tweet

en-verb

tweet (third-person singular simple present tweets, present participle tweeting, simple past tweeted or (Internet, rare, humorous) twote, past participle tweeted or (Internet, rare, humorous) twoten)

tweets (present singular third-person)
tweeting (participle present)
tweeted (past)
twote (Internet humorous past rare)
tweeted (participle past)
twoten (Internet humorous participle past rare)

In response to the motion, Trump tweeted on Truth Social

2023 September 17, Lou Kettering, “Federal prosecutors in DC 2020 election interference case request order to prohibit Trump making ‘inflammatory’ and ‘misleading’ statements”, in Jurist

As Georgetown public policy prof Dan Moynihan tweeted on Bluesky yesterday, the editors of the Times “are not falling for [Rufo’s] game, they are co-producing it.”

2024 April 17, Doktor Zoom, “New York Times Joins Chris Rufo In Mean Girls Finger-Snapping At NPR CEO”, in Wonkette

(transitive, intransitive, social media, by extension) To post an update to any microblogging site.


suburb

From Old French suburbe, subburbe, from Latin suburbium (from sub- + urbs (“city”)). Displaced native Old English underburg (literally “sub-” or “under-city”).

ncog

(by extension) The outer part; the environment.


superhero

From super- + hero. First attested in 1917.

The power is out but you're watching TV? You must be a superhero.

Thanks for driving out here and towing me out of the ditch. You're a superhero!

Did you know your community has many invisible superheroes? Each day they perform hundreds of amazing feats that make the community a better place in which to live.

1991, Boys' Life, volume 81, number 1, page 42

(by extension) A particularly renowned real-world hero, or one who has seemingly impossible abilities.


poetic justice

/pəʊˌɛtɪk ˈd͡ʒʌstɪs/

From poetic + justice, a variant of poetical justice, coined by the English literary critic Thomas Rymer (c. 1643 – 1713) in the work The Tragedies of the Last Age Consider’d and Examin’d (1678): see the quotation.

coinage

Operation PAR is the largest provider of addiction and mental health services in the Tampa Bay area. […] Now PAR is going to get poetic justice through an innovative concept which takes seized assets from drug kingpins and gives back to the community in the form of prevention and treatment programs.

1997 September–October, “Poetic Justice”, in Aaron R. Fodiman, editor, Tampa Bay Magazine, volume 12, number 5, Clearwater, Fla.: Tampa Bay Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 20, column 3

It might, of course, be argued that the cowboy who mutilated the face of the prostitute was the one ingloriously killed while defecating, and there is something of poetic justice, at least, in that outcome. Poetic justice, however, does not make for virtuous vengeance.

2001, Peter A. French, “The Western Vengeance Films”, in The Virtues of Vengeance, Lawrence, Kan.: University Press of Kansas, part 1 (Vengeance in Literature and Popular Culture), page 40

"To poetic justice." He clinked the can with her glass. / "Poetic justice?" / "If it hadn't been for your grandmother's poems, I would never have looked for her. It is truly just that Edgar and Vera are once again together. At least I believe it's justice."

2004, Margot Vesel Rising, chapter 13, in Poetic Justice, Lincoln, Neb.: iUniverse, page 159

(by extension, generally) The fact of someone experiencing what they deserve for their actions, especially when this happens in an ironic manner.


teller

From Middle English tellere (“one who counts or enumerates; one who recounts or relates; teller”), equivalent to tell (verb) + -er.

inh

In the case discussed above, for example, the employee who stole money did so by waiting until another teller was on break, then logging on to that teller's register, ringing a “no sale,” and taking the cash.

2007, Joseph T. Wells, Corporate Fraud Handbook: Prevention and Detection, page 107

The young femail teller fingered the prices into the cash register at great speed with great dexterity while simultaneously holding a conversation with the teller in the next lane.

2013, Alastair Henry, Awakening in the Northwest Territories

The main street was shuttered; the only sign of life she detected was behind the window of the petrol station, where the teller was counting the day's cash balance into the till.

2023, Eleanor Catton, Birnam Wood, page 60

(more generally) A cashier at any place of business.


backbencher

As we stated in previous chapters, counselors and other student support personnel have been backbenchers in the ongoing drama of school reform.

2006, Karen Seashore Louis, Molly F. Gordon, Aligning Student Support With Achievement Goals

Mayorga was no backbencher in the dirty war. He had been chief of the naval base in Trelew in 1972, when one of the first massacres took place.

2015, W. John Green, A History of Political Murder in Latin America, page 122

But, Jack was a backbencher in the committee. His main function was to keep an eye on the theatre's income.

2017, Edward Dayes, So cause her downfall, page 90

(by extension) Someone who does not play an active role in a process.


guppy

→ Danish: gubbi

Robert John Lechmere Guppy
guppy (disambiguation)

From a name mistakenly assigned, Girardinus guppii, after biologist Robert J. L. Guppy, to previously assigned Poecilia reticulata.

Throw that one back; it’s just a guppy!


lickspittle

A compounding: lick (“pass one’s tongue over”) + spittle (“saliva”); the verb may derive by back-formation from the nominal derivation lickspittling (see below).

(by extension) The practice of giving empty flattery for personal gain.


seasoning

en-noun

seasoning (countable and uncountable, plural seasonings)

(figurative, by extension) Anything added to increase enjoyment.


apparatchik

apparatchik (plural apparatchiks or apparatchiki)

apparatchiks (plural)
apparatchiki (plural)

/æpəˈɹæt͡ʃɪk/

From Russian аппара́тчик (apparátčik, “operator, apparatchik”), from аппара́т (apparát, “apparat, apparatus (of state)”) + suffix -чик (-čik).

bor

Mr. Gonzales came across as a dull-witted apparatchik incapable of running one of the most important departments in the executive branch. […] He delegated responsibility for purging their ranks to an inexperienced and incompetent assistant who, if that’s possible, was even more of a plodding apparatchik.

2007 April 20, “Gonzales v. Gonzales”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

He's so outspoken, so little the Labour apparatchik, that Prime Minister Brown decides he can't send this voluble critic of Iraq invasion to sit at a UN occasion alongside George W Bush.

2011 February 27, Peter Preston, “The Unfinished Global Revolution by Mark Malloch Brown – review”, in The Observer, →ISSN

“Does France, a founder member of the EU, really want to be the country that sends the biggest battalion of far-right apparatchiks to the European parliament?” [Gabriel] Attal asked.

2024 June 7, Angelique Chrisafis, quoting Gabriel Attal, “‘You can feel a shift’: will the French be lured by Le Pen?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

(by extension) A blindly loyal bureaucrat.


tailwind

(figurative, by extension) A force that accelerates progress.


bottleneck

It is easy to create entries; processing the paperwork is the bottleneck.

The bottleneck in this computer program is the inefficient sorting process; we should replace it with a faster one.

(by extension) The part of a process that is too slow or cumbersome.


grackle

From translingual Gracula, from Latin graculus (“jackdaw”).

(loosely) Any of several Asian myna birds of the genus Gracula.


arrant

en-adj

arrant (comparative more arrant or arranter, superlative most arrant or arrantest)

more arrant (comparative)
arranter (comparative)
most arrant (superlative)
arrantest (superlative)

A variant of errant, from Middle English erraunt [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman erraunt, from Old French errant, the present participle of errer (“to walk (to); to wander (to); (figuratively) to travel, voyage”), and then:
* from Vulgar Latin iterō (compare Late Latin itinerō, itineror (“to travel, voyage”)), from Latin iter (“a route (including a journey, trip; a course; a path; a road)”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ey- (“to go”); and
* from Latin errāns (“straying, errant; wandering”), the present active participle of errō (“to rove, wander; to get lost, go astray; to err, wander from the truth”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ers- (“to flow”).
The original sense was sense 3 (“roving around, wandering”). Due to the word being used to describe disreputable persons who wandered about (for example, arrant knave and arrant thief), it came to be used as an intensifier (sense 1: “complete; downright; utter”) and to have a negative meaning (sense 2: “very bad; despicable”).

der

(by extension, dated) Very bad; despicable.


heft

en-verb

heft (third-person singular simple present hefts, present participle hefting, simple past and past participle hefted)

hefts (present singular third-person)
hefting (participle present)
hefted (participle past)
hefted (past)
voice (Scotland passive usually)

Borrowed from Scots heft, from Old Norse hepta (“to bind; to hinder, impede; to hold back, restrain”), from Proto-Germanic *haftijaną (“to bind; to secure”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“to hold, seize”).

jättää lypsämättä

to cause (milk) to be held in a cow’s udder until the latter becomes hard and swollen

(by extension) To cause (urine) to be held in a person's bladder.

pidätellä

to cause (urine) to be held in a person’s bladder


headwind

From Middle English *hedwind, from Old English hēafodwind, equivalent to head + wind. Cognate with Old Norse höfuðvindr.

"Domestic economic activity has been gaining traction in spite of formidable headwinds from external developments," the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its monthly bulletin.

2022 June 16, Swati Bhat, “India's economic prospects firm despite global headwinds, says RBI”, in Gareth Jones, editor, Reuters, archived from the original on 2022-06-16, Macro Matters

At the same time, Faludi, who is working on a new book about the headwinds feminism is facing, suggested that the movement itself has grown sectarian and insular.

2022 June 17, Michelle Goldberg, “The Future Isn’t Female Anymore”, in The New York Times

(figurative, by extension) A strong force that impedes or reverses progress.


tandem

en-noun

tandem (countable and uncountable, plural tandems)

PIE word
 *téh₂m
The noun is borrowed from Latin tandem (“of time: at last, at length, finally”), applied humorously in English to two horses harnessed “at length” (that is, in a single line) instead of side-by-side. Tandem is derived from tam (“so, to such an extent”) + -dem (demonstrative suffix).
The adjective, adverb, and verb are derived from the noun.

tandem

carriage pulled by two or more draught animals harnessed one behind the other; two draught animals harnessed one behind the other

tandem-

Later in the day the Row is empty, but, on the other hand, the pleasure horse monopolises the circle, now comparatively deserted. Singly, in pairs, tandems, and fours, he draws the family carriage with a lozenge on the panels, the brougham of the fashionable doctor, the coupé of the popular actress, the man about town's smart dog-cart.

[1903], Charles Dudley, “Equine London”, in George R[obert] Sims, editor, Living London: Its Work and Its Play, Its Humour and Its Pathos, Its Sights and Its Scenes, special edition, volume II, section I, London: Cassell and Company, →OCLC, pages 158–159, column 2

Two draught animals (generally draught horses) harnessed one behind the other.

If you want a canoe that can seat both of you comfortably, you’ll need a tandem.

A thing with two components arranged one behind the other.

(specifically, cycling) Short for tandem bicycle (“a bicycle or tricycle in which two people sit one behind the other, both able to pedal but only the person in front being able to steer”).

tandem bicycle

If an interstitial implant is placed in a patient with an intact uterus, a tandem should be inserted and loaded with cesium 137 or iridium 192.

2007, Akila N. Viswanathan, Daniel G. Petereit, “Gynecologic Brachytherapy”, in Phillip M. Devlin, editor, Brachytherapy: Applications and Techniques, Philadelphia, Pa.: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, page 236

(medicine) A hollow metal tube containing radioactive material, inserted through the vagina into the uterus to treat gynecological cancer.


doggerel

en-noun

doggerel (countable and uncountable, plural doggerels)

Probably from dog + -rel (“pejorative suffix”), akin to Dog Latin, late 14th c.

It is very rare to find good, personal analysis of events that does not degenerate into chest-beating, pettiness, pomposity, or political doggeral .

1977 December 17, Andrew R. Weiss, “Kudos For Cagan”, in Gay Community News, volume 5, number 24, page 4

(by extension) Any writing of crude composition.


mung

en-verb

mung (third-person singular simple present mungs, present participle munging, simple past and past participle munged)

mungs (present singular third-person)
munging (participle present)
munged (participle past)
munged (past)

Often doubtfully explained as mash until no good, or a self-referencing (recursive) acronym, mung until no good. Rumored to have originated from one of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology computer groups in the 1970s or 1980s.

(by extension, informal) To harm, to damage; to destroy.


Manichaean

Detractors of Mr. Nixon will decry the book's [1999: Victory Without War] obsession with potency and winning[…] as well as with a Manichaean view of a world that he sees as divided between the bad Soviet Union and the good United States.

1988 April 11, Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, “Strategy and Tactics to Win the Global Struggle”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

Barack Obama spoke of a world without these Manichean dualities. He dismissed the notion of “red” and “blue” America.

2008 June 8, Ana Marie Cox, “What Went Wrong | Divided She Fell”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

Once again, we see a Manichean world not unlike that of conspiracists: you can be good or you can be evil.

2020, Marcus Gilroy-Ware, After the Fact?, Repeater

(by extension) Of or relating to a worldview of distinct good and evil, especially to the exclusion of other possible categories.

(by extension) Using dark and light to represent good and evil.


punch line

1910s, probably American. It was probably meant to be likened to a quick, sharp punch.

The women are a phenomenon; the men are a punchline.

2019 July 8, Tom Dart, “The US men's team are now a punchline. Which is a little unfair”, in The Guardian

(It didn’t help when Microsoft relaunched its Bing search engine with OpenAI’s technology inside, instantly ending Bing’s decade-long run as a punchline.)

2023 March 31, Kevin Roose, “Google C.E.O. Sundar Pichai on the A.I. Moment: ‘You Will See Us Be Bold’”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

(by extension) The butt of a joke; laughing stock.

The final, the Munich-based liberal newspaper writes, was a “fitting punchline” to a great tournament.

2014 July 14, Philip Oltermann, “World Cup final press reaction: Germany’s win a ‘fitting punchline’”, in The Guardian

(by extension) A final, concluding statement that an explanation has been leading up to; a conclusion.


old hat

en-noun

old hat (countable and uncountable, plural old hats)

Origin unknown. The Oxford English Dictionary suggests a connection to German alter Hut (noun, literally “old hat”).

unk

Origin unknown

cog

Upon which she very pertly reply'd, She had done that not with a Design to affront but to convince me of the Value she had for my Present; for that if the Pedantick Blockhead should come, he should only have a little bit of Old-Hat to stay his Stomach, till he got to some Harlot of his own Puritanical Flock […]

1723, Charles Walker, Memoirs of Sally Salisbury, letter XI

Sexual intercourse
sexual intercourse#English


unbridled

en-adj

unbridled (comparative more unbridled, superlative most unbridled)

more unbridled (comparative)
most unbridled (superlative)

unbridled capitalism

She jumped into the project with unbridled enthusiasm.

Unbridled competition between the different means of transport is eliminated by a licensing system, to which all transport concerns, whether by land or water, are subjected for both regular and occasional transport.

1962 March, J. M. Tolson, “The Netherlands Railways today—I: The economic development of the Netherlands Railways”, in Modern Railways, page 170

His contempt was totally unbridled, as though my goal was a personal affront to him and all humanity.

2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 131

(by extension) Without restraint or limit.


plebiscite

Sense 1 (“referendum”) is borrowed from French plébiscite, from Latin plēbiscītum, plēbis scītum, plēbī scītum (“law of the common people or plebs”), from plēbis (the genitive singular of plēbs (“common people, plebeians”)) + scītum (“decree, ordinance, statute”).
Sense 3 (“law enacted by the common people”) is a learned borrowing from Latin plēbiscītum: see above. It is attested earlier than English plebiscitum.
cognates
* Italian plebiscito
* Middle French plebiscite (modern French plébiscite)
* Middle Low German plebiscīt (“ordinance”)
* Spanish plebiscito, plebisçito (obsolete)

cog

(by extension) An expression of the public's views on an issue, whether legally binding or not.

kansan mielipide

expression of the public’s views on an issue, whether legally binding or not


transubstantiation

en-noun

transubstantiation (countable and uncountable, plural transubstantiations)

Borrowed from Medieval Latin trānsubstantiātiō.

(by extension) Conversion of one substance into another.

實體變換

conversion of one substance into another


ecosystem

From eco- + system. Coined by English botanist Arthur Tansley in 1935 in a paper titled "The Use and Abuse of Vegetational Concepts" in the journal Ecology.

coin

The company’s ecosystem mainly comprises its supply chain, customers, end consumers and competitors.

It [The Kashmir Files] is being described by the leftist “liberal” ecosystem as a movie that peddles bigotry against Muslims.

2022 March 21, Rahul Shivshankar, “The real reason why the Left eco-system has launched a scurrilous attack on the movie Kashmir Files”, in Times of India

There is a certain duality in how the Hindutva ecosystem is pushing the anti-hijab discourse into the mainstream.

2022 February 17, Angshuman Choudhury, Suraj Gogoi, “Hijab ban: How some liberals are sleepwalking into the trap set by Hindutva nationalists”, in Scroll.in

Money mules play an important role in the scam ecosystem primarily to get money out of Singapore to the foreign syndicates and facilitate scams.

(Can we date this quote?), “CDSA and CMA Bill Amendments”, in Singapore Police Force

The result, as Maria Farrell and Robin Berjon put it in a striking essay in Noema magazine, is that our online spaces are no longer open ecosystems.

2024 May 4, John Naughton, “The internet is in decline – it needs rewilding”, in The Guardian

(by extension) A network of interconnected people, organisations, products or services that resembles a natural ecosystem due to the complex interdependencies.


landau

Named after the German city of Landau, where such carriages were first made. Compare German Landauer.

(by extension) A style of automobile based around the design of landau carriages.


summit

PIE word
 *upó
The noun is derived from Late Middle English somet, somete (“head, top”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman sumet and Middle French sommet (masculine), somete, sommette (“top of a thing; highest point of a mountain”) (feminine) (modern French sommet), from Old French somet, sommette, from som, sum (“highest point, summit”) + -et (suffix forming diminutive masculine nouns), -ete, -ette (suffix forming diminutive feminine nouns). Som, sum are derived from Latin summum (“top, summit”), a noun use of the neuter of summus (“greatest, highest; top, uppermost”, adjective) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *upó (“below, under”) + *-m̥mós, *-tm̥mós (“suffix forming superlative adjectives”)). The modern English spelling was influenced by summity (“height or top of a thing; utmost degree, perfection”) (obsolete).
The verb is derived from the noun.

der

They met for an international summit on environmental issues.

(by extension) An assembly or gathering of the leaders of countries to discuss issues of international significance; also (loosely), an important or high-level gathering or meeting.

сустрэ́ча

на вышэ́йшым узро́ўні, ў вярха́х

сре́ща

на най-висо́ко равни́ще

встре́ча

на вы́сшем у́ровне, в верха́х

ministermöte

of ministers or departmental secretaries


Schrödinger's cat

en-noun

Schrödinger's cat (plural Schrödinger's cats)

Named after Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger (1887–1961).

named-after

To see how, let us consider a nested system of Schrödinger's cats.

2004, Colin Bruce, Schrödinger's Rabbits: The Many Worlds of Quantum, page 83

(by extension) Any hypothetical situation whose circumstances make it impossible to see which among two contrary propositions is correct, especially if the situation is expected to be analysed from the point of view of quantum mechanics.


sink one's teeth into

en-verb

sink one's teeth into (third-person singular simple present sinks one's teeth into, present participle sinking one's teeth into, simple past sank one's teeth into, past participle sunk one's teeth into)

sinks one's teeth into (present singular third-person)
sinking one's teeth into (participle present)
sank one's teeth into (past)
sunk one's teeth into (participle past)

He can't wait to sink his teeth into the new project.

He seemed happy living life in cruise control, which pissed me off. “Don't you want to really sink your teeth into something?” I asked.

2012, Gavin McInnes, The Death of Cool: From Teenage Rebellion to the Hangover of Adulthood, Simon and Schuster, page 88

(colloquial, figurative, by extension) To become enthusiastically involved in.


eaves

PIE word
 *upér
From Middle English eves (“projecting lower edge of a roof”) [and other forms], from Old English efes, yfes, *ofes (“edge of a roof”), from Proto-West Germanic *ubisu (“hall”), from Proto-Germanic *ubiswō (compare Gothic 𐌿𐌱𐌹𐌶𐍅𐌰 (ubizwa), Old High German obasa (“hall; porch; roof”)), perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *upér (“above; over”) (whence over).

nb...

euez, euese, evese, ewse, eyues, eyuis, hevese, ouese, ouise, ovese

der

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

(by extension) Something that extends over or projects beyond.

läppä

something that extends over or projects beyond


mixed bag

The people I met at the support group were a mixed bag: some were grouchy pessimists, and others were cheery do-gooders.

(by extension) A group of entities with few characteristics in common.

sekoitus

a group of entities with few characteristics in common


lightweight

From light (“not heavy”, adjective) + weight (noun).

liggewig

bodybuilding: competitive weight division between bantamweight and welterweight

A person who cannot handle their drink; one who gets drunk on very little alcohol.

(by extension) A person with low endurance.


soper

From soporific. Sopor has been used as a brand name for methaqualone.

(by extension) Any other soporific drug.


air quote

"So you were out with 'the boys'," she said vexedly, putting air quotes around the last two words.

(by extension) An emphatic tone of voice used to indicate a euphemism, or displeasure with a false or inaccurate phrase being quoted.


prothesis

en-noun

prothesis (countable and uncountable, plural protheses)

From Ancient Greek πρόθεσις (próthesis, “a preposing”), from προτίθημι (protíthēmi, “I prepose”), from πρό (pró, “before”) + τίθημι (títhēmi, “I place”), from Proto-Indo-European *pro + *dʰédʰeh₁ti (“to be putting, to be placing”).


tenant

From Middle English tenaunt, from Anglo-Norman tenaunt and Old French tenant, present participle of tenir (“to hold”), from Latin tenēre, present active infinitive of teneō (“hold, keep”).

مُسْتَأجِر

one who pays a fee in return for the use of land, etc.

(in the Middle Ages, serf or villein) jobbágy

c. 1782-1783, William Cowper, Joy in Martyrdom
sweet tenants of this grove

the happy tenant of your shade

(by extension) One who has possession of any place.

обитател

one who has possession of any place; a dweller; an occupant

(property law, by extension) One who owns real estate other than via allodial title.


demonic

en-adj

demonic (comparative more demonic, superlative most demonic)

more demonic (comparative)
most demonic (superlative)

From Latin daemonicus, from Ancient Greek δαιμονικός (daimonikós, “possessed by a demon, sent by a demon”), from δαίμων (daímōn), equivalent to demon + -ic. Doublet of daimonic.

uder

Lifton goes on to argue that they can commit these demonic acts because they rationalize their behaviour. A whole array of rationalizations justified the murder of innocent men, women and children.

2009, Peter Fleming, Stelios C. Zyglidopoulos, Charting Corporate Corruption: Agency, Structure and Escalation, page 40

Texts show the star prime time host Tucker Carlson calling Mr. Trump a “demonic force,” […]

2023 April 1, Jonathan Weisman, quoting Tucker Carlson, “Trump and Fox News, Twin Titans of Politics, Hit With Back-to-Back Rebukes”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

(by extension) Extremely cruel or evil; abhorrent or repugnant.


patent

en-noun

patent (countable and uncountable, plural patents)

The noun is derived from Middle English patent (“document granting an office, property, right, title, etc.; document granting permission, licence; papal indulgence, pardon”) [and other forms], which is either:
* a clipping of lettre patent, lettres patente, lettres patentes [and other forms]; or
* directly from Anglo-Norman and Middle French patente (modern French patent), a clipping of Anglo-Norman lettres patentes, Middle French lettres patentes, lettre patente, and Old French patentes lettres (“document granting an office, privilege, right, etc., or making a decree”) (compare Late Latin patēns, littera patēns, litterae patentēs).
For the derivation of Anglo-Norman and Middle French patente (adjective) in lettre patente, see etymology 2 below.
The verb is derived from the noun.

nb...

patent lettre, patent lettres, patente lettre, patente lettres

der

[pʰe̞ɪʔn̩t̚]

(by extension) A product in respect of which a patent (sense 1.2.2) has been obtained.

patentoitu tuote

product in respect of which a patent has been obtained


patent

en-adj

patent (comparative more patent, superlative most patent)

more patent (comparative)
most patent (superlative)

From Middle English patent, patente (“wide open; clear, unobstructed; unlimited; of a document: available for public inspection”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman and Middle French patent (modern French patent), and directly from their etymon Latin patēns (“open; accessible, passable; evident, manifest; exposed, vulnerable”), the present active participle of pateō (“to be open; to be accessible, attainable; to be exposed, vulnerable; of frontiers or land: to extent, increase”), from Proto-Indo-European *peth₂- (“to spread out; to fly”).

der

[pʰe̞ɪʔn̩t̚]

(by extension, figuratively) To which someone has, or seems to have, a claim or an exclusive claim; also, inventive or particularly suited for.


doldrums

Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

From obsolete doldrum (“slothful or stupid person”) plus the plural suffix -s. Doldrum is possibly derived from dull or Middle English dold (past participle of dullen, dollen (“to make or become blunt or dull; to make or become dull-witted or stupid; to make or become inactive”), from dul, dol, dolle (“not sharp, blunt, dull; not quick-witted, stupid; lethargic, sluggish”); see further at dull), modelled after tantrum.

Mr. Ralph Abercromby has made special observations on the upper wind currents over the equator in the Atlantic Ocean. [...] With respect to the general circulation of the atmosphere we know that the surface trades either die out at the doldrums or unite into one moderate east current; that the low and middle currents over the doldrums are very variable, but that the winds at these low and middle levels, 2,000 to 20,000 feet, come usually from the southeast over the northeast trade, and from the northeast over the southeast trade, and that the highest currents—over 20,000 feet—move from east over the doldrums, from southwest over the northeast trade, and from northwest over the southeast trade.

1890, George E. Curtis, “[General Appendix to the Smithsonian Report for 1889] Progress of Meteorology in 1889”, in Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, Showing the Operations, Expenditures, and Condition of the Institution to July, 1889, Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, →OCLC, section VII (Winds and Ocean Currents; General Atmospheric Circulation), page 245

Hurricanes are known to develop in the belt of doldrums in the southern North Atlantic Ocean and also in the western Caribbean Sea when the Pacific doldrum belt extends into that area. However, many tropical storms of the Gulf, Caribbean, and southern North Atlantic have not with certainty been traced to a place of origin, and it cannot be said with assurance that they do not develop occasionally in other areas.

1938, I[van] R[ay] Tannehill, “Places of Origin”, in The Hurricane: (Revised 1938) (United States Department of Agriculture Miscellaneous Publication; no. 197), Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, published February 1939, →OCLC, page 2, column 2

[...] The High Encounter entered the doldrums near the equator, where the ship ended up in the captain's effort to avoid the British. Without wind to move the ship, The High Encounter waffled in the slow-moving sea.

2001, Douglas Berry, chapter 41, in A Ship Called Grace, Lincoln, Neb.: Writer’s Showcase, iUniverse, page 313

(nautical, oceanography, by extension) Usually preceded by the: a part of the ocean near the equator where calms, squalls, and light, baffling winds are common.


meta

en-noun

meta (countable and uncountable, plural metas)

Clipping of metagame. Folk etymology also suggests an initialism of most efficient tactic available.

Each video sharing platform's community has a meta on how long videos should be.

I remember interviewing PewDiePie a few years ago, and he was sort of telling me about this time where it was like edgy videos were being really rewarded, so everyone was kind of chasing like edgy humor and edgy memes, and sort of trying to figure out where the edge was. And then YouTube changed the meta, and suddenly, it wasn’t good to be edgy, you weren't weren’t going to make as much money or get as many views.

2023 October 27, 29:51 from the start, in Hard Fork (podcast), spoken by Kevin Roose, The New York Times

(by extension, countable, Internet slang) An informal but widely adopted practice in a given field; a de facto standard.


giddy

en-adj

giddy (comparative giddier, superlative giddiest)

giddier (comparative)
giddiest (superlative)

The adjective is derived from Middle English gidi, gedy, gydy (“demonically controlled or possessed; crazy, insane; foolish, idiotic, ridiculous, unwise; unsure; (rare) dizzy, shaky; (rare) of an animal: crazed, out of control; a fool”) [and other forms], from Old English gidiġ, gydiġ (“possessed by a demon or spirit, insane, mad”), from Proto-West Germanic *gudīg (“ghostly, spirited”, literally “possessed by a god or spirit”), from *god (“god”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰew- (“to pour”), possibly in the sense of a libation made to a deity) + *-ig, *-g (suffix forming adjectives with the senses of being, doing, or having). The English word is analysable as god + -y (suffix meaning ‘having the quality of’, forming adjectives).
The noun and the verb are derived from the adjective.

nb...

gedi, gidie, gidy, gudi, gudiʒe, guidi, guydi, gydi, gydie

лекомислен

unable to concentrate or think seriously; easily excited — see also impulsive

лекомислен

lightheartedly silly — see also frivolous

Unable to concentrate or think seriously; easily excited; impulsive; also, lightheartedly silly; frivolous.

The boy was giddy when he opened his birthday presents.

But I vvonder, that either theſe good men, or my mamma ſhou'd think, becauſe they may find it pleaſant vvho are come to maturity of judgment, that ſuch as vve vvho are in the gayeſt and giddyeſt part of life ſhou'd.

1767, “Dialogue I. Between Philip and Henry, Concerning the Importance of Early Religion.”, in The Friendly Instructor; or, A Companion for Young Ladies, and Young Gentlemen: […], 3rd edition, volume II, London: […] J. Buckland, […], →OCLC, page 4

Joyfully elated; overcome with excitement or happiness.

radostí bez sebe

joyfully elated; overcome with excitement or happiness

(British, dialectal) Feeling great anger; furious, raging.


stillborn

First attested 1597, from English still + born

This, gentlemen, is a list of the joint-stock companies created last year. . . . Of these some were stillborn, but the majority hold the market.

1859, Charles Reade, chapter 11, in Love Me Little, Love Me Long

His lips framed themselves to whistle the first bars of a popular song, but the sound died stillborn.

1915, William MacLeod Raine, chapter 18, in The Highgrader

(figuratively, by extension) Ignored, without influence, or unsuccessful from the outset; abortive.

doodgeboren

ignored, without influence, unsuccessful, abortive


rib

From Middle English rib, ribbe, from Old English ribb (“rib”), from Proto-West Germanic *ribi, from Proto-Germanic *ribją (“rib, reef”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rebʰ- (“arch, ceiling, cover”).
Cognate with Dutch rib (“rib”), Norwegian ribbe (“sparerib”), Norwegian ribben (“rib”), Low German ribbe (“rib”), German Rippe (“rib”), Old Norse rif (“rib, reef”), Serbo-Croatian rèbro (“rib”).
(wife or woman): In reference to the creation of Eve from Adam's rib in the Bible.

der

umbrella ribs

(by extension) A part or piece, similar to a rib, and serving to shape or support something.


hospital pass

Having identified a problem, he took no action to deal with it. Lacking the courage of our convictions, he gave a hospital pass to the Bank of England, which then had little option but to step in and raise interest rates

1997 (23 July) Gary Streeter, Hansard HC Deb vol 298 c980

(by extension) a promotion or delegation which is likely to end in failure or ignominy; a poisoned chalice


draw straws

en-verb

draw straws (third-person singular simple present draws straws, present participle drawing straws, simple past drew straws, past participle drawn straws)

draws straws (present singular third-person)
drawing straws (participle present)
drew straws (past)
drawn straws (participle past)

(by extension) To decide by any means of chance.


spambot

(more generally) A bot that sends any type of spam content on the Internet.


fullerene

After Buckminster Fuller, inventor of the geodesic dome, + -ene.

(chemistry, by extension) The class of carbon allotropes consisting of tubular carbon molecules (carbon nanotubes) and spheroidal carbon molecules (traditional fullerenes).


cherry-pick

cherry-pick (third-person singular simple present cherry-picks, present participle cherry-picking, simple past and past participle cherry-picked)

cherry-picks (present singular third-person)
cherry-picking (participle present)
cherry-picked (participle past)
cherry-picked (past)

A metaphor, from the idea of picking through a bowl of cherries and seeking the best for oneself, or the idea of picking off the cherries for oneself from a cake or dessert.

From all the available statistics, the politician cherry-picked only those that backed up his ideas.

The reason for this concentration is to attempt to alleviate the problems of fragmentation which usually accompany the study of retailing, particularly at the end of the early period, and has so often happened in the past, to curtail the temptation to 'cherry-pick' the best evidence from a wide, but not necessarily related, area.

1999, Nicholas Alexander, Gary Akehurst, The Emergence of Modern Retailing, 1750-1950, page 38

2001, Ian St. John in sci.environment
You are *asking* for a specific *subset* of the data to *prove* a specific theory. That is 'cherry picking'. It is no more valid to 'cherry pick' data to disprove global warming than it is to 'cherry pick' data to prove it. That is *science*. You *must* deal with the entire data set. What part of this is not clear?

Yes, I do think in principle it is a good idea to have clearing houses where data is assessed and has as objective an account as possible given of the data because of the tendency of all organisations to cherry-pick those studies which may support a pre-existing position.

2006, Scientific developments relating to the Abortion Act 1967: twelfth report of session 2006-07, Vol. 2: Oral and written evidence, page 32

So it's possible to 'cherry pick' only the evidence that supports a position and ignore the rest. To the reader who does not know about the rest of the evidence, it may seem like a strong case. The whole body of evidence must be considered.

2008, Warren Davies, How to Study Psychology, page 80

(rhetoric, logic, by extension) To select only evidence which supports an argument, and reject or ignore contradictory evidence.

de krenten uit de pap halen

to select only the best from a range of options


slick

From Middle English slicke, slike, slyke, from Old English slīc (“sleek, smooth; crafty, cunning, slick”), from Proto-Germanic *slīkaz (“sleek, smooth”),
from Proto-Indo-European *sleyg-, *sleyǵ- (“to glide, smooth, spread”). Akin to Dutch sluik, dialectal Dutch sleek (“even, smooth”), Old Norse slíkr (“sleek, smooth”), Old English slician (“to make sleek, smooth, or glossy”).

cog

(by extension, hydrodynamics, US, dated) A rapidly-expanding ring of dark water, resembling an oil slick, around the site of a large underwater explosion at shallow depth, marking the progress through the water of the shock wave generated by the explosion.


cockblock

en-verb

cockblock (third-person singular simple present cockblocks, present participle cockblocking, simple past and past participle cockblocked)

cockblocks (present singular third-person)
cockblocking (participle present)
cockblocked (participle past)
cockblocked (past)

From Rhyming compound of cock + block; likely a back-formation from cockblocker.
First attested among black teenagers in the US in the early 1970s.

(by extension) To prevent someone from achieving a goal, aggressively getting in the way (e.g., an intentionally difficult level of a video game).


larval

A period in larval stage during which student hackers hassle each other by attempting to log each other out of the system, delete each other's files, and otherwise wreak havoc, usually at the expense of the lesser users.

2023 July 12 (last accessed), “Wheel Wars”, in The Jargon File


chasm

General American, uncommon, spelling pronunciation

From Latin chasma, from Ancient Greek χάσμα (khásma, “abyss, cleft”).

chasma

long, narrow, steep-sided depression on a body in the solar system

Chelsea may not have regarded themselves as title rivals to City over the whole season but this was a harrowing illustration of the current chasm between the two sides and made for disturbing viewing for the Italian.

2019 February 10, Phil McNulty, “Manchester City 6-0 Chelsea”, in BBC Sport

(by extension) A large difference of opinion.


swill

en-noun

swill (countable and uncountable, plural swills)

From Middle English swilen (“to wash; swirl; wash away”), from Old English swillan, swilian (“to wash; wash down; swill; gargle”), from Proto-West Germanic *swilljan, from Proto-Germanic *swiljaną (“to gulp, swallow”), from Proto-Indo-European *swel- (“to drink, gulp, swallow”). Related to swallow.

der

I cannot believe anyone could drink this swill.

(by extension) Any disgusting or distasteful liquid.

This new TV show is a worthless load of swill.

They have helped foster a corrosive, mean-spirited, angry and divisive atmosphere that May and her lieutenants are too weak to challenge. Into this swill comes Leave financier-in-chief, Arron Banks, who last week announced he was setting up a “Patriotic Alliance” to attempt to unseat 100 Remain-supporting MPs.

2017 March 27, “The Observer view on triggering article 50”, in The Observer

(by extension, figurative) Anything disgusting or worthless.


mausoleum

en-noun

mausoleum (plural mausoleums or mausolea)

From Middle English mausoleum, from Latin Mausōlēum, from Ancient Greek Μαυσωλεῖον (Mausōleîon), from Μαύσωλος (Maúsōlos); named after Mausolus (?–395 BCE), satrap of the Persian empire and ruler of Caria, whose tomb was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

As Amazon reaches maximum ubiquity in our lives (“Alexa, play Led Zeppelin”), as online shopping turns malls into mausoleums, it’s been illuminating to see exactly how a package makes the final leg of its journey.

2018 December 25, Austin Murphy, “I Used to Write for Sports Illustrated. Now I Deliver Packages for Amazon.”, in The Atlantic

(by extension) A gloomy, usually large room or building.


life expectancy

life expectancy (countable and uncountable, plural life expectancies)

(figuratively, by extension, of an idea or an object) The amount of time something is expected to last.

odotettu kesto

the amount of time something is expected to last


rhapsodic

From Latinized form of Ancient Greek ῥαψῳδῐκός (rhapsōidikós).


black art

Operating a hand card punch was something of a black art.

Traincrew management has always been a bit of a black art, rather than a science. The present traincrew difficulties that beset the UK rail industry are neither new nor were they unforeseeable.

2022 November 16, Graham Eccles, “The Rest Day Working saga...”, in RAIL, number 970, page 32

(figuratively, by extension) A process that is mysterious or difficult to master.


tincture

The noun is derived from Late Middle English tincture (“a dye, pigment; a colour, hue, tint; process of colouring or dyeing; medicinal ointment or salve (perhaps one discolouring the skin); use of a medicinal tincture; (alchemy) transmutation of base metals into gold; ability to cause such transmutation; substance supposed to cause such transmutation”) [and other forms], borrowed from Latin tīnctūra (“act of dyeing”) + Middle English -ure (suffix indicating an action or a process and the means or result of that action or process). Tīnctūra is derived from tīnctus (“coloured, tinged; dipped in; impregnated with; treated”) + -tūra (suffix forming action nouns expressing activities or results); while tīnctus is the perfect passive participle of tingō (“to colour, dye, tinge; to dip (in), immerse; to impregnate (with); to moisten, wet; to smear”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *teng- (“to dip; to soak”). Doublet of teinture and tinctura.
The verb is derived from the noun.

der

Senses relating to colour, and to dipping something into a liquid.

A colour or tint, especially if produced by a pigment or something which stains; a tinge.

оттенък

colour or tint, especially if produced by a pigment or something which stains — see also tinge

His [Plato's] divergence from the Pythagoreans in making the One and the Numbers separate from things, and his introduction of the Forms, were due to his inquiries in the region of definitory formulae (for the earlier thinkers had no tincture of dialectic), […]

1908, Aristotle, chapter VI, in W[illiam] D[avid] Ross, transl., edited by J[ohn] A[lexander] Smith and W. D. Ross, Metaphysica (The Works of Aristotle Translated into English; VIII), Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, book I (Α), Bekker number 987ᵇ, lines 30–34

(figuratively) A slight addition of a thing to something else; a shade, a touch, a trace.

(heraldry) A hue or pattern used in the depiction of a coat of arms; namely, a colour, fur, or metal.

tinktura

(by extension, humorous) A (small) alcoholic drink.

Scientific and alchemical senses.
A (small) alcoholic drink.


blot

→ Polish: blotka

From Middle English blot (“blot, spot, stain, blemish”). Perhaps from Old Norse *blettr (“blot, stain”) (only attested in documents from after Old Norse transitioned to Icelandic blettur), or from Old French bloche (“clod of earth”).

inh

The only blot on this service is that of its Kentish Town connections, which throughout the day in many cases just miss the St. Pancras-Luton stopping trains.

1960 February, “The dieselised St. Pancras suburban service”, in Trains Illustrated, page 95

(by extension) A stain on someone's reputation or character; a disgrace.


freezing

en-adj

freezing (comparative more freezing, superlative most freezing)

more freezing (comparative)
most freezing (superlative)

(by extension, chiefly hyperbolic) Very cold


subterranean

From Latin subterrāneus + -an. Compare subterrane and subterraneous.

The subterranean tool of buying rigged opinion polling and media coverage is outlined in remarkable detail in chat exchanges recovered from the cellphone of one of Mr. Kurz’s closest allies and friends, Thomas Schmid.

2021 October 17, Katrin Bennhold, “Fake Polls and Tabloid Coverage on Demand: The Dark Side of Sebastian Kurz”, in The New York Times, →ISSN


zaibatsu

Borrowed from Japanese 財閥(ざいばつ) (zaibatsu), coined from Middle Chinese 財 (d͡zoj, “wealth”) + 閥 (bjot, “powerful family”). Doublet of chaebol.


catch up

en-verb

catch up (third-person singular simple present catches up, present participle catching up, simple past and past participle caught up)

catches up (present singular third-person)
catching up (participle present)
caught up (participle past)
caught up (past)

bijpraten

to bring someone else up to date with the news

That's why she got caught up in addiction.

(transitive, by extension) To involve in (something).


terrorism

en-noun

terrorism (usually uncountable, plural terrorisms)

/ˈtɛɹəɹɪzəm/

From French terrorisme, from terreur + -isme, equivalent to terror + -ism.
The word first appears in English in 1795 in reference to the Jacobin radicals of France, who ruled during the Reign of Terror.

തീവ്രവാദം (tīvravādaṁ, literally “extremism”)

The use of unlawful violence against people or property to achieve political objectives.

(by extension) The use of intimidation or bullying tactics.


dustup

The incident followed other dustups between the two parties over the conduct of the war on terrorism.

And given how few Netflix subscribers appear to have canceled their subscriptions during last year’s dust-up with Mr. Chappelle, Spotify can probably breathe easy on this front for now.

2022 January 31, Kevin Roose, “Spotify’s Joe Rogan Problem Isn’t Going Away”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

(informal, by extension) An argument or dispute.


honeydew

honeydew (countable and uncountable, plural honeydews)

The noun is derived from honey + dew, originally believed to be a form of dew that fell from the sky like rain onto plants (see sense 1).
The adjective is derived from the noun.

(uncountable) A sweet liquid substance resembling the substance mentioned in sense 1, such as honey, nectar, or manna in the Bible.

مَنّ

(uncountable) A blackish mould (often called sooty mould) produced by fungi of the order Dothideales, feeding on the substance mentioned in sense 1.

ма́на

blackish mould (often called sooty mould) produced by some fungi feeding on the substance mentioned in sense 1

(uncountable, originally US) In full honeydew tobacco: a fine sort of tobacco moistened with a sweet substance (originally molasses).

(countable) Short for honeydew melon (“a melon from the Cucumis melo Inodorus cultivar group, with sweet, light green or white flesh and a smooth greenish-white or yellow rind”).

honeydew melon

honeydew:

(uncountable) A light green colour, like the flesh of some honeydew melons.

(countable, figuratively) Something that is enjoyable or pleasant.


witching hour

/ˈwɪt͡ʃɪŋ ˌaʊə/

/ˈwɪt͡ʃɪŋ ˌaʊ(ə)ɹ/

From witching (“of or pertaining to witchcraft or sorcery, or to witches or sorcerers”, adjective) + hour. Sense 1 (“midnight”) was popularized by the reference to the “witching time of night” in the play Hamlet (written c. 1599–1602; published 1603) by the English playwright William Shakespeare (1564–1616): see the quotation.

compound

Witching hour: It just might be the most challenging time of the day. That window between dinner and bedtime where kids are wound up, parents want to wind down, and it feels like the longest hour or two ever. And although the term witching hour is most commonly applied to newborns and babies, kids of all ages seem to be extra sensitive at this time. Here are some ideas for getting through witching hour for kids of all ages.

2022 October 17, Jenn Cox, “Age-by-age Guide to Surviving Witching Hour”, in Kim Shiffman, editor, Today’s Parent, Toronto, Ont.: St. Joseph Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2024-01-17

A time of day, usually in the early evening, when babies and young children are more fretful and likely to cry or fuss.

iltahuuto

time of day when babies and young children are more fretful

(originally and chiefly US, stock market) The final hour of trading each month during which certain stock options expire, leading to a higher trading volume and greater price volatility.


brittle

en-noun

brittle (usually uncountable, plural brittles)

From Middle English britel, brutel, brotel (“brittle”), from Old English *brytel, *bryttol (“brittle, fragile”, literally “prone to or tending to break”); equivalent to brit + -le.

(by extension) Anything resembling this confection, such as flapjack, a cereal bar, etc.


trim

en-verb

trim (third-person singular simple present trims, present participle trimming, simple past and past participle trimmed)

trims (present singular third-person)
trimming (participle present)
trimmed (participle past)
trimmed (past)

From Middle English trimen, trymen, trümen, from Old English trymman (“to make firm; strengthen”), from Proto-West Germanic *trummjan, from Proto-Germanic *trumjaną (“to make fast; strengthen”), from Proto-Germanic *trumaz (“firm; strong; sound”).

tasapainottaa

to modify the angle of a ship relative to the water

To trim an arc lamp, first remove the old carbons and carefully and thoroughly wipe the carbon rods, holders, &c. with a clean, dry rag. […] Having cleaned the rods, next wipe out the globe and get ready the fresh carbons.

1892, English Mechanic and World of Science, page 444

(transitive, by extension) To change the carbon rods of (an arc lamp).


trim

en-noun

trim (countable and uncountable, plural trims)

varustelutaso

the manner in which something is equipped

(uncountable, aviation, by extension) The mechanism(s) used to trim an aircraft in roll, pitch, and/or yaw.


buoyancy

buoyancy (countable and uncountable, plural buoyancies)

(by extension) Resilience or cheerfulness.


breathtaking

en-adj

breathtaking (comparative more breathtaking, superlative most breathtaking)

more breathtaking (comparative)
most breathtaking (superlative)

/ˈbɹɛθˌteɪ.kɪŋ/

breathtaking stupidity or rudeness

The network was established with breathtaking speed in the 1840s, when more than 250,000 navvies were furiously building our railways.

2019 December 18, Nigel Harris, “180 years of tragedy and progress”, in Rail, page 62

(by extension) Very surprising or shocking; to such a degree as to cause astonishment.


no-show

Out of fifty people who said they would attend, we only had three no-shows.

Once they were enrolled […] they never did any work, but Frankel would deliver signed time sheets to the district office, collect the checks, and give them to his fake workers. And the no-shows would give Frankel the salary money, which he put into Beth Rachel school.

1972, Crawford Gillan, Sir Harold Evans, Essential English for Journalists, Editors and Writers, page 192

(by extension) A person or group that does not show up.


tether

From Middle English tether, teder, from Old English *tēoder and/or Old Norse tjóðr ( > Danish tøjr, Swedish tjuder); both from Proto-Germanic *teudrą (“rope; cord; shaft”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *dewtro-, from Proto-Indo-European *dew- (“to tie”), or from Proto-Indo-European *dewk- (“to pull”). Cognate with North German Tüder (“tether for binding the cattle”), Swedish tjuder (“tether for binding cattle”).

inh

(by extension) The limit of one's abilities, resources etc.


joshi

Ellipsis of 女子プロレス (joshi puroresu), itself a compound of 女子 (joshi, “woman”) + プロレス (puroresu, “professional wrestling”).

compound

Whether they are called joshis, luchadoras, or lady grapplers, one can find female wrestlers in every part of the world.

2017, Pat Laprade, Dan Murphy, Sisterhood of the Squared Circle: The History and Rise of Women's Wrestling

(uncountable) Japanese women's professional wrestling

(by extension) A female Japanese professional wrestler

Japanese women's professional wrestling
A female Japanese professional wrestler


afterings

(by extension) The last of any substance that is of a poorer quality than the earlier substance, e.g. the dregs of coffee.

Neige

the last of any substance that is of a poorer quality than the earlier substance


rotten borough

/ˌɹɒtn̩ ˈbʌɹə/

/ˌɹɑtn̩ ˈbʌɹoʊ/

From rotten (“in a state of decay”) + borough (“type of administrative district”), because such boroughs were regarded as having “decayed” due to their voters moving away to other places.

(by extension) A parliamentary constituency or electoral district in a similar situation.


assailant

From Old French assaillant, from the verb assaillir, from Late Latin assalīre, from Latin ad (“to, towards”) + salīre (“to jump”). Equivalent to assail + -ant.

1782, Frances Burney, Cecilia, London: T. Payne and Son and T. Cadell, Volume 5, Book 9, Chapter 3, p. 41,
[…] the assailants of the quill have their honour as much at heart as the assailants of the sword.

(figuratively, by extension) A hostile critic or opponent.


get away with

en-verb

get away with (third-person singular simple present gets away with, present participle getting away with, simple past got away with, past participle (UK) got away with or (US) gotten away with)

gets away with (present singular third-person)
getting away with (participle present)
got away with (past)
got away with (UK participle past)
gotten away with (US participle past)

It's warm today, so you can probably get away with just wearing a short-sleeved shirt.

The vehicles resemble something out of Thunderbirds. They have to be squat, long and narrow to fit through the body of the TBM. They also have a cab at each end, as there's no getting away with a three-point turn in a tunnel!

2022 March 23, Paul Bigland, “HS2 is just 'passing through'”, in RAIL, number 953, page 41

But we still sought out the very best cleaners because they let you get away with using cheaper or gentler detergents, loading extra-crusty dishes, or running the quick cycle even with dishes that are pretty gnarly.

2022 May 27, Liam McCabe, Sarah Bogdan, “The Best Dishwashers”, in New York Times

(colloquial, by extension) To avoid the consequences of doing something by an easier method.


stampede

→ German: Stampede

The noun is derived from Mexican Spanish estampida (“a stampede”), from Spanish estampida, estampido (“a bang, a crack (sound)”), from Old Occitan estampida, from Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌼𐍀𐌾𐌰𐌽 (stampjan), from Proto-Germanic *stampōną (“to compress, squeeze; to stamp”), from Proto-Indo-European *stembʰ- (“to trample down”).
The verb is derived from the noun.

der

The annual Muslim Hajj in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, which is attended by millions of pilgrims, has increasingly suffered from stampedes.

I asked the conductor if he would ask Chester to hold the 16.35 to Euston—the last through train on a Saturday—but he said Virgin won't hold anything. We came to a stand at Chester at 16.35, and there was a sizeable stampede down the platform for the London train, but it had gone.

2019 October, Chris Stokes, “Between the Lines”, in Modern Railways, Shepperton, Surrey: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 97

A situation in which many people in a crowd are trying to move in the same direction at the same time, especially in consequence of a panic.

roborobo

crowd trying to move in the same direction at the same time

(Canada, US) An event at which cowboy skills are displayed; a rodeo.


stampede

en-verb

stampede (third-person singular simple present stampedes, present participle stampeding, simple past and past participle stampeded)

stampedes (present singular third-person)
stampeding (participle present)
stampeded (participle past)
stampeded (past)

rynnätä pakoon

to cause (a drove or herd of animals) to run away or scamper in a wild, headlong manner; to cause animals (owned by a person) to run away or scamper in this manner

rynnistää

of a drove or herd of animals: to run away or scamper in a wild, headlong manner

rynnätä

of people in a crowd: to move in the same direction at the same time

(by extension) To cause (people in a crowd) to move in the same direction at the same time, especially due to panic.

人踩人

to cause (people in a crowd) to move in the same direction at the same time

(by extension) To cause (an individual) to act hastily or rashly.

aiheuttaa ryntäys

to cause (an individual) to act hastily or rashly

But here in the UK, we tend to stampede from the concourse the moment the platform number is announced for the train we want to catch, crush round the doors, and then launch ourselves into the first available seat before our fellow passengers can take them all.

2020 May 20, Stefanie Foster, “Comment: Safety First: Now More than Ever”, in Rail, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 3

(by extension) Of people in a crowd: to move in the same direction at the same time, especially due to panic.


comedian

comedians (plural)
comedienne (feminine)

→ German: Comedian

→ Indonesian: komedian

From comedy + -ian. From Middle French comédien, from comédie (“comedy”).

(by extension) Any person who is humorous or amusing, either characteristically or on a particular occasion.


pigeonhole

From pigeon + hole. Originally literal hole for pigeons, later similar compartments for papers, then extended metaphorically in verb sense of narrowly categorizing or deferring.

鴿棚

one of an array of compartments for pigeons

分類架

one of an array of compartments for mail

Fred was disappointed to find his pigeonhole empty except for bills and a flyer offering 20% off on manicures.

(by extension) One of an array of compartments for receiving mail and other messages at a college, office, etc.


feng shui

Borrowed from Mandarin 風水／风水 (fēngshuǐ, “feng shui (Chinese system of geomancy)”, literally “wind and water”): 風／风 (fēng, “wind”) + 水 (shuǐ, “water”). Doublet of fung shui.

bor

Feng-Shui has long been the puzzle of European residents in China. It is the principle which is given as a reason for every opposition to modern improvements, and which commands the devotions of the Chinese to such an extent that they will commit murder to avenge its neglect. [...] This Feng-Shui is, however, nothing more than the development of the principles enunciated in the Yih-king, and expounded by Confucius. [...] Therefore, Feng-Shui requires the tombs of the deceased to be on specially fortunate ground, where there shall be a proper combination of male and female, the male being represented by hilly country, the female by gently undulating ground. At the junction of these two grounds, where they form a bend like the elbow of a man's arm, is the propitious site for tombs and also for cities. Such a site has been chosen for the city of Canton.

1875 March, “Art VI.—1. The Works of Confucius, Containing the Original Text with a Translation. By J[oshua] Marshman. Serampore. 1809. [...]”, in Edward I[sidore] Sears, editor, The National Quarterly Review, volume XXX, number LX, New York, N.Y.: Edward I. Sears, editor and proprietor, →OCLC, pages 343–344

In setting up his hut, he gives no heed to the customary consideration of geomancy in the Chinese tradition of feng shui: "I built my house without consulting any diviners."

1986, William R. LaFleur, “Inns and Hermitages: The Structure of Impermanence”, in The Karma of Words: Buddhism and the Literary Arts in Medieval Japan, 1st paperback edition, Berkeley, Los Angeles, Calif., London: University of California Press, page 64

{{quote-book|en|author=w:Helen Fielding|chapter=Saturday, 11 November|chapterurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=l5jMNzr-CnYC&pg=PT171|title=Bridget Jones’s Diary|location=London|publisher=Picador|year=1996|isbn=978-0-330-37163-6|location2=London|publisher2=w:Penguin Books|year2=1999 (2010 printing)|isbn2=978-1-101-19954-1|passage=Thought this might be the perfect time to do the Feng Shui so went out and bought Cosmopolitan. Carefully, using the drawing in Cosmo, I mapped the ba-gua of the flat. Had a flash of horrified realization. There was a wastepaper basket in my Helpful Friends Corner. No wonder bloody Tom had disappeared.]]

No office building, store, residence or place of worship is built in Hong Kong without first consulting a feng shui man. [...] According to tradition, every structure in China rests on some part of the Earth Dragon, over which flows Heaven-Earth-Air currents. A feng shui professional consults these currents to determine on which part of the Dragon a building rests.

1996, Andrew Grzeskowiak, “The Work Environment”, in Barbara Szerlip, editor, Passport Hong Kong: Your Pocket Guide to Hong Kong Business, Customs & Etiquette (Passport to the World), San Rafael, Calif.: World Trade Press, page 34

The Chinese believe feng shui, pronounced fung shway, can help blunt the ill effects to health and wealth brought on, for example, by the inauspicious jut of an adjacent building or hill.

1997 January 31, Charles Hutzler, “Leader’s office hunt a lesson in arcana and parking problems”, in AP News, archived from the original on 2023-04-19

[A] large number of people in the United States and Western Europe are paying fengshui "experts" large sums of money to align their expensive coffee tables with their even more expensive sofas, in the hope of bringing more wealth, and perhaps some happiness, into their already affluent households. This seems a gross perversion of the basic spirit of fengshui – which would say that happiness, and certainly some wealth, would come more easily if these people simply sold off all the furniture and other clutter that's obstructing their contact with their natural surroundings.

2003, Graham Parkes, “Winds, Waters, and Earth Energies: Fengshui and Awareness of Place”, in Helaine Selin, Arne Kalland, editors, Nature across Cultures: Views of Nature and the Environment in Non-Western Cultures (Science across Cultures: The History of Non-Western Science; 4), Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, →DOI, page 186

The toilet and bathroom are extremely important rooms in the house as they are places where water (money) drains away. The ch'i should be allowed to flow smoothly in and out of these rooms without impediment. Consequently, overly ornate bathrooms are not good from a feng shui point of view as they tend to hold the ch'i inside the room.

2004, Richard Webster, “The Bathroom”, in 101 Feng Shui Tips for Your Home, St. Paul, Minn.: Llewellyn Publishers, page 93

As can be seen, there are similarities and differences between sustainable design and Feng Shui concepts. From the analysis, the sustainable design concepts aimed at the creation of enjoyable space for human interactions and balance between the natural and the built environment, can be identified with the Feng Shui concepts of unity of heaven and humanity, and the Yin and Yang harmony.

2011, Michael Y. Mak, Albert T. So, “Case Studies: Sustainable Design and Feng Shui”, in Scientific Feng Shui for the Built Environment: Fundamentals and Case Studies, Hong Kong: City University of Hong Kong Press, page 153, column 1

(by extension) An ancient Chinese system of geomancy used to design buildings and graves, and to determine the spatial arrangement of things, according to rules about the flow of energy, aimed at achieving harmony with the environment, promoting good fortune and wealth, etc.


scramble

en-verb

scramble (third-person singular simple present scrambles, present participle scrambling, simple past and past participle scrambled)

scrambles (present singular third-person)
scrambling (participle present)
scrambled (participle past)
scrambled (past)

Origin uncertain. Perhaps from earlier dialectal scramble, scrammel (“to collect or rake together with the hands”), from scramb (“to pull or scrape together with the hands”) + -le (frequentative suffix) (compare Dutch schrammen (“to graze, brush, scratch”)); or alternatively from a nasalised form of scrabble (“to scrape or scratch quickly”).

lähettää

to quickly enter vehicles and proceed to destination

But on April 13 it 'scrambled' a rake of Mk 2s and dual-braked 'Black 5' 45212 to start its lucrative summer money-spinner two days later.

2024 May 1, “Network News: West Coast Railways runs 'Jacobite' with Mk 1 and Mk 2 combination”, in RAIL, number 1008, page 9

(transitive, military, also by extension) To quickly deploy (vehicles, usually aircraft) to a destination in response to an alert, usually to intercept an attacking enemy.


blight

en-noun

blight (countable and uncountable, plural blights)

The etymology of the noun is uncertain; suggested derivations include the following:
* possibly related to Middle English blichening (“mildew or rust on grain, blight”), possibly related to Middle English bliken (“to gleam, shine; to turn pale”), from Old English blīcan (“to shine, sparkle”) (whence modern English blike (“(obsolete) to gleam, shine”); also compare Old Norse blikna (“to grow pallid”)), from Proto-West Germanic *blīkan (“to shine”), from Proto-Germanic *blīkaną (“to gleam, shine”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleyǵ- (“to shine”); or
* since sense 2.2 is a diseased condition of the skin, possibly from Middle English *bleighte, *bleȝte, from Old English blǣcþa (“leprosy”) (related to blǣċe (“an itching skin-disease”) and blǣċo (“leprosy; paleness”)), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *blaikaz (“pale; white”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleyǵ- (“to shine”). If so, the word is a doublet of bleak.
The verb is derived from the noun.

cog

(by extension)
A state of cloudy, humid weather.

(pathology, dated) A diseased condition of the face or skin; specifically, bleeding under the conjunctiva of the eye, a form of skin rash, or a palsy of the face due to cold.


blight

en-verb

blight (third-person singular simple present blights, present participle blighting, simple past and past participle blighted)

blights (present singular third-person)
blighting (participle present)
blighted (participle past)
blighted (past)
blight (infinitive)

(by extension, pathology, dated) To affect (a body part) with a disease.


Barbie

Named for Barbara Handler-Segal, daughter of Mattel co-founder Elliot Handler, in 1959.

(by extension, informal, derogatory) A beautiful but stupid or shallow young woman.

barbína

a beautiful but stupid or shallow young woman


Fifth

(Fifth Amendment): From the name of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, protecting various rights in US legal proceedings.

(chiefly US, informal, with the, by extension) The right not to give self-incriminating testimony.


Hulk

Jack Kirby
Marvel Comics Universe
Stan Lee

The name of a character created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby for the Marvel Comics Universe, it has since entered the everyday English lexicon. The name itself is most likely derived from the word hulk (“large person or thing”), which predates the character. See the Wikipedia link at the bottom.


Frisbee

en-noun

Frisbee (countable and uncountable, plural Frisbees)

1957, brand name Frisbee was trademarked in 1959 by Fred Morrison, later acquired by Wham-O. From an alteration of frisbie, applied to the disk game by U.S. college students who tossed pie plates from Mrs. Frisbie's Pies, Frisbie Bakery, Bridgeport Ct., since the 1930s. From the English family name Frisby attested 1226, from the toponym attested 1086 in Frisby on the Wreak, Leicestershire, from Old Danish Frisby (“Frisian village”).

(by extension, genericization) A frisbee, a disk-shaped gliding toy of any brand.


Magi

/ˈmeɪˌd͡ʒaɪ/

Adoration of the Magi
Historical Museum Bamberg
Lucas Cranach the Elder

From magi (plural of magus (“magician; (derogatory) conjurer or sorcerer, especially one who is a charlatan or trickster; Zoroastrian priest”)), from Middle English mages, magi or Magi, magy or Magy (“men possessing occult knowledge; astrologers, philosophers, sorcerers”), from Latin magī, from magus (“magician; (derogatory) conjurer or sorcerer, especially one who is a charlatan or trickster; Zoroastrian priest”) + -ī (suffix forming nominative or vocative masculine plurals). Magus is derived from Ancient Greek μάγος (mágos), Μάγος (Mágos, “magician; (derogatory) conjurer, sorcerer; Zoroastrian priest”) (plural μᾰ́γοι (mágoi), Μᾰ́γοι (Mágoi)), from Old Iranian (compare Avestan 𐬨𐬊𐬕𐬎 (moġu), Old Median and Old Persian 𐎶𐎦𐎢𐏁 (m-gu-u-š /maγu-/, title of a person?)), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *megʰ- (“to be able, have power; power; sorcerer”).

ref

From the collection of the Historical Museum Bamberg in Bamberg, Upper Franconia, Germany.

der

(astronomy, by extension) The three bright stars (Alnitak (ζ Ori), Alnilam (ε Ori), and Mintaka (δ Ori)) that form Orion's Belt in the Orion constellation.

Orionin vyö

three bright stars that form Orion's Belt


Finn

From Old English Finnas (“the Sami”) (plural), from Old Norse finnr (“a hunter-gatherer”), from Proto-Germanic *finnaz (which see for more). Possibly originally meaning a ‘finder’ of food, referring to nomadic hunter-gatherers, particularly the Sami.

a <i class="Latn mention" lang="en">hunter-gatherer</i>

(by extension) A member of any Finnic nationality, such as (more narrowly) a Baltic Finn such as a Karelian or Estonian, or (more broadly) a Volga Finn or Perm Finn.


Kaiser

Inherited from Middle English kayser, from Old High German keisar (“emperor”), from Proto-West Germanic *kaisar, from Proto-Germanic *kaisaraz. The native Old English descendant of that Proto-Germanic word was cāser (“emperor”), but the shape of Middle English kayser (“emperor”) (versus the expected *caser, *coser) suggests it was borrowed from another Germanic language rather than inherited, and the modern English spelling and sense seem to be modified after modern German rather than a direct continuation of Middle English. Compare tsar, which was borrowed from Slavic.
Doublet of Caesar and tsar.

And Black Ivo is a veritable Kaiser.

1915, T. P.'s Weekly - Volume 26, page 444

[…] that President Poincare, the first servant of France, is still Louis XIV, the former War-Lord, the Kaiser of France […]

1916, The Provocation of France, page 147

Senator Sherman vigorously assailed the Shantung agreement, declaring that it would make the Mikado a veritable Kaiser of the Far East and alienate the sympathies of the 400,000,000 Chinese – from the people of the United States.

1919, Far Eastern Political Science Review - Volume 1, page 49

[…] which, from the banking point of view, the National City Bank is a veritable kaiser.

(by extension) Any emperor or autocrat, or one who attempts to be one.


Muggle

From mug (“contemptible or stupid person; gullible or easily cheated person”) + -le (diminutive suffix), coined by British author J. K. Rowling in her 1997 book Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

suffix

This video game won’t appeal to muggles.

[...] I have finally worked out that the word ECNALUBMA in back-to-front writing translates as 'get out of my way, you Muggle motorist'.

2003 May 14, “There are too many flashing lights nowadays for a knight of the road …”, in Nursing Standard

Some activists might know little of this ‘exterior’, such is their facility to move between activist spaces and places without having to encounter the ever-increasingly one-dimensional world in which the ‘muggles’ live.

2005, David Harvie, Ben Trott, Keir Milburn, editors, Shut Them Down!: The G8, Gleneagles 2005 and the Movement of Movements, Leeds, West Yorkshire: Dissent!; Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.: Autonomedia, page 343

But to me, remembering what it was like to be a beginner is also an exercise in humility. I see a lot of people wanting to push ahead, faster, in all directions, and I find this to be… woefully out of step with even the Muggles who know me, […]

2021 October 31, Ace Admiral [username], “Why is no one talking about the tip of the spear?: An reading of the asexual academy through Skopos Theory”, in A Hand-Painted China Plate at a Barbeque, WordPress, retrieved 2021-11-02

(by extension) A person who lacks a particular ability or skill; a non-specialist; also, a person who is not a member of a group; an outsider or cowan.

At some point when you're out geocaching, you'll run into Muggles. The trouble with Muggles is they have no idea what the sport of geocaching is all about. If they see you find a cache, they might get into the cache after you leave—to see what you were up to.

2004, Joel McNamara, Geocaching for Dummies (For Dummies), Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley, page 125

Try not to let the muggles see you find a Cache.

2006, Wisconsin Natural Resources, Madison, Wis.: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 89

Use Stealth. Commonly used in a place with a high muggle-to-geocacher ratio.

2010, Paul Gillin, Dana Gillin, “Appendix A: Glossary”, in The Joy of Geocaching […], Fresno, Calif.: Quill Driver Books, page 235

Each time we made a find [Teresa] Hinton would check there were no muggles, or non-geocachers, around before taking the container from its hiding place.

2016 February 16, Selina Powell, “The hidden world of geocaching in Marlborough”, in Marlborough Express (reproduced on Stuff), Blenheim, New Zealand: Stuff, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2020-05-16

Caches can be hidden in a disguised container, or very small package, and one element of difficulty is hiding caches in urban locations, where the hunter will have to avoid being spotted by ‘muggles’ – the name given to those unaware of the sport. Muggles will be surprised at the scale of the secret game taking place under their noses.

2018 February 6, Joseph Smith, “The ‘dead drop’ in Stokes Croft may be more than it appears”, in Bristol Post, Bristol, Somerset: Reach plc, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2018-02-10

(geocaching, specifically) A person not involved in the pastime of geocaching.


Holocaust

en-proper noun

the Holocaust (usually uncountable, plural Holocausts)

the Holocaust (canonical)
Holocausts (plural)

For quotations using this term, see Citations:Holocaust.

(historical, broadly) The systematic mass murder (democide) of somewhere between eleven and fourteen million people, namely six million Jews and from five to eight million others (including Romanis, Slavs, homosexuals, and people with physical and mental disabilities), perpetrated by Nazi Germany shortly before and during World War II.


Orthodox

en-adj

Orthodox (comparative more Orthodox, superlative most Orthodox)

more Orthodox (comparative)
most Orthodox (superlative)

Eastern Orthodox Church
Eastern Orthodox Church

Oriental Orthodox Church
Oriental Orthodox Church

(Christianity, loosely) Of or pertaining to a particular Orthodox Church, usually the Eastern Orthodox Church, sometimes the Oriental Orthodox Church or the Church of the East.


Yank

“This time,” he General Alphonse-Pierre Juin] told the Yanks, “you have not crossed to win new victories but to preserve peace. […]”

1951 June 11, “The Yanks Are Coming: U.S. shows world we are playing for keeps as 4th Division leaves to join Eisenhower's NATO army”, in Life, page 38

(slang, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Canada, UK, sometimes derogatory, by extension) An American: someone from the United States.


Zoom

en-verb

Zoom (third-person singular simple present Zooms, present participle Zooming, simple past and past participle Zoomed)

Zooms (present singular third-person)
Zooming (participle present)
Zoomed (participle past)
Zoomed (past)

(by extension) Alternative form of zoom; To communicate using video teleconferencing.


Zoom

(by extension) Alternative form of zoom; A video teleconference call.


Nazi

1930, from German Nazi, a clipping of Nationalsozialist (“National Socialist”) (1924), earlier attestation (1903) as shortening of national-sozial), since in German the nati- in national /ˌnatsi̯oˈnaːl/ is approximately pronounced Nazi [ˈnäːtsi]; compare the parallel pejorative terms Sozi (“socialist, social democrat”), Kozi (“commie, commo, communist”).
A homonymic term Nazi was in use before the rise of the NSDAP in Bavaria as a pet name for Ignaz and (by extension from that) a derogatory word for a backwards peasant, which may have influenced the use of that abbreviation by the Nazis' opponents and its avoidance by the Nazis themselves.

clipping

(by extension) One who subscribes to or advocates (neo-)Nazism, or a similarly fascist, racist, anti-Semitic, xenophobic, ethnic supremacist, or ultranationalist ideology; a neo-Nazi.


Nazi

en-adj

Nazi (comparative more Nazi, superlative most Nazi)

more Nazi (comparative)
most Nazi (superlative)

(by extension) Domineering, totalitarian, or intolerant.


gg

/d͡ʒiːd͡ʒiː/

Nature's Prophet going to get the last hit in as well. It's the entire team down for EHOME. This is GG.

2014 March 19, Free to Play (Film), spoken by Announcer

(online gaming slang, by extension) loss, defeat, game over


Renaissance

/ˈɹɛnəˌsɑns/

/ˌɹɛnəˈsɑns/

/ɹəˈnæɪsɔns/

/ɹəˈnæɪsəns/

/ɹɘˈnæɪsɒns/

/ɹɘˈnæɪsɘns/

the Harlem Renaissance

Gelernter believes that computers and their mirror-world capabilities will usher in a Renaissance of the human spirit.

1995 May 21, Steven Levy, “The Unabomber and David Gelernter”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

Out of every Dark Age there emerged new Renaissances of civilization (Goody 2010; Modelski 2007), and over time they expanded the boundaries of civilization leading to the formation of new empires such as the Assyrian, Persian, Greek, and Roman empires in the west, and similar new empires in east and south-east Asia (China and later empires in Burma, Korea, and Japan), Africa (the Bantu), and south America (the Incas).

2018, Kristian Kristiansen, “Theorizing Trade and Civilization”, in Kristian Kristiansen, Thomas Lindkvist, Janken Myrdal, editors, Trade and Civilisation: Economic Networks and Cultural Ties, from Prehistory to the Early Modern Era, Cambridge, Cambs.: Cambridge University Press, pages 18–19

The Renaissance Is Having a Renaissance [title]

2023 July 10, Rachel Wetzler, “The Renaissance Is Having a Renaissance”, in The New York Times Styles Magazine, →ISSN

Yann LeCun, chief AI scientist at Meta, recently said it was “preposterous” to believe that an AI could threaten humanity. Rather, intelligent machines would stimulate a second Renaissance in learning and help us tackle climate change and cure diseases.

2023 November 25, Richard Waters, John Thornhill, quoting Yann LeCun, “Tech's philosophical rift over AI”, in FT Weekend, Big Read, page 6

(by extension) Any similar artistic or intellectual revival.


quickie

We had a quickie; I didn’t come & was only telling of the future where there was better bed fucks & us living contentedly as we walked slowly across town again to her home.

1971, Neal Cassady, The First Third, City Lights, page 136

Why talk about courtly love [l'amour courtois] today, in an age of permissiveness when the sexual encounter is often nothing more than a ‘quickie’ in some dark corner of an office?

2005 [1994], Slavoj Žižek, The Metastases of Enjoyment: Six Essays on Women and Causality, Verso, page 89

(colloquial, by extension) A brief sexual encounter.


Zeppelin

Borrowed from German Zeppelin. Named after Ferdinand von Zeppelin, whose surname derives from the German town name Zepelin. Doublet of cepelinas.

(aviation, by extension, informal) A rigid airship dirigible, not restricted to Germany nor the early 20th century.


english

Uncertain. It is speculated to relate either to people from England introducing the technique for billiards or bowling in the United States, or perhaps from a particular person with the surname English.

Some drop science, while I'm dropping english.

1988, Andre Romelle Young (lyrics and music), “Express Yourself”, in Straight Outta Compton, performed by Dr. Dre, Ruthless Records

Preston Sturgis in his Sullivan’s Travels (1942) put some english on the idea in a bit about a filthy, defeated, white chaingang that is invited to a rural black church for an evening of old movies.

1993, Thomas Cripps, Making Movies Black, page 94

(by extension, figurative) An unusual or unexpected interpretation of a text or idea, a spin, a nuance.


einstein

Named in honor of Albert Einstein, who explained the photoelectric effect.

Yeah, that guy is a real einstein — he always finds a way to mess up the simplest order.

(informal) A genius; a very smart person.

(by extension, informal, sarcastic) An idiot; a very stupid person.

A genius; a very smart person.
An idiot; a very stupid person.


Titanic

Titanic (not generally comparable, comparative more Titanic, superlative most Titanic)

more Titanic (comparative)
most Titanic (superlative)

From Late Latin Titanicus, or its etymon Ancient Greek Τιτανικός (Titanikós, “of or relating to the Titans”), from Τιτᾶνες (Titânes, “Titans”) + -ικός (-ikós, “suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives”). Τιτᾶνες (Titânes) is the nominative or vocative plural of Τῑτᾱ́ν (Tītā́n, “a Titan”), and then possibly:
* from τῐ́σῐς (tísis, “payment; atonement, penalty, punishment, retribution, reward; vengeance”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷey- (“to pay; to avenge”); or
* from τιταίνω (titaínō, “to extend, stretch”), from τείνω (teínō, “to extend, stretch; to spread; to exert, push to the limit, strain”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ten- (“to extend, stretch”); or
* from τίτο (títo, “sun; day”), originally borrowed from Anatolian.
The English word is analysable as Titan + -ic (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives from nouns).

suffix

(having great size):

(having great size):

(comparable) Having great size, or great force, power, or strength.

титаничен

having great size, or great force, power, or strength

(not comparable) Of a conflict or contest: involving equally powerful participants.


cologne

en-noun

cologne (usually uncountable, plural colognes)

Short for eau de Cologne (French Eau de Cologne), the name given to the original product in 1709. The success of the original Eau de Cologne inspired many imitators and it has become a genericized trademark. See Cologne.

គន្ធរស

kŏənthĕəʼrŭəh

(loosely) A fragrance typically worn by a man as opposed to a woman, regardless of its concentration.


buckle up

en-verb

buckle up (third-person singular simple present buckles up, present participle buckling up, simple past and past participle buckled up)

buckles up (present singular third-person)
buckling up (participle present)
buckled up (participle past)
buckled up (past)

So buckle up for what's coming, readers!

2019 February 27, Robert Kirkman, Outcast By Kirkman & Azaceta #39, Image Comics

(intransitive, idiomatic, by extension, usually imperative) To get ready, to prepare oneself.


à la carte

/ˌæ.ləˈkɑːt/

/ˌæ.læˈkɑːt/

/ˌɑ.ləˈkɑɹt/

/ˌɑ.lɑˈkɑɹt/

Unadapted borrowing from French à la carte (“on the menu; according to the card”).

ubor

When schizophrenia and autism, for example, turned out to be largely heritable, we no longer blamed these disorders on cold or inept mothers. But, for such freighted traits as intelligence, liberals remained understandably anxious and continued to insist that differences—not just on a group level but on an individual one—were merely artifacts of an unequal environment. Conservatives pointed out that an à-la-carte approach to scientific findings was intellectually incoherent.

2021 September 6, Gideon Lewis-Kraus, “Can Progressives Be Convinced That Genetics Matters?”, in The New Yorker

(by extension) Selective; only choosing what one likes or desires.


anthology

/ænˈθɒlədʒi/

/ænˈθɑləd͡ʒi/

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀνθολογία (anthología, “flower-gathering”), from ἀνθολογέω (anthologéō, “I gather flowers”), from ἄνθος (ánthos, “flower”) + λέγω (légō, “I gather, pick up, collect”), coined by Meleager of Gadara circa 60 BCE, originally as Στέφανος (στέφανος (stéphanos, “garland”)) to describe a collection of poetry, later retitled anthology – see Greek Anthology. Anthologiai were collections of small Greek poems and epigrams, because in Greek culture the flower symbolized the finer sentiments that only poetry can express.


ticker tape

en-noun

ticker tape (usually uncountable, plural ticker tapes)

(by extension) Any device used for displaying usually sideways scrolling news or updates.


braille

en-verb

braille (third-person singular simple present brailles, present participle brailling, simple past and past participle brailled)

brailles (present singular third-person)
brailling (participle present)
brailled (participle past)
brailled (past)

Borrowed from French braille, named after French educator Louis Braille (1809–1852). The /eɪl/ seems to reflect a spelling-pronunciation; French has /aj/ instead.

named-after

(informal, by extension) to identify something by touch.


jump the shark

en-verb

jump the shark (third-person singular simple present jumps the shark, present participle jumping the shark, simple past and past participle jumped the shark)

jumps the shark (present singular third-person)
jumping the shark (participle present)
jumped the shark (participle past)
jumped the shark (past)

From "Hollywood (Part 3)", a 1977 episode during the fifth season of the American television series Happy Days, in which the character Fonzie jumped over a shark on waterskis. The expression argues that it was at this point that the show bore no similarity to its original form.

Pintsize: Wait, don’t you want to know why I’m tied up and hanging from the ceiling?
Faye: Not really. Nighty night!
Pintsize: Shit! My wacky antics have jumped the shark!

2007, Jeph Jacques, “Time To Add A Cute Kid To The Cast”, in Questionable Content, number 951

The Bangles were a fine all-woman band, starting with a lovely cover of Prince's "Manic Monday." "Walk Like an Egyptian" was cute, and the ladies rocked out an unlikely cover of Simon and Garfunkel's "Hazy Shade of Winter." But they jumped the shark with the treacly "Eternal Flame," and the end of the road was in sight.

2008, Mark Fogarty, Went to See the Gypsy, Lulu.com, published 2008, page 150

And I knew something was up when I started getting press releases about "tape labels." Maybe vinyl had finally jumped the shark, and magnetic tape was due for a return.

2008 October 11, Cortney Harding, “Tape echo”, in Billboard

(idiomatic, by extension) To experience a decline in quality, appeal, popularity, etc.


coterminous

From Latin conterminus, from con- (“with”) + terminus (“border, end”). The spelling with co- instead of con- is probably influenced by the related prefix co-.

But it is purely fantastic unless we bear in mind that the governing class has been continually compelled to enlarge itself, and that its tendency is reluctantly to go on doing so until in the end it will be coterminous with the "governed class."

From this it follows at once that language and thought are not strictly coterminous.

1921, Edward Sapir, Language: An introduction to the study of speech

The elision of moral and moralising arguments is common, but the two aren't coterminous.

2022, China Miéville, chapter 4, in A Spectre, Haunting: On the Communist Manifesto, →OCLC

(by extension) Having the same scope, range of meaning, or extent in time.

sem liggur innan einna og sömu landamæra


hole in one

en-noun

hole in one (plural holes in one or hole in ones)

holes in one (plural)
hole in ones (plural)

If we can get the entire thing moved over in a day, it'll be a hole in one with the customer.

(by extension, idiomatic) Any rare, wonderful, or remarkable accomplishment.


cabin

en-verb

cabin (third-person singular simple present cabins, present participle cabining, simple past and past participle cabined)

cabins (present singular third-person)
cabining (participle present)
cabined (participle past)
cabined (past)

From Middle English caban, cabane, from Old French cabane, from Medieval Latin capanna (“a cabin”); see further etymology there. Doublet of cabana and cabane.

There was a time when this Court’s precedents may have portended the kind of First Amendment liability for purely private property owners that the majority spends so much time rejecting. […] But the Court soon stanched that trend. See Lloyd Corp. v. Tanner, 407 U. S. 551, 561–567 (1972) (cabining Marsh and refusing to extend Logan Valley); Hudgens v. NLRB, 424 U. S. 507, 518 (1976) (making clear that “the rationale of Logan Valley did not survive” Lloyd).

2019, Sonia Sotomayor, dissenting, Manhattan Community Access Corp. v. Halleck, page 16, note 11


Downing Street

Named for its founder, Sir George Downing.

(metonymically, by extension) The British government.

For all his faults and grandstanding, however, Prescott genuinely cared - and his ambitious plans for tram schemes and railway extensions were stymied by lack of support from Downing Street.

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

(loosely) Either 10 Downing Street or 11 Downing Street.


double whammy

From double + whammy (“evil spell; curse or hex”), popularized by the American cartoonist Al Capp (1909–1979), in his classic comic strip Li’l Abner (1934–1977).

compound

(by extension) A series of two events that causes positive effects; a twofold boon.


autism

en-noun

autism (usually uncountable, plural autisms)

From German Autismus, coined by Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler, first usage dated to 1907 attributed by Carl Jung as an alternative of his for "auto-erotism", although Bleuler himself differentiates the terms in his book Dementia Praecox, first published 1911. From Ancient Greek αὐτός (autós, “self”) + -ισμός (-ismós, “-ism”).

coinage

(clinical psychology) A pervasive neurological condition that is observable in early childhood and persists throughout the lifespan, characterised by atypical communication, language development, eye contact, and sensory experiences.

(broadly) Synonym of autism spectrum; a range of disorders.


namesake

Mid-17th century. Equivalent to name + sake. From the phrase "for (one's) name's sake", first found in Bible translations as a rendering of a Hebrew idiom meaning "to protect one's reputation" or possibly "vouched for by one's reputation." A familiar example is in Psalm 23:3, "he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake" (King James Bible, 1604).

(jonkun) mukaan nimetty

person, place or thing named after another person, place or thing

(by extension) A ship or a building that is named after someone or something.


touch base

en-verb

touch base (third-person singular simple present touches base, present participle touching base, simple past and past participle touched base)

touches base (present singular third-person)
touching base (participle present)
touched base (participle past)
touched base (past)

Touch base with your boss before you start work to make sure you understand the project.

I had met with Dr. Todd right before dinner. He had wanted to touch base with me about my ongoing treatment.

2014, A. Meredith Walters, Light in the Shadows, Simon and Schuster, page 55

(by extension, colloquial, Canada, US, usually with "with") To meet or make contact with someone, usually to consult, review, visit, or communicate.


feeding frenzy

en-noun

feeding frenzy (plural feeding frenzies)

The manager hesitated to open the doors to the thronging holiday crowds, knowing that a feeding frenzy would soon ensue near the display of coveted toys.

(idiomatic, by extension) A voracious competition among would-be purchasers, etc. for limited resources.


recidivism

recidivism (countable and uncountable, plural recidivisms)

/ɹəˈsɪdəvəzm̩/

From French récidivisme, from Latin recidīvus (“returning, recurring”). Compare recidivous, -ism.

uder

alcohol(ic) recidivism

(by extension) Returning to a negative behavior after having stopped it for a period of time.


kugel

en-noun

kugel (countable and uncountable, plural kugels)

→ Japanese: クーゲル (kūgeru)

Borrowed from Yiddish קוגל (kugl) (referring to the inflated appearance of some puddings), from Middle High German kugel (“ball; globe”) (modern German Kugel (“ball; (astronomy) celestial body, orb; (geometry) sphere”)); further etymology uncertain.

cog

She was minding her own business, taking a visitor from struggle days in London around the sights of the New South Africa, when she was recognised by a clutch of ageing kugels, out doing what kugels of all ages do on a Saturday morning in Hyde Park, namely shopping.

2000, John Matshikiza, “With the Lid Off: February 1999 – May 2000”, in Todd Matshikiza, John Matshikiza, With the Lid Off: South African Insights from Home and Abroad, 1959–2000, Milpark, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa: M&G Books, part II (John Matshikiza), page 145

Yet [Barbara] Ludman wants to take Michelle [in The Day of the Kugel (1989)] out of the "Kugel" category (a Kugel being a "disgusting, dull, boring noodle pudding"—the people in Johannesburg suburbs whose wealthy lives are one long party).

2001, Donnarae MacCann, Yulisa Amadu Maddy, “Civil Disobedience and Urban Conflict: The Apartheid Perspective”, in Apartheid and Racism in South Africa Children’s Literature: 1985–1995 (Children’s Literature and Culture; 15), New York, N.Y.; London: Routledge, part 2 (Novels about Contemporary South Africa), page 35

The trouble is that now, in this new century, the kugel is a rare and unprotected species in South Africa. […] The kugels have all left, and the few who stayed behind, protected by their high walls and heavy security, don't venture out at night to come and see themselves in a local revue. Kugels have now re-emerged in the form of black divas – beautiful, glamorous, loud and opinionated women who set store by hair and nails, sunglasses and cars.

2005, Pieter-Dirk Uys, “Bring on the Blondes”, in Robert Plummer, editor, Between the Devil and the Deep: A Memoir of Acting and Reacting, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa: Zebra Press, Struik Publishers, page 169

(by extension, South Africa, derogatory, slang) A wealthy young Jewish woman characterized as materialistic and selfish.


ambidexter

Borrowed from Medieval Latin ambidexter, from Latin ambi- + dexter.

One takes upon him temperence, holiness […], whenas indeed he, and he, and he, and the rest are hypocrites, ambidexters, outsides, so many turning pictures, a lion on one side, a lamb on the other.

(by extension) Someone who is two-faced; a double-dealer, such as a cheat or a crook.


aground

From Middle English agrounde, on grounde (“on ground”), equivalent to a- + ground.

(by extension) at a loss, ruined, with no way out


pop the cherry

en-verb

pop the cherry (third-person singular simple present pops the cherry, present participle popping the cherry, simple past and past participle popped the cherry)

pops the cherry (present singular third-person)
popping the cherry (participle present)
popped the cherry (participle past)
popped the cherry (past)

(idiomatic, slang, by extension) To lose one's virginity.


buckle

The noun is derived from Middle English bokel (“spiked metal ring for fastening; ornamental clasp; boss of a shield; a shield, buckler; (figurative) means of defence”) [and other forms], from Old French boucle, bocle (“spiked metal ring for fastening; boss of a shield; a shield”) [and other forms], from Latin buccula (“cheek strap of a helmet; boss of a shield”) (from bucca (“soft part of the cheek”); further etymology uncertain, possibly of Celtic origin, or from Proto-Indo-European *bew-, *bʰew- (“to blow; to inflate; to swell”)) + -ula (diminutive suffix).
Noun sense 2 (“great conflict or struggle”) is probably derived from verb sense 1.2.1 (“to apply (oneself) to, or prepare (oneself) for, a task or work”).
The verb is derived from Middle English bokelen, bukelen (“to fasten (something) with a buckle or clasp; to fasten, make fast; to wrap; to arch the body”) [and other forms], from bokel (noun) (see above) + -en (suffix forming the infinitive of verbs).
In verb sense 1.2.1, the sense “to apply (oneself) to, or prepare (oneself) for, a task or work” was derived from the now obsolete sense “to equip (oneself) for a battle, etc.”, and originally alluded to armour being buckled on to the body.

nb...

bocle, bocul, bocule, bocull, boculle, bogil, bogyll, bokell, bokle, bokull, bokyll, bokylle, boucle, bukel, bukkel, bukle, bukyll, bukylle

إِبْزِيم

A metal clasp with a hinged tongue or a spike through which a belt or strap is passed and penetrated by the tongue or spike, in order to fasten the ends of the belt together or to secure the strap to something else.

(by extension) Some other form of clasp used to fasten two things together.

solki

some other form of clasp used to fasten two things together


vitriol

en-noun

vitriol (countable and uncountable, plural vitriols)

→ Irish: vitrial

From Middle English vitriol, from Old French vitriol, from Medieval Latin vitriolum (“sulfuric acid”), from vitrum (“glass”).

der

For days, online forums sparked with outrage against politicians and race organizers, a tone that turned to vitriol against runners, even from some shaming other runners for being selfish.

2012 November 2, Ken Belson, New York Times, retrieved 2012-11-02

(by extension) Bitterly abusive language.


masthead

(television, by extension) The logo of a broadcaster used in an ident.