perform

en-verb

perform (third-person singular simple present performs, present participle performing, simple past and past participle performed)

performs (present singular third-person)
performing (participle present)
performed (participle past)
performed (past)
perform (infinitive)

From Middle English performen, parfournen (“to perform”), from Anglo-Norman performer, parfourmer, alteration of Old French parfornir, parfurnir (“to complete, accomplish, perform”), from par- + fornir, furnir (“to accomplish, furnish”), from Frankish *frummjan (“to accomplish, furnish”), from Proto-Germanic *frumjaną, *framjaną (“to further, promote”), from Proto-Indo-European *promo- (“in front, forth”), *per- (“forward, out”). Cognate with Old High German frummen (“to do, execute, accomplish, provide”), Old Saxon frummian (“to perform, promote”), Old English fremman (“to perform, execute, carry out, accomplish”), Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌿𐌼𐌾𐌰𐌽 (frumjan, “to promote, accomplish”). See also frame, from. Modernly, rather than Proto-Germanic *frumjaną, associated with Latin formō, analyzable as per- + form.

representar

to exhibit an expected pattern of behavior

The accused only performed remorse.

As things now stand, Brexit is a pointless gesture, a politics of headlines in which sovereignty is performed by bleating world-beating absurdities.

2021, David Edgerton, “The one good thing to come out of Brexit: a bonfire of national illusions”, in The Guardian

(by extension, transitive) To behave theatrically so as to give the impression of (a quality, character trait, etc.); to feign.


cretin

From French crétin (“cretin, idiot”), likely from crestin, an Alpine dialectal form of chrétien, from Latin christiānus in the lost sense of “anyone in Christendom”, often with a sense of “poor fellow”. Doublet of Christian.

When I challenged the symbolism, tried to make the professor consider the book as a piece of realism, he regarded me as if I were an absolute cretin. He got very supercilious and condescending […]


decimate

en-verb

decimate (third-person singular simple present decimates, present participle decimating, simple past and past participle decimated)

decimates (present singular third-person)
decimating (participle present)
decimated (participle past)
decimated (past)

Borrowed from Latin decimāre (“to take or offer a tenth part”), from decimus (“tenth”). As a noun, via Latin decimatus (“tithing area; tithing rights”).

tertiate

reduce proportionately, by single aliquot part

[England] had decimated itself for a question which involved no principle, and led to no result.

p. 1856, James Froude, History of England from the fall of Wolsey to the death of Elizabeth

Um, some sort of power overload. I'm afraid it decimated your breakfast.

1996, Star Trek: Voyager (TV series), Flashback (episode)

They can be devastating to certain plants if left uncontrolled: a downy mildew of grapes decimated European vineyards during the nineteenth century.

2001, Otis C. MaloyTimothy D. Murrayet al., Encyclopedia of Plant Pathology, volume 1, page 379

Captain Anderson: Commander Shepard did the right thing. We had to hold our fleet back to go after Sovereign. It was the only way. / Ambassador Udina: I agree, but this also presents us with an opportunity. The Council is dead. The galaxy is looking for leadership. / Ambassador Udina: The Citadel fleets were decimated in the attack. Their losses have made the Alliance stronger. If we step forward now, nobody will be able to stop us!

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

What this attack represents is more powerful than the attack sequence itself, which is a double-edged sword, but let’s start with the positive. If what we see is any indication, Euron has decimated Yara’s fleet and cut it off before it was able to fetch the Dornish army.

2017 July 23, Brandon Nowalk, “The great game begins with a bang on Game Of Thrones (newbies)”, in The Onion AV Club

(loosely) To devastate: to reduce or destroy significantly but not completely.

verheeren

to devastate: to reduce or destroy significantly but not completely


sour

en-noun

sour (countable and uncountable, plural sours)

From Middle English sour, from Old English sūr (“sour”), from Proto-West Germanic *sūr, from Proto-Germanic *sūraz (“sour”), from Proto-Indo-European *súHros (“sour”).
Cognate with West Frisian soer, Dutch zuur (“sour”), Low German suur, German sauer (“sour”), Danish, Swedish and Norwegian sur, French sur (“sour”), Faroese súrur (“sour”), Icelandic súr (“sour, bitter”),
Polish ser (“cheese”),
Czech sýr (“cheese”),
Slovak syr (“cheese”),
Russian сырой (syroj, “raw”),
Ukrainian сири́й (syrýj, “raw”),
Old Church Slavonic сꙑръ (syrŭ, “moist, cheese”).

cog

(by extension) Any cocktail containing lemon or lime juice.


fold

en-verb

fold (third-person singular simple present folds, present participle folding, simple past folded, past participle folded or (obsolete) folden)

folds (present singular third-person)
folding (participle present)
folded (past)
folded (participle past)
folden (obsolete participle past)

⇒ Czech: foldovat

The verb is from Middle English folden, from Old English fealdan, from Proto-Germanic *falþaną (“to fold”), from Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“to fold”). The noun is from Middle English folde,falde, itself derived from the verb.

(intransitive, by extension) To withdraw or quit in general.


fold

For example, a story that is "page I, above the fold" is considered very important news. In web page design, the fold signifies the place at which the user has to scroll down to get more information.

1999, Jared M. Spool, Web Site Usability: A Designer's Guide, Morgan Kaufmann, page 77

(by extension, web design) The division between the part of a web page visible in a web browser window without scrolling; usually the fold.


fix

fix (third-person singular simple present fixes, present participle fixing, simple past and past participle fixt or fixed)

fixes (present singular third-person)
fixing (participle present)
fixt (participle past)
fixt (past)
fixed (participle past)
fixed (past)
fix (infinitive)

→ Dutch: fixen, fiksen

From Middle English fixen, borrowed from Old French *fixer (attested only as ficher, fichier; > English fitch), from fixe (“fastened; fixed”), from Latin fīxus (“immovable; steady; stable; fixed”), from fīgō (“to drive in; stick; fasten”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeygʷ- (“to jab; stick; set”). Related to dig.

der

He fixed me with a sickly grin, and said, "I told you it wouldn't work!"

(transitive, obsolete) To pierce; now generally replaced by transfix.

(transitive, by extension) (Of a piercing look) to direct at someone.


fix

→ French: fixe, fix

(slang) A single dose of a narcotic drug, especially when injected.

(figurative, by extension) Something that satisfies a yearning or a craving.

(figurative, by extension) A compulsive desire or thrill.


deus ex machina

en-noun

deus ex machina (plural dei ex machina or dei ex machinis or deus ex machinas)

dei ex machina (plural)
dei ex machinis (plural)
deus ex machinas (plural)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Persent101-deus ex machina.wav

Unadapted borrowing from Latin deus ex māchinā (literally “god from a machine, i.e., a device, a scaffolding, an artifice”), from Ancient Greek.

ubor

Handler’s bad advice for generals […] is mostly notable as the most extreme expression of peculiar pleas by Trump opponents who seek some deus ex machina that will stop the president: generals simply disobeying the president, other civil servants refusing to follow through on orders, or even the invocation of the 25th Amendment to remove him from office.

2017 August 14, David A. Graham, “The Search for a Magical Way to Stop Trump”, in The Atlantic

(by extension) A contrived solution to a problem, relying on an agent external to the situation.


blackshirt

From black + shirt, calque of Italian camicia nera.

(by extension) Any member of a fascist party.


sphere of influence

en-noun

sphere of influence (plural spheres of influence)

First attested in 1885. In reference to Anglo-German colonial rivalry in Africa.

(figurative, by extension) A concept division over which a person, organization, etc. exerts control.


wave

From Middle English *wave, partially from waven (“to fluctuate, wave”) (see above) and partially from Middle English wawe, waghe (“wave”), from Old English wǣg (“a wave, billow, motion, water, flood, sea”), from Proto-Germanic *wēgaz (“motion, storm, wave”), from Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- (“to drag, carry”). Cognate with North Frisian weage (“wave, flood, sea”), German Woge (“wave”), French vague (“wave”) (from Germanic), Gothic 𐍅𐌴𐌲𐍃 (wēgs, “a wave”). See also waw.

cog

As the player eliminates each wave of 55 aliens, the next wave begins lower than the one previous.

2011, Raffaele Cecco, Supercharged JavaScript Graphics: With HTML5 Canvas and jQuery

(video games, by extension) One of the successive swarms of enemies sent to attack the player in certain games.


format

Via French format and German Format, from New Latin liber fōrmātus (“book fashioned”), from fōrmō (“I shape, fashion”).

(by extension) The form of presentation of something.


saint

Francis of Assisi
saint
saint (disambiguation)

From Middle English saint, seint, sainct, seinct, sanct, senct, partly from Old English sanct (“saint”) and confluence with Old French saint, seinte (Modern French saint); both from Latin sānctus (“holy, consecrated”, in Late Latin as a noun, “a saint”), past participle of sancīre (“to render sacred, make holy”), akin to sacer (“holy, sacred”). Doublet of Sanctus. Displaced native Middle English halwe (“saint”) from Old English hālga (“saint, holy one”) (> Modern English hallow (“saint”)).

martyr

person revered for sacrificing their life for a cause, sometimes inclusive of secular reverence by nations or political parties

santa

female Christian saint in Spanish contexts, usu. as a title

sainte

female Christian saint in French contexts, usu. as a title

the lists of derived terms at Saint and St

Dorothy Day was a living saint.

Thanks for looking after the house while I'm away. You're a saint!

(figuratively, by extension) A person with similarly overwhelming positive qualities; one who does good.

սուրբ

(figuratively) a person with positive qualities


transform

From Middle English transformen, from Old French transformer, from Latin transformo, transformare, from trans (“across”, preposition) + forma (“form”).


exclusive or

Exclusive disjunction
exclusive disjunction

(logic, computing, more generally) Exclusive disjunction: the use of or to indicate that of two or more predicates, an odd number are true (without specifying which or how many); contrasted with inclusive or, which indicates only that one or more is true.


coup

(Re)borrowed in modern times from modern French coup (“blow, strike”), from Old French coup, colp, from Late Latin colpus, from Latin colaphus. Doublet of colpus. The same Old French word had been borrowed into Middle English as coupe, caupe (with different pronunciation).

Liz Truss’s government is in chaos after the chancellor refused to confirm he would bring forward his budget to calm the markets and the home secretary accused fellow MPs of a coup against the prime minister. […] Backbenchers also expressed outrage at [Suella] Braverman’s suggestion of a “coup” against Truss.

2022 October 4, “Truss government in chaos amid budget confusion and coup accusations”, in The Guardian

(by extension) A takeover of one group by another.


mythos

en-noun

mythos (countable and uncountable, plural mythoi or mythoses)

Borrowed from Late Latin mȳthos (“myth”), from Ancient Greek μῦθος (mûthos, “report, tale, story”). Doublet of myth.
The plural form mythoi is from Ancient Greek μῦθοι (mûthoi), and the form mythoses from mythos + -es.

der

Of all the stories that fuel conflict, none affects you more than your mythos of identity—the core narrative that shapes how you see your identity in relation to that of the other side. In a conflict, you are likely to regard yourself as the victim and the other as the villain. You fill in the details of this mythos with personal grievances and accusations. Of course, the other side also sees the conflict through a mythos—and in theirs they are the victim. Unless you transform the fundamental way you relate to each other—your mythos—your conflict will remain.

2016, Daniel Shapiro, “Uncovering Your Mythos of Identity”, in Negotiating the Nonnegotiable: How to Resolve Your Most Emotionally Charged Conflicts, New York, N.Y.: Viking, page 139

(by extension) A set of assumptions or beliefs about something.


armiger

/ˈɑːɹmɪd͡ʒɚ/

Borrowed from Latin armiger (“carrying weapons or armour”).

bor

(loosely, heraldry) Any person entitled to bear a coat of arms.


sheath

From Middle English sheth, shethe (“holder for a sword, knife, etc., scabbard, sheath”) [and other forms], from Old English sċēaþ (“sheath”), from Proto-West Germanic *skaiþiju, from Proto-Germanic *skaiþiz (“sheath; covering”), from Proto-Indo-European *skey- (“to dissect, split”) (possibly from the notion of a split stick with a sword inserted).
The English word is cognate with Danish skede, Dutch schede, Icelandic skeið, German Scheide, Low German scheed, Norwegian skjede.

nb...

chethe, scǽð, scaþ, schede, schete, scheth, schethe, seaþ, seeth, seth, sethe, shæþ, shede, sheethe, sheith, (Southwest) ssethe, sseþe, (early forms) scæðe, scaþe, seaþe

der

(by extension) Anything that has a similar shape to a scabbard that is used to hold an object that is longer than it is wide.


outcast

From Middle English outcaste, outecaste, equivalent to out- + cast.

Do you ever feel like an outcast?
You don't have to fit into the format
Oh, but it's okay to be different
'Cause baby, so am I

2019, Amanda Koci, Henry Walter, Charlie Puth, Maria Smith, Victor Thellm Gigi Grombacher, Roland Spreckle (lyrics and music), “So Am I”, performed by Ava Max

(more generally) Synonym of outsider: someone who does not belong, a misfit.


ouroboros

en-noun

ouroboros (plural ouroboroi or ouroboroses)

From Ancient Greek οὐροβόρος (ourobóros, “tail-devouring”, a compound of οὐρά (ourá, “tail”) + -βόρος (-bóros, “-devouring”, which is derived from the verb βιβρώσκω (bibrṓskō, “to eat up”))).

af

which is derived from the verb <i class="Polyt mention" lang="grc">βιβρώσκω</i> (bibrṓskō, “to eat up”)

bor

Like an ouroboros, the story created and informed by the writer’s own experience suddenly flipped back on itself, Childress’s life now reflecting the story rather than the other way around.

2019 March 6, Soraya Roberts, “Reality Bites Captured Gen X With Perfect Irony”, in The Atlantic

The result is a statistical ouroboros: a self-reinforcing discrimination machine that amplifies social inequalities under the guise of technical neutrality.

2021, Kate Crawford, chapter 4, in Atlas of AI […]

(by extension) Anything of a circular or recursive nature.


picayune

The noun is borrowed from southern French picaillon, pécaillon, picayon (“type of small foreign coin; (informal, especially in the plural) cash, money”), and from its etymon Occitan picalhon, picaioun (“cheaply made Savoyan-Piedmontese coin that was rapidly demonetized; (by extension) cash, money”), probably from Occitan piquar (“to ring (bells); to knock, strike”) (referring to the clinking of coins in a pocket), originally imitative.
The adjective is derived from the noun.

ref

From the collection of the Missouri History Museum in St. Louis, Missouri, USA.

der

(by extension, archaic) A coin worth five cents (a nickel) or some other low value.


soldier

From Middle English soudeour, from Old French soudier or soudeour (“mercenary”), from Medieval Latin soldarius (“soldier (one having pay)”), from Late Latin solidus, a type of coin. Displaced Old English cempa (whence obsolete kemp).
(red herring): An allusion to soldiers' red uniforms; red herring is, reciprocally, a slang term for "soldier".

(by extension, nonstandard) Any member of a military, regardless of specialty.


mummy

en-noun

mummy (countable and uncountable, plural mummies)

From Middle English mummie, from Anglo-Norman mumie, from Middle French momie, from Medieval Latin mumia, from Arabic مُومِيَاء (mūmiyāʔ), from Persian مومیا (mumyâ), from موم (mum, “wax”). Doublet of mumijo.

der

Arabic مُومِيَاء (mūmiyāʔ)

For many, mummies fascinate more than repel. Our horrific connotations lie not so much with the mummy itself, but in associated fears. The mummy serves, of course, as a general reminder of our own mortality and our fear of death, but this alone is not enough to make it a monster.

2007, S. T. Joshi, Icons of Horror and the Supernatural: An Encyclopedia of Our Worst Nightmares, volume 1, page 376

(countable, by extension) A reanimated embalmed human corpse, as a stock character in horror films.

(countable, by extension) Any naturally preserved human or non-human animal body.

Any naturally preserved human or non-human animal body.
(countable, uncountable, now rare) A brown pigment originally prepared from the ground-up remains of Egyptian animal or human mummies mixed with bitumen, etc.


web

From Middle English webbe, from Old English webb, from Proto-Germanic *wabją, from Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- (“weave”).

what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive

But THAT! Was the OLDEN TIMES! A massive, worldwide web of global information has ENTANGLED THE WORLD! People in Beijing can read about a magical incident in Moperville in seconds, and have video of it in minutes!

2018 February 14, Dan Shive, El Goonish Shive (webcomic), Comic for Wednesday, Feb 14, 2018

(by extension) Any interconnected set of persons, places, or things, which, when diagrammed, resembles a spider's web.

web

any interconnected set of persons, places, or things


awash

en-adj

awash (comparative more awash, superlative most awash)

more awash (comparative)
most awash (superlative)

In the Sumerian language the word for water also means semen, and since Enki is the god of water, he is therefore the god of semen. In this ode to the Great Father, the land of the Sumerians is literally awash with semen.

1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 162

2005, Chris Ramirez, 2nd find excites museum diggers," The Arizona Republic, 26 Aug,
The Valley landscape was more awash with greenery some 11,000 years ago.

Bulgaria's only attacking weapon was the wayward shooting of Martin Petrov, whereas England's attacking options were awash with movement in the shape of Rooney, Young and Walcott.

2011 September 2, Phil McNulty, “Bulgaria 0-3 England”, in BBC

[…] the whole country’s awash in guns and Bibles,

2019, Lucy Ellmann, Ducks, Newburyport, Galley Beggar Press

THE LIQUID SAMURAI ROSE, AWASH IN THE MIRROR'S MAGIC.

2019 December 10, Yacht Club Games, "Story" (Liquid Samurai), in Shovel Knight Showdown (version 4.1), Nintendo Switch, scene: opening

Brighton station is awash with people paying a visit to the seaside.

2022 November 16, Paul Bigland, “From rural branches to high-speed arteries”, in RAIL, number 970, page 55

(by extension) Covered, overspread (with or in something).


brand

From Middle English brand, from Old English brand (“fire; flame; burning; torch; sword”), from Proto-West Germanic *brand, from Proto-Germanic *brandaz (“flame; flaming; fire-brand; torch; sword”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrenu- (“to bubble forth; brew; spew forth; burn”). Cognate with Scots brand, West Frisian brân (“fire”), Dutch brand, German Brand, Swedish brand (“blaze, fire”), Icelandic brandur, French brand (< Germanic). More distantly cognate with Proto-Slavic *gorěti (“to burn”).

der

I didn’t appreciate his particular brand of flattery.

New Orleans brand sausage; Danish brand ham

[O]ne minute this "Jihadi John" was struggling to get by, and get accepted, in drizzly England, unemployed with a mortgage to pay and a chip on his shoulder, and the next he stands in brilliant Levantine sunlight, where everything is clear and etched, at the vanguard of some Sunni Risorgimento intent on subjecting the world to its murderous brand of Wahhabi Islam.

2014 November 17, Roger Cohen, “The horror! The horror! The trauma of ISIS [print version: International New York Times, 18 November 2014, p. 9]”, in The New York Times

(by extension) Any specific type or variety of something; a distinct style or manner.


lycanthropy

en-noun

lycanthropy (usually uncountable, plural lycanthropies)

From Ancient Greek λυκανθρωπία (lukanthrōpía), from λυκάνθρωπος (lukánthrōpos, “wolfman”). By surface analysis, lycanthrope + -y.

uder

On one hand, Jacques is quite glad that he doesn’t have classic lycanthropy. Turning into a squirrel tends to cause fewer problems than turning into a wolf.

2014, Marijn Haverbeke, “4: Data Structures: Objects and Arrays”, in Eloquent JavaScript, 2nd Ed.: A Modern Introduction to Programming, No Starch Press, page 60

(mythology, by extension) The state of being a person who can shapeshift between the form of a human being and an animal, whether or not it is a wolf.


aventurine

en-noun

aventurine (countable and uncountable, plural aventurines)

/əˈvɛn.t͡ʃə.ɹɪn/

/əˈvɛn.t͡ʃə.ɹɪn/

/əˈvɛn.t͡ʃəˌɹin/

Borrowed from French aventurine, from Italian avventurino, from avventurare (“to venture; to make lucky or prosperous”), from avventura (“chance; adventure, venture”) + -are (suffix forming the infinitive of most regular verbs), apparently so named because it was discovered by accident in Murano, Italy, when brass or copper filings were dropped into melted glass (see, however, the 1843 quotation).

The Sandaresus, an Arabian stone, classed by Pliny [the Elder] among the Carbunculi, seems to have been our Aventurine, for he describes it as full of golden stars shining through a transparent substance, not from the surface, but from within the body of the stone. The true Aventurine, or Goldie-stone, is a brownish semi-transparent quartz, full of specks of yellow mica.

1860, C[harles] W[illiam] King, “Aventurine”, in Antique Gems: Their Origin, Uses, and Value as Interpreters of Ancient History; and as Illustrative of Ancient Art: With Hints to Gem Collectors, London: John Murray, […], section I (Materials), page 63

Aventurine is a variety of grainy quartz,—not quarts of rye whiskey, which there is too much of a venture in,—but quartz of silica, gold-spangled throughout with flakes of yellow mica. [...] There are two kinds of natural aventurine; the one with its spangles of yellow mica is well known as Muscovite talc. It was found on the shores of the White Sea in old times, and is now met with often in the mines of Silesia, in Bohemia, in France, and in Siberia. The other variety, more highly esteemed, is found in Spain and in Scotland. [...] Dealers have given the name of aventurine to a species of feldspar having the same external characteristics, and sold for the genuine, though a much softer stone. Such dealers are not honest.

1872 July, George S. Burleigh, “Precious Stones. IX. Aventurine and Lapis-lazuli.”, in Oliver Optic [pseudonym; William Taylor Adams], editor, Oliver Optic’s Magazine. Our Boys and Girls, volume XII, number 228, Boston, Mass.: Lee and Shepard, publishers; New York, N.Y.: Lee, Shepard and Dillingham, →OCLC, page 477, column 2

During this period of two centuries little colour was employed in the lacquer-work, but much gold was used; and those particular kinds of work in which "clouded" gold effects, avanturines, and tesselated gold are introduced, as well as low-relief modelling of a most perfect kind, were invented and brought to a high state of perfection.

1882, Christopher Dresser, “The Lacquer Manufactures”, in Japan: Its Architecture, Art, and Art Manufactures, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, pages 346–347

Quartz with spangled inclusions is known as aventurine. The included minerals are scales of shiny mica or hematite. The most familiar aventurine is of a reddish-yellow color and has a coppery sheen. Only small quantities of aventurine have been found in the United States.

1957, Dorothy M[cKenney] Schlegel, “Semiprecious Gems”, in Gem Stones of the United States (Contributions to Economic Geology; Geological Survey Bulletin; 1042-G), Washington, D.C.: Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior; United States Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 222

He stood up and gloomily opened a little silver-gilt box, its lid studded with aventurines. It was full of violet sweetmeats; he took one, feeling it with his fingers as he reflected upon the strange properties of this bonbon whose sugar-coating looked like hoar-frost; [...]

1998, Joris-Karl Huysmans, chapter 9, in Margaret Mauldon, transl., edited by Nicholas White, Against Nature (A rebours) (Oxford World’s Classics), Oxford, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, page 84

Aventurin is also the name of a variety of quartz spangled with mica or other shiny mineral. A variety of spangled feldspar, found especially in Russia, and when polished used as a gem and highly prized, is also called Aventurin or popularly "sunstone".

2003, “The Mineral Kingdom. Dictionary of Gems, Jewels, Precious Metals and Minerals, with Their Significance and Use in the Superstition and Folklore of All Countries”, in Cora Linn Daniels, C[harles] M[acClellan] Stevans, editors, Encyclopædia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World: […], volume II, Honolulu, Hi.: University Press of the Pacific, page 724, column 1

When I pulled off the lid, I found a leather bracelet inside. Its center held a pretty brass flower, painted white with soft pink tips on the petals, just like clover. On either side of the brass clover flower, one of the bracelet's leather strands had been strung with shimmering green rocks. "Those are aventurines," Peavine said when I touched one smooth stone. "They're for courage and luck. You got a lot of the first, but I figured you could use some of the second."

2015, Susan Vaught, “Three Weeks Later”, in Footer Davis Might be Probably is Crazy (A Paula Wiseman Book), New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, pages 226–227

(mineralogy, by extension) A variety of translucent quartz, spangled throughout with scales of yellow mica.


belligerent

en-adj

belligerent (comparative more belligerent, superlative most belligerent)

more belligerent (comparative)
most belligerent (superlative)

From Latin belligerans (“waging war”), present active participle of belligerō (“I wage war”), from belliger (“waging war, warlike”), from bellum (“war”) + -ger (from gerō (“I lead, wage, carry on”)).

England were not allowed to give their chariot the momentum it had a week ago. It was stopped dead in its tracks by a belligerent Springboks defence that simply refused to yield.

2019 November 3, Liam de Carme, “Boks, you beauties”, in Sunday Times

(by extension) Aggressively hostile, eager to fight.


Paki

Either a clipping of Pakistani or a back-formation from Pakistan. Doublet of Pak.

Their byword is Aggro (Aggravation) and their crucial enemies are hippies, homosexuals and Pakis (Pakistanis or Indians).

1970 March 29, Nik Cohn, “England's New Teen Style Is Violence”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

In these telephone calls and recorded messages the respondent, who held strong views on immigration and asylum policy and the provision of public support to immigrants and applicants for asylum, ranted and shouted and made reference to "Wogs", "Pakis", "Black bastards" and […] "Niggers".

Paragraph 2, DPP v Collins ([2006] 1 WLR 2223)

(UK, Canada, by extension) Anyone whose origins are perceived to be from South Asia/the Indian subcontinent.


geek

Started as carnival slang, likely from the British dialectal term geck (“a fool, dupe, simpleton”) (1510s), apparently from Dutch gek or Low German geck, from an imitative verb found in North Sea Germanic and Scandinavian meaning "to croak, cackle," and also "to mock, cheat" (Dutch gekken, German gecken, Danish gække, Norwegian gakke, Swedish gäcka). The root still survives in the Dutch adjective noun gek (“crazy" or "crazy person”). Compare gink and also Old Norse gikkr (“a pert, rude person; jester; fool”).

cog

My laptop’s locked up again. I need a geek.

I challenge these geeks to show a little spirit and produce an 81 tier bonfire by Friday night. It would also be nice to see a few kegs and some spirit around their awaited creation each night. Until then I rest my case.

1978 November 14, Jeff Boylan, “Excerpts”, in Bob Wasserman, editor, The Tech, volume 98, Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT, archived from the original on 2014-08-10, page 1

i eschew the use of "foo" "bar" and other dill-beak geek dull unimaginative temporary filenames! i find it much better to use names like: ingracl-bbp.goo or dog or ignatz

1983 February 16, dd, “Re: Temporary file names”, in net.misc (Usenet), retrieved 2016-09-21, message-ID <bnews.yale-com.883>

The community of radio amateurs—trespassing fiddlers on the cutting edge of technological possibilities—prefigured the geek community that was to inhabit Silicon Valley 50 years later.

2012, Fiorenza Belussi, Udo Hermann Staber, Managing Networks of Creativity, page 92

(colloquial, by extension) An expert in a technical field, particularly one having to do with computers.

غِيك

expert in a technical field, particularly to do with computers


buxom

en-adj

buxom (comparative buxomer or more buxom, superlative buxomest or most buxom)

buxomer (comparative)
more buxom (comparative)
buxomest (superlative)
most buxom (superlative)

From Middle English buxum, buhsum, bucsum, also ibucsum, ibuhsum (“bendsome, flexible, pliant, obedient”), from Old English bōcsum, *būhsum, *ġebūhsum (“bendsome, pliant, obedient”), from Proto-West Germanic *beuhsam, *beugsam, equivalent to bow (“to bend, bow at the waist”) + -some or buck (“to bend, buckle, kick”) + -some.
Cognate with Scots bowsome (“compliant”), West Frisian bûgsum (“flexible, bendy”), Dutch buigzaam (“flexible, pliant”), German biegsam (“flexible, pliant”).

af

They downe him hold, and fast with cords do bynde, / Till they him force the buxome yoke to beare […].

1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, VI.8:

You will certainly be rewarded for this improvement in your conduct by a notable increase of tranquillity and cheerfulness in your view both of the past and of the future; and in the hope that you will be buxom and good, I conclude by New Year's lecture.

(obsolete, by extension) Morally pliant; obedient and easily yielding to pressure.


avalanche

From French avalanche, from Franco-Provençal (Savoy) avalançhe, blend of aval (“downhill”) and standard lavençhe, from Vulgar Latin *labanka (compare Occitan lavanca, Italian valanga), of uncertain origin, perhaps an alteration of Late Latin lābīna (“landslide”) (compare Franco-Provençal (Dauphiné) lavino, Romansch lavina), from Latin lābēs, from lābor (“to slip, slide”).

The apparent success of the City and South London triggered an avalanche of bills for Tube railways, and in 1892 a Joint Select Committee of Parliament set out some ground rules.

2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, page 109

(by extension) A sudden, great, or irresistible descent or influx; anything like an avalanche in suddenness and overwhelming quantity.


apostate

From Late Latin apostata, from Ancient Greek ἀποστάτης (apostátēs, “rebel”), from ἀφίστημι (aphístēmi, “to withdraw, revolt”), from ἀπό (apó, “from”) + ἵστημι (hístēmi, “to stand”).

der

But the most politically damaging blow came from a late-breaking apostate: Mr. Clooney, who just weeks earlier had spent time with Mr. Biden and helped deliver $28 million to his campaign at a Los Angeles fund-raiser.

2024 July 11, Theodore Schleifer, Jacob Bernstein, Reid J. Epstein, “How Biden Lost George Clooney and Hollywood”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

(by extension) One who has renounced a political party, a cause, etc.


asymptote

circa 1650, from Ancient Greek ἀσύμπτωτη (asúmptōtē), the feminine of Apollonius Pergaeus' (circa 200 BC) Ancient Greek adjective ἀσύμπτωτος (asúmptōtos, “not falling together”), from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + συν- (sun-, “together”) + πτωτός (ptōtós, “fallen”).

af

Language, in relation to thought, must ever be regarded as an asymptote.

1860, Frederic William Farrar, An Essay on the Origin of Language, page 117

(by extension, figuratively) Anything which comes near to but never meets something else.


anniversary

/ˌænɪˈvɜːs(ə)ɹi/

From Middle English anniversary, from Medieval Latin anniversāria (diēs), anniversārium, from anniversārius (“yearly”), from annus (“year”) + versus, past participle of vertere (“to turn”).

herdenking

day an exact number of years since an event

The occasion was the six-month anniversary of the Aug. 8 coup that brought General Óscar Humberto Mejía Victores to power.

1984 February 27, “Never Mind the Tranquil Facade”, in Time

In a thinly veiled threat to Saddam Hussein, President George Bush marked the six-month anniversary of September 11th by reiterating America's commitment to prevent rogue countries obtaining weapons of mass destruction.

2002 March 14, ‘Politics this Week’, The Economist

Jonathon proposed to his [Jess's] mom on their three-month anniversary of meeting and married her on their fourth.

2006, DB Schrock, Soulmonger Dot Com, page 28

(loosely) A day subsequent in time to a given event by some significant period other than a year (especially as prefixed by the amount of time in question).


beep

Blend of big + jeep. From being bigger versions of the general purpose superlight truck, the Willys MB "Jeep"

(US, military, slang, dated, World War II, by extension) A 3/4-ton general purpose military medium truck


bric-a-brac

en-noun

bric-a-brac (usually uncountable, plural bric-a-bracs)

/ˈbɹɪkəbɹæk/

/ˈbɹɪkəˌbɹæk/

Borrowed from French bric-à-brac (“miscellaneous items of little value”), apparently from à bricq et à bracq (“at random; haphazardly”); bricq and bracq are expressive onomatopoeias of obscure origin.

onomatopoeic

onomatopoeias

(by extension) Any collection containing a variety of miscellaneous items; a hodgepodge, an olio.


chimpanzee

The first recorded use of the name chimpanzee dates to 1738.
The name is derived from an unspecified Bantu language of Angola (compare Vili ci-mpenzi), probably brought to the English language via French chimpanzé.

(broadly) A member of the genus Pan, including the bonobo which was formerly known as the pygmy chimpanzee.


proselytize

en-verb

proselytize (third-person singular simple present proselytizes, present participle proselytizing, simple past and past participle proselytized)

proselytizes (present singular third-person)
proselytizing (participle present)
proselytized (participle past)
proselytized (past)

传教

chuán jiào; ㄔㄨㄢˊㄐㄧㄠˋ

I am not sent here to proselytize. My church is not in that business.

1909, Ralph Connor, chapter 14, in The Foreigner

Counterterrorism officials believe bin Laden has set up cells to proselytize the large Middle East expatriate population living in the area.

2001 December 10, Douglas Waller, “A Terror Threat From The South”, in Time

It is illegal to proselytize [children] in some countries

(transitive, intransitive, broadly) To advertise one’s religious beliefs; to convert (someone) to one’s own faith or religious movement or encourage them to do so.

Coordinate term: evangelize

(transitive, intransitive, strictly) To coerce into religious conversion.

He has strong political views, and an annoying habit of proselytizing at parties.

Previously I promised not to proselytize miserism, but now I want to renege a little on that promise. If your family income is anywhere near average, you can scrimp and save and cut back for maybe two to four years […]

2010, Dolly Freed, Possum Living, page 149

(by extension, transitive, intransitive) To advertise a non-religious belief, way of living, cause, point of view, (scientific) hypothesis, social or other position, political party, or other organization; to convince someone to join such a cause or organization or support such a position; to recruit someone.


patronymic

/ˌpætɹəˈnɪmɪk/

From Ancient Greek πατήρ (patḗr, “father”) + ὄνυμα (ónuma, “name”) (a variant form of ὄνομα (ónoma, “name”)). Also patronym + -ic, from patri- + -onym.

a patronymic denomination

(by extension) Derived from one's ancestors.


patronymic

/ˌpætɹəˈnɪmɪk/

According to the applicant, for many years she had been living as part of a family with her stepfather, mother and half-brother and wanted to associate herself more closely with them by taking the surname of her stepfather and also a patronymic derived from his forename.
On 24 March 2004 the applicant lodged a request with the Civil Status Registration Office in Bila Tserkva (hereinafter “the Registration Office”) seeking to change her patronymic from Volodymyrivna (Володимирівна) to Yuriyivna (Юріївна).
By a letter of 27 March 2004 the Registration Office refused the applicant’s request, referring to the Rules on Civil Status Registration in Ukraine, approved by the Ministry of Justice, which provided that the patronymic of a physical person could only be changed in the event of a change of forename by his or her father.
On 23 April 2004 the applicant challenged this refusal in the Bila Tserkva Local Court. She complained that her patronymic, along with her forename and family name, was part of her full name and she had the right to change it. She maintained that the refusal violated her constitutional rights, was unconstitutional and was not based on law. She further contended that she had good reasons for changing her patronymic - to disassociate herself from her biological father and associate herself more closely with her stepfather and half-brother.

2013 May 16, European Court of Human Rights, Garnaga v. Ukraine, number 20390/07, marginal 7–10

(by extension) A name acquired from one's father's, grandfather's or earlier (male) ancestor's first name. Some cultures use a patronymic where other cultures use a surname or family name; other cultures (like Russia) use both a patronymic and a surname.


dark matter

dark matter
en:Fritz Zwicky
en:Vera Rubin

Calque of German Dunkle Materie, from dunkel (“dark”) and Materie (“matter”). Coined by Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky in German in 1933, to account for the apparent mass needed to account for galaxy clusters, where the mass of luminous matter did not add up to enough of a gravitational effect, inferring nonluminous matter must exist to account for the missing mass. The term gained new popularity due to the missing mass found in galaxies to account for galaxy rotation curves discovered by Vera Rubin in research published in English in the 1970s.

The evidence for dark matter in galaxies started to accumulate in the mid-1970s. By the following decade it became clear that essentially all galaxies, including our own Milky Way, are surrounded by extensive halos of dark matter.

2001, Susan M. Fitzpatrick, John T. Brue, Carving Our Destiny: Scientific Research Faces a New Millennium

On large scales like that of clusters of galaxies, gravitational lensing indicates that the dark matter is smoothly distributed, on the average.

2004, L. Bergström, A. Goobar, “Particle Astrophysics and the Dark Sector of the Universe”, in John W. Mason, editor, Astrophysics Update, pages 124–125

(astronomy, astrophysics, broadly) Matter which cannot be detected by its radiation but whose presence is inferred from gravitational effects.

donker materie

particles of matter that cannot be detected by their radiation


finish line

The race to the finish line has started already according to Jürgen Klopp and by those punishing standards Liverpool have faltered badly.

2017 January 21, Andy Hunter, “Gylfi Sigurdsson and Swansea stun Liverpool in five-goal thriller”, in The Guardian

“In the fight for voting rights, this vote was the starting gun, not the finish line,” said Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader. “We will not let it go. We will not let it die. This voter suppression cannot stand.”

2021 June 22, Nicholas Fandos, “Republicans Block Voting Rights Bill, Dealing Blow to Biden and Democrats”, in The New York Times

(figuratively, by extension) The end of a process.


autobus

en-noun

autobus (plural autobuses or autobusses)

From auto- (prefix meaning ‘self’, in the sense of being self-propelled) + bus. Sense 2 (“large group of cyclists who have fallen behind the peloton”) is borrowed from French autobus.

prefix

(by extension, cycle racing) A large group of cyclists who have fallen behind the peloton (“main group of riders”) in a race.


victim

From Middle French victime, from Latin victima (“sacrificial animal”).

slagoffer

one who is harmed by a disaster or other adverse circumstance

slagoffer

a living being slain and offered as a sacrifice

A living being which is slain and offered as a sacrifice, usually in a religious rite.

(by extension, Christianity) The transfigured body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist.


puerperal

/ˈpwɛɹpəɹəl/

From New Latin puerperālis, from Latin puerpera (“woman in childbirth”), from puer (“child”) + pariō (“I bear”).

Of, pertaining to, or associated with the puerperium (the first month of postpartum), or, sometimes also:

(broadly) Of, pertaining to, or associated with the peripartum period including childbirth.

synnytys-

Of or pertaining to or associated with childbirth


prostitution

en-noun

prostitution (usually uncountable, plural prostitutions)

(by extension) Engaging in sexual activity with another person in exchange for goods (not necessarily money) or services.

The television advertising job was a prostitution of the talents of one of the great writers of the century.

(by extension) Debasement for profit or impure motives.


kitchen

→ Bole: kicin

→ Hausa: kicin

→ Hindi: किचन (kican)

→ Fiji Hindi: kichin

desc

→ Japanese: キッチン (kitchin), キチン (kichin)

→ Saanich: kəčən

→ Sotho: kitjhine

→ Urdu: کچن (kicin)

→ Xhosa: ikhitshi

→ Zulu: ikhishi

From Middle English kychyn, kytchen, kichene, küchen, from Old English cyċen, cyċene, from Proto-West Germanic *kukinā, a borrowing from Late Latin cocīna, from earlier coquīna (“kitchen; cuisine”), from coquō (“to cook”), from Proto-Indo-European *pekʷ- (“to cook, become ripe”).
In other languages, the cognate term often refers both to the room and the type of cooking. In English, the distinction is generally made via the etymological twins kitchen (“room”) (Latin via Germanic) and cuisine (“type of cooking”) (Latin via French).

der

if you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen

I had been trained with the rigidity and discipline of the French kitchen, and now I was embracing American informality.

2011, Jacques Pépin, Essential Pépin: More Than 700 All-Time Favorites from My Life in Food

My palate passionately lies in the savory kitchen with its salty fats and infernal flavors of chilies and spices.

2011, Daniel Orr, Paradise Kitchen: Caribbean Cooking with Chef Daniel Orr, page 221

Kline wrote that, according to various recent surveys, the young Israeli-born generation generally preferred a Mediterranean diet and dishes from the “Oriental” kitchen.

2015, Yael Raviv, Falafel Nation: Cuisine and the Making of National Identity in Israel

Named for the La Merced monastery, which was built in 1594 and on whose grounds the market is now located, it is just east of Mexico City's famed Zócalo plaza and is a must-visit for anyone wanting to experience the many delectable specialties of the Mexican kitchen.

2015, Mimi Sheraton, 1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover's Life List, page 651

(by extension) Cuisine; style of cooking.


kitchen

en-verb

kitchen (third-person singular simple present kitchens, present participle kitchening, simple past and past participle kitchened)

kitchens (present singular third-person)
kitchening (participle present)
kitchened (participle past)
kitchened (past)

His Maker has not so endowed him as to lay him under the necessity of kitchening, so to speak, a slender share of talent, and, by rigid economy, make it go as far as possible.

But as in his novels and other work there is a 'kitchening' of the material, a tentativeness.

2003, Patrick Kavanagh, Antoinette Quinn, A Poet's Country: Selected Prose, page 211

(by extension) To embellish; to dress up.


yew

en-noun

yew (countable and uncountable, plural yews)

From Middle English ew, from Old English īw, ēow, from Proto-Germanic *īwaz, *īhwaz (compare Icelandic ýr), masculine variant of *īwō (compare Dutch ijf, German Eibe), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eyHw-.
See also Hittite [script needed] (eja, “type of evergreen”), Welsh yw (“yews”), Irish eo [both cognates of Old English īw, Old English ēow]; and Latgalian īva (“bird cherry”), Lithuanian ievà (“bird cherry”), Russian и́ва (íva, “willow”).

cog

(countable, by extension) Any tree or shrub of the genus Taxus.


exploit

From Old French esploit (noun), esploitier (verb).

(by extension, Internet, video games) An action or technique that takes advantage of the conditions of a video game to gain an advantage, or to disadvantage others.


column

From Middle English columne, columpne, columpe, borrowed from Old French columne, from Latin columna (“a column, pillar, post”), originally a collateral form of columen, contraction culmen (“a pillar, top, crown, summit”). Akin to Latin collis (“a hill”), celsus (“high”), probably to Ancient Greek κολοφών (kolophṓn, “top, summit”).

cog

a little from column A and a little from column B

His initial foray into print media was as the author of a weekly column in his elementary-school newspaper.

I have always argued that despite my opposition to rail privatisation, I should be grateful that John Major won the 1992 election on a platform to sell off the railways, as otherwise my column would have disappeared given the paucity of things to write about.

2024 January 10, Christian Wolmar, “A time for change? ... just as it was back in issue 262”, in RAIL, number 1000, page 60

(by extension) A recurring feature in a periodical, especially an opinion piece, especially by a single author or small rotating group of authors, or on a single theme.


high jinks

/ˈhaɪ ˌd͡ʒɪŋks/

Probably related to jink (“(verb) to make a quick evasive turn; to whirl about when dancing, to dance; (noun) a quick evasive turn”), probably originally onomatopoeic, expressing quick movement.

But given the funny hats and juvenile hijinx, it's hard to buy the play's more serious intentions.

1988 January 15, Tom Boeker, “A Night at Dykes Who Date/Crusaders [theatre review]”, in Chicago Reader, Chicago, Ill.: Chicago Reader, Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-10-26

Day of the Dead stretches the zombie film just about as far as it can go – and the film [George Andrew] Romero wanted to make could have been even more challenging – but the horror movie audience is more interested in the partying hi-jinx of trendy monsters like [Dan] O'Bannon's funky zombies, Freddy Krueger or Herbert West.

2011, Kim Newman, “Postscript: The Post-modern Horror Film”, in Nightmare Movies: Horror on Screen since the 1960s, revised edition, London: Bloomsbury Publishing, part 1 (Nightmare Movies), page 288

Boisterous activity or behaviour; lively fun.

ilonpito

boisterous activity or behaviour, especially in sport

High Jinks! High Jinks! High Jinks! The haggis has puttin' out the fire, and sealed up the boiler

1828 December, [John Wilson], “Noctes Ambrosianae. No. XL.”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume XXIV, number CXLVI, part I, Edinburgh: William Blackwood; London: T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, page 690

It was a face familiar to millions of Americans around the country, an almost intimate face to anyone who'd ever watched a televised news program or any other national hi-jinks from Chicago.

1971, Don Pendleton, Chicago Wipeout (The Executioner; book 8), New York, N.Y.: Open Road Integrated Media, published 2014

Those bastards hadn't left the school and gone back to their hi-jinks like we thought. Not at all. They'd been looking for us, eager to bash our brains in.

2005, Scott J. Evans, “Evil Deeds”, in Breathe Deep the Passing Wind, Lincoln, Neb.: iUniverse

Apparently the man had a reputation for hi[-]jinks, such as filing fake flight plans to deceive [Bill] Clinton's barnstorming rivals.

2009, Taylor Branch, “Yeltsin and the Gingrich Revolution”, in The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History with the President, London, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, page 195

Even though I have no arms or legs I did put my mom through some tough times. I did my share of rebellion and hi-jinx.

2014 August 27, Kent Bell, “Hi-jinx Stories”, in Look Ma, No Hands, No Legs Either, Bloomington, Ind.: iUniverse, page 41

You know those movies where the goofy housemate reads a book of spells on Halloween and hijinxs ensue?

2018, L. J. McLeod, “The Perils of Having a Roommate Obsessed with the Occult on Hallows’ Eve”, in T. C. Phillips, editor, Behold the Nightmare: Special Halloween Issue (Specul8: Central Queensland Journal of Speculative Fiction), Rockhampton, Qld.: Specul8 Publishing, page 73

One could argue, of course, that most comedies about the risqué misadventures of teenagers are actually pretty wholesome. Horny hits like American Pie and last year's Blockers are, at heart, sweet coming-of-age stories, secretly reassuring everyone that the kids are all right—that no matter how many f-bombs they drop, no matter how raunchy their MPAA-antagonizing hijinks get, they're really just fumbling their inexperienced way through normal rites of passage.

2019 August 14, A. A. Dowd, “Good Boys Puts a Tween Spin on the R-rated Teen Comedy, to Mostly Funny Effect”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 2021-03-04

(by extension)
Tricky or waggish behaviour; mischief.

mürgel

tricky or waggish behaviour — see also shenanigans


orc

→ Catalan: orc

→ Czech: ork

→ Danish: ork

→ Dutch: ork

→ Estonian: örk

→ Finnish: örkki

→ French: orc

→ Georgian: ორკი (orḳi)

→ Greek: ορκ (ork)

→ Hungarian: ork

→ Icelandic: orki

→ Japanese: オーク (ōku)

→ Korean: 오크 (okeu)

→ Latvian: orks

→ Lithuanian: orkas

→ Marathi: ऑर्क (ŏrka)

→ Norwegian: ork, orc

→ Polish: ork

→ Portuguese: orc

→ Romanian: orc

→ Russian: орк (ork)

→ Serbo-Croatian: ork / орк

→ Swedish: ork

→ Ukrainian: орк (ork)

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
J. R. R. Tolkien
Orc (slang)
orc

Probably from Italian orco (“man-eating giant”); later revived by J. R. R. Tolkien, partly after Old English orc, which he took to mean "demon". Both are from Latin Orcus (“the underworld; the god Pluto”). Doublet of ogre.
Sense 2 is a semantic loan from Ukrainian орк (ork, “evil monstrous humanoid creature; orc”) or Russian орк (ork), both from the English word and possibly under the influence of Russian у́рка (úrka, “prison slang for 'criminal'”). Popularized in English in 2022, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

m+

(slang, derogatory, offensive, ethnic slur, Internet slang, by extension) A Russian person.


scuttle

en-verb

scuttle (third-person singular simple present scuttles, present participle scuttling, simple past and past participle scuttled)

scuttles (present singular third-person)
scuttling (participle present)
scuttled (participle past)
scuttled (past)

Borrowed from Middle French escoutille (compare French écoutille), from Old Norse skaut (“corner of a cloth, of a sail”), or alternatively from Spanish escotilla, ultimately from Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌰𐌿𐍄𐍃 (skauts, “projecting edge, fringe”), from Proto-Germanic *skautaz (“corner; wedge; lap”). Compare German Schoß, Old English sċēat. More at sheet.

der

The third and equally important fact is that at the time of gear retraction more than ample runway remained to brake to a successful stop and even had there been a fire in the left engine no necessity existed for scuttling the aircraft.

1958 November 19, Civil Aeronautics Board, “Analysis”, in Aircraft Accident Report: American Airlines, Inc., Convair 240, N 94213, New Haven, Connecticut, March 1, 1958, retrieved 2022-11-25, page 4

(transitive, by extension) To deliberately wreck one's vehicle (of any sort).

Coordinate term: scupper

The candidate had scuttled his chances with his unhinged outburst.

The proposed merger of the Morgan Stanley Group and the S. G. Warburg Group collapsed today, scuttling plans by the companies to create one of the world's most powerful investment banks.

1994 December 16, Richard W. Stevenson, “Financial Merger Is Scuttled”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

But the $3.5 billion ignition facility, derided by some critics as taxpayer-financed science fiction, is running into new challenges that may further delay and perhaps scuttle its goal.

2011 June 24, John Upton, “Fusion Experiment Faces New Hurdles”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

By pushing for such an extreme and indefensible position, the old-media moguls sparked a tremendous outcry, which caused the legislation to be redrafted and then scuttled, at least temporarily

2014, Astra Taylor, chapter 4, in The People's Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age, Henry Holt and Company

(transitive, by extension) To undermine or thwart oneself or one's position or property, especially deliberately.


stitch

From Middle English stiche, from Old English stiċe (“a prick, puncture, stab, thrust with a pointed implement, pricking sensation, stitch, pain in the side, sting”), from Proto-West Germanic *stiki, from Proto-Germanic *stikiz (“prick, piercing, stitch”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teyg- (“to stab, pierce”).
Cognate with Dutch steek (“prick, stitch”), German Stich (“a prick, piercing, stitch”), Old English stician (“to stick, stab, pierce, prick”). More at stick.

плетка

arrangement of stitches or method of stitching in knitting

snitches get stitches and wind up in ditches

(by extension) Any space passed over; distance.


book burning

en-noun

book burning (countable and uncountable, plural book burnings)

Exhuming McCarthy (meet me at the book burning, meet me at the book burning)

1987, “Exhuming McCarthy”, in Document (R.E.M. No. 5), performed by R.E.M.

(by extension, idiomatic) Any mass destruction, removal, or recalling of books, motion pictures, broadcasts, or electronic works as a form of censorship, especially motivated by religious or political objections to the material.


noodle

Borrowed from Dutch noedel (“noodle”)), or from its etymon German Nudel (“piece of pasta, noodle”); further etymology uncertain, probably a variant of Knödel (“dumpling”), from Middle High German knödel (“dumpling; small knot”), and then either:
* from knode, knote (“knot”) (from Old High German knodo, knoto (“knot”), perhaps ultimately related to Proto-West Germanic *knappō (“knob; boy”)) + -el (diminutive suffix); or
* from Ladin menùdli (“small dough dumpling in soup”), probably from Latin minutulus (“very small, tiny”) (in the sense of food chopped into small pieces), a diminutive of minūtus (“diminished; having been diminished”), the perfect passive participle of minuō (“to make smaller, diminish, lessen, reduce”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“little, small”).
cognates
* French nouille, noudle, nudeln
* Swedish nudel

putkilo

pasta - for Italian noodles and noodle dishes

(by extension) An object which is long and thin like a noodle (sense 1).

(informal) Short for pool noodle (“a long, slender tube or rod, extruded from buoyant foam and usually brightly coloured, used as an exercise tool or toy in swimming pools”).


smoker

(slang, by extension) Any vehicle with a two-stroke engine, especially a motorcycle, as opposed to a four-stroke motorcycle or stroker.


beak

From Middle English bec, borrowed from Anglo-Norman bec, Old French bec, from Latin beccus, from Gaulish *bekkos, from Proto-Celtic *bekkos (“beak, snout”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bak-, *baḱ- (“pointed stick, peg”). Cognate with Breton beg (“beak”). Compare Saterland Frisian Bäk (“mouth; muzzle; beak”); Dutch bek (“beak; bill; neb”).

cog

Anything projecting or ending in a point like a beak, such as a promontory of land.

(architecture) A continuous slight projection ending in an arris or narrow fillet; that part of a drip from which the water is thrown off.

(nautical) That part of a ship, before the forecastle, which is fastened to the stem, and supported by the main knee.

(nautical) A beam, shod or armed at the end with a metal head or point, and projecting from the prow of an ancient galley, used as a ram to pierce the vessel of an enemy; a beakhead.

éperon

metal point fixed on the bows of a war galley, used as a ram

(entomology) Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the genus Libythea, notable for the beak-like elongation on their heads.


jugular

/ˈd͡ʒʌɡ.jʊl.ə/

/ˈd͡ʒʌɡ.jəl.ɚ/

/ˈd͡ʒʌɡ.əl.ɚ/

Late 16th century borrowing from Late Latin jugulāris, from jugulum (“the collarbone; the hollow part of the neck above the collarbone; the throat”) + -āris (“-ar, -ary”, adjectival suffix); equivalent to jugulum + -ar.

af

It was vicious; he went for the jugular.

One of Lionel's old Salthill friends with whom he exchanged perhaps a dozen words a year, and with whom he sometimes played squash, and tennis, both men killers on the court, seeking the jugular […].

2001, Joyce Carol Oates, Middle Age: A Romance, paperback edition, Fourth Estate, page 83

(by extension) Any critical vulnerability.


4x2 4-wheel vehicle with 2-wheel-drive(2WD)

(automotive, by extension) Any vehicle with four-wheel drive.


dearth

en-noun

dearth (countable and uncountable, plural dearths)

First attested at least as early as the late 1300s, and appearing in Tyndale’s Pentateuch (1530) as well as the Coverdale Bible (1535). From Middle English derth, derthe, derþe, probably from Old English *dīerþ, *dīerþu, from Proto-West Germanic *diuriþu, from Proto-Germanic *diuriþō (“costliness, preciousness, honour”); corresponding to dear + -th. Cognate with Old Saxon diuriða (“glory, honour; preciousness”), West Frisian djoerte (“love, dearness, value, worth”), Dutch duurte (“dearness; scarcity, dearth”), Icelandic dýrð (“honour, glory”).

cog

And faine would hee, if he could tell how, haue plentie in his own fields, and scarcity in other mens; superfluitie at home, and dearth abroade, that hee might sell his corne at the dearer rate

1634, John Downame, The christian warfare, page 559

Next a marsh, it would seem, and now mere earth / Desperate and done with; (so a fool finds mirth, / Makes a thing and then mars it, till his mood / Changes and off he goes!) within a rood— / Bog, clay and rubble, sand and stark black dearth.

1855, Robert Browning, Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came, section XXV

Similarly, at Cambridge, I observe what I had seen elsewhere - the dearth of tourists. The station would normally be awash with overseas visitors and students. Now it is quiet.

2020 November 18, Paul Bigland, “New infrastructure and new rolling stock”, in Rail, page 50

The dearth of A.I. chips has been exacerbated because Nvidia, a longtime provider of the chips, has a virtual lock on the market.

2023 August 16, Erin Griffith, “The Desperate Hunt for the A.I. Boom’s Most Indispensable Prize”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

(by extension) Scarcity; a lack or short supply.


spaghetti

en-noun

spaghetti (usually uncountable, plural spaghettis)

The noun is borrowed from Italian spaghetti, the plural of spaghetto (“dish of spaghetti; (rare) strand of spaghetti”), from spago (“cord, string, twine; thread”) + -etto (diminutive suffix). Spago is derived from Latin spagus (“twine”), probably from Ancient Greek σφάκος (sphákos, “apple sage (Salvia pomifera)”), probably from Pre-Greek.
The verb is derived from the noun.

spagetti

something physically resembling spaghetti (sense 1) in appearance or consistency, or in being tangled

(countable, uncountable) A type of pasta made in the shape of long thin strings.

(by extension, countable, uncountable) A dish that has spaghetti (sense 1) as a main part of it, such as spaghetti bolognese.

espageti

(by extension, countable) Denoting Italianness.

(derogatory, informal) An Italian person.

Denoting Italianness.
An Italian person.

spaghetti western
spaghetti western#English

(film) Ellipsis of spaghetti western (“a motion picture depicting a story of cowboys and desperadoes set in the American Old West, but produced by an Italian-based company and filmed in Europe, notably in Italy”).

spaghetti western

electrical engineering
electrical engineering

(by extension, uncountable, informal, often attributively) Something physically resembling spaghetti (sense 1) in appearance or consistency, or in being tangled.

(electrical engineering) Electrical insulating tubing or electrical wiring.

bužírka

electrical insulating tubing; electrical wiring

(road transport) Roads forming a complex junction, especially one with multiple levels on a motorway.

spaghetti grid    spaghetti junction    spaghetti limbs    spaghetti strap    spaghetti stripes

Or how about that spaghetti of cables, adaptors and plugs you keep in a box somewhere, the detritus of old phones, laptops and tablets — each with a different charging point — is that not an example of staggeringly wasteful, bad design?

2015 October 30, Edwin Heathcote, “Design horrors: the bad, the ugly and the dysfunctional”, in Financial Times

“But the infrastructure is like spaghetti,” he continued. “It’s chaotic, it doesn’t connect up and there’s no cohesive network. If you can get that right, it will eliminate a lot of confusion.”

2021 October 4, Liz Alderman, quoting Mikael Colville-Andersen, “As bikers throng the streets, ‘it’s like Paris is in anarchy’”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-04-08


skink

Possibly from Middle Low German schink, schinke, schenke (“leg; shank; shin bone; ham”), from Old Saxon skinka, from Proto-West Germanic *skinkō (“shank; thigh; that which is bent”), from Proto-Germanic *skinkô, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)keng- (“to limp; to be crooked, slant”).
The word is cognate with Danish skinke (“ham”), Middle Dutch schenke, schinke (“shin; hough; ham”), Icelandic skinka (“ham”), Norwegian skinke (“ham”), Old English ġesċincio, ġesċinco (“kidney fat”), Old High German skinka, skinko (“shank; shin bone”) (Middle High German schinke (“shank; shin bone; ham”), modern German Schinken (“ham; pork from the hindquarters”)), Old Saxon skinka (“ham”), Old Swedish skinke (modern Swedish skinka (“ham”)).

cog

Cullen skink

(chiefly Scotland, by extension) Usually preceded by a descriptive word: a soup or pottage made using other ingredients.


keel

From Middle English kele, from Old Norse kjǫlr, itself from Proto-Germanic *keluz, of uncertain origin. Displaced Old English ċēol from a related root. Distantly related to kile.

Coordinate term: bummock

The most important ice features are the frequency and extent of downward projections (bummocks and ice keels) from the underside of the ice canopy (pack ice and enclosed water areas from the point of view of the submariner)[…]

1975, Nathaniel Bowditch, American Practical Navigator: An Epitome of Navigation, page 834

Bill Roggensack, EBA Engineering Ltd.: So at the end of this particular simulation, presumably the keel of the iceberg is in contact with the seabed? / Chris Woodworth-Lynas: It is just in contact with the seabed.

1986, Environmental Studies Revolving Funds (Canada), C. F. M. Lewis, Federal Panel on Energy Research and Development (Canada), Gulf Canada Resources Inc, Ice Scour Workshop (1985 : Calgary, Alta.), Ice Scour and Seabed Engineering: Proceedings of a Workshop on Ice Scour Research

Would he be able to break through the surface ice or would they ram into an ice keel extending down from the bottom of the ice pack that would rip their craft open like a mere sardine can?

2021 September 30, Kenneth Andrus, Arctic Menace, Babylon Books

(by extension) The rigid bottom part of something else, especially an iceberg.


quaich

(Scotland, by extension) Any two-handled drinking vessel or trophy.


database

→ Danish: database

→ Dutch: database

→ Hindi: डेटाबेस (ḍeṭābes)

→ Norwegian Bokmål: database

→ Norwegian Nynorsk: database

Which database do you use: MySQL or Oracle?

(computing, loosely, metonymically) A software program (application) for storing, retrieving and manipulating such a structured data set.

(computing, loosely, metonymically) A combination of such data sets and the programs for using them.


pod

From Middle English *pod ("seed-pod, husk, shell, outer covering"; attested in pod-ware (“legume seed; seed grain”)), likely from Old English pād (“an outer garment, covering, coat, cloak”), from Proto-West Germanic *paidu, from Proto-Germanic *paidō (“coat, smock, shirt”), from Proto-Indo-European *baiteh₂- (“woolen clothes”). Cognate with Old Saxon pēda (“skirt”), German dialectal Pfeid, Pfeit (“shirt”), Gothic 𐍀𐌰𐌹𐌳𐌰 (paida, “mantle, skirt”), Albanian petk (“gown, garment, dress, suit”), Ancient Greek βαίτη (baítē, “goat-skin, fur-coat, tent”).

gloss

"seed-pod, husk, shell, outer covering"; attested in <i class="Latn mention" lang="enm">pod-ware</i> (“legume seed; seed grain”)

cog

These matrilineal groups associate with related families, who are probably sister lineages, to form pods.

2016, Joseph Henrich, chapter 8, in The Secret of Our Success […], Princeton: Princeton University Press

For many people forming pods last year, finding compatible people to group with was not a cost but a goal. Private companies that create educational software for pods report that people prefer to group with their friends in order to reduce the incentive to have social contacts outside of their pods.

2021 October 1, Calder Katyal, “Schools Need to Undo the Damage of Pods”, in The Atlantic

(by extension) A group of people who regularly interact.


terse

en-adj

terse (comparative terser, superlative tersest)

terser (comparative)
tersest (superlative)

From Latin tersus (“clean, cleansed, rubbed or wiped off; neat, spruce; terse”), perfect passive participle of Latin tergeō, tergō (“to clean, cleanse, rub, wipe, wipe off”).

der

In eight terse lines has Phædrus told / (So frugal were the Bards of old) / A Tale of Goats; and clos'd with grace / Plan, Moral, all, in that ſhort space.

1777, [George Riley], The Asses Ears, a Fable. Addressed to the Author of The Goat's Beard [William Whitehead], London: Printed for G. Riley, […], →OCLC; quoted in “Art. VIII. Asses Ears: A Fable. Addressed to the Author of The Goat’s Beard. 4to. 6d. Riley. 1777. [book review]”, in The Monthly Review; or, Literary Journal, Enlarged, volume LVI, London: Printed for R[alph] Griffiths; and sold by T[homas] Becket, […], March 1777, →OCLC, page 194

Your last series contains some of the neatest, tersest, and most unpretendingly original criticism, I have lately met with.

1832 September, [John Wilson], “Noctes Ambrosianae. No. LXII.”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume XXXII, number CXCVIII, Edinburgh: William Blackwood; London: T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, page 409

The book contains some happily done portrait touches of Napoleon, [...] and this and other aphoristical sentences scattered throughout this volume, [...] form as terse and trenchant a character-sketch of the Emperor as may be found almost anywhere.

1902, G. W. Parker, “Things and Other Things: Letters to Living Authors—IX. Sir [Arthur] Conan Doyle”, in Donald Macleod, editor, Good Words, London: Isbister and Company Limited […], →OCLC, page 817, column 1

Many protested that they had nothing to do with the fighting. At a word from the General the soldiers ripped off the men's shirts and examined the front of their shoulders. If they found bruises that might have been made from the butt of a gun when it had been fired—the terse order was, "Shoot him!" And many of the young men of Trujillo had disappeared.

1946, Clayton Knight, The Quest of the Golden Condor, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, →OCLC, page 94

[...] [Samuel] Beckett has become virtually mute, musewise, having progressed from marvellously constructed English sentences through terser and terser French ones to the unsyntactical, unpunctuated prose of Comment C'est and 'ultimately' to wordless mimes.

1977, John Barth, “The Literature of Exhaustion”, in Malcolm Bradbury, editor, The Novel Today: Contemporary Writers on Modern Fiction, Manchester: Manchester University Press by arrangement with Fontana Books; Totowa, N.J.: Rowman and Littlefield, page 73

Mr SPEAKER: If the honourable member could be terse. / Mr O'Flynn: I shall be very terse. It may be my fault, Mr Speaker, but I doubt if you have quite appreciated the point.

1979 August 23, John Richard Harrison, Speaker of the House, Francis Duncan O’Flynn, “[Questions for Oral Answer] Leased Cars—Exemptions”, in Parliamentary Debates (Hansard): First Session, Thirty-ninth Parliament (House of Representatives), volume 425, Wellington: P. D. Hasselberg, government printer, published 1980, →OCLC, page 2480

Having attempted to identify a role for the society and its magazine, Quest, "for the next 40 years", the society chairman, Rhea Williams, decided it was time to close. She announced the group's demise in a terse message to members following the annual meeting, which just 22 people attended.

2012 June 4, Lewis Smith, “Queen’s English Society says enuf is enough, innit?: Society formed 40 years ago to protect language against poor spelling and grammar closes because too few people care”, in The Guardian, London, archived from the original on 2016-03-10

(by extension) Of speech or style: brief, concise, to the point.

сбит

brief, concise, to the point — see also brief, concise

'Laura!' The voice halting her was terse. Brusque. She turned. [...] 'Before I go,' he said, and his voice was terse, tighter than ever. 'I want to ensure you understand something.'

2008, Julia James, The Italian's Rags-to-riches Wife (Bedded by … Blackmail; Harlequin Presents; 2716), Toronto, Ont., New York, N.Y.: Harlequin, page 107

My voice was terser than I intended, but what the hell. The night was turning out to be interesting in some ways and extremely frustrating in others.

2018, Zara Cox, Close to The Edge (Mills & Boon Dare), London: Mills & Boon

(by extension) Of manner or speech: abruptly or brusquely short; curt.


nursery

en-noun

nursery (countable and uncountable, plural nurseries)

Carolina Stanley
Fritz von Uhde
Kunsthalle Hamburg
María Eugenia Vidal

From Middle English noricerie, norserye (“children's nursery; state of being fostered or nursed; education, upbringing”) [and other forms], from Old French norricerie, nourricerie, from norrice, nourrice (modern French nourrice (“childminder, nanny; wet nurse”)) + -erie (suffix forming feminine nouns). Norrice and nourrice are derived from Late Latin nūtrīcia (“wet nurse”), from Latin nūtrīcius (“that nurses or suckles; nourishing”), from nūtriō (“to breastfeed, nurse, suckle”), possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)neh₂- (“to flow”). The English word may be analysed as nourice, nurse + -ery (suffix forming nouns meaning ‘place of’).

refn

From the collection of the Kunsthalle Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.

nb...

norceri, norcerie, norcery, norcerye, norisri, norisrie, norisserie, norisserye, norserie, norserye, norsheri, norshery, norysrye, nursery

де́тска я́сла

place where nursing or the raising of children is carried out

разса́дник

place where anything is fostered and growth promoted

(countable) A place where nursing (“breastfeeding”) or the raising of children is carried on.

(by extension) Especially in European countries: a room or area in a household set apart for the care of children.


murky

en-adj

murky (comparative murkier, superlative murkiest)

murkier (comparative)
murkiest (superlative)

From Middle English mirky; equivalent to murk + -y. Related to Old Norse myrkr, Russian мрак (mrak), Serbo-Croatian мра̑к.


slut

From Middle English slutt, slutte, slute (“a dirty or slovenly person, usually a woman, scullery maid; messy animal to prepare as food; slush, mud”), probably from Old English *slȳte (“sleet”), from Proto-West Germanic *slautijā, from Proto-Germanic *slautijǭ (“sleet, hail”), related to Proto-West Germanic *slaut (“puddle, ditch”). Compare Dutch slodder and slet, dialectal Swedish slata (“idle woman”), Norwegian sludd (“sleet”), and the dialectal Norwegian slutr (“sleet, impure liquid”). Doublet of sleet.

cog

You could hire a slut for a few hours, if you're that desperate.

(vulgar, often derogatory) A sexually promiscuous woman.

A sexually promiscuous woman.
A prostitute.


protocol

en-noun

protocol (countable and uncountable, plural protocols)

/ˈpɹəʊtəˌkɒl/

Borrowed from Middle French protocolle, protocole (“document, record”), from Late Latin protocollum (“the first sheet of a volume (on which contents and errata were written)”), from Byzantine Greek πρωτόκολλον (prōtókollon, “first sheet glued onto a manuscript”), from πρῶτος (prôtos, “first”) + κόλλα (kólla, “glue”).

der

For those uncertain in the protocol of handshaking a formula for the perfect handshake has been devised by scientists at the University of Manchester.

TfW has staff enforcing mask protocols at all the busy stations and most travellers oblige, albeit some with ill grace.

2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 66

(by extension) An accepted code of conduct; acceptable behaviour in a given situation or group.


venue

From Middle English venu, from Old French venue, the feminine singular past participle of the verb venir (to come). Doublet of veny.

The metalworking forum is not the appropriate venue for this discussion about politics.

(by extension) The place where something happens.

local

place, especially the one where a given event is to happen


opium

en-noun

opium (countable and uncountable, plural opiums or opia)

Borrowed from Latin opium and Ancient Greek ὄπιον (ópion), from ὀπός (opós, “juice of a plant”), from Proto-Indo-European *sokʷos (“juice, resin”).

der

Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, […] It is the opium of the people.

1843, Karl Marx, Zur Kritik der Hegelschen Rechtsphilosophie [A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right]

(by extension, countable) Anything that numbs or stupefies.


transpire

en-verb

transpire (third-person singular simple present transpires, present participle transpiring, simple past and past participle transpired)

transpires (present singular third-person)
transpiring (participle present)
transpired (participle past)
transpired (past)

Borrowed from Middle French transpirer, from Medieval Latin transpirare (“to breathe through”), from Latin trans (“across”) spirare (“to breathe”). The sense “to become known” is also present in French, while the sense “to happen” is not; the latter probably developed in English from the former.

der

But there is a school of thought that holds that the more you talk about recession, the more likely it is to transpire.

2018 September 21, Mark Rice-Oxley, “Don't mention the R-word”, in The Guardian

(loosely, intransitive) To happen, take place.


blockade

From block + -ade, probably after Dutch blocquade (now blokkade) or German Blockade.

blockage

nearly synonymous, but not interchangeably; blockade usually denotes human agency

(by extension) Any form of formal isolation or inhibition of something, especially with the force of law or arms.


vine

From Middle English vīne, from Anglo-Norman vigne, from Vulgar Latin vīnia, from Latin vīnea (“vines in a vineyard”), from vīneus (“related to wine”), from vīnum (“wine”), from Proto-Italic *wīnom, from Proto-Indo-European *wóyh₁nom (“vine, wine”), from *weh₁y- (“to twist, wrap”). Doublet of wine.

ivy vine

Ampelopsis cordata; Parthenocissus quinquefolia

(by extension) Any similar climbing or trailing plant.


chorus

en-noun

chorus (plural choruses or (dated) chorusses or (rare) chori)

choruses (plural)
chorusses (dated plural)
chori (plural rare)

The noun is borrowed from Medieval Latin chorus (“church choir”), Latin chorus (“group of dancers and singers; dance”), from Ancient Greek χορός (khorós, “group of dancers and singers, choir, chorus; dance accompanied by song; round dance”); further etymology uncertain, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰer- (“to encircle, enclose”) or *ǵʰoros. Doublet of choir and hora.
The plural form chori is from Latin chorī, from Ancient Greek χοροί (khoroí).
The verb is derived from the noun.

der

(by extension, chiefly British, theater, historical) An actor who reads the prologue and epilogue of a play, and sometimes also acts as a commentator or narrator; also, a portion of a play read by this actor.

(by extension) A group of people in a performance who recite together.


conspiracy

en-noun

conspiracy (countable and uncountable, plural conspiracies)

From Middle English conspiracie, from Anglo-Norman conspiracie, from Latin cōnspīrātiō. Doublet of conspiration.

The former programme of the entertainments, which were to result from this generous conspiracy to assist a man whom fortune had buffeted, was eagerly looked for, not only for the reunion of old favorites that it promised to bring about, but out of sympathy for the sentiment which has prompted this graceful act of kindness.

1863 May 30, “Lord Dudley and Mr. Lumley”, in The Musical World, volume 41, number 22, page 339

On another occasion, some months later, when Currita's birthday, the 10th of October, and feast of St. Francis Borgia, was approaching, the two children were plotting together a conspiracy to give their mother a surprise.

1900, Luis Coloma, Currita, Countess of Albornoz, page 245

The people whom he visited were members of the surprise party conspiracy, and kept the pianist involved in a heated discussion until they were sure that the surprise was ready for him.

1916 August 10, “Ernest schelling Given A Surprise Party”, in Musical Courier and Review of Recorded Music, volume 73, page 27

When Mike and his family showed up at nearly the same time, Dan suspected a conspiracy among his mother, brother and sister. He was not surprised to learn that his mother had concocted the plan to get the whole family together again.

2002, Duane Ramsey, Reunion in the Rockies, page 264

Have you been part of a surprise party conspiracy or plotted a delightful treat for someone you love?

2003, Penelope S. Tzougros, Wealthy Choices: The Seven Competencies of Financial Success, page 234

[…] Molly said good-bye and left Emily's office. She had the strangest feeling that Emily and Betty were in this together somehow, a conspiracy to help her out, whether she liked it or not. Jessica might even be in on it, too, she thought vaguely. No, that's just plain silly. I'm being paranoid about people being too nice to me and treating me so respectfully[…]

2004 December 7, Thomas Kinkade, A New Leaf: A Cape Light Novel, Penguin, page 252

Nina nods her understanding and joins the conspiracy to surprise Victoria.

2005, Robert Henry Jr. Wright, Ten Percent Marriage, page 345

Sandy had still not arrived, as he was charged with the task of getting his father to the pub for the surprise party. His plan was to offer his parents the opportunity of popping in for a quick pint on the way back from the supermarket in Mallaig. His mother, of course, was in on the conspiracy and had already left a change of clothes in a room at the hotel.

2005, Neal Sillars, A Conspiracy of Ravens, page 182

With John Mason Junior's reputation having preceded him the employees assigned to create the President's Gardens happily agreed on a conspiracy of silence.

2012, Anna Denysovna, The Death Trains of Thera, page 62

Ruth and Steven journeyed from Sydney and we all enjoyed the pre-party conspiracy as much as seeing Peter's happy surprise when so many people arrived to wish him well .

2011, Nora Huppert, Home Without a Homeland, page 285

The four kids giggled as they filed out the door and climbed into her car. It was obvious that this was a conspiracy!

2012, Lindy Schneider, “Gramma's Christmas Store”, in Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Amy Newmark, editor, Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Gift of Christmas

Later that summer, back in London, poker was also the backdrop for Alvarez's own sixtieth birthday, for which his beloved wife Anne had organised a surprise party. My role in the conspiracy was to get Al out of the house by 6 p.m. – a bit early to head to our poker club in central London, but easily enough done; the problem was going to be getting him back home again as early as 8.

2021, Anthony Holden, Based on a True Story

This benevolent conspiracy involved an invitation to the entire family of the parsonage for evening dinner at one of their parishioners' homes.

2023, Lloyd C. Douglas, Time to Remember, page 101

(loosely) A secret agreement to do something.

But this I call civil life […] living [together] in good and politic order, one ever ready to do good to another, and as it were conspiring [together] in all virtue and honesty. […] You said right now that this civil life was a politic order and, as it were, a conspiracy in honesty and virtue, […]

1948 [c. 1530], Thomas Starkey, A Dialogue Between Reginald Pole & Thomas Lupset

You may even find yourself using your new awareness and insight to assist others in their recovery process. A conspiracy to enable others joins the minds of all who seek faces of recovery.

2007, Barbara Sinor, Gifts from the Child Within, page 188

By teaming up, local educators and community leaders can forge a potent, positive conspiracy to help our children to strive for success in school and ultimately in life.

2010 June 21, Hugh B. Price, Mobilizing the Community to Help Students Succeed, ASCD, page 128

When collaboration is conscious, planned, and shared with others, excitement builds and a conspiracy develops.

2013, Leigh Thompson, Creative Conspiracy: The New Rules of Breakthrough Collaboration, page 1

Retelling stories can provide a time of reflection, but the idea is to create a conspiracy to open up new ways of thinking in order to change education.

2021, Dana Compton McCullough, Mandy Hoffen and a Conspiracy to Resurrect Life and Social Justice in Science Curriculum With Henrietta Lacks

(loosely) An agreement to work together to bring something about; an act or instance of conspiring.


-ium

From Latin -um (“neuter singular morphological suffix”), based on Latin terms for metals such as ferrum (“iron”).

der

According to the FAQ, a site's coolness can be attributed to a trace element called coolium.

1997, Bryan Pfaffenberger, Official Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 book, page 34

Stupidium: Exposure to this Element can cause very silly behavior.

2007, Jason Lethcoe, Wishing Well, appendix, page ii

We're at the North Pole, aren't we? Let's just call the new element Santa Clausium!

(by extension, humorous) Appended to common words to create scientific-sounding or humorous-sounding fictional substance names.


atheist

From Middle French athéiste (athée + -iste), from Latin atheos, from Ancient Greek ἄθεος (átheos, “godless, without god”), from ἀ- (a-, “without”) + θεός (theós, “god”).

ateïs

a person who believes with certainty that no deities exist

Minister—Are you really an Atheist?
Atheist—Yes.
M.—Do you deny that there is a god?
A.—No. I deny that there is sufficient reason to believe there is one. There may be a god, but I think it rather unlikely.

1843, G. J. Holyoake, “A Reciprocal Dialogue”, in Thomas Paterson, editors, The Oracle of Reason, Or, Philosophy Vindicated, volume 2, number 64, page 89

Very low probability, but short of zero. De facto atheist. ‘I cannot know for certain but I think God is very improbable, and I live my life on the assumption that he is not there.’

2006 September 18, Richard Dawkins, “The God Hypothesis”, in The God Delusion, 1st Am. edition, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, →LCCN, →OL, LCC BL2775.3.D39 2006, page 51

(religion) A person who does not believe in deities or gods.

(broadly) A person who doubts the existence of deities (therefore, an agnostic may be considered an atheist).

ateïs

a person who doubts the existence of deities — see also agnostic


rubbish

en-noun

rubbish (usually uncountable, plural rubbishes)

Inherited from Middle English robous (“rubbish, building rubble”), further origin uncertain; possibly from Anglo-Norman rubous, rubouse, rubbouse (“refuse, waste material; building rubble”), and compare Anglo-Latin rebbussa, robousa, robusium, robusum, rubisum, rubusa, rubusium (although the Anglo-Norman and Anglo-Latin words may be derived from the English word instead of the other way around, as there are no known Old French cognates of the word). The English word may be related to rubble, though the connection is unclear. Possibly derived ultimately from Old Norse rubba (“to huddle, crowd together, heap up", also possibly "to rub, scrape”), from Proto-Germanic *rubbōną (“to rub, scrape”). Compare Swedish rubba (“to move, displace, dislodge, upset”).
The verb is derived from the noun.

cog

Much of what they sell is rubbish.

[W]e may add that publications of this nature always contain much rubbiſh to make up the bulk; for to produce a neat collection of true wit, requires talents and judgment that would ſcarcely ſtoop to the taſk.

1793 February, “Art. 59. Scrapeana. Fugitive Miscellany. Small 8vo. pp. 352. 4s. sewed. Baldwin. 1792. [book review]”, in The Monthly Review; or, Literary Journal, Enlarged, volume X, London: Printed for R[alph] Griffiths; and sold by T[homas] Becket, […], →OCLC, page 232

(by extension, chiefly Commonwealth) An item, or items, of low quality.

Everything the teacher said during that lesson was rubbish. How can she possibly think that a bass viol and a cello are the same thing?

I ſhall […] lay out of my way the whole bede-roll of citations and precedents which they have produced, that heterogeneous heap of rubbiſh, which is only calculated to confound your Lordſhips, and miſlead the argument.

1774 April, “Summary of the Arguments of the Council and Judges in the Great Cause, which was Lately Heard before the House of Peers, for Ascertaining the Right of Literary Property. […]”, in Sylvanus Urban [pseudonym; Edward Cave], editor, The Gentleman’s Magazine, and Historical Chronicle, volume XLIV, London: Printed […], for D[avid] Henry, and sold by F[rancis] Newbery, […], →OCLC, page 149, column 2

(by extension, chiefly Commonwealth) Nonsense.


toke

Presumably from Spanish tocar (“touch”). Noun sense 1968, verb 1952.

Back on the wards a big toke of O₂ might have done the job; it was God's own pick-me-up.

(slang, by extension) An inhalation or lungful of anything.


population

Borrowed from Late Latin populatio (“a people, multitude”), as if a noun of action from Classical Latin populus. Doublet of poblacion.

bor+

invånarantal (often expressed as "har X invånare" instead)

India has the third-largest population of English-speakers in the world.

(by extension) The people with a given characteristic.


kneecapping

en-noun

kneecapping (countable and uncountable, plural kneecappings)

(gerund, figurative, by extension) An excessively and needlessly damaging attack or disparagement.


contact

contact (countable and uncountable, plural contacts)

From Latin contactus, from contingō (“I touch on all sides”), from tangō (“I touch”). Used in English since the 17th century.

someone with whom one is in communication

no battle plan survives contact with the enemy

no battle plan survives first contact with the enemy

no plan survives first contact with the enemy

Someone who can be contacted, or with whom one is in communication.

(by extension) Means of communication with a person, especially in the form of a telephone number.


pagan

From Middle English pagan (adjective and noun), from Latin pāgānus (“rural, rustic", later "civilian”), replaced Middle English payen from the same root. The meaning "not (Judeo-)Christian" arose in Vulgar Latin, probably from the 4th century. It is unclear whether this usage is derived primarily from the "rustic" or from the "civilian" meaning, which in Roman army jargon meant 'clumsy'. As a self-designation of neopagans, attested since 1990.
Partly displaced native heathen, from Old English hǣþen.

der

(by extension, derogatory) Savage, immoral, uncivilized, wild.


pagan

(by extension, derogatory) An uncivilized or unsocialized person.

(by extension, derogatory) An unruly, badly educated child.


bean

→ Fiji Hindi: biin

From Middle English bene, from Old English bēan, from Proto-West Germanic *baunu, from Proto-Germanic *baunō (“bean”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰabʰ- (“bean”). Cognate with Scots bene, bein (“bean”), West Frisian bean (“bean”), Dutch boon (“bean”), German Bohne (“bean”),
Swedish böna (“bean”),
Danish bønne (“bean”), Norwegian bønne (“bean”), Icelandic baun (“bean”), Latin faba (“bean”), Russian боб (bob, “bean”), Serbo-Croatian бо̏б/bȍb. Doublet of fava.

en:non-Fabaceae seed comparable to Fabaceae seed

(by extension) The bean-like seed of certain other plants, such as a vanilla bean or (especially) a coffee bean.

en:object with shape comparable to a seed of the Fabaceae

(by extension) An object resembling a pea or bean in shape, often made from plastic or styrofoam and used in large numbers as packing material or as stuffing for beanbags and similar items.


busk

Borrowed from French busc, from Italian busco (“splinter”).

Off with that happy busk, which I envie, / That still can be, and still can stand so nigh.

1661, John Donne, To his Mistress going to Bed

банел

stiffening strip in the front of a corset


bertillonage

/bɛːtijɒˈnɑːʒ/

Learned borrowing from French bertillonnage; from the name of the inventor, Alphonse Bertillon.

lbor

Often these [clothing] labels are of more use than the so-called bertillonage, those eleven items of physical measurement and characteristics that must be recorded to make a positive identification but that are useless for anything else and find themselves at the bottom of desk drawers or in unused databases.

2005, Péter Nádas, translated by Imre Goldstein, Parallel Stories

(by extension) A similar form of identification of used on racing greyhounds.


rack

From Middle English rakke, rekke, from Middle Dutch rac, recke, rec (Dutch rek), see rekken.

Do I have to do this now? Like, I really need to get some rack.

2009 December 18, 1:00:07 from the start, in Avatar, spoken by Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), 20th Century Fox

(nautical, by extension, slang, uncountable) Sleep.


osier

en-noun

osier (countable and uncountable, plural osiers)

Borrowed from French osier (“basket willow, withy”), from Old French osier, hosier, hosyere (compare Medieval Latin ausēria (“willow-bed”)), from Frankish *halster (compare Low German Halster, Hilster (“bay willow”)).
Alternatively from Medieval Latin ausēria (“willow-bed”), from Gaulish *awesā (“riverbed”) (compare Breton aoz (“riverbed”)), from Proto-Celtic *auos (“river”), which could also be present in the French place name Avoise.


cleavage

cleavage (countable and uncountable, plural cleavages)

Half an hour later, she was staring at a large bottom-cleavage, which was protruding from under the bed. / 'Ohhh Kayyy. Here we go. This is basically your problem.' / Olivia took a few steps back as the bottom-cleavage started wriggling out towards her. Connor the counter-surveillance expert pulled himself awkwardly to his knees, […]

2003, Helen Fielding, Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination, London: Picador, page 95

Brenda lifted the top off a shoebox and dug beneath the tissue paper, unearthing a two-toned, turquoise-and-cream, high-heeled pump. "This is one of my favorites," she said, balancing it in the palm of her hand. "I love shoes that show toe cleavage." / "Toe cleavage?" / Brenda kicked off a leather sandal, slipped her foot into the pump, and pointed to the baseline of her toes peeking through. "That's toe cleavage!"

2014, Bridgett M. Davis, Into the Go-Slow, New York, N.Y.: The Feminist Press at the City University of New York

(by extension) Any similar separation between two body parts, such as the buttocks or toes.


kite

en-verb

kite (third-person singular simple present kites, present participle kiting, simple past and past participle kited)

kites (present singular third-person)
kiting (participle present)
kited (participle past)
kited (past)

The noun is from Middle English kyte, kīte, kete (“a kite endemic to Europe, especially the red kite (Milvus milvus)”), from Old English cȳta (“kite; bittern”), from Proto-West Germanic *kūtijō, diminutive of Proto-Germanic *kūts (“bird of prey”), from Proto-Indo-European *gewH-d- (“to cry, screech”). The English word is cognate with Scots kyt, kyte (“kite; bird of prey”), Middle High German kiuzelīn, kützlīn (“owling”) (modern German Kauz (“owl”)). Possibly a doublet of coot.
Sense 3 (“lightweight toy”) is from the fact that it hovers in the air like the bird.
The verb is derived from the noun.

извисявам

to cause (something) to move upwards rapidly

Andy also kept a box of that [steel wool] in his cell, although he didn't get it from me—I imagine he kited it from the prison laundry.

1982 August 27, Stephen King, “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption”, in Different Seasons, New York, N.Y.: Viking Press; republished in Stephen King Goes to the Movies, 1st Pocket Books paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Pocket Books, February 2009, page 470

Little bastards were always trying to kite stuff, particularly the candy and the girly magazines.

2001, Stephen King, Dreamcatcher: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Pocket Books; 1st Gallery Books trade paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Gallery Books, January 2018, page 611

(transitive, intransitive, US, slang, by extension) To steal.


scar

From Middle English scar, scarre, a conflation of Old French escare (“scab”) (from Late Latin eschara, from Ancient Greek ἐσχάρα (eskhára, “scab left from a burn”), and thus a doublet of eschar) and Middle English skar (“incision, cut, fissure”) (from Old Norse skarð (“notch, chink, gap”), from Proto-Germanic *skardaz (“gap, cut, fragment”)). Akin to Old Norse skor (“notch, score”), Old English sċeard (“gap, cut, notch”). More at shard.
Displaced native Old English dolgswæþ.

Thus, it is wise to avoid cultivating an emotional scar, as it can play havoc with your happiness and success.

(by extension) A permanent negative effect on someone's mind, caused by a traumatic experience.


kneecap

en-verb

kneecap (third-person singular simple present kneecaps, present participle kneecapping, simple past and past participle kneecapped)

kneecaps (present singular third-person)
kneecapping (participle present)
kneecapped (participle past)
kneecapped (past)

(transitive, figurative, by extension) To attack (someone) in a way that is excessively and needlessly damaging: To cut (someone) off at the knees.


grave

en-noun

grave (countable and uncountable, plural graves)

Sranan Tongo: grebi

Aukan: geebi

From Middle English grave, grafe, from Old English græf, grafu (“cave, grave, trench”), from Proto-West Germanic *grab, from Proto-Germanic *grabą, *grabō (“grave, trench, ditch”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrebʰ- (“to dig, scratch, scrape”). Cognate with West Frisian grêf (“grave”), Dutch graf (“grave”), Low German Graf (“a grave”), Graff, German Grab (“grave”), Danish, Swedish and Norwegian grav (“grave”), Icelandic gröf (“grave”). Related to groove.

der

(broadly) Any place of interment; a tomb; a sepulcher.

[…]Meeting is pleasure, parting is a grief; / An inconstant lover is worse than a thief; / A thief can but rob you, and take all you have, / An inconstant lover will bring you to the grave![…]

a. 1769, unknown, The Cuckoo, lines 9–12

[…]balanced on the biggest wave you race towards an early grave.

1973, “Breathe”, in Roger Waters (lyrics), David Gilmour and Richard Wright (music), The Dark Side of the Moon, performed by Pink Floyd

(uncountable, by extension) Death, destruction.

(by extension, uncountable) Deceased people; the dead.


deed

From Middle English dede, from Old English dēd, dǣd (“deed, act”), from Proto-West Germanic *dādi, from Proto-Germanic *dēdiz (“deed”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰéh₁tis (“deed, action”). Analyzable through Proto-Germanic as do + -th. Doublet of thesis.
The real estate sense derives from the fact that property deeds are traditionally used to demonstrate proof of ownership of a legal title in common law jurisdictions, such as England & Wales and most of the United States.
Cognates:
Cognate with West Frisian died, Dutch daad (“deed, act”), German Low German Daad, German Tat (“deed, action”), Swedish, Norwegian and Danish dåd (“act, action”). The Proto-Indo-European root is also the source of Ancient Greek θέσις (thésis, “setting, arrangement”).

cog

I inherited the deed to the house.

(law) A legal instrument that is executed under seal or before a witness; sometimes required for certain legal activities, such as the transfer of certain kinds of property.

(by extension, real estate) The legal title to real estate; ownership.


Kurdistan

Kurdistan
Kurdistan Province
Kurdistan Region
Kurds in Turkey#Central Anatolia
Kurds of Khorasan

Either from Northern Kurdish Kurdistan or from Classical Persian کُرْدِسْتَان (kurdistān), equivalent to Kurd + -i- + -stan.

کُرْدِسْتَان

(by extension) An autonomous region in northern and northeastern Iraq lying within the aforementioned Kurdish-majority region.

(by extension) A province in northwestern Iran lying within the aforementioned Kurdish-majority region.


jar

en-noun

jar (countable and uncountable, plural jars)

From earlier jar, jur, jarre, jurre, of uncertain origin. Possibly from earlier *char, *chur, *charre, *churre (now spelt chirr, churr (“to make a sound”); compare also nightjar and its variant nightchurr), from Middle English *chirren, *cherren, *churren (“to sound, cry, murmur, complain”), from Old English ċeorian (“to murmur, gripe, complain with just cause”), from Proto-West Germanic *karēn (“to complain”). For the change of ch to j, compare also charm, jarm (“chirping”); achar, ajar (“slightly turned or open”), chaw, jaw, etc. The noun is derived from the verb.

inh

(countable, by extension) A sense of alarm or dismay.


pilgrimage

/ˈpɪlɡɹɪmɪd͡ʒ/

From Middle English pilgrimage. By surface analysis, pilgrim + -age.

Each year we made a pilgrimage to New York City to visit the pub where we all first met.

For fans, the shows are a pilgrimage, and a rediscovery of the joys of mass gatherings.

2023 August 5, Ben Sisario, “How Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour Conquered the World”, in New York Times

(by extension) A visit to any site revered or associated with a meaningful event.


placer

table
From American Spanish placer, from earlier placel, apparently from obsolete Portuguese placel.

(by extension) Any place holding treasures.