlest or most brittle)

brittler (comparative)
more brittle (comparative)
brittlest (superlative)
most brittle (superlative)

From Middle English britel, brutel, brotel (“brittle”), from Old English *brytel, *bryttol (“brittle, fragile”, literally “prone to or tending to break”); equivalent to brit + -le.

Cast iron is much more brittle than forged iron.

A diamond is hard but brittle.

'Do you suppose our convent, and I too, / Are insufficient, then, to pray for you? / Thomas, that joke's not good. Your faith is brittle.

1951, Geoffrey Chaucer, translated by Nevill Coghill, The Canterbury Tales: Translated into Modern English (Penguin Classics), Penguin Books, published 1977, page 329:

Inflexible; liable to break, snap, or shatter easily under stress, pressure, or impact.

крехък

able to break or snap easily under stress or pressure

Shortbread is my favorite cold pastry, yet being so brittle it crumbles easily, and a lot goes to waste.

Not physically tough or tenacious; apt to break or crumble when bending.

What a brittle personality! A little misunderstanding and he's an emotional wreck.

(engineering, computing, of a system) Poorly error- or fault-tolerant; having little in the way of redundancy or defense in depth; susceptible to catastrophic failure in the event of a relatively-minor malfunction or deviance.


brittle

en-noun

brittle (usually uncountable, plural brittles)

(by extension) Anything resembling this confection, such as flapjack, a cereal bar, etc.


sunlight

sunlight (countable and uncountable, plural sunlights)

From Middle English sonnelight, sunneliht, from Old English sunnan lēoht (“sunlight”), equivalent to sun + light. Cognate with Dutch zonlicht (“sunlight”), German Low German Sünnenlücht (“sunlight”), German Sonnenlicht (“sunlight”).

cog

Sunlight on the skin gives you vitamin D.

The solitary, lumbering trolls of Scandinavian mythology would sometimes be turned to stone by exposure to sunlight. Barack Obama is hoping that several measures announced on June 4th will have a similarly paralysing effect on their modern incarnation, the patent troll.

2013 June 8, “Obama goes troll-hunting”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 55:

All the electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun, especially that in the visible spectrum that bathes the Earth.

রোদ

electromagnetic radiation given off by the sun


Gallophilia

The love or admiration for the country, culture, language, or people of France.


Eros

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

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

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


Sinophile

A person who loves the country, culture, or people of China.


courageous

en-adj

courageous (comparative more courageous, superlative most courageous)

more courageous (comparative)
most courageous (superlative)

/kəˈɹeɪd͡ʒəs/

From Middle English corajous, from Old French corageus, from corage + -eus.

the most courageous person I have ever met

In 1979, following Jimmy Carter’s unexpected and unreasonable decision to transfer diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing, the Congress passed the Taiwan Relations Act to preserve our relationship with this courageous nation. We believed that it was vital for our allies and for those who were not our allies to know that the United States would not abandon its friends.

2005, Jesse Helms, “Foreign Relations Experiences”, in Here's Where I Stand: A Memoir, New York: Random House, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, pages 228–229:

Of a person, displaying or possessing courage.


kakorrhaphiophobia

From Ancient Greek κακορραφία (kakorrhaphía) + -phobia.

suf

For quotations using this term, see Citations:kakorrhaphiophobia.

(rare) The abnormal fear of failure or defeat.


platonic

en-adj

platonic (comparative more platonic, superlative most platonic)

more platonic (comparative)
most platonic (superlative)

Variant of Platonic, which see. The sense “non-sexual” dates to the 17th century in English, and to the 15th century in Latin; see platonic love for details.

They are good friends, but their relationship is strictly platonic.

Neither sexual nor romantic in nature; being or exhibiting platonic love.


poltroon

poltroon (comparative more poltroon, superlative most poltroon)

more poltroon (comparative)
most poltroon (superlative)

From Middle French poltron, from Italian poltrone.

Accordingly, to excuse our deliberate inactivity in the north, we had to make a show of impotence, which gave them to understand that the Arabs were too poltroon to cut the line near Maan and keep it cut.

1926, T. E. Lawrence, “Chapter 82”, in Seven Pillars of Wisdom:


crybaby

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

[…]Now there are a lot of crybabies around who are talking about what ought to have done and the bomb ought to have had a demonstration in Japan before you killed all those people. […] I don't care what the crybabies say now because they didn't have to make the decision.

1964, Harry S. Truman, 4:20 from the start, in MP2002-359 Former President Truman Discusses Using the Atomic Bomb to Stop the War, Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives Identifier: 595162:

(slang, derogatory) Someone who takes offense or excessively complains when things are not going well.


gephyrophobia

/dʒəˌfaɪɹəˈfoʊbiə/

From Ancient Greek γέφυρα (géphura, “bridge”) + -phobia.

der

Venice is a place to avoid if you suffer from gephyrophobia.

An inordinate fear of bridges, especially crossing bridges.


necrophobia

From necro- + -phobia, by analogy with necrophilia.

Funerals are ten times worse with necrophobia in addition to grief.


homesickness

en-noun

homesickness (countable and uncountable, plural homesicknesses)

Calque of German Heimweh (“homesickness”, literally “home-woe”), equivalent to home + sickness.

calque

The characteristic of being homesick; a strong, sad feeling of missing one's home (and often left-behind loved ones, such as family and friends) when physically away.


choler

en-noun

choler (usually uncountable, plural cholers)

From Middle English coler (“yellow bile”), from Old French colere (“bile, anger”), from Latin cholera (“bilious disease”), from Ancient Greek χολή (kholḗ, “bile”). Doublet of cholera.

Threatned with frowning wrath and iealouſie,
Surpriz’d with feare and hideous reuenge,
I ſtand agaſt: but moſt aſtonied
To ſee his choller ſhut in ſecrete thoughtes,
And wrapt in ſilence of his angry ſoule.

c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene ii:

This roused the tinker's choler, already provoked at Tugwell's amorous freedom with his doxy, and he gave him a click in the mazard. Tugwell had not been used tamely to receive a kick or a cuff; he, therefore, gave the tinker a rejoinder, […]

1808, Richard Graves, The Spiritual Quixote, page 127:

One of the four humours of ancient physiology, also known as yellow bile.


off the deep end

It used to be a funny comic, but lately it has gone off the deep end.

(idiomatic, US) Crazy, erratic, or irrational.


jovial

en-adj

jovial (comparative more jovial, superlative most jovial)

more jovial (comparative)
most jovial (superlative)

/ˈd͡ʒəʊ.vɪ.əl/

Borrowed from French jovial (“jolly, jovial”), from Italian gioviale (“jolly, jovial; (obsolete) born under the influence of the planet Jupiter”), from Latin ioviālis (“relating to the Roman god Jupiter”), from Iuppiter, Iovis (“the Roman god Jove or Jupiter, counterpart of the Greek god Zeus”) (from Proto-Indo-European *dyew- (“to be bright; heaven, sky”)) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship); analysable as Jove + -ial.
Sense 1 (“cheerful and good-humoured”) refers to the fact that individuals born under the astrological influence of the planet Jupiter were believed to have that disposition.

der

A melancholy boddy is not the kindeſt nurſe for a chearely minde, (the joviall complexion is ſoverainly beholding to nature,) […]

1593, Gabriel Harvey, Pierces Supererogation: Or A New Prayse of the Old Asse, London: […] Iohn Wolfe, →OCLC; republished as John Payne Collier, editor, Pierces Supererogation: Or A New Prayse of the Old Asse. A Preparative to Certaine Larger Discourses, Intituled Nashes S. Fame (Miscellaneous Tracts. Temp. Eliz. & Jac. I; no. 8), [London: [s.n.], 1870], →OCLC, page 161:

The moſt ſecure, happy, Ioviall & merry in the worlds eſteeme, are Princes & great men, free from melancholy, but for their cares, miſeries, ſuſpicions, Iealoſies, diſcontents, folly, & madneſſe, I referre you to Xenophons Tyrannus, where king Hieron diſcourſeth at large with Simonides the Poet, of this ſubject.

1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Democritvs Ivnior to the Reader”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, page 57:

But being ill-used by the above-mentioned widow, he was very serious for a year and a half; and though, his temper being naturally jovial, he at last got over it, he grew careless of himself, and never dressed afterwards.

1711 March 13 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “FRIDAY, March 2, 1710–1711”, in The Spectator, number 2; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume I, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 88:

[I]n polite ſocieties, he is the eaſy, well-bred man of faſhion; and, in the more convivial parties, he is the jovial companion.

1790 August, “Art V. The Devil upon Two Sticks in England: Being a Continuation of Le Diable Boiteux of Le Sage. 12mo. 4 Vols. about 230 Pages in each. 12s. Sewed. Walter, Piccadilly. 1790. [book review]”, in The Monthly Review; or, Literary Journal, Enlarged, volume II, London: Printed for R[alph] Griffiths; and sold by T[homas] Becket, […], →OCLC, page 392:

At length, my friends, the feaſt of life is o’er; / I’ve eat ſufficient, I can drink no more: / My nigh is come; I’ve ſpent a jovial day; ’Tis time to part; but, oh!—what is to pay?

1797, Richard Graves, “On the Death of an Epicure”, in Select Epigrams. In Two Volumes, volume II, London: Printed by and for Sampson Low, […]; and sold by W. H. Lunn, […], →OCLC, page 31:

Running to the window, he opened it, and put out his head. No fog, no mist; clear, bright, jovial, stirring, cold; cold, piping for the blood to dance to; Golden sunlight; Heavenly sky; sweet fresh air; merry bells. Oh, glorious. Glorious!

1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Five. The End of It.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, pages 154–155:

A long, jovial, inane laugh broke the sudden silence which had fallen over everyone.

1905 January 12, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “Lord Grenville’s Ball”, in The Scarlet Pimpernel, popular edition, London: Greening & Co., published 20 March 1912, →OCLC, page 115:

She takes the whole thing with desperate seriousness. But the others are all easy and jovial—thinking about the good fare that is soon to be eaten, about the hired fly, about anything.

1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXXIV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 267:

[A] jovial Santa Claus with an understanding heart and an attentive ear— […]

1951 December, Rock Island Lines News Digest, volume X, number 12, Chicago, Ill.: Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Company, →OCLC, page 1:

(comparable) Cheerful and good-humoured; jolly, merry.

হাঁহিৰাম

cheerful and good-humoured — see also jolly, merry

This Planet [Jupiter] being a Fortune, and Friend unto nature, inclineth the native, upon this direction, not only unto healthfulneſs, but alſo to be jovial and merry, affable and pleaſant, and to delight in the company of religious men: […] [T]his direction importeth good from jovial perſons, and is an excellent time to have dealings with, or to receive any courteſie from, or benefit by them, […]

1682, Joseph Blagrave, “[The Effects of Directions.] The Ascendant to the Body of Jupiter.”, in Obadiah Blagrave, editor, Blagrave’s Introduction to Astrology. In Three Parts. […], London: Printed by E. Tyler, and R. Holt, for Obadiah Blagrave, […], →OCLC, part III, page 226:

As ☉ is near to a ⚹ of ♃, so did a jovial man endeavour to procure the purchase (after I began), but ♃ is cadent and in detriment, which shewed he should not prevail.

1852, William Lilly, Zadkiel [pseudonym; Richard James Morrison], “Of the Fourth House, and Judgments Depending thereon”, in An Introduction to Astrology […]: A Grammar of Astrology, and Tables for Calculating Nativities. […], London: H[enry] G[eorge] Bohn, […], →OCLC, page 145:

(not comparable, astrology, obsolete) Pertaining to the astrological influence of the planet Jupiter; having the characteristics of a person under such influence (see sense 1).


feel-good

en-adj

feel-good (comparative more feel-good, superlative most feel-good)

more feel-good (comparative)
most feel-good (superlative)

the feel-good hit of the summer

Personally, I think all of this upgraded, feel-good language is a further sign of America's increasing uncertainty about itself.

2004, George Carlin, When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?, New York: Hyperion Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 105:

Wilson: An' if they don't, at least they get to see a beggin’-ass white man on his knees. Always a feel-good moment for the folks.

2006 October 1, Dennis Lehane, “Refugees” (00:32:06), in The Wire, season 4, episode 4:


perky

perky (comparative perkier, superlative perkiest)

perkier (comparative)
perkiest (superlative)

She answered with a perky smile and bounced off.


all-a-mort

Possibly from French à la mort (“to death; in abundance”)

uder

(idiomatic, archaic) Struck dumb, confounded.


heebie-jeebies

The earliest found occurrences of spelling variants (it is not established whether the first one coined the term or committed to print an earlier oral expression):
* In 1923, the spelling "heeby jeebys" was used by U.S. cartoonist Billy De Beck in his comic strip Barney Google (New York American, 26 October 1923).
* In 1925, the spelling "heebee-jeebees" was used in U.S. magazine Ladies' Home Journal (Vol. 42, Part 2, p. 44).
* In 1926, the spelling "heebie jeebies" was used by U.S. singer Louis Armstrong for his single "Heebie Jeebies" (written by Boyd Atkins).
* In 1928, the spelling "heebee-geebees" was used in U.S. article "We All Have the Heebee-Geebees" by G. M. Keller of Swift & Company (Modern School Store, Vol. 11, p. 269 via Google Books).
* In 1956, the spelling "heeby jeebies" was used by U.S. singer Little Richard on the cover of his homonymous SP record (and the hyphenated spelling "heeby-jeebies" on its vinyl disc itself).

I don't mind worms, but spiders give me the heebie-jeebies.

When I see that weird house, I get the heebie-jeebies.

(informal) A general feeling of anxiety, fear, uneasiness, or nausea.

Barney Google
Billy De Beck
Boyd Atkins
Heebie Jeebies (composition)
Ladies' Home Journal
Little Richard
Louis Armstrong
New York American
Swift & Company
heebie-jeebies

Angstzustände

a general feeling of anxiety, fear, uneasiness, or nausea


Q

In this fantasy world, all of the far right’s wildest dreams come true: Q promises that Clinton, Obama, Podesta, Abedin, and even McCain are all either arrested and wearing secret police-issued ankle monitors, or just about to be indicted; that the Steele dossier is a total fabrication personally paid for by Clinton and Obama; and that the Las Vegas massacre was most definitely an inside job connected to the Saudi-Clinton cabal.

2017 December 19, Paris Martineau, “The Storm Is the New Pizzagate — Only Worse”, in New York, archived from the original on 2018-12-26:

In a thread called “Calm Before the Storm”, and in subsequent posts, Q established his legend as a government insider with top security clearance who knew the truth about a secret struggle for power involving Donald Trump, the “deep state”, Robert Mueller, the Clintons, pedophile rings, and other stuff.

2018 July 31, Julia Carrie Wong, “What is QAnon? Explaining the bizarre rightwing conspiracy theory”, in The Guardian:

At the end of her report, Coaston concluded, “Most people have never heard of QAnon, or Q — and that includes most of Donald Trump’s supporters.” That’s still the case, but the fact that this book is at the top of some of Amazon’s most prominent recommendation lists means that a far larger share of the population will — at a minimum — stumble across these ideas.

2019 March 6, Kaitlyn Tiffany, “How a conspiracy theory about Democrats drinking children’s blood topped Amazon’s best-sellers list”, in Vox, archived from the original on 2019-03-07:

(US politics) Abbreviation of QAnon (“anonymous poster on anonymous online message boards who originated a pro-Trump conspiracy theory”).


rapt

en-adj

rapt (comparative more rapt, superlative most rapt)

more rapt (comparative)
most rapt (superlative)

Borrowed from Latin raptus, past participle of rapio (“to seize”).

And through the Greeks and Ilians they rapt / The whirring chariot.

[1611?], Homer, “(please specify |book=I to XXIV)”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., The Iliads of Homer Prince of Poets. […], London: […] Nathaniell Butter, →OCLC; republished as The Iliads of Homer, Prince of Poets, […], new edition, volume (please specify the book number), London: Charles Knight and Co., […], 1843, →OCLC:

From Oxford I was rapt by my nephew, Sir Edmund Francis Bacon, to Redgrove.

1626, Henry Wotton, letter to Nicholas Pey:

(not comparable, archaic) Snatched, taken away; abducted.


complacency

en-noun

complacency (countable and uncountable, plural complacencies)

Late Middle English complacence, from Late Latin complacentia. Compare French complaisance.


argh

en-adj

argh (comparative more argh, superlative most argh)

more argh (comparative)
most argh (superlative)

From Middle English argh, from Old English earg (“inert; weak; timid; cowardly”), from Proto-West Germanic *arg, from Proto-Germanic *argaz. Cognate with Scots ergh, argh, arch, erf (“timid; reluctant; unwilling”). Doublet of eerie.

inh

(dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Timid; cowardly.


dissatisfied

en-adj

dissatisfied (comparative more dissatisfied, superlative most dissatisfied)

more dissatisfied (comparative)
most dissatisfied (superlative)

We offer refunds to dissatisfied customers.

The good news for dissatisfied users of Birmingham New Street is that none of these criticisms have gone unnoticed.

2020 July 29, Paul Stephen, “A new collaboration centred on New Street”, in Rail, page 54:

Not satisfied (e.g. with the quality of something).

անգոհ

not satisfied (with the quality of something)


uproarious

uproarious (comparative more uproarious, superlative most uproarious)

more uproarious (comparative)
most uproarious (superlative)

/ʌpˈɹɔː.ɹɪ.əs/

/ˌʌpˈɹɔ.ɹi.əs/

From uproar + -ious (a variant of -ous (“suffix forming adjectives from nouns, to denote possession or presence of a quality in any degree, commonly in abundance”)).

The noise in this room was perfectly tumultuous, […] every child was conducting itself like forty. The consequences were uproarious beyond belief; but no one seemed to care; on the contrary, the mother and daughter laughed heartily, and enjoyed it very much; and the latter, soon beginning to mingle in the sports, got pillaged by the young brigands most ruthlessly.

1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Two. The First of the Three Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, pages 68–69:

One "set" off, another takes its place, he or she remaining longest on the floor receiving the most uproarious commendation, and so the dancing continues until broad daylight. It does not cease with the sound of the fiddle, but in that case they set up a music peculiar to themselves.

1853, Solomon Northup, chapter XV, in [David Wilson], editor, Twelve Years a Slave. […], London: Sampson Low, Son & Co.; Auburn, N.Y.: Derby and Miller, →OCLC, page 219:

The two bushes looked up in surprise, and when they saw Dorothy, the Cowardly Lion and Sir Hokus, they fell into each other's branches and burst into the most uproarious laughter.

1921, L[yman] Frank Baum [actually Ruth Plumly Thompson], “Dorothy and Sir Hokus Come to Fix City”, in The Royal Book of Oz […], Chicago, Ill.: The Reilly & Lee Co., →OCLC, page 165:

At the uproarious cheering which greeted his appearance, [Maximilien] Robespierre advanced into the open, whilst a sudden swift light of triumph darted from his narrow, pale eyes.

1922 August, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “One Crowded Hour of Glorious Life”, in The Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, →OCLC, § 1, page 62:

Characterized by uproar, that is, loud, confused noise, or by noisy and uncontrollable laughter.

шумен

characterised by uproar, that is, loud, confused noise, or by noisy and uncontrollable laughter


have a ball

en-verb

have a ball (third-person singular simple present has a ball, present participle having a ball, simple past and past participle had a ball)

has a ball (present singular third-person)
having a ball (participle present)
had a ball (participle past)
had a ball (past)

Likely from ball in the sense of a dance.

The kids had a ball playing in the fountain.

Are you hanging up a stocking on your wall? / It's the time that every Santa has a ball / Does he ride a red-nosed reindeer? / Does a ton up on his sleigh / Do the fairies keep him sober for a day?

1973, “Merry Xmas Everybody”, performed by Slade:

In my dreams I have a plan / If I got me a wealthy man / I wouldn't have to work at all, I'd fool around and have a ball

1976, “Money, Money, Money”, performed by ABBA:

His victim screams, he has a ball
The bigger the head, the harder they fall

1984, J. G. Thirlwell (lyrics and music), “Sick Man”, in Hole, performed by Scraping Foetus Off the Wheel:

When the party was nice, the party was jumpin' / And everybody havin' a ball

1998, “Who Let the Dogs Out”, performed by Baha Men:

“Well, after they retired down here, they must have had a ball ordering anything and everything.”

2002, H.H. Fuller, It's a Wrap, Writers Club Press, page 72:

I hope you had a ball in effacing lives!

2006, Chrigel Glanzmann (lyrics and music), “Your Gaulish War”, in Spirit, performed by Eluveitie:

Yesterday was Thursday, Thursday / Today i-is Friday, Friday / We-we-we so excited / We so excited / We gonna have a ball today

2011, “Friday”, performed by Rebecca Black ft. Patrice Wilson:

(idiomatic) To enjoy oneself thoroughly; to have lots of fun or excitement.


secret admirer

I received a Valentine's card from my secret admirer.

One who admires another romantically but purposely remains anonymous to the extent that the subject of the admiration is unaware of the admirer's identity.


ménage à trois

/ˌmeɪnɑːʒ ɑː ˈt(ɹ)wɑː/

/ˌmɛnɑːʒ ɑː ˈt(ɹ)wɑː/

/məˌnɑːʒ ɑː ˈt(ɹ)wɑː/

/ˌmeɪnɑːʒ ɑː ˈt(ɹ)wɑː/

/ˌmɛnɑːʒ ɑː ˈt(ɹ)wɑː/

/məˌnɑːʒ ɑː ˈt(ɹ)wɑː/

/məˌnɑːʒeɪ ˈt(ɹ)wɑː/

Borrowed from French ménage à trois (literally “household of three”).

bor

David and Angela and I had a ménage à trois for about five minutes, but then I made her leave because David and I were gonna play.

1996, Cyrinda Foxe, in McNeil & McCain, Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk, page 134

No, the two guys don't go for each other; the triad tried a ménage à trois once but stopped because Chris thought it was icky.

1999 November 15, John Cloud, “Henry & Mary & Janet &…”, in Time:

(sex) A sexual act or experience involving three people; a threesome.


polyamorous

From a 1990 article by Morning Glory Zell-Ravenheart, "A Bouquet of Lovers", from poly- + amorous.

Open to having such relationships, regardless of one's experience or current practices.


take umbrage

en-verb

take umbrage (third-person singular simple present takes umbrage, present participle taking umbrage, simple past took umbrage, past participle taken umbrage)

takes umbrage (present singular third-person)
taking umbrage (participle present)
took umbrage (past)
taken umbrage (participle past)

“She took umbrage?”
 “Yes, and she also took my head off. I don't know if you have ever been in a typhoon on the Indian Ocean.”

1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter X:


childlover

From child + lover, a calque of Ancient Greek παιδοφίλης (paidophílēs).


girllover

Coordinate term: boylover

(euphemistic) A pedophile, hebephile, or ephebophile who is attracted to girls.


boylover

Coordinate term: girllover

(euphemistic) A pedophile, hebephile, or ephebophile who is attracted to boys.


retro

en-adj

retro (comparative more retro, superlative most retro)

more retro (comparative)
most retro (superlative)

Borrowed from French rétro, ultimately from Latin retro.

Scientists say that while the public may think of the moon as a problem solved and a bit retro – the place astronauts visited a half-dozen times way back before Watergate and then abandoned with a giant "meh" from mankind – in fact, lunar studies is a vibrant enterprise that is yielding a wealth of surprises.

2014 September 7, Natalie Angier, “The Moon comes around again [print version: Revisiting a moon that still has secrets to reveal: Supermoon revives interest in its violent origins and hidden face, International New York Times, 10 September 2014, p. 8]”, in The New York Times:

Of, or relating to, the past, past times, or the way things were.

retro-

of, or relating to the past, past times, or the way things were

Affecting things past; retroactive, ex post facto.

takautuva

affecting things past; retroactive, ex post facto


retro

en-noun

retro (countable and uncountable, plural retros or retroes)

(countable) Abbreviation of retrorocket.

(chess) A chess puzzle of retrograde analysis, requiring the solver to work out the history of moves leading to the position presented.


sulky

See sulk.
The horse-drawn vehicle is so called as it obliges the rider to be alone.

A low two-wheeled cart, used in harness racing.


Initialism of one true threesome coined by analogy with OTP (“one true pairing”).

And you don't have to limit your favorite ship to two characters — if there's a third involved, they can be your OT3.

2015, Sam Maggs, The Fangirl's Guide to the Universe: A Handbook for Girl Geeks, page 31:

For some, each member of the triangle cares deeply for the other two, like Elena/Damon/Stefan and Scott/Allison/Isaac—both the most popular OT3s in their respective fandoms.

2017, Charity A. Fowler, "Negotiating Desire: Resisting, Reimagining and Reinscribing Normalized Sexuality and Gender in Fan Fiction", dissertation submitted to Virginia Commonwealth University, page 286

Not only are male characters often presented as unapologetically bisexual (or, in some sense, post-sexual), but OT3 partnerships are not uncommon.

2018, Lucy Neville, Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys: Women and Gay Male Pornography and Erotica, page 237:

(fandom slang) One true threesome; a polyamorous ship involving three characters that is a personal favorite of a fan.


loved-up

en-adj

loved-up (comparative more loved-up, superlative most loved-up)

more loved-up (comparative)
most loved-up (superlative)


OTP

Other common OTPs are Frodo/Sam and Aragorn/Legolas.

2007, Kristin Thompson, The Frodo Franchise: The Lord of the Rings and Modern Hollywood, page 179:

The 'shippers in the study asserted that they may enjoy reading stories about other 'ships, or stories without a 'ship […] but the stories they most enjoy are those about their OTP.

2013, Jennifer K. Stuller, Fan Phenomena: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, page 43:

Over Rico's shoulder, I see Claire biting her lip, wearing the look of a shipper watching her OTP interact.

2018, Britta Lundin, Ship It, unnumbered page:

(fandom slang) Initialism of one true pair (or pairing): the romantic pairing preferred by an author or reader of fan fiction.


SAM

Sample Analysis at Mars
w:Sample Analysis at Mars

Mars Science Laboratory
w:Mars Science Laboratory

(space science, NASA) Acronym of Sample Analysis at Mars. (a scientific instrument of the Mars Science Laboratory on board the Curiosity rover on Mars.)


SAM

surface-to-air missile
surface-to-air missile#English

(military) Initialism of surface-to-air missile.

A SAM conversion occurs when Java converts the SAM interface into functional code.

2020, Barry Burd, John Paul Mueller, Android Application Development All-in-One For Dummies, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 213:

(programming) Initialism of single abstract method.

The SAM is a way of deliberately de-coupling sex and romance.

2022, Eris Young, Ace Voices: What it Means to Be Asexual, Aromantic, Demi or Grey-Ace, page 167:

Now before anyone can excuse me of making this up or saying that the SAM is just another “modern” (therefore “uselessly millennial”) invention, the idea of distinguishing orientations is actually a concept that can trace its origins further back in history.

2023, Michele Kirichanskaya, Ace Notes: Tips and Tricks on Existing in an Allo World, page 94:

Not everyone who can or does experience these attractions differently uses or identifies with the SAM.

2023, Ace and Aro Journeys: A Guide to Embracing Your Asexual or Aromantic Identity, page 30:

split attraction model
split attraction model#English

(psychology) Initialism of split attraction model.

shared appreciation mortgage
shared appreciation mortgage#English

Initialism of shared appreciation mortgage.


hissy fit

Viewers were aghast. . . . As co-host Regis Philbin flinched, Gifford launched into a teary, it's-not-my-fault, TV hissy fit: "You can say I'm ugly, you can say I'm not talented, but when you say I don't care about children, how dare you!"

1996 May 13, David E. Thigpen, “If You Could Hear Her Now”, in Time:

(Can we find and add a quotation of Stephen Weeks to this entry?)

(informal) A childish display of anger or frustration; an overly dramatic tantrum.


dreadful

dreadful (comparative more dreadful, superlative most dreadful)

more dreadful (comparative)
most dreadful (superlative)

From Middle English dredful, dredfull, dredeful (also dreful), equivalent to dread + -ful.

Shame to the slothful and woe to the weak one.
Death to the dreadful who turn to flee.
Blood to the tearing, the talon’d, the beaked one.
Timor Mortis are We.

1958, T[erence] H[anbury] White, chapter VIII, in The Once and Future King, New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam's Sons, →ISBN, book I (The Sword in the Stone):

(obsolete) Full of dread, whether
Scared, afraid, frightened.


cloud nine

International Cloud Atlas
Stuart Berg Flexner

The origin of sense 1 (“a state of bliss”) is uncertain; however, the following etymology has been suggested:
* The first edition of the International Cloud Atlas (1896), which defined ten types of cloud, described the ninth type as the cumulonimbus which rises to 10 km (6.2 miles), the highest a cloud can be.
Compare cloud seven (“state of complete happiness or euphoria”), which may have originated from confusion of cloud nine with seventh heaven.
Sense 2 (“a state of fantastic or impractical dreaming or thinking”) may be due to a confusion between sense 1 and the phrase head in the clouds.

He was on cloud nine for days after she agreed to marry him.

In your zeal you may not feel you are undertaking a thing for your own sake but think you are doing so for God. Nevertheless, you should remember that at the time of great excitement as though you were on cloud nine, you may perhaps be most fleshly!

1978, Watchman Nee, “Living by Faith”, in The Salvation of the Soul: Translated from the Chinese, New York, N.Y.: Christian Fellowship Publishers, →ISBN, page 107:

Following a highly successful tour of Italy in July/August 1993, with recital and orchestral appearances and an especially inspiring last performance, I returned to New York on cloud nine and full of euphoria.

1998, Shirlee Emmons, Alma Thomas, “Postperformance Management”, in Power Performance for Singers: Transcending the Barriers, New York, N.Y., Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN:

Most of us do not think of excitement as a problem. After all, doesn't everybody like to be on cloud number nine? I agree: if we could stay on cloud number nine, life might be very pleasant. But, as all of us know, the cloud eventually evaporates. Then we not only come abruptly back to earth; we usually burrow right into its depths and hide – that is, we go into a depression.

[2000 May, Eknath Easwaran, chapter 12, in A More Ardent Fire: From Everyday Love to Love of God, Tomales, Calif.: Nilgiri Press, →ISBN, page 142:

A. A. scanned the crowd and spotted Lili's happy face. Lili had been on cloud nine ever since she and Max had gotten back together.

2008, Melissa de la Cruz, “Not Quite Ready for Her Close-up”, in Lip Gloss Jungle (Ashleys; 4), New York, N.Y.: Aladdin Mix, →ISBN; republished as Popularity Takeover (The Ashley Project), New York, N.Y.: Aladdin Mix, 2015 April, →ISBN, pages 176–177:

On the first day at the university I was on cloud nine that I had begun my intellectual life. I was happy to join the cream of creams.

2010, Thumbiko Shumba, chapter 1, in Worklife, Pittsburgh, Pa.: RoseDog Books, →ISBN, page 1:

Falling from cloud nine / Crashing from the high / I'm letting go tonight / Yeah, I'm falling from cloud nine

2012, Katy Perry, Max Martin, Bonnie McKee, Dr. Luke, Cirkut (lyrics and music), “Wide Awake”, in Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection, performed by Katy Perry:

(idiomatic) Often in the phrase on cloud nine: a state of bliss, elation or happiness.


in high dudgeon

When civil dudgeon first grew high, \ And men fell out, they knew not why; \ When hard words, jealousies, and fears, \ Set folks together by the ears..

1663, Hudibras, by Samuel Butler, part 1, canto 1

He puts on a querulous voice and says, "Question. What particular altitude is dudgeon inevitably? Answer. High." He laughs and slaps his knees.

1987, Bernard MacLaverty, short story. "The Drapery Man" (published in The Great Profumo and Other Stories, Jonathan Cape, 1987) - p.35

(idiomatic) Resentfully or furiously, with indignation or pomposity.


tenderhearted

tenderhearted (comparative more tenderhearted, superlative most tenderhearted)

more tenderhearted (comparative)
most tenderhearted (superlative)

I am tender-hearted by nature, and have found my eyes moist many a time over the scream of a wounded hare.

1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

The other patients in the ward, all but the Texan, shrank from him with a tenderhearted aversion from the moment they set eyes on him the morning after the night he had been sneaked in.

1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Soldier in White”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 169:


temperamental

temperamental (comparative more temperamental, superlative most temperamental)

more temperamental (comparative)
most temperamental (superlative)

(of a machine or of software, figuratively) User-unfriendly, unstable, that is complicated or has poorly written instructions and is subsequently difficult to operate; unpredictable and erratic.


cunny

en-noun

cunny (countable and uncountable, plural cunnies)

(countable, fandom slang, chiefly anime and manga) The vulva or vagina of a child or childlike character (loli).

(uncountable, metonymically) Lolicon-themed media, especially when erotic (hentai).


monogamous

/məˈnɒɡəməs/

/məˈnɑɡəməs/

(zoology) Having only one sexual partner at a time.

monògam

having only one sexual partner at a time


bloodthirsty

en-adj

bloodthirsty (comparative bloodthirstier or more bloodthirsty, superlative bloodthirstiest or most bloodthirsty)

bloodthirstier (comparative)
more bloodthirsty (comparative)
bloodthirstiest (superlative)
most bloodthirsty (superlative)

From blood + thirsty. Cognate with West Frisian bloeddorstich (“bloodthirsty”), Dutch bloeddorstig (“bloodthirsty”), German blutdürstig (“bloodthirsty”), Danish blodtørstig (“bloodthirsty”), Swedish blodtörstig (“bloodthristy”), Norwegian blodtørstig (“bloodthirsty”).

cog

[I]t is, as I may ſo ſay, a ſavvcy Plot: and vve all knovv, moſt Reverend Fathers, that vvhat is ſavvce for a Gooſe is ſavvce for a Gander: Therefore, I ſay, as thoſe bloud-thirſty Ganders of the conſpiracy vvould have deſtroyed us Geeſe of the Senate, let us make haſte to deſtroy them, ſo I humbly move for hanging— […]

1682, Thomas Otway, Venice Preserv’d, or, A Plot Discover’d. A Tragedy. […], London: […] Jos[eph] Hindmarsh […], →OCLC, Act V, scene [ii], page 61:

[…] Diodorus also relates of Caligula, predecessor to Nero, that his nurse used to moisten the nipples of her breast frequently with blood to make Caligula take the better hold of them; which, says Diodorus, was the cause that made him so blood-thirsty and cruel all his life-time after, that he not only committed frequent murder by his own hand, but likewise wished that all human kind wore but one neck that he might have the pleasure to cut it off.

1711 December 23 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “WEDNESDAY, December 12, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 246; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume III, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 229:

The Lord Mayor, in the stronghold of the mighty Mansion House, gave orders to his fifty cooks and butlers to keep Christmas as a Lord Mayor's household should; and even the little tailor, whom he had fined five shillings on the previous Monday for being drunk and blood-thirsty in the streets, stirred up to-morrow's pudding in his garret, while his lean wife and the baby sallied out to buy the beef.

1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave I. Marley’s Ghost.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 16:

The genuine "bloodhound" is not, naturally, the cruel, bloodthirsty animal he is generally supposed to be; nor is he the only dog that will hunt men. Like all pure hounds, he is mild, loving, and kind, and will hunt any game for which he is trained; […]

1870 March 12, “Bloodhounds”, in Oliver Optic [pseudonym; William Taylor Adams], editor, Our Boys and Girls: Oliver Optic’s Magazine, volume VII, number 167, Boston, Mass.: Lee and Shepard, publishers; […], →OCLC, page 169, column 2:

The slasher narrative is as simple as a knife in the head: Some tragic event creates a killer who then seeks bloodthirsty revenge for that primal trauma, and audiences hoot and cringe in equal measure as characters lose their lives one by one, often in unexpected or inventive ways, until a resourceful “Final Girl” manages to defeat the monster.

2017 October 27, Alex McLevy, “Making a Killing: The Brief Life and Bloody Death of the Post-Scream Slasher Revival”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 2018-03-05:

Thirsty for blood: inexorably violent or eager for bloodshed; murderous.

[T]here has been recently a tendency on the part of some Education Authorities to select these manifestly worthy portions exclusively, and to avoid reading the more archaic and, so to speak, bloodthirsty books, such as Judges, Kings, and Genesis, altogether.

1907 August 2, Oliver Lodge, “The Religious Education of Children”, in George Harvey, editor, North American Review, volume CLXXXVI, number DCXX, New York, N.Y.: The North American Review Publishing Co., →OCLC, section III, page 707:

Of a book, film, etc.: depicting much violence; gory, violent.

For, whether they were attracted by the lantern, or by the unaccustomed smell of a white man for which they had been waiting for the last thousand years or so, I know not; but certainly we were presently attacked by tens of thousands of the most blood-thirsty, pertinacious, and huge mosquitoes that I ever saw or read of.

1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

(humorous) Of a mosquito, tenaciously seeking to draw blood.


frightened

en-adj

frightened (comparative more frightened, superlative most frightened)

more frightened (comparative)
most frightened (superlative)

She looked very much frightened of the storm.

He tried to persuade Cicely to stay away from the ball-room for a fourth dance.[…]But she said she must go back, and when they joined the crowd again her partner was haled off with a frightened look to the royal circle, […].

1909, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter I, in The Squire’s Daughter, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published 1919, →OCLC:


neurasthenia

en-noun

neurasthenia (countable and uncountable, plural neurasthenias)

/ˌnjʊəɹəsˈθiːniə/

From neur- + asthenia, after Italian nevrastenia.

(psychiatry, dated) An ill-defined medical condition characterized by lassitude, fatigue, headache, and irritability, associated chiefly with emotional disturbance.


ashamed

en-adj

ashamed (comparative more ashamed, superlative most ashamed)

more ashamed (comparative)
most ashamed (superlative)

From Middle English ashamed, aschamed, from Old English āsċeamod, past participle of Old English āsċeamian (“to be ashamed”), equivalent to a- + shame + -ed.

They ſhal be turned backe : they ſhal be greatly aſhamed, that truſt in grauẽ images, and ſay to the molten images, Ye are our gods.

1560, [William Whittingham et al., transl.], The Bible and Holy Scriptures Conteyned in the Olde and Newe Testament. […] (the Geneva Bible), Geneva: […] Rouland Hall, →OCLC, Isaiah XLII:17, folio 298, verso:

Good Sir pardon me, / I feel ſufficiently my follies penance, / And am aſham’d, that ſhame a thouſand ſorrows / Feed on continually, would I had never ſeen her, / Or with a clearer judgement look’d upon her, / She was too good for me, ſo heavenly good Sir, / Nothing but Heaven can love that ſoul ſufficiently, / Where I ſhall ſee her once again.

1618, John Fletcher, “The Loyal Subject”, in Fifty Comedies and Tragedies, London: J. Macock, published 1679, act V, scene vi, page 279:

Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.

1859, Horace Mann, Address at Antioch College:


cold-blooded

cold-blooded (comparative more cold-blooded or colder-blooded, superlative most cold-blooded or coldest-blooded)

more cold-blooded (comparative)
colder-blooded (comparative)
most cold-blooded (superlative)
coldest-blooded (superlative)

“Dead animals radiate heat,” he said. “When you take one down, you can feel it pouring from the wounds. But not this thing.” / “What does that mean?” she asked. / “Cold-blooded maybe, or colder-blooded than we’re used to.” / “Might explain why the heat sensors have trouble picking them up,” Danielle said.

2010, Graham Brown, chapter 35, in Black Rain: A Thriller, New York, N.Y.: Dell, →ISBN, page 344:

Having an unregulated body temperature; ectothermic.

Here were aſſembled that great philoſopher Mr. Subtile, the coldeſt-blooded metaphyſician of the age.

1797, [Isaac D’Israeli], “A Philosophical Party. The Character of a great Philosopher.”, in Vaurien: or, Sketches of the Times: Exhibiting Views of the Philosophies, Religions, Politics, Literature, and Manners of the Age. […], volume I, London: […] T[homas] Cadell, junior, and W[illiam] Davies, […]; and J[ohn] Murray and S[amuel] Highley, […], page 50:

No Spaniard is ever put out, although he maddens in a moment at the slightest personal affront, for blood boils without fire, “la sangre hierve sin fuego.” He takes these things coolly, which more phlegmatic, colder-blooded foreigners seldom do.

1845, “[Preliminary Remarks.] Inns.—The Fonda—Posada—Venta.”, in A Hand-Book for Travellers in Spain, and Readers at Home. Describing the Country and Cities, the Natives and Their Manners; […], part I, London: John Murray, […], page 23:

“And as for those foolish people,” said Quicksilver, with his mischievous smile, “they are all transformed to fishes. There needed but little change, for they were already a scaly set of rascals, and the coldest-blooded beings in existence.[…]”

1851 June–July (date written), Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Miraculous Pitcher”, in A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, published November 1851 (indicated as 1852), →OCLC, page 203:

[…] well remembering the order he had given to generals in command of the different divisions of his army, to shoot all the prisoners that fell into their hands, which had resulted in the coldest-blooded murder of the brave Fannin, and three hundred and thirty men at Goliad, on Sunday, March 27th, who were promised, if they would surrender, to be treated kindly as prisoners of war, and to be sent in vessels at once to the United States.

1872, Z[achariah] N[ehemiah] Morrell, “War.—1836.”, in Flowers and Fruits from the Wilderness; or, Thirty-Six Years in Texas and Two Winters in Honduras, Boston, Mass.: Gould and Lincoln, […]; Bryan, Tex.: Sunday-School and Colportage Board; New York, N.Y.: Sheldon and Company, page 50:

Sir Wilton regarded Lady Ann as the coldest-blooded and most selfish woman in creation, and certainly she was not less selfish and was colder-blooded than he.

1891, George MacDonald, “Barbara and Her Critics”, in There and Back, Philadelphia, Pa.: David McKay, […], page 180:

That’s what it looks like Arya’s planning to do at the campfire. For much of the scene, she’s weighing her options. She could take those guys. She could get to them before they got their swords, and she could swipe their gold and their meal. It would be something like what the Hound did to those peasants. At the time Arya was upset at him for it. But now Arya’s a cold-blooded killer.

2017 July 16, Brandon Nowalk, “Chickens and dragons come home to roost on Game Of Thrones (newbies)”, in The Onion AV Club:

(figuratively) Lacking emotion or compunction.


DL

en-noun

DL (countable and uncountable, plural DLs)


sidesplitting

en-adj

sidesplitting (comparative more sidesplitting, superlative most sidesplitting)

more sidesplitting (comparative)
most sidesplitting (superlative)

(of laughter) Intensely uncontrollable and genuine.


agateophobia

(psychology, psychiatry) A fear of insanity.


algophobia

From Ancient Greek ἄλγος (álgos, “pain”) + -phobia.


titter

en-verb

titter (third-person singular simple present titters, present participle tittering, simple past and past participle tittered)

titters (present singular third-person)
tittering (participle present)
tittered (participle past)
tittered (past)

First attested in the 1610s. Probably from Middle English *titeren, *titren (attested in Middle English titering (“hesitation, vacillation”)), probably a frequentative of Middle English titten (“to waver”), related to Old Norse titra (“to shake, shiver, quiver”), dialectal Swedish tittra (“to snicker”).

cog

1863, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Tales of a Wayside Inn Part First: The Sicilian's Tale - King Robert of Sicily
A group of tittering pages ran before.

"Thou coxy, cackling candle!" said Catweazle. "Why dost thou titter?"

1971, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 70:

Nor had the joke been a vulgar one: it was the kind of elegant pleasantry that the minister of foreign affairs might have told the crown prince at a garden party a generation ago, causing the surrounding listeners to titter with delight.

1997, Haruki Murakami, translated by Jay Rubin, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.; republished New York: Vintage Books, 1998, →ISBN, page 363:

To laugh or giggle in a somewhat subdued or restrained way, as from nervousness or poorly-suppressed amusement.

хихикам

to laugh or giggle in a somewhat subdued manner


titter

April 21, 1811, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Table Talk
There was a titter of […] delight on his countenance.


petrified

en-adj

petrified (comparative more petrified, superlative most petrified)

more petrified (comparative)
most petrified (superlative)


terrorize

en-verb

terrorize (third-person singular simple present terrorizes, present participle terrorizing, simple past and past participle terrorized)

terrorizes (present singular third-person)
terrorizing (participle present)
terrorized (participle past)
terrorized (past)

To fill (someone) with terror; to terrify.

To coerce (someone) by using threats or violence.


petrify

petrify (third-person singular simple present petrifies, present participle petrifying, simple past and past participle petrified)

petrifies (present singular third-person)
petrifying (participle present)
petrified (participle past)
petrified (past)

From Middle French pétrifier, from Medieval Latin petrificāre, from Latin petra (“rock”), from Ancient Greek πέτρα (pétra, “rock”) + -ficāre, from facere (“do, make”), equivalent to petro- + -ify.

a river that petrifies any sort of wood or leaves

1799, Richard Kirwan, Geological Essays:

(transitive) To turn to stone: to harden organic matter by permeating with water and depositing dissolved minerals.

(intransitive) To become stone, or of a stony hardness, as organic matter by calcareous deposits.

Like Niobe we marble grow, / And petrify with grief.

1685, John Dryden, Threnodia Augustalis:

Hopes, feelings, and passion, petrify one after another; the crust of experience soon hardens over the hidden past; and who, looking on the levelled and subdued exterior, could dream of the wreck and ravage that lies below?

1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Result”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 233:

(intransitive, figurative) To become stony, callous, or obdurate.

petrify a genius to a dunce

1728, [Alexander Pope], “(please specify the page)”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. […], Dublin, London: […] A. Dodd, →OCLC:

A hideous fatalism, which ought, logically, to petrify your volition.

1874, George Eliot, letter to Mrs. Ponsonby:

(transitive, figurative) To make callous or obdurate; to stupefy; to paralyze; to transform; as by petrification.

使发呆

to make callous or obdurate; to transform as by petrification


fervor

en-noun

fervor (countable and uncountable, plural fervors)

From Middle English fervour, from Old French, from Latin fervor (“a boiling or raging heat, heat, vehemence, passion”), from fervere (“to boil, be hot”); see fervent.

der

(American spelling) A passionate enthusiasm for some cause.


malice

en-verb

malice (third-person singular simple present malices, present participle malicing, simple past and past participle maliced)

malices (present singular third-person)
malicing (participle present)
maliced (participle past)
maliced (past)

From Middle English malice, borrowed from Old French malice, from Latin malitia (“badness, bad quality, ill-will, spite”), from malus (“bad”).

der

Thou blinded God (quod I) forgive me this offence, / Unwittingly I went about, to malice thy pretence.

1557, Henry Howard, “Complaint of a lover that defied Love and was by Love after the more tormented”, in Songes and Sonettes:

Who on the other ſide did ſeeme ſo farre / From malicing, or grudging his good houre, / That, all he could, he graced him with her, / Ne euer ſhewed ſigne of rancour or of iarre.

1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, page 477:

His paines, his pouertie, his ſharpe aſſayes, / Through which he paſt his miſerable dayes, / Offending none, and doing good to all, / Yet being maliſt both of great and ſmall.

1596, Edm[und] Spenser, “An Hymne of Heavenly Love”, in Fovvre Hymnes, London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, page 32:

I am so far from malicing their states, / That I begin to pity 'em.

1599, Ben Jonson, Every Man out of His Humour, act 5, scene 2:

A feeble spirited king that governed, / Who ill could guide the sceptre he did use; / His enemies, that his worth maliced, / Who both the land and him did much abuse: / The peoples love; and his apparent right, May seem sufficient motives to incite.

1609, Samuel Daniel, The History of the Civil Wars, book 5, verse 48:

Here's a list of side effects / Practice tested / Covering every maliced angle / For example: / You will sleep forever / You will never sleep again

1995, Fugazi (lyrics and music), “Fell, Destroyed”, in Red Medicine, performed by Guy Picciotto:

Robert Truswell may have been a belligerent and malicing man, a jury heard this morning during the trial of George Kieran Daunt.

2005 May 3, “'He was a mess,' woman says of accused”, in The Whitehorse Star:

I haven't maliced anybody, definitely not. I never used to have friends like that. I had a few who I thought were friends. Even if you have friends, things happen and friendship break up, but you move on. But I still talk to everybody.

2018 May 14, Kimberley Small, quoting Marion Hall, “Dancehall was contentious, says Marion Hall”, in The Jamaica Star:

To intend to cause harm; to bear malice.


winsome

en-adj

winsome (comparative winsomer, superlative winsomest)

winsomer (comparative)
winsomest (superlative)

Inherited from Middle English wynsom, winsom, winsome, winsum, wunsum (“beautiful; agreeable, gracious, pleasant; generous; of situations: favourable, propitious”), from Old English wynsum (“joyful, merry, pleasant; winsome”), from Proto-West Germanic *wunnjusam (“joyful”). By surface analysis, winne (“delight, joy, pleasure”) + -some.

surf

[…] lifting her winsome eyes to my face with that sort of look which turns off bad temper, even when one has all the right in the world to indulge it.

1847, Emily Brontë, chapter IX, in Wuthering Heights:

Will ye keep your troth to me, / Winsome Annie Ramsay? / Will ye keep your troth to me, / Winsome Annie Ramsay? / Will ye keep your troth to me? / My ain true luve will ye be? / Then meet me at the trysting tree, / Winsome Annie Ramsay.

1851 October, Jonathan Freke Slingsby [pseudonym; John Francis Waller], “Slingsby in Scotland. Part II.—Conclusion.”, in The Dublin University Magazine, a Literary and Political Journal, volume XXXVIII, number CCXXVI, Dublin: James McGlashan, 50 Upper Sackville-St.; London: W[illia]m S[omerville] Orr, →OCLC, stanza I, page 494:

Gerty MacDowell who was seated near her companions, lost in thought, gazing far away into the distance was in very truth as fair a specimen of winsome Irish girlhood as one could wish to see.

1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 13, Nausicaa]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 333:

He [Ching Keng Lee] is a man of fine physique and above the height of the average Straits-born, with a shrewd business head, and affable and winsome manners, and continues to take a keen interest in public affairs.

1923, Song Ong Siang, “The Ninth Decade (1899–1909): Second Part”, in One Hundred Years’ History of the Chinese in Singapore: […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 377:

The pink wallpaper of the nursery was decorated with a Noah's Ark of friendly lions and comical giraffes and winsome elephants.

1961, David Alexander, “When the Rain Stops”, in Hangman’s Dozen, New York, N.Y.: Roy Publishers, →OCLC, page 216:

Charming, engaging, winning; inspiring approval and trust, especially if in an innocent manner.


abibliophobia

Professor David Latchman, the Master of Birkbeck College, suffers from abibliophobia, a common affliction amongst book collectors that manifests itself as a morbid fear of running out of reading material.

Speaking of frightful words, a curious fear I've suffered from on occasion, especially on long airplane flights, is abibliophobia, the fear of not having enough to read.

2010, Phil Cousineau, Wordcatcher: An Odyssey into the World of Weird and Wonderful Words, Viva Editions, →ISBN, page 17:

The outdoor racks, maintained on an honor system, are open 24 hours a day, for those who suffer from abibliophobia—fear of lacking for reading material.

2012, Laura M. Reckford, Frommer's Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 110:

(humorous) Fear of running out of things to read.


disappointment

en-noun

disappointment (countable and uncountable, plural disappointments)

Even a trip to beautiful California can cause disappointment.

They remembered too keenly their pleasant credulity as to what to-morrow would bring forth, to dare indulge expectation of its pleasure; they had been disappointed once—so might they be again—for disappointment ever leaves fear behind.

1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVI, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 184:

Choking back his disappointment after his own team's splendid wins against Liverpool and Aston Villa, he said: "I've got to be humble and say we were beaten by a very good side."

(uncountable) The feeling or state of being disappointed: a feeling of sadness or frustration when something is not as good as one hoped or expected, or when something bad unexpectedly happens.


panicked

en-adj

panicked (comparative more panicked, superlative most panicked)

more panicked (comparative)
most panicked (superlative)


sadness

en-noun

sadness (countable and uncountable, plural sadnesses)

From Middle English sadnesse, equivalent to sad + -ness.

But sorrow that is couch'd in seeming gladness
Is like that mirth fate turns to sudden sadness.

c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

I mean not then under the name of Sadneſs to defend effeminate Bewailings and Lamentations; let them that ſubject themſelves to this weakeſt Impatience, be alſo ſubject to the Lycian Law, that bound theſe kind of Lamenters to be array'd like Women: […]

1707, John Dunton, “Mourning Joy: or a Paradox in Praiſe of Sadneſs”, in Athenian Sport[:] […] , page 423:

(uncountable) The state or emotion of being sad.


phobophobia

From Ancient Greek φόβος (phóbos) + -phobia, equivalent to phobo- + -phobia.

In particular, the rulemakers – here judges who craft free speech doctrine – may themselves display a pathological fear of succumbing to pathological fear, a kind of phobophobia.

2014, Adrian Vermeule, The Constitution of Risk:

The fear of fear; the fear of developing a phobia.


gerontophobia

An abnormal and persistent fear of aging or growing old.


aro

en-adj

aro (comparative more aro, superlative most aro)

more aro (comparative)
most aro (superlative)

Clipping of aromantic. Coined on the Internet in the 2010s.

For ace and aro people, the possibilities for diverse relationships are endless, despite how pop culture often brands our identity as restrictive and confined.

2016, Laura Chan, "My sexual preference is nope", Dalhousie Gazette (Dalhousie University), 12 February - 18 February 2016, page 16

For the show to completely and utterly ignore this is huge since there are very few representations of aro and ace-spec people in media of any kind.

2017 October 26, Melissa Reph, “You might not like hearing this, but I don't like 'Riverdale'”, in The Muhlenberg Weekly, Muhlenberg College, page 3:

This provides a home base for people looking to learn more about ace and aro identities.

2018 November 29, Alexis Stark, “A-spectrum student experiences on MSU's campus”, in The State News, Michigan State University, page 5:

(slang, neologism) Aromantic (not experiencing romantic attraction).


unemotional

unemotional (comparative more unemotional, superlative most unemotional)

more unemotional (comparative)
most unemotional (superlative)

passionate

antonym(s) of “showing little or no feeling”

an unemotional person


scared

scared (comparative more scared or scareder, superlative most scared or scaredest)

more scared (comparative)
scareder (comparative)
most scared (superlative)
scaredest (superlative)


embarrassed

embarrassed (comparative more embarrassed, superlative most embarrassed)

more embarrassed (comparative)
most embarrassed (superlative)

[…] they could let their eyes hover tenderly on the far-off white cliffs that so often had signalled to the embarrassed English a promise of safety.

(archaic) Impeded; obstructed; in an awkward situation.


Uranian

Uranian (comparative more Uranian, superlative most Uranian)

more Uranian (comparative)
most Uranian (superlative)

Aphrodite Urania
Karl Heinrich Ulrichs
Plato

From Latin Ūrania (“muse of astronomy in Greek mythology”) + -an (suffix forming agent nouns). Ūrania is derived from Ancient Greek Οὐρᾰνῐ́ᾱ (Ouraníā, “muse of astronomy”), from οὐράνιος (ouránios, “of or relating to the sky, celestial, heavenly”) (from οὐρανός (ouranós, “the sky; heaven, home of the gods; the universe”), probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁wers- (“rain”)) + -ιος (-ios, suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘pertaining to’).
The alternative form Ouranian is derived from Ancient Greek οὐράνιος (ouránios).
Adjective sense 2 (“homosexual”) and the noun sense (“a homosexual”) refer to Plato’s work Symposium (c. 385–370 B.C.E.), where the goddess Aphrodite, in her heavenly aspect Aphrodite Urania (see adjective sense 3) is described as inspiring a noble form of affection between older and younger men. Compare German Urning (“a homosexual, Uranian”), Urnigtum (“homosexuality”), also referring to Aphrodite Urania, coined by the German writer Karl Heinrich Ulrichs (1825–1895) in 1864. By the 1900s, the use of the word in this sense had largely been supplanted by homosexual (see further at that entry). The term is no longer mainstream and is almost never used in modern contexts, though it has enjoyed a slight revival as a term for "gay man" as an analogue to lesbian.

der

/jʊˈɹeɪnɪən/

Hence is that secret pardon we bestow / In the true instinct of the grateful heart, / Upon the Sons of Song. The good they do / In the clear world of their Uranian art / Endures for ever; while the evil done / In the poor drama of the mortal scene, / Is but a passing cloud before the sun; [...]

1853, Edward Bulwer[-]Lytton, “The Ideal World”, in The Poetical and Dramatic Works of Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, Bart., volume III, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, stanza IV, page 317:

Hail thou! sole Muse that, in an age of toil, / Of all the old Uranian sisterhood, / Art left to light us o'er the furrowed soil, / Of this laborious star!

1859, Owen Meredith [pseudonym; Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton], “Epilogue”, in The Wanderer, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, part III, stanza I, page 424:

At first sight the winds would appear to be if anything Ouranian powers of the upper air, yet it seems that sacrifices to the winds were buried, not burnt.

1903, Jane Ellen Harrison, “The Anthesteria. The Ritual of Ghosts and Spirits.”, in Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: At the University Press, →OCLC, page 67:

[T]hose deities which are called ‘chthonic’ or earthly are, as a matter of fact, not in any sense deities of the earth. They are, in one of their aspects associated with the ‘underworld,’ but that underworld is but a segment of their cycle; they are deities of the underworld not because they appertain to the earth or are in any sense a personification of it, but because they are, on the contrary, heavenly bodies which, in the course of their cycle, pass under the earth. They are therefore just as much ‘uranian’ as are the Olympians.

1927, Robert Briffault, “The Great Mothers”, in The Mothers: A Study of the Origins of Sentiments and Institutions, volume III, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC, pages 146–147:

If he [the Hindu god Varuna] cannot be classed exclusively among the "gods of the sky" he nevertheless has qualities proper to the ouranian divinities. He is visva-darsata, "everywhere visible", he "separated the two worlds", the wind is his breath; [...]

1991, Mircea Eliade, “The ‘God who Binds’ and the Symbolism of Knots”, in Philip Mairet, transl., Images and Symbols: Studies in Religious Symbolism, Mythos paperback edition, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, →ISBN, pages 96–97:

Conversely, Kenneth Anger's only widely released film since 1972, Lucifer Rising (1980), uses a megalithic temple (not Stonehenge) and a number of ancient Egyptian sites in a Crowleyan ritual hymn to chthonian and ouranian deities of power and light.

2002, P. Adams Sitney, “The End of the 20th Century”, in Visionary Film: The American Avant-Garde 1943–2000, 3rd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 417:

(comparable, literary, poetic) Celestial, heavenly; uranic.

uranien

celestial, heavenly — see also celestial, heavenly

To have altered my life would have been to have admitted that Uranian love is ignoble. I hold it to be noble – more noble than other forms.

1898 February 18?, Oscar Wilde, “Letter to Robert Ross”, in Merlin Holland, Rupert Hart-Davis, editors, The Complete Letters of Oscar Wilde, New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, published 2000, →ISBN, page 1019:

His [Plato's] Philosophical Eros is not the Uranian Eros which possessed the nation, and the Uranian doctrine is not primarily either philosophical or paederastic. It is a value attached to the masculine which included philosophy as masculine and paederasty when not anti-masculine, but was itself the idea and form of virtue.

1930, Arthur Lyon Raile [pseudonym; Edward Perry Warren], “The Uranian Idea”, in A Defence of Uranian Love, part the second (The Uranian Eros), [London]: Privately printed, →OCLC, pages 19–20:

Before these ideals would once again become available to "homosexuality" as a positive social identity, however, the Uranian modality of male love would be rejected by the avant-garde itself as an outworn fashion.

1994, Linda [C.] Dowling, “The Higher Sodomy”, in Hellenism and Homosexuality in Victorian Oxford, Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, →ISBN, page 134:

[Edward] Carpenter was disappointed by these meetings with [Walt] Whitman but began to integrate a positive homosexual view into his socialist writings. Carpenter saw the Uranian (homosexual) spirit to be more enlightened than that of the common man and believed that Uranians were the new prophets of the coming social revolution.

2003, Chuck Stewart, “Biographical Sketches”, in Gay and Lesbian Issues: A Reference Handbook (Contemporary World Issues), Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, page 138:

Through Veiled Eyes [by John Moray Stuart-Young, published in 1908] was produced by a specialist Uranian publisher for circulation to a specialist Uranian readership, and it required the audience to identify with an adult narrator who spends the bulk of one summer "grooming" an English boy for physical intimacy. This is the sexual scenario most likely to inspire public violence in contemporary Britain, [...] Set in the context of Uranian art, however, it is possible to regard this as a desire fated to be celibate, if only by the status of the angelic love object in the real world as a "real boy, grubby, ink-stained, insolent, uncomprehending of Uranian passion and rebuffing its smallest manifestations." Such a forgiving perspective is one of the few options available to literary critics wishing to avoid the discomfort of drawing biographical conclusions from the material produced by Uranian authors such as Stuart-Young.

2006, Stephanie Newell, “‘Uranian’ Love in West Africa”, in The Forger’s Tale: The Search for Odeziaku (New African Histories), Athens, Oh.: Ohio University Press, →ISBN, page 86:

(comparable, literary, archaic) Homosexual; also, pederastic; relating to a man's erotic love for adolescent boys; (specifically) of poetry: conveying appreciation for young men.

For assuredly are there two Venuses; one, the eldest, the daughter of Uranus, born without a mother, whom we call the Uranian; the other younger, the daughter of Jupiter and Dione, whom we call the Pandemian;—of necessity must there also be two Loves, the Uranian and Pandemian companions of these goddesses. [...] [T]he attendant on the other, the Uranian, whose nature is entirely masculine, is the Love who inspires us with affection, and exempts us from all wantonness and libertinism.

a. 1822, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “The Banquet. Translated from Plato.”, in Mrs. Shelley [i.e., Mary Shelley], editor, Essays, Letters from Abroad, Translations and Fragments, … In Two Volumes, volume I, Philadelphia, Pa.: Lea and Blanchard, published 1840, →OCLC, page 86:

That this is indeed the general tendency of his [Pausanias of Athens'] speech is made clear by two remarks that follow immediately upon his differentiating the Pandemian from the Uranian gods. [...] But what is true for Aphrodite seems to be a contradiction in terms: she is both one and two and all gods must be praised—both Uranian and Pandemian—and yet only the Uranian ought to be praised [...].

2010, Steven Berg, “Pausanias: Noble Lies and the Fulfillment of Greekness”, in Eros and the Intoxications of Enlightenment: On Plato’s Symposium (SUNY Series in Ancient Greek Philosophy), Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, →ISBN, part 1 (Athens and Enlightenment), page 27:

(not comparable, Greek mythology, Roman mythology) Of Aphrodite Urania, the heavenly aspect of the Greek goddess of beauty and love Aphrodite and her Roman counterpart Venus, as contrasted with the earthly aspect known as Aphrodite Pandemos: heavenly, spiritual.

Graced by nurses (art's nurse highly grac'd him) / Who fed him with pure marrow of the Muses; / And when he list, with moisture to refresh him, / He drunke cleare Helicon: cleare from abuses, / He bent his mind to pure Vranian vses, / Vranianie him did to heau'n vpreare: / And made to man, him demi-god appeare.

1600, Cyril Tourneur, The Transformed Metamorphosis, [London]: Printed by Valentine Sims, […], →OCLC; republished in John Churton Collins, editor, The Plays and Poems of Cyril Tourneur: […] In Two Volumes, volume II, London: Chatto and Windus, […], 1878, →OCLC, page 213:

Actually, this little girl-child should have been as happy as a lark. But, she wasn't. This is because her Bengali genes had her continually wish to be a Sarasvati, or Uranian Muse, to all the males who came within her ambit – incessantly inspiring them to great works of Art or Scientific discoveries.

2007, Vivek Iyer, chapter 8, in Samlee’s Daughter: A Novel, Great Britain: Polyglot Publications, →ISBN, section I:

(not comparable, Greek mythology, dated) Relating to Urania, the Muse of astronomy.


Uranian

/jʊˈɹeɪnɪən/

[T]he fury of a fiery hot-brained Marsian, may kindle immediate and incessant wrangling and feuds; whilst a quiet placid Uranian, in his turn, may yet at times be excessively annoyed, ay, worried and tormented, by the tardiness, listlessness and inactivity of his dronish companion.

1839, A Fantastical Excursion into the Planets, London: Saunders and Otley, […], →OCLC, page 172:

And obviously, since the year of the Uranians lasts 84 of our years, the continuance of the sun above the horizon would last for many years. [...] And as with the summer day, so with the winter night, years elapse before either comes to an end. For upwards of 20 years, in a latitude corresponding to that of London, the Uranians—if there are any—never see the small Uranian sun.

1872, Richard A[nthony] Proctor, “Uranus and Neptune, the Arctic Planets”, in Other Worlds than Ours: The Plurality of Worlds Studied under the Light of Recent Scientific Researches, 3rd edition, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, pages 171–172:

(chiefly science fiction) An inhabitant of the planet Uranus.


gloom

en-noun

gloom (usually uncountable, plural glooms)

From Middle English *gloom, *glom, from Old English glōm (“gloaming, twilight, darkness”), from Proto-West Germanic *glōm, from Proto-Germanic *glōmaz (“gleam, shimmer, sheen”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰley- (“to gleam, shimmer, glow”). The English word is cognate with Norwegian glom (“transparent membrane”), Scots gloam (“twilight; faint light; dull gleam”).

cog

A sullen gloom and furious disorder prevailed by fits.

1770, Edmund Burke, Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents:

Cloudiness or heaviness of mind; melancholy; aspect of sorrow; low spirits; dullness.

ankeus

cloudiness or heaviness of mind; melancholy; aspect of sorrow; low spirits; dullness


road rage

road + rage. First use appears c. 1988 in the Orlando Sentinel.

For quotations using this term, see Citations:road rage.

(automotive, law, psychology) Uncontrollable aggressive behavior by the driver of a road vehicle, especially when caused by stress or frustration.


contented

en-adj

contented (comparative more contented, superlative most contented)

more contented (comparative)
most contented (superlative)

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

I pray you huſband be not ſo diſquiet. / The meate was well, if you were ſo contented.

c. 1590–1592, William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies, London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, act III (now act IV, scene i), page 222:

"I shall now die contented," [Boswell] breathed, "since I have lived to see the present day."

1795 James Boswell, as quoted in, 2010, Doug Stewart, the Boy Who Would be Shakespeare, excerpted as "To Be... or Not", Smithsonian, ISSN 0037-7333, volume 4, number 3, June 2010, page 72

Bitch aren't you contented into using a rose toy 24/7 non stop and letting random people suck ung ur Vagina my gosh you even told them your Vagina had braces


frightful

frightful (comparative more frightful, superlative most frightful)

more frightful (comparative)
most frightful (superlative)

From Middle English frightful (“afraid”), from Old English forhtfull (“fainthearted, timorous”). Equivalent to fright + -ful.

inh

Ðis frigtful ðus a-biden,

(obsolete) Full of fright, whether
Afraid, frightened.


ey

head

ey (third-person singular, nominative case, accusative em, possessive adjective eir, possessive noun eirs, reflexive emself)

em (accusative)
eir (adjective possessive)
eirs (noun possessive)
emself (reflexive)

Coined by Christine M. Elverson in 1975 by removing the "th" from they.

Eir sentences would sound smoother since ey wouldn't clutter them with the old sexist pronouns. And if ey should trip up in the new usage, ey would only have emself to blame.

1975 August 23, Judie Black, “Ey has a word for it”, in Chicago Tribune, section 1, page 12:

I'm not familiar with this book, but I encourage Marksmill to look for it-- and while ey is at it, to also look at a number of other books.

1996 December 22, Shirley Worth, “New To Yoga”, in alt.yoga (Usenet), message-ID <32BDCA0C.6C8@worth.org>:

If a mobile user is far from eir home area, ey will pay a long-distance fee for carriage of the call *from* eir home area, just as a caller would pay long-distance on a call *to* that area.

1997 November 25, Scott Robert Dawson, “Who Pays for Cellular Calls”, in alt.cellular (Usenet), message-ID <347acf56.333719@news.interlog.com>:

(rare, epicene, nonstandard) A gender-neutral third-person singular subject pronoun, one of the so-called Spivak pronouns, equivalent to the singular they and coordinate with gendered pronouns he and she.


go ape

en-verb

go ape (third-person singular simple present goes ape, present participle going ape, simple past went ape, past participle gone ape)

goes ape (present singular third-person)
going ape (participle present)
went ape (past)
gone ape (participle past)

(slang) To become wildly excited or enthusiastic.


displeasure

en-noun

displeasure (usually uncountable, plural displeasures)

contentment

antonym(s) of “feeling of being displeased with someone or something”

From Old French desplaisir. See displease.

Hast thou delight to see a wretched man / Do outrage and displeasure to himself?

c. 1594 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iv]:

That which displeases; cause of irritation or annoyance; offence; injury.


impatience

impatience (countable and uncountable, plural impatiences)

From Middle English impacience, from Old French impacience (modern French impatience), from Latin impatientia. By surface analysis, im- + patience.

The quality of being impatient; lacking patience; restlessness and intolerance of delays; anxiety and eagerness, especially to begin something.


insectophobia

Remembering her insectophobia I did not point out the amazing line of ants ferrying leaves up the wall.

(pathology) An abnormal fear of insects.


seventh heaven

(Judaism, Islam) The empyrean, the outermost of the heavenly spheres; a dwelling of the angels.


high-strung

en-adj

high-strung (comparative more high-strung, superlative most high-strung)

more high-strung (comparative)
most high-strung (superlative)

Three cups of coffee made him a fidgety and high-strung lecturer.

"Why, you're shakin' all over!" "I suppose I wouldn't be a medium if I wasn't high strung."

1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:

(informal, idiomatic) Nervous; anxious; excited or excitable.


cockle

From Middle English cokel, cokkel, kokkel, cocle, of uncertain origin. Perhaps a diminutive of Middle English cokke, cok (“cockle”), from Old English cocc (found in sǣcocc (“cockle”)) + -le; or perhaps from Old French coquille, from Vulgar Latin *cocchilia, from conchylia, from Ancient Greek κογχύλιον (konkhúlion), diminutive of κογχύλη (konkhúlē, “mussel”), of Pre-Greek substrate origin.

Rossiter W[orthington] Raymond
w:Rossiter W. Raymond

(mining, UK, Cornwall) The mineral black tourmaline or schorl.


salad days

Coined by William Shakespeare in Antony and Cleopatra around 1607, see quotations.

Cleo. Did I Charmian, euer loue Caeſar ſo?
[…]
Char. By your moſt gracious pardon,
I ſing but after you.
Cleo. My Sallad dayes,
When I was greene in iudgment, cold in blood[…]

c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene v], page 344, column 2:

The season of salad days has been rightly called a season of folly—rightly, because nature wisely intended salad days for folly, and we are wise to regard them as a time for folly. But are we wise when, halting upon the crutches age finds convenient after the gambols of youth have lost their attractions, we condemn this season of harmless folly to perpetual reprobation?

1874 October, “Salad Days”, in The American Educational Monthly, page 462:

But it must be in solitude. I do not need or desire to hobnob artificially with other old men in order to revisit them in their salad days, and to renew my own.

1952 May, George Santayana, “I Like to Be a Stranger”, in The Atlantic:

“I'll bet he was swiping things as a small boy.” “Only biscuits.” “I beg your pardon?” “Or crackers you would call them, wouldn't you? He was telling me he occasionally pinched a cracker or two in his salad days.”

1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XX, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:

Do you know I've not been to a ball in ages? I used to be quite the dancer in my salad days, if you can believe such a thing.

2015, 23m30s from the start, in Penny Dreadful, season 2, episode 6, spoken by Sir Malcolm Murray (Timothy Dalton):

Liz: Derek, remember when I used to want to fuck all the time?
Derek: Ah, yes. The salad days.
Liz: Mmh. Now, my sex window is between 3 and 3:20 pm and Derek needs not to have annoyed me that day.
Derek: Doesn't happen often.

2023 February 24, Annie Mebane, Shrinking, season 1, episode 6:

A period of inexperienced youthful innocence accompanied by enthusiasm and idealism.

Antony and Cleopatra
William Shakespeare
salad days


eagerness

en-noun

eagerness (usually uncountable, plural eagernesses)

From Middle English egernesse, egrenesse; equivalent to eager + -ness.

Senvie, which is of a most biting and stinging tast, of a fierie effect,[…]serveth also to make a pretie dish of meat to be eaten, being boiled or stewed between too^([sic – meaning two]) little dishes in some convenient liquor, in such sort, as a man shall not feele it to bite at the tongues end, nor complaine of any eagernesse that it hath.

1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XIX.] Of Garden herbes which serue for to season our meats.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 2nd tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 31:

Presently the balsamick body is wounded, and turns sour sooner or later according to the degree of the motion; for this fierce motion or working wastes the pure spirituous Balsam, and awakens the original Qualities of Saturn and Mars, viz. an astringent Eagerness, or sour hard Quality, that would not have been manifested, if this irregular Motion had not excited it.

1691, Thomas Tryon, The Way to Health, Long Life and Happiness […] , 2nd edition, page 121:

To this I answer that Beer nor Ale can be drawed off so fine from the Mash-Tun or Cooler, as to want a sufficient Sediment to feed it, as may be easily proved by an Observation when the Drink is drawn off, that never yet appeared to me without rather too much of this filthy Compound, which by its earthy and saline Parts naturally induces Hardness and Eagerness in the Liquor.

1744, William Ellis, The London and Country Brewer, 5th edition, volume 2, page 148:


horrific

en-adj

horrific (comparative more horrific, superlative most horrific)

more horrific (comparative)
most horrific (superlative)

Borrowed from Latin horrificus, from horreō (“to be afraid”) + -ficō (“to make”).

a horrific sight

a horrific injury


love bomb

en-verb

love bomb (third-person singular simple present love bombs, present participle love bombing, simple past and past participle love bombed)

love bombs (present singular third-person)
love bombing (participle present)
love bombed (participle past)
love bombed (past)

My hypothesis is that a great many of the troubled children who have been love bombed would have had elevated or blunted cortisol prior to the intervention and that measured afterwards, the experience would have “reset” them to more benign ones.

2018 [2014], Andrew Odgers, editor, From Broken Attachments to Earned Security, Routledge, →ISBN:


blow a gasket

blow a gasket (third-person singular simple present blows a gasket, present participle blowing a gasket, simple past blew a gasket, past participle blown a gasket)

blows a gasket (present singular third-person)
blowing a gasket (participle present)
blew a gasket (past)
blown a gasket (participle past)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-blow a gasket.wav

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see blow, gasket. To cause the seal made by a gasket to fail.