viz.

From Medieval Latin viꝫ, from Latin vidēlicet (“that is to say, namely”), short for vidēre licet (“it is permitted to see, look (it is) legal”). The ‘z’ was originally not a letter but a common Middle Latin scribal abbreviation ꝫ that was used for -et, specifically a Tironian note. The symbol resembled ‘z’, or rather 3 and Ȝ, and hence is thus represented in type. Compare ⁊, the Tironian symbol for Latin et (“and”) (in isolation, not as suffix).

der

I am at this period, viz. in 1812, living in a cottage; […]

1821 September–October, [Thomas De Quincey], “[Part II.] Introduction to the Pains of Opium.”, in Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, 2nd edition, London: […] [J. Moyes] for Taylor and Hessey, […], published 1823, →OCLC, page 119:

The fact is, when Captain Dobbin blushed so, and looked so, it was necessary to inform the young ladies, viz., that he had been calling at Mr. Sedley's house already, […]

1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:

This, however, makes it necessary to distinguish between two different types of gaps, viz. between “singular NP gaps” and “plural NP gaps.”

1993, Hans Kamp, Uwe Reyle, From Discourse to Logic: Introduction to Modeltheoretic Semantics of Natural Language, Formal Logic and Discourse Representation Theory, page 51:

As to (b), the joint intention, like any intention, commits the intending agents to carry out its content, viz. to act.

2012, Matti Sintonen, Realism in Action: Essays in the Philosophy of the Social Sciences:

Videlicet: namely, to wit, that is to say, specifically, as an illustration.


part

From Middle English part, from the noun.

Part finished

My Native American friend is also part German and part French.

(with reference to a person's ethnicity) to a partial degree.


acidly

en-adv

acidly (comparative more acidly, superlative most acidly)

more acidly (comparative)
most acidly (superlative)

Perchance, when you are speculating why he is so acidly disposed some morning, he is but meditating upon that other half-hour which he wanted in bed, to bring his wits and his good-temper about him.

1882, Herman Charles Merivale, chapter 15, in Faucit Of Balliol, London: Chapman & Hall, page 385:

Flay involuntarily propels his gawky body forwards as he hears that his Lordship wants him, but he pulls himself up at the end of his first long step towards the door, and peers even more suspiciously and acidly at the youth in his immaculate black cloth.

1946, Mervyn Peake, “A Bloody Cheekbone”, in Titus Groan, London: Eyre & Spottiswoode:

In a brief two decades, the young British dramatists who railed angrily at the Establishment have been succeeded by caustic young playwrights who acidly mock the welfare state.

1974 October 21, “Ballet of Death”, in Time:

Commenting acidly on the loss of Vladivostok 115 years later (and on President Ford’s summit with Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev in that city), Deng Xiaoping told me that the different names given to the city by the Chinese and the Russians reflected their respective purposes: the Chinese name translated roughly as “Sea Slug,” while the Russian name meant “Rule of the East.” “I don’t think it has any other meaning except what it means at face value,” he added.

2011, Henry Kissinger, quoting Deng Xiaoping, “Notes”, in On China, New York: Penguin Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 536:


acknowledgedly

I'll have a chance next year to meet some more people who are acknowledgely gay, and that will be good […]

1974, Michael Austin [pseudonym], “Young and Gay and Alone”, in Alternative Lifestyles: Youth Ministry Notebook, volume VIII, New York: Seabury Press, →ISBN, page 44:


acock

acock (comparative more acock, superlative most acock)

more acock (comparative)
most acock (superlative)


acockbill

From acock (“In a cocked or turned-up fashion”, adverb) + bill (“the point of or beyond the fluke”, noun).

compound

(nautical) Hanging at the cathead, ready to let go, as an anchor.

(nautical) Topped up; having one yardarm higher than the other.


flop

Recorded since 1602, probably a variant of flap with a duller, heavier sound

She fell flop on the floor.


col legno

Borrowed from Italian col legno (literally “with the wood”).

bor

Webern took particular care with the col legno passages. In the quiet ostinatos of the first and third pieces (which can be seen as parallel in many ways), he added weich gezogen (gently drawn) to the col legno indications.

1996, Kathryn Bailey, editor, Webern Studies, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 156:

(music) A musical notation indicating that the strings of an instrument are to be struck with the wooden part of the bow.

per ligno

the strings must be struck with the wood of the bow


thus

From Middle English thus, þus, from Old English þus (“thus, in this way, as follows, in this manner, to this extent”), from Proto-West Germanic *þus (“so, thus”), perhaps originally from a variant of the instrumental form of this, related to Old English þȳs (“by this, with this”), Old Saxon thius (“by this, with this”). Cognate with Scots thus (“thus”), North Frisian thus, West Frisian dus (“thus”), Dutch dus (“thus, so”), Low German sus (“thus, hence”).

inh

If you throw the ball thus, as I’m showing you, you’ll have better luck hitting the target.

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 at the old mare feeding in the meadow below by the brook, and a 'bead' could be drawn upon Molly, the dairymaid, kissing the fogger behind the hedge,[…].

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

I have all the tools I need; thus, I will be able to fix the car without having to call a mechanic.

I corralled the judge, and we started off across the fields, in no very mild state of fear of that gentleman's wife, whose vigilance was seldom relaxed. And thus we came by a circuitous route to Mohair, the judge occupied by his own guilty thoughts, and I by others not less disturbing.

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

Not unnaturally, “Auntie” took this communication in bad part. Thus outraged, she showed herself to be a bold as well as a furious virago.

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

[The researchers] noticed many of their pieces of [plastic marine] debris sported surface pits around two microns across. Such pits are about the size of a bacterial cell. Closer examination showed that some of these pits did, indeed, contain bacteria, and that in several cases these bacteria were dividing and thus, by the perverse arithmetic of biological terminology, multiplying.

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


unquestioningly

en-adv

unquestioningly (comparative more unquestioningly, superlative most unquestioningly)

more unquestioningly (comparative)
most unquestioningly (superlative)

She accepted unquestioningly the dictum that a woman's place is in the home.

Without asking questions or having doubts. With complete obedience and without making any opposition.

bezkrytycznie

without asking questions or having doubts


precipitato

Borrowed from Italian precipitato, masculine past participle of precipitare (“to precipitate”). Doublet of precipitate.


adagietto

/əˌdæ(d)ʒiːˈɛtəʊ/

/əˌdɑː(d)ʒiːˈɛtəʊ/

Borrowed from Italian adagietto, a diminutive of adagio.


forward

back

antonym(s) of “in the usual direction of progress”

From Middle English foreward, from Old English foreweard (“forward, inclined to the front, fore, early, former”), from Proto-Germanic *fura- (“fore-”), *warþaz (“turned”), equivalent to fore + -ward. Cognate with Dutch voorwaarts (“forward”), German vorwärts (“forward”).

vorentoe

at, near or towards the front of something

(with a possessive pronoun agreeing with the subject) ar aghaidh

She was sitting well forward in the railway carriage.

The bus driver told everyone standing up to move forward.

A great bargain also had been the excellent Axminster carpet which covered the floor; as, again, the arm-chair in which Bunting now sat forward, staring into the dull, small fire. In fact, that arm-chair had been an extravagance of Mrs. Bunting. She had wanted her husband to be comfortable after the day's work was done, and she had paid thirty-seven shillings for the chair.

1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter I, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC, page 0016:

At, near or towards the front of something.

Most of the men are sleeping forward, for it is near midnight, but a stout swarthy Arab, Mahomed by name, stands at the tiller, lazily steering by the stars.

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

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

I leant forward to get a better look.

The grandfather clock toppled forward and crashed to the ground.

In the direction in which someone or something is facing.

előre

in the direction in which someone or something is facing

After spending an hour stuck in the mud, we could once again move forward.

Wind the film forward a few frames.

Don't forget to put the clocks forward by one hour tonight!

We need to move this project forward.

In the desired or usual direction of movement or progress, physically or figuratively; onwards.

verder

in the desired or usual direction of movement or progress, physically or figuratively; onwards

Don't wear your baseball cap backward; turn it forward.

So that front and back are in the usual orientation.

előre

so that front and back are in the usual orientation

A palindrome reads the same backward as forward.

From this day forward, there will be no more brussels sprouts at the cafeteria.

The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again; for, even after she had conquered her love for the Celebrity, the mortification of having been jilted by him remained.

The meeting has been moved forward an hour. It was at 3 o'clock; now it's at 2 o'clock.

To an earlier point in time. See also bring forward.

előbbre

to an earlier point in time (cf. "bring forward")


slope

en-adv

slope (comparative more slope, superlative most slope)

more slope (comparative)
most slope (superlative)

So promis'd he; and Uriel to his charge
Return'd on that bright beam , whose point now rais'd ,
Bore him slope downward to the sun

1667, John Milton, “(please specify the page number)”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:


indeed

From Middle English indede, contraction of the phrase in dede (“in sooth, in fact”); equivalent to in + deed (similar in formation to in fact, in truth, etc.). Cognate with Saterland Frisian innerdoat, innedoat (“indeed”), West Frisian yndied (“indeed”), Dutch inderdaad (“indeed”), German in der Tat (“indeed”). First attested in the early 14ᵗʰ century.

etydate

Indeed, he made several misplays.

Yes, I do indeed look very similar to you.

Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out. Indeed, a nail filed sharp is not of much avail as an arrowhead; you must have it barbed, and that was a little beyond our skill.

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

I was about to say that I had known the Celebrity from the time that he wore kilts. But I see that I will have to amend that, because he was not a celebrity then, nor, indeed, did he achieve fame until some time after I left New York for the West.

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:

She was like a Beardsley Salome, he had said. And indeed, she had the narrow eyes and the high cheekbone of that creature, and as nearly the sinuosity as is compatible with human symmetry. His wooing had been brief but incisive.

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

With fresh material, taxonomic conclusions are leavened by recognition that the material examined reflects the site it occupied; a herbarium packet gives one only a small fraction of the data desirable for sound conclusions. Herbarium material does not, indeed, allow one to extrapolate safely: what you see is what you get[…]

1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page vii:

[The researchers] noticed many of their pieces of [plastic marine] debris sported surface pits around two microns across. Such pits are about the size of a bacterial cell. Closer examination showed that some of these pits did, indeed, contain bacteria,[…].

As a soccer player, he is terrible indeed.

(degree, after the adjective modified) In fact.


latest

From Middle English lateste, from Old English latost, latest, lætest, superlative of læt, whence English late.

Complete the XYZ task latest by today 5:00PM.


parcel

From Middle English parcel, from Old French parcelle (“a small piece or part, a parcel, a particle”), from Late Latin particella, diminutive of Latin particula (“particle”), diminutive of partem (“part, piece”). Doublet of particle.

der

Thou didst swear to me upon a parcel-gilt goblet […]

c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

[…] as the worthy dame was parcel blind and more than parcel deaf, knowledge was excluded by two principal entrances […]

1826, [Walter Scott], chapter IV, in Woodstock; Or, The Cavalier. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, →OCLC, page 120:

here was one [a hut] that, summer-blanch’d, / Was parcel-bearded with the traveller’s-joy / In Autumn, parcel ivy-clad;

1864, Alfred Tennyson, “Aylmer’s Field”, in Enoch Arden, &c., London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, page 59:

(obsolete) Part or half; in part; partially.


scarce

From Middle English scarce, skarce, scarse, scars, from Old Northern French scars, escars ("sparing, niggard, parsimonious, miserly, poor"; > French échars, Medieval Latin scarsus (“diminished, reduced”)), of uncertain origin. One theory is that it derives originally from a Late Latin *scarpsus, *excarpsus, a participle form of *excarpere (“take out”), from Latin ex- + carpere; yet the sense evolution is difficult to trace. Compare Middle Dutch schaers (“sparing, niggard”), Middle Dutch schaers (“a pair of shears, plowshare”), scheeren (“to shear”).

cog

The Virgin quite for her requeſt / The God that ſits at marriage feaſt; / He at their invoking came / But with a ſcarce-wel-lighted flame; / And in his Garland as he ſtood, / Ye might diſcern a Cipreſs bud.

1646 (indicated as 1645), John Milton, “An Epitaph on the Marchioness of Winchester”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], →OCLC, page 24:

I was at the Mathematical School, where the Maſter taught his Pupils after a Method ſcarce imaginable to us in Europe. The Propoſition and Demonſtration were fairly written on a thin Wafer, with Ink compoſed of a Cephalick Tincture. This the Student was to ſwallow upon a faſting Stomach, and for three days following eat nothing but Bread and Water. As the Wafer digeſted, the Tincture mounted to his Brain, bearing the Propoſition along with it.

1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author Permitted to See the Grand Academy of Lagado. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part III (A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Glubbdubdribb, Luggnagg, and Japan), page 78:

And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door, / That I scarce was sure I heard you […]

1845 February, — Quarles [pseudonym; Edgar Allan Poe], “The Raven”, in The American Review, volume I, number II, New York, N.Y., London: Wiley & Putnam, […], →OCLC, page 144:

Yet had I scarce set foot in the passage when I stopped, remembering how once already this same evening I had played the coward, and run home scared with my own fears.

[1898], J[ohn] Meade Falkner, Moonfleet, London; Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934, →OCLC:

He rose upright in the stirrups; he scarce could reach her hand, / But she loosened her hair i' the casement! His face burnt like a brand / As the black cascade of perfume came tumbling over his breast; / And he kissed its waves in the moonlight, / (Oh, sweet, black waves in the moonlight!)

1906 August, Alfred Noyes, “The Highwayman”, in Poems, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., published October 1906, →OCLC, part 1, stanza VI, page 48:

Upon the barred and slitted wall the splotched shadow of the heaven tree shuddered and pulsed monstrously in scarce any wind.

1931, William Faulkner, Sanctuary, Vintage, published 1993, page 122:

Well, it's scarce the replacement then, is it?

1969, John Cleese, Monty Python's Flying Circus:

(archaic, literary) Scarcely, only just.


rank

en-adv

rank (comparative more rank, superlative most rank)

more rank (comparative)
most rank (superlative)

From Middle English rank (“strong, proud”), from Old English ranc (“proud, haughty, arrogant, insolent, forward, overbearing, showy, ostentatious, splendid, bold, valiant, noble, brave, strong, full-grown, mature”), from Proto-West Germanic *rank, from Proto-Germanic *rankaz (“straight”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- (“straight, direct”). Cognate with Dutch rank (“slender, slim”), Low German rank (“slender, projecting, lank”), Danish rank (“straight, erect, slender”), Swedish rank (“slender, shaky, wonky”), Icelandic rakkur (“straight, slender, bold, valiant”).

cog

The seely man seeing him ryde so rancke, / And ayme at him, fell flat to ground for feare […].

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

That rides so rank and bends his lance so fell.

1600, [Torquato Tasso], “(please specify |book=1 to 20)”, in Edward Fairefax [i.e., Edward Fairfax], transl., Godfrey of Bulloigne, or The Recouerie of Ierusalem. […], London: […] Ar[nold] Hatfield, for I[saac] Iaggard and M[atthew] Lownes, →OCLC:

(obsolete) Quickly, eagerly, impetuously.


ass over teakettle

When the top step gave way, he went ass over teakettle back down to the bottom.

We've been scrambling ass over teakettle to get this thing done on time.


frantically

en-adv

frantically (comparative more frantically, superlative most frantically)

more frantically (comparative)
most frantically (superlative)

From earlier franticly, equivalent to frantic + -ally.


stupid

stupid (comparative more stupid, superlative most stupid)

more stupid (comparative)
most stupid (superlative)

/ˈʃt͡ʃjʉː.pəd/

From Middle French stupide, from Latin stupidus (“struck senseless, amazed”), from stupeō (“be amazed or confounded, be struck senseless”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tup-, *(s)tewp- (“to push, stick”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tew- (“to push, hit”). Cognate with Old High German stubarōn (“to be astonished, be stunned, be blocked”). Related also to Old English stoppian (“to block, stop”). See stop.

cog

My gear is stupid fly.

Richard DeLongpre: Aw, we did, didn't we? I'm sorry. I'm so stupid in love with you.

2011 Allen Gregory, "Pilot" (season 1, episode 1)

I'm your mother, sister, your father, brother / This family is stupid attractive

2013, Lady Gaga (lyrics and music), “Jewels N' Drugs”, in Artpop:


ass over teacups

ass over teakettle
ass over teakettle#English

(Canada, US) Synonym of ass over teakettle


considerably

en-adv

considerably (comparative more considerably, superlative most considerably)

more considerably (comparative)
most considerably (superlative)

The situation has improved considerably.

The situation is considerably better.

Significantly; to a degree worth considering.


q.v.

From Latin quod videās, or from quod vidē (literally “which see”), from quod (the neuter of quī (“what”)) + vidē the imperative of videō (“I see”), or videās, the second-person present subjunctive of the same verb.

This is described in more detail in Brown’s book on the subject (q.v.).

quod vide; which see (advises the reader to look up a mentioned text for further information).

βλ.

βλέπε (vlépe)

см.

смотри́ (smotrí)


q.v.

From Latin quantum vīs (literally “as much as you want”), from quantum (“as much as”) + vīs (“you want, you wish”), the second person singular active indicative form of volō (“I want, I wish”).


yea

From Middle English ye, ȝea, ya, ȝa, from Old English ġēa, iā (“yea, yes”), from Proto-West Germanic *jā.

1597–1598, Joseph Hall, Virgidemiarum
Yea, and the prophet of the heav'nly lyre, / Great Solomon sings in the English quire […]

Let no man say that the Devil is not a cruel tyrant. He may give his folk some scrapings of unhallowed pleasure, but he will exact tithes, yea, of anise and cummin, in return, and there is aye the reckoning to pay at the hinder end.

1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:

The pony was yea high.

(dated) Thus, so (now often accompanied by a hand gesture by way of measurement).


suddenly

en-adv

suddenly (comparative more suddenly, superlative most suddenly)

more suddenly (comparative)
most suddenly (superlative)

From Middle English sodenly, sodeynly, sodeinliche, sodaynlyche; equivalent to sudden + -ly.

Suddenly, the heavens opened and we all got drenched.

The king before he would take his voyage, sent the Erle of Huntyngdon to ſerche and ſcowre the Seas, leaſt any Frenchmen lyeng in wayte for him might attrap him sodeinly, or he had any knowledge of their ſetting forward.

1569, Richard Grafton, “Henrye the Fift”, in A Chronicle at Large and Meere History of the Affayres of Englande […], volume II, London: […] Henry Denham, […], for Richarde Tottle and Humffrey Toye, →OCLC, page 464:

But ever since the concept of "hamartia" recurred through Aristotle's Poetics, in an attempt to describe man's ingrained iniquity, our impulse has been to identify a telling defect in those brought suddenly and dramatically low.

2014 October 21, Oliver Brown, “Oscar Pistorius jailed for five years – sport afforded no protection against his tragic fallibilities: Bladerunner's punishment for killing Reeva Steenkamp is but a frippery when set against the burden that her bereft parents, June and Barry, must carry [print version: No room for sentimentality in this tragedy, 13 September 2014, p. S22]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Sport):

Happening quickly and with little or no warning; in a sudden manner.

skielik

happening quickly and with little or no warning

ܡܢ ܫܠܝܐ

Eastern vocalization: ܡܸܢ ܫܸܠܝܵܐ mεn ʃεljā Western vocalization: ܡܶܢ ܫܶܠܝܳܐ men ʃeljo

ܡܢ ܫܠܝ

Eastern vocalization: ܡܸܢ ܫܸܠܝ mεn ʃεlj̠ Western vocalization: ܡܶܢ ܫܶܠܝ men ʃelj̠


underground

underground (comparative more underground, superlative most underground)

more underground (comparative)
most underground (superlative)

/ˌʌndəˈɡɹaʊnd/

/ˌʌndɚˈɡɹaʊnd/

From Middle English undergrounde (adverb), equivalent to under + ground or under- + ground. Compare Dutch ondergrond, ondergronds, German Untergrund, Danish undergrunds.

The tunnel goes underground at this point.


wrong side out

We all struggled frantically into our clothes, […] getting them wrong-side-out and upside-down, as a rule.

1883, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], Life on the Mississippi, Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, →OCLC:

She began to remove her sweaty clothes, but noticed for the first time that she had her chambray shirt on wrongside out.

Of a garment, etc, having its inner or hidden side on the outside and vice versa.

When I inform'd him, then he call'd me sot, And told me I had turn'd the wrong side out.

c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:

(figuratively) Reversed, changed diametrically, by analogy with a garment that is wrong side out.


beaucoup

Borrowed from French beaucoup. Popularized by the American GIs during the Vietnam War.


sui generis

/sʊɪ d͡ʒəˈnɛɹɪs/

Borrowed from Latin suī generis (literally “of its own kind/class”).

bor

They came up with a program that the federal Minister of Agriculture and his provincial colleagues agreed was a good and appropriate approach to handling that particular problem. They did it sui generis.

2003, Canada. Parliament. Senate. Standing Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology, Délibérations Du Comité Sénatorial Permanent Des Affaires Sociales, Des Sciences Et de la Technologie:

Another possibility is that the council acted sui generis and expressed a one-off view on the facts with no precedential significance.

2014 August 7, Jonas Ebbesson, Marie Jacobsson, Mark Adam Klamberg, David Langlet, Pål Wrange, International Law and Changing Perceptions of Security: Liber Amicorum Said Mahmoudi, Hotei Publishing, →ISBN, page 5:

The refutation of Kleinliteratur conceptions enabled Kloppenborg to do away with the idea that Q was created sui generis, which, in turn, enabled him to compare Q with other ancient literature (Kirk 1998:35–36, 64).

2015 December 31, Llewellyn Howes, Judging Q and saving Jesus - Q’s contribution to the wisdom-apocalypticism debate in historical Jesus studies., AOSIS, →ISBN, page 62:


through

From Middle English thrugh, thruch, thruh, metathetic variants of thurgh, thurh, from Old English þurh, from Proto-Germanic *þurhw (“through”), from Proto-Indo-European *tr̥h₂kʷe, suffixed zero-grade from *terh₂- (“to pass through”) + *-kʷe (“and”). Cognate with Scots throch (“through”), West Frisian troch (“through”), German durch (“through”), Dutch door (“through”), Gothic 𐌸𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌷 (þairh, “through”), Latin trans (“across, over, through”), Albanian tërthor (“through, around”), Welsh tra (“through”). See also thorough.

thorough

except in compounds such as thoroughfare

The arrow went straight through.

From one side to the other by way of the interior.

Others slept; he worked straight through.

She read the letter through.

Leave the yarn in the dye overnight so the color soaks through.

Throughout something; all the way across or into.

He said he would see it through.

The baby cried the whole night through.

The American army broke through at Saint-Lô.


nary

Every day, uncomplaining, this ten-ounce muscle contracts 100 thousand times nary “missing a beat.” Over a lifetime of faithful service, these two self-lubricating, self-regulating, high-capacity pumps beat two and one-half billion times […]

2014, Richard Swenson, More Than Meets the Eye: Fascinating Glimpses of God's Power and Design, Tyndale House, →ISBN:

And all about the room, candles gleaming in branched sconces. Nary one glare of electric light.

1923, Photoplay: The Aristocrat of Motion Picture Magazines:

Then, it took her nary ten minutes to diagnose me with adrenal fatigue

2014, Lori Gertz, When Mama Can't Kiss it Better, A journey of love, loss and acceptance:

Nary three weeks before, on December 12, Officer Cherylann Young steered a marked Miami-Dade County police cruiser toward the perimeter of MIA, the international airport.

2018, Antero Pietila, The Ghosts of Johns Hopkins: The Life and Legacy that Shaped an American City:

Mr. Hat: 'GOLDARMOR, THERE YOU ARE! I WAS THINKING... I'VE FOUGHT SCADS OF FOES, YET NARY A HAT IS WITHIN A GRASP!'

2019 December 10, Yacht Club Games, "Story" (Mr. Hat), in Shovel Knight Showdown (version 4.1), Nintendo Switch


eke

From Middle English ek, eek, eke (“also”) [and other forms], from Old English ēac, ǣc, ēc (“also”), from Proto-West Germanic *auk, from Proto-Germanic *auk (“also, too; furthermore, in addition”), then either:
* from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ewg- (“to enlarge, increase”); or
* from Pre-Germanic *h₂ew (“away from, off; again”) + *g(ʰ)e (postpositional intensifying particle meaning ‘at any rate, indeed, in fact’)
The English word is cognate with Gothic 𐌰𐌿𐌺 (auk, “also; for, because; but also”), Old Frisian âk, Old High German ouh (“also, as well, too”) (Middle High German ouch, modern German auch (“also, as well, too”)), Old Norse auk (“also; and”) (Danish og (“and”), Swedish och (“and”), ock (“(dated) also, as well as, too”)), Old Saxon ôk, Dutch ook (“also, too; moreover; either”), Saterland Frisian ook, uk (“also, too”), West Frisian ek (“also, too”).

nb...

æac, eac, ec, eeke, heke, iec, ok, yke, ʒeke

cog

The ſoote [i.e., sweet] ſeaſon, that bud and blome forth brings, / With grene hath clad the hill, and eke the vale: […]

a. 1548, Henry Haward, late Earle of Surrey [i.e., Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey], “Description of Spring, wherin Eche Thing Renewes, Saue Onely the Louer”, in Songes and Sonettes, […], [London]: Apud Richardum Tottel [i.e., Richard Tottel], published 1557, →OCLC:

'Tis false: for Arthur wore in Hall / Round Table like a Farthingal, / On which, with Shirt pull'd out behind, / And eke before his good Knights dined.

1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]. Canto I.”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678, →OCLC; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC, page 12:

John Gilpin was a citizen / Of credit and renown, / A train-band Captain eke was he / Of famous London town.

1782, William Cowper, “The Diverting History of John Gilpin, […]”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson; […], published 1785, →OCLC, page 343:

A vinegary face has Mrs Miff, and a mortified bonnet, and eke a thirsty soul for sixpences and shillings.

1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC:


anyroad

/ˈɛ.nɪ.ɹəʊd/

(Northern England dialect) Synonym of anyway.


soft

en-adv

soft (comparative more soft, superlative most soft)

more soft (comparative)
most soft (superlative)

From Middle English softe, from Old English sōfte (“softly”), from Proto-West Germanic *samftō (“softly”).

A Knight soft ryding towards them they spyde

1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 9:

There was a neat hat-and-umbrella stand, and the stranger's weary feet fell soft on a good, serviceable dark-red drugget, which matched in colour the flock-paper on the walls.

1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter II, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC, page 0091:

(obsolete) Softly; without roughness or harshness; gently; quietly.


mortal

From Middle English mortal, mortel, from Old French mortal, and their source Latin mortālis, from mors (“death”). Partly displaced native deadly, from Old English dēadlīċ.

It's mortal cold out there.

(colloquial) Mortally; enough to cause death.


in utero

Borrowed from Latin in utero (“in the uterus”).

Occurring while a baby is within their mother's womb.


tight

tight (comparative tighter, superlative tightest)

tighter (comparative)
tightest (superlative)

From Middle English tight, tyght, tyȝt, tiht, variants of thight, thiht, from Old English *þiht, *þīht (attested in meteþiht), from Proto-West Germanic *þį̄ht(ī), from Proto-Germanic *þinhtaz, from Proto-Indo-European *tenkt- (“dense, thick, tight”), from Proto-Indo-European *ten- (“to stretch, pull”).
Cognate with Scots ticht, West Frisian ticht, Danish tæt, Icelandic þéttur (“dense”), Norwegian tett, Swedish tät, Dutch dicht (“dense”), German dicht (“dense”).
The current form with t- /t/ rather than etymologically-expected th- /θ/ arose in Middle English under the influence of the etymologically-unrelated verbs tighten and tight.

der

Make sure the lid is closed tight.

'I had my eyes tight shut.'

1934, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in Murder on the Orient Express, London: HarperCollins, published 2017, page 100:

Good night, sleep tight.


sudden

en-adv

sudden (comparative more sudden, superlative most sudden)

more sudden (comparative)
most sudden (superlative)

From Middle English sodeyn, sodain, from Anglo-Norman sodein, from Old French sodain, subdain (“immediate, sudden”), from Vulgar Latin *subitānus (“sudden”), from Latin subitāneus (“sudden”), from subitus (“sudden", literally, "that which has come stealthily”), originally the past participle of subīre (“to come or go stealthily”), from sub (“under”) + īre (“go”). Doublet of subitaneous. Displaced native Old English fǣrlīċ.

Herbs of every leaf that sudden flowered.

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


really

really (comparative more really, superlative most really)

more really (comparative)
most really (superlative)

From Middle English really, realy, rialliche, equivalent to real + -ly.

We are to believe that by an extraordinary Conception by Means of the holy Ghost he in an extraordinary MANNER, (unknown to us) really assumed Flesh, and was by her nourished in the Womb and in due Time born in a natural Manner, and that whilst on Earth he was really hungry, and dry, and eat and drank as really as other Men, without, any Deception of Sight in us or Delusion whatsoever.

1751, John Roche, Moravian Heresy, page 168:

If we take the phenomenal world as it strikes our senses, in all its varied and wonderful powers and aspects; as the mere symbol of the Divine Presence and power, that is, according to Christ, ever in, through, and over all, as really as are causal light, heat and gravity, or as really as our own life and souls pervade every atom of our bodies, [...]

1878, Jonathan Baldwin Turner, Christ's Words as Related to Science,..., page 52:

Thus Brahman must be described as ‘really real’, while a rope, or a person, or God Himself, is ‘unreally real’. And it is only the Vedantin who can distinguish the real from the unreal, for to others all seems real.

1975, Robin H. S. Boyd, An introduction to Indian Christian theology, page 48:

(literal) In a way or manner that is real, not unreal.

real-ly

in a way or manner that is real, not unreal

"He really is a true friend." / "Really? What makes you so sure?"

But ma, I really, really want to go to the show!

It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room. Listening here was as pleasant as talking; just to watch was pleasant. The young priests who lived here wore cassocks and birettas; their faces were fine and mild, yet really strong, like the rector's face; and in their intercourse with him and his wife they seemed to be brothers.

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

There was also hairdressing: hairdressing, too, really was hairdressing in those times — no running a comb through it and that was that. It was curled, frizzed, waved, put in curlers overnight, waved with hot tongs;[…].

1977, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in An Autobiography, part II, London: Collins, →ISBN:

(informal, as an intensifier) Very (modifying an adjective); very much (modifying a verb).

իսկապես

informally, as an intensifier; very, very much


faith

From Middle English faith (also fay), borrowed from Old French fei, feid, from Latin fidem. Displaced native Old English ġelēafa, which was also the word for "belief."
Old French had [θ] as a final devoiced allophone of /ð/ from lenited Latin /d/; this eventually fell silent in the 12th century. The -th of the Middle English forms is most straightforwardly accounted for as a direct borrowing of a French [θ]. However, it has also been seen as arising from alteration of a French form with -d under influence of English abstract nouns in the suffix -th (e.g. truth, ruth, health, etc.), or as a recharacterisation of a French form like fay, fey, fei with the same suffix, thus making the word equivalent to fay + -th.

“How wonderfully,” said Vincent, “your city dignities unloose the tongue: directly a man has been a mayor, he thinks himself qualified for a Tully at least. Faith, Venables asked me one day, what was the Latin for spouting? and I told him, ‘hippomanes, or a raging humour in mayors.’”

1828, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], Pelham; or, The Adventures of a Gentleman. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC:

'Faith, friend,' he says, 'that was a nasty fall for a fellow that has supped weel. Where might your road be gaun to?'

1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:

(archaic) Alternative form of in faith (“really, truly”)


adagissimo

Borrowed from Italian adagissimo, superlative of adagio.


lamentoso

lamentoso (comparative more lamentoso, superlative most lamentoso)

more lamentoso (comparative)
most lamentoso (superlative)


later

once

antonym(s) of “At some unspecified time in the future”

* Adverb: From Middle English later, latere, from Old English lator, equivalent to late + -er.
* Adjective: From Middle English later, latere, from Old English lætra, equivalent to late + -er.
Cognate with Saterland Frisian leeter (“later”), West Frisian letter (“later”), Dutch later (“later”), German Low German later (“later”).

You came in late yesterday and today you came in even later.

My roommate arrived first. I arrived later.

I arrived later than my roommate.

Afterward in time (used with than when comparing with another time).

I wanted to do it now, but I’ll have to do it later.


affrettando

(music) In a rushing or hurrying manner; as if pressing onwards.


relatively

In the present position of Europe, it is obvious, that France domineers. She has gained positively, by adding territory to her dominions [...]; she has gained relatively, by removing Austria to a distance, and by weakening that ancient rival to such a degree, as to secure her inaction for an age.

1802 March 5, Fisher Ames, “Balance of Europe”, in Works of Fisher Ames. Compiled by a number of his friends. To which are prefixed, Notices of his life and character., Boston: T. B. Wait & Co., published 1809, →OCLC, page 257:

[T]he Sundanese [...] have better preserved their primitive usages than the other inhabitants of the island. They are as a rule taller, more robust, and healthier; but they are regarded as relatively barbarous, and in the company of Malays or Javanese, they are themselves ashamed of their dialect, which is looked on as a sort of rude patois.

1890, [Jacques] Élisée Reclus, “Java”, in A. H. Keane, editor, Oceanica (The Earth and Its Inhabitants; 14), New York: D. Appleton and Company, Inhabitants:

Some organs may grow faster than the rest of the body so that their size increases not only in absolute terms, but also relatively to the rest of the body, which is positive allometry; […]

1983 May 5, Paul Harvey, Tim Clutton-Brock, “The Survival of the Theory”, in New Scientist, volume 98, number 1356, London: New Science Publications, →ISSN, page 313:

In a relative manner; with reference to environment or competition; contextually or comparatively.

Additionally, the F never lets you forget it's one big and very heavy motorcycle. The wide bars give you the leverage to bend it into a corner relatively quickly, but you feel its mass resisting. […] On the freeway, the seat–relatively thin to keep ride height down–offers a pleasant site for your rear through a tank of gas.

2005 January 5, “Honda VTX1800F”, in Cycle World, volume 44, number 1, →ISSN:

(sometimes proscribed) Somewhat; fairly.


deceptively

deceptively (comparative more deceptively, superlative most deceptively)

more deceptively (comparative)
most deceptively (superlative)

2010, Australian Law Dictionarydeceptively similar, Oxford Reference
A trade mark is deceptively similar to another trade mark if it so nearly resembles that other trade mark that it is likely to deceive or cause confusion

those deceptively jaunty tunes that mask less-than- cheerful lyrics

February 10 2006, Dorian Lynskey, “Readers recommend: joyous songs”, in The Guardian:

We've rounded up 26 recipes that sound, look and taste difficult but are actually really easy. ... try one of these deceptively easy but wildly impressive recipes.

February 12 2015, Alison Spiegel, “Deceptively Easy Valentine's Day Recipes”, in HuffPost:

The “deceptively spacious” cliche is accurate in the case of this house near the corner of Castlepark Road and Hyde Road: from the front, it looks like a traditional 1930s home. But the current owners, who moved here 23 years ago, have extended it three times since then; now, with two levels at the back, it has 346sq m (3,725sq ft) of space.

2015 September 3, Frances O'Rourke, “‘Deceptively spacious’ fits the bill in Dalkey for €1.575m”, in The Irish Times:

what seems like a complex situation is actually deceptively simple

2018 May 7, Phil Harrison, “Monday’s best TV: Genderquake”, in The Guardian:

Over 20-25 minute episodes, A Teacher shows us what should seem to be a transparent case of grooming: Claire (Kate Mara), a quiet, deceptively self-destructive new high school English teacher in Austin, Texas, and her 17-year-old student-turned-lover, Eric (Love Simon’s Nick Robinson).

2020 November 9, Adrian Horton, “A Teacher review – intriguing yet incomplete drama about grooming”, in The Guardian:

The trial court found that the crewman who had spread the sawdust over the oil had made the situation more dangerous by creating a deceptively safe condition, resulting in a "trap" and an unseaworthy condition.

1968 October 29, Leonard P. Moore, Bertino v. Polish Ocean Line, 402 F.2d 963, 866 (2 Cir. 1968)

Mathematicians have long pondered a deceptively easy puzzle about the reach of a goat tied to a fence. Until now, they’ve only found approximate answers.

2020 December 27, Steve Nadis, “After Centuries, a Simple Math Problem Gets an Exact Solution”, in Wired:


nation

“Looky here, Bilgewater,” he says, “I’m nation sorry for you, but you ain’t the only person that’s had troubles like that.”

1884 December 10, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XIX, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade) […], London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC, page 186:


necessarily

necessarily (comparative more necessarily, superlative most necessarily)

more necessarily (comparative)
most necessarily (superlative)

It is not necessarily true that children get their morals from their parents.

But clever cities will not necessarily be better ones.

2013 September 7, “The multiplexed metropolis”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8852:


ill

ill (comparative worse or more ill, superlative worst or most)

worse (comparative)
more ill (comparative)
worst (superlative)
most (superlative)

From Middle English ille (“evil; wicked”), from Old Norse illr (adj), illa (adverb), ilt (noun) (whence Icelandic illur, Norwegian ille, Danish ilde), from Proto-Germanic *ilhilaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁elḱ- (whence Latin ulcus (“sore”), Ancient Greek ἕλκος (hélkos, “wound, ulcer”), Sanskrit अर्शस् (árśas, “hemorrhoids”).

cog

He would have conversed as usual; but his attempts were so ill seconded, that he was fain to take refuge in the letters that lay beside him.

1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “A Proposal of Marriage”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 126:

Within, I found it, as I had expected, transcendently dismal. The slowly changing shadows waved on it from the heavy trees, were doleful in the last degree; the house was ill-placed, ill-built, ill-planned, and ill-fitted.

1859 December 13, Charles Dickens [et al.], “(please specify the name of the story)”, in Charles Dickens, editor, The Haunted House. The Extra Christmas Number of All the Year Round […], volume II, London: […] C[harles] Whiting, […], →OCLC:

In both groups, however, we find copious and intricate speciation so that, often, species limits are narrow and ill defined.

1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page 3:

His inflexibility and blindness ill become a leader, for a leader must temper justice with mercy.

1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, London: Abacus, published 2010, page 541:

Is it because this supposes an undifferentiated violence towards others and oneself that I could ill imagine in a woman?

2006, Julia Borossa (translator), Monique Canto-Sperber (quoted author), in Libération, 2002 February 2, quoted in Élisabeth Badinter (quoting author), Dead End Feminism, Polity, page 40


unnecessarily

en-adv

unnecessarily (comparative more unnecessarily, superlative most unnecessarily)

more unnecessarily (comparative)
most unnecessarily (superlative)

He unnecessarily repeated much of what others had covered.

There be […] lords that can prate
As amply and unnecessarily
As this Gonzalo;

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 I, scene i]:

Pray let not any-body unnecessarily be acquainted with this shocking affair;

1753, Samuel Richardson, The History of Sir Charles Grandison, London, Volume 1, Letter 33, p. 235:

“Wait a moment,” said he, quite unnecessarily, for she could not have stirred;

1864 August – 1866 January, [Elizabeth] Gaskell, “A Crisis”, in Wives and Daughters. An Every-day Story. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published 1866, →OCLC, pages 113-114:

[…] they made good laws and kept the peace and saved good trees from being unnecessarily cut down,

1950, C. S. Lewis, chapter 17, in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, New York: Macmillan:

In an unnecessary way; not by necessity.

The food provided was unnecessarily generous, especially for an event meant to raise money for the hungry.

In the days of their [the Roman armies’] grandeur, when no enemy appeared capable of opposing them, their heavy armour was laid aside as unnecessarily burdensome, their laborious exercises were neglected as unnecessarily toilsome.

1776, Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, London: W. Strahan and T. Cadell, Volume 2, Book 5, Part 1, pp. 307-308:

His absence was unnecessarily long.

1814 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter XI, in Mansfield Park: […], volume II, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 245:

[…] it seemed that she used his name unnecessarily often,

2007, Alan Bennett, The Uncommon Reader, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, published 2008, page 28:


giusto

/ˈd͡ʒuːstəʊ/

Borrowed from Italian giusto (“right, just”). Doublet of just.

(music) Following a tempo marking strictly or exactly.


durn

The older man eyed him for a moment bale fully. "I'm goin' to set 'em again," he replied, "and don't you touch 'em. I'm goin' to trap where I durn please. There's two of you, but you don't bluff me out, not any."

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

(US, informal, euphemistic) Darn; damned; extremely.


around

From Middle English around, arounde, from a- (from Old English a- (“on, at”)) + Middle English round (“circle, round”) borrowed from French, equivalent to a- + round. Cognate with Scots aroond, aroon (“around”). Displaced earlier Middle English umbe, embe (“around”) (from Old English ymbe (“around”)). See umbe.

High above, vultures circled around.

So as to form a circle or trace a circular path, or approximation thereof.

ympäri

so as to form a circle or trace a circular path, or approximation thereof

Everybody please gather around.

There isn't another house for miles around.

Around a thousand people attended.

An adult elephant weighs around five tons.

There are rumors going around that the company is bankrupt.

Look around and see what you find.

We moved the furniture around in the living room.

Then came a maid with hand-bag and shawls, and after her a tall young lady.[…]She looked around expectantly, and recognizing Mrs. Cooke's maid[…]Miss Thorn greeted her with a smile which greatly prepossessed us in her favor.

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:

Of all the transitions brought about on the Earth’s surface by temperature change, the melting of ice into water is the starkest. It is binary. And for the land beneath, the air above and the life around, it changes everything.

2013 May 11, “The climate of Tibet: Pole-land”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8835, page 80:

The team wasn't doing well, but the new coach really turned things around.

He used to stay up late but his new girlfriend changed that around.

The patient was unconscious but the doctor brought him around quickly. (see bring around, come around)

I didn't think he would ever like the new design, but eventually we brought him around. (see bring around, come around)

From one state or condition to an opposite or very different one; with a metaphorical change in direction; bringing about awareness or agreement.

ympäri

from one state or condition to an opposite or very different one

с но́г на́ голову (s nóg ná golovu, literally “upside down”)

Turn around at the end of this street.

She spun around a few times.

(with turn, spin, etc.) So as to partially or completely rotate; so as to face in the opposite direction.

I asked around, and no-one really liked it.

Shopping around can get you a better deal.

When are you going to stop whoring around, find a nice girl, and give us grandchildren?

Used with verbs to indicate repeated or continuous action, or in numerous locations or with numerous people.

use a frequentative verb with optional ympäriinsä

sit around, mess around, loaf around

Used with certain verbs to suggest unproductive activity.


's

Contractions of various words ending in s.

He takes his bottle of whisky a day and gets drunk’s a lord in the evening.

1922, E. F. Benson, Negotium Perambulans:


nevertheless

/ˌnɛvəðəˈlɛs/

/ˌnɛvɚðəˈlɛs/

From Middle English nevertheles, never-þe-les, nevere-þe-lesse. By surface analysis, never (“not at all”) + the + less; compare never the wiser.

surf

Now no chaſtening for the preſent ſeemeth to be ioyous, but grieuous: neuertheleſſe, afterward it yeeldeth the peaceable fruite of righteouſneſſe, vnto them which are exerciſed thereby.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Hebrews 12:11, column 2:

Nevertheless, it is clear that the global energy demand for air-conditioning will grow substantially as nations become more affluent, with the consequences of climate change potentially accelerating the demand.

2013 September-October, Michael Sivak, “Will AC Put a Chill on the Global Energy Supply?”, in American Scientist:

(conjunctive) In spite of what preceded; yet.

тем не ме́нее (tem ne méneje) (most common translation)


muy

Spacehog are a perfectly nice band, with pleasantly strummed guitars, a crisp pop sensibility, and muy cute vocals on this side of awkward, but after Blur, Ride, Lush, Oasis, Stone Roses, Elastica, and what have you, Resident Alien is just the proverbial straw on this overworked and overbroke camel's back.

1995 November 30, Drema Crist, Janette Park, Marc Sorace, “Last-Second Sound Bites”, in The Chronicle, Duke University:

In her rosy two-piece traveling outfit, Adela looks muy cute as she walks toward us.

1999, Terri de la Peña, Faults, Alyson Books, published 1999, →ISBN, page 163:

But such is the case with Enrique Iglesias, the muy handsome son of Julio, who is known to his fans these days simply as Enrique.

2007 June 9, John Lannert, “Crossover King”, in Billboard:

(informal, US, chiefly in Latin-American contexts) Very.


euphemistically

en-adv

euphemistically (comparative more euphemistically, superlative most euphemistically)

more euphemistically (comparative)
most euphemistically (superlative)

Sex was the primary ingredient of the gatherings, which were euphemistically called "free house parties".

1964, James Holledge, Sex and the Australian Teenager, Melbourne: Horwitz Publications, page 124:


anyways

From any + adverbial genitive of way (compare always).

it behoves them[…]to remove all objects, causes, companies, occasions, as may anyways molest him […].

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 6, subsection ii:

...we are bound to assert that we never heard either in his public discourses or private conversation, anything that might tend towards encouraging sedition, or anyways insolencing the government

1851, Church Wardens of Burlington, “The Church Wardens &c. of Burlington to the Honourable Society. Burlington, 28th, 1715”, in Collections of the Protestant Episcopal Historical Society, volume 1, →OCLC, page 76:

"Anyways," said the damsel, "I am glad punishment followed, and I say so."

1864 May – 1865 November, Charles Dickens, “book 2, chapter 12”, in Our Mutual Friend. […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1865, →OCLC:

(conjunctive, informal, chiefly Canada, US, Philippines) Anyway, anyhow, in any case.


hobnob

From hob and nob, hob or nob (“a phrase spoken when making a toast, possibly meaning ‘give and take’; to take turns toasting or buying rounds of drinks”) (archaic), from dialectal hab nab (“to have or have not, in the sense of an invitation to have a drink”), from Old English habban (“to have, possess”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *keh₂p- (“to grab, seize”)) + nabban (“to not have”) (from ne (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ne (“not”)) + habban).

der

The Citizens in their rage, imagining that euery poſt in the Churche had bin one of yᵉ Souldyers, ſhot habbe or nabbe at randon^([sic – meaning random]) uppe to the Roode lofte, and to the Chancell, leauing ſome of theyr arrowes ſticking in the Images.

[1577, Raphaell Holinshed, “[The Historie of Irelande […].] The Thirde Booke of the Historie of Ireland, Comprising the Raigne of Henry the Eyght: ….”, in The Firste Volume of the Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande […], volume I, London: […] [Henry Bynneman] for Iohn Hunne, →OCLC, pages 77–78:

(obsolete) At random; at a venture; hit and miss.


generally

en-adv

generally (comparative more generally, superlative most generally)

From Middle English generally, generalliche, equivalent to general + -ly.

It is generally known that the Earth is round.

I generally have a walk in the afternoon.

During the whole time of his abode in the university he generally spent thirteen hours of the day in study; by which assiduity besides an exact dispatch of the whole course of philosophy, he read over in a manner all classic authors that are extant[…]

1661, John Fell, The Life of the most learned, reverend and pious Dr. H. Hammond:

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:

Ivor had acquired more than a mile of fishing rights with the house ; he was not at all a good fisherman, but one must do something ; one generally, however, banged a ball with a squash-racket against a wall.

1922, Michael Arlen, “3/19/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:

Generally speaking …

“There ain’t no drain of nothing short handy, is there?” said the Chicken, generally. “This here sluicing night is hard lines to a man as lives on his condition.”
Captain Cuttle proffered a glass of rum […]

1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC:

It is generally true that the angles of a triangle sum to 180 degrees.

I counsel that all Israel be generally gathered unto thee.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Samuel 17:11:

(obsolete) Collectively; as a whole; without omissions.


often

often (comparative more often or oftener, superlative most often or oftenest)

more often (comparative)
oftener (comparative)
most often (superlative)
oftenest (superlative)

From Middle English often, alteration (with final -n added due to analogy with Middle English selden (“seldom”)) of Middle English ofte, oft, from Old English oft (“often”), from Proto-Germanic *ufta, *uftō (“often”). Cognate with Scots oftin (“often”), North Frisian oftem (“often”), Saterland Frisian oafte (“often”), German oft (“often”), Pennsylvania German oft (“often”), Danish ofte (“often”), Norwegian Bokmål ofte (“often”), Norwegian Nynorsk ofte (“often”), Swedish ofta (“often”), and Icelandic oft (“often”).

I often walk to work when the weather is nice.

I’ve been going to the movies more often since a new theatre opened near me.

☞ This word [wrap] is often pronounced wrop, rhyming with top, even by ſpeakers much above the vulgar.

1791, John Walker, A Critical Pronouncing Dictionary […] , London: Sold by G. G. J. and J. Robinſon, Paternoſter Row; and T. Cadell, in the Strand, →OCLC, page 557:

How often is the comfort of a whole family abridged by some trifling circumstance, that ought not to have made a visible impression!

1850, T. S. Arthur, “A Rise in the Butter Market”, in Sketches of Life and Character, Philadelphia: J. W. Bradley, →OCLC, page 59:

Although frogs are able to swim well and often are found in water, they are really land animals.

1912, P. Chalmers Mitchell, “Larvæ and Metamorphoses”, in The Childhood of Animals, New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, →OCLC, page 17:

According to this saga of intellectual-property misanthropy, these creatures [patent trolls] roam the business world, buying up patents and then using them to demand extravagant payouts from companies they accuse of infringing them. Often, their victims pay up rather than face the costs of a legal battle.

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

the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry

the pitcher goes so often to the well that it is broken at last


worse

From Middle English worse, werse, from Old English wiersa, from Proto-Germanic *wirsizô. Cognate with Dutch wers (“worse”).

He drives worse than anyone I know.

Irregular bedtimes may disrupt healthy brain development in young children, according to a study of intelligence and sleeping habits. ¶ Going to bed at a different time each night affected girls more than boys, but both fared worse on mental tasks than children who had a set bedtime, researchers found.

2013 July 19, Ian Sample, “Irregular bedtimes may affect children's brains”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 34:

comparative form of badly (adverb): more badly

He's worse-mannered than she is.

Her leg is infected. Still worse, she's developing a fever.

(sentence adverb) Used to start a sentence describing something that is worse.


excellent

excellent (comparative more excellent, superlative most excellent)

more excellent (comparative)
most excellent (superlative)

From Middle English excellent, from Old French excellent, from Latin excellēns (“elevated, exalted”), present participle of excellō (“elevate, exult”), equivalent to excel + -ent.

Lucian, in his tract de Mercede conductis, hath excellent well deciphered such men's proceedings in his picture of Opulentia […].


anew

From Middle English onew, of newe, from Old English of niowe.

Each morning, opportunity—like the sun—dawns anew.

Then they set somewhat of food before me, whereof I ate my fill, and gave me somewhat of clothes wherewith I clad myself anew and covered my nakedness; after which they took me up into the ship, […]

1885, Richard F. Burton, “Night 558”, in The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night:

(literary, poetic or formal) Again, once more; afresh, in a new way, newly.


devilish

devilish (comparative more devilish, superlative most devilish)

more devilish (comparative)
most devilish (superlative)

From Middle English develissh, develyssh, equivalent to devil + -ish. Cognate with Saterland Frisian düvelsk, düüwelsk (“devilish”), West Frisian duvelsk (“devilish”), Dutch duivels (“devilish”), German Low German düvelsk (“devilish”), German teuflisch (“devilish”), Danish djævelsk (“devilish”), Swedish djävulsk (“devilish”),
Norwegian djevelsk (“devilish”).

It was devilish hot outside today.

(informal, dated) Devilishly; very; exceedingly.


rampant

en-adverb

rampant (comparative more rampant, superlative most rampant)

more rampant (comparative)
most rampant (superlative)

From Middle English rampand, rampend, present participle of rampen (“to rise by climbing, shoot up, sprout, sty, ascend”), from Old French ramper (“to creep, climb”) (see below), equivalent to ramp + -and or ramp + -ant. Recorded since 1382, "standing on the hind legs" (as in heraldry), later, "fierce, ravenous" (1387). Compare Scots rampand (“rampant”).
Alternatively from Middle English *rampant, from Old French rampant, the present participle of ramper (“to creep, climb”), equivalent to ramp + -ant. Old French ramper derives from Frankish *rampōn, *hrampōn (“to hook, grapple, climb”), from *rampa, *hrampa (“hook, claw, talon”), from Proto-Germanic *hrempaną (“to curve, shrivel, shrink, wrinkle”).

der

Things seem to be running rampant around here lately.


prolly

en-adv

prolly (comparative more prolly, superlative most prolly)

more prolly (comparative)
most prolly (superlative)

I should prolly keep my eyes on the road.

Take or be taken. Get yours or get got. It was the code of the streets and I'd lived by it. The way things was looking, I was prolly gone die by it too.

2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 24:

Naw. That stream's so lazy, it prolly wouldn't even float thee.

2006 April 24, Videlectrix, Thy Dungeonman 3, Browser, level/area: Bridge which looks troll-friendly:

Prolly wouldn't be stopped by da cops all da time, even though I ain't doin' nothin' wrong. Prolly wouldn't have my teachers tryna put me in special ed all da time. And prolly would be in the Gifted and Talented Program wit' you and Echo.

2020, Echo Brown, Black Girl Unlimited, Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN:

"There's prolly good parts of the province. Only good part of the town is it's easy to sneak into the abandoned movie theater and throw expired Milk Duds to the rats."

2022, Jeph Jacques, Questionable Content (webcomic), 4907: Sasratchewan:


dearer

Those lines that I before have writ do lie, / Even those that said I could not love you dearer

1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 115”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:


aloofly

aloofly (comparative alooflier or more aloofly, superlative aloofliest or most aloofly)

alooflier (comparative)
more aloofly (comparative)
aloofliest (superlative)
most aloofly (superlative)

With symphonies soft and sweet colour
It courted me then,
Till evasions seemed wrong,
Till evasions gave in to its song,
And I warmed, until living aloofly loomed duller
Than life among men.

1919, Thomas Hardy, “For Life I Had Never Cared Greatly”, in Moments of Vision:

The girl, with eyebrows arched aloofly, continued to glance about the street[.]

1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1965, →OCLC, page 87:


alternatively

Observers should keep in mind that these efforts at living alternatively are not easily undertaken; indeed, if they were, more people would be doing what they do.

1998, Marie D. Hoff (editor), Sustainable Community Development, page 99:

Thus, we are creating a new class struggle between those who live within the social system and those who are marginalized or wish to live alternatively.

2001, Hans-Peter Martin, Is Globalization a Trap?, published in Keys to the 21st Century (edited by Jérôme Bindé) on page 350

Devising obviously asks for what we understand as general creativity, like the ability to take an initiative, to invent, to think alternatively, to associate interestingly, to create metaphors and images.

2003, Torunn Kjølner and Janek Szatkowski, Dramaturgy in Building Multimedia Performances, published in Production methods: behind the scenes of virtual inhabited 3D worlds: Volume 1 (edited by Kim Halskov Madsen), on page 127

Most people living alternatively have strong pro-environmental values and, unlike many 'greens' in mainstream society, are generally able to apply their values in day-to-day life.

2005, Graham Meltzer, Sustainable Community: Learning from the Cohousing Model, page 3:

(conjunctive) Used to link a pair of possibilities


reverse

From Middle English revers, from Anglo-Norman revers, Middle French revers, and their source, Latin reversus, perfect passive participle of reversō, from re- + versō. Doublet of revers.

The man was killed to feed his image fat / Within this pictured world that ran reverse, / Where miracles alone were ever plain.

1963, Donal Serrell Thomas, Points of Contact:

(now rare) In a reverse way or direction; in reverse; upside-down.


prior

prior (comparative more prior, superlative most prior)

more prior (comparative)
most prior (superlative)

The adjective is a learned borrowing from Latin prior (“earlier, former, previous, prior; in front; (figurative) better, superior”), from Proto-Italic *priōs (“earlier, previous”, literally “more before”), ultimately from *pri (“before”) (from Proto-Indo-European *pró (“leading to, toward”) and its etymon *per- (“before, in front; first”)) + *-jōs (suffix forming comparative adjectives). Doublet of before, fore, and former.
The adverb and noun are derived from the adjective.

der

The doctor had known three months prior.

From the opening shots of the anonymous young Winterfell boy rushing to catch a glimpse of Jon Snow and Queen Daenerys Targaryen, hearkening back to those moments of the very first episode in which Arya rushed to do the same with an approaching King Robert Baratheon, the series is calling back to its beginning, suggesting (at least for now) that the wheel continues to turn, sending us back into a pattern begun seven seasons prior.

2019 April 14, Alex McLevy, “Winter is Here on Game of Thrones’ Final Season Premiere (Newbies)”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 2020-12-18:

Chiefly followed by to: in advance, before, previously.


swift

en-adv

swift (comparative more swift, superlative most swift)

more swift (comparative)
most swift (superlative)

From Middle English swift, from Old English swift (“swift; quick”), from Proto-Germanic *swiftaz (“swift; quick”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)weyp- (“to twist; wind around”). Cognate with Icelandic svipta (“to pull quickly”), Old English swīfan (“to revolve, sweep, wend, intervene”). More at swivel.

cog

Light boats sail swift, though greater hulks draw deep.

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

Ply swift and strong the oar.


darn

But I ain't up to my baby tonight / 'Cause it's too darn hot

1948, Cole Porter (lyrics and music), “Too Darn Hot”:

Of the two episodes, “Mortshall” is slightly weaker, while still being pretty darn good. I spent a lot of this season bemoaning the weaker entries, and like I said last time, it’s shit like this that makes me complain when stuff gets super dumb.

2021 September 6, Zack Handlen, “Rick And Morty ends its fifth season looking for an escape hatch”, in AV Club:


late

en-adv

late (comparative later, superlative latest)

later (comparative)
latest (superlative)

From Middle English late, lat, from Old English læt (“slow; slack, lax, negligent; late”), from Proto-West Germanic *lat, from Proto-Germanic *lataz (“slow, lazy”). By surface analysis, deverbal from let.

der

We drove as fast as we could, but we still arrived late.

After a deadline has passed, past a designated time.

Colonel Easterwood, late of the 34th Carbines, was a guest at the dinner party.

The Hendersons will all be there / Late of Pablo Fanque's Fair / What a scene!

Formerly, especially in the context of service in a military unit.

He ſhall doe this, or elſe I doe recant / The pardon that I late pronounced heere.

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 IV, scene i], page 181, column 1:

Tears of the widower, when he sees
A late-lost form that sleep reveals,
And moves his doubtful arms, and feels
Her place is empty, fall like these; […]

1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto XIII, page 20:


overseas

/ˌəʊvəˈsiːz/

From earlier oversea, equivalent to oversea + -s. Compare West Frisian oerseesk, Dutch overzees, German Übersee, Danish oversøisk.

He emigrated and now lives overseas.

She travelled overseas.

I've had my fun and now it's time to send / Your conscience overseas / Coming in fast / Over me

1988, R.E.M. (lyrics and music), “Orange Crush”, in Green:


niggardly

en-adv

niggardly (comparative more niggardly, superlative most niggardly)

more niggardly (comparative)
most niggardly (superlative)

because many families are compelled to live niggardly, exhaust and undone by great dowers, none shall be given at all, or very little […].

(now rare) In a parsimonious way; sparingly, stingily.


afloat

You have so little Brains, that a Penn’orth of Butter melted under ’um, would set ’um afloat:

1668, John Dryden, Sir Martin Mar-all, London: H. Herringman, act II, page 22:

[…] I went down to my Boat, got the Water out of her, and got her afloat, loaded all my Cargo in her, and then went Home again for more;

1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC, page 224:

Oh why is heaven built so far, / Oh why is earth set so remote? / I cannot reach the nearest star / That hangs afloat.

1881, Christina Rossetti, “De Profundis”, in A Pageant and Other Poems, London: Macmillan, page 60:

[…] that trade […] may likewise employ many useful hands both ashore and afloat,

1788, Alexander Jardine, Letters from Barbary, France, Spain, Portugal, &c., London: T. Cadell, Volume 2, Letter 23, p. 236:

They was the roughest crew afloat, was Flint’s; the devil himself would have been feared to go to sea with them.

1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, chapter 11, in Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC, part II (The Sea Cook), page 88:

Navy chow ashore is rarely as good as it is afloat, and for enlisted men it is usually much worse.

1947, James Michener, “The Strike”, in Tales of the South Pacific, New York: Dial, published 2014, page 315:

In, or while in, a vessel at sea or on another body of water; at sea.

1695, Edmund Gibson (translator), Camden’s Britannia, London: A. Swalle, “Staffordshire,”
[…] it [the River Dove] overflows and lays the meadows afloat in April, like another Nile.

setting a lie aflote

1587, Raphael Holinshed et al., Holinshed’s Chronicles, volume 3, Edward I, page 298:

[…] I shall not be judged fairly; it will get afloat that I am not a good girl,

1878, Thomas Hardy, chapter 5, in The Return of the Native, volume 2, London: Smith, Elder, page 163:

[…] as this example set the discourse about witchcraft afloat, some people, troubled with a similar complaint, began to fancy themselves bewitched too.

1757, William Burke, Edmund Burke, An Account of the European Settlements in America, London: R. and J. Dodsley, Volume 2, Part 7, Chapter 4, p. 150:

(figurative, of ideas, information, etc.) In or into circulation or currency.

No angry passions rise to disturb the silent progress of the work, […] no irritable humours are set afloat:

1821, William Hazlitt, Table-Talk, London: John Warren, Essay 1, page 3:

[…] they knew how to abstain from the overdose of liquor that sets the brain afloat and loosens the tongue.

1878, John Berwick Harwood, chapter 17, in Helena Lady Harrogate,, volume 1, London: Richard Bentley, page 312:

(obsolete, figurative, of an emotional state) In or into a condition of stimulation, arousal, confusion, bewilderment, etc.


aland

From Middle English aland, alond, alonde, o lande, from Old English on lande (“on land”), equivalent to a- + land.

I maruell how the Fishes liue in the Sea […] Why, as Men doe a-land.

c. 1607–1608, William Shakeſpeare, The Late, And much admired Play, Called Pericles, Prince of Tyre. […], London: Imprinted at London for Henry Goſſon, […], published 1609, →OCLC, [Act V, (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)]:

(obsolete) On dry land, as opposed to in the water.

Henry the Eighth […] departed out of England from Sowthampton, with a great navy of shipps to set that company aland in Spayne, for to helpe the kynge of Spayne agaynste the Frenche kynge […]

c. 1541, The Chronicle of Calais, London, published 1846:


sure

sure (comparative more sure, superlative most sure)

more sure (comparative)
most sure (superlative)

non-rhotic, show–sure merger, African-American Vernacular

From Middle English sure, seur, sur, from Middle French sur or Old French seür, from Latin sēcūrus (“secure”, literally “carefree”), from sē- (“apart”) + cūra (“care”) (compare Old English orsorg (“carefree”), from or- (“without”) + sorg (“care”)). See cure. Doublet of secure and the now obsolete or dialectal sicker (“certain, safe”).
Displaced native Middle English wis, iwis (“certain, sure”) (from Old English ġewis, ġewiss (“certain, sure”)), as well as Middle English siker (“sure, secure”) (from Old English sicor (“secure, sure”)) with which it was cognate.

noncog

Sure he's coming! Why wouldn't he?

"Did you kill that bear yourself?" ―"I sure did!"

These high and gusty relishes of life, sure,
Have no allayings of mortality in them.

(modal adverb) Without doubt, certainly.

Theſe are the wings ſhall make it flie as ſwift,
As dooth the lightening: or the breath of heauen,
And kill as ſure as it ſwiftly flies.

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


afire

en-adv

afire (comparative more afire, superlative most afire)

more afire (comparative)
most afire (superlative)

13ᵗʰc., from a- (“on”) + fire. Figurative usage from late 14ᵗʰc.


peevish

From Middle English pevische, pevisse, pevysse, peivesshe, also peyuesshe, peeuish, of obscure origin. Perhaps from Middle English pew, pue (“a plaintive cry, the cry of a bird”), equivalent to pue + -ish. Cognate with Scots pevis, pevess, pevych, pevach (“peevish”), Scots pew, peu (“to cry in a plaintive manner”). See pue.
An alternative etymology derives Middle English peyvesshe (“capricious, silly”), as a possible corruption of Latin perversus (“perverted”). The meaning “fretful” develops in the 16th century.
A third suggestion links the word to classical Latin expavidus (“startled, shy”) (< ex- + pavidus) via an unrecorded variant with -ai- of Middle French espave (“stray [of animals]; foreign [of persons]; lost property, flotsam”) (first attested 1283 in Old French; Modern French épave). The semantic connection is thought to be the behaviour of stray animals. Compare -ish suffix.

der

stray 􂀿of animals􂁀; foreign 􂀿of persons􂁀; lost property, flotsam

Be not peeuish fond in great designes. [1597 ‘pieuish, fond’; 1598 ‘peeuish, fond’; Malone conjectured ‘peevish-fond’, the reading adopted in many modern editions; the Arden edition prefers ‘peevish found’.].

c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iv]:


beyond

From Middle English biyonde, from Old English beġeondan, from be- + ġeond; related to yonder.

next year and beyond

But to then write about his allegedly fat girlfriend was beyond stupid, because by doing so he was in fact engaging a woman (me) in the “Am I fat?” discussion, which he supposedly realized he should never do.

2009, Jenny Lee, Women Are Crazy, Men Are Stupid, Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 7:

Marvel release stirring new set images of Black Panther and we are BEYOND excited [title]

2017 July 13, Joseph Gamp, “Marvel release stirring new set images of Black Panther and we are BEYOND excited”, in Metro:

“We are BEYOND not ready for climate change,” Mark Levine, a City Council representative, declared on Twitter.

2021 September 1, Michael Levenson, Anne Barnard, quoting Mark Levine, “Scenes from New York City as Ida paralyzes region”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:


firm

en-adv

firm (comparative more firm, superlative most firm)

more firm (comparative)
most firm (superlative)

From Middle English ferme, from Old French ferme, from Latin firmus (“strong, steady”). Doublet of dharma.


contrary

contrary (comparative more contrary, superlative most contrary)

more contrary (comparative)
most contrary (superlative)

/kənˈtɹɛəɹi/

From Middle English contrarie, compare French contraire, from Old French contraire, from Latin contrārius (“opposite, opposed, contrary”), from contrā (“against”).


assai

(music) A tempo direction equivalent to "very".


wild

From Middle English wild, wilde, from Old English wilde, from Proto-West Germanic *wilþī, from Proto-Germanic *wilþijaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂welh₁- (“hair, wool, grass, ear (of corn), forest”).
Cognates
Cognate with West Frisian wyld, Dutch wild, German wild, Danish vild, Swedish vild, Norwegian vill, Icelandic villtur.

The javelin flew wild and struck a spectator, to the horror of all observing.

Let's record it wild.

(of an audio recording) Intended to be synchronized with film or video but recorded separately.


verbatim

Attested in English since 1481 (therefore considered a Middle English derivation by some): from Medieval Latin verbātim (“word for word”), from Latin verbum (“word”) + -ātim (adverbial suffix).

bor

I have copied his speech verbatim, so this is exactly what he said, word for word.

[…] in several instances Mancini’s text is virtually reproduced verbatim by Bellori.¹²⁰

1971, Denis Mahon, Studies in Seicento Art and Theory, page 317:

Word for word; in exactly the same words as were used originally.

I […]am not able
Verbatim to rehearse the method of my pen

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


brag

en-adv

brag (comparative more brag, superlative most brag)

more brag (comparative)
most brag (superlative)

From Middle English braggen (“to make a loud noise; to speak boastfully”) of unknown origin. Possibly related to the Middle English adjective brag (“prideful; spirited”), which is probably of Celtic origin; or from Old Norse bragr (“best; foremost; poetry”); or through Old English from Old Norse braka (“to creak”).

der

Seest how brag yond bullock beare […]his pricked eares?

1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “Februarie. Ægloga Secunda.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Hugh Singleton, […], →OCLC:


eft

From Middle English eft, from Old English eft, æft, from Proto-West Germanic *afti, from Proto-Germanic *aftiz. Compare after, aft.

And when they were all gone, / And the dim moon doth eft withhold the light,[…]

1557, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, The Fourth Book of Virgil:


indifferent

From Old French indifferent, from Latin indifferens.

The face of the Moon appearing to me to be full of indifferent high mountains.

Get thee [to] a Nunry, why wouldst thou be a breeder of ſinners, I am my ſelfe indifferent honest, but yet I could accuse mee of ſuch things, that it were better my Mother had not bourne mee […]

c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto), London: […] I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] L[ing] […], published 1604, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i], signature G3, verso:

(obsolete) To some extent, in some degree (intermediate between very and not at all); moderately, tolerably, fairly.

Newton. My Maſters, you that be the chiefeſt of the rout,
The King intreats you kindly here by me,
To come and ſpeake with him a word or two.
Iacke Straw. Sirra, if the King would any thinge with vs,
Tell him the way is indifferent to meete vs.
Newton. You are too many to be talkt with all, […]

1593, anonymous author, The Life and Death of Iacke Straw […], Act III:

(obsolete) Without distinction or preference for some over others.


chock

From Middle English *chokke (“attested in chokkefull”), from Anglo-Norman choque (compare modern Norman chouque), from an Old Northern French variant of Old French çouche, çouche (“block, log”), of Celtic origin, from Gaulish *tsukka (compare Breton soc’h (“thick”), Old Irish tócht (“part, piece”), itself borrowed from Proto-Germanic *stukkaz. Doublet of stock.

inh

attested in <i class="Latn mention" lang="enm">chokkefull</i>

Tom Hickey, our good-humored, blundering cabin-boy, decorated since poor Schubert's death with the dignities of cook, is in that little dirty cot on the starboard side; the rest are bedded in rows, Mr. Brooks and myself chock aft.

1857, Elisha Kent Kane, Arctic Explorations, page 431:

Merchant vessels usually hoist a little on the halyards, so as to clear the sail from the top, then belay them and get the lee sheet chock home; then haul home the weather sheet, shivering the sail by the braces to help it home, and hoist on the halyards until the leaches are well taut, taking a turn with the braces, if the wind is fresh, and slacking them as the yard goes up.

1862, Dana's Seamen's Friend: Containing a Treatise on Practical Seamanship:


ruddy

From Middle English ruddy, rody, rudi, from Old English rudiġ (“reddish; ruddy”), from rudu (“redness”), equivalent to rud (“redness”) + -y. Compare Icelandic roði (“redness”).
The British slang sense expressing irritation is presumably a euphemism for bloody.

“So, you made quite a splash on Question Time, my homeless pal,” he continued. “Ruddy hilarious. Ha ha ha!”

2009 October 29, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Mr Stink, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:

'You're not ruddy going anywhere,' he said, slamming the door behind him.

2017, June Francis, When the Clouds Go Rolling By:

(British, slang) A mild intensifier, expressing irritation.


fro

From Middle English fro, fra, from Old English fra (“from”), from Old Norse frá (“from”), from Proto-Germanic *fram (“from”), from Proto-Indo-European *promo- (“forth, forward”). Cognate with Scots frae (“fro, from”), Icelandic frá (“from”). More at from.


backward

en-adv

backward (comparative more backward, superlative most backward)

more backward (comparative)
most backward (superlative)

From Middle English bakwarde, abakward, equivalent to back (adverb) + -ward. Cognate with Old Frisian bekward (“backward”).

The passenger turned around and walked backward, towards the tail of the aircraft.

At, near or towards the rear of something.

He tilted his head backward.

The grandfather clock toppled backward and crashed to the ground.

Her arm was bent backward at an odd angle.

In a direction opposite to that in which someone or something is facing or normally pointing.

In reverse gear the wheel turns backward.

In a direction opposite to the usual direction of movement.

This project seems to be going backward.

The work went backward.

1700, John Dryden, Theodore and Honoria:

(figuratively) Oppositely to the desired direction of progress, or from a better to a worse state.

He had his cap on backward.

In a reversed orientation; back to front.

A palindrome reads the same backward as forward.

As we begin the new millennium, it behoves us to look backward as well as forward.

the Mind can backward caſt
Upon herself, her understanding Light

It was still possible — perhaps it might be inevitable — for him to accept frankly the altered conditions, and avow Baldassarre's existence; but hardly without casting an unpleasant light backward on his original reticence[…]


chuff

chuff (comparative more chuff, superlative most chuff)

more chuff (comparative)
most chuff (superlative)

15th century, dialectal, from Middle English chuffe (“a rustic, boor”), in noun sense “stupid fellow”. Adjective sense “surly, displeased” from 1832.

inh

Macbeth when he talk'd very chuff About fighting -- how soon he got floor'd With a yard of cold steel by Macduff, And mine was that Wonderful Sword.

1842, John Labern, J. Labern's Original Comic Songs, (for 1842,), page 18:

I was therefore obliged, sore against my will, to apply again to Carnot, who spoke very chuff about the trouble I gave him to write a second memorandum.

1893, Theobald Wolfe Tone, Richard Barry O'Brien, The Autobiography of Theobald Wolfe Tone. 1763-1798;, page 30:

'I know I spoke chuff, aye, but – she wouldn't listen. She'll never agree ...'

2016, Andrew Prentice, Jonathan Weil, Devil's Blood:


ofter

(chiefly poetic or dialectal) comparative form of oft: more oft; more often


oft

en-adv

oft (comparative ofter, superlative oftest)

ofter (comparative)
oftest (superlative)

From Middle English oft (also ofte, often > Modern English often), from Old English oft (“often”), from Proto-West Germanic *oftu, *oftō, from Proto-Germanic *uftō (“often”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian oafte (“oft, often”), West Frisian oft, ofte (“oft, often”), Dutch oft (“oft, often”), German oft (“oft, often”). More at often.

An oft-told tale

What I can do, can do no hurt to try:
Since you ſet up your reſt 'gainſt remedy:
He that of greateſt works is finiſher,
Oft does them by the weakeſt miniſter;
So holy writ in babes hath judgment ſhown,
When judges have been babes.

c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

1819, George Gordon Byron, John Galt (biography), The Pophecy of Dante, Canto the Fourth, 1857, The Complete Works of Lord Byron, Volume 1, page 403,
And how is it that they, the sons of fame,
Whose inspiration seems to them to shine
From high, they whom the nations oftest name,
Must pass their days in penury or pain,
Or step to grandeur through the paths of shame,
And wear a deeper brand and gaudier chain?

1902, James H. Mulligan, In Kentucky, quoted in 2005, Wade Hall (editor), The Kentucky Anthology, page 203,
The moonlight falls the softest
In Kentucky;
The summer days come oftest
In Kentucky;

(chiefly poetic, dialectal, and in combination) often; frequently; not rarely

често

often; frequently; not rarely; many times


easy

easy (comparative easier, superlative easiest)

easier (comparative)
easiest (superlative)

From Middle English esy, eesy, partly from Middle English ese (“ease”) + -y, equivalent to ease + -y, and partly from Anglo-Norman eisé from Old French aisié (“eased, at ease, at leisure”), past participle of aisier (“to put at ease”), from aise (“empty space, elbow room, opportunity”), of uncertain origin. See ease. Merged with Middle English ethe, eathe (“easy”), from Old English īeþe, from Proto-Germanic *auþuz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éwtus (“empty, lonely”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew-. Compare also Old Saxon ōþi, Old High German ōdi, Old Norse auðr, all meaning "easy, vacant, empty." More at ease, eath.

der

After his illness, John decided to take it easy.

Everything comes easy to her.

We immediately threw out all the little things we had with us, ſuch as biſcuits, apples, &c. and after that one of our oars or wings; but ſtill deſcending, we caſt away the other wing, and then the governail ; having likewiſe had the precaution, for fear of accidents, while the Balloon was filling, partly to looſen and make it go eaſy, I now ſucceeded in attempting to reach without the Car, and unſcrewing the moulinet, with all its apparatus; I likewiſe caſt that into the ſea.

1786, John Jeffries, Jean-Pierre Blanchard, A narrative of the two aerial Voyages of Dr. J. with Mons. Blanchard: with meteorological observations and remarks., page 45:

go easy on the sarcasm

Jane went easier on him after he broke his arm.

In a manner without strictness or harshness; gently; softly.

This project will cost 15 million dollars, easy.


obliquely

en-adv

obliquely (comparative more obliquely, superlative most obliquely)

more obliquely (comparative)
most obliquely (superlative)

Then, advancing obliquely towards us, came a fifth.

1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 99:

Finally I descended the hill, obliquely, towards the trees I had seen.

1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 206:


snell

snell (comparative more snell, superlative most snell)

more snell (comparative)
most snell (superlative)

Inherited from Middle English snell (“quick, fast”) from Old English snel, snell (“lively, quick”) from Proto-West Germanic *snell, from Proto-Germanic *snellaz (“active, swift, brisk”). Akin to Old Saxon snel, snell (“active, strenuous”), Dutch snel, Old High German snel (whence German schnell (“quick, swift”), Yiddish שנעל (shnel, “quick, swift”), Italian snello (“quick, nimble”), Old French esnel, isnel (“snell”), and Occitan isnel, irnel (“snell”)), Old Norse snjallr (“skilful, excellent”) (whence Danish snild (“clever”)).


yond

From Middle English yond, from Old English ġeond.

The fringed curtains of thine eye advance,
 And say what thou seest yond.

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 I, scene ii]:


rather

/ˈɹɑː.ðə(ɹ)/

/ˌɹɑːˈðɜː(ɹ)/

/ˈɹɑː.ðə(ɹ)/

From Middle English rather, from Old English hraþor, comparative of hraþe (“soon, early, fast”). More at rathe. Cognate with Dutch radder (“faster”), comparative of Dutch rad (“fast; quick”), German Low German radd, ratt (“rashly; quickly; hastily”), German gerade (“even; straight; direct”). By surface analysis, rathe + -er.

I would rather stay in all day than go out with them.

I would like this one rather than the other one.

I would much rather be with you.

Firstly, I continue to base most species treatments on personally collected material, rather than on herbarium plants.

1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page vii:

I'd rather dance with you than talk with you / So why don't we just move into the other room

2004, Erlend Øye, Eirik Glambek Bøe (lyrics and music), “I'd Rather Dance with You”, performed by Kings of Convenience:

Used to specify a choice or preference; preferably, in preference to. (Now usually followed by than)

It wasn't supposed to be popular; rather, it was supposed to get the job done.

She didn't go along, but rather went home instead.

(conjunctive) Used to introduce a contradiction; on the contrary.

What the pupil already knew was indeed rather taken for granted than expressed, but it performed the useful function of transcending all textbooks, and supplanting all studies.

1897 October 16, Henry James, chapter IX, in What Maisie Knew, Chicago, Ill., New York, N.Y.: Herbert S. Stone & Co., →OCLC, page 94:

1898, J. A. Hamilton, "Stanley, Edward George Geoffrey Smith", in Sidney Lee (Ed.), Dictionary of National Biography, Volume LIV: Stanhope–Stovin, The MacMillan Company, page 60,
His ‘Iliad’ is spirited and polished, and, though often rather a paraphrase than a translation, is always more truly poetic than most of the best translations.

All this was extraordinarily distasteful to Churchill.[…]Never before had he felt such repulsion when the vicar displayed his characteristic bluntness or coarseness of speech. In the present connection—or rather as a transition from the subject that had started their conversation—such talk had been distressingly out of place.

1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXIV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, pages 198–199:

I didn't want to leave. Or rather I did, just not alone.

(conjunctive) Introducing a qualification or clarification; more precisely. (Now usually preceded by or.)

This melon is rather tasteless, especially compared to the one we had last time.

We had some rather bad news today.

We’ll be seeing rather a lot of you over the next few days.

(degree) Somewhat, quite; to an unexpected degree.

Pompey, being elated and filled with confidence by this victory, made all haste to engage Sertorius himself, and the rather lest Metellus should come in for a share in the honour of the victory.

1683, John Dryden, transl., Plutarch's Lives: Life of Pompey, translation of original by Plutarch:


all together

If you put these advantages all together, the offer is attractive.

We got the family all together to celebrate grandma’s birthday.

She and her companions rose up and sung all together.


plumb

From Middle English plumbe, plumme, from Old French *plombe, from Latin plumba, plural of plumbum.

Plumb down he drops.

1667, John Milton, “(please specify the page number)”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

In a vertical direction; perpendicularly.

It hit him plumb in the middle of his face.

Years ago the well plumb dried out, not a drop of water in there since.

'Are you sure of that, M. Hardman?' 'I'm plumb certain.'.

1934, Agatha Christie, chapter 9, in Murder on the Orient Express, London: HarperCollins, published 2017, page 143:

(informal) Squarely, directly; deeply, completely.


backhanded

en-adv

backhanded (comparative more backhanded, superlative most backhanded)

more backhanded (comparative)
most backhanded (superlative)

As the man crumpled forward, Snow took a further step with his right foot and brought the pole down backhanded with all his power into the right side of the man's head.

2008, Maclean J. Storer, Forward O Peasant, →ISBN, page 279:

Then with her curved hand knife, she proceeded to clean the selected sprouts, flipping them backhanded into the top crate on her left when done.

2010, Ivano Franco Comelli, La Nostra Costa (Our Coast): A Family's Journey to and from the North Coast of Santa Cruz, California (1923-1983), →ISBN, page 58:


beastly

beastly (comparative more beastly, superlative most beastly)

more beastly (comparative)
most beastly (superlative)

From Middle English beestly, bestely, beastelich, equivalent to beast + -ly. Compare West Frisian bistachtich (“beastly”), Dutch beestachtig (“beastly”), German biestig (“beastly”).

Beastly he threwe her downe, ne car'd to spill / Her garments gay with scales of fish that all did fill.

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

They have insulted me most beastly. Moreover, they are, everyone of them, black-satan filthmen.

1901, The Literary World, volume 63, page 35:

The baths were mostly tiled showers, with an endless variety of spouting mechanisms, but with one definitely non-Laodicean characteristic in common, a propensity, while in use, to turn instantly beastly hot or blindingly cold upon you, depending on whether your neighbor turned on his cold or his hot to deprive you of a necessary complement in the shower you had so carefully blended.