gig

The etymology of the noun is unknown, but compare Old French gigue (“a fiddle”). The verb is derived from the noun.

I had this gig as a file clerk but it wasn’t my style so I left.

That guy’s got a great gig over at the bike shop. He hardly works all day.

Whether you want to have some occasional translation gigs or turn freelance translating into your fulltime occupation, you'll need to know some essential things […]

2014 July 24, R. Z. Aklat, “Introduction”, in Become a Freelance Translator, [S.l.]: R. Z. Aklat

In recent decades, "gig" has become just a hip term for any temporary job or stint, with the implication you're not particularly invested in it. I think of the barista or bookstore clerk who responds to my questions with a look that says, "Hey, man, it's a gig. I don't really DO this?" That tone of insouciance has made "the gig economy" the predominant name for what's being touted as the industrial revolution of our times.

2016 January 11, Geoffrey Nunberg, “Fresh Air: Goodbye Jobs, Hello ‘Gigs’: How One Word Sums Up a New Economic Reality”, in NPR, archived from the original on 2022-02-13

(by extension) Any job, especially one that is freelance or temporary, or done on an on-demand basis.

klus

any job, especially one that is freelance or temporary, or done on an on-demand basis


gig

en-verb

gig (third-person singular simple present gigs, present participle gigging, simple past and past participle gigged)

gigs (present singular third-person)
gigging (participle present)
gigged (participle past)
gigged (past)

(by extension) To work at any job, especially one that is freelance or temporary, or done on an on-demand basis.


gig

The noun is derived from Middle English gigg, gigge, gygge (“spinning object; a top”); further origin uncertain, possibly:
* from Old Norse [Term?] (compare Danish gig (“a top”), dialectal Norwegian giga (“to shake about”)), from Proto-Germanic *gīganą (“to move, wish, desire”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰeyǵʰ-, *gʰeygʰ- (“to yawn, gape, long for, desire”); or
* ultimately onomatopoeic.
Senses 2–4 are thought to derive from sense 1 (“whipping-top”), but their exact relationship is unclear.
The verb is derived from the noun.

uder

(Southern England, by extension) A similar rowing boat or sailboat, especially one used for racing; specifically, a six-oared sea rowing boat commonly found in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

Gig

similar rowing boat or sailboat, especially one used for racing; six-oared sea rowing boat commonly found in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly


bastardization

en-noun

bastardization (countable and uncountable, plural bastardizations)

This is a basis for a natural, even though slow, process of regeneration, which gradually eliminates racial poisonings as long as a basic stock of racially pure elements is still present and a further bastardization does not take place.

It is emphasized that the subject of bastardization in man is one of the most fundamental of anthropological questions and one which has hitherto not received its due quota of attention.

1951, C. A. Du Toit, Annals of the University of Stellenbosch

Those people, in regard to appearance and way of life, were so different from the White people that intermingling or bastardization could practically not take place. The biological position was of such a nature that there was no possibility of bastardization. In spite of that, bastardization did take place here and there, and the progeny of that bastardization were so far removed from the Whites, and the Whites no longer had the biological ally, if I may call it that, to help them to remain White.

1956, South Africa Parliament House of Assembly, Debates of the House of Assembly

While through my veils you may have recognized the traits of my Bolg father, one of a dozen soldiers that raped my Dhracian mother, who they chose to kidnap by a toss of the bones, what you now see is the bastardization of the race of which I was the first of a generation.

2007, Elizabeth Haydon, Elegy for a Lost Star

Not everyone agreed with this logic, since in many colonies European men continued to establish commonlaw relationships with indigenous women even where marriages with European women were frequent. The critical economist Moritz Bonn made himself unpopular with German colonial authorities when he claimed in the first decade of the twentieth century that “[t]he main cause of bastardization in Africa was not the absence of white women but the presence of black ones.

2012, Mary Jo Maynes, Ann Waltner, The Family: A World History

The basic racial criteria established previously by Professor Schultz and used until now as the basis for admission to the SS remain fundamentally valid, although I have suggested a more restricted policy of accepting only those in Schultz's first category, the pure Nordic, without any trace whatever of bastardization.

2014, Daniel Easterman, The Seventh Sanctuary

It was not that Powell and many other Britons did not fear for the quality of the race and complain on occasions about “bastardization” and “mongrelization,” but more often than not, their eugenic presuppositions were (and perhaps still are) implicit in their analyses of the birthrate rather than specifically articulated.

2014, Richard A. Soloway, Demography and Degeneration: Eugenics and the Declining Birthrate in Twentieth-Century Britain, page 361

(by extension) The combining of separate races in marriage or breeding; miscegenation.

In this manner they viewed traditional aspects of civilization as parts of the legitimate identity of a culture. Consequently, they could interpret religion as one meaningful way for each culture to deal with external reality rather than as a superstitious bastardization of reason.

1978, Park McGinty, Interpretation and Dionysos: Method in the Study of a God, page 35

This may include the bastardization or demolition of a building that no longer has a community to serve it or where its builders lack the economic or political power to resist threatening 'regeneration' or 'improvement plans'.

2007, Robert Bevan, The Destruction of Memory: Architecture at War

It was an hour of bastardization of fine music that I suppose delighted the folks in Cedar Rapids and Buffalo.

2014, Harlan Ellison, The Other Glass Teat: Essays

While a few others avow to science, and not to the creator of science, yet others are busy within make believe worlds of their own, trying to clone whatever their human possibilities can allow them to, thereby raging this earth with so much bastardization of what I call true nature of life.

2014, Patriot Daisy, Chronicles of a Nigerian Woman in America, page 13

(more generally) The creation of an inferior copy or version; corruption, degradation, or debasement.


imp

en-verb

imp (third-person singular simple present imps, present participle imping, simple past and past participle imped)

imps (present singular third-person)
imping (participle present)
imped (participle past)
imped (past)

From Middle English impen, ympen (“to plant; (figuratively) to bury; to graft; to add to, insert, put into, set in; to mend (a falcon’s feather) by attaching a new feather on to the broken stump”), from Old English impian, ġeimpian (“to graft”), from Proto-West Germanic *impōn (“to graft”), from Vulgar Latin *imputō (“to graft”), from Ancient Greek ἔμφῠτος (émphutos, “implanted; planted”), from ἐμφῠ́ω (emphúō, “to implant”, from ἐν- (en-, prefix meaning ‘in’) + φῠ́ω (phúō, “to bring forth, produce; to grow”, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- (“to appear; to become; to grow”))) + -τος (-tos).

af

ultimately from Proto-Indo-European <i class="Latn mention" lang="ine-pro">*bʰuH-</i> (“to appear; to become; to grow”)

(figuratively, from sense 3) To provide (someone or something) with wings, hence enabling them or it to soar.

To add to or unite an object with (something) to lengthen the latter out or repair it; to eke out, enlarge, strengthen.


imp

From Middle English impe, ympe (“tree branch; shoot, sprig; graft, scion; young tree, sapling, seedling; tree”) [and other forms], from Old English impa, impe (“shoot, sprig; graft, scion; young tree, sapling, seedling”), from impian, ġeimpian (“to graft”) (see etymology 1).

(by extension)
(often humorous) A mischievous child.

When they are upset, their ears blush a furious crimson, resembling red horns and adding to their diabolical image. (Baby devils, packed four to a pouch, are known as imps.)]

[2012 May, Abigail Tucker, “What is Killing the Tasmanian Devil?”, in Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2021-05-04

Although this devil was new to her – he was at the neck of the peninsula, which she visited only once a year – she often trapped the same devils dozens of times over the years, watching them grow from tiny imps in their mothers’ pouches to the grizzled old age of about 5.

2014 March 31, Julie Rehmeyer, “Fatal Cancer Threatens Tasmanian Devil Populations”, in Discover: Science for the Curious, Waukesha, Wis.: Kalmbach Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2020-11-08

Siberian Tigers vs. Tasmanian Devils […] Tasmanian devils are marsupials, mammals with pouches. Females give birth to tiny, undeveloped babies called imps. About twenty to thirty imps are born at one time. The imps race to survive. They crawl about 3 inches (7.6 centimeters) to their mother's pouch. The first few to arrive attach themselves to the mother's four nipples. Only these four imps survive.

2015, Rebecca E. Hirsch, “The Life Cycle of Siberian Tigers”, in Siberian Tigers: Camouflaged Hunting Mammals (Comparing Animal Traits), Minneapolis, Minn.: Lerner Publications Company, page 28


stalemate

en-noun

stalemate (countable and uncountable, plural stalemates)

Indian military analysts said the situation was heading into a dangerous stalemate. Neither side wants to start a war. But neither side wants to back down either.

2020 September 8, Jeffrey Gettleman, “Shots Fired Along India-China Border for First Time in Years”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

(by extension) Any situation that has no obvious possible movement, but involves no personal loss.


varmint

Dialectal form of vermin, derived from Latin vermis (“worm”), c. 1530–1540s.
Perhaps influenced by Latin vargus (“bandit, outlaw, scoundrel”), though the pronunciation in /ɑː(ɹ)/ is more likely due to the same lowering of /ɛr/ > /ar/ found in carve < Middle English kerven and starve < Middle English sterven. The final syllable is probably altered after -ment; compare parchment < Middle English parchemyn.

m+

(by extension) An obnoxious person or troublemaker.


olio

en-noun

olio (countable and uncountable, plural olios)

From Spanish olla or Portuguese olha, both from Latin olla (“pot, jar”).

(figuratively, by extension) Vaudeville or similar miscellaneous musical or theatrical entertainment skits presented between the main acts of burlesque or minstrel shows.


library

→ Hindustani:

Hindi: लाइब्रेरी f (lāibrerī)

Urdu: لائبریری f (lāibrerī)

→ Japanese: ライブラリー (raiburarī)

→ Korean: 라이브러리 (raibeureori)

→ Yoruba: láíbìrì

/ˈlaɪˌbɹɛɹi/

From Middle English librarie, from Anglo-Norman librarie, from Old French librairie, from Latin librarium (“bookcase, chest for books”), from librarius (“concerning books”), from liber (“the inner bark of trees; paper, parchment, book”), probably derived from a Proto-Indo-European base *leub(ʰ)- (“to strip, to peel”). Displaced native Middle English bochous, bokhus (literally “book house”), from Old English bōchūs (compare bookhouse).
Romance cognates often mean “bookshop” instead: French librairie, Italian libreria, Spanish librería, Romanian librărie and Portuguese livraria. This is a relatively recent innovation (16th century in French), which ended up displacing the earlier sense.

ncog

why buy a book when you can join a library

why buy a book when you can join the library

(by extension) Any institution that lends out its goods for use by the public or a community.


apocryphal

en-adj

apocryphal (comparative more apocryphal, superlative most apocryphal)

more apocryphal (comparative)
most apocryphal (superlative)

/əˈpɒkɹɪfəl/

/əˈpɒkɹəfəl/

/əˈpɑːkɹɪfəl/

/əˈpɑːkɹəfəl/

Many scholars consider the stories of the monk Teilo to be apocryphal.

The structural anthropologist urges us to ignore the orthodox who labor so patiently trying to eliminate the apocryphal variants from the one true text.

1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light:Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, page 11

(by extension) Of doubtful authenticity, or lacking authority; not regarded as canonical.

There is an apocryphal tale of a little boy plugging the dike with his finger.

(by extension) Of dubious veracity; of questionable accuracy or truthfulness; anecdotal or in the nature of an urban legend.


address

Tok Pisin: adres

→ Bole: adireshi

→ Cebuano: adres

→ Sinhalese: ඇඩ්රස් (æḍras)

→ Tagalog: adres

From Middle English adressen (“to raise erect, adorn”), from Old French adrecier (“to straighten, address”) (modern French adresser), from a- (from Latin ad (“to”)) + drecier (modern French dresser (“to straighten, arrange”)), from Vulgar Latin *dīrectiō, from Latin dīrēctus (“straight or right”), from the verb dīrigō, itself from regō (“to govern, to rule”). Cognate with Spanish aderezar (“to garnish; dress (food); to add spices”).

osoite

property — see also location, property, premises, residence

valmistautuminen

(obsolete in English) act of getting ready — see also preparation

I went to his address but there was nobody there.

Direction.
(by extension) The property itself.


aggravate

en-verb

aggravate (third-person singular simple present aggravates, present participle aggravating, simple past and past participle aggravated)

aggravates (present singular third-person)
aggravating (participle present)
aggravated (participle past)
aggravated (past)

/ˈæɡ.ɹə.veɪ̯t/

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Mélange a trois-aggravate.wav

From Latin aggravatus, past participle of aggravare (“to add to the weight of, make worse, oppress, annoy”), from ad (“to”) + gravare (“to make heavy”), from gravis (“heavy”). See grave and compare aggrieve and aggrege.

[…] to aggravate the horrors of the scene

1837, William H. Prescott, History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic

(by extension) To make worse; to exacerbate.


affluent

en-adj

affluent (comparative more affluent, superlative most affluent)

more affluent (comparative)
most affluent (superlative)

Borrowed from Middle French affluent, borrowed in turn from Latin affluentem, accusative singular of affluēns, present active participle of affluō (“flow to or towards; overflow with”), from ad (“to, towards”) + fluō (“flow”) (cognate via latter to fluid, flow). Sense of “wealthy” (plentiful flow of goods) c. 1600, which also led to nominalization affluence.

They were affluent, but aspired to true wealth.

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

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

The Upper East Side is an affluent neighborhood in New York City.

(by extension) Abounding in goods or riches; having a moderate level of material wealth.

бога́т

abounding in goods or riches; materially wealthy


hiccup

From earlier hickop, alteration of earlier hicket, hyckock, from hic (onomatopoeic) + -ock (diminutive suffix).
Akin to Scots hick, hix (“hiccup”), West Frisian hik (“hiccup”), Dutch hik (“hiccup”), Middle Low German hükup, huckup, hueckup (modern Low German hick (“hiccup”)), German hicksen (“to hiccup”, verb), Alemannic German Hidsgi (“hiccup”), Danish hikke (“hiccup”), Swedish hicka (“hiccup”), hicka (“to hiccup”, verb), Icelandic hiksti (“hiccup”).
Displaced Middle English yexen, ȝisken, ȝixen, ȝoxen (“to hiccup”), from Old English ġiscian, ġeocsian (“to hiccup”).

onomatopoeic

onomatopoeic

Albert didn't notice the switch, the subliminal flash and hiccup in time as the man he had been talking to only seconds before was catapulted backwards half an hour.

(by extension) Any spasm or sudden change.


tape

en-noun

tape (countable and uncountable, plural tapes)

→ Danish: tape

→ Dutch: tape

→ Hausa: têf

→ Hindi: टेप (ṭep)

→ Irish: téip

→ Japanese: テープ (tēpu)

→ Korean: 테이프 (teipeu)

→ Norwegian:

Bokmål: tape, teip

Nynorsk: tape, teip

→ Swahili: tepe, tepu

→ Swedish: tape, tejp

→ Thai: เทป (téep)

→ Tibetan: ཊེབ (ṭeb)

→ Turkish: teyp

→ Urdu:

→ Phalura: ṭeép

→ Welsh: tâp

From Middle English tape, tappe, from Old English tæppa, tæppe (“ribbon, tape”). Probably akin to Old Frisian tapia (“to pull, rip, tear”), Middle Low German tappen, tāpen (“to grab, pull, rip, tear, snatch”), Middle High German zāfen, zāven (“to pull, tear”).

cog

“It was one of the most severe beatings they’ve seen on tape,” an FDNY insider said, recalling the reaction by brass who viewed video of the bloody fisticuffs.

2018 August 18, Susan Edelman, New York Post

(informal, by extension) Any video or audio recording, regardless of the method used to produce it.


bulldozer

Originally bull-dozer (1875, Louisiana, US); bulldoze + -er.

(by extension) A bully; an overbearing individual.


jam

en-noun

jam (countable and uncountable, plural jams)

→ Armenian: ջեմ (ǰem)

→ Azerbaijani: cem

→ Belarusian: джэм (džem)

→ Bengali: জ্যাম (jêm)

→ Bulgarian: джем (džem)

→ Cantonese: 占 (zim1, zem1)

→ Czech: džem

→ Dutch: jam

→ Estonian: džemm

→ Finnish: jamit

→ French: jam

→ Georgian: ჯემი (ǯemi)

→ Hindi: जाम (jām)

→ Japanese: ジャム (jamu)

→ Kazakh: джем (djem)

→ Korean: 잼 (jaem)

→ Kyrgyz: джем (djem)

→ Macedonian: џем (džem)

→ Malay: jem

→ Polish: dżem

→ Romanian: gem

→ Russian: джем (džem)

→ Saanich: ĆÁM

→ Serbo-Croatian:

Latin script: džȅm

Cyrillic script: џе̏м

→ Sinhalese: ජෑම් (jǣm)

→ Slovak: džem

→ Swahili: jemu

→ Swedish: jam

→ Tajik: джем (džem)

→ Thai: แยม (yɛɛm)

→ Ukrainian: джем (džem)

→ Urdu: جام (jām)

→ Welsh: jam

First attested in the early 18th c. as a verb meaning “to press, be pressed, be wedged in”. Compare dialectal jammock (“to press, squeeze, crush into a soft mass, chew food"; also "a soft, pulpy substance”). Perhaps from Middle English chammen, champen ("to bite upon something, gnash the teeth"; whence modern champ, chomp), of uncertain origin; probably originally onomatopoeic.

onomatopoeic

onomatopoeic

The result is an outstanding assortment of sophisticated, sexy and hip-hop-tinged R&B grooves, ballads and party jams.

2001, Jet, volume 100, number 22, page 25

(countable, by extension, informal) A song; a track.

We came up with some new ideas at the game jam.

[…] a day at new Farm Park with an art jam, fursuit games, and a nerf war, ending in the evening at the strike Wintergarden bowling center.

2017, Fred Patten, Furry Fandom Conventions, 1989-2015, page 92

(countable, by extension) An informal event where people brainstorm and collaborate on projects.


allay

en-verb

allay (third-person singular simple present allays, present participle allaying, simple past and past participle allayed)

allays (present singular third-person)
allaying (participle present)
allayed (participle past)
allayed (past)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Mélange a trois-allay.wav

From Middle English alayen, aleyen, aleggen, from Old English āleċġan (“to put, place, lay down, lay aside, throw down, give up, cease from, abandon; put down, allay, suppress, abolish, conquer, destroy, overcome, refute; lay upon, inflict, impose upon; diminish, take away, refuse, lessen, withhold”), from Proto-Germanic *uzlagjaną (“to lay down”), equivalent to a- + lay. Cognate with German erlegen (“to impose, cause to succumb, kill”), Gothic 𐌿𐍃𐌻𐌰𐌲𐌾𐌰𐌽 (uslagjan, “to lay down”). In Middle English the word was identical to forms of allege and alloy, leading to much overlapping of senses.

cog

Yet far be it from us to condemn all their works to be dross, because debased and allayed with superstitious intents […]

1639, Thomas Fuller, The Historie of the Holy Warr

(archaic, by extension) To make worse by the introduction of inferior elements.


gnomon

Borrowed from French gnomon, or directly from its etymon Latin gnōmōn, or directly from its etymon Ancient Greek γνώμων (gnṓmōn, “discerner, interpreter; carpenter’s square; gnomon of a sundial; (geometry) gnomon”), from γιγνώσκω (gignṓskō, “to be aware of; to perceive; to know”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- (“to know”); the word is thus related to know.
The geometry sense (sense 4) is from the resemblance of the plane figure to a carpenter’s square. Similarly, a gnomon in mathematics (sense 5) is also shaped like a carpenter’s square when depicted pictorially if the figurate numbers are squares.

der

[page 16] The figurate number's gnomon is therefore 1#x2B;nb in the general case. A trivial family of numbers, those for which b#x3D;0, might be called linear. […] [page 17] Clearly, a figurate number of rank n is equal to the sum of its first n gnomons, and in particular the sum of the first n odd numbers is equal to n².

1999, Midhat J. Gazalé, “Figurate and m-adic Numbers”, in Gnomon: From Pharaohs to Fractals, Princeton, N.J., Chichester, West Sussex: Princeton University Press, pages 16 and 17

figurate numbers
figurate number#English

(mathematics, by extension) A number representing the increment between two figurate numbers (“numbers equal to the numbers of dots in geometric figures formed of dots”).


shackle

From Middle English shakel, schakkyl, schakle (“a fetter, shackle; coupling used to connect a plough or wagon to a draft chain”), from Old English sċacul, sċeacel, sċeacul (“fetter, shackle”), from Proto-West Germanic *skakul, from Proto-Germanic *skakulaz (“shackle”), possibly from *skakaną (“to shake; to swing; to escape”), from Proto-Indo-European *skeg-, *skek- (“to shake; to stir”). However, this is doubted by the Oxford English Dictionary because *skeg-, *skek- lack the meaning of attaching or fastening.
Sense 3 (“length of cable or chain equal to 12½ or 15 fathoms”) derives from the original distance between two shackles (sense 1.1.2) connecting lengths of cable or chain together.
cognates
* Danish skagle (“carriage trace”)
* Dutch schakel (“clasp; link; shackle”)
* German Schäckel (“shackle”)
* Icelandic skökull (“carriage pole”)
* Swedish skakel (“loose shaft of a carriage”)

kahleet

restraint on one’s action, etc. — see also restraint

(usually in the plural) A restraint fitted over a human or animal appendage, such as an ankle, finger, or wrist, normally used in a pair joined by a chain.

A U-shaped piece of metal secured with a bolt or pin across the ends, or a hinged metal loop secured with a quick-release locking pin mechanism, used for attaching things together while allowing for some degree of movement; a clevis.

карабина

U-shaped piece of metal secured with a bolt or pin across the ends for attaching things together

Shackles come in various sizes and are used to join recovery items to the vehicle or to each other. They come in two shapes and are known as either bow shackles or D-shackles. The bow shackle is the preferred shape because it permits easier attachment of bulky items and is the most common style of shackle now in use.

2019, Vic Widman, “4WD Recovery Equipment”, in 4WD Driving Skills: A Manual for On- and Off-road Travel, 2nd edition, Clayton South, Melbourne, Vic.: CSIRO Publishing, page 164

A hook, ring, or other device for connecting, holding, lifting, etc.; specifically (nautical), a small incomplete ring secured with a bolt across the ends, used to connect lengths of cable or chain together, or to keep a porthole closed.

hobble

(agriculture) Synonym of hobble or hopple (“a short strap tied between the legs of a horse, allowing it to wander a short distance but not to run off”)

(rail transport) A link for connecting railroad cars; a draglink, drawbar, or drawlink.

(Scotland, archaic) Short for shackle-bone (“wristbone, carpal; wrist”).

(obsolete, rare) A fetter-like band worn on an appendage as an ornament; an anklet, an armlet, a bracelet, a wristlet.


anatomy

en-noun

anatomy (countable and uncountable, plural anatomies)

From Middle English anatomie, from Old French anatomie, from Latin anatomia, from Ancient Greek *ἀνατομία (*anatomía), from ἀνατομή (anatomḗ, “dissection”, literally “cutting up”), from ἀνά (aná, “up”) + τέμνω (témnō, “to cut, incise”). By surface analysis, ana- + -tomy. Doublet of ottomy.

the anatomy of a discourse

the anatomy of love

Burton's famous treatise, "The Anatomy of Melancholy"

(by extension) The act of dividing anything, corporeal or intellectual, for the purpose of examining its parts.


anemic

en-adj

anemic (comparative more anemic, superlative most anemic)

more anemic (comparative)
most anemic (superlative)

Near-synonyms: enervated, underoxygenated

[H]e was one of those weak creatures full of a shifty cunning - who face neither God nor man, who face not even themselves, void of pride, timorous, anæmic, hateful souls.

1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 219

My ordinarily even disposition was shattered, I thought, beyond repair — a condition that was not improved by my utter abhorrence of a diet of infant's food and anemic vegetables.

1938, Henry Goddard Leach, Forum and Century, volume 100, page 156

(by extension) Weak; listless; lacking power, vigor, vitality, or colorfulness.


almighty

almighty (comparative more almighty, superlative most almighty)

more almighty (comparative)
most almighty (superlative)

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

The almighty press condemned him without trial.

(by extension) Having very great power, influence, etc.


anarchist

From French anarchiste, from Ancient Greek ἀναρχία (anarkhía) from the roots ἀν- (an-, “without”) + ἀρχή (arkhḗ, “rule”), equivalent to anarchy + -ist.

You have heard that Anarchists throw bombs, that they believe in violence, and that Anarchy means disorder and chaos.

1929, Alexander Berkman, “Is Anarchism Violence?”, in Now and After: The ABC of Communist Anarchism, New York: Vanguard Press, →OCLC

(by extension) One who promotes chaos and lawlessness.


Romansch

Borrowed from Romansch romansch, romontsch, rumantsch et al., from Medieval Latin rōmānicē, from Vulgar Latin rōmānicē (“in the Roman manner; in a Romance language”, adverb), from Latin rōmānicus. Perhaps influenced by the Germanic suffix seen in English as -ish (German -isch, -sch). Doublet of romance.

der

Romansch (Ger. Churwalsch, from the town of Chur), a name applied to the Romance dialect, or rather agglomeration of cognate dialects, spoken from the Grisons to Friuli on the Adriatic. ]

[ 1892, Chambers's Encyclopædia: A Dictionary of Universal Knowledge: New Edition: Vol. VIII.: Peasant to Roumelia, p. 779, s.v. Romansch


passport

→ Hindi: पासपोर्ट (pāsporṭ)

→ Japanese: パスポート (pasupōto)

→ Korean: 패스포트 (paeseupoteu)

desc

→ Urdu: پاسْپورْٹ (pāsporṭ)

→ Urdu: پاسْپورْٹ (pāsporṭ)

From French passeport, from passer (“pass”) + port (“port”). Compare portpass. Equivalent to pass + port.

(by extension, informal) Any document that allows entry or passage.


top

en-noun

top (countable and uncountable, plural tops)

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

頂上

chōjō, ちょうじょう

suprulo

BDSM: dominant partner in a BDSM relationship or roleplay

主動

gay sexual slang: gay man who likes to penetrate in sex

one's elevator doesn't go all the way to the top

(BDSM) A dominant partner in a BDSM relationship or roleplay.

(broadly, by extension) A dominant partner in a sexual relationship.


trap

en-noun

trap (countable and uncountable, plural traps)

From Middle English trappe, from Old English træppe, treppe (“trap, snare”) (also in betræppan (“to trap”)) from Proto-West Germanic *trappjā (“trap, snare”), from Proto-West Germanic *trappjan (“to step”), from Proto-Germanic *trapjaną (“to tread, stamp”), from Proto-Indo-European *drebʰ- (“to step, trip, trample”).
Cognate with Dutch trap (“trap, snare”), German Low German Trapp (“trap”). Akin also to West Frisian traap (“stepping, treading, stairway”), German Treppe (“step, stair”), Old English træppan (“to step, tread”). Connection to "step" is "that upon which one steps". French trappe and Spanish trampa are ultimately borrowings from Germanic.

cog

trap street

(by extension, cartography, law, technical) A (usually fictional) location or feature originally added to a map to detect plagiarism and copyright violations by other map makers or map services.


giddyup

en-verb

giddyup (third-person singular simple present giddyups, present participle giddyuping or giddyupping, simple past and past participle giddyuped or giddyupped)

giddyups (present singular third-person)
giddyuping (participle present)
giddyupping (participle present)
giddyuped (participle past)
giddyuped (past)
giddyupped (participle past)
giddyupped (past)

But she just kept bopping up and down and telling me to giddyup, so that I had to turn and make my way properly on the stairs for fear of her pulling us both over.

“Yeah, been partying since I was fourteen, never thought I'd wind-up in a place like this,” I sat there for a moment in quiet reflection, “been high most of my life . . . on one thing or another . . . guess it's time I giddyuped and got going on this clean up my act thing, I've hit the break point . . . gotta' do something . . . do something or it's going to kill me."

2012, Thaddeus Deluca, At Bully Hills: Confessions of an American Oxycontin Addict, page 32

(by extension) To start moving or move faster; to get a move on.


glutton

From Middle English glotoun, from Old French gloton, gluton, from Latin gluttō, gluttōnis (“glutton”).
The use for the wolverine is a semantic loan from German Vielfraß, itself a folk etymology for Old Norse *fjallfress (literally “mountain cat”). The popular belief that the wolverine is particularly voracious only developed because of this name. See the German for more.

Gluttons in murder, wanton to destroy.

1705, George Granville, The British Enchanters

"A good few indeed, my man," replied the captain. "Yes, you may make away with a deal of money and be neither drunkard nor glutton."

1878, Thomas Hardy, The Return of the Native

(by extension) One who consumes anything voraciously, obsessively, or to excess.


drought

en-noun

drought (countable and uncountable, plural droughts)

From Middle English droghte, drouȝte, druhhþe, druȝþe, drouȝth, from Old English drūgaþ. Cognate with Dutch droogte, Low German Dröögde. By surface analysis, dry + -th.

Kane had been going through something of a drought by his own standards. His previous England goal came 500 days ago, in a Euro 2020 qualifier against Kosovo, and his header in Tirana ended a run of 496 minutes without scoring.

2021 March 28, Phil McNulty, “Albania 0-2 England”, in BBC Sport

(by extension, informal) A longer than expected term without success, particularly in sport.


heretic

From Middle English heretyk, heretike, from Old French eretique, from Medieval Latin or Ecclesiastical Latin haereticus, from Ancient Greek αἱρετικός (hairetikós, “able to choose, factious”), itself from Ancient Greek αἱρέω (hairéō, “I choose”).

der

(by extension) Someone who does not conform to generally accepted beliefs or practices.


Manx

en-noun

Manx (countable and uncountable, plural Manx or Manxes)

Altered from Maniske, from assumed Old Norse *manskr, an adjectival form of Mǫn (“Isle of Man”), from Old Irish Mana; compare with Norwegian Bokmål mansk.
Also influenced by Manx Manninagh, an adjectival form of Mannin (“Isle of Man”), Isle of Man; cf Scottish Gaelic Manainneach and Irish Manannach.

At the rear there is a cut-off Manx tail, similar to those of the early Cooper sports cars, and as currently used by Feirari.

1962, Henry Sturmey, H. Walter Staner, The Autocar: A Journal Published in the Interests of the Mechanically Propelled Road Carriage

The Manx Rat: This tailless rat variety is usually smaller than the standard rat with front legs that are shorter than its hind legs.

2006, Colin Patterson, Pet Rats, Lulu.com, page 23

2016 April 29, Rebecca Boyle, “Strange Manx comet is time capsule from the early solar system”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), New Scientist:

(by extension) With a truncated or missing tail.


alone

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

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

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

The first sentence alone sold me on the book.

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

1897, The Romance of Isabel, Lady Burton

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

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

Focus adverb
Category:English focus adverbs

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

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


spear

en-verb

spear (third-person singular simple present spears, present participle spearing, simple past and past participle speared)

spears (present singular third-person)
spearing (participle present)
speared (participle past)
speared (past)

From Middle English spere, sperre, spear, from Old English spere, from Proto-West Germanic *speru, from Proto-Germanic *speru, from Proto-Indo-European *sperH-.
Cognates
See also West Frisian spear, Dutch speer, German Speer, Old Norse spjǫr, *sparrô, Middle Dutch sparre (“rafter”), Old Norse sparri (“spar, rafter”), sperra (“rafter, beam”); also Latin sparus (“short spear”), Albanian ferrë (“thorn, thornbush”).

Former teammate Derek Sanderson recalls that Maki hit Ted from behind as Green was clearing the puck from the Boston zone. Green turned to knock Maki down, but Maki speared him as he rose from the ice.

2003, Stan Fischler, Shirley Fischler, Who's who in Hockey

(transitive, by extension) To penetrate or strike with, or as if with, any long narrow object; to make a thrusting motion that catches an object on the tip of a long device.


nun

From Middle English nonne, nunne, from Old English nunne (“nun”), from Late Latin nonna (“nun, tutor”), originally (along with masculine form nonnus (“man”)) a term of address for elderly persons, perhaps from children's speech, reminiscent of nana, like papa etc. Doublet of nonna.

onomatopoeic

children's speech

a Buddhist nun

(by extension) A member of a similar female community in other confessions.


niche

Unadapted borrowing from French niche, from Middle French niche, from Old French niche, from nicher (“to make a nest”) (modern French nicher), from Vulgar Latin *nīdicāre, from Latin nīdus (“nest”). Doublet of nidus and nide via Latin and nest via Proto-Indo-European; also related to nyas.

Whitney, mother of Xavier, is a real estate titan who, along with her British husband, has found her niche selling luxurious underground bunkers to wealthy clients looking for a safe space to hunker down in the event of a climate apocalypse.

2022 April 5, Elizabeth Wetmore, “How Far Will Parents Go to Protect Their Sons?”, in The New York Times

(by extension) Any position of opportunity for which one is well-suited, such as a particular market in business.


root

en-verb

root (third-person singular simple present roots, present participle rooting, simple past and past participle rooted)

roots (present singular third-person)
rooting (participle present)
rooted (participle past)
rooted (past)

From Middle English wrōten (“to dig with the snout”), from Old English wrōtan, from Proto-Germanic *wrōtaną (“to dig out, to root”). Related to Old English wrōt (“snout; trunk”). Loss of initial w- probably due to influence from the related noun (Etymology 1).

furgar

coarse slang: to have sexual intercourse

(by extension) To seek favour or advancement by low arts or grovelling servility; to fawn.

nöyristellä

to seek favour or advancement by servility


politburo

/ˈpɒlɪtˌbjʊəɹəʊ/

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-politburo.wav

Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Joseph Stalin

Borrowed from Russian Политбюро́ (Politbjuró, “politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union”), a contraction of полити́ческое бюро́ (politíčeskoje bjuró, “political bureau”).

bor

(by extension, sometimes derogatory) A senior governing or policymaking body in a political or other organization, generally consisting of members who are either appointed by the party in control of the organization, or who attain membership through their personal political affiliations.


AWOL

Acronym of absent without official leave, originally used in the United States military.

acronym

(by extension) Somebody who is absent without permission.

lintsari

generic: one who is absent without permission

French leave

departure from military duty without permission


pole position

en-noun

pole position (countable and uncountable, plural pole positions)

See pole position § Origin on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

pedia

The England manager and his players hardly deserve too much criticism after move into pole position in their group, but that comes with the caveat that there will be much sterner tests to come in the months ahead.

2021 March 31, Phil McNulty, “England 2-1 Poland: What shape are Gareth Southgate's side in?”, in BBC Sport

It has proven that Nexus can undertake big infrastructure projects, putting it firmly in pole position to undertake the reopening of the Leamside line to Washington. [Tyne and Wear]

2023 November 29, Richard Foster, “Tyne & Wear Metro goes with the flow”, in RAIL, number 997, page 35


whale

From Middle English whale, from Old English hwæl (“whale”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwal, from Proto-Germanic *hwalaz (“whale”) (compare German Wal, Swedish val, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål hval, Norwegian Nynorsk kval; compare also Dutch walvis, West Frisian walfisk, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kʷálos (“sheatfish”) (compare German Wels, Latin squalus (“big sea fish”), Old Prussian kalis, Ancient Greek ἄσπαλος (áspalos), Avestan 𐬐𐬀𐬭𐬀 (kara, “kind of fish”)).

The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania.[…]It was used to make kerosene, the main fuel for artificial lighting after overfishing led to a shortage of whale blubber.

2013 August 3, “Yesterday’s fuel”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847


jetsam

en-noun

jetsam (countable and uncountable, plural jetsams)

From Middle English jetteson, from Anglo-Norman getteson. Doublet of jettison.

They were the jetsam of the dot-com bust.

(by extension) Discarded or leftover odds and ends.


out

in

antonym(s) of “disqualified from playing”

closeted

antonym(s) of “openly acknowledging that one is LGBT+”

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

vyautovaný

cricket, baseball: disqualified from playing further in an inning

She was “out” as a survivor for the first time in her life. “I had friends who had known me many, many years who are totally astounded, shocked,” she said. “They could not believe that I was a Holocaust survivor. […]”

2014, Arlene Stein, Reluctant Witnesses: Survivors, Their Children, and the Rise of Holocaust Consciousness, Oxford University Press

(by extension, uncommon) Open, public; public about or openly acknowledging some (usually specified) identity.


bush league

(figuratively, by extension) A low-ranking or inferior level among groups, professions, organizations, etc.


major league

en-adj

major league (comparative more major league, superlative most major league)

more major league (comparative)
most major league (superlative)

That rock band is really major league.

Calatrava is a major league architect.

(by extension) Analogous in importance to a major league sports team.


torch

The noun is derived from Middle English torch, torche (“large candle; lighted stick; (figurative) sunbeam”), from Old French torche, torque (“torch; bundle of (twisted) straw”) (modern French torche); further etymology uncertain, probably from Vulgar Latin *torca (“coiled object”) (referring to a torch made from twisted plant fibres dipped in a flammable substance such as pitch), from Latin torqua, a variant of torquis (“collar of twisted metal, torque; wreath”), from torqueō (“to twist, wind”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *terkʷ- (“to spin; to turn”).
Sense 2.3 (Verbascum thapsus) is either due to the plant’s spike of yellow flowers, or because its leaves and stalks were used to make torches (noun sense 1). Sense 3.2 (“precious cause, etc., which needs to be protected and transmitted to others”) is derived from Latin lampada trādere, from Ancient Greek λᾰμπᾰ́δᾰ πᾰρᾰδιδόναι (lampáda paradidónai, “to hand over the torch”), a reference to the torch race held at various festivals such as the Panathenaic Games in Ancient Greece, which involved a relay where a torch was passed from one runner to another.
The verb is derived from the noun.

cog

λᾰμπᾰ́δᾰ πᾰρᾰδιδόναι

sueo'

stick of wood, etc., with one end soaked in a flammable substance and set on fire; similarly shaped implement with a replaceable supply of flammable material

Eleven days before the start of the [modern Olympic] Games, a flaming torch is ignited by the sun in Olympia at the ruins of the ancient Temple of Zeus. With that flame, relay runners lighted torches one from the other and carry it to the opening of the Games. Ever since 1936, the Summer Olympics has had its fire-font lit by a relay torch ignited at Olympia.

1984 June–July, Frances A. Harmon, “The Olympic Games—for Good and All”, in John H[arold] Johnson, editor, Ebony Jr!, volume 12, number 2, Chicago, Ill.: Johnson Publishing Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 18, column 2

The degradation of the [Olympic] torch worldwide—it had to be snuffed out more than once to protect it from protesters—even provoked angry Chinese students to mobilise "150 strong and energetic runners" to defend it in Australia, raising the spectre of violence.

2008 April 22–28, Rohit Mahajan, Ashish Kumar Sen, “Ah, the Human Race”, in Vinod Mehta, editor, Outlook: The Weekly Newsmagazine, New Delhi: Maheshwer Peri on behalf of Outlook Publishing, →OCLC, page 48

The Paris 2024 Paralympic Torch, characterised by its sparkling champaign colour and unique design, represents the spirit of the Games. […] With its gentle curves, the torch represents a sense of peace and solidarity. It stands as a symbol of the Paralympic Games' mission to promote harmony and unity.

2024 August 18 (last accessed), “Paris 2024 Paralympic Torch: A Symbol of Equality, Water, and Peacefulness”, in Paralympic.org, Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia: International Paralympic Committee, archived from the original on 2024-08-18

A stick of wood or plant fibres twisted together, with one end soaked in a flammable substance such as resin or tallow and set on fire, which is held in the hand, put into a wall bracket, or stuck into the ground, and used chiefly as a light source.

(by extension) A similarly shaped implement with a replaceable supply of flammable material; specifically, a pole with a lamp at one end.

Ernst slipped and dropped his torch on the flagstones, shattering the bulb and plunging us into darkness.

I want you to send two unarmed policemen into the tunnel, carrying the money, and waving a torch in front of them.

1974 October 2, Peter Stone, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, spoken by Blue (Robert Shaw), Culver City, Calif.: United Artists, →OCLC

[L]ook at the pupils [of the eyes], noting the shape, relative sizes and any associated ptosis. Use a pocket torch and shine the light from the side to gauge the reaction of the pupils to light.

1988, Nicholas Joseph Tailey, Simon O’Connor, “The Nervous System”, in Clinical Examination: A Guide to Physical Diagnosis, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Blackwell Scientific Publications, published 1989, page 352

If you can be bothered to carry them, it is a good idea to bring a torch (flashlight) and maybe binoculars for wildlife spotting.

1999, Natalie Kruger, “Queensland & the Great Barrier Reef”, in Natalie Kruger, Marc Llewellyn, edited by Suzanne Roe Jannetta, Frommer’s 99: Australia, New York, N.Y.: Macmillan Travel, →ISSN, page 398

The island has only one road and relatively few cars. There are no streetlights so you'll need to bring a torch with you, or buy one from Joy's Shop, if you want to venture out at night.

1999 August, Margo Daly, Anne Dehne, David Leffman, Chris Scott [et al.], “New South Wales and ACT”, in Kieran Falconer, Harriet Sharkey, editors, Australia: The Rough Guide, 4th edition, London: Rough Guides, part 2 (The Guide), page 289

(by extension, Commonwealth) In full electric torch: synonym of flashlight (“a battery-powered hand-held light source”)

A flower which is red or red-orange in colour like a flame.

soihtu

A spike (“kind of inflorescence”) made up of spikelets.

Verbascum thapsus
Verbascum thapsus#Translingual

(chiefly in the plural) The common mullein, great mullein, or torchwort (Verbascum thapsus).

(obsolete) A cactus with a very elongated body; a ceroid cactus; a torch cactus or torch-thistle.


public

en-adj

public (comparative more public, superlative most public)

more public (comparative)
most public (superlative)

The adjective and noun are derived from Late Middle English publik, publike (“(adjective) generally observable, public; relating to the general public or public affairs; (noun) a generally observable place or situation”), from Anglo-Norman public, publik, publique, Middle French public, publique, and Old French public (“(adjective) generally observable, public; relating to the general public; official; (noun) community or its members collectively; nation, state; audience, spectators collectively”) (modern French public, publique (obsolete)); and from their etymon Latin pūblicus (“of or belonging to the community, people, or state; general, public”), an alteration of poplicus (influenced by pūbēs (“adult men; male population”)), from poplus (“community; the people, public; nation, state”) (later populus; from Proto-Italic *poplos (“army”); further origin uncertain, possibly from Etruscan or from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁- (“to fill”)) + -icus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’). Doublet of people.
The Middle English word displaced native Old English ceorlfolc and folclic.
The verb is derived from the adjective.

عُمُومِيّ

open to all members of a community, as opposed to only a segment of it

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

nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public

nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public

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

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

object-oriented programming
object-oriented programming

(not comparable, by extension, object-oriented programming) Of an object: accessible to the program in general, not only to a class or subclass.

julkinen

(object-oriented programming) of an object: accessible to the program in general, not only to a class or subclass


up

down

antonym(s) of “traveling towards a major terminus”

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

上り方向に

rail transport: traveling towards a major terminus

Is your new video up yet? I looked on the website, but I couldn't find it.

(by extension) Available to view or use; made public; posted.


gulag

Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic

Borrowed from Russian ГУЛА́Г (GULÁG), the acronym of Гла́вное управле́ние исправи́тельно-трудовы́х лагере́й (Glávnoje upravlénije ispravítelʹno-trudovýx lageréj, “Chief Administration of Corrective-Labor Camps”), the government agency in charge of the Soviet Union’s network of forced labour camps, which was established in 1918 and formally abolished in 1960: see GULAG.

A prison camp, especially one used to hold political prisoners.

(also figuratively) A place where, or political system in which, people with dissident views are routinely oppressed.


asshole

Variation of earlier arsehole, from Middle English arshole, arcehoole, equivalent to ass + hole. Cognate with Norwegian rasshøl (“asshole”), Swedish arsle (“asshole”). Compare also German Arschloch (“asshole”). Attested from the 1370s, replacing earlier Old English earsþyrel (“anus”, literally “ass hole”).
First recorded in Middle English, as ers hole (Glouc. Cath. Manuscript 19. No. I., dated 1379, cited after OED), ars-hole (Bodleian Ashmole MS. 1396, dated ca. 1400, ed. Robert Von Fleischhacker as Lanfrank's "Science of Cirurgie", EETS 102, 1894, cited after OED.) Slang figurative usage dates to the 20th century; it was used of an uninviting place (compare shithole) in the 1920s, and then of an anti-social or despicable person from at least the 1950s (Harvard Advocate 137, March 1954). It is also used appositionally (as in "You're an asshole moralist", T. Chamales, 1957).

cog

Welcome to [Town X], the asshole of America.

You oughta have better sense than to trust anyone with anything in this asshole place.

1976, Felix Goodson, Sweet Salt, page 254

... but when he started bugging the bartender to shut the asshole TV off because he wanted to have a serious discussion...

1979, Ronald Sukenick, Long Talking Bad Conditions Blues, page 83

en:unpleasant or undesirable thing or place

(vulgar, by extension, often appositional) Anything (especially a place) that is unpleasant or undesirable.


sadism

en-noun

sadism (countable and uncountable, plural sadisms)

From French sadisme. Named after the Marquis de Sade, famed for his libertine writings depicting the pleasure of inflicting pain to others. The word for "sadism" (sadisme) was coined or acknowledged in the 1834 posthumous reprint of French lexicographer Boiste's Dictionnaire universel de la langue française; it is reused along with "sadist" (sadique) in 1862 by French critic Sainte-Beuve in his commentary of Flaubert's novel Salammbô; it is reused (possibly independently) in 1886 by Austrian psychiatrist Krafft-Ebing in Psychopathia Sexualis which popularized it; it is directly reused in 1905 by Freud in Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality which definitively established the word.

(loosely) Deliberate or wanton cruelty, either mental or physical, to other people, or to animals, regardless of whether for (sexual) gratification.


snatch

en-verb

snatch (third-person singular simple present snatches, present participle snatching, simple past and past participle snatched)

snatches (present singular third-person)
snatching (participle present)
snatched (participle past)
snatched (past)

From Middle English snacchen, snecchen, from Old English *snæċċan, *sneċċan, from Proto-West Germanic *snakkijan, from Proto-Germanic *snakkijaną, *snakkōną (“to nibble, snort, chatter”); see *snūtaz (“snout”).
Cognate with Dutch snakken (“to sob, pant, long for”), Low German snacken (“to chatter”), German schnacken (“to chat”), Norwegian snakke (“to chat”). Related to snack.

сграбчвам

to grab something without permissions or by force

snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory

But, with United fans in celebratory mood as it appeared their team might snatch glory, they faced an anxious wait as City equalised in stoppage time.

2012 May 13, Alistair Magowan, “Sunderland 0-1 Man Utd”, in BBC Sport

(transitive, informal, figurative, by extension) To take (a victory) at the last moment.


antediluvian

en-adj

antediluvian (comparative more antediluvian, superlative most antediluvian)

more antediluvian (comparative)
most antediluvian (superlative)

PIE word
 *dwís
From ante- (prefix meaning ‘prior to in time’) + Latin dīluvium (“a flood”) + -an (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives; and forming agent nouns), referring the story of Noah’s Ark, through which God rescues Noah, his family, and examples of all the world’s animals from the great flood, which is related in Genesis 6–9 of the Bible. Dīluvium is derived from dīluō (“to wash away”) (from dis- (prefix meaning ‘apart, asunder, in two’) + lavō (“to wash”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewh₃- (“to wash”))) + -ium (suffix forming abstract nouns). The English word is analysable as ante- + diluvian.
Sense 2 (“long extinct”) is from the fact that such animals and plants were originally believed to have perished in the biblical flood referred to above.

affix

(by extension) Of animals and plants: long extinct; prehistoric.

անդրջրհեղեղյան

of animals and plants: long extinct — see also prehistoric


versatile

en-adj

versatile (comparative more versatile, superlative most versatile)

more versatile (comparative)
most versatile (superlative)

[ˈvɜː.səˌtaɪɫ]

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-versatile.wav

From Latin versātilis (“turning easily”), from versātus, past participle of versō (“I turn, change”), frequentative of vertō (“I turn”).

(sex, broadly) Capable of being either a dominant or a submissive partner in a sexual relationship.


imaginary number

en-noun

imaginary number (plural imaginary numbers)

Carl Friedrich Gauss
Leonhard Euler
René Descartes
imaginary number

The adjective imaginary in this context was first used (as French imaginaire) by René Descartes in 1673, La Geometrie, referring to imaginary numbers in the broad sense, as non-real roots of polynomials. Descartes' usage was derogatory, but the concept later gained acceptance through the work of Leonhard Euler and Carl Friedrich Gauss in the 18th century.

(complex analysis, broad sense) A number of the form a + bi, where a and b are real numbers and b is nonzero.


glider

From Middle English glider, glydare, equivalent to glide + -er.

It is a reversible rule, and an interesting one. Shortly after I implemented it, Chris and I were watching it run from a small random configuration of vants, when we noticed a structure consisting of 2 vants propagating away from the others -- it is a glider of sorts, consisting of 2 cooperating vants moving along, erasing each others' trail.

1989 June 11, David Hiebeler, comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet)

I wanted to test some totalistic automaton and the glider with the B024S1 rule, which Ilmari Karonen described.

2003 May 13, Frank Buss, “Totalistic Explorer and squirm”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet)

By contrast, consider a rule like Seeds (B2/S) that has "gliders" and oscillators and so forth, so theoretically it might support universal computation somehow.

2007 May 12, Dave Greene, “Wanted: 2D CA, "as complex" but "denser" than Life”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet)

(cellular automata) In the Game of Life, a particular configuration of five cells that recurs periodically at fixed offsets and appears to "walk" across the grid.

(by extension) Any spaceship in a cellular automaton, especially one which exhibits glide reflection.


Malay

Recorded in English since 1598; from Malay Melayu, from Malayu, a kingdom on Sumatra's eastern coast (today's Jambi), mentioned by the Chinese Monk Yijing as 末羅瑜國 and during the Yuan (1271-1368) and Ming (1368-1644) dynasties as 木剌由, 麻里予兒, 巫來由 and 無來由. The oldest known inscriptions in the Malay language were found at Kedukan Bukit and Talang Tuo, both in the vicinity of Palembang in southern Sumatra, and at Kota Kapur on Bangka island west of Sumatra. They are respectively dated 673, 684 and 686. Exonymous derivation from Malayalam മല (mala, “mountain”) has not been demonstrated.

(broad sense) The Malay language, an Austronesian language spoken by most Malay people and by others where it is an official language, including under the name Indonesian.


meme

en-verb

meme (third-person singular simple present memes, present participle meming or memeing, simple past and past participle memed)

memes (present singular third-person)
meming (participle present)
memeing (participle present)
memed (participle past)
memed (past)

Shortened from mimeme, equivalent to mime + -eme.
Coined by British biologist Richard Dawkins in 1976 in his book The Selfish Gene. Shortened (after gene) from mimeme (compare English phoneme), anglicized as if from a noun derived from Ancient Greek μῑμέομαι (mīméomai) with the deverbal suffix -μα (-ma), from μῖμος (mîmos, “imitation, copy”). The concept was later applied to the Internet by Mike Godwin.

coin

actually, it wasn't my mental functioning. i'm just meming.

2004 May 17, you, “Truth vs. Lies”, in alt.slack (Usenet)

“[P]ewdiepie is, once again, doing exactly what neo-nazis want,” Kotaku reporter Nathan Grayson commented on Twitter in response to the incident. “[W]hether he’s just meming or he ascribes to these values, it doesn’t matter. [W]hat matters is that he normalizes these ideas as jokes on THE platform where kids increasingly get their first exposure to the world at large.”

2018 December 13, Aja Romano, “YouTube’s most popular user amplified anti-Semitic rhetoric. Again.”, in Vox

Some of his fellow fascists thought he was just “meming and pranking”; others dismissed it as “some autistic phase.”

2019, Rachel Monroe, Savage Appetites: Four True Stories of Women, Crime, and Obsession

(intransitive, Internet slang, by extension) To joke around.


parameter

[pəˈɹæm.ə.ɾɚ]

From French paramètre, from New Latin parametrum (“parameter”), from Ancient Greek παρα- (para-, “beside”) + μέτρον (métron, “measure”).

(programming, loosely) An actual value given to such a formal parameter.


Wheel of Fortune

(by extension) A wheel of fortune; a big six wheel.


Jesus Christ

Jesus + Christ; from Middle English Jesu Crist, Jesus Crist, from Latin Iēsus Chrīstus.

(by extension) A saviour; one who provides critical help or salvation to others in need.


rhyme

en-noun

rhyme (countable and uncountable, plural rhymes)

From Middle English rim, rime, ryme (“identical letters or sounds in words from the vowel in their stressed syllables to their ends; measure, meter, rhythm; song, verse, etc., with rhyming lines”), from Anglo-Norman rime, ryme (“identical letters or sounds in words from the vowel in their stressed syllables to their ends; song, verse, etc., with rhyming lines”) (modern French rime); further etymology uncertain, possibly either:
* from Latin rhythmus (“rhythm”), from Ancient Greek ῥῠθμός (rhuthmós, “measured motion, rhythm; regular, repeating motion, vibration”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *srew- (“to flow; a stream”); or
* borrowed from Frankish *rīm (“number, order, sequence, series, row of identical things”) (whence Old English rīm (“number, enumeration, series”)), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂rey- (“to arrange; to count”) and *h₂er- (“to fit, put together; to fix; to slot”).
cognates
* Ancient Greek ἀριθμός (arithmós, “number”)
* Dutch rijm (“rhyme”)
* Middle Low German rīm (“rhyme”)
* Old Frisian rīm (“number, amount, tale”)
* Old High German rīm (“series, row, number”) (modern German Reim (“rhyme”))
* Old Irish rīm (“number”)
* Old Norse rím (“calculation, calendar”) (Icelandic rím (“rhyme”), Norwegian rim (“rhyme”), Swedish rim (“rhyme”))
* Welsh rhif (“number”)

cog

His rhymes are all weak.

(informal, by extension, African-American Vernacular, hip hop, always plural) A rapper's ouevre, lyricism or skill.

African-American Vernacular; hip hop; always plural; African-American Vernacular; hip hop; always plural


panic

en-noun

panic (countable and uncountable, plural panics)

From Late Middle English panik, panyk (“plant of the genus Panicum”), borrowed from Latin pānicum, pānīcum (“foxtail millet or Italian millet (Setaria italica); plant of the genus Panicum, panicgrass”); further etymology uncertain, probably either from pānis (“bread; loaf”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂- (“to graze; to protect; to shepherd”)) or pānus (“ear of millet; thread wound on a bobbin”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)penh₁- (“to twist; to weave”)) + -cum (suffix forming neuter nouns). Doublet of bannock and bonnag

der

(by extension) A plant of the genus Panicum, or of similar plants of other genera (especially Echinochloa and Setaria) formerly included within Panicum; panicgrass or panic grass.


racist

en-adj

racist (comparative more racist, superlative most racist)

more racist (comparative)
most racist (superlative)

1932 (noun), 1938 (adjective). Formed from racism (1928), paralleling French raciste (1892).
Replaced older racialist (1910). Equivalent to race + -ist.

They don't allow Muslims and gays to join the club? That's racist!

Oh oh.. the term 'Neo-Nazi'.. just a few days ago, I heard a few girls sitting next to my table talking about this guy who was racist against females and call them 'femine-Nazi' (sp?)

1996 November 14, Julie Wang, “TC Yang's talent”, in soc.culture.china (Usenet)

Could it be the hate-filled content and the racist attitudes towards women and homosexuals?

1998 April 22, Keri Lynn Sweeney, “Give it up, forger...this is very dull”, in alt.adoption (Usenet)

so you are racist against gay ppl? I didnt know cable co's hired racist ppl!

2000 August 12, Joe, “Who's Gary Tait anyways”, in alt.cable-tv (Usenet)

People are racist against the sick and injured

2004, Perth Desperado, One Aussie's Endeavours, AuthorHouse, page 191

Amber went thoughtful. I wondered if she was racist against lesbian people.

2011, Michelle Tea, Rose of No Man's Land, Anchor Canada

The guy said the remark sarcastically, as if he was racist against homosexuals.

2013, Travis Waker, The Perfect Game: A Daniel Willis Novel, Booktango

(colloquial, proscribed, by extension) Discriminatory.


nuke

Clipping of nuclear weapon. The verb is derived from the noun.

(colloquial) vessel running on nuclear power

(by extension) Something that destroys or negates, especially on a catastrophic scale.

pommi

(colloquial) something that destroys or negates


nuke

en-verb

nuke (third-person singular simple present nukes, present participle nuking, simple past and past participle nuked)

nukes (present singular third-person)
nuking (participle present)
nuked (participle past)
nuked (past)

The command and control servers used by the Mydoom variant, responsible for the recent denial of service attacks against Korean and US government websites, receive instructions from a master server located in the UK. [...] Apparently, the decision of whoever was responsible to damage the infected systems after July 10 pointed [Roger] Thompson in this direction. "Why bother nuking 60k computers after doing all the work of assembling them? Nuking them only helps the Good Guys, because the victims are forced to re-build, and therefore clean, their computers. [..."]

2009 July 14, Lucian Constantin, “Master Control Server for Mydoom DDoS Botnet Tracked to UK: Security Experts Stress that North Korea’s Involvement in the Attacks is Unlikely”, in Softpedia News, archived from the original on 2016-05-09

denial-of-service attack
denial-of-service attack

(transitive, Internet slang, by extension) To carry out a denial-of-service attack against (an IRC user).


pornography

en-noun

pornography (usually uncountable, plural pornographies)

From French pornographie, from Ancient Greek πορνογράφος (pornográphos), from πορνεία (porneía, “fornication, prostitution”) + γράφω (gráphō, “I depict”).

der

(by extension) The depiction of (non-sexual) subject matter so that it elicits feelings analogous to erotic pleasure; any such depiction.


fingerprint

/ˈfɪŋɡɚˌpɹɪnt/

acoustic fingerprint

Most pharmacopoeial monographs of medicinal plants include TLC as method for identification based on a chromatographic fingerprint, which consists of a sequence of characteristic substance zones.

2008, Monika Waksmundzka-Hajnos, Joseph Sherma, Teresa Kowalska, Thin Layer Chromatography in Phytochemistry, page 40

The set of all location fingerprints and coordinates constitutes the location fingerprint database.

2010, Christoph Steiner, Location Fingerprinting for Ultra-wideband Systems, page 9

(by extension) A unique combination of features that serves as an identification of something.


in the closet

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Persent101-in the closet.wav

pass

to be accepted by others as a member of a group one would not usually be regarded as belonging to

She's in the closet about her gambling addiction.

She's in the gambling-addiction closet.

(colloquial, by extension) Not open about some feature of one's life; often construed with about.


congruence

en-noun

congruence (countable and uncountable, plural congruences)

/ˈkɒŋ.ɡɹʊ.əns/

/ˈkɔŋ.ɡɹʉ.əns/

From Middle English congruence, from Latin congruentia (“agreement”), from congruēns, present active participle of congruō (“meet together, agree”).

համաձայնություն

the quality of agreeing or corresponding

equivalence relation
equivalence relation#English

algebraic structure
algebraic structure#English

(algebra, more generally) Any equivalence relation defined on an algebraic structure which is preserved by operations defined by the structure.

kongruenssi

algebra, equivalence relation preserved by operations


refugee

/ˈɹɛfjʊd͡ʒiː/

/ɹɛfjʊˈd͡ʒiː/

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-refugee.wav

Edict of Fontainebleau
refugee (disambiguation)

From French réfugié, past participle of réfugier (“to take refuge”), describing early French Protestants seeking refuge after the Edict of Fontainebleau in 1685. Analyzable as refuge + -ee. Displaced native Old English flīema.

難民

經濟 / 经济 jīngjì

Why did the SDP dream eventually fade? Partly because it succeeded far better inside parliament than out. It might attract some inner-city Catholic traditionalist Labour refugees from Labour's left, but many of those were already gentrifying.

2010, Brian Harrison, Finding a Role?: The United Kingdom 1970-1990, page 2181

(by extension) A person who flees one place or institution for another.


closeted

en-adj

closeted (comparative more closeted, superlative most closeted)

more closeted (comparative)
most closeted (superlative)

From closet (“state of concealment”) + -ed.

[…] the remaining quotations, chiefly from English poetry, interested me only slightly more. They were the elegiac favourites of a closeted Romantic.

1971, Cynthia Ozick, “The Pagan Rabbi”, in Collected Stories, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, published 2006, page 12

Now he feels a connection between his own closeted, esoteric sufferings and strivings and those of the poor urban working people all around him.

1982, Marshall Berman, All That Is Solid Melts into Air: The Experience of Modernity, Penguin, published 1988, page 45

Sokolsky asks if he realizes that this is a walk-in clinic for closeted reality benders, and he's a disaster-response coordinator, not a therapist.

2022 September 12, “Exploring the SCP Foundation: SCP-7000 - The Loser” (10:38 from the start), in The Exploring Series, retrieved 2023-03-25

(by extension) Not open about some aspect of one's identity, tendency, or fondness; secret.

skabs-

not open about some aspect of one's psyche


archipelago

en-noun

archipelago (plural archipelagos or archipelagoes)

archipelagos (plural)
archipelagoes (plural)

/ˌɑːkəˈpɛləɡəʊ/

/ˌɑɹkəˈpɛləˌɡoʊ/

From Italian arcipelago, formed on the basis of Ancient Greek ἀρχι- (arkhi-, “main”) + πέλαγος (pélagos, “sea”), a designation for the Aegean Sea. The Aegean Sea is a sea with many islands; the term Arcipelago, originally a proper noun referring to the Aegean Sea, was first generalized to a common noun for any sea with many islands, and then to the islands in such a sea.

The Gulag Archipelago

(by extension) Something scattered around like an archipelago.


tongs

tong ("tool for manipulating things in a fire") + -s

(by extension) A large scissors-like two-piece center-hinged forged-iron implement with oval-loop handles and with pointed tips turned inward (in the same plane as and perpendicular to the handles) to facilitate lifting and carrying a block of ice. Often called ice tongs.


stage

→ Japanese: ステージ (sutēji)

From Middle English stage, from Old French estage (“dwelling, residence; position, situation, condition”), from Old French ester (“to be standing, be located”). Cognate with Old English stæþþan (“to make staid, stay”), Old Norse steðja (“to place, provide, confirm, allow”), Old English stæde, stede (“state, status, standing, place, station, site”). More at stead. Doublet of étage.

cog

The first stage of the launcher burned out and separated after successfully boosting the payload onto a suborbital trajectory, but the engine of the upper stage failed to ignite to place the satellite into orbit.

thermonuclear weapon
thermonuclear weapon

(by extension) One of the portions of a device (such as a rocket or thermonuclear weapon) which are used or activated in a particular order, one after another.


colonize

en-verb

colonize (third-person singular simple present colonizes, present participle colonizing, simple past and past participle colonized)

colonizes (present singular third-person)
colonizing (participle present)
colonized (participle past)
colonized (past)

2010, Daisy Hernandez, Bushra Rehman, Colonize This!: Young Women of Color on Today's Feminism, →ISBN:

What disservice would be done if issues regarding sexualities in organisations were side-lined by a heteronormative impetus to colonise queer theory?

2011, Key Concepts in Critical Management Studies

For slavery aimed not only to colonize black women's bodies, sex, and sexuality, to undermine her, it sought to subvert and destroy any authentic relationship between black women and black men as well as among black women themselves.

2015, Kwok Pui-Lan, Laura E. Donaldson, Postcolonialism, Feminism and Religious Discourse

[…] suggesting that organisational discourses of heteronormativity cannot fully colonise gay sexualities and genders.

2016, Nick Rumens, Queer Company: The Role and Meaning of Friendship in Gay Men's Work

The burden of judgment imposed by the politics of respectability can easily colonize black minds.

2017, Christopher J. Lebron, The Making of Black Lives Matter: A Brief History of an Idea

To have our grief colonized to facilitate a racist political agenda was beyond offensive.

2017 June 13, One Year After Pulse, Don't You Dare Come for Any of Us (Lambda Legal)

These award-winning works of nature writing have extended and enhanced a genre that Jamie herself has criticised, describing it as “colonised by middle-class white men”.

2021 August 23, Libby Brooks, quoting Kathleen Jamie, “Scotland’s new makar Kathleen Jamie: ‘Poetry is at the heart of our culture’”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

(transitive, social sciences, by extension) To intrude into and take over (the autonomy, experience, social movement, etc, of a less powerful person or group); to commandeer or appropriate.


fireman

(rail transport, by extension) An assistant on any locomotive, whether steam-powered or not.


bottom

en-noun

bottom (countable and uncountable, plural bottoms)

→ French: bottom

PIE word
 *bʰudʰmḗn
From Middle English botme, botom, from Old English botm, bodan (“bottom, foundation; ground, abyss”), from Proto-West Germanic *butm, from Proto-Germanic *butmaz, *budmaz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰmḗn (“bottom”). Cognate with Dutch bodem, German Boden, Icelandic botn, Danish bund; also Irish bonn (“sole (of foot)”), Ancient Greek πυθμήν (puthmḗn, “bottom of a cup or jar”), Sanskrit बुध्न (budhna, “bottom”), Persian بن (bon, “bottom”), Latin fundus (“bottom”) (whence fund, via French). The sense “posterior of a person” is from 1794; the verb “to reach the bottom of” is from 1808. bottom dollar (“the last dollar one has”) is from 1882.

سَالِب

gay sexual slang: penetrated partner in sex

(BDSM) A submissive in sadomasochistic sexual activity.

(broadly, by extension) A submissive partner in a sexual relationship.


battle

en-adj

battle (comparative more battle, superlative most battle)

more battle (comparative)
most battle (superlative)
except British (obsolete)

From Early Modern English batell, probably from Middle English *batel (“flourishing”), from Old English *batol (“improving, tending to be good”), from batian (“to get better, improve”) + -ol ( + -le).

inh

battle land    battle soil

(by extension) Of land (originally pastureland) or soil: fertile, fruitful.


bogie

A dialectal word from Northern England of unknown origin which is unrelated to bogey (“hostile supernatural creature; terrifying thing, bugbear”).

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-bogie.wav

1878. Bogie Trucks for Railway Locomotives, &c.: [...] Fig. 1 is a cross section and Fig. 2 a section plan of a bogie. A curved casting a is fixed to the engine and a wrought-iron beam or beams b are connected to the bogie frames by links c fitted with or without springs d.

1883 April 13, “Abstracts of Specifications Published during the Week Ending November 24, 1883”, in W[illiam] H[enry] Maw, J[ames] Dredge [Jr.], editors, Engineering: An Illustrated Weekly Journal, volume XXXVI, London: Offices for advertisements and publication, 35 & 36, Bedford Street, Strand, W.C., published 30 November 1883, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 507, column 2

The soil all along this portion of the route is so elastic and the line so straight and level that the train goes humming along without jar or vibration, and the sensation in these cars, with their six-wheeled bogies and well arranged springs, is more like what one imagines flying to be than a mere matter-of-fact railway journey.

1889, J[ames] A[rthur] Lees, W[alter] J. Clutterbuck, “The C.P.R. [Canadian Pacific Railway]”, in B.C. 1887: A Ramble in British Columbia, new edition, London, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, pages 57–58

An empty train was by mistake sent into the rear of an ordinary train standing at the station Rathausbrücke. The two colliding car-ends were damaged and the bogie of the standing train was lifted off the supporting rail so that its wheels settled by the side of the rail. Neither train fell, however, and nobody was seriously hurt.

1908 May 1, “Miscellanea”, in W[illiam] H[enry] Maw, B. Alfred Raworth, editors, Engineering: An Illustrated Weekly Journal, volume LXXXV, London: Offices for advertisements and publication, 35 & 36, Bedford Street, Strand, W.C., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 585, column 3

(by extension, rail transport, also attributively) One of two sets of wheels under a locomotive or railcar; also, a structure with axles and wheels under a locomotive, railcar, or semi which provides support and reduces vibration for the vehicle.

bogi

Although most A320s have two wheels on each of their main gear, a few built for the Indian market have four-wheel bogies, halving the amount of weight on each wheel and allowing the aircraft to use runways that couldn't withstand the ground pressure from a standard A320.

(aviation, by extension) A set of wheels attached to one of an aircraft's landing gear, or the structure connecting the wheels in one such set.


pax

Abbreviation of passenger. X is an abbreviation marker as in DX, TX, Dx, Rx, etc.

(informal, usually in the plural, by extension, hospitality industry) A guest (at an event or function).

$30 per pax

(Malaysia, Singapore, by extension, restaurant industry) A restaurant guest, when counting; person.


first cousin

[…] that coarseness which is first cousin to sin.

1878, Connecticut Churchman, volume 37, page 246

[H]e was afraid the Mexicans, who were, he claimed, first cousin to the spigotties, would catch us off our guard and give us the same treatment.

1920, Boys' Life, volume 10, number 4, page 22

(figurative, by extension) Anything closely related.


parsimony

en-noun

parsimony (usually uncountable, plural parsimonies)

From Middle English parcimonie, from Middle French parsimonie, from Latin parsimōnia (“frugality, sparingness”), from pars-, past participle stem of parcere (“to spare”), + -monia, suffix signifying action, state, or condition.

der

We used three search heuristics, Bayesian inference, maximum likelihood, and maximum parsimony, to construct phylogenies from unique COI haplotypes and used default parameters for analyses unless otherwise noted.

2019 February 15, Boyd A. Mori et al., “A new species of Contarinia Rondani (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) that induces flower galls on canola (Brassicaceae) in the Canadian prairies”, in Canadian Entomologist, volume 151, →DOI, pages 131–148

(by extension) The quality or characteristic of using the fewest resources or explanations to solve a problem.

節儉

principle of using the least resources or explanations to solve a problem


hat

Sranan Tongo: ati

From Middle English hat, from Old English hætt, from Proto-Germanic *hattuz (“hat”), from Proto-Indo-European *kadʰ- (“to guard, cover, care for, protect”). Cognate with North Frisian hat (“hat”), Danish hat (“hat”), Swedish hatt (“hat”), Icelandic hattur (“hat”), Latin cassis (“helmet”), Lithuanian kudas (“bird's crest or tuft”), Avestan 𐬑𐬀𐬊𐬛𐬀 (xaoda, “hat”), Persian خود (xud, “helmet”), Welsh cadw (“to provide for, ensure”). Compare also hood.

cog

We're both in the hat: let's hope we come up against each other.

(figuratively) Any receptacle from which names or numbers are pulled out in a lottery.

(figuratively, by extension) The lottery or draw itself.


layman

From Middle English layman, lay man, equivalent to lay (“non-clergy”) + man. Cognate with Old Frisian lēkmann, lēkmonn (“layman”), obsolete Dutch leekeman (“layman”), Old High German leihman (“layman”), Danish lægmand (“layman”), Swedish lekman (“layman”), Norwegian lekmann (“layman”), Icelandic leikmaður (“layman”).

Carmen is not a professional anthropologist, but strictly a layman.

Let me explain it to you [[in layman's terms|in layman's terms]].

(by extension) Someone who is not a professional in a given field.

любител

someone who is not a professional in a given field


diet

→ Japanese: ダイエット

From Middle English diet, dyet, diete, from Old French diete, from Medieval Latin dieta (“regimen, regulation; assembly”), from Latin diaeta, from Ancient Greek δίαιτα (díaita).

der

He's been reading a steady diet of nonfiction for the last several years.

Last week the aging video game retailer emerged as the hottest stock on Wall Street, a story just unexpected and absurd enough to fill the new Trump-shaped void in our nation’s media diet.

2021 February 3, Farhad Manjoo, “Can We Please Stop Talking About Stocks, Please?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

(by extension) Any habitual intake or consumption.


barf

en-verb

barf (third-person singular simple present barfs, present participle barfing, simple past and past participle barfed)

barfs (present singular third-person)
barfing (participle present)
barfed (participle past)
barfed (past)

Dutch: barfen

bath (non-rhotic, trap–bath split, th-fronting)

Uncertain. Probably of imitative origin.

The program barfed as a result of the invalid input.

(computing, slang, intransitive, by extension) Of a system: to fail.


conclave

Borrowed from French conclave, from Latin conclāve (“room that may be locked up”), from con- (combining form of cum (“with”)) + clāvis (“key”).

der

Therefore the safe return of the Roper party was the usual topic of our nightly conclaves in the verandah.

1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 104

More than 2,500 of globalisation's movers and shakers gather for their annual four-day mountaintop conclave this week, aware that the world is still being shaken by the events of half a decade ago.

2014 January 19, Larry Elliott, Jill Treanor, “Davos faces up to weak growth and rising inequality”, in The Guardian

(by extension) A private meeting; a closed or secret assembly.


mart

Scottish English, from Middle English [Term?], from a Scottish Gaelic root.

(by extension, the animal or its meat) Salt beef.


palindrome

From Ancient Greek παλίνδρομος (palíndromos, “running back again”), from πάλιν (pálin, “back, again, back again”) + δρόμος (drómos, “running, race, racecourse”). By surface analysis, palin- + -drome (compare also velodrome and syndrome).

апалиндром

a sequence of units that reads the same forwards as backwards

(by extension) A poetic form in which the sequence of words reads the same in either direction.

A conjunct palindrome from notes 5 to 11, D D E F E D D, abuts the only melodically disjunct group E G D (notes 12–14), and at the same time contributes to a melodic sequence with the opening four notes.

1998, Dolores Pesce, Hearing the Motet, page 93

The shops opposite were a High Street palindrome — Korean gorocery, courier service, letting abgents, courier service, Korean grocery — and buses passed with noisy frequency.

The color sequence in the palindrome skein is the same no metter whether you start from the left or right.

2015, Syne Mitchell, Inventive Weaving on a Little Loom

(by extension) A sequence of items that follows the same pattern both forwards and backwards.


hail

en-noun

hail (countable and uncountable, plural hails)

From Middle English hayle, haile, hail, hawel, haghil, haȝel, from Old English hæġl, hæġel, hagol (“hail”), from Proto-West Germanic *hagl, from Proto-Germanic *haglaz, of uncertain origin. Either from Proto-Indo-European *kagʰlos (“pebble”); or, from *ḱoḱló-, a reduplication of *ḱel- (“cold”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Hail (“hail”), West Frisian heil (“hail”), Dutch hagel (“hail”), Low German Hagel (“hail”), German Hagel (“hail”), Danish hagl (“hail”), Swedish hagel (“hail”), Icelandic hagl (“hail”). Compare also Old Norse héla (“frost”). Doublet of haglaz.
Root-cognates outside of Germanic include Welsh caill (“testicle”), Breton kell (“testicle”), Lithuanian šešėlis (“shade, shadow”), Ancient Greek κάχληξ (kákhlēx, “pebble”), Albanian çakëll (“pebble”), Sanskrit शिशिर (śíśira, “cool, cold”).

cog

Their lack of good intelligence also meant that they vastly overestimated the size of their foes for far too long, hails of armor-piercing shells doing comparatively little damage compared to the high explosive that they should have been using.

2019 February 27, Drachinifel, 40:01 from the start, in The Battle of Samar - Odds? What are those?, archived from the original on 2022-11-03

(countable, by extension) A rapid, intense barrage by a large number of projectiles or other objects.


hail

en-verb

hail (third-person singular simple present hails, present participle hailing, simple past and past participle hailed)

hails (present singular third-person)
hailing (participle present)
hailed (participle past)
hailed (past)

From Middle English heil (“healthy, sound”), from Old Norse heill, from Proto-Germanic *hailaz (“whole, entire, healthy”). The verb is from Middle English heilen, itself from the adjective. Doublet of whole, hale, and heil.

өндәшеү

to call out loudly in order to gain the attention of

In Melbourne, you would usually have to hail a tram when you are travelling late at night and there are no other passengers waiting at your stop.

(transitive) To call out loudly in order to gain the attention of.

(transitive, by extension, UK, Australia) To indicate, from a designated stop or otherwise, to the driver of a public transport vehicle that one wishes to board and travel on the vehicle, usually using hand signals such as waving.


canned

The form letter included a canned answer stating that what I asked was against policy.

Unfortunately, some of the canned code, which Visual C++ gives to you when creating an application, is not CE aware and gives you compile errors.

1998, Dr. Dobb's Journal: Software Tools for the Professional Programmer

The vested owners of all those sun-drenched tract houses may stick around for a while and fight over the region, perhaps thinking that they are reenacting the great historical dramas of the nineteenth century—such is the long-term effect of canned entertainment on the collective imagination.

2005, James Howard Kunstler, chapter 7, in The Long Emergency, page 279

Throughout the evening, Mr. Christie’s admonition about canned lines and rehearsed speeches hovered and seemed to recalibrate how the crowd — and television viewers — processed what Mr. Rubio said (and resaid, over and over).

2016 February 7, Michael Barbaro, “Once Impervious, Marco Rubio Is Diminished by a Caustic Chris Christie”, in The New York Times

(by extension) Previously prepared; not fresh or new; standardized, mass-produced, or lacking originality or customization.


genitalia

From Latin genitālia, substantive use of plural of genitālis (“pertaining to generation or birth”).

male genitalia and Thesaurus:female genitalia

(by extension) Any sex organs, whether external or internal; body parts used in sexual reproduction or sexual stimulation.


uncage

en-verb

uncage (third-person singular simple present uncages, present participle uncaging, simple past and past participle uncaged)

uncages (present singular third-person)
uncaging (participle present)
uncaged (participle past)
uncaged (past)

(by extension) To unleash; to remove from restraints.


reboot

That’s why we don’t just need a bailout. We need a reboot. We need a build out. We need a buildup. We need a national makeover.

2008 December 24, Thomas L. Friedman, “Time to Reboot America”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

Other reboots of beloved restaurants, like the Four Seasons, have failed.

2020 February 14, Florence Fabricant, “The Beloved West Village Restaurant Barbuto Gets a Reboot”, in The New York Times, →ISSN


reboot

reboot (third-person singular simple present reboots, present participle rebooting, simple past and past participle rebooted)

reboots (present singular third-person)
rebooting (participle present)
rebooted (participle past)
rebooted (past)

They rebooted the TV series, but it's even worse than the original.

What are the first steps to rebooting your business?

2013 May 21, Dan Schawbel, “Mitch Joel: How To Reboot Your Business And Your Life”, in Forbes

As the Republican National Convention kicks off Monday, Donald Trump has a tremendous opportunity to rebrand and reboot his campaign, to make it look and feel more professional and less petulant.

2016 July 18, Charles M. Blow, “Trump’s Chance to Reboot”, in The New York Times, →ISSN


recherché

en-adj

recherché (comparative more recherché, superlative most recherché)

more recherché (comparative)
most recherché (superlative)

/ɹəˌʃɛɹˈʃeɪ/

Unadapted borrowing from French recherché; more at French rechercher. Doublet of ricercata.

ubor

For quotations using this term, see Citations:recherché.

(by extension) Precious, pretentious, affected.


beef

en-noun

beef (countable and uncountable, plural beef or beefs or beeves)

beef (plural)
beefs (plural)
beeves (plural)

→ Portuguese: bife

→ Spanish: bife

From Middle English beef, bef, beof, borrowed from Anglo-Norman beof, Old French buef, boef (“ox”) (modern French bœuf); from Latin bōs (“ox”), from Proto-Italic *gʷōs, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷṓws. Doublet of cow.
Beef in the sense of “a grudge, argument” was originally an American slang expression:
* attested as a verb “to complain” in 1888: “He'll beef an' kick like a steer an' let on he won't never wear 'em.”— New York World, 13 May;
* attested as a noun “complaint, protest, grievance, sim.” in 1899: “He made a Horrible Beef because he couldn't get Loaf Sugar for his Coffee.”—Fables in Slang (1900) by George Ade, page 80.
As to the possible origin of this American usage, it has been suggested that it can be traced back to a British expression for “alarm”, first recorded in 1725: "BEEF 'to alarm, as To cry beef upon us; they have discover'd us, and are in Pursuit of us". The term "beef" in this context would be a Cockney rhyming slang of thief. The continuous use of a similar expression, including its assumed semantic shift to 'complaint' in the United States from the 1880s onwards, needs further clarification though.

Put some beef into it! We've got to get the car over the bump.

We've got to get some beef into the enforcement provisions of that law.

(uncountable) The meat from a cow, bull, or other bovine.

(by extension, slang, uncountable) Muscle or musculature; size, strength or potency.


golem

bor

גולם \ גֹּלֶם

(by extension, fantasy) A humanoid creature made from any previously inanimate matter, such as wood or stone, animated by magic.


toothsome

en-adj

toothsome (comparative more toothsome, superlative most toothsome)

more toothsome (comparative)
most toothsome (superlative)

In 1919 he had been waiting at a bus stop, en route to his initiation as a Freemason: a toothsome blonde had crossed his path, and he had stalked off after her instead.

1989, David John Cawdell Irving, Göring: a biography

(by extension of sense 1, and by analogy to slang tasty) Sexually attractive.


pasta

en-noun

pasta (countable and uncountable, plural pastas or (rare) paste)

→ Indonesian: pasta

→ Hindi: पास्ता (pāstā)

→ Marathi: पास्ता (pāstā)

→ Thai: พาสตา (páas-dtâa)

→ Welsh: pasta

pastor (Australia, New Zealand, Northern England)

Borrowed from Italian pasta (“paste; pasta, noodles”), from Late Latin pasta (“dough, pastry cake, paste”), from Ancient Greek παστά (pastá, “barley porridge”), neuter plural of παστός (pastós, “sprinkled with salt”), from Ancient Greek πάσσω (pássō, “to sprinkle”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷeh₁t- (“to shake”). Doublet of paste.
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *kʷeh₁t-der.
Ancient Greek πάσσω (pássō)
Proto-Indo-European *-tós
Ancient Greek -τός (-tós)
Ancient Greek παστός (pastós)
Ancient Greek παστά (pastá)bor.
Late Latin pasta
Italian pastabor.
English pasta

па́ста

considered non-standard and has other meanings

Italian pasta - short-cut extruded noodles

(uncountable) Dough made from wheat and water and sometimes mixed with egg and formed into various shapes; often sold in dried form and typically boiled for eating.


off

en-adj

off (comparative more off, superlative most off)

more off (comparative)
most off (superlative)

(older Received Pronunciation, General American) -ɔːf

From Middle English of, from Old English of, af, æf (“from, off, away”), from Proto-West Germanic *ab, from Proto-Germanic *ab (“from”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂epo (“from, off, back”). Doublet of of.
Cognates
Cognate with Scots of, af (“off, away”), West Frisian af, ôf (“off, away”), Dutch af (“off, from”), German Low German of (“off, from”), German ab (“off, from”), Danish af (“of, off”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish av (“of, off”), Icelandic af (“of, off”), Gothic 𐌰𐍆 (af, “of, from”); and with Latin ab (“of, from, by”), Ancient Greek ἀπό (apó, “from”), and others.

inh

Denoting something faulty, unsatisfactory, objectionable etc.

(by extension, Australia, slang) Disgusting, repulsive, abhorrent.


pedophilia

en-noun

pedophilia (countable and uncountable, plural pedophilias)

Adapted from German Pädophilie, bringing its spelling into conformity with pedo- (“child”) + -philia. Compare the Byzantine Greek παιδοφιλία (paidophilía, “love of children”).

cog

sexual feeling or desire by adults towards children

تَحَرُّش جِنْسِيّ بِٱلأَطْفَال (taḥarruš jinsiyy bi-l-ʔaṭfāl, literally “child sexual harassment”)

Fifteen months later, a committee of the congregation found that he had sexually abused several boys within the congregation. […] The fact that Alger committed pedophilia at the age of thirty-four casts a shadow over his subsequent yearning for relationships with boys and young men, but there is no evidence of any later misconduct.

1998, Andrew L. Kaufman, Cardozo, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, page 25

Entire books have been written about the role of scandal in US politics (Garment, 1992). Offenses include smoking marijuana, hiring illegal aliens, plagiarizing, sexually harassing others, engaging in pedophilia, […]

2005, Carol Weiss Lewis, Stuart Gilman, The ethics challenge in public service: a problem-solving guide, 2nd edition, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, page 88

It's quite another (a bad idea) to expect amateurs to figure out who is telling the truth about Iraq, or which priests have committed pedophilia.

2007, Todd Oppenheimer, “Read All about It -- but Where, Exactly?”, in SFGate, Hearst Communications

(by extension, proscribed) Sexual activity between adults and children; the act of child molestation.


dent

From Middle English dent, dente, dint (“a blow; strike; dent”), from Old English dynt (“blow, strike, the mark or noise of a blow”), from Proto-Germanic *duntiz (“a blow”). Akin to Old Norse dyntr (“dint”). Doublet of dint.

inh

That purchase put a bit of a dent in my wallet.

Andy Carroll's first goals since his £35m move to Liverpool put a dent in Manchester City's Champions League hopes as they were emphatically swept aside at Anfield.

2011 April 11, Phil McNulty, “Liverpool 3 - 0 Man City”, in BBC Sport

(by extension, informal) A sudden negative change, such as loss, damage, weakening, consumption or diminution, especially one produced by an external force, event or action


elixir

From Medieval Latin elixir, from Arabic اَلْإِكْسِير (al-ʔiksīr), from Ancient Greek ξηρίον (xēríon, “medicinal powder”), from ξηρός (xērós, “dry”).

der

اَلْإِكْسِير

elikser

alchemy: liquid which was believed to turn non-precious metals to gold

The silver-bullet cancer cures of yesterday’s newsmagazine covers, like interferon and angiogenesis inhibitors, disappointed the breathless expectations, as have elixirs such as antioxidants, Vioxx, and hormone replacement therapy.

2015, The Boston Globe, Steven Pinker, The moral imperative for bioethics

(by extension) The alleged cure for all ailments; cure-all, panacea.


bromide

From brom- + -ide. First used in the sense “dull person” by Gelett Burgess.
Figurative sense ("platitude") by extending the medicating sense through the metaphor of pacifying or placating.

My adviser at college was a bromide who had not had an original thought in years.

The bromide conforms to everything sanctioned by the majority, and may be depended upon to be trite, banal, and arbitrary.

1906, Frank Gelett Burgess, Are You A Bromide?

A dull person with conventional thoughts.

We hoped the speech would include reassurances, but instead it was merely one bromide after another.

No organicist metaphor, no irrelevant bromide that "we are all part of one another," must be permitted to obscure this basic fact.

1974, Murray Newton Rothbard, “What the State Is Not”, in Anatomy of the State

Gascoigne was annoyed by this. ‘Well, I wish you luck, Mr. Lauderback, in bringing Mr. Carver to justice,’ he said.
‘Spare the bromide,’ Lauderback snapped. ‘Talk to me plain.’
(Note: As The Luminaries is set in 1866, this usage represents an unintentional anachronism.)

2013, Eleanor Catton, The Luminaries, London: Granta Books, published 2014, page 569

Certainly not Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, who is clearly the Rupert Murdoch of his generation. He’s always justifying his cowardly choices with vacuous bromides about “free speech,” but he’s obviously just in it for the money — no matter how much his platform is used to destroy our democracy.

2020 June 2, Thomas L. Friedman, “America, We Break It, It’s Gone”, in New York Times


cyclopean

en-adj

cyclopean (comparative more cyclopean, superlative most cyclopean)

more cyclopean (comparative)
most cyclopean (superlative)

2006, Fernando Pessoa, "Salutation to Walt Whitman," in A Little Larger Than the Entire Universe: Selected Poems, edited and translated by Richard Zenith, Penguin, pp. 198-9,
You were cyclopean and muscular, not pretty, / Yet your attitude toward the world was feminine, / And for you each leaf of grass, each stone and each man was the Universe.
See also quotation under cyclopian.


renegade

renegade (comparative more renegade, superlative most renegade)

more renegade (comparative)
most renegade (superlative)

/ˈɹɛnɪˌɡeɪd/

/ˈɹɛnəˌɡeɪd/

From Spanish renegado, from Medieval Latin renegātus, perfect participle of renegō (“I deny”). See also renege.

(by extension) Unconventional, unorthodox.


celibate

Probably from the noun (“celibacy”) or from celibacy on the model of privacy/private, etc. Alternatively, from Latin caelebs (“unmarried”) + -ate.

Members of religious communities sometimes take vows to remain celibate.

(by extension) Abstaining from sexual relations and pleasures.