ahead

From a- + head. Perhaps originally a nautical term, "beyond the head (of a ship)", then drifting into more general English usage where it is used to describe something as being "in front of".

The island was directly ahead.

Just ahead you can see the cliffs.

Keep going straight ahead.

At or towards the front; in the direction one is facing or moving.

He finished two laps ahead of me.

In all of his classes Jack was ahead.

So as to be further advanced, either spatially or in an abstract sense; to be superior.

To be winning or in an advantageous position.

There may be tough times ahead.

You've got to think ahead so as not to be unprepared.

Set the clock ahead an hour.

Push the deadline ahead a day, from the 20th to the 21st.

Then the customer would set a rebidding deadline ahead a month - for example from September 1 to October 1 - and give everybody four weeks to submit […]

1995, Charles Edward Weber, Stories of Virtue in Business, University Press of America, →ISBN, page 55:

When we saw that wasn't working in 1976, we moved the deadline ahead to 1978.

1998, United States House Committee on Agriculture, Subcommittee on Department Operations, Nutrition, and Foreign Agriculture, Implementation of the Food Quality Protection Act: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Department Operations, Nutrition, and Foreign Agriculture of the Committee on Agriculture, House of Representatives, One Hundred Fifth Congress, Second Session, June 25, 1998, page 46:

He paid his rent ahead.

At an earlier time; beforehand; in advance.

Push the deadline ahead a day, from the 21st to the 20th.

[…] committees in Congress hae a March 15 deadline for reporting their "views and estimates" to the budget committees. The Senate Republican leadership, eager to get a jump on the annual budget process, moved the deadline ahead to March 1 for Senate committees.

1985, Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report, volume 43, page 606:

[…] the Department is responding to the statutory requirement in the USA Patriot Act that moved the deadline ahead to 2003 from 2007.

2003, United States House Committee on Government Reform, Smooth Sailing Or an Impending Wreck?: The Impact of New Visa and Passport Requirements on Foreign Travel to the United States : Hearing Before the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Eighth Congress, First Session, July 10, 2003, page 113:


afore

non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger

From Middle English afore, aforn, from Old English onforan or ætforan; equivalent to a- + fore.

Stephano: He's in his fit now ; and doe's not talke after the wiſeſt ; hee ſhall taſte of my Bottle : if hee haue neuer drunke wine afore, it will goe neere to remoue his Fit :[…]

1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:

A chap named Eleazir Kendrick and I had chummed in together the summer afore and built a fish-weir and shanty at Setuckit Point, down Orham way. For a spell we done pretty well.

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


alternately

[ɔːlˈtɜɹnətlɪ]

All night Katerina and I watched alternately, though, I shame to say, I slept more than I watched; and, having first ascertained that there was no change, I came directly hither.

1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter IX, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 102:

Tired with the heat and my walk, I threw myself down on the grass in the shadow of the house, where I lay half-asleep enjoying a quiet rest, when I was startled by an unpleasant clamour, the jarring voice of a woman, who was trying by alternately scolding and using pet names to pacify a litter of grunting pigs on the farm.

1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 278:

Well, I can't help noticing that you insult me and then you're polite to me alternately.

1970, “The Butcher Who is Alternately Rude and Polite”, in Monty Python's Flying Circus, season 2, episode 5, spoken by Customer (Michael Palin):

The 2025 timetable would feature two trains per hour, alternately routed via Kirkcaldy (with 11 intermediate stops) and Dunfermline (14 stops), with journey times ranging between 65 and 81 minutes.

2023 November 1, Robert Drysdale, “Leven is nearly back on track...”, in RAIL, number 995, page 58:

In reciprocal succession; succeeding by turns; in alternate order.

(mathematics) By alternation; when, in a proportion, the antecedent term is compared with antecedent, and consequent.

Downstairs, he was informed. That is, down the escalators, where there is both a women’s room (often with a line) and a men’s room (almost never with a line). Or alternately, he could ask the station master to buzz him into the “family” bathroom. He opted to go downstairs.

2008 July 18, Jennifer 8. Lee, “A ‘Women Only’ Restroom Renovation Tips the Balance at Grand Central”, in New York Times:

(chiefly Canada, US, sometimes proscribed) Alternatively.


opposite

From Old French oposite, from Latin oppositus, perfect passive participle of oppōnō (“I oppose”). Compare oppose.

I was on my seat and she stood opposite.

Where's the bus station? -Over there, just opposite.


amazingly

en-adv

amazingly (comparative more amazingly, superlative most amazingly)

more amazingly (comparative)
most amazingly (superlative)

That violin solo was played amazingly.

While at first in the U.S.A. it may have been a matter of high-pressure salesmanship—and it has undoubtely been the irresistible enterprise of the General Motors Corporation, through its Electro-Motive subsidiary, that has set in motion this amazingly rapid transformation of American railway motive power, and has caused all the steam locomotive builders in the U.S.A. to follow suit or be left out in the cold—it seems now beyond dispute that, so far as the U.S.A. is concerned, the economics of the power question can be solved no other way.

1950 January, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, pages 12–13:

In an amazing manner; in a way that causes amazement; wonderfully.

Amazingly, no one was injured in the crash.

Signalman Bridges was killed by the blast, as was fireman Nightall. Amazingly, driver Gimbert came round some 200 yards away, on the grass outside the Station Hotel where he had been flung.

2022 January 12, Benedict le Vay, “The heroes of Soham...”, in RAIL, number 948, page 43:

The car has amazingly low fuel consumption.

The disease AIDS is wiping out a significant portion of the Gay Community and concerns about it are well-justified. But there is another disease that strikes an amazingly high percentage in our community. This disease is Chemical Dependency.

1984 April 7, N.B., “Chemical Dependency in the Gay Community”, in Gay Community News, page 5:


amply

amply (comparative more amply, superlative most amply)

more amply (comparative)
most amply (superlative)

If, during his long persecution by President Kruger, Wools-Sampson in the bitterness of his heart had vowed a feud against the Boer cause, it must be acknowledged that he has most amply fulfilled it.

1902, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, chapter 36, in The Great Boer War:

In an ample manner; extensively; thoroughly.


analytically

analytically (comparative more analytically, superlative most analytically)

more analytically (comparative)
most analytically (superlative)

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


aft

aft (comparative further aft or more aft, superlative furthest aft or most aft)

further aft (comparative)
more aft (comparative)
furthest aft (superlative)
most aft (superlative)

From Old English æftan (“behind”); possibly originally superlative of of (“off”). See after.

I came safe on board, but I felt anything but easy about the boat and the boy; my thoughts were not where they should be, for every moment I had to give the boat and the boy a look, and at last I saw a sea strike the boat aft, which gave it a send forward and under, and the next moment he was gone.

1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 183:

(nautical) At, near, or towards the stern of a vessel (with the frame of reference within the vessel).


aloud

From Middle English aloud, a loude (“aloud”), equivalent to a- + loud or a- + loude (“sound”).

Try speaking aloud rather than whispering.

Then we relapsed into a discomfited silence, and wished we were anywhere else. But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud, and with such a hearty enjoyment that instead of getting angry and more mortified we began to laugh ourselves, and instantly felt better.

1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

With a loud voice, or great noise; loudly; audibly.

speaking aloud rather than thinking thoughts privately

He read the letter aloud. Sophia listened with the studied air of one for whom, even in these days, a title possessed some surreptitious allurement.

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

Audibly, as opposed to silently/quietly.


akimbo

From Middle English in kenebowe, in kene bowe (“in a keen bow”, i.e. “in a sharp bend or angle”), from in (“in”) + keen, kene (“brave, keen, sharp”) + bowe (“bow, bend”). Alternately, possibly from Old Norse kengr (“bent”) + bogi (“a bow”), compare Icelandic kengboginn (“bow-bent”).

inh

The man was standing akimbo.

Otherwise, it is likely that she may be accosted as "dear" or "Sally,"—invited to take "a drop o' tea," or otherwise chaffed by rough women standing akimbo at street doors.

1903, Emily Constance Baird Cook, Highways and byways in London, page 430:

...and the other end window bearing the figure of a woman standing akimbo with her right hand touching her right temple.

1978, Padma Upadhyaya, Female Images in the Museums of Uttar Pradesh, page 272:

Into, in, or of the position where the arms are akimbo.

Although it was a little impractical, Elmer held his revolvers akimbo because to him it looked cool.

Of weapons, especially firearms: one held in each hand.


alike

en-adv

alike (comparative more alike, superlative most alike)

more alike (comparative)
most alike (superlative)

The adjective comes from a conflation of several different terms:
* Middle English alich, alych, alyke, a Late Middle English development from earlier Middle English anlich, anlyke, from Old English onlīċ, anlīċ. Compare German ähnlich.
* The borrowed Old Norse cognate of the same word, álíkr, ultimately yielding similar Late Middle English forms.
* Middle English ylich, ylych, ilich, ylik, ylike, ȝelic, from Old English ġelīċ (“like; alike; similar; equal”), from Proto-West Germanic *galīk, from Proto-Germanic *galīkaz (“alike, similar”). Cognate with Scots elyke, alyke (“like, alike”), Saterland Frisian gliek (“like, alike”), West Frisian lyk, gelyk (“like, alike”), Dutch gelijk (“like, alike”), German Low German liek, gliek (“like, alike”), German gleich (“equal, like”), Danish lig (“alike”), Swedish lik (“like, similar”), Norwegian lik (“like, alike”), Icelandic líkur (“alike, like, similar”). Equivalent to a- (Etymology 3) + like. Compare also West Frisian allyk (“all the same, alike”).
Similarly, the adverb also comes from a conflation of several different terms:
* Middle English aliche, alyche, alyke, a Late Middle English development from earlier Middle English anliche, anlyke, from Old English onlīċe, anlīċe.
* Additionally Middle English oliche, olike, ultimately from the Old Norse cognate of the same word, álíka.
* Middle English yliche, ylyche, iliche, ylike, ȝelice, from Old English ġelīċe (“alike, similarly”).

cog

We are all alike concerned in religion.

As the Knight himself seemed tacitly to disclaim alike interest and controul over the immediate favourite of his lady, young Roland was, by circumstances, exempted from the strict discipline to which, as the retainer of a Scottish man of rank, he would otherwise have been subjected, according to all the rigour of the age.

1820, [Walter Scott], chapter III, in The Abbot. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne & Co.] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Company, and John Ballantyne, […], →OCLC, page 73:

Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers, of errand not wholly obvious to their fellows, yet of such sort as to call into query alike the nature of their errand and their own relations.

1910, Emerson Hough, chapter II, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

In the same manner, form, or degree; in common; equally.

yhtä

tn the same manner, form, or degree; equally


hen

From Middle English henne, heonne, hinne, from earlier henene, heonenen, henen, from Old English heonan, hionan, heonane, heonone (“hence, from here, away, from how”), from Proto-Germanic *hina, *hinanō (“from here”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱe-, *ḱey- (“this, here”). Cognate with Dutch heen (“away”), German hin (“hence, from here”), Danish hen (“away, further, on”). See also hence.


alongside

/əˌlɒŋˈsaɪd/

/əˌlɔŋˈsaɪd/

/əˌlɑŋˈsaɪd/

/əˈlɑŋˌsaɪd/

/əˌlɔŋˈsɑɪd/

USNS John Lenthall (T-AO-189)
USS Harry S. Truman

Ahoy! Bring your boat alongside.

Along the side; by the side; side by side; abreast.

langskibs

along the side; by the side; side by side; abreast — see also side by side, abreast


tender

en-adv

tender (comparative more tender, superlative most tender)

more tender (comparative)
most tender (superlative)

From Middle English tender, tendur, tendir, tendre, from the adjective (see above).

Love me tender, love me sweet
Never let me go

1956, Ken Darb (lyrics and music), “Love Me Tender”, performed by Elvis Presley:


overall

/ˌəʊvəɹˈɔːl/

From Middle English overall, overal, from Old English ofer eall, ofer ealle (“over all”), equivalent to over + all. Compare Saterland Frisian oural, uural (“everywhere”), West Frisian oeral (“everywhere”), Dutch overal (“everywhere”), German Low German overall, överall (“everywhere; all over”), German überall (“all over; everywhere”), Danish overalt (“everywhere”), Swedish överallt (“everywhere; overall”).

cog

Overall, there is not enough evidence to form a clear conclusion.


altogether

/ɔːl.tʊˈɡɛð.ə(ɹ)/

/ɔː.tuːˈɡɛð.ə(ɹ)/

/ɔːl.təˈɡɛð.ə/

/ˈɔl.təˌɡɛð.ɚ/

/ˈɑl.təˌɡɛð.ɚ/

From Middle English altogeder, altogedere, equivalent to al- (“all”) + together. Cognate with Scots awthegither (“altogether”), Middle High German alzegater (“altogether”), Dutch altegaar. Compare also Old English ealġeador, eallġeador (“altogether”), West Frisian allegearre (“altogether”). More at together.
The noun sense (nakedness): was popularized in George du Maurier's 1894 novel Trilby.

Police did not seem altogether satisfied with my alibi.

Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me.

1891, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Adventure of the Copper Beeches”, in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes:

One saint's day in mid-term a certain newly appointed suffragan-bishop came to the school chapel, and there preached on “The Inner Life.” He at once secured attention by his informal method, and when presently the coughing of Jarvis […] interrupted the sermon, he altogether captivated his audience with a remark about cough lozenges being cheap and easily procurable.

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

And wordy attacks against slavery drew sneers from observers which were not altogether undeserved. The authors were compared to doctors who offered to a patient nothing more than invectives against the disease which consumed him.

1963, C.L.R. James, The Black Jacobins, 2nd Revised edition, page 24:

Completely, wholly, or without exception.

Altogether, I'm sorry it happened.

A sell-out crowd of 10,000 then observed perfectly a period of silence before the team revealed their black armbands, complete with stitched-in poppies, for the match. After FIFA’s about-turn, it must have been a frantic few days for the England kit manufacturer. The on-field challenge was altogether more straightforward.

2011 November 10, Jeremy Wilson, “England 5, Iceland 0: under 21 match report”, in The Telegraph:

On the whole; with everything considered.

Altogether, your bill comes to $6.99.

It was a great game altogether.

That took altogether too much time.

(informal) An intensifier: without doubt, clearly.


so-so

From Middle English so so, from Old English swā swā, equivalent to so + so. Compare Dutch zozo (“so-so”), German soso (“so-so”), Norwegian så som så (“so-so”).

He performed so-so during the tryouts, and the coach was undecided whether to add him to the team or not.

(informal) Neither very well nor very poorly.


amiss

The fire seven times tried this:
Seven times tried that judgement is,
That did never choose amiss.
Some there be that shadows kiss:
Such have but a shadow's bliss.
There be fools alive, I wis,
Silver'd o'er; and so was this.
I will ever be your head:
So be gone: you are sped.

c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ix]:

We shall not do amiss to notice, also, that in ordinary conversation, a few words are used as Turkish singulars, which are, in reality, Arabic plurals; but this is not correct in writing.

1856, J. W. Redhouse, An English and Turkish Dictionary, page xxvi:

Then Hrefna said she would coif herself with it, and Thurid said she had better, and Hrefna did so. When Kalf saw that he gave her to understand that she had done amiss; and bade her take it off at her swiftest. "For that is the one thing that we, Kjartan and I, do not own in common."

1899, The Laxdaela Saga (translated by Muriel A. C. Press) Chapter 44


agape

en-adv

agape (comparative more agape, superlative most agape)

more agape (comparative)
most agape (superlative)

From a- + gape. First known use by John Milton in Paradise Lost (1667).

Three of us--two biologists and I--were crouched behind a huge boulder at the water's edge and staring agape as the largest bear I ever saw came toward us

1987 June 26, “On the Prowl in Grizzly Country”, in Chicago Tribune:

"This is Sammy 91," he told the two dozen tourists watching agape."

2005 September 24, “Angry Surfers Say Cage-Diving Changes Great White's Way”, in Wall Street Journal:

One features a science teacher looking agape at the camera which has caught him reading red-handed.

2008 January 8, “Reading gets the glitzy treatment”, in BBC News:

In a state of astonishment, wonder, expectation, or eager attention.

Its mouth yawned agape

1911 January 7, “The Man-killer”, in Poverty Bay Herald:

The bathroom door stood agape, and the peeling vinyl floor was bare.

1996, Perri O'Shaughnessy, Invasion of Privacy, page 508:

He glanced up into Richard's eyes, his own wide with wonder, his mouth hanging agape.

2005, Terry Goodkind, Chainfire, page 427:


agate

From Late Middle English a gate. Equivalent to a- (“on”) + gate (“way, path”).

Go to it then hardily, and let us be agate.

I'm fear'd you have some ill plans agate.

1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], Jane Eyre. An Autobiography. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC:


aloof

aloof (comparative more aloof, superlative most aloof)

more aloof (comparative)
most aloof (superlative)

From Middle English loof (“weather gage, windward direction”), probably from Middle Dutch (Compare Dutch loef (“the weather side of a ship”)), originally a nautical order to keep the ship's head to the wind, thus to stay clear of a lee-shore or some other quarter, hence the figurative sense of "at a distance, apart".

cog

The noise approaches, tho' our palace stood
 Aloof from streets, encompass'd with a wood

1697, John Dryden, “Part 13”, in Virgil's Aeneid, Harvard Classics edition, translation of original by Virgil, published 2004, page 113:

Mother[…]considered that the exclusiveness of Peter's circle was due not to its distinction, but to the fact that it was an inner Babylon of prodigality and whoredom, from which every Kensingtonian held aloof, except on the conventional tip-and-run excursions in pursuit of shopping, tea and theatres.

1921, Ben Travers, chapter 2, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:

At or from a distance, but within view, or at a small distance; apart; away.

But to open the Bible in this spirit — to take the Book as from the hand of God, and then to look at it aloof, and with caution, as if throughout it were illusory and enigmatical, is the worst of all impieties.

1832, Isaac Taylor, Saturday evening, page 363:


almighty

From Middle English almyghty, almighty, from Old English ælmihtiġ (“all-powerful”), from Proto-Germanic *alamahtīgaz, equivalent to al- + might + -y.

I stepped into the clear, rushing water. It was almighty cold!

(slang, colloquial) Extremely; thoroughly.


already

→ Gulf Arabic: أوردي (orridi)

From Middle English alredy (“fully; already”), equivalent to al- (“all, completely”) + ready. Cognate with West Frisian alreeds (“already”), Dutch alreeds (“already”), Afrikaans alreeds (“already”), Middle Low German alreide, alreids ("already"; whence modern German Low German alreeds (“already”)), Danish allerede (“already”), Swedish allaredan (“already”), Norwegian Nynorsk allereie (“already”). More at all, ready.
The use as an intensifier in American English is a semantic loan from German schon and Yiddish שוין (shoyn).
In Singapore English, the use of already as a marker of action completion and change of state (i.e., perfective and inchoative aspects respectively) is analogous to Hokkien 了 (liáu), Teochew 了 (liao²) and Mandarin 了 (le). Compare Malay (su)dah and Cantonese 喇 (laa³).

gl

"already"; whence modern German Low German <i class="Latn mention" lang="nds-de">alreeds</i> (“already”)

I was surprised that she hadn’t already told me the news.

Much of what he said I knew already.

Tho, when-as all things ready were aright, / The Damzel was before the Altar ſet, / Being already dead with fearful fright.

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

slipping then my cloaths off, I crept under the bed-cloaths, where I found the young stripling already nestled, and the touch of his warm flesh rather pleas'd than alarm'd me.

1749, [John Cleland], “(Please specify the letter or volume)”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], London: […] [Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], →OCLC:

It was already dusk, and the lamps were just being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, waiting for the coming of its occupant.

1891 June 25, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Adventure I.—A Scandal in Bohemia.”, in Geo[rge] Newnes, editor, The Strand Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly, volume II, London: George Newnes, Limited, […], published July 1891, →OCLC:

Plastics are energy-rich substances, which is why many of them burn so readily. Any organism that could unlock and use that energy would do well in the Anthropocene. Terrestrial bacteria and fungi which can manage this trick are already familiar to experts in the field.

2013 July 20, “Welcome to the plastisphere”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:

Prior to some specified time, either past, present, or future; by this time; previously.

Are you quitting already?

I wish they'd finish already, so we can get going.

Enough already!

Be quiet already!

Enough already with the lack of glamour!

1988 June 24, Liz Smith, Toledo Blade, Toledo, Ohio, page P-5:

(US) An intensifier used to emphasize impatience or express exasperation.

ja

You frame the picture for me already anot? ― Have you framed the picture yet?

I don’t think he can take it already. ― I don’t think he can take it any more.

Your ice cream is melting already. ― Your ice cream is starting to melt.

Overcook already, need to redo. ― We’ve overcooked it, we need to redo it.

Your grandmother angry already. ― Your grandmother is now angry.

“Yah, I sign already,” my mother replied.

1999, Alfian Sa'at, Corridor, Singapore: SNP Editions, →OCLC, page 136:

Cannot wait already, buay tahan already. I hope she doesn’t complain to anyone.

2006, Elangovan, Smegma, →ISBN, page 39:

Okay lah, okay lah. Maybe I senile already. Like this house.

2009, Jean Tay, Boom, Epigram Books, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii:

(Singapore, Singlish) Indicates action completion or change of state.


anxiously

en-adv

anxiously (comparative more anxiously, superlative most anxiously)

more anxiously (comparative)
most anxiously (superlative)

He anxiously awaited the arrival of his child.

He tried to persuade Cicely to stay away from the ball-room for a fourth dance.[…]But she said she must go back, and when they joined the crowd again[…]she found her mother standing up before the seat on which she had sat all the evening searching anxiously for her with her eyes, and her father by her side.

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

'Even in summer, Grannie?' Heidi persisted anxiously.

1956 [1880], Johanna Spyri, Heidi, translation of original by Eileen Hall, page 46:

In an anxious manner; with painful uncertainty; solicitously.


angrily

angrily (comparative more angrily, superlative most angrily)

more angrily (comparative)
most angrily (superlative)

/ˈæŋ.ɡɹə.li/

From Middle English angrily, equivalent to angry + -ly.

"Leave me alone for once," she said angrily.

"So it was a trick," said Narkunda angrily.

1943, H. Lorna Bingham, The Lost Tribe, Sydney: Winn and Co., page 13, column 1:

In an angry manner; under the influence of anger.


treble

PIE word
 *tréyes
From Middle English treble, from Old French treble, from Latin triplus. Doublet of triple.

Whose deserts might buy him treble

1623 (first performance), John Fletcher, William Rowley, “The Maid in the Mill”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):


apiece

From Middle English a pece, equivalent to a + piece.

These melons cost a dollar apiece.

The engines were built in the Doncaster works at what I believe to have been the low cost, even for those days, of £2,500 apiece, [...].

1943 January and February, Chas. S. Lake, “Some C.M.Es. I Have Known: IV—H. A. Ivatt”, in Railway Magazine, page 30:


presto

(music) Very fast or quickly; a directive for the musician(s) to play in a very quick tempo.


anyhow

Anyhow, he is dead now.

I think they’re asleep; anyhow, they’re quiet.

(conjunctive) In any case. Used to indicate that a statement explains or supports a previous statement.

It was a woman’s clothing, beyond a doubt, all thrown in anyhow, — as if the person who had placed it there had been in a desperate hurry.

Without care or tidiness; recklessly, negligently or randomly.


ajar

From Middle English ajar, on char (“on [the] turn”), from on (“on”) + char (“turn, occasion”), from Old English ċierr, cyrr (“turn”), from ċierran (“to turn, convert”), equivalent to a- + char. Akin to Scots char, chare (“to turn, cause to turn”), Dutch akerre, kier (“ajar”), German kehren (“to turn”). See char.

The door was standing ajar.


ajar

From a- (“in, at”) + jar (“discord, disagreement”).

prefix

There is a sort of unexpressed concern, / A kind of shock that sets one's heart ajar […].

Being at variance or in contradiction to something.


top

From Middle English top, toppe, from Old English top (“top, highest part; summit; crest; tassel, tuft; (spinning) top, ball; a tuft or ball at the highest point of anything”), from Proto-West Germanic *topp, from Proto-Germanic *tuppaz (“braid, pigtail, end”), of unknown ultimate origin.
Cognate with Scots tap (“top”), North Frisian top, tap, tup (“top”), Saterland Frisian Top (“top”), West Frisian top (“top”), Dutch top (“top, summit, peak”), Low German Topp (“top”), German Zopf (“braid, pigtail, plait, top”), Swedish topp (“top, peak, summit, tip”), Icelandic toppur (“top”).
The sense of a spinning toy is separated from this, obscurely related to Dutch top and dop in this sense, against Standard Dutch tol, and French toupie having this sense.

cog

Our product is top-rated on all major platforms.

This is the top-performing school in the area.

top-dimensional

top; contains the word but unrelated to the above etymologies


alight

The verb is probably derived partly:
* from Middle English alighten (“to kindle, light, set on fire; to begin burning; to become bright, shine; to arouse, rouse, stir; (figuratively) to enlighten spiritually, illuminate”) [and other forms], from Old English ālīhtan, ālȳhtan (“to light up; enlighten”) (perhaps modelled after Latin illūmināre, the present active infinitive of illūminō (“to brighten, illuminate, light up”)), from ā- (prefix meaning ‘away, from, off, out’) + līhtan, līehtan (“to glow, to shine; to illuminate, to light”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewk- (“to see; to shine; bright”)); and
* from Middle English onlighten (“to cause (something) to shine; to clarify; (figuratively) to enlighten spiritually”) [and other forms], from Old English onlīhtan, a variant of inlīhtan (“to give light to, brighten, illuminate; to cause to shine; to shine; (figuratively) to give clear sight; to clear a mental fog, enlighten”), from Proto-Germanic *inliuhtijaną (“to enlighten, illumine”), from *in (“in; into”) + *liuhtijaną (“to give light, shine”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewk-; see above); and
* from later uses of alight (adjective).
The English word is analysable as a- (prefix meaning ‘away, from, off, out’) + light (“to start (a fire); to burn, set fire to; to become ignited, take fire; to provide light, illuminate; to show the way by means of a light”).
The adjective and adverb are derived from Late Middle English alight (adjective) [and other forms], from Old English ālīht, ālȳht, a past participle form of Old English ālīhtan, ālȳhtan (verb) (see above); but have also been subsequently interpreted as a- (prefix meaning ‘at; in; on’, used to show a condition, manner, or state) + light (“not dark or obscure, bright, clear; highly luminous”).
cognates
* German erleuchten (“to light up, illuminate”)

nb...

aliȝt, aliȝte, aliȝtte, alihte, aliʒth, allyght, alyghte, alyȝt, alyȝte

cog

Each chapel had its saintly shrine, hung around with offerings; its picture above the altar, although closely veiled, if by any painter of renown; and its hallowed tapers, burning continually, to set alight the devotion of the worshippers.

1860, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Burial Chant”, in The Marble Faun: Or, The Romance of Monte Beni. […], volume I, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 227:

(also figuratively) Chiefly in set alight: in flames, on fire; aflame.


along

From Middle English, from Old English andlang, from prefix and- + lang (“long”). Doublet of endlong.

John played the piano and everyone sang along.

From The Best of You to The Pretender, their own material invariably came equipped with huge choruses designed to be bellowed along to; they covered Another One Bites the Dust and Under Pressure; they gave every impression of being willing to play all night were it not for the curfew.

2017 June 26, Alexis Petridis, “Glastonbury 2017 verdict: Radiohead, Foo Fighters, Lorde, Stormzy and more”, in the Guardian:

Don't stop here. Just move along.

I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.

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

Onward, forward, with progressive action.


den

Pronunciation spelling
pronunciation spelling

Pronunciation spelling of then, representing AAVE, Bermuda English.


always

From Middle English alwayes, allwayes, allweyes, a variant of Middle English allwaye, alwey, alle wey (“always”), from Old English ealneġ, ealneweġ (“always, perpetually”, literally “all the way, all the while, continuously”), from ealne + weġ (accusative case), equivalent to alway + -s. Cognate with Scots alwayis (“always”), Low German allerwegens (“very often”, literally “all ways'”). More at all, way.

it is always darkest just before the dawn

the cobbler always wears the worst shoes

the darkest hour is always just before the dawn

the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence

the grass is always greener on the other side of the road

God is always the same.

Green has always been my favorite color. I’ve loved it for as long as I can remember.

Airplanes did not always exist as a form of transportation.

Plant breeding is always a numbers game.[…]The wild species we use are rich in genetic variation, and individual plants are highly heterozygous and do not breed true. In addition, we are looking for rare alleles, so the more plants we try, the better.

2013 May-June, David Van Tassel, Lee DeHaan, “Wild Plants to the Rescue”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:

At all times; throughout all time; since the beginning.

In this street, the shops always close during lunchtime.

His liveries are black,—his carriage is black,—he always rides a black galloway,—and, faith, if he ever marry again, I think he will show his respect to the sainted Maria by marrying a black woman.

They burned the old gun that used to stand in the dark corner up in the garret, close to the stuffed fox that always grinned so fiercely. Perhaps the reason why he seemed in such a ghastly rage was that he did not come by his death fairly. And why else was he put away up there out of sight?—and so magnificent a brush as he had too.

1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:

And so it had always pleased M. Stutz to expect great things from the dark young man whom he had first seen in his early twenties ; and his expectations has waxed rather than waned on hearing the faint bruit of the love of Ivor and Virginia—for Virginia, M. Stutz thought, would bring fineness to a point in a man like Ivor Marlay,[…].

1922, Michael Arlen, “Ep./1/1”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:

The highway to the East Coast which ran through the borough of Ebbfield had always been a main road and even now, despite the vast garages, the pylons and the gaily painted factory glasshouses which had sprung up beside it, there still remained an occasional trace of past cultures.

1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 7, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

Constantly during a certain period, or regularly at stated intervals (opposed to sometimes or occasionally).

ديمًا

constantly during a certain period, or regularly at stated intervals

I thought I could always go back to work.


anon

From Middle English anoon, anon, anan (literally “in one (moment)”), from on (“in”) + ān (“one”). See on and one.

Caliban: Thou dost me yet but little hurt; thou wilt anon,
I know it by thy trembling: now Prosper works upon thee.

1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:

But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 13:20:

The dead man answered thus:
“What good gift shall God give us?”,
The boards answered him anon:
“Flesh to feed hell's worm upon.”

1866, Algernon Swinburne, After death, lines 47–50:

[…]for as much as the same consisteth not in the extreames, but in a verie mediocritie of wealth and riches, as it shall better appeare anone.

1598, John Stow, A Suruay of London, →OL:

With this man this is the hour of the white logic (of which more anon), when he knows that he may know only the laws of things—the meaning of things never.

1913 August, Jack London, John Barleycorn, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC, pages 12–13:

Sometimes he trots, as if he told the steps,
With gentle majesty and modest pride;
Anon he rears upright, curvets and leaps,
As who should say, lo! thus my strength is try'd...

1593, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, London: […] Richard Field, […], →OCLC:

Anon he would be telling you of a cold he acquired in a Chicago lake breeze and how old Escamila cured it in Buenos Ayres with a hot infusion of the chuchula weed.

1906 April, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “A Cosmopolite in a Café”, in The Four Million, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co, →OCLC, page 27:


anyway

He didn't enjoy washing his car, but it was so dirty that he did it anyway.

Raymond Carver had only moments late at night to write after grueling day jobs, tense relationships, putting kids to bed, and dealing with his own alcoholism. And he wrote anyway.

2016, JoAnneh Nagler, How to be an artist without losing your mind, your shirt, or your creative compass, →ISBN, page 85:

I don't think that's true. I haven't found any evidence, anyway.

But I wish there were somethin’ you would do or say
To try and make me change my mind and stay
We never did too much talkin’ anyway
Don’t think twice, it’s all right.

1962, Bob Dylan (lyrics and music), “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right”, in The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, Columbia Records:

Used to indicate that a statement explains or supports a previous statement. See anyhow and at least.

عَلَى أَيُّ حَالٍ

used to indicate that a statement explains or supports a previous statement

"I'll be ninety my next birthday, but Louella doesn't tell her age. Anyway, we're going to have you and Cynthia up for supper."

2005, Jan Karon, These High, Green Hills:

“But I say, Kid, isn't that going it a little too strong? Whisky and alcohol's bad enough; but when it comes to brandy and pepper-sauce and—” ¶ “Dump it in. Who's making this punch, anyway?”

1899, Jack London, “To the Man on the Trail”, in The Overland Monthly, page 36:

The name, Barry Frank, the name of the game when it comes to money these days, in every sport, is television revenue. How do they get enough money- let me back up a minute. How did the United States get the World Cup anyway? Of all the countries in the world, you'd think we'd be the last one to get it.

“We should probably wait until Luke gets here to talk about it,” Leia suggested quietly before Han could answer. Lando glanced past Han, as if only just noticing Luke's absence. “Where is he, anyway?”

1992, Timothy Zahn, Heir to the Empire, Spectra, →ISBN, page 154:

more to the point
more to the point#English

Used at the end of a question for emphasis, or to direct the conversation to something of more broad importance (compare with more to the point).

He that sleeps in the day-time, or is in suspense, fear, anyway troubled in mind, or goes to bed upon a full stomach, may never hope for quiet rest in the night […].

1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 2, member 5:


alone

From Middle English allone, from earlier all oon (“alone”, literally “all one”), contracted from the Old English phrase eall ān (“completely alone”), equivalent to al- (“all”) + one. Cognate with Scots alane (“alone”), Saterland Frisian alleene (“alone”), West Frisian allinne (“alone”), Dutch alleen (“alone”), Low German alleen (“alone”), German allein (“alone”), Danish alene (“alone”), Swedish allena (“alone”). More at all and one. Regarding the different phonological development of alone and one, see the note in one.

you get more with a kind word and a gun than you do with a kind word alone

She walked home alone.

By oneself; apart from, or exclusive of, others; solo.

The job was too hard for me to do alone.

The president alone has the power to initiate a nuclear launch.

They must be told, that the ultimate authority, wherever the derivative may be found, resides in the People alone;

1788, James Madison, Federalist No. 46^(https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Federalist_(Dawson)/45):

Focus adverb
Category:English focus adverbs

Focus adverb, typically modifying a noun and occurring immediately after it.

Not permitting anything further; exclusively.

Oral antibiotics alone won't clear the infection.

Except on matters of mere detail, there are perhaps no practical questions, even among those which approach nearest to the character of purely economical questions, which admit of being decided on economical premises alone.

1871, John Stuart Mill, Principles of Political Economy^(https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Principles_of_Political_Economy_(Mill),_vol._1):

In writing this tale I had in mind not alone to please my young readers, but also to give them a fair picture of life on the ocean as it is to-day,

1903, Arthur M. Winfield, The Rover Boys on Land and Sea:

Her wardrobe is huge. She has three racks for blazers alone.

The first sentence alone sold me on the book.

In the first place, though Lady Burton published comparatively little, she was a voluminous writer, and she left behind her such a mass of letters and manuscripts that the sorting of them alone was a formidable task.

1897, The Romance of Isabel, Lady Burton:

“[…] it is not fair of you to bring against mankind double weapons ! Dangerous enough you are as woman alone, without bringing to your aid those gifts of mind suited to problems which men have been accustomed to arrogate to themselves.”

1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

In America alone, people spent $170 billion on “direct marketing”—junk mail of both the physical and electronic varieties—last year. Yet of those who received unsolicited adverts through the post, only 3% bought anything as a result.

2013 May 25, “No hiding place”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8837, page 74:

(by extension) Used to emphasize the size or extent of something by selecting a subset.


appealingly

en-adv

appealingly (comparative more appealingly, superlative most appealingly)

more appealingly (comparative)
most appealingly (superlative)


alias

From Latin alias (“at another time; at another place, elsewhere, under other circumstances, otherwise”). See else and alien.

bor

Hitherto the commanding influence of Sir Robert Evelyn's character had sunk his own into insignificance—now he had no "rival near the throne," alias the bench of county magistrates.

1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XX, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 168:

When indeed a Popish monarch may fill our throne, and the successor of St. Peter shall be the spiritual head of our Church; then shall your “esoterics,” alias “Church principles,” be in the ascendant in our Universities, and Who shall say that we may not have a Thorp lecturer in each of our Colleges, Neale and Webb scholarships, Regii professores supplying the places of those who shall now be superannuated, all teaching, and empowered to confer degrees in the, symbolism of mystical divinity:—the professor of music, not dealing as he now must, with crotchets and quavers, but in the far higher branches of the sacramentality of sounds, with their correspondent colours, instruments, bearing, &c. &c., and so of others?

1845, Clergymen of the Church of England, editors, The Christian’s Monthly Magazine and Church of England Review, volume IV, London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., pages 364–365:

Otherwise; at another time; in other circumstances; otherwise called.

Smith, alias Simpson.

(law) Used to connect the different names of a person who has gone by two or more, and whose true name is for any cause doubtful


p.p.

Alternative forms: per pro, pp.

per procurationem
per procurationem#English


so far

Compound of so + far. Compare Dutch zo ver.

So far, nothing unusual has happened.

―How are your driving lessons? ―So far, pretty good.

Don’t expect a long walk. You can only go so far in that direction.

As a political system democracy seems to me extraordinarily foolish, but I would not go out of my way to protest against it. My servant is, so far as I am concerned, welcome to as many votes as he can get. I would very gladly make mine over to him if I could.

1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, →OCLC:

British journalists shun complete respectability, feeling a duty to be ready to savage the mighty, or rummage through their bins. Elsewhere in Europe, government contracts and subsidies ensure that press barons will only defy the mighty so far.

2013 August 10, Lexington, “Keeping the mighty honest”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848:

(idiomatic) A limited distance, literal or metaphorical.


anything

From Middle English anything, enything, onything, onythynge, from Old English ǣniġe þinga, ǣnġi þinga (literally “by any of things”), from ǣniġe, instrumental form of ǣniġ (“any”) + þinga, genitive plural of þing (“thing”).

That isn't anything like a car.

She's not anything like as strong as me.


anywhere

I don't know where I left my keys. They could be anywhere.

I'd rather be anywhere else.

For many 'home' is an affectation when used anywhere that 'house' would be appropriate, as in 'Home for Sale'.

Anywhere you go in France, there will be bread and wine with dinner.

I'm staying home today. I'm not going anywhere.

Are you going anywhere special this weekend?


evenly

en-adv

evenly (comparative more evenly, superlative most evenly)

more evenly (comparative)
most evenly (superlative)

From Middle English evenly, evenliche, from Old English efenlīċe (“evenly, alike, equally”), equivalent to even + -ly.

inh

Spread the icing evenly over the cake.

To avoid arguments, he divided the sweets evenly between his two children.

In a fair manner of distribution, giving the same amount or number to each; equally.

12 is evenly divisible by 2, 3, 4 and 6.

(mathematics) In a manner that leaves no remainder.

The oddly counted lords are always out of sync with at least one other evenly counted cycle. These two strange counts assured that at no single moment could all cycles end at the same time for an extraordinarily long time, for at least one odd count threw off all the even ones.

1998, Kay Almere Read, Time and Sacrifice in the Aztec Cosmos, page 107:

In terms of or by means of even numbers.


apart

en-adv

apart (comparative more apart, superlative most apart)

more apart (comparative)
most apart (superlative)

From Middle English apart, aparte, a-part, a part, from Anglo-Norman a part, from Latin ad partem (“to the side”).

We had a large bus and I had two of them at the front and two at the back, and I had to sit in the middle and keep them apart.

2015, Johnny Rogan, Ray Davies: A Complicated Life:

Others apart sat on a hill retired.

But know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 4:3:

Placed separately (in regard to space or time).

настрана

separately, in regard to space or company

Consider the two propositions apart.

see also Thesaurus:individually

see also Thesaurus:asunder

We took the computer apart and put it back together.

Love, love will tear us apart, again.

1980, Joy Division (lyrics and music), “Love Will Tear Us Apart”:

Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, James 1:21:

Let Pleasure go, put Care apart.

1827, John Keble, “The Snow-Drop”, in The Christian Year:

Joking apart, what do you think?

(used following a noun) Excluded from consideration.


apparently

apparently (comparative more apparently, superlative most apparently)

more apparently (comparative)
most apparently (superlative)

If he should scorn me so apparently.

1591, William Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors, act 4, scene 1:

One, my lord, that doth so palpably, so apparently make her adulteries a trophy, whiles the poting-stick to her unsatiate goatish abomination jeers at, and flouts your sleepish, and more than sleepish, security.

1633, Iohn Ford [i.e., John Ford], Loues Sacrifice. A Tragedie […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for Hugh Beeston, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page):

(archaic) Plainly; clearly; manifestly; evidently.

A man may be apparently friendly, yet malicious in heart.

The r-stems had apparently been reduced to the five nuclear kinship terms that still survive in Modern English.

2006, Donald Ringe, From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic (A Linguistic History of English; 1), Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 197:

Apparently you are quite a good dancer.

"[…] Apparently they are going to contact the adoption agency and see if they can locate that child. […]"

2006, Lois Lewandowski, The Fatal Heir: A Gillian Jones Mystery, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 169:

According to what the speaker has read or heard.

па чутках

according to what the speaker has read or been told

Peridot: I can tell you with certainty that there are things on this planet worth protecting!
Yellow Diamond: What do you know about the Earth?!
Peridot: Apparently more than you, you clod!

2016, “Message Received”, in Steven Universe:

(often sarcastic) According to what one can deduce.


ago

From Middle English ago, agon (“passed”), past participle of agon (“to depart, escape, pass”), from Old English āgān (“to go away, pass away, go forth, come to pass”), from Proto-Germanic *uz- (“out”), *gāną (“to go”), equivalent to a- + gone, and by surface analysis, a- + go. Cognate with German ergehen (“to come to pass, fare, go forth”). Compare also Old Saxon āgangan (“to go or pass by”), Gothic 𐌿𐍃𐌲𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌰𐌽 (usgaggan, “to go forth”).

cog

When they first met in 2000, my dad told my mom how he had gotten the money. The story begins 20 years ago.

It was two weeks ago that I saw her last.


possibly

en-adv

possibly (comparative more possibly, superlative most possibly)

more possibly (comparative)
most possibly (superlative)

Possibly, they will make gains in the midterm elections.

It was possibly the costliest mistake in the organization's history.

This rare and possibly unique specimen must be conserved.

(modifying a clause or predicate) Perhaps; indicates that the proposition may be true (is not certainly false) regardless of any facts or circumstances known to, stated by or implied by the speaker.

I'm much stronger than you, so you can't possibly win.

I couldn't possibly be there on time.

I couldn't possibly cheat on my wife.

It seems unlikely, but, yes, they could possibly win even now.

The police don't know him, and the information they have leads them to think he could possibly have murdered his wife.

(modifying a verb) In the realm of possibility; indicates that the action may successfully be performed (is not impossible) regardless of any facts or circumstances known to, stated by or implied by the speaker that might limit the performance.

бәлки

adverb indicating that an action may successfully be performed


every second

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: Once per second.

Why do you keep bothering me every second?

(figuratively) Very frequently; more frequently than is desired.


out

From Middle English out, oute, from a combination of Old English ūt (“out”, preposition & adverb), from Proto-West Germanic *ūt, from Proto-Germanic *ūt (“out”); and Old English ūte (“outside; without”, adverb), from Proto-Germanic *ūtai (“out; outside”); both from Proto-Indo-European *úd (“upwards, away”).
Cognate with Scots oot, out (“out”), Saterland Frisian uut, uute (“out”), West Frisian út (“out”), Dutch uit (“out”), German Low German ut (“out”), German aus (“out”), Norwegian/Swedish ut, ute (“out; outside”), Danish ud, ude (“out; outside”).

inh

There are numerous individual phrasal verbs

The magician tapped the hat, and a rabbit jumped out.

There was a hole in the bucket, and all the water leaked out.

amach

goal-oriented, moving from "in" to "out"

по́за (póza) ((+ accusative or instrumental))

Let’s eat out tonight

Away from, or at a distance from, some point of reference or focus.

Specifically, away from home or one's usual place.

eşikdə

away from one's usual place or not indoors

hit out, lash out, speak out, shout out, yell out

Away from the doer, especially vigorously.

Once they had landed, the commandos quickly spread out along the beach.

For six hours the tide flows out, then for six hours it flows in.

He lives out in Australia.

It's three miles out to the island.

The Joneses don't live here any more. They moved out three months ago.

Five years out from the passing of the law, nothing had actually changed.

The election is a long way out. (a long way in the future)

(informal) Away, or at a distance, in time (relative to, and usually after, the present or a stated event) (often preceded by a stated time period and followed by "from")

Last night we slept out under the stars.

It's cold out.

The football caught the edge of the line but then bounced out.

(sports) Of the ball or other playing implement, so as to pass or be situated beyond the bounds of the playing area.

Turn the lights out.

Put the fire out.

I painted out that nasty mark on the wall.

Into a state of non-operation or non-existence.

pois

into a state of non-operation or non-existence

pois päältä

lights, radio etc.; not used of fire, see verb sammuttaa

I haven’t finished. Hear me out.

Deceitful men shall not live out half their days.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalm 4:23:

The place was all decked out for the holidays.

After hours at the party, she was all danced out.

Shows an activity has been completed to the point of exhaustion.

The singer is bringing out a new album next month.

The sun has brought the flowers out.

Into a state of existence or visibility.

The sun came out after the rain, and we saw a rainbow.

(of the sun, moon, stars, etc.) So as to be visible in the sky, and not covered by clouds, fog, etc.

Wilson was bowled out for five runs.

First ball hit me on the 'and, second 'ad me on the knee, the third was in my eye, the fourth bowled me out.

1876, The School newspaper Vol. [2 issues of vols. 31 and 32]., page 66:

Hayes batted for Reed and grounded out, Murray unassisted.

1984, Official Baseball Guide, page 211:

So, first guy, Larry strikes him out, good fastball in on his hands.

2007, Philip R. Craig, William G. Tapply, Third Strike: A Brady Coyne/J. W. Jackson Mystery, page 27:

The striking batter is bowled out when the wicket is broken with the bowler's delivery. A batter is bowled out whether or not the ball is touched or deflected into the stumps by the batter.

2010, Mark Butcher, Paul Abraham, Learn to Play Cricket: Teach Yourself, page A-65:

(cricket, baseball) Of a player, so as to be disqualified from playing further by some action of a member of the opposing team (such as being stumped in cricket).


aright

From Middle English ariȝt, ariht, from Old English āriht (“aright, properly”), from earlier *an riht, on riht (“rightly”), corresponding to a- + right.

it is not easie we should so often settle our minds in so regular, so reformed, and so devout a seat, where indeed it ought to be, to pray aright and effectually: otherwise our praiers are not only vaine and unprofitable, but vicious.

1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 56, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

Hear him not; call on the names of William, Justine, Clerval, Elizabeth, my father, and of the wretched Victor, and thrust your sword into his heart. I will hover near and direct the steel aright.

1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], “chapter 24”, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →OCLC:

"Well, gentlemen, have I read you the riddle aright, or is there any point which you would query?"

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

Rightly, correctly; in the right way or form.

Once more away! and now
The long descent is seen,
A long, long, narrow path.
Ice rocks aright, and hills of snow,
Aleft the giddy precipice.

1801, Robert Southey, “(please specify the page)”, in Thalaba the Destroyer, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: […] [F]or T[homas] N[orton] Longman and O[wen] Rees, […], by Biggs and Cottle, […], →OCLC:


buggery

Did he help? Did he buggery!

(Commonwealth, UK, Ireland, vulgar, colloquial) Used after an inverted subject pronoun and auxiliary verb or copula to emphatically negate the verb.


ever

→ German: ever

From Middle English ever, from Old English ǣfre, originally a phrase whose first element undoubtedly consists of Old English ā (“ever, always”) + in (“in”) + an element possibly from feorh (“life, existence”) (dative fēore). Compare Old English ā tō fēore (“ever in life”), Old English feorhlīf (“life”).

nobody ever went broke underestimating the good taste of the American people

nobody ever went broke underestimating the good taste of the American public

nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people

nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public

nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American people

nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public

no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public

no one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American people

no one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public

It was ever thus.

[…] the Lord Treasurer, who ever secretly feigned himself to be a Moderator and Mollifier of the Catholicks Afflictions […]

1592, George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax, An Advertisement […] concerning Seminary Priests:

Let us ever remember that our conception, our comprehension, our feeling of God must be ever imperfect, yet should be ever advancing. We must not make God: we must find Him and feel Him more and more.

1860, Florence Nightingale, Suggestions for Thought to the searchers after truth among the artizans of England., page 302:

“A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron;[…]. ¶ Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable, and from time to time squinting sideways, as usual, in the ever-renewed expectation that he might catch a glimpse of his stiff, retroussé moustache.

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

The library staffs of the Karaton Surakarta's Sasana Pustaka, the Mangku- nagaran's Reksa Pustaka, and the Museum Radyapustaka were ever helpful and generous with their time.

1993, Nancy K. Florida, Javanese Literature in Surakarta Manuscripts: Introduction and manuscripts of the Karaton Surakarta, SEAP Publications, →ISBN, page 9:

As with the rest of macroeconomics, the issues have to be rethought in a way that makes the ever-imperfect knowledge of market participants and policymakers an integral part of the analysis.

2007, Roman Frydman, Michael D. Goldberg, Imperfect Knowledge Economics: Exchange Rates and Risk, Princeton University Press, →ISBN:

Kane picked up the ball 25 yards out with 18 minutes left before proving he is ever the opportunist by flashing a dipping swerving drive beyond the deceived Szczesny.

2021 September 8, Phil McNulty, “Poland 1-1 England”, in BBC Sport:

People struggled to cope with the ever-increasing cost of living.

For what seemed ages piled on ages, I lay there, frozen with the most awful fears, not daring to drag away my hand; yet ever thinking that if I could but stir it one single inch, the horrid spell would be broken.

1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 4, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 29:

Continuously, constantly, all the time (for the complete duration).

If that ever happens, we’re in deep trouble.

This is one of the best movies ever.

He's back and better than ever.

We've only ever talked on the phone.

Now all this was very fine, but not at all in keeping with the Celebrity's character as I had come to conceive it. The idea that adulation ever cloyed on him was ludicrous in itself. In fact I thought the whole story fishy, and came very near to saying so.

1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter III, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

He said the study provides clear evidence that AI technologies are growing at a faster rate than ever and will continue to do so.
Audio (US): (file)

2019 February 3, “UN Study: China, US, Japan Lead World AI Development”, in Voice of America, archived from the original on 2019-02-07

Was I ever glad to see you!

Did I ever!

(informal) As intensifier following an interrogative word.


afternoon

From Middle English afternone, after-non, equivalent to after- + noon.

I stayd at home till noone, and recᵈ of Crowders for 3 loods of shilling 2l. 8s.; and afternoone I went with my wife to Wakefeild, where by yᵉ way I spent at Toppitt 8d., and wee lay at Jackson’s all night.

1646 March 19, Adam Eyre, “A Dyurnall, or Catalogue of All My Accions and Expences from the 1st of January, 1646–[7]”, in Yorkshire Diaries and Autobiographies in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, published 1877, page 22:

Afterwards […] they adjourned the court till two in the afternoon, and so went to prayers. Afternoon they called over the names of the rest of the college, demys, chaplains, &c.

1688, “Proceedings against St. Mary Magdalen College in Oxon, for not Electing Anthony Farmer President of the said College”, in T. B. Howell, editor, Cobbett’s Complete Collection of State Trials, volume 12, published 1812, column 61:

Afternoon we came to Fuchen, or Xucheu, as others call it, where we were forced to stay to have the boat search’d by the Mandarine or customer.

1752 [1699], Giovanni Francesco Gemelli Careri, anonymous translator, A Voyage Round the World, page 289:

(archaic in the singular) In the afternoon.


up

down

antonym(s) of “away from the centre of the Earth”

down

antonym(s) of “towards the principal terminus”

From Middle English up, from Old English upp, from Proto-Germanic *upp, see more there.

I looked up and saw the airplane overhead.

Away from the surface of the Earth or other planet; in opposite direction to the downward pull of gravity.

All day we climbed up and up.

1925, Walter Anthony and Tom Reed (titles), Rupert Julian (director), The Phantom of the Opera, silent movie
‘The Phantom! The Phantom is up from the cellars again!’

To or at a physically higher or more elevated position.

Go back up to the top of the page.

As I lay on my back, a pain shot up from my toes to my chest.

To or towards what is considered the top of something, irrespective of whether this is presently physically higher.

Gold has gone up with the uncertainty in the world markets.

Turn it up, I can barely hear it.

Listen to your voice go up at the end of a question.

Cheer up, the weekend's almost here.

To a higher level of some quantity or notional quantity, such as price, volume, pitch, happiness, etc.

I was up to my chin in water.

A stranger came up and asked me for directions.

I'm going to be walking quickly, but try to keep up with me.

To or in a position of equal advance or equality; not short of, back of, less advanced than, away from, etc.; usually followed by to or with.

I will mix up the puzzle pieces.

Tear up the contract.

He really messed up.

Please type up our monthly report.

Drink up. The pub is closing.

Can you sum up your research?

The meteor burned up in the atmosphere.

I need to sew up the hole in this shirt.

(intensifier) Used as an aspect marker to indicate a completed action or state; thoroughly, completely.

upp

riva upp ett kontrakt = tear up a contract

I picked up some milk on the way home.

The committee will take up your request.

She had to give up her driver's license after the accident.

To or from one's possession or consideration.

I live in Florida, but I'm going up to New York to visit my family this weekend.

To the north (as north is at the top of typical maps).

We travelled from Yorkshire up to London.

I'm going up to the other end of town.

He lives up by the railway station.

Towards or at a central place, or any place that is visualised as 'up' by virtue of local features or local convention, or arbitrarily, irrespective of direction or elevation change.

(rail transport) Towards the principal terminus, towards milepost zero.

上りに

rail transport: the direction towards milepost zero

to lay up riches; put up your weapons

Aside or away, so as no longer to be present or in use.

(Cartesian graph) In a positive vertical direction.

The bowler pitched the ball up.

(cricket) Relatively close to the batsman.

A Cosmopolitan is typically served up.

(US, bartending) Without additional ice.

She's going up to read Classics this September.

The son of the Dean of Lichfield was only three years older than Steele, who was a lad of only twelve, when at the age of fifteen, Addison went up to Oxford.

1867, John Timbs, Lives of wits and humourists, page 125:

Others insinuated that women 'crowded up to Cambridge', not for the benefits of a higher education, but because of the proximity of 2,000 young men.

1998, Rita McWilliams Tullberg, Women at Cambridge, page 112:

A precocious mathematician, Babbage was already well versed in the Continental mathematical notations when he went up to Cambridge.

2002, Peter Harman, Cambridge Scientific Minds, page 79:

(UK, academia, dated) To university, especially to Cambridge or Oxford.


ish

The exam went well... mostly... ish.

"Was the film any good?" – "Ish."

This is where I started. Does Hermione like Dark Souls? Ish.

26 May 2012, Jason VandenBerghe, “The Five Domains of Play”, Gotland Game Conference, Uppsala University

(colloquial) somewhat, reasonably, fairly

'With luck, about twelve.' 'Ah,' said Bernard. 'Twelve-thirty. Ish.'

1974, Kingsley Amis, Ending up, page 11:

How old are you? Fifty-ish?" / "Ish." / The color flared in her cheeks but she didn't look as though she were going to shoot me.

2007, Marne Davis Kellogg, Friends in High Places, page 283:

(episode 38 of Manifest)
Eagen: "Don't blame Little House on the Prairie. I was very charming."
Angelina: "Did you lie about being an orphan too?"

2021 May, “Bogey”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)


jolly

en-adv

jolly (comparative more jolly, superlative most jolly)

more jolly (comparative)
most jolly (superlative)

From Middle English joli, jolif (“merry, cheerful”), from Old French joli, jolif (“merry, joyful”)
It is uncertain whether the Old French word is from Old Norse jól ("a midwinter feast, Yule", hence "fest-ive"), in which case, equivalent to yule + -ive, compare Dutch jolig (“happy, festive, frolicsome, jolly”), West Frisian joelich, joalich (“merry, jolly”), Middle High German jœlich (“hooting, jubilant”); or ultimately from Latin gaudeō (see etymology at joy), which fails to explain the presence of l in jolif. For the loss of final -f compare tardy, hasty, hussy, etc.

cog

It’s jolly hot in here, isn’t it?

Adrian thought it worth while to try out his new slang. ‘I say, you fellows, here's a rum go. Old Biffo was jolly odd this morning. He gave me a lot of pi-jaw about slacking and then invited me to tea. No rotting! He did really.’

1991, Stephen Fry, chapter III, in The Liar, London: William Heinemann, →ISBN, page 26:


ritardando

Borrowed from Italian ritardando, gerund of ritardare (“to delay, to slow down”).

(music) Gradually decelerating the tempo of a piece of music, especially at the end of the piece.


plenty

→ Norwegian Bokmål: plenty

→ Norwegian Nynorsk: plenty

From Middle English plentie, plentee, plente, from Anglo-Norman plenté, from Old French plenté, from Latin plenitatem, accusative of plenitas (“fullness”), from plenus (“complete, full”), from Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁nós (“full”), from which English full also comes, via Proto-Germanic. Related to the Latin derivatives complete, deplete, replete.

This office is plenty big enough for our needs.

For the likes of her, the down-at-heels support of Hoboken pier was plenty good enough.

1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 1:

She was plenty mad at him.

Seeing clichés mimicked this skillfully is plenty hilarious.

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

(Canada, US, colloquial) Used as an intensifier, very.


mighty

From Middle English mighty, mightie, mighti, myghty, miȝty, maȝty, from Old English mihtiġ, mehtiġ, meahtiġ, mæhtiġ (“mighty”), from Proto-West Germanic *mahtīg (“mighty”), from Proto-Germanic *mahtīgaz (“mighty”), equivalent to might + -y.
Cognate with Scots michty, mychty, Saterland Frisian machtich, Dutch machtig, German Low German machtig, German mächtig, Swedish mäktig.

You can leave that food in your locker for the weekend, but it's going to smell mighty bad when you come back on Monday.

Pork chops boiled with turnip greens make a mighty fine meal.

The lady is not heard of, and the King mighty angry and the Lord sent to the Tower.

1665 June 7 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Samuel Pepys, Mynors Bright, transcriber, “May 28th, 1665 (Lord’s Day)”, in Henry B[enjamin] Wheatley, editor, The Diary of Samuel Pepys […], volume IV, London: George Bell & Sons […]; Cambridge: Deighton Bell & Co., published 1894, →OCLC:

'He is a mighty handsome man!' 'I don't think so,' said Tess coldly.

1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, volume 1, London: James R. Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., page 82:

"You see, between you an' me close-tiled, I look on this South American business as a mighty serious thing, and if I have a pal with me I want a man I can bank on."

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

I was mighty glad that our entrance into the interior of Caprona had been inside a submarine rather than in any other form of vessel. I could readily understand how it might have been that Caprona had been invaded in the past by venturesome navigators without word of it ever reaching the outside world, for I can assure you that only by submarine could man pass up that great sluggish river, alive.

1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp., →OCLC; republished as chapter IV, in Hugo Gernsback, editor, Amazing Stories, (please specify |part=I to III), New York, N.Y.: Experimenter Publishing, 1927, →OCLC:

I pounded on a farmhouse / Lookin' for a place to stay / I was mighty, mighty tired / I had come a long, long way

1964, Bob Dylan (lyrics and music), “Motorpsycho Nitemare”:

I was walkin' down the street / And it was gettin' mighty late

1965, Shadow Morton (lyrics and music), “Sophisticated Boom Boom”, performed by The Shangri-Las:

And I know my love, it's about that time / Make me feel, mighty real

1979, “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)”, performed by Sylvester:


bloody

en-adv

bloody (comparative more bloody, superlative most bloody)

more bloody (comparative)
most bloody (superlative)

From Middle English blody, blodi, from Old English blōdiġ, blōdeġ (“bloody”), from Proto-West Germanic *blōdag, from Proto-Germanic *blōþagaz (“bloody”), equivalent to blood + -y. Cognate with Dutch bloedig (“bloody”), German blutig (“bloody”), Danish blodig (“bloody”), Swedish blodig (“bloody”), Icelandic blóðugur (“bloody”). See Wikipedia for thoughts on sense evolution.

Walk! Not bloody likely. [Sensation]. I am going in a taxi. [She goes out].

1912 (date written), [George] Bernard Shaw, “Pygmalion”, in Androcles and the Lion, Overruled, Pygmalion, London: Constable and Company, published 1916, →OCLC, Act III, page 153:

"Dice are no bloody good," David said.

1994, Robert Jordan, Lord of Chaos, page 109:

(informal, Australia, British, India, Ireland, Newfoundland, New Zealand, South Africa, mildly vulgar) Used to express anger, annoyance, or shock, or for emphasis.


counter-clockwise

counter-clockwise (comparative more counter-clockwise, superlative most counter-clockwise)

more counter-clockwise (comparative)
most counter-clockwise (superlative)


over there

You see that house over there? That's where I used to live.

Shepard: I'm looking for an asari.
Dr. Palon: Asari? Well, there's Dr. Iallis over there.
Dr. Palon: There's also our guest, Lady Benezia. Captain Ventralis might know where she is.

2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Noveria:

In that place; there (at some distance).

Let's head over there.

To that place; thither (at some distance).

(US, colloquial, originally military) overseas to Europe (for military engagement), especially to the Western Front in France during World War I


large

From Middle English large, from Old French large, from Latin larga, feminine of largus (“abundant, plentiful, copious, large, much”), of uncertain ultimate origin; see there for more. Mostly displaced Middle English stoor, stour (“large, great”) (from Old English stōr) and muchel (“large, great”) (from Old English myċel).


little

en-adv

little (comparative less or lesser, superlative least)

less (comparative)
lesser (comparative)
least (superlative)

From Middle English litel, from Old English lyttel, lȳtel, from Proto-West Germanic *lūtil, from Proto-Germanic *lūtilaz (“tending to stoop, crouched, little”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewd- (“to bend, bent, small”), equivalent to lout + -le. Cognate with Dutch luttel, regional German lütt and lützel, Saterland Frisian litje, West Frisian lyts, Low German lütt, lüttje. Related also to Old English lūtan (“to bow, bend low”); and perhaps to Old English lytiġ (“deceitful”), Gothic 𐌻𐌹𐌿𐍄𐍃 (liuts, “deceitful”), 𐌻𐌿𐍄𐌾𐌰𐌽 (lutjan, “to deceive”); compare also Icelandic lítill (“little”), Faroese lítil, Swedish liten, Danish liden, lille, Gothic 𐌻𐌴𐌹𐍄𐌹𐌻𐍃 (leitils), which appear to have a different root vowel. More at lout.

der

This is a little known fact.

She spoke little and listened less.

We slept very little last night.

Little disappointed, then, she turned attention to “Chat of the Social World,” gossip which exercised potent fascination upon the girl’s intelligence. She devoured with more avidity than she had her food those pretentiously phrased chronicles of the snobocracy—[…]—distilling therefrom an acid envy that robbed her napoleon of all its flavor.

1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published 1915, →OCLC, chapter I (Anarchy), page 373, column 2:

But then I had the [massive] flintlock by me for protection. ¶[…]The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window[…], and a ‘bead’ could be drawn upon Molly, the dairymaid, kissing the fogger behind the hedge, little dreaming that the deadly tube was levelled at them.

1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:


defective

From Middle English defectif, defective, from Old French defectif, from Late Latin dēfectīvus.

For the sake of comparison, note the distribution of these spellings in some other Hebrew sources: in the MT the vowel o after the first consonant of the root is written defective in approximately 3,600 cases as against 850 cases of plene spelling.

2013, Gregor Geiger, Plene Writing of the Qōṭēl Pattern in the Dead Sea Scrolls:

(chiefly of abjad script) Without matres lectionis (letters indicating vowels) written out.


last but not least

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Persent101-last but not least.wav

Rhetoric:
A possible/common pattern to arrange a speech or essay suggests putting your strongest and thus most important argument favoring your own opinion first and conclude with the weakest, thus least important argument.

An expression to start the last item of a list, emphasising that while it is listed last, it is just as important as the rest of the items.

أخيراً وليس آخراً

хотя́ и после́дний, но не ме́нее ва́жный


impatiently

en-adv

impatiently (comparative more impatiently, superlative most impatiently)

more impatiently (comparative)
most impatiently (superlative)

Stella was waiting impatiently for the delivery to come.

He watched his corn impatiently for two days, and, as it did not come up, he thought he would plant it again with beans. He ought to have waited longer.

1848, Jacob Abbott, “Story I. Labour Lost.—Elky.”, in Rollo at Work: Or, The Way for a Boy to Learn to be Industrious, London: James S. Hodson, page 5:

The keys are awaiting
Thy magical touch,
And the strings are impatiently mute.

1887, James H. Scott, “O, Where Is Our Bird?”, in Poems, second edition, St. Louis: Slawson & Co., page 68:

When the work was almost completed, the Pope impatiently asked when it would be finished. Michelangelo answered, "When I shall be able".

1946 July 1, “Sistine Ceiling[:] In Vatican chapel Michelangelo painted tremendous scenes from Bible”, in LIFE, volume 21, number 1, Time Inc, →ISSN, page 63:


correctly

correctly (comparative more correctly, superlative most correctly)

more correctly (comparative)
most correctly (superlative)

Most people couldn't pronounce Daragh's name correctly, so he went by the name of "Dave" instead.

Bruhat rattled off a head-spinning 29 correctly spelled words in 90 seconds, including heautophany, nachschläge and puszta.

2024 May 30, Aimee Ortiz and Alexandra E. Petri, “From 74th Place to Spelling Champion: One Boy’s Journey to Win the Scripps Bee”, in The New York Times:


politically

politically (comparative more politically, superlative most politically)

more politically (comparative)
most politically (superlative)

tackle a matter politically

politically insensitive

a politically-charged speech

Although politically he claims to be a Democrat, his actions are more Republican.

Nevertheless intellectually, ideologically and politically he identified with industrialists whom he, just like Smith, saw as the usherers of progress.

2002, Yanis Varoufakis, Foundations of Economics: A Beginner's Companion, page 25:

Regarding politics, in a way connected to politics.


pornographically

pornographically (comparative more pornographically, superlative most pornographically)

more pornographically (comparative)
most pornographically (superlative)

When I talk of men producing and using pornography and women being portrayed in pornography, I do not suggest that all men use pornography, that no woman produces pornography or that only women are ever portrayed pornographically.

1991, Adelaide law review, Volumes 13-14, page 164:

Westwood inevitably succumbed to the allure of the dress, but her vision was in latex, cut indecently low in the neck and pornographically short in hem.

2008, Jane Eastoe, Sarah Gristwood, Fabulous Frocks, page 37:

That movie is pornographically violent.

Having extreme or explicit content, whether or not the content is sexual in nature.


radically

radically (comparative more radically, superlative most radically)

more radically (comparative)
most radically (superlative)

From radical + -ly or radix (“root”) + -ally.

two radically different political groups

The reasons for this growing disconnect are myriad and complex but the situation is exacerbated by the reality that those English players who do smash through our game's "glass ceiling" command radically inflated transfer fees.

2013 August 20, Louise Taylor, The Guardian:

In a radical manner; fundamentally; very.

"Clot" and "clod" are radically the same word.

This [Algonquian] language [family] is spoken by all the Indians throughout New England. Every tribe, as that of Stockbridge, that of Farmington, that of New London, &c. has a different dialect [i.e. language], but the language [family] is radically the same.

1788, Jonathan Edwards, in a report to the Connecticut Society of Arts and Sciences


inside

From Middle English ynneside; equivalent to in- + side.
Compare German Innenseite (“inside”), Danish inderside (“inside”), Swedish insida (“inside”), Dutch binnenzijde (“inside”), German Low German Binnensied, Binnersied (“inside”), Saterland Frisian Binnersiede (“inside”).

cog

It started raining, so I went inside.

The secretive residents of the massive city-ship tended to stay inside.

Within or towards the interior of something; within the scope or limits of something (a place), especially a building.

He spent ten years inside, doing a stretch for burglary.

It was snowing, so the children stayed inside.

Are you laughing at us inside?

Intimately, secretly; without expressing what one is feeling or thinking.


fortnightly

That's where my column appears, in the Greenville Herald, fortnightly.

1970, Lee Smith, "Between the Lines", as reprinted in, 2010, Mrs. Darcy and the Blue-Eyed Stranger, 2011 paperback edition, page 184 http://books.google.com/books?id=_h_BERi4Js8C&pg=PA184&dq=fortnightly

once in a fortnight; once every two weeks


clockwise

Turn the handle clockwise to open it.

In a curve or twist corresponding to the movement of the hands of a clock.

بِإِتِّجَاه عَقَارِب السَّاعَة

in a circular fashion in the same direction as the hands of an analogue clock

ནང་སྐོར (nang skor, literally “the Buddhist way around”)

གཡས་འཁོར (g.yas 'khor, literally “right-turning”)

གཡས་འཁྱིལ (g.yas 'khyil, literally “right-winding”)


approaching

/əˈpɹoʊt͡ʃɪŋ/

/əˈpɹəʊt͡ʃɪŋ/

The evacuation of approaching 200,000 people, along with reports of high radiation levels, of burning spent fuel, and apocalyptic footage of plumes of debris erupting from the stricken plant, will revive a question that seemed to have been retreating from global concerns: how safe is nuclear power?

2011 March 16, “There's more to fear from nature than nuclear power”, in Opinion, New Scientist:


helluva

Written form of a reduction (relaxed pronunciation) of hell of a.

We had a helluva good time at the party.

(colloquial); (expletive) (A) hell of a; extremely or very.


anticlockwise

(Commonwealth, UK, Ireland) In an anticlockwise fashion.

逆時針

in the opposite direction to the hands of an analogue clock

dans le sens inverse des aiguilles d’une montre

dans le sens contraire des aiguilles d’une montre

en sentido contrario ás agullas do reloxo

საათის ისრის საწინააღმდეგო მიმართულებით

saatis isris sac̣inaaɣmdego mimartulebit

antítheta me tin forá ton deiktón tou rologioú

αντίθετα με την φορά των δεικτών του ρολογιού

no sentido contrário aos ponteiros do relógio

en sentido contrario a las agujas del reloj

སྐོར་ལོག (skor log, literally “the backwards way around”)

སྤྱི་སྐོར (spyi skor, literally “the non-Buddhist way around”)

གཡོན་འཁྱིལ (g.yon 'khyil, literally “left-winding”)


quart

en-adv

quart (comparative more quart, superlative most quart)

more quart (comparative)
most quart (superlative)


approvingly

approvingly (comparative more approvingly, superlative most approvingly)

more approvingly (comparative)
most approvingly (superlative)


mesto

Borrowed from Italian mesto and used as a tempo mark.


nearby

nearby (comparative more nearby, superlative most nearby)

more nearby (comparative)
most nearby (superlative)

From Middle English ner-bi, neer by, equivalent to near + by.

I'm glad my friends live nearby where I can visit them.


morendo

Borrowed from Italian morendo, present participle of morire (“to die”).


allegrissimo

Borrow from Italian allegrissimo, the superlative form of allegro.

(music) A direction in musical notation indicating that the piece should be played very fast and lively.


nowise

From Middle English nowyse, no-wyse, no wyse, equivalent to no (“none, not any”) + wise (“way, manner”).

com

To raise the Sham-Noblest, and solemnly consecrate him by whatever method, new-devised, or slavishly adhered to from old wont, this, little as we may regard it, is, in all times and countries, a practical blasphemy, and Nature will in nowise forget it. Alas, there lies the origin, the fatal necessity, of modern Democracy everywhere.

1850, Thomas Carlyle, “The present time”, in Latter-Day Pamphlets:

But that did in nowise mend the matter, or at all soften the hard heart of the learned gentleman with the copy of Blackstone.

1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick (fiction):

His article was received with keen interest by Fredrik Vult von Steijern, the newspaper's cultural editor, who in turn paid the writer an honorarium of twenty crowns — nowise a modest sum at that time — despite the fact that the article never appeared in Dagens Nyheter.

1996 (summer), Raymond Jarvi, “Hjalmar Söderberg on August Strindberg”, in Scandinavian Studies, volume 68, number 3, page 343:

I am going to create a trigger to the feelings of nostalgia, that this time at sea will nowise be lost.

2006 (fall), Nate Haken, “Dolphins Dancing Somewhere off the Coast of Cuba”, in The Massachusetts Review, volume 47, number 3, page 410:

(archaic or dialect) (In) no way, (in) no manner, definitely not.


dolente

Borrowed from Italian dolente, present participle of dolere (“to hurt, regret”).

(music) Sorrowfully, as if the player were mourning.


outside

en-adv

outside (comparative more outside, superlative most outside)

more outside (comparative)
most outside (superlative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Nattes à chat-outside.wav

I am going outside.

Residents of the city rarely ventured outside.

Jurgis waited outside and walked home with Marija.

1905, Upton Sinclair, chapter XXVIII, in The Jungle, New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 26 February 1906, →OCLC:

To or in the outdoors or outside; to or in an area that is beyond the scope, limits, or borders of a given place.

It is the prison that supports the image of the criminal […] he's lost when he's outside.

1964, Merfyn Turner, A Pretty Sort of Prison, page 15:

Just under the ceiling there were three lunette windows, heavily barred and blacked out in the normal way by centuries of grime. Their bases were on a level with the pavement outside, a narrow way which was several feet lower than the road behind the house.

1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 14, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

I slept outside last night.


portato

Borrowed from Italian portato, past participle of portare (“to bring, carry, bear”), from Latin portō.

(music) In an unconnected manner, as opposed to legato, but not as short as staccato.


prestissimo

/pɹɛˈstɪsɪməʊ/

A delegation of Norman gentry boldly requesting in 1771 the calling of the Normandy estates (which had been abolished in 1666) was despatched prestissimo to the Bastille.

2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 286:


moderato

Borrowed from Italian moderato. Doublet of moderate.


everywhere

From Middle English eauerihwer, from Old English æfre + gehwær. By surface analysis, every + where.

He delivers the mail everywhere on this street.

We went everywhere at the school - we talked to all the teachers in their classrooms.

Risk is everywhere. From tabloid headlines insisting that coffee causes cancer (yesterday, of course, it cured it) to stern government warnings about alcohol and driving, the world is teeming with goblins. For each one there is a frighteningly precise measurement of just how likely it is to jump from the shadows and get you.

2013 June 22, “Snakes and ladders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 76:

In or to all locations under discussion.

We went to Europe last year and went everywhere: Berlin, Paris, London, and Madrid.

When I shop for shoes, I like to look everywhere.

I've looked everywhere in the house and still can't find my glasses.

(colloquial, hyperbolic) In or to a few or more locations.


cantabile

cantabile (comparative more cantabile, superlative most cantabile)

more cantabile (comparative)
most cantabile (superlative)

Borrowed from Italian cantabile (“singable, capable being sung”), derived from cantare (“to sing”). See also Latin cantabilis (“worthy to be sung”).

bor

(music) Played in this style; singingly, lyrically


even

From Middle English even, from Old English efn (“flat; level, even, equal”), from Proto-West Germanic *ebn, from Proto-Germanic *ebnaz, from Proto-Indo-European *(h₁)em-no- (“equal, straight; flat, level, even”).
Cognate with West Frisian even (“even”), Low German even (“even”), Dutch even (“even, equal, same”), effen, German eben (“even, flat, level”), Danish jævn (“even, flat, smooth”), Swedish jämn (“even, level, smooth”), Icelandic jafn, jamn (“even, equal”), Old Cornish eun (“equal, right”) (attested in Vocabularium Cornicum eun-hinsic (“iustus, i. e., just”)), Old Breton eun (“equal, right”) (attested in Eutychius Glossary eunt (“aequus, i. e., equal”)), Middle Breton effn, Breton eeun, Sanskrit अम्नस् (amnás, “(adverb) just, just now; at once”).
The verb descends from Middle English evenen, from Old English efnan; the adverb from Middle English evene, from Old English efne.
The traditional proposal connecting the Germanic adjective with the root Proto-Indo-European *h₂eym- (Latin imāgō (“picture, image, likeness, copy”), Latin aemulus (“competitor, rival”), Sanskrit यम (yamá, “pair, twin”)) is problematic from a phonological point of view.
For the meaning development compare with Latin aequus (“equal, level, even, flat, horizontal”), Russian ро́вный (róvnyj, “even, level, flat, smooth”), ра́вный (rávnyj, “equal”), по́ровну (pórovnu, “in equal parts”).

e'en

etymology 1: adverb, etymology 2: noun; contraction

even a blind pig can find an acorn once in a while

even a blind squirrel can find a nut once in a while

even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every now and then

even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every once in a while

I fulfilled my instructions even as I had promised.

You are leaving tonight? — Even so.

This is my commandment, that ye love one another, even as I have loved you.

But on the occasion in question, those dents looked deeper, even as his nervous step that morning left a deeper mark.

1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 36, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 177:

Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn sometimes.

Did you even make it through the front door?

That was before I was even born.

He used to drop into my chambers once in a while to smoke, and was first-rate company. When I gave a dinner there was generally a cover laid for him. I liked the man for his own sake, and even had he promised to turn out a celebrity it would have had no weight with me.

1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 2:

Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers,[…]. Even such a boat as the Mount Vernon offered a total deck space so cramped as to leave secrecy or privacy well out of the question, even had the motley and democratic assemblage of passengers been disposed to accord either.

1910, Emerson Hough, chapter II, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

He read the letter aloud. Sophia listened with the studied air of one for whom, even in these days, a title possessed some surreptitious allurement.

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

Since the mid-1980s, when Indonesia first began to clear its bountiful forests on an industrial scale in favour of lucrative palm-oil plantations, “haze” has become an almost annual occurrence in South-East Asia. The cheapest way to clear logged woodland is to burn it, producing an acrid cloud of foul white smoke that, carried by the wind, can cover hundreds, or even thousands, of square miles.

2013 June 29, “Unspontaneous combustion”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 29:

In reality; implying an extreme example in the case mentioned, as compared to the implied reality.

I was strong before, but now I am even stronger.

My favorite actor is Jack Nicklaus. Jack Nicholson, even.

Signalling a correction of one's previous utterance; rather, that is.


express

From French exprès, from Latin expressus, past participle of exprimere (see Etymology 2, below).

The train runs express to 96 St.

Moving or operating quickly, as a train not making local stops.


diminuendo

en-adv

diminuendo (comparative more diminuendo, superlative most diminuendo)

more diminuendo (comparative)
most diminuendo (superlative)


ad hominem

Audio (US)

Ellipsis of the Latin expression argumentum ad hominem (“argument at the person”). It can also mean attacking the messenger.

He tried to make his case by arguing ad hominem.


arco

From Italian arco (“bow”). Doublet of arch and arc.

(music) A note in string instrument musical notation indicating that the bow is to be used in the usual way, usually following a passage that is played pizzicato.


perhaps

From Middle English perhappes, perhappous, variant of earlier perhap (“perhaps, possibly”), equivalent to per + hap (“chance, coincidence”) + -s.

Perhaps John will come over for dinner.

There was a perhaps credible witness.

He was seriously wounded, perhaps fatally.

The stories did not seem to me to touch life. They were plainly intended to have a bracing moral effect, and perhaps had this result for the people at whom they were aimed.

1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

With some of it on the south and more of it on the north of the great main thoroughfare that connects Aldgate and the East India Docks, St. Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London.

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

It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions that might explain why anyone would take to the skies in [the] basket [of a balloon]: perhaps out of a desire to escape the gravity of this world or to get a preview of the next; […].

2013 June 7, David Simpson, “Fantasy of navigation”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 36:

[…] will live until he dies perhaps, and then lie down in clover.

c. 1850, “Landlord, Fill the Flowing Bowl”:


apropos

/ˌæp.ɹəˈpəʊ/

/ˌæp.ɹəˈpoʊ/

Borrowed from French à propos (“on that subject”).
Similar in meaning and form, and to some extent etymology, to appropriate, but not a doublet of it.


godly

godly (comparative more godly, superlative most godly)

more godly (comparative)
most godly (superlative)

All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. — 2. Tim. iii. 12.

In a godly manner; piously; devoutly; righteously.


bareback

I can ride a horse bareback.

We had sex bareback.


coach

Borrowed from Middle French coche, from German Kutsche, from Hungarian kocsi. According to historians, the coach was named after the small Hungarian town of Kocs, which made a livelihood from cart building and transport between Vienna and Budapest.
The meaning "instructor/trainer" is from Oxford University slang (c. 1830) for a "tutor" who "carries" one through an exam; the athletic sense is from 1861.

John flew coach to Vienna, but first-class back home.

(chiefly US) Via the part of a commercial passenger airplane or train reserved for those paying the lower standard fares; via the economy section.


okay

okay (comparative more okay, superlative most okay)

more okay (comparative)
most okay (superlative)


somewhere

I must have left my glasses somewhere.

I've hidden candy somewhere in this room.

In an uncertain or unspecified location.

He plans to go somewhere warm for his vacation.

I have to go somewhere at lunch. Can I meet you at 2?

To an uncertain or unspecified location.

I don't remember the exact number, but it was somewhere between 200 and 300.


fortissimo

He claims he was doing no more than repeating the standard nationalist account. So he was, but he was also repeating that passionate liberal critique which had resounded, often fortissimo, in British debate when Indian nationalism was still a half-formed dream.

2017 September 7, Ferdinand Mount, “Umbrageousness”, in London Review of Books:

(music) Indicating that the piece is played very loud.