abash

en-verb

abash (third-person singular simple present abashes, present participle abashing, simple past and past participle abashed)

abashes (present singular third-person)
abashing (participle present)
abashed (participle past)
abashed (past)

Attested from 1303, as Middle English abaisen, abaishen, abashen (“lose one's composure, be upset”), from the later 14th-century also transitive "to make ashamed, to perplex or embarrass"; from Anglo-Norman abaïss, from Middle French abair, abaisser (“lose one's composure, be startled, be stunned”), from Old French esbaïr, (French ébahir), from es- (“utterly”) + baïr (“to astonish”), from Medieval Latin *exbadō, from ex- (“out of”) + bado (“I gape, yawn”), an onomatopoeic word imitating a yawn, see also French badaud (“rubbernecker”).

onomatopoeic

onomatopoeic

He was a man whom no check could abash

1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 14, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:

The stare seemed to abash Poirot.

1934, Agatha Christie, chapter 8, in Murder on the Orient Express, London: HarperCollins, published 2017, page 129:

(transitive) To make ashamed; to embarrass; to destroy the self-possession of, as by exciting suddenly a consciousness of guilt, mistake, or inferiority; to disconcert; to discomfit.


abashed

en-adj

abashed (comparative more abashed, superlative most abashed)

more abashed (comparative)
most abashed (superlative)


abhorrence

en-noun

abhorrence (countable and uncountable, plural abhorrences)

My abhorrence of this fiend cannot be conceived.

1818, Mary Shelley, chapter 9, in Frankenstein, archived from the original on 2012-04-03:

The recognition of what pollutes evidently reflects deep-seated abhorrences, whose cause and origin are difficult to discover.

2018, Dr. Philip J. Budd, David Allen Hubbard, Glenn W. Barker, Numbers, volume 5, page 55:

The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles

Oxford University Press
w:Oxford University Press

(uncountable, countable) Extreme aversion or detestation; the feeling of utter dislike or loathing.

(countable, obsolete, historical) An expression of abhorrence, in particular any of the parliamentary addresses dictated towards Charles II.


Frankenstein complex

Frankenstein complex (plural Frankenstein complexes)

Coined by American science fiction author Isaac Asimov in 1947 in his novelette Little Lost Robot. From Victor Frankenstein, the title character of Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein.

coin

I'll admit that this Frankenstein Complex you're exhibiting has a certain justification—hence the First Law in the first place.

1947 March, Isaac Asimov, “Little Lost Robot”, in Astounding Science Fiction, volume 39, number 1, page 116:

Mr. Graf, you're still disturbed. You sure you're not harboring just a little of the old Frankenstein complex about all this? It's all right to admit it to me—in fact, I want you to talk about it.

1987 December, Lois McMaster Bujold, “Falling Free”, in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, volume 108, number 13, page 30:

The central character of Mary Shelley's novel by the same name 'Frankenstein' is used as an adjective in a variety of biomedical contexts, eg Frankenstein complex The fear that machines via artificial intelligence may replace physicians

1992, Joseph C. Segen, The Dictionary of Modern Medicine, →ISBN, page 234:

No wonder Gibson introduces the Turing Registry agents in Neuromancer, representatives of cyberpunk's own apparent Frankenstein Complex: “For thousands of years men dreamed of pacts with demons. Only now are such things possible.[…]”

2010, Graham J. Murphy, Sherryl Vint, editors, Beyond Cyberpunk: New Critical Perspectives, Routledge, →ISBN, page 197:

artificial intelligence
artificial intelligence

The fear that an artificial intelligence will turn against humans.


abhor

en-verb

abhor (third-person singular simple present abhors, present participle abhorring, simple past and past participle abhorred)

abhors (present singular third-person)
abhorring (participle present)
abhorred (participle past)
abhorred (past)
abhor (infinitive)

First attested in 1449, from Middle English abhorren, borrowed from Middle French abhorrer, from Latin abhorreō (“shrink away from in horror”), from ab- (“from”) + horreō (“stand aghast, bristle with fear”).

prefix

I absolutely abhor being stuck in traffic jams.

Let loue bee without dissimulation: abhorre that which is euill, cleaue to that which is good.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Romans 12:9:

I have risked alienating some members with criticism of the war, reminding them, for example, that the Lord abhors our worship of the false gods of Western affluence, worldly power and high technology. I agree with Michael J. Easley, the senior pastor-teacher of Immanuel Bible Church in Springfield, when he says, "I think my 'job' is to clearly teach the Scriptures, not be persuaded by what may or may not be our people's views."

2003 April 20, Henry G. Brinton, “A Congregation Divided”, in The Washington Post, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2024-01-28:

(transitive) To regard (someone or something) as horrifying or detestable; to feel great repugnance toward.

But neuer taynt my Loue. I cannot say Whore,
It do's abhorre me now I speake the word,
To do the Act, that might the addition earne,
Not the worlds Masse of vanitie could make me.

c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii], page 332, column 2:

(transitive, obsolete, impersonal) To fill with horror or disgust.

I vtterly abhorre; yea, from my Soule
Refuse you for my Iudge, whom yet once more
I hold my most malicious Foe, and thinke not
At all a Friend to truth.

1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv], page 216, column 2:

(transitive, canon law, obsolete) To protest against; to reject solemnly.

Also in those daunces were enterlased dities of wanton loue or ribaudry, with frequent remembrance of the moste vile idolis Venus and Bacchus, as it were that the daunce were to their honour and memorie, whiche most of all abhorred from Christes religion, sauerynge the auncient errour of paganysme.

1531, Thomas Elyot, “That all daunsinge is nat to be reproued”, in Ernest Rhys, editor, The Boke Named the Governour […] (Everyman’s Library), London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent & Co; New York, N.Y.: E[dward] P[ayson] Dutton & Co, published [1907], →OCLC, 1st book, page 86:

Either then the law by harmless and needful dispenses, which the gospel is now made to deny, must have anticipated and exceeded the grace of the gospel, or else must be found to have given politic and superficial graces without real pardon, saying in general, “do this and live,” and yet deceiving and damning underhand with unsound and hollow permissions; which is utterly abhorring from the end of all law, as hath been shewed.

1644, J[ohn] M[ilton], chapter VII, in The Doctrine or Discipline of Divorce: […], 2nd edition, London: [s.n.], →OCLC, book II, page 46:

(intransitive, obsolete) To feel horror, disgust, or dislike (towards); to be contrary or averse (to); construed with from.


pissed

en-adj

pissed (comparative more pissed, superlative most pissed)

more pissed (comparative)
most pissed (superlative)

From Middle English pissed, pissede, pyssyd, pisside, equivalent to piss + -ed.

The waiters would send us up beer onstage as well as food, so now and again we'd end up getting pissed while we were playing.

1996, Hunter Davies, The Beatles, page 79:

We finished the bottle off and I was more pissed than ever, I was a fucking mess, and Johnny carried me to bed.

2006, Dean Riley, The Reveller: Every Lie Has Eighty Percent Truth, page 201:

We drank, getting more and more pissed, and as we did, these four birds were growing more and more attractive, so we all sat down with them, but none of them wanted to know us, just Peter, dirty fucking bastard he was.

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, mildly vulgar, colloquial) Drunk.


anti-Semitism

en-noun

anti-Semitism (countable and uncountable, plural anti-Semitisms)

/ˌæntɪˈsɛmɪˌtɪzəm/

Leibniz Institute for the German Language

From German Antisemitismus. It is typically said that German political agitator Wilhelm Marr invented the term to replace Judenhaß (literally “Jew-hatred”) to make hatred of the Jews seem rational and sanctioned by scientific knowledge; Marr founded the Antisemitenliga ("Anti-Semites' League") in 1879, used the terms Semitismus and Antisemiten in his 1879 and 1880 pamphlets Der Sieg des Judenthums über das Germanenthum and Der Weg zum Siege des Germanenthums über das Judenthum, and used Antisemitismus at least as early as his 1885 pamphlet Lessing contra Sem. The related term antisemitisch (“anti-semitic”) was first used in 1860, by Jewish scholar Moritz Steinschneider. See Wikipedia's article on the etymology and usage of the term.
The term is superficially/synchronically equivalent to anti- + Semitism (see Semite), for which reason it is rarely extended to cover prejudice against any Semitic people, or against adherents of any of the religions that originated among the Semitic peoples (the Abrahamic religions). See the usage notes.

Anti-Semitism means spreading enmity towards the Jews. When the accursed tsarist monarchy was living its last days it tried to incite ignorant workers and peasants against the Jews. The tsarist police, in alliance with the landowners and the capitalists, organised pogroms against the Jews. The landowners and capitalists tried to divert the hatred of the workers and peasants who were tortured by want against the Jews. In other countries, too, we often see the capitalists fomenting hatred against the Jews in order to blind the workers, to divert their attention from the real enemy of the working people, capital.

1919, Lenin, V. I., “Anti-Jewish Pogroms”, in George Hanna, transl., Lenin’s Collected Works, 4th edition, Progress Publisher, published 1972, pages 252 - 253:

It isn’t surprising that American Jews fear far-right anti-Semitism more than anti-Semitism from any other source: the Anti-Defamation League has found that it is the source of the vast majority of ideologically motivated extremist violence in the U.S.

2020, Joel Swanson, “Are anti-Semitism fears stopping Jewish Dems from supporting Bernie Sanders?”, in The Forward:

(narrower sense) Prejudice, discrimination, hostility or political or religious opposition directed against ethnic or religious Jews or against Judaism; antijudaism; judeophobia.

But Israel's policy of anti-semitism against Palestinians was not to the liking of India.

1986, Akhileshwar Singh, Political leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru, page 228:

Debate on Middle East issues is limited by what can only be seen as anti-Arab racism (itself a form of racist anti-semitism, since Arabs are semitic peoples), based on a severe lack of information.

1991 April 6, Steve Rose, “A Human Drama”, in Gay Community News, page 5:

At this university, a faculty member has even gone so far as to declare Zionism a form of anti-Semitism against Palestinians.

2002, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Post-Holocaust and Anti-Semitism, numbers 1-39, page 36:

Bluntly put: if you want to end today's "anti-Semitism" against Jews, end Zionism's "anti-Semitism" against Palestinians.

2003, Jeffrey St Clair, The Politics of Anti-Semitism, page 41:

(broader sense, rare, nonstandard, chiefly in anti-Israel discourse) Prejudice, discrimination or hostility directed against any Semitic people (ancient or modern), such as Samaritans, Palestinians, Arabs or Assyrians.


statutory rape

statutory rape (countable and uncountable, plural statutory rapes)

Historically, statutory rape laws were enacted to protect the chastity and morality of young women. These statutes made it a crime for a man to have sexual intercourse with a young woman under a certain age (usually eighteen), even if the young woman consented to the act. (Today of, course, statuory rape provisions protect minors of both genders.)

1999, Raneta Lawson Mack, A Layperson's Guide to Criminal Law, Greenwood Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 72:

intellectual disability
intellectual disability

(law) An illegal act of sexual intercourse by an adult with a person under the legal age of consent for sex, or with another adult who is not able to consent because of intellectual disability.

lapsenraiskaus

under the legal age of consent; since 2023

under the legal age of consent; prior to 2023

törkeä lapsen seksuaalinen hyväksikäyttö

törkeä seksuaalinen hyväksikäyttö

with an adult who is not able to consent

fiatalkorú sérelmére elkövetett nemi erőszak


shrink

en-verb

shrink (third-person singular simple present shrinks, present participle shrinking, simple past shrank or shrunk, past participle shrunk or shrunken)

shrinks (present singular third-person)
shrinking (participle present)
shrank (past)
shrunk (past)
shrunk (participle past)
shrunken (participle past)

expand

antonym(s) of “to cause to become smaller”

From Middle English schrynken, from Old English sċrincan, from Proto-Germanic *skrinkwaną. Cognate with Dutch schrinken (“to shrink”).
The sense “psychologist, psychotherapist” is a clipping of head-shrinker.

luistaa

intransitive: to attempt to avoid an unwanted or intimidating duty

The dryer shrank my sweater.

The bottom line is this: To shrink your gut, you need to start listening to it.

2008 October, David Schipper, “Outsmart your stomach: Seven ways to fill your gut—and lose it, too”, in Men's Health, volume 23, number 8, →ISSN, page 135:

(transitive) To cause to become smaller.

krimp

transitive: to cause something to shrink

Molly shrank away from the blows of the whip.

(intransitive) To move back or away, especially because of fear or disgust.


shrink

Assuming the retailer's shrink is average or below, and the owner is comfortable with the level of shrink, perhaps nothing more need be done except to maintain vigilance and to monitor the shrink for signs of emerging problems.

2011, Charles Sennewald, John Christman, Retail Crime, Security, and Loss Prevention: An Encyclopedic Reference, page 227:

(uncountable, business) Loss of inventory, for example due to shoplifting or not selling items before their expiration date.


paraskavedekatriaphobia

From Greek Παρασκευή (Paraskeví, “Friday”) + δεκατρείς (dekatreís, “thirteen”) + -phobia.

For quotations using this term, see Citations:paraskavedekatriaphobia.

Friday the thirteenth
Friday the thirteenth

(rare) The fear of Friday the thirteenth.


rupophobia

Possibly from Ancient Greek ῥύπος (rhúpos, “filth”) + -phobia (See rhypophobia). Alternatively, related to Latin rupes (“cliff, rock”).

Patients with rupophobia, the fear of dirt, are at times encountered by the dermatologist. Some of these patients present a traumatic dermatitis, or a self inflicted lesion of the skin.

1925, Transactions of the Section on Dermatology and Syphilology of the American Medical Association at the Annual Session, page 189:

In fact it is known that in rupophobia there is always an obsessional component.

Today we see the triumph of hyper-hygiene, a sort of rupophobia. In a consumerist and fetishist way, this prescribes appearance, aesthetics, and narcissism.

2022, Cosimo Schinaia, Psychoanalysis and Ecology, page 65:


ace

en-adj

ace (comparative more ace, superlative most ace)

more ace (comparative)
most ace (superlative)

"Some people who identify as ace fall under the GLBT umbrella while many others do not. Members of the queer movement have reached out to asexuals to include them in their community. The acronym for this has now become GLBTQA (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, questioning, and asexual)."

2009 June 22, Anneli Rufus, “Asexuals at the Pride Parade”, in Psychology Today:

“I was 14 when I first realized I had no interest in sex,” Jed Strohm, a happily satisfied, romantic asexual from upstate New York, said. “I identified as ace (asexual) and the group leader said I was too attractive.”

2010, Amy Ebersole, "Asexuality, not to be confused with celibacy", The Daily Aztec (San Diego State University), 25 January 2010

“If you identify as ace [asexual] and you just don’t feel like having sex, then for me, sex-positive means, ‘That’s great! It’s fantastic you don’t want to have sex!’” says McGown.

2013 March 28, Andrea Garcia-Vargas, “Ourselves, our sex, our choices”, in The Eye:

(slang) Asexual, not experiencing sexual attraction.


aloha

Borrowed from Hawaiian aloha (“love”), from Proto-Polynesian *qarofa. Doublet of aroha and aropa.

Traveling as the princess regent with a retinue that included Princess Ruth and Queen Kapi‘olani, Lili‘u was welcomed by enormous crowds and lavish outpourings of aloha, as her subjects clasped her knees and kissed her hands and feet to show their reverence.

2012, Julia Flynn Siler, Lost Kingdom, Grove Press, page 91:


zeal

en-noun

zeal (countable and uncountable, plural zeals)

From Middle English zele, from Old French zel, from Late Latin zēlus, from Ancient Greek ζῆλος (zêlos, “zeal, jealousy”), from Proto-Indo-European *yeh₂- (“to search”). Related to jealous.

der

zeal without knowledge is a runaway horse

She extols the virtues of veganism with missionary zeal.

I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Romans 10:2:

Zeal, the blind conductor of the will

1687, [John Dryden], “The Third Part”, in The Hind and the Panther. A Poem, in Three Parts, 2nd edition, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC, page 96:

[…] the highest zeal in religion and the deepest hypocrisy, so far from being inconsistent, are often or commonly united in the same individual character.

1779, David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, part 12, pages 143–144:

[He] would begin admiring her drawings with so much zeal and so little knowledge as seemed terribly like a would-be lover,

1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter 14, in Emma: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC, page 250:

It [Troutbeck] has religious isolation also, for it is several miles—and very strenuous miles in winter—from the parish church at Mungrisdale, and the introduction of the harmonium to the waiting room was due to the zeal of a vicar of many years ago who, in the absence of any other room in the village, obtained permission to use the premises for services, including Sunday School. Most of his successors have continued this self-sacrificing duty.

1951 October, “Notes and News: The Harmonium at Troutbeck”, in Railway Magazine, page 709:

The stockman’s zeal for eliminating the coyote has resulted in plagues of field mice, which the coyote formerly controlled.

1962, Rachel Carson, chapter 15, in Silent Spring, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, page 248:

The fervour or tireless devotion for a person, cause, or ideal and determination in its furtherance; diligent enthusiasm; powerful interest.


dear

en-adj

dear (comparative dearer or more dear, superlative dearest or most dear)

dearer (comparative)
more dear (comparative)
dearest (superlative)
most dear (superlative)

From Middle English dere, from Old English dīere (“of great value or excellence, expensive, beloved”), from Proto-West Germanic *diurī, from Proto-Germanic *diurijaz (“dear, precious, expensive”). Cognate with Scots dere, deir (“of great value or worth, highly valued, precious, beloved”), Saterland Frisian djuur (“precious, dear, costly, expensive”), Dutch duur (“costly, precious”), German teuer (“costly, precious”), German Low German düür, Danish dyr (“expensive”), Swedish dyr (“expensive”), Norwegian dyr (“expensive”), Icelandic dýr (“expensive”), Yiddish טייַער (tayer, “precious,expensive”).

cog

(used in translations) 親愛なる (しんあいなる, shin'ai-naru)

tcher (often under French-borrowed "chér")

عَزِيز

an informal way of addressing the recipient in a letter's opening line

(used in translations) 親愛なる (しんあいなる, shin'ai naru)

"Yes, children dear, wait a bit till it turns itself," she answered - she ought to have said "till I turn it"[.]

1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 62:

So this was my future home, I thought![…]Backed by towering hills, the but faintly discernible purple line of the French boundary off to the southwest, a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.

1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter IV, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

"We shall have to put up with whitebait. And, of course, a dear little chicken with peas and roast potatoes."

1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 129:

"I've never met the kind of man I mean." "Tell me about him. What does he look like?" "Oh, he might look very much like you." "How dear of you to say that!"

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

Such dear embrace tenderly comforts even in this dear sorrow.


dear

Pass me the salt, would you dear?

An affectionate, familiar term of address, such as used between husband and wife.


love

en-noun

love (countable and uncountable, plural loves)

From Middle English love, luve, from Old English lufu, from Proto-West Germanic *lubu, from Proto-Germanic *lubō, from Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ- (“love, care, desire”).
The close of a letter sense is presumably a truncation of With love or the like.
The verb is from Middle English loven, luvien, from Old English lufian (“to love”), from Proto-West Germanic *lubōn (“to love”), derived from the noun.
Eclipsed non-native English amour (“love”), borrowed from French amour (“love”).
Cognates include Russian любовь (ljubovʹ), Latin libido (“desire, lust”), Polish lubić and Sanskrit लोभ (lobha, “desire, greed”).

шӏулъэгъуныгъ

šʷʼulˢɛğʷunəğ

The prospect that their cherished Greeks would have countenanced, much less honored, a love between men that expressed itself carnally, however, was not so easily assimilated.

2013, Ronald Long, Men, Homosexuality, and the Gods, Routledge, →ISBN, page 3:

(euphemistic) Sexual desire; attachment based on sexual attraction.

Maybe it was just a summer love, something with no future.

2014, E. L. Todd, Then Came Absolution, →ISBN:

An instance or episode of being in love; a love affair.


love

Now widely believed (due to historical written record) to be from the idea that when one does a thing “for love” it is for no monetary gain, the word “love” thus implying "nothing".
The former assumption that it had originated from French l’œuf (literally “the egg”), due to its shape, has largely been discredited and is no longer widely accepted. However, the apparent similarity of the shape of an egg to a zero has inspired similar analogies, such as the use of duck (reputed to be short for duck's egg) for a zero score at cricket, and goose egg for "zero".

So that’s fifteen-love to Kournikova.

The next day Agassi came back from two sets to love down to beat Courier in five sets.

2013, Paul McNamee, Game Changer: My Tennis Life:

(racquet sports, billiards) Zero, no score.


angry

en-adj

angry (comparative angrier or more angry, superlative angriest or most angry)

angrier (comparative)
more angry (comparative)
angriest (superlative)
most angry (superlative)

expressed by a phrase using the noun fearg f "anger"

Angry clouds raced across the sky.

[…]nor dreads he the angry sea[…]

1756, Christopher Smart, “Ode II”, in The Book of the Epodes, translation of original by Horace:

When she and her sister were away at Williamsburg, Nancy and I were more like founderers on a raft adrift in an angry sea.

1997, Kelly Joyce Neff, Dear Companion: The Inner Life of Martha Jefferson, page 92:

(figuratively, said about the elements, like the sky or the sea) Dark and stormy, menacing.


rue

From Middle English rewe, reowe, from Old English hrēow (“sorrow, regret, penitence, repentance, penance”), from Proto-West Germanic *hreuwu (“pain, sadness, regret, repentance”). Compare German reuen (“to regret, to repent”) and Dutch berouwen (“to regret, to repent”). Also compare with related Russian сокруша́ться (sokrušátʹsja, “to be distressed, to grieve (for, over)”), Russian круши́ть (krušítʹ, “to destroy, to shatter”).

cog

сокруша́ться

When I was one-and-twenty I heard him say again,
 "The heart out of the bosom was never given in vain;
 'Tis paid with sighs aplenty and sold for endless rue."
 And I am two-and-twenty, and oh, 'tis true, 'tis true.

1896, A[lfred] E[dward] Housman, “[Poem] XIII”, in A Shropshire Lad, New York, N.Y.: John Lane Company, The Bodley Head, published 1906, →OCLC, stanza 2, page 21:

(archaic or dialectal) Sorrow; repentance; regret.


blue

en-adj

blue (comparative bluer or more blue, superlative bluest or most blue)

bluer (comparative)
more blue (comparative)
bluest (superlative)
most blue (superlative)

antiblue

antonym(s) of “having blue as its colour charge”

Tok Pisin: blu

→ Fiji Hindi: bulu

→ Shona: bhuluu

→ Somali: buluug

→ Swahili: bluu, buluu

→ Tooro: bururu

From Middle English blewe, from Anglo-Norman blew (“blue”), from Middle French bleu, from Old French blöe, bleve, blef (“blue”), from Frankish *blāu (“blue”) (perhaps through a Late Latin blāvus, blāvius (“blue”) attested from Isidore of Seville), from Proto-Germanic *blēwaz (“blue, dark blue”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰlēw- (“yellow, blond, grey”). Cognate with dialectal English blow (“blue”), Scots blue, blew (“blue”), North Frisian bla, blö (“blue”), Saterland Frisian blau (“blue”), Dutch blauw (“blue”), German blau (“blue”), Danish, Norwegian and Swedish blå (“blue”), Icelandic blár (“blue”), Latin flāvus (“yellow”), Middle Irish blá (“yellow”). Doublet of blow.
Possibly related also to English blee (“colour”), from Old English blēo (“colour”); but direct derivatives of Proto-Germanic *blēwaz (“blue, dark blue”) in Old English include: Old English blāw and blēo (“blue”), Old English blǣwen (“bluish, light-blue”), blǣhǣwen (“blue-coloured, bluish, violet or purple colour”, literally “blue-hued”). There seems to be a parallel connection in Germanic between words for blue and colour, dually exemplified by Proto-West Germanic *blīu (“colour, blee”) and *blāu (“blue”); and Proto-Germanic *hiwją (“colour, hue”) and *hēwijaz (“blue, purple”).
The sense "obscene, pornographic" is apparently from the colour; various theories exist as to how it arose, including that it is from the colour of the envelopes used to contain missives of the censors and managers to vaudevillian performers on objectionable material from their acts that needed to be excised.

m+

“Heavens!” exclaimed Nina, “the blue-stocking and the fogy!—and yours are pale blue, Eileen!—you’re about as self-conscious as Drina—slumping there with your hair tumbling à la Mérode! Oh, it's very picturesque, of course, but a straight spine and good grooming is better.[…]”

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

"Will you play some of the 'Garden' now?" she asked. "I think I should like it. I'm just the least bit blue."

1904, Guy Wetmore Carryl, The Transgression of Andrew Vane, Henry Holt and Company, page 140:

But I'm bluer than blue / Sadder than sad.

I live in a blue constituency.  Congress turned blue in the mid-term elections.

(politics) Supportive of, run by (a member of), pertaining to, or dominated by a political party represented by the colour blue.

(US politics) Supportive of, run by (a member of), pertaining to, or dominated by the Democratic Party.

belau

blue-colored — see also dark blue, light blue


blue

en-noun

blue (countable and uncountable, plural blues)


laugh

laugh Recorded laughter of a woman (canonical)
laughs (plural)

From Middle English laughen, laghen, from (Anglian) Old English hlæhhan, hlehhan, (West Saxon) hliehhan, from Proto-West Germanic *hlahhjan, from Proto-Germanic *hlahjaną.
cognates
Germanic: (with j-present) Scots lauch, Icelandic hlæja, Norwegian, Swedish and Danish le; (without) Low German lachen, Dutch lachen, German lachen.
Indo-European: Russian клекота́ть (klekotátʹ), клокота́ть (klokotátʹ), клохта́ть (kloxtátʹ) ‘to cluck, cackle’, Ancient Greek κλώζω (klṓzō), κλώσσω (klṓssō) ‘to cackle, clack’, Welsh cloch ‘bell’, possibly Latin glōcīre ‘to cluck’.

And the loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind.

1803, Oliver Goldsmith, The Poetical Works of Oliver Goldsmith, M.B.: With an Account of His Life, page 45:

That man is a bad man who has not within him the power of a hearty laugh.

1869, F. W. Robertson, Lectures and Addresses on Literary and Social Topics, page 87:

His deep laughs boomed through the room.

An expression of mirth particular to the human species; the sound heard in laughing; laughter.

lag

expression of mirth peculiar to the human species


cool

en-adj

cool (comparative cooler, superlative coolest)

cooler (comparative)
coolest (superlative)

→ Chinese: 酷 (kù)

→ Danish: cool

→ Dutch: cool

→ French: cool

→ German: cool

→ Hebrew: קוּל (kul)

→ Japanese: クール (kūru)

⇒ Japanese: クーデレ (kūdere)

→ English: kuudere

→ Polish: cool

→ Romanian: cool

→ Serbo-Croatian:

Cyrillic script: кул

Latin script: kul

→ Spanish: cool

→ Swedish: cool

→ Turkish: cool

From Middle English cool, from Old English cōl (“cool, cold, tranquil, calm”), from Proto-West Germanic *kōl(ī), from Proto-Germanic *kōlaz, *kōluz (“cool”), from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“cold”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian köil (“cool”), West Frisian koel (“cool”), Dutch koel (“cool”), Limburgish kool (“cool”), German Low German köhl (“cool”), German kühl (“cool”). Related to cold.

inh

Be cool. There's no need to panic.

(of a person) Not showing emotion; calm and in control of oneself.

2008, Lou Schuler, "Foreward", in Nate Green, Built for Show, page xii
The fact that I was middle-aged, bald, married, and raising girls instead of chasing them didn't really bother me. Muscles are cool at any age.

(informal, originally African-American Vernacular) Fashionable; trendy and hip.


melancholy

en-noun

melancholy (countable and uncountable, plural melancholies)

From Middle English malencolie, from Old French melancolie, from Ancient Greek μελαγχολία (melankholía, “atrabiliousness”), from μέλας (mélas), μελαν- (melan-, “black, dark, murky”) + χολή (kholḗ, “bile”). Compare the Latin ātra bīlis (“black bile”). The adjectival use is a Middle English innovation, perhaps influenced by the suffixes -y, -ly. Doublet of melancholia.

uder

My mind was troubled with deep melancholy.

1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], line 34:

I have neither the scholar’s melancholy, which is emulation; nor the musician’s, which is fantastical; nor the courtier’s, which is proud; nor the soldier’s, which is ambitious; nor the lawyer’s, which is politic; nor the lady’s, which is nice; nor the lover’s, which is all these; but it is a melancholy of mine own, compounded of many simples, extracted from many objects, and, indeed, the sundry contemplation of my travels; in which my often rumination wraps me in a most humorous sadness.

c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:

"The ancients referred melancholy to the mind, the moderns make it matter of digestion—to either case my plan applies," said Lady Mandeville.

1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter VI, in Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 111:

As to Ernest... He is quite as nervously broken down as I am but it manifests itself in different ways. His inclination is towards megalomania and mine towards melancholy.

1936 Sept. 15, F. Scott Fitzgerald, letter to Beatrice Dance

Great sadness or depression, especially of a thoughtful or introspective nature.


melancholy

en-adj

melancholy (comparative more melancholy, superlative most melancholy)

more melancholy (comparative)
most melancholy (superlative)

Melancholy people don't talk much.

[…] he is melancholy without cause, and merry against the hair: […]

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 ii]:

“[…] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. […] And then, when you see [the senders], you probably find that they are the most melancholy old folk with malignant diseases. […]”

1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:

It was the same old song / With a melancholy sound

1981, Greg Kihn, Steve Wright, “The Breakup Song (They Don't Write 'Em)”, in RocKihnRoll, performed by The Greg Kihn Band:

(literary) Affected with great sadness or depression.


forlorn

forlorn (comparative forlorner or more forlorn, superlative forlornest or most forlorn)

forlorner (comparative)
more forlorn (comparative)
forlornest (superlative)
most forlorn (superlative)

From Middle English forlorn, forloren, from Old English forloren (past participle of forlēosan (“to lose”)), from Proto-Germanic *fraluzanaz (“lost”), past participle of Proto-Germanic *fraleusaną (“to lose”), equivalent to for- + lorn. Cognate with West Frisian ferlern (“lost”), Saterland Frisian ferlädden (“lost”), Dutch verloren (“lost”), German Low German verloren (“lost”),
German verloren (“lost”), Swedish förlorad (“lost”). See further at lese/leese, lorn.

For miſerie doth braueſt mindes abate, / And make them ſeeke for that they wont to ſcorne, / Of fortune and of hope at once forlorne.

1578–1579, Ed[mund] Sp[enser], “Prosopopoia. Or Mother Hubberds Tale. [...] Dedicated to the Right Honorable the Ladie Compton and Mountegle”, in Complaints. Containing Sundrie Small Poemes of the Worlds Vanitie. Whereof the Next Page Maketh Mention, London: Imprinted for VVilliam Ponsonbie, dwelling in Paules Churchyard at the signe of the Bishops head, published 1591, →OCLC:

Some ſay that Rauens foſter forlorne children, / The whilſt their owne birds famiſh in their neſts: / Oh be to me though thy hard hart ſay no, / Nothing ſo kinde but ſomething pittiful.

c. 1588–1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Most Lamentable Romaine Tragedie of Titus Andronicus: […] (First Quarto), London: […] Iohn Danter, and are to be sold by Edward White & Thomas Millington, […], published 1594, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:

More join us at Colwall and at the lovely station at Great Malvern, although the place is in need of some TLC nowadays. The ornate canopy supports are overdue a repaint, and the closed cafe gives the place a forlorn air.

2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 67:

For here forlorn and loſt I tread, / With fainting ſteps and ſlow; / Where wilds immeaſurably ſpread, / Seem lengthening as I go.

1766, [Oliver Goldsmith], “A Ballad”, in The Vicar of Wakefield: […], volume I, Salisbury, Wiltshire: […] B. Collins, for F[rancis] Newbery, […], →OCLC, page 70:

This is the Maiden all forlorn, That milked the Cow with the crumpled Horn[.]

1784, The House that Jack Built, page 8:

The condition of the besieged, in the mean time, was forlorn in the extreme; not so much from want of food, though their supplies were scanty, as from excessive toil and exposure.

1857, William H[ickling] Prescott, “War with France. 1557.”, in History of the Reign of Philip the Second, King of Spain, new edition, volume I, London: G[eorge] Routledge & Co., Farringdon Street, page 125:

Sweet are familiar songs, tho' Music dips / Her hollow shell in Thought's forlornest wells: / And sweet, tho' sad, the sound of midnight bells, / When the oped casement with the night-rain drips.

1859, Owen Meredith [pseudonym; Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton], “The Wanderer”, in Poems by Owen Meredith. The Wanderer and Clytemnestra, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, prologue, part I, stanza 1, page 17:

Come, stack arms, Men! Pile on the rails; stir up the campfire bright; no matter if the canteen fails, we'll make a roaring night. Here Shenandoah brawls along, there burly Blue Ridge echoes strong, to swell the Brigade's rousing song, of “Stonewall Jackson’s Way.”
We see him now — the old slouched hat cocked o’er his eye askew, the shrewd, dry smile, the speech so pat, so calm, so blunt, so true. The “Blue-Light Elder” knows ’em well; says he, “That’s Banks — he’s fond of shell; Lord save his soul! We’ll give him” — well, that’s “Stonewall Jackson’s Way.”
Silence! Ground arms! Kneel all! Caps off! Old Blue Light’s going to pray. Strangle the fool that dares to scoff: Attention! 'Tis his way. Appealing from his native sod in forma pauperis to God: “Lay bare thine arm, stretch forth thy rod! Amen!” That’s “Stonewall’s Way.”
He’s in the saddle now. Fall in! Steady, the whole brigade! Hill’s at the ford, cut off — we’ll win his way out, ball and blade! What matter if our shoes are worn? What matter if our feet are torn? “Quick step! We’re with him before the morn!” That’s “Stonewall Jackson’s Way.”
The sun’s bright lances rout the mists of morning, and by George! Here’s Longstreet struggling in the lists, hemmed in an ugly gorge. Pope and his Yankees, whipped before, “Bay’nets and grape!” hear Stonewall roar; “Charge, Stuart! Pay off Ashby’s score!” in “Stonewall Jackson’s Way.”
Ah! Maiden, wait and watch and yearn for news of Stonewall’s band! Ah! Widow read with eyes that burn that ring upon thy hand. Ah! Wife, sew on, pray on, hope on! Thy life shall not be all forlorn. The foe had better ne’er been born that gets in “Stonewall’s Way.”

1862, John Williamson Palmer, Stonewall Jackson's Way

Sophia broke down here. Even at this moment she was subconsciously comparing her rendering of the part of the forlorn bride with Miss Marie Lohr's.

1921, Ben Travers, A Cuckoo in the Nest, London: The Bodley Head, →OCLC; republished Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1925, →OCLC, page 67:

Pitifully sad, wretched, miserable; lonely, especially from feeling abandoned, deserted, forsaken.

To begin therefore with Traditions, which is your forlorn hope that in the first place we are to set upon: this must I needs tell you before we begin, that you much mistake the matter, if you think that traditions of all sorts promiscuously are struck at by our religion.

1625, James Ussher, “Of Traditions”, in An Ansvver to a Challenge Made by a Iesuite in Ireland. Wherein the Iudgment of Antiquity in the Points Questioned, is Truly Delivered, and the Noveltie of the Now Romish Doctrine Plainely Discovered by Iames Vssher bishop of Meath. Whereunto is Added a Sermon Preached before His Majesty at Wansted, by the Same Author, London: Printed [by Humphrey Lownes] for the Society of Stationers, →OCLC; republished in C[harles] R[ichard] Elrington, editor, The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, D.D. Lord Archbishop of Armagh, and Primate of All Ireland, volume III, Dublin: Hodges & Smith; London: Whittaker & Co., [1831], →OCLC, page 41:

Well! It is a forlorn hope at the best, and not much the forlorner for being delayed till dark.

1859, Charles Dickens, “Dusk”, in A Tale of Two Cities, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, book III (The Track of a Storm), page 226:

Mrs. Blair had lost her husband, who was a cavalry officer, in Cabool, at the memorable Khyber Pass; but as no precise tidings of his death had every been received, she cherished the forlorn hope that he was still living in captivity among the Affghans, and that some day it would be her happiness yet to be reunited with him, even on earth.

1859, Mowbray Thomson, chapter VII, in The Story of Cawnpore, London: Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street, publisher in ordinary to Her Majesty, →OCLC, pages 119–120:

Now he rushed to the platform edge carrying a full fire bucket, in a forlorn attempt to douse the flames as the now brightly burning wagon rolled past.

2022 January 12, Benedict le Vay, “The heroes of Soham...”, in RAIL, number 948, page 42:


forlorn

The Regiment being drawn up into the former Figure, they may proceed to Firings upon it, firſt let the Forlorns fire five or six times over, being commanded by the eldeſt Captains Lieutenant, who is to be aſſiſted by a couple of able Serjeants; after let him wheel off to the right and left, and bring them down in the Reer of the Pikes. Then let the ſecond Captains Lieutenant being aſſiſted by two Serjeants lead up the reſerves by the out-ſide of the Pikes, at ſuch time when the Forlorns begin to come off, […]

1659, Richard Elton, “Severall Firings to be Performed upon the Former Figure, and how to be Mannaged by the Severall Officers”, in The Compleat Body of the Art Military: Exactly Compiled, and Gradually Composed for the Foot, in the Best Refined Manner, According to the Practice of the Modern Times. …, 2nd edition, London: Printed by R[obert] and W[illiam] Leybourn, in Monkswel-Street, in Lambes Chappel neer Criplegate, →OCLC, book III, page 152:

[…] I ordered the forlorns to advance and to march, at their open order, towards the upland, and by this time the tide was upon the ground wee ſtood on: The forlorn were no ſooner advanced a few rods, before there was firing on both ſides; […]

1765, [Thomas] Hutchinson, “[Appendix.] Number XXI. Major Walley’s Journal in the Expedition against Canada in 1692. A Narrative of the Proceedings to Canada, soe far as Concerned the Land Army.”, in The History of the Colony of Massachuset’s Bay, from the First Settlement thereof in 1628, until Its Incorporation with the Colony of Plimouth, Province of Main, &c. by the Charter of King William and Queen Mary, in 1691, 2nd edition, London: Printed for M. Richardson, in Pater-noster Row, →OCLC, page 556:

I was this day in the van, and our forlorn having entered Huntingdon without any great reſiſtance till they came to the bridge, finding it barricaded, they ſent me word; I cauſed the troops to halt, and rode up to the forlorn, to view the countenance of the enemy, and found by the poſture they had put themſelves in, that they reſolved to ſell us the paſſage as dear as they could.

1782, “a Shropshire gentleman” [i.e., Daniel Defoe], “Memoirs of a Cavalier, &c. Part Second.”, in E. Staveley, editor, The History of the Civil Wars in Germany, from the Year 1630 to 1635: Also Genuine Memoirs of the Wars of England, in the Unhappy Reign of Charles the First; Containing the Whole History of Those Miserable Times; until the King Lost His Head on the Scaffold, in the Memorable Year 1648, Newark, Nottinghamshire: Printed by James Tomlinson, for the publisher, →OCLC, page 339:

The garrison, taken by surprise, had the first intelligence of the assault in the "forlorns plunging into the canal."

1861, Evert A[ugustus] Duyckinck, “Henry Lee”, in National Portrait Gallery of Eminent Americans: Including Orators, Statesmen, Naval and Military Heroes, Jurists, Authors, etc., etc., from the Original Full Length Paintings by Alonzo Chappel. With Biographical and Historical Narratives, [...] In Two Volumes, volume I, New York, N.Y.: Johnson, Fry & Company, 27 Beekman Street, →OCLC, page 236:


AB

en-noun

AB (countable and uncountable, plural ABs)

In this Ordinance, unless the context otherwise requires— A.B. means an able-bodied seaman […]

Section 2(1), Merchant Shipping (Seafarers) Ordinance (Cap. 478)

Initialism of able seaman; able-bodied seaman.

(Australia, Adelaide, countable) A kind of halal snack pack.


disgust

Borrowed from Middle French desgouster, from Old French desgouster (“to put off one's appetite”), from des- (“dis-”) + gouster, goster (“to taste”), from Latin gustus (“a tasting”).

der

With an air of disgust, she stormed out of the room.

An intense dislike or loathing someone feels for something bad or nasty.


polygamy

en-noun

polygamy (countable and uncountable, plural polygamies)

Recorded since 1591, from Late Latin polygamia, from Ancient Greek πολυγαμία (polugamía), itself from πολύγαμος (polúgamos, “married to many”), from πολύς (polús, “many”) + γάμος (gámos, “marriage”). Relates to modern prefix and suffix poly- + -gamy.

تَعَدُّدُ الأَزْوَاج

the having of a plurality of socially bonded sexual partners at the same time

usually understood as “polygyny”, but may include “polyandry”, unlike تَعَدُّدُ الزَّوْجَات (taʕaddudu z-zawjāt)

Though Islam allows polygamy, it is frowned upon in many contemporary Muslim societies.

Because Mormon polygamy was an unusual family form in nineteenth-century America […]

1991, Kathryn M Daynes, Plural wives and the nineteenth-century Mormon marriage system, page 16:

(often, especially in common use) Synonym of polygyny (“marriage of a man to more than one wife, the practice of having several wives at the same time”)


fling

From Middle English fling, from the verb (see below). Compare Icelandic flengur (“a fast sprint”).

I had a fling with a girl I met on holiday.

A short romantic, oftentimes sexual, relationship.


upcheer

en-verb

upcheer (third-person singular simple present upcheers, present participle upcheering, simple past and past participle upcheered)

upcheers (present singular third-person)
upcheering (participle present)
upcheered (participle past)
upcheered (past)

The sad Briana which all this beheld ;
Who comming forth yet full of late affray Sir Calidore upcheard

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


jubilant

en-adj

jubilant (comparative more jubilant, superlative most jubilant)

more jubilant (comparative)
most jubilant (superlative)

From Latin iubilans ("shouting for joy").

be in jubilant mood


euphoria

en-noun

euphoria (countable and uncountable, plural euphorias)

From New Latin euphoria, from Ancient Greek εὐφορίᾱ (euphoríā), from εὔφορος (eúphoros, “bearing well”), from εὐ- (eu-, “well”) + φέρω (phérō, “to bear”).

The runner was in (a state of) absolute euphoria after winning his first marathon.

An excited state of joy; a feeling of intense happiness.


disdain

From Middle English disdeynen, from Old French desdeignier (modern French dédaigner).

The leaves and fruit maintain'd with beauty's sun ; Exempt from envy , but not from disdain

c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]:

(obsolete) The state of being despised; shame.


down

up

antonym(s) of “From the higher end to the lower”

From Middle English doun, from Old English dūne, aphetic form of adūne, from ofdūne (“off the hill”). For the development from directional phrases to prepositions, compare Middle Low German dāle (“(in/to the) valley”), i.e. "down(wards)".

noncog

I'll see you later down the pub.

(colloquial) At (a given place that is seen as removed from one's present location or other point of reference).


down

en-adj

down (comparative more down, superlative most down)

more down (comparative)
most down (superlative)

Mary seems very down since she split up with her boyfriend.

Been down so long it seems like up to me

We get down, down, down / We feel sorry for ourselves / We get down, down, down / We all need somebody's help

2011, Rachel Platten (lyrics and music), “Overwhelmed”, in Be Here:

You say you opened up a bicycle wash and the first six customers drowned [...] Is that what’s got you down, pussy cat?

2014 March 30, William Yardley, quoting Eddie Lawrence, “Eddie Lawrence Dies at 95; Comedy's ‘Old Philosopher’”, in New York Times, Arts:

(informal) Sad, unhappy, depressed, feeling low.

We have a chopper down near the river.

(not comparable, military, aviation, slang, of an aircraft) Mechanically failed, collided, shot down, or otherwise suddenly unable to fly.


courage

en-noun

courage (usually uncountable, plural courages)

From Middle English corage, from Old French corage (French courage), from Vulgar Latin *corāticum, from Latin cor (“heart”). Distantly related to cardiac (“of the heart”), which is from Greek, but from the same Proto-Indo-European root. Displaced Middle English elne, ellen, from Old English ellen (“courage, valor”).

A great part of courage is the courage of having done the thing before.

1860, R[alph] W[aldo] Emerson, “Essay IV. Culture.”, in The Conduct of Life, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 120:

There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me.

1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], Pride and Prejudice: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:

It takes a lot of courage to be successful in business.

The quality of being confident, not afraid or easily intimidated, but without being incautious or inconsiderate.

He plucked up the courage to tell her how he felt.

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear.

1897, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], “[Pudd’nhead Wilson] Chapter XII”, in The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson: And the Comedy Those Extraordinary Twins, Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 155:

The ability to overcome one's fear, do or live things which one finds frightening.

“Courage is not simply one of the virtues but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of highest reality.”

1942, C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters:

I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.

1960 July 11, Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Pa., New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC:

Courage isn't having the strength to go on - it is going on when you don't have strength.

1993, Stanley P. Cornils, The Mourning After: How to Manage Grief Wisely:

2008, Maya Angelou, address for the 2008 Cornell University commencement
Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can't practice any other virtue consistently.

I hope you live a life you’re proud of. If you find that you’re not, I hope you have the courage to start all over again.

2008, Eric Roth, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Screenplay:

The ability to maintain one's will or intent despite either the experience of fear, frailty, or frustration; or the occurrence of adversity, difficulty, defeat or reversal. Moral fortitude.


courage

en-verb

courage (third-person singular simple present courages, present participle couraging, simple past and past participle couraged)

courages (present singular third-person)
couraging (participle present)
couraged (participle past)
couraged (past)

1530, William Tyndale, An Answer unto Sir Thomas More's Dialogue:
Paul writeth unto Timothy, to instruct him, to teach him, to exhort, to courage him, to stir him up,


bi

I'm straight, but my oldest sister is bi.


bi

For some reason, I'm feeling _very_ sensitive to bi-discrimination tonight. I'm really not trying to mock the points being made here, it's just that many of the same arguments can be turned around and used to describe the discrimination that bis face.

1991 October 10, Ken Jones, “Re: Bisexual privilege? (Was Re: Tom Robinson Concert”, in soc.motss (Usenet):


heart

en-noun

heart (countable and uncountable, plural hearts)

Torres Strait Creole: at

→ Bengali: হার্ট (harṭ)

→ Cantonese: heart

→ Cebuano: Heart

→ Irish: hart

→ Japanese: ハート (hāto); ハツ (hatsu) (from hearts)

→ Korean: 하트 (hateu)

→ Tagalog: Heart

PIE word
 *ḱḗr
From Middle English herte, from Old English heorte (“heart”), from Proto-West Germanic *hertā, from Proto-Germanic *hertô (“heart”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱérd (“heart”). Doublet of cardia; see also core.
Most of the modern figurative senses (such as passion or compassion, spirit, inmost feelings, especially love, affection, and courage) were present in Old English. However, the meaning “center” dates from the early 14th century.
The verb sense “to love” is from the 1977 I ❤ NY advertising campaign.

the way to a man's heart is through his stomach

a good, tender, loving, bad, hard, or selfish heart

Upon his browes was pourtraid vgly death, / And in his eies the furies of his heart, / That ſhine as Comets, menacing reueng, / And caſts a pale complexion on his cheeks.

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:

Calm and deep peace in this wide air,
These leaves that redden to the fall;
And in my heart, if calm at all,
If any calm, a calm despair: […]

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

The seat of the affections or sensibilities, collectively or separately, as love, hate, joy, grief, courage, etc.; rarely, the seat of the understanding or will; usually in a good sense; personality.

قَلْب

seat of affections, understanding or will


sorry

en-adj

sorry (comparative sorrier, superlative sorriest)

sorrier (comparative)
sorriest (superlative)

From Middle English sory, from Old English sāriġ (“feeling or expressing grief, sorry, grieved, sorrowful, sad, mournful, bitter”), from Proto-West Germanic *sairag, from Proto-Germanic *sairagaz (“sad”), from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂yro (“hard, rough, painful”). Cognate with Scots sairie (“sad, grieved”), Saterland Frisian seerich (“sore, inflamed”), West Frisian searich (“sad, sorry”), Low German serig (“sick, scabby”), German dialectal sehrig (“sore, sad, painful”), Swedish sårig. Despite the similarity in form and meaning, not related to sorrow. Equivalent to sore + -y.

cog

I am sorry I stepped on your toes. It was an accident.

(of a person) Regretful or apologetic for one's actions.

stare dispiaciuto

Dispiacere can mean "to make one regret."

lamentans (literally “regretting”) (present participle of lamentāre)

I am sorry for your loss.

The President was sorry to hear that the Ambassador was leaving.

(of a person) Grieved or saddened, especially by the loss of something or someone.

saber greu

translates as "to make one be sorry" in the sympathetic sense

lamentar

translates as "to be sorry" in the sympathetic sense

The storm left his garden in a sorry state.

Bob is a sorry excuse for a football player.

The sorry experience did little to suggest that Musk knows how to run a social media platform or that DeSantis is capable of governing a global superpower armed with nuclear weapons.

2023 May 25, David Smith, “Failure to launch: Twitter glitches deal double blow to Elon Musk and Ron DeSantis”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:


sorry

→ Czech: sorry

→ Dutch: sorry
→ Papiamentu: sòri

→ German: sorry

→ Finnish: sori

→ Hindi: सॉरी (sŏrī)

→ Korean: 쏘리 (ssori)

→ Polish: sorry, sorki

→ Scots: sorry, sorra

→ Spanish: sorry

→ Swedish: sorry

→ Welsh: sorri

→ Luxembourgish: sorry

다시 한번 더 말씀해주시겠어요?

dasi hanbeon deo malsseumhaejusigesseoyo?

Sorry! I didn't see that you were on the phone.

Sorry about yesterday. — No worries.

죄송해요

little more polite, little less informal

معاف کیجئے (ma'āf kījie, literally “forgive me”)

میں معذرت چاہتا ہوں (ma͠i ma'azirat cāhtā hū̃, literally “I ask forgiveness”)


fear

en-noun

fear (countable and uncountable, plural fears)

From Middle English feer, fere, fer, from Old English fǣr, ġefǣr (“calamity, sudden danger, peril, sudden attack, terrible sight”), from Proto-Germanic *fērō, *fērą (“danger”), from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to attempt, try, research, risk”). Cognate with Dutch gevaar (“danger, risk, peril”), German Gefahr (“danger, risk, hazard”), Swedish fara (“danger, risk, peril”), Latin perīculum (“danger, risk, trial”), Albanian frikë (“fear, danger”), Romanian frică. Doublet of peril.
The verb is from Middle English feren, from Old English fǣran (“to frighten, raven”), from the noun. Cognate with the archaic Dutch verb varen (“to fear; to cause fear”).

inh

The feare of the Lord is the beginning of wisedome.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalm CXI:10:

That sacred dread of all offence to him, which is called the Fear of God.

1846, [John Ruskin], Modern Painters […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, part III (Of Ideas of Beauty), section I (Of the Theoretic Faculty), page 121:

(uncountable) Terrified veneration or reverence, particularly towards God, gods, or sovereigns.


mash

en-verb

mash (third-person singular simple present mashes, present participle mashing, simple past and past participle mashed)

mashes (present singular third-person)
mashing (participle present)
mashed (participle past)
mashed (past)

Either by analogy with mash (“to press, to soften”), or more likely from Romani masha (“a fascinator, an enticer”), mashdva (“fascination, enticement”). Originally used in theater, and recorded in US in 1870s. Either originally used as mash, or a backformation from masher, from masha. Leland writes of the etymology:
: It was introduced by the well-known gypsy family of actors, C., among whom Romany was habitually spoken. The word “masher” or “mash” means in that tongue to allure, delude, or entice. It was doubtless much aided in its popularity by its quasi-identity with the English word. But there can be no doubt as to the gypsy origin of “mash” as used on the stage. I am indebted for this information to the late well-known impresario [Albert Marshall] Palmer of New York, and I made a note of it years before the term had become at all popular.

der

To flirt, to make eyes, to make romantic advances.


want

en-verb

want (third-person singular simple present wants, present participle wanting, simple past and past participle wanted)

wants (present singular third-person)
wanting (participle present)
wanted (participle past)
wanted (past)
want (infinitive)

desc

Chinese Pidgin English: wantchee, 灣治 (Chinese spelling)

Sranan Tongo: wani

From Middle English wanten (“to lack”), from Old Norse vanta (“to lack”), from Proto-Germanic *wanatōną (“to be wanting, lack”), from *wanô (“lack, deficiency”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- (“empty”). Cognate with Middle High German wan (“not full, empty”), Middle Dutch wan (“empty, poor”), Old English wana (“want, lack, absence, deficiency”), Latin vanus (“empty”). See wan, wan-.

cog

What do you want to eat?  I want you to leave.  I never wanted to go back to live with my mother.

And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes. He said that if you wanted to do anything for them, you must rule them, not pamper them. Soft heartedness caused more harm than good.

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

Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.

2013 July-August, Henry Petroski, “Geothermal Energy”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4:

I want to find a supermarket. — Oh, okay. The supermarket is at 1500 Irving Street. It is near the apartment. — Great!
Audio (US): (file)

2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)

(transitive) To wish for or desire (something); to feel a need or desire for; to crave, hanker, or demand.

The game developers of Candy Crush want you to waste large, copious amounts of your money on in-game purchases to buy boosters and lives.

Depression wants you to feel like the world is dark and that you are not worthy of happiness. The first step to making your life better from this day forward is to stop believing these lies.

(by extension) To make it easy or tempting to do something undesirable, or to make it hard or challenging to refrain from doing it.

Ma’am, you are exactly the professional we want for this job.

Danish police want him for embezzlement.

But now it's different, if the police want him for murder.

2010, Fred Vargas, The Chalk Circle Man, Vintage Canada, →ISBN, page 75:

(transitive, in particular) To wish, desire, or demand to see, have the presence of or do business with.

You can leave if you want.

TYRION: You don't want it?
BRAN: I don't really want anymore.

2019 May 5, "The Last of the Starks", Game of Thrones season 8 episode 4 (written by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss)

(intransitive) To desire (to experience desire); to wish.

بد (badd, bidd) (preposition, used with enclitics)

...たがる (...tagaru) (-i verb base + -tagaru, 2nd and 3rd person, 1st person only in the form of "たがっても")


want

en-noun

want (countable and uncountable, plural wants)


happy

en-verb

happy (third-person singular simple present happies, present participle happying, simple past and past participle happied)

happies (present singular third-person)
happying (participle present)
happied (participle past)
happied (past)

From Middle English happy (“fortunate, happy”), perhaps an alteration of Middle English happyn, happen (“fortunate, happy”), possibly related to or from Old Norse heppinn (“fortunate, happy”); and potentially assimilated to be equivalent to hap (“chance, luck, fortune”) + -y. Compare also Icelandic heppinn (“lucky”), Norwegian Nynorsk heppen (“lucky”), Scots happin (“fortunate, blessed”). See further at hap.

der

Whenever I started drinking again after abstaining for any period of time, it usually was an effort to relieve stress and to "happy up."

2001, John L. Bullion, “Jokes”, in In the Boat with LBJ, Plano, Tex.: Republic of Texas Press, →ISBN, page 294:

[H]e smiled […] then asked my name. He checked it against his clipboard then sadly shook his head as if he'd been rejected himself. Told him I was looking for employment and he happied up again, able to help by directing me to apply at the front office, that the doors were on the Gower Street side.

2016 July 18, Wayne Kaatz, chapter 11, in Stuck on Earth, Bloomington, Ind.: Archway Publishing, →ISBN:

(intransitive, informal) Often followed by up: to become happy; to brighten up, to cheer up.


dampy

en-adj

dampy (comparative more dampy, superlative most dampy)

more dampy (comparative)
most dampy (superlative)

Dispel dampy thoughts.

For, in the easy Vale if she be set below, no
What is she but obscure ? and her more dampy shade
And covert, but a den for beasts of ravin made

1612, Michael Drayton, Poly-Olbion, reprint edition, published 1876, song 7:


queer

queer (comparative queerer, superlative queerest)

queerer (comparative)
queerest (superlative)

→ German: queer, Queer

→ Russian: квир (kvir)

→ Swedish: queer

Attested since about 1510, at first in Scots. Usually taken to be from Middle Low German (Brunswick dialect) queer (“oblique, off-center”) or the related German quer (“diagonal”), from Old Saxon thwerh, from Proto-West Germanic *þwerh, from Proto-Germanic *þwerhaz, from Proto-Indo-European *terkʷ- (“to turn, twist, wind”); compare Latin torqueō, and see more at thwart. The OED argues against this due to the semantic differences and the date at which the word appears in Scots.
Began to be used to describe gay people in the late 1800s, see usage notes for more.

der

An old long-faced, long-bodied servant, gave a queer look

1824, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], Tales of a Traveller, (please specify |part=1 to 4), Philadelphia, Pa.: H[enry] C[harles] Carey & I[saac] Lea, […], →OCLC:

“I wish I hadn’t cried so much!” said Alice, as she swam about, trying to find her way out. “I shall be punished for it now, I suppose, by being drowned in my own tears! That will be a queer thing, to be sure! However, everything is queer to-day.”

1865 November (indicated as 1866), Lewis Carroll [pseudonym; Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], “The Pool of Tears”, in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, pages 23–24:

One thing has struck me as a bit queer. During my two terms of office the whole Democratic press, and the morbidly honest and 'reformatory' portion of the Republican press, thought it horrible to keep U.S. troops stationed in the Southern States, and when they were called upon to protect the lives of negroes–as much citizens under the Constitution as if their skins were white–the country was scarcely large enough to hold the sound of indignation belched forth by them for some years. Now, however, there is no hesitation about exhausting the whole power of the government to suppress a strike on the slightest intimation that danger threatens.

1877, Ulysses S. Grant, The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant: November 1, 1876-September 30, 1878, page 252:

It looked queer to me to see boxes labeled "His Excellency, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America." The packages so labeled contained Bass ale or Cognac brandy, which cost "His Excellency" less than we Yankees had to pay for it. Think of the President drinking imported liquors while his soldiers were living on pop-corn and water!

1885, David Dixon Porter, Incidents and Anecdotes of the Civil War, page 274:

Of all the queer collections of humans outside of a crazy asylum, it seemed to me this sanitarium was the cup winner. […] When you're well enough off so's you don't have to fret about anything but your heft or your diseases you begin to get queer, I suppose.

1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter V, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

“’Tis a queer book - here, leave me git on my spectacles - ” The old man fumbled among his rags, producing a pair of dirty and amazingly antique glasses (...)

1920, H. P. Lovecraft, w:The Picture in the House:

1927, J. B. S. Haldane, “Possible Worlds” in Possible Worlds and Other Papers, London: Chatto & Windus,
Now, my own suspicion is that the universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose.

A queer look came over John Arable's face. He seemed almost ready to cry himself.

1952, E. B. White, Charlotte's Web, page 3:

Though it may seem very queer,
we've got no jobs to give you here,
so we are sending you to Vietnam.

1965, “Lyndon Johnson Told the Nation”, Tom Paxton (lyrics), Tom Paxton (music):

(dated outside Ireland, Scotland and England) Weird, odd, or different; whimsical.

(colloquial, sometimes derogatory) Non-heterosexual or non-cisgender: homosexual, bisexual, asexual, transgender, etc.


queer

(colloquial, sometimes derogatory) A person of any non-heterosexual sexuality or sexual identity.

janet

slang: person of atypical sexuality or sexual identity


queer

en-verb

queer (third-person singular simple present queers, present participle queering, simple past and past participle queered)

queers (present singular third-person)
queering (participle present)
queered (participle past)
queered (past)

If I go, for instance, to the history of the church in Latin America, and decide to queer the history of the Jesuitic Missions, I may find that, in many ways, the missions were more sexual than Christian.

2003, Marcella Althaus-Reid, The Queer God, page 9:

Jonathan Goldberg further explores the implications of queering history in his essay in the same volume.

2006, Carla Freccero, Queer/Early/Modern, page 80:

We might say that there has been a ‘queering’ of urban studies insofar as the metropolitan lives, subcultures and social movements of gays and lesbians are now seen as valid objects of study.

2013, Mark Davidson, Deborah Martin, chapter 8, in Urban Politics: Critical Approaches, SAGE, →ISBN:

(social sciences) To reevaluate or reinterpret (a work) with an eye to sexual orientation and/or to gender, as by applying queer theory.

(slang, LGBT, neologism) To make a work more appealing or attractive to LGBT people, such as by not having strict genders for playable characters.


fervent

en-adj

fervent (comparative more fervent, superlative most fervent)

more fervent (comparative)
most fervent (superlative)

From Middle English fervent, from Old French fervent, from Latin fervens, ferventem, present participle of fervere (“to boil, ferment, glow, rage”).

As I returned my fervent hopes were dashed by so many fears.

1819, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, chapter 3, in Mathilda:

Exhibiting particular enthusiasm, zeal, conviction, persistence, and/or belief.

пламенен

exhibiting particular enthusiasm, zeal, conviction, persistence, or belief


kick off

en-verb

kick off (third-person singular simple present kicks off, present participle kicking off, simple past and past participle kicked off)

kicks off (present singular third-person)
kicking off (participle present)
kicked off (participle past)
kicked off (past)

Coordinate term: set off

Let's kick off this project with a planning meeting.

The project kicked off with an energy-sapping meeting.

Not since Coventry in 1992 has a Premier League side kicked off a campaign with an all-English XI but things have reached the point where, of the 61 signings who have cost the elite division's 20 clubs a transfer fee this summer, only 12 have involved Englishmen.

2013 August 19, Louise Taylor, “English talent gets left behind as Premier League keeps importing”, in The Guardian:

On Saturday the group kicked off a weekend of activity ahead of its summer uprising this week, which aims to disrupt five major UK cities and shock people into action against the climate crisis.

2019 July 13, Nosheen Iqbal, “Extinction Rebellion kick off weekend of protest with Dalston blockade”, in The Observer:

To kick it all off, there's a street parade through the Todd Mall, followed by a full-day of competitions with a lolly scramble for the kids[.]

2022 August 1, Off the Leash, Darwin, NT, page 6, column 1:

(transitive, intransitive, idiomatic) To start; to launch; to set in motion.


damp

en-adj

damp (comparative damper, superlative dampest)

damper (comparative)
dampest (superlative)

From Middle English dampen (“to stifle; suffocate”). Akin to Low German damp, Dutch damp, and German Dampf (“vapor, steam, fog”), Icelandic dampi, Swedish damm (“dust”), and to German dampf imperative of dimpfen (“to smoke”). Also Middle English dampen (“to extinguish, choke, suffocate”). Ultimately all descend from Proto-Germanic *dampaz.

der

27 July 2016, Jane O’Faherty in The Irish Independent, Monarchs and prison officers win big on second race day
Though Travis's 'Why does it always Rain on Me' boomed around the stands, there were few damp spirits in Galway on day two of the races.

All these and more came flocking; but with looks / Down cast and damp.

1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 522-3:

(figuratively) Despondent; dispirited, downcast.


damp

en-noun

damp (countable and uncountable, plural damps)

Ev’n now, while thus I stand blest in thy Presence, / A secret Damp of Grief comes o’er my Thoughts,

1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act III, scene i, page 35:

1728, George Carleton (attributed to Daniel Defoe), The Memoirs of an English Officer, London: E. Symon, p. 72,
But though the War was proclaim’d, and Preparations accordingly made for it, the Expectations from all receiv’d a sudden Damp, by the as sudden Death of King William.

It is in this ſpirit that ſome have looked upon thoſe accidents, that caſt an occaſional damp upon trade.

1769, [Edmund Burke], Observations on a Late State of the Nation, London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC, page 33:

No sentiment of shame gave a damp to her triumph.

1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], Pride and Prejudice: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:

[…] Mrs. Gummidge […], I am sorry to relate, cast a damp upon the festive character of our departure, by immediately bursting into tears […]

1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, “I Become Neglected, and am Provided for”, in The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC:

1866, James David Forbes, letter to A. Wills dated 2 January, 1866, in Life and Letters of James David Forbes, London: Macmaillan, 1873, p. 429,
[…] I was concerned to hear from your brother that Mrs. Wills’ health had prevented her accompanying you to Sixt as usual. It must have thrown a damp over your autumn excursion […]

(archaic) Dejection or depression; something that spoils a positive emotion (such as enjoyment, satisfaction, expectation or courage) or a desired activity.

There are sulphurous Vapours which infect the Vegetables, and render the Grass unwholsom to the Cattle that feed upon it: Miners are often hurt by these Steams. Observations made in some of the Mines in Derbyshire, describe four sorts of those Damps.

1733, John Arbuthnot, chapter 1, in An Essay Concerning the Effects of Air on Human Bodies, London: Jacob Tonson, page 19:

(mining, archaic or historical) A gaseous product, formed in coal mines, old wells, pits, etc.


ha

Attested early 14th century, of onomatopoeic origin. Compare Danish ha, Dutch ha, Finnish ha, Hungarian ha, Latin ha, Latvian ha, Swedish ha.

Ha, ha, ha! That’s funny.


philia

philia (countable and uncountable, plural philias)

Borrowed from Ancient Greek φιλία (philía).


hah

Alternative form of heh (Semitic letter)


polygyny

polygyny (countable and uncountable, plural polygynies)

From Ancient Greek πολύ (polú, “many”) + γυνή (gunḗ, “woman, wife”). By surface analysis, poly- + -gyny.

We may infer that in most cases where polygyny exists, monogamy co-exists to a greater extent, and in all other cases to a considerable extent.

1883, Herbert Spencer, The Principles of Sociology, page 685:

The state or practice of having several wives at the same time; plurality of wives; marriage to several wives.


giraffe

Etymology tree
Classical Persian زُرْنَا (zurnā)
Classical Persian پَا (pā)
Classical Persian زُرْنَاپَا (zurnāpā)bor.
Classical Syriac ܙܪܝܦܐbor.
Arabic زُرَافَة (zurāfa)bor.
Italian giraffabor.
Middle French giraffebor.
English giraffe
Borrowed from Middle French giraffe, from Italian giraffa. Displaced camelopard.

etymon

Are you having a giraffe?!

Cockney rhyming slang
Cockney rhyming slang


salty

en-adj

salty (comparative saltier, superlative saltiest)

saltier (comparative)
saltiest (superlative)

PIE word
 *séh₂ls
From Middle English salti, equivalent to salt + -y.
Compare Saterland Frisian soaltig (“salty”), West Frisian sâltich (“salty”), Dutch zoutig (“salty”), German Low German soltig (“salty”), German salzig (“salty”).
(coarse; irritated, annoyed): Referencing the sharp, 'spicy' flavor of salt.
(indignant): Perhaps implying the person is a crybaby, shedding salty tears, or derived from the preceding.

(linguistics) Pertaining to the Sardinian language and those dialects of Catalan, spoken in the Balearic Islands and along the coast of Catalonia, that use definitive articles descended from the Latin ipse (“self”) instead of the Latin ille (“that”).

salat

pertaining to article usage in Catalan dialects


modest

modest (comparative more modest or modester, superlative most modest or modestest)

more modest (comparative)
modester (comparative)
most modest (superlative)
modestest (superlative)

From Middle French modeste, from Latin modestus.

He earns a modest amount of money.

Her latest novel was a modest success.


invertebrate

This week Fifa’s morally invertebrate president, Gianni Infantino, gave a speech that attempted to paint his World Cup as a marker of a grand struggle between the bright new world and corrupt old Europe, with Infantino himself the Mandela at its centre.

2022 November 21, Barney Ronay, “Iran’s brave and powerful gesture is a small wonder from a World Cup of woe”, in The Guardian:

Cowardly, uncourageous; lacking character.


arachnophobia

en-noun

arachnophobia (usually uncountable, plural arachnophobias)

/æˌɹæk.nəˈfəʊ.bɪ.ə/

From arachno- + -phobia, from Ancient Greek ἀράχνη (arákhnē, “spider”) + φόβος (phóbos, “fear”).

der

An abnormal or irrational fear of arachnids, especially spiders.

رُهَاب اَلْعَنَاكِب

an abnormal or irrational fear of spiders


crazy

en-adj

crazy (comparative crazier, superlative craziest)

crazier (comparative)
craziest (superlative)

Why is she so crazy about him?

In love; experiencing romantic feelings.


laughter

en-noun

laughter (usually uncountable, plural laughters)

laughter a person's laughter (canonical)
laughters (plural)

From Middle English laughter, laghter, laȝter, from Old English hleahtor (“laughter, jubilation, derision”), from Proto-Germanic *hlahtraz (“laughter”), from Proto-Indo-European *klek-, *kleg- (“to shout”). Cognate with German Gelächter (“laughter, hilarity, merriment”), Danish and Norwegian latter (“laughter”), Icelandic hlátur (“laughter”). More at laugh.

cog

Their loud laughter betrayed their presence.

There was some laughter, and Roddle was left free to expand his ideas on the periodic visits of cowboys to the town.

1899, Stephen Crane, chapter 1, in Twelve O'Clock:

The sound of laughing, produced by air so expelled; any similar sound.


hilarity

en-noun

hilarity (countable and uncountable, plural hilarities)

From Latin hilaritas, "cheerfulness", from adjective hilaris, "cheerful", ultimately from Greek, + noun of state suffix -tas.

Think it not curious if we don't seem to be as sidesplittingly impressed with the hilarities in this picture as its promotion might lead you to expect. Hilarity is in it—hilarity at its best—as would be almost mandatory in any film with Miss Holliday.

1999, Vincent Canby, Janet Maslin, Peter M. Nichols, The New York times guide to the best 1000 movies ever made:

Many other Latin imports have become staples of our diet, like the burrito, which in Spanish means "little donkey." What other food-related hilarities are we missing out on?

2005, Library journal, volume 130, numbers 8-13, page 122:

(countable) Something that induces laughter.


envy

en-verb

envy (third-person singular simple present envies, present participle envying, simple past and past participle envied)

envies (present singular third-person)
envying (participle present)
envied (participle past)
envied (past)

From Middle English envie, from Old French envie, from Latin invidia (“envy”), from invidere (“to look at with malice”), from in- (“on, upon”) + videre (“to look, see”). Doublet of envie. Cognate to Proto-Slavic *zavistь (“envy”).
Displaced native Old English æfest.

Both jealous of my love, envied each other

c. 1589–1590 (date written), Christopher Marlo[we], edited by Tho[mas] Heywood, The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Iew of Malta. […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for Nicholas Vavasour, […], published 1633, →OCLC, (please specify the page):


mania

en-noun

mania (countable and uncountable, plural manias)

Borrowed from Latin mania, from Ancient Greek μανία (manía, “madness”).

2004 March, G. E. Berrios, “Of Mania: introduction (Classic text no. 57)”, in History of Psychiatry, number 15, →DOI, →PMID, pages 105–124:

(psychiatry) The state of abnormally elevated or irritable mood, arousal, and/or energy levels.


slash

Originally a verb of uncertain etymology. Possibly from French esclachier (“to break”). Used in the Wycliffe Bible as slascht (see 1 Kings 5:18) but otherwise unattested until 16th century. Conjunctive use from various applications of the punctuation mark ⟨/⟩. See also slash fiction.

Comments merely allow readers to proclaim themselves mortally offended by the content of a story, despite having been warned in large block letters of INCEST or SLASH (any kind of sex between two men or two women: the term originated with the Kirk/Spock pairing – it described the literal slash between their names).

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

(fandom slang) Slash fiction; fan fiction focused on homoerotic pairing of fictional characters.


slash

en-verb

slash (third-person singular simple present slashes, present participle slashing, simple past and past participle slashed)

slashes (present singular third-person)
slashing (participle present)
slashed (participle past)
slashed (past)

Having read slash for other fandoms (mainly X-Files and Sentinel), I can say the whole gay issue gets dealt with more often in that slash than it does in Trek slash. That's not to say that all the slashers who slash in a "modern-era" show deal with AIDS, homophobia and other gay issues, but some of them do.

1997 December 17, ASCEM, quoting Ruth Gifford, “Re: An Interesting Question, re Slash vs. Gay Fiction”, in alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated (Usenet):

(intransitive, fandom slang) To write slash fiction.


morose

en-adj

morose (comparative more morose or moroser, superlative most morose or morosest)

more morose (comparative)
moroser (comparative)
most morose (superlative)
morosest (superlative)

From French morose, from Latin mōrōsus (“particular, scrupulous, fastidious, self-willed, wayward, capricious, fretful, peevish”), from mōs (“way, custom, habit, self-will”). See moral.

der

If there is any boy or man who loves to be melancholy and morose, and who cannot enter with kindly sympathy into the regions of fun, let me seriously advise him to shut my book and put it away. It is not meant for him.

1857, R. M. Ballantyne, The Coral Island:

Sullen, gloomy; showing a brooding ill humour.

մռայլ

sullen, gloomy; showing a brooding ill humour


regret

en-noun

regret (countable and uncountable, plural regrets)

From Middle English regretten, regreten, from Old French regreter, regrater (“to lament”), from re- (intensive prefix) + *greter, *grater (“to weep”), from Frankish *grātan (“to weep, mourn, lament”), from Proto-Germanic *grētaną (“to weep”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰreh₁d- (“to sound”); and Frankish *greutan (“to cry, weep”), from Proto-Germanic *greutaną (“to weep, cry”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrewd- (“to weep, be sad”), equivalent to re- + greet. Cognate with Old High German grāzan (“to cry”), Old English grǣtan (“to weep, greet”), Old English grēotan (“to weep, lament”), Old Norse gráta (“to weep, groan”), Gothic 𐌲𐍂𐌴𐍄𐌰𐌽 (grētan, “to weep”). More at greet.

der

Is it a vertue to have some ineffective regrets to damnation, and such a Vertue too, as shall serve to ballance all our vices?

1667, Richard Allestree, The Causes of the Decay of Christian Piety:


querulous

en-adj

querulous (comparative more querulous, superlative most querulous)

more querulous (comparative)
most querulous (superlative)

From Old French querelos, from Late Latin querulōsus, from Latin querulus, from queror (“I complain”).

“Nay, you said as much before,” said the querulous old man, “and yet I was put forth from Kinross, and pillaged by troopers on the road.—[…]”

1820, [Walter Scott], chapter XI, in The Abbot. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne & Co.] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Company, and John Ballantyne, […], →OCLC, page 350:

"But how am I to obtain such treaty?" asked Monsieur, in a querulous tone.

1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter IX, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 101:

The nights were now cold, gemmed with a multitude of bright stars, uncanny with the querulous wail of coyotes and the occasional deep voices of wolves.

1922, A. M. Chisholm, A Thousand a Plate:

In contrast, the Westminster Gazette in 1912 was much more positive about railway staff, praising the "...army of porters hustling and bustling hither and thither with barrows groaning under the weight of bags and baggage and... the ever-patient and long-suffering guards, courteously giving information and advice to the querulous passengers... to the porter the Christmas season means a continuous round of heavy labour, extremely tiring to both nerves and temper, and this fact the public too often seem either to forget or ignore."

2022 December 14, David Turner, “The Edwardian Christmas getaway...”, in RAIL, number 972, page 35:

Often complaining; suggesting a complaint in expression; fretful, whining.


rash

en-verb

rash (third-person singular simple present rashes, present participle rashing, simple past and past participle rashed)

rashes (present singular third-person)
rashing (participle present)
rashed (participle past)
rashed (past)

PIE word
 *wréh₂ds
Probably an aphetic form of arace (“to tear up by the roots; to draw away”) (obsolete), from Middle English aracen (“to remove (something) by force, pluck or pull out, tear out; to grab; to lacerate; to flay or skin (an animal); to erase, obliterate”) [and other forms], from Old French aracer, arachier (“to pull off (by physical force)”) [and other forms] (whence Anglo-Norman racher, aracher (“to pluck out, pull out”); modern French arracher (“to pull up, tear out, uproot; to extract, take out (a tooth); to peel, pull off, rip off; to buy, snap up; to fight over; to tear (oneself) away from”)), a variant of esrachier (“to eradicate, get rid of”), from Latin exrādīcāre, ērādīcāre, the present active infinitive of ērādīcō (“to root out; to annihilate, extirpate”), from ē- (a variant of ex- (prefix meaning ‘away; out’)) + rādīx (“root of a plant”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wréh₂ds (“root”)) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs).

cog

There Marinell great deeds of armes did ſhevv; / And through the thickeſt like a Lyon flevv, / Raſhing off helmes, and ryuing plates a ſonder, / That euery one his daunger did eſchevv.

1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 8, page 214:

His Creſt is raſh'd away; his ample Shield / Is falſify'd and round with Jav'lins fill'd.

1697, Virgil, “The Ninth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 496, lines 1094–1095:

Chiefly followed by away, down, off, out, etc.: to pluck, pull, or rip (something) violently.


switch

→ Gulf Arabic: سويچ (swīč)

→ German: Switch

Perhaps from Middle Dutch swijch (“twig”). First attested in c. 1592.

камута́тар

system allowing the interconnection of telephone lines

(firearms, slang) Synonym of Glock switch.

(slang, metonymically) A Glock pistol equipped with a Glock switch.


pleasure

en-noun

pleasure (countable and uncountable, plural pleasures)

From Early Modern English pleasur, plesur, alteration (with ending accommodated to -ure) of Middle English plaisir (“pleasure”), from Old French plesir, plaisir (“to please”), infinitive used as a noun, conjugated form of plaisir or plaire, from Latin placeō (“to please, to seem good”), from the Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂-k- (“wide and flat”). Related to Dutch plezier (“pleasure, fun”). More at please.

der

He remembered with pleasure his home and family.

I get a lot of pleasure from watching others work hard while I relax.

But the only statistic that will concern West Brom will be the scoreline, and their manager Roy Hodgson will take considerable pleasure from a victory over the club he managed for just 191 days.

2012 April 22, Sam Sheringham, “Liverpool 0-1 West Brom”, in BBC Sport:

Maximize all the pleasure / Even with all this weather / Nothing can make it better / Maximize all the pleasure

2019, Toro y Moi (lyrics and music), “Ordinary Pleasure”, in Outer Peace:

(uncountable) A state of being pleased or contented; gratification.

kéj

the latter two often imply sexual pleasure


triskaidekaphobia

From triskaideka- (“thirteen”) + -phobia.

Fear or dislike of the number thirteen (13).


ship

(fandom slang) A fictional romantic relationship between two characters, either real or themselves fictional, especially one explored in fan fiction.


ship

en-verb

ship (third-person singular simple present ships, present participle shipping, simple past and past participle shipped)

ships (present singular third-person)
shipping (participle present)
shipped (participle past)
shipped (past)

→ Spanish: shippear, shipear

I ship Kirk and Spock in “Star Trek”.

I ship Peggy and Angie in “Marvel's Agent Carter”.

I should warn you that I could not identify a ‘dank meme’ if the fate of the working class depended on it and that I shall not be ‘shipping’ Lenin and Trotsky.

2017, Helen Razer, Total Propaganda: Basic Marxist Brainwashing for the Angry and the Young, Allen & Unwin, →ISBN:

(fandom slang) To support or approve of a fictional romantic relationship between two characters, typically in fan fiction or other fandom contexts.


♥ (third-person singular simple present ♥s or ♥'s, present participle ♥ing or ♥'ing, simple past and past participle ♥ed or ♥'ed or ♥'d)

♥s (present singular third-person)
♥'s (present singular third-person)
♥ing (participle present)
♥'ing (participle present)
♥ed (participle past)
♥ed (past)
♥'ed (participle past)
♥'ed (past)
♥'d (participle past)
♥'d (past)

I♥NY [I love New York.]

I ♥ U.

Stylistic substitution for the word love.


ambisexual

en-adj

ambisexual (comparative more ambisexual, superlative most ambisexual)

more ambisexual (comparative)
most ambisexual (superlative)

From ambi- + -sexual; in modern senses relating to human sexuality, influenced by bisexual.

(slang) Of ambiguous sexual orientation.


faze

en-verb

faze (third-person singular simple present fazes, present participle fazing, simple past and past participle fazed)

fazes (present singular third-person)
fazing (participle present)
fazed (participle past)
fazed (past)

From English dialectal (Kentish) feeze, feese (“to alarm, discomfit, frighten”), from Middle English fēsen (“to chase, drive away; put to flight; discomfit, frighten, terrify”), from Old English fēsan, fȳsan (“to send forth; to hasten, impel, stimulate; to banish, drive away, put to flight; to prepare oneself”), from Proto-West Germanic *funsijan, from Proto-Germanic *funsijaną (“to predispose, make favourable; to make ready”), from Proto-Indo-European *pent- (“to go; to walk”). The word is cognate with Old Saxon fūsian (“to strive”), Old Norse fýsa (“to drive, goad; to admonish”).
Citations for faze in the Oxford English Dictionary start in 1830, and usage was established by 1890.

cog

Jumping out of an airplane does not faze him, yet he is afraid to ride a roller coaster.

But we're / Not getting anywhere. Nothing / fazes her.

1965, Catullus, translated by Barriss Mills, The Carmina of Catullus: A Verse Translation, [West Lafayette, Ind.]: Purdue University Studies, →OCLC, carminum 42, page 71:

In the dreary world / That we're living in / It's fashionable / To let nothing faze you

1978, “Living in a Dream”, in On the Edge, performed by Sea Level:

Some individuals "can't hold their liquor" and become thoroughly intoxicated on small amounts of alcohol which would not faze most social drinkers.

1990, “Assessment”, in Broadening the Base of Treatment for Alcohol Problems: Report of a Study by a Committee of the Institute of Medicine, Division of Mental Health and Behavioral Medicine, Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, →ISBN, section III (Aspects of Treatment), pages 252–253:

He sticks it out even further in the scherzo, fazing the listener with displaced accents, and then inserting a malicious pause just when we seem to have found our feet.

2009, Richard Wigmore, The Faber Pocket Guide to Haydn, London: Faber and Faber, →ISBN, page 192:

[Gareth] Southgate should be absolutely clear now that [Jordan] Pickford is not fazed by the big occasion but, on the flip-side, he might not be too thrilled his goalkeeper was involved so much.

2017 November 10, Daniel Taylor, “Youthful England earn draw with Germany but Lingard rues late miss”, in The Guardian, London, archived from the original on 2018-03-28:

(transitive, informal) To frighten or cause hesitation; to daunt, put off (usually used in the negative); to disconcert, to perturb.

плаша

to frighten or cause hesitation; to daunt, put off; to disconcert, perturb


cantankerous

en-adj

cantankerous (comparative more cantankerous, superlative most cantankerous)

more cantankerous (comparative)
most cantankerous (superlative)

/kænˈtæŋkəɹəs/

/kənˈtæŋkəɹəs/

Perhaps derived from earlier contenkerous, from contentious + rancorous.

"She is a cantankerous old maid," added another, whom I recognised, by his voice, as a man whose attentions I had put a determined check to not six weeks before: "she is a cantankerous old maid, fretting and snarling over the loss of her beauty."

1839, “The youth of Julia Howard”, in Fraser's magazine for town and country, volume 20, page 618:

Murphy's Law never proved itself more accurate than at the Nov. 18 film benefit for Persephone Press. With problems ranging from a cantankerous projector to blown fuses, the presentations of Jan Oxenberg's films were blurred, disrupted and played with lapses in their soundtracks.

1978 December 9, Pat M. Kuras, “A Splice of Lesbian Life”, in Gay Community News, volume 6, number 20, page 11:

By contrast, cantankerous and churlish people are contemptuously independent of others’ opinions, not caring enough about others and their views.

1998, Pauline Chazan, The Moral Self, page 80:

Nina was thrilled, muttering her cantankerous joy that I was getting out of the house.

2007, Linda Francis Lee, The Devil in the Junior League, page 44:

Unfortunately, as Great-Aunt Bert could be a bit cantankerous, they were having to be creative.

2010, Clare Vanderpool, Moon Over Manifest, page 169:

Given to or marked by an ill-tempered, quarrelsome nature; ill-tempered, cranky, crabby.