north forty

In Dallas and Houston, the dominant architectural forms are glass office towers and air-conditioned shopping malls that owe more to the Bauhaus than to the North Forty.

1984 May 6, David Dillon, “An Architectural Tour Of the Lone Star State”, in Washington Post, retrieved 2015-09-22

President Reagan behaved like his predecessors: preaching free enterprise in Washington but playing sugar daddy on the north forty. Mr. Reagan's response to a collapse in world food prices in the early 1980's was to protect American farmers with a $19 billion subsidy.

1985 February 7, “Opinion”, in New York Times, retrieved 2015-09-22

[N]ot all roadside stands sell produce from the "north forty," rather their produce is the result of efforts before and after someone's day job and a fertile back yard.

2010 August 11, Steve Poses, “On the Road: Farm Stands of Long Island's North Fork”, in Huffington Post, retrieved 2015-09-22

Rush to buy acreage fueling bubble in the north forty. (subheading)

2012 January 20, Bloomberg News, “Investors plowing money into farmland”, in InvestmentNews, retrieved 2015-09-22

(idiomatic, by extension) Farms, ranches, or agricultural land collectively.


dance of the seven veils

en-noun

dance of the seven veils (plural dances of the seven veils)

Herod Antipas
Oscar Wilde
Salome
dance of the seven veils

Based on the Biblical description (Mark 6:22) of a salacious dance performed (by Salome, according to tradition) in the court of King Herod. The precise term "dance of the seven veils" was reportedly first used in the stage directions of Oscar Wilde's play Salome (1891).

"Testing the waters" is a veil for what candidates do in the years when it's too unseemly to be seen actually running for president. . . . But this veil is dropped when candidate and handlers believe the coyness has begun to cloy. And then the candidate's dance of the seven veils has begun.

2006 December 5, Ron Elving, “Declaring for President is a Dance of Seven Veils”, in National Public Radio, US, retrieved 2015-09-27

Mr. Putin’s succession and (likely) restoration is a leisurely dance of the seven veils in which one veil is dropped only for another to be donned.

2009 January 11, Simon Sebag Montefiore, “In Russia, Power Has No Heirs”, in New York Times, retrieved 2015-09-27

Every year around this time, staff and politicians take the first steps in the annual budget process — called the Dance of the Seven Veils in some quarters.

2015 September 18, “Don’t panic about early city budget dance”, in Hamilton Spectator, Canada, retrieved 2015-09-27

(idiomatic, by extension) The incremental disclosure of tantalizing bits of information.


code pink

code black • code blue • code brown • code grey • code orange • code pink • code red • code silver • code white • code yellow

(Canada, US, medicine, more generally) The condition on the occurrence of a pediatric medical emergency.


piling on

(by extension) An ongoing increase in a change or phenomenon, such as the popularity of a fad.

The steady addition of more problems to an already problematic situation or circumstance.

Doing more and more (of something), especially when it is inappropriate or problematic, such as by continuing to break a diet


Aeolism

Aeolism (countable and uncountable, plural Aeolisms)

Aeolism, or the emphasis on the form or sound of words per se rather than on their meaning or sense, presently flourishes under many dignified guises.

1965, Arnold M. Ludwig, The importance of lying, page 120

After the pipes have their final victory over the Aeolistic William, Peter Stuyvesant comes to the head of the state. His measures against Aeolism are swift: he gives his councilors "abundance of fair long pipes" (p. 248) and makes "a hideous rout among the ingenious inventions and expedients of his learned predecessor -- demolishing his flag-staffs and wind-mills" (pp. 248-249).

1992, David Durant, “Aeolism in Knickerbocker's A History of New York”, in On Humor

Participant scores on one of the five personality traits, “Aeolism,” were consistently described as low compared with the other group members in all conditions.

2012 August, Tyler G Okimoto, Amy Wrzesniewski, “Effort in the face of difference: Feeling like a non-prototypical group member motivates effort”, in European Journal of Social Psychology, volume 42, number 5

(uncountable, by extension) A tendency toward rhetorical embellishments.


slumpbuster

"When one is looking for a slumpbuster, a hog, or “road beef” (as Canseco puts it), he seeks out, as Grace mentioned, the “fattest gnarliest chick you can uncover” in order to try to break out of a slump.

2009, Esther D. Rothblum, Sondra Solovay, The Fat Studies Reader - Page 158

(slang by extension) A person's first sexual partner after a slump (period without sex).


find another gear

en-verb

find another gear (third-person singular simple present finds another gear, present participle finding another gear, simple past and past participle found another gear)

finds another gear (present singular third-person)
finding another gear (participle present)
found another gear (participle past)
found another gear (past)

Management's ultimate goal is to become one of the world's top five automakers. That will require finding another gear.

2001 July 8, Frank Gibney Jr., “Hyundai In High Gear”, in Time, retrieved 2015-10-24

It's amazing that after seven-plus seasons as one of the most consistently compelling shows on TV, NCIS still finds another gear with certain story arcs.

2010 November 17, Steve Marsi, “NCIS Review: "Enemies Foreign"”, in TV Fanatic, retrieved 2015-10-24

(idiomatic, by extension) To achieve enhanced performance.


pidgin English

en-noun

pidgin English (countable and uncountable, plural pidgin Englishes)

/ˈpɪ.dʒɪn ˌɪŋ.ɡlɪʃ/

/ˈpɪ.dʒən ˌɪŋ.ɡlɪʃ/

(loosely) Any very basic English; broken English.


maulvi

From Urdu مولوی (maulvi), and its source, Classical Persian مولوی (mawlawī), noun use of Arabic مَوْلَوِيّ (mawlawiyy, “of a lord or master”), ultimately from مَوْلًى (mawlan, “master”). Compare mullah, maulana.

uder

He had a maulvi and a pandit to teach him Urdu and Hindi.

2004, Khushwant Singh, Burial at Sea, Penguin, published 2014, page 10

(loosely, chiefly South Asia) Any man of learning; a scholar, a teacher of Classical languages.


pants party

(by extension) A clothing-optional party, where the intent is to engage in sexual activity.


move the chains

en-verb

move the chains (third-person singular simple present moves the chains, present participle moving the chains, simple past and past participle moved the chains)

moves the chains (present singular third-person)
moving the chains (participle present)
moved the chains (participle past)
moved the chains (past)

(American football, by extension) To convert a play that would result in said chains being moved.


fast-talker

(informal, by extension) A person who speaks rapidly in order to persuade, mislead or to manipulate others.


split the difference

split the difference (third-person singular simple present splits the difference, present participle splitting the difference, simple past and past participle split the difference)

splits the difference (present singular third-person)
splitting the difference (participle present)
split the difference (participle past)
split the difference (past)

Gulden appeared at a loss for an instant reply. "I want plenty to do," he replied, presently. "I want to be in on everything. I want to be free to kill a man when I like."
. . . "Gulden, I'll split the difference between us. I'll leave you free to do as you like. But all the others—every man—must take orders from me."

1916, Zane Grey, chapter 11, in The Border Legion

Expert advice to him from many sources varied between 5 ft. and 5 ft. 6 in. He split the difference at 5 ft. 3 in., which was fixed by Act of August 18, 1856, as the standard for Ireland.

1948 September and October, “The Why and The Wherefore: The Irish Gauge”, in Railway Magazine, page 348

In terms of both price and efficiency, the Malibu Eco attempts to split the difference between a conventionally powered sedan and all-out efficiency champs like the Toyota Camry and Ford Fusion hybrids.

2012 July 8, “New Cars: Embracing Efficiency, Halfheartedly”, in New York Times, retrieved 2015-11-15

(idiomatic, by extension) To choose an option or take a position roughly midway between two opposed alternatives; to compromise.


tamp down

tamp down (third-person singular simple present tamps down, present participle tamping down, simple past and past participle tamped down)

tamps down (present singular third-person)
tamping down (participle present)
tamped down (participle past)
tamped down (past)

Mr. Trump’s aides also have tried to tamp down questions about the former president’s frustrations, so as not to elevate Mr. DeSantis.

2022 January 17, Jonathan Martin, Maggie Haberman, “Who Is King of Florida? Tensions Rise Between Trump and a Former Acolyte.”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

(idiomatic, by extension) To suppress (something, usually an emotion or thought).


move in on

move in on (third-person singular simple present moves in on, present participle moving in on, simple past and past participle moved in on)

moves in on (present singular third-person)
moving in on (participle present)
moved in on (participle past)
moved in on (past)

(transitive, by extension) To encroach or prepare to take over (a thing, relationship, task or place that is or was somebody else's).


move along

move along (third-person singular simple present moves along, present participle moving along, simple past and past participle moved along)

moves along (present singular third-person)
moving along (participle present)
moved along (participle past)
moved along (past)

the construction project is moving along

(figurative, by extension) to proceed; to make or signify progress

the committee moved along to the next item on the agenda

(figurative, by extension) to go on to something else


get past

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

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

(figurative, by extension) To get through a difficult time; to overcome a source of grief.

(figurative, by extension) To cause someone to overcome a source of grief or get through a difficult time.


bob up

bob up (third-person singular simple present bobs up, present participle bobbing up, simple past and past participle bobbed up)

bobs up (present singular third-person)
bobbing up (participle present)
bobbed up (participle past)
bobbed up (past)

That's when he bobbed up again and ruined everything.

(intransitive, by extension, figurative) To appear or arrive unexpectedly.


crumple up

crumple up (third-person singular simple present crumples up, present participle crumpling up, simple past and past participle crumpled up)

crumples up (present singular third-person)
crumpling up (participle present)
crumpled up (participle past)
crumpled up (past)

(intransitive, figurative, by extension) To collapse; to give up and fold in a stressful situation.


cling to

cling to (third-person singular simple present clings to, present participle clinging to, simple past and past participle clung to)

clings to (present singular third-person)
clinging to (participle present)
clung to (participle past)
clung to (past)

(by extension) To have an intense emotional dependency on (someone).

(by extension, figurative) To remain by (someone's) side; to refuse to leave the company of.


cosy up to

cosy up to (third-person singular simple present cosies up to, present participle cosying up to, simple past and past participle cosied up to)

cosies up to (present singular third-person)
cosying up to (participle present)
cosied up to (participle past)
cosied up to (past)

It is often suggested that politicians are too inclined to cosy up to big business in order to receive funds for election expenses.

The sales guys might be able to cosy up to the customers, but they are inexperienced in technical support.

Looks like I'd better cosy up to her and see if I can pump some facts out of her.

2005, Lynn Phillips, Watford Under Wood, page 123

[…]further suggesting that Radcliffe and Watson would be safe in the knowledge that Rowling would forgive them, she leaped in: “Not safe, I’m afraid,” she wrote, and characterized them as “celebs who cosied up to a movement intent on eroding women’s hard-won rights.”

2024 April 30, Chris Heath, quoting J. K. Rowling, “How Daniel Radcliffe Outran Harry Potter”, in The Atlantic, →ISSN

(by extension) To form a relationship with some one or some thing for the purpose of obtaining some benefit.


hang with

hang with (third-person singular simple present hangs with, present participle hanging with, simple past and past participle hung with)

hangs with (present singular third-person)
hanging with (participle present)
hung with (participle past)
hung with (past)

He must be a heavy drinker to be able to hang with them.

(slang, by extension) To be able to keep up with.

I can't hang with that kind of work every day.


cut across

cut across (third-person singular simple present cuts across, present participle cutting across, simple past and past participle cut across)

cuts across (present singular third-person)
cutting across (participle present)
cut across (participle past)
cut across (past)

(figurative, by extension) To go through figurative barriers; to go beyond an expected boundary.


(by extension) Any number of things named for Queen Elizabeth II.


dhaba

(by extension) Any restaurant that serves Punjabi food.


puppet master

(figurative, by extension) A person who controls other people or events.


plain brown wrapper

en-noun

plain brown wrapper (plural plain brown wrappers)

(by extension) Any veil, disguise, or mask.

(by extension) An act of dissimulation, camouflage; a cover-up.


dunsel

Possible coinage as a variation of English dunnage as dun + -sel with the suffix indicating singulative or diminutive. Earliest so-far documented use was in a Star Trek episode, "The Ultimate Computer". May not be a real word but merely an invention by a Star Trek writer.

McCoy: “Who the blazes is ‘Captain Dunsel’?” / Spock: “Dunsel, Doctor, is a term used by midshipmen at Starfleet Academy. It refers to a part which serves no useful purpose.”]

[1968, D[orothy] C[atherine] Fontana, “The Ultimate Computer”, in Star Trek: The Original Series, season 2, episode 53 (DVD), Hollywood, Calif.: Paramount Pictures, published 2014

DUNSEL – slang term for token human commanders aboard EDF [Earth Defense Force] rammer ships.]

[2005, Kevin J[ames] Anderson, Scattered Suns (The Saga of Seven Suns; book 4), New York, N.Y.: Warner Books, glossary

In EARTHBOUND we have the exact same story. There is nothing wrong with Simmonds per se, but, just like Captain Kirk in THE ULTIMATE COMPUTER [a Star Trek episode], he has become "Captain Dunsail" in the sense of no longer having any function. He is suffering from the same state of lacked recognition that Gwent talks about.

2015 January 10, “The Infernal Machine”, in John K. Balor, editor, SPACE: 1999 – The 40th Anniversary Celebration: A New Episode by Episode Commentary and Analysis by Online Alpha, Raleigh, N.C.: Lulu, published September 2015, page 290

(nautical, by extension) A captain of a vessel who has little or no authority.


telewriter

(loosely, uncommon) A teleplay writer; teleplaywright.


beeswinged

the beeswinged eyes of the old man

(by extension) Covered with a filmy layer.


farm league

Now the CEO of Isiah International Inc. has his sights set on nothing short of establishing an official farm league for the NBA, establishing a system similar to the one which currently operates in Major League Baseball.

1999 November, “It's a whole new league”, in Black Enterprise, volume 30, number 3, page 28

Scenarios were floated that the CFL and WLAF would merge or that the CFL would revert to a fall schedule and become a farm league for the NFL.

2005, Steve O'Brien, The Canadian Football League

Heading into their third year, a minor league coach judged the Capitals to be an “average hockey team”—by the standards of a farm league club.

2015, Chris Elzey, David K. Wiggins, DC Sports: The Nation’s Capital at Play, page 237

(sports, by extension) A minor league team from which scouts recruit players for the major league.

An industry source told MP3.com that the site is "supposed to be a farm-league thing.

1999 November, “UMG May Use Web Site For A&R Purposes”, in CMJ New Music Report, volume 60, number 642, page 9

Hire from the farm league. I constantly counsel church leaders to hire from within.

2011, James Emery White, What They Didn't Teach You in Seminary, page 29

Assessing the historical record, former presidential aide and student of the Presidency Theodore Sorensen once quipped that some Presidents use the Executive Office “as a farm league, some use it as a source of experts and implementers, and some use it as Elba."

2011, Harold C. Relyea, Executive Office of the President: An Historical Overview

(by extension) A position or venue from which talent is recruited for showing potential.


lizard brain

With her pistol drawn, she hurried down the ramp and into cover behind one of the landing pad’s walls, listening carefully. The hangar was as silent as—well, as a tomb. The temptation to take off her helmet was powerful, to rely on scents and sounds and instincts instead of equipment and sensors. Everything about this mess had her lizard-brain in overdrive. SAM-E’s warning about a hostile intent in the system, controlling life support and even the hangar bay doors, kept her from obeying that instinct.

2017 November, N. K. Jemisin, Mac Walters, chapter 8, in Mass Effect Andromeda: Initiation, 1st edition (Science Fiction), Titan Books, →OCLC, page 155

(by extension) Any part of a person's psyche or personality dominated by instinct or impulse rather than rational thought.


ratfuck

You ratfuck. You ratfuck! You gotta say something!

2012, Robert Anasi, The Last Bohemia: Scenes from the Life of Williamsburg, Brooklyn

I can't think of any plausible harm you can do. And I know you're not a ratfuck just for the sake of being a ratfuck.

Yeah. Okay. I want the little ratfuck dead.

2014, George R. R. Martin, Wild Cards III: Jokers Wild

(vulgar, more generally) Someone despicable.


heteroglot

This is essential in plural, heteroglot communities, if the school is to be inclusive, and is essential in those school subjects which are contentious and contended.

2007, Julian Stern, Schools and Religions: Imagining the Real, page 26

Yet such defects are trivial compared with his grasp of early modern city-dwelling as a heteroglot assemblage of discontinuities, as a sensory overload out of which intimations of order fleetingly emerge, as a state of being in which consciousness and identity are continually shaped and reshaped via interaction, in which solitary and collective personhood are fused in unstable synthesis.

2009, Lawrence Buell, Writing for an Endangered World, page 103

A key innovation of the carnivalesque, heteroglot, disorganized culture of postmodernity is the notion of multiple subject positions, in which subjectivity emerges as a sociohistorical construct cobbled together from the many roles and situations occupied, willingly or not, by "persons" whose agency and values, fantasies and desires, cohere in contradiction.

(more generally) Culturally diverse; Involving multiple points of view.


leyn

en-verb

leyn (third-person singular simple present leyns, present participle leyning, simple past and past participle leyned)

leyns (present singular third-person)
leyning (participle present)
leyned (participle past)
leyned (past)

From Yiddish לייענען (leyenen, “to read”).

(Judaism, by extension) to recite the haftarah, megillah or other ritualized text


red pill

From a scene in the film The Matrix (1999), where the main character, who lives in a virtual world known as the Matrix, is given a choice between a red pill that will allow him to learn the truth about the Matrix and a blue pill that will return him to his simulated life.

Most red pill thinkers will have already debunked this one and replaced it with a better story.

2017, Peter Wright, Red Pill Psychology: Psychology for men in a gynocentric world

With the growth of 'the red pill' and similar such groups among men there is a growing realisation that life is very different in dating for 'alpha males' compared to everyone else.

2017, Player Mastermind, Gold Diggers and Sugar Daddies: The Red Pill Guide to Hypergamy

The problems faced by men in America—the problems the Red Pill community points to as proof that we live in a gynocentric society—have deep historical roots; however, the Red Pill represents a new, dangerous phase of American masculinity in the internet age.

2018, Donna Zuckerberg, Not All Dead White Men: Classics and Misogyny in the Digital Age

Indeed, this is the surprising core of the whole Red Pill theory of seduction: never stop begging for it.

If you are attracted to the truths presented in Red Pill culture, but are put off by any morality or atheism present, this book is for you.

2019, James a Deprisco, The Catholic Red Pill: A Guide for Men

(by extension) The subculture of men who share a belief in the gynocentrism of modern society; manosphere.


go set

go set (third-person singular simple present goes set, present participle going set, simple past went set, past participle gone set)

goes set (present singular third-person)
going set (participle present)
went set (past)
gone set (participle past)

Since Leon had no meld in our last canasta hand, he went set his red threes.

(card games, by extension) To earn a negative score, in any context.


third country

the criteria whereby the Commission fixes the standard values for imports from third countries, in respect of the products and periods stipulated in Annex XV, Part A thereto

2010, Jean-Luc Demarty, COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) No 1156/2010 of 8 December 2010 establishing the standard import values for determining the entry price of certain fruit and vegetables

(by extension) A country not party to a particular treaty in general.


run the table

run the table (third-person singular simple present runs the table, present participle running the table, simple past ran the table, past participle run the table)

runs the table (present singular third-person)
running the table (participle present)
ran the table (past)
run the table (participle past)

(figurative, by extension) To decisively and expeditiously accomplish something.


Gatorade

en-noun

Gatorade (countable and uncountable, plural Gatorades)

/ˈɡeɪtəɹeɪd/

From gator + -ade; the drink was created at the request of Florida Gators football head coach Ray Graves.

The beverage selection is a unique feature of Ole Cafe, with a variety of canned gatorades, assorted fruit drinks and "slushies" on the line.

1990, School Foodservice Journal - Volume 44, page 48

We figure that we save nearly $200 a year in mixing our own Gatorade,” she boasts.

2001, Mary Hance, Ms. Cheap's Guide to Getting More for Less

I had lots of homemade Gatorade, two big burgers and a few minutes later I was cruising like the machine again.

Add a splash of lemon or lime and a hefty pinch of a high quality sea salt and you've just created a homemade Gatorade without all the extra sugars, neon colors, or added ingredients.

2011, Suzanne Boothby, The After Cancer Diet: How To Live Healthier Than Ever Before

Well, there's water, and then there's quarter-waters. Ghetto Gatorade.


tin whisker

From tin + whisker, from being first observed with tin alloys.

(by extension) The same phenomenon found with other metals with low melting points.


road captain

Other officers could include the ' road captain, the dirt captain, and the safety director. These three would have duties as follows: The road captain would be the man in charge when the group is on a road trip.

1980, Air Force Driver - Volumes 14-16, page 65

On the side of the Burgundians an old road captain, called Le Breton d'Aily, was killed; and after these things had happened they returned to Sir [John] of Luxembourg at the camp before Araines.

2012, Jean de Wavrin, Edward L. C. P. Hardy, William Hardy, A Collection of the Chronicles and Ancient Histories of Great Britain, Now Called England, page 368

Each collective was steered by an individual or a few prominent memberes. Companies refer to these persons as "road captains" or "psych drivers."

2015, Tessa G. Diphoorn, Twilight Policing: Private Security and Violence in Urban South Africa

(more generally) One who is in charge of a group while it is travelling or patrolling a road


Ulsterisation

(by extension) The devolution of security and policing to local forces in any area with an active insurgency.


swivel-eyed

en-adj

swivel-eyed (comparative more swivel-eyed, superlative most swivel-eyed)

more swivel-eyed (comparative)
most swivel-eyed (superlative)

He will rattle into Canberra surrounded by a coterie of swivel-eyed trusties like Peta Credlin as chief of staff, Andrew Bolt as media director and Greg Sheridan as national security adviser.

2017, Alex Mitchell, Turnbull – waving or drowning?

Richardson, Warner, Lewis and Adamson are not swivel-eyed, right-wing loons — Richardson was Bob Hawke’s chief of staff.

2019, Greg Sheridan, New Chinese era of living dangerously

It seems that the Lib Dems’ policy to revoke Article 50 without a referendum has disturbed the sensibilities of all but the most swivel-eyed Remainers.

2019, Michael Moszynski, Labour’s dire general election campaign

Sunak seems so scared of his party's swivel-eyed right wing that he has been panicked into focusing all new legislation on perceived 'red meat' issues which he hopes the Tory right will support.

2023 May 31, Nigel Harris, “Comment: GBR now! We have no Plan B”, in RAIL, number 984, page 3


second cosmic velocity

en-noun

second cosmic velocity (plural second cosmic velocities)

From second + cosmic + velocity, from being the next threshold velocity greater than the first cosmic velocity.

(by extension) Escape velocity of the home body.


third cosmic velocity

third cosmic velocity (plural third cosmic velocities)

From third + cosmic + velocity, from being the next threshold velocity greater than the second cosmic velocity.

(by extension) The escape velocity of a star system.


captureless

en-adj

captureless (comparative more captureless, superlative most captureless)

more captureless (comparative)
most captureless (superlative)

(computing, by extension) (of a lambda function) That has an empty capture list.


first flush

When however the first flush of our surprize is over we cannot fail to perceive that amid all this legerdemain there is a vast deal of nature united with that astonishing splendour of colouring which so many have tried to emulate.

1836, Allan Cunningham, The Cabinet Gallery of Pictures by the First Masters of the English, page 189

And though his money was now gone again, all but a sovereign or two, yet that troubled him but little, in the first flush of being at sea.

1849, Herman Melville, Redburn - His First Voyage

Raeburn also quotes Rudi Blesh's rhapsodic praise of “the first recordings of pure New Orleans jazz made in modern times . . . pure, uncommercialized jazz . . . as it sounded in its first flushes of classicism . . . the music of the men . . . who never lost faith in the pure melody that speaks to the heart."

2001, Charles Suhor, Jazz in New Orleans: The Postwar Years Through 1970, page 112

He had not been there more than a few minutes when the attack was made, and in the first flush of the onslaught he received a gun-shot in the thigh which completely shattered the bone and left him helpless upon the ground.

2011, T. Lindsay Buick, New Zealand's First War: Or, the Rebellion of Hone Heke, page 164

You're not old, Major, but you're not in the first flush.

2015, Andrew O'Hagan, The Illuminations, page 142

(by extension) The beginning; the period of time when something is first starting.


car crash

In this instance the departure is radical: this is a real car crash of a ballad, impacted (the beginning and end have crushed together) and distorted, yet still recognizable.

2003, Mary-Ann Constantine, Gerald Porter, Fragments and Meaning in Traditional Song: From the Blues to the Baltic

Some presenters are very good at thinking on their feet, and some presenters can't even think whether they're on their feet or sitting down. That can lead to car crash TV, and sometimes the viewers quite like it.

2008, Eamonn Holmes, This Is My Life: Eamonn Holmes: The Autobiography

He's probably forgotten about that part of our exchange already. I mean, the rest of it wasn't a total car crash ... was it?

2011, Ella Kingsley, Confessions Of A Karaoke Queen

'I'm glad one of us has a life that isn't a total car crash,' Jules said with a sad smile.

2014, Emma Hannigan, The Heart of Winter

(by extension) A mess or disaster, especially one that attracts a lot of attention.


heteronymy

en-noun

heteronymy (countable and uncountable, plural heteronymies)

Differentiation simply increases, on a grander scale, the heteronymy and chaos that are the historical attribute of this society.

1994, Veit Erlmann, “'Africa civilised, Africa uncivilised': local culture, world system and South African music”, in Journal of Southern African Studies, volume 20, number 2

The highest value of total consanguinity based on random isonymy is observed in Sanabria, which also has the lowest values of heteronymy and the highest intra-population a priori kinship.

2010 December, L Alvarez, C Mendoza, RM Nogués, MP Aluja, C Santos, “Biodemographic and genetic structure of Zamora Province (Spain): insights from surname analysis”, in Human ecology, volume 38

(by extension) Dissimilarity of people in a single group.


tonify

en-verb

tonify (third-person singular simple present tonifies, present participle tonifying, simple past and past participle tonified)

tonifies (present singular third-person)
tonifying (participle present)
tonified (participle past)
tonified (past)

Patients of this description derive a marvellous amount of benefit from hydrotherapy, and, when it can be had, from maritime hydrotherapy : this treatment tonifies their whole system, and enables them to resist variations of temperature, without contracting the intestinal catarrh from which, under similar circumstances, they were previously in the habit of suffering.

1871, The New Sydenham Society, page 113

Then he tonified himself with a cold shower and carefully dressed for dinner.

1927, Silvio Villa, Ultra-violet Tales, page 122

Home demand is in course of being tonified on both the investment and consumption sides.

You are asking me about the tonics, it is but natural that I want them. But I want them from your formula, of your make. Let them come in the form of affection, dedication and love; let them come in the shape of your photos. All this tonifies me more than all the rest, which you may desire to send.

2000, Jośe Francisco Martins, Censored courtship, page 114

There were rumors around of a love that enhanced and tonified, that had the strengthening effects of beef tea or a football training breakfast, but she had never seen a living example of it.

2014, Ann Arensberg, Sister Wolf: A Novel

(more generally) To invigorate; to have a restorative effect on.


sign-on

Some legislative aides in Washington suggest that church lobbyists do need to be discriminating in their sign-ons.

1996, Keith Graber Miller, Wise as Serpents, Innocent as Doves

The work of getting sign-ons, for example, was also beneficial because it literally facilitated talking among strangers, and after one sign-on was done, a person who had been approached as a stranger the first time could now be spoken to as a colleague to see whether she or he might be interested in being part of a group working on a project or action.

2006, Raymond A. Smith, Patricia D. Siplon, Drugs Into Bodies: Global AIDS Treatment Activism, page 108

Please find the larger group sign-on letter attached for comments/feedback. Send any comments to Daniel Dawes at: ***@*** by Tuesday, April 28. Remember -- this is just a draft. After this letter has been vetted by you all, we will send out a final copy right after sign-ons.

2016, Daniel E. Dawes, 150 Years of ObamaCare, page 111

(more generally) An instance of signing on to something.


11 Downing Street

Chancellor of the Exchequer
Chancellor of the Exchequer

(UK politics, by extension, idiomatic) The title or office of the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

(UK politics, by extension, idiomatic) HM Treasury of the United Kingdom.


pen in

pen in (third-person singular simple present pens in, present participle penning in, simple past and past participle penned in)

pens in (present singular third-person)
penning in (participle present)
penned in (participle past)
penned in (past)

(figurative, by extension) To cause to be stuck in a situation; to be forced into a situation by circumstances.


progenote

(evolutionary theory, loosely) The most recent common ancestor to all organisms now living on Earth; LUCA; specifically, the most recent progenitor of all archaea, bacteria and eukaryotes.


Paralympiad

/ˌpæɹəˈlɪmpiˌæd/

Blend of Paralympic + Olympiad, or from para- (prefix referring to disability sport) + Olympiad.

prefix

Affiliated programs [to the Third Paralympic Congress] also will include an International Trade and Economic Initiative for international government and business leaders; an Abilities Expo, featuring exhibits of assistive technology and services; and the Cultural Paralympiad, a celebration of the work of internationally acclaimed disabled artists.

1996 June, G. Andrew Fleming, “The Paralympian—Another Kind of Hero”, in William Peters, editor, U.S. Society & Values: Electronic Journals of the U.S. Information Agency: America’s Olympic Summer: Reflecting U.S. Values, volume 1, number 5, Washington, D.C.: United States Information Agency, →OCLC, page 23, column 1

The Malaysian Paralympiad, a national multisport and multidisability sport competition, has been organized biennially in Malaysia since 1982, and has grown steadily in terms of the variety of sports and number of participants, with the aim of training coaches and developing technical skills. Despite such growth, the Malaysian Paralympiad has helped to develop sport to only a limited degree given that there is no year-long training, rather most of the training for the athletes is held prior to competition; also there are hardly any regular sports activities and competitions.

2012, Selina Khoo, “New Direction: Disability Sport in Malaysia”, in Jill M. Le Clair, editor, Disability in the Global Sport Arena: A Sporting Chance (Sport in the Global Society: Contemporary Perspectives), Abingdon, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Routledge

This contribution, authored in 2016, marks two decades since the author's research and body of mature work was presented as a performance art production under the umbrella of the first cultural event that supplemented the Paralympics—The Cultural Paralympiad—when the Olympics were hosted in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. […] The author's SoundScapes event for the first Paralympiad was hosted at the Rialto Center for the Arts, an 833-seat performing-arts venue in downtown Atlanta, owned and operate by Georgia State University.

2017, Anthony Brooks, “Accessibility: Definition, Labeling, and CVAA Impact”, in Anthony Lewis Brooks, Sheryl Brahnam, Bill Kapralos, Lakhmi C. Jain, editors, Recent Advances in Technologies for Inclusive Well-being: From Worn to Off-body Sensing, Virtual Worlds, and Games for Serious Applications (Intelligent Systems Reference Library; 119), Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature, →DOI, →ISSN, part V (Ethics and Accessibility), section 14.2.2 (Accessibility Exemplified: The First Cultural Paralympiad), page 305

(by extension) Usually preceded by a descriptive word: a competition or series of competitions for disabled participants involving sports or other activities.


meat on one's bones

You're dressing up as a canary? Can't you find something with a little more meat on its bones, like an eagle?

I'd rather buy a truck than a car; I need something with more meat on its bones.

(by extension) An amount of mass, substance, or strength on or within something's body.


probouleutic

Their probouleutic function is in place when Parliament does not proceed by commission, and when business must be digested for a house reluctant to remain long in attendance.

1921, The Scottish Historical Review - Volume 18, page 165

This probouleutic (primary discussion) format worked alongside Elizabeth's informal and ad hoc consultations with individuals.

2004, James Daybell, Women and politics in early modern England, 1450-1700, page 75

Even when probouleutic discussion was opened up to a larger number of individuals - as on 6 October - meetings continued to operate independently of the privy council. Restricting probouleutic debate to a small group of personally selected councillors was particularly appropriate for an issue - Elizabeth's marriage - which she defined as one of the arcana imperii ('mysteries of state') reserved for her own judgement qand on which she had sought to restrict debate in council, parliament and public debate since her accession.

2005, Natalie Mears, Queenship and Political Discourse in the Elizabethan Realms, page 36

(UK, by extension) Pertaining to preliminary discussion before discussion in council, parliament, or other public debate.


public enemy number one

The fact is that Reaganomics slowed down the breakneck economy and succeeded in defeating public enemy number one, runaway inflation.

1983 January 27, William Safire, “Essay: The Midterm Crisis”, in New York Times, retrieved 2016-10-26

The Isle of Man's public enemy number one—the rabbit—can breathe easier today. The price on its head, or tail, was revoked.

1995 October 12, Peter Victor, “A tale of Flopsy, Mopsy and public enemy No 1”, in Independent, UK, retrieved 2016-10-26

As sugar has become public enemy number one in the battle against obesity, many Americans have fed their sweet tooth with artificially sweetened diet drinks.

2014 January 27, Deborah Kotz, “Are no-calorie sweeteners safe?”, in Boston Globe, retrieved 2016-10-26

“I wasn’t a researcher anymore, I was Pol Pot, Stalin, Hitler,” Mr. Moreno said. “I have become, in one week, Public Enemy No. 1.”

2023 March 28, Tiffany Hsu, quoting Carolos Moreno, “He Wanted to Unclog Cities. Now He’s ‘Public Enemy No. 1.’”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

(by extension) A person, organization, or other object considered to be particularly menacing, harmful, or loathsome.


corner case

However, there is a corner case during which we don't want to trigger this event, and that is when the widget is being instantiated for the first time.

2013, Adam Boduch, jQuery UI Cookbook, Packt Publishing Ltd

Furthermore, Robolectric doesn't test activities against real devices or emulators and this might not catch corner case or incompatibilities or issues with particular versions and devices.

2015, Patroklos Papapetrou, Jonathan LALOU, Android Application Development with Maven, Packt Publishing Ltd, page 76


nonconcurrency

From non- + concurrency or nonconcurrent + -cy.

(computer science, by extension) A property of systems where several processes execute sequentially, not at the same time.


Dharmic

en-adj

Dharmic (comparative more Dharmic, superlative most Dharmic)

more Dharmic (comparative)
most Dharmic (superlative)

From Dharma + -ic, influenced by Sanskrit धार्मिक (dhārmika).

(by extension) of Indian or Eastern origin, especially in a religious context


Madrasi

When the hardships of a Madrassi are complained of, we are told that a Panjabi is well off: that the taxation “on an average” is only so-and-so, Northern India being more lightly taxed than Southern.

1916, Annie Besant, chapter 2, in India a Nation: A Plea for Indian Self-Government, London: T.C. & E.C. Jack, page 40

The midwife, an old, thin, inscrutable Madrassi, came to the hall and sat on her haunches in a corner, smoking, silent, her eyes bright.

1961, V. S. Naipaul, A House for Mr Biswas, Vintage International, published 2001, Part One, Chapter 6

Moses Nagamootoo explores the creation of a landscape and a heritage in Guyana by the Madrassi in his novel Hendree’s Cure […]

2010 May 20, “Post-independence literature”, in Stabroek News

Coming from a South Indian Tamil family that had settled in the western India, “Madrasi” was my family’s nickname in the neighbourhood and so was mine at school. The name in itself was obnoxious, not to mention the stereotyping it brought along with it. For North Indians, anyone from the South was a Madrasi, irrespective of where they came from.

2012 July 26, Xavier Bennet, “Discrimination is everywhere”, in The Times of India

Hindi cinema has been guilty of stereotyping the “Madrasi” since the days of Mehmood. […] The “Madrasi” usage probably stems from the days of the British Raj when the Madras Province covered Tamil Nadu, parts of Kerala (excluding Travancore) and Andhra Pradesh and even Karnataka (excluding Mysore) and thus anyone from the South was automatically presumed to be from the Madras Presidency…a Madrasi.

2014 May 21, Sudhish Kamath, “The Mythical Madrasi”, in The Hindu

(by extension) A native of South India; a person of South Indian extraction (exonym; often considered offensive).


catchment area

As well as the new station, the funding will allow the building of the Chelmsford North East bypass, enhancing access to and the catchment area of the station.

2019 October, “Funding for 20tph East London Line service”, in Modern Railways, page 18

Wealthy parents buying into preferred catchment areas is nothing new and for years families have been moving to Kent for the grammar schools.

2023 October 14, Alexandra Goss, “The school run”, in FT Weekend, House & Home, page 1

(by extension) The area served by a local institution, such as a hospital or school, or by extension, a railway station.


barrier to entry

en-noun

barrier to entry (plural barriers to entry)

The class has a number of prerequisites, so sadly there is a barrier to entry.

(figurative, by extension) An impediment that prohibits the use, adoption, application, etc. of (something).


itchsome

en-adj

itchsome (comparative more itchsome, superlative most itchsome)

more itchsome (comparative)
most itchsome (superlative)

There's lovely touches all over the record, but with exception of 'Dance On', propelled by the most itchsome drum pattern since B Bumble & The Stingers, and 'Anna Stesia', a ballad of lust which builds inexorably from a simple keyboard figure, there's a feeling of incompleteness about the rest of the songs which is all the more frustrating.

1998, High Fidelity News, Record, Review


uridinyl

en-noun

uridinyl (usually uncountable, plural uridinyls)

The molecule had two acetyls, four methyls, and three uridinyls attached to its backbone.

(organic chemistry, countable, by extension) A uridinyl group.


bitesome

en-adj

bitesome (comparative more bitesome, superlative most bitesome)

more bitesome (comparative)
most bitesome (superlative)

[…] and, as for the other inconveniences, I remember that a Chinese woman who was just beginning to speak English said to her teacher: “Ma'am, in summer the inns are very bitesome. […]”

The inn was about the dirtiest that I had been in for many a long day. It was rather 'bitesome' also, and under such conditions one cannot well sleep.

1916, Record of Christian Work, volume 35

(by extension) Causing emotional sting; disappointing; unsatisfactory


channer

(by extension) A user of other imageboard sites similar to 4chan.


Chekist

From Russian чеки́ст (čekíst) from Чека́ (Čeká) + -ист (-ist).

intelligence agencies
intelligence agencies

(by extension, metonymically) A national security official of the KGB, FSB or any of the state security intelligence agencies of the Soviet Union or Russian Federation.


wordscape

[…] we wonder whether the phrase might not be some mis-translation or a misprint […], but no matter, the phrase as is has a certain ring to it and bids fair to be a part of our wordscape for the foreseeable future. So we accept the reality of the notion and imagine that perhaps, like leprechauns, it survives only in Ireland.

1987, David Justice, The Semantics of Form in Arabic in the Mirror of European Languages (Studies in Language), volume 15, John Benjamins Publishing, page 188

[…] influence our perceptions increasingly as we grow. In one sense we are very much what we say, and how we interpret what is said to us. The world of words that mirrors the world of our experience is our wordscape. Passively accepting the wordscape at any point leads to a 'hardening of the categories', a freezing of the metaphors through which our experience is filtered. Constantly engaging and playing with language and […]

2007, Stephen Bowkett, 100+ Ideas for Teaching Creativity, Bloomsbury Academic, page 24

[…] all, however, have won their place in the book by passing into wider currency and exhibiting the staying power and the tendency to spawn byforms and allusions that suggest that they are and will remain part of the English-language wordscape.

2015, Jennifer Speake, “Editor's Preface”, in Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs, 6th edition, Oxford University Press

(by extension, figurative) The whole lexicon (word-stock) of a language conceived as such a landscape or collage.


turn of foot

The final gear change is phenomenal. His turn of foot prodigious.

Showing an unexpectedly fleet turn of foot, she ducked through to safety, smartly shutting the door in our faces just in time.

2015, P. N. Elrod, Dance of Death, page 58


take on water

en-verb

take on water (third-person singular simple present takes on water, present participle taking on water, simple past took on water, past participle taken on water)

takes on water (present singular third-person)
taking on water (participle present)
took on water (past)
taken on water (participle past)

While the heartland is chugging right along, the economies of Southern California and New England are still taking on water.

1994 January 2, Peter Passell, “Clear Today; Tomorrow, Who Knows?; Catch '94”, in New York Times, retrieved 2016-01-08

Democrats on Capitol Hill . . . are struggling not to go down with the Obama campaign (which is taking on water at an alarming rate).

2012 June 22, Jennifer Rubin, “Why defend Obama’s abuse of executive privilege?”, in Washington Post, retrieved 2016-01-08

The team refinanced $250 million of debt and is no longer taking on water under the leadership of GM Sandy Alderson.

2014 March 26, Mike Ozanian, “Baseball Team Values 2014 Led By New York Yankees At $2.5 Billion”, in Forbes, retrieved 2016-01-08

(idiomatic, by extension) To be in an increasingly difficult or risky situation; to falter or begin to fail.


random encounter

en-noun

random encounter (plural random encounters)

[Scott is dreaming. Ramona appears in the dream without warning.]
Ramona: I think this is the lamest dream I've ever found you in.
Forest elf: Look out! Random encounter!!!

2007, “Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together”, in Scott Pilgrim, volume 4

(by extension) The event of seeing someone appearing without warning.


maid-of-all-work

These colossal changes necessitate an attempt to adapt the constitution of 1789 to an entirely different kind of civilization from the one for which it was planned. The only significant change made to meet this new civilization is the great American maid-of-all-work, the Inter-State Commerce Commission.

1916, Charles Zueblin, “Rejuvenating the Constitution”, in Yale Law Journal, volume 25, page 218

Sir GEORGE CAVE is the Ministerial maid-of-all-work. Whenever there is a disagreeable or awkward measure to introduce it falls to the Quite-at-Home Secretary, if I may borrow an expression coined by my friend, TOBY, M.P., for one of Sir GEORGE’S predecessors.

1917 February 28, “Essence of Parliament”, in Punch, volume 152, page 143

The German told us he had been three years in Afghanistan and six months in Mazar, where he acts as maid-of-all-work for bridges, canals, roads, and building in general.

1937, Robert Byron, The Road to Oxiana, Chapter

The 12th class engines, introduced by Mr. Gray in 1926, and all built by the North British Locomotive Co. Ltd., forms the largest class on the line and can best be described as "maids of all work".

1940 December, O. S. M. Raw, “The Rhodesia Railways—II”, in Railway Magazine, page 639

At the other extreme, we have that true maid-of-all-work type, the 0-6-0, the mainstay of goods, shunting, and often of passenger work right from the earliest days to the present time.

1945 November and December, H. C. Casserley, “Random Reflections on British Locomotive Types—1”, in Railway Magazine, page 319

(by extension, humorous) Any person who does a wide range of jobs in a supportive role; a thing that serves a wide range of purposes.


iPad

From i- + pad. Apple trademark, from their "i-" series of products; especially their iOS products, the iPod and iPhone.

I [googled] his name on my Samsung android iPad notebook and familiarised myself with his bibliography before our appointment. Senator Nathan Obadiah Bracken was born in New Jersey but lived in Boston for the first twelve years of his life.

2014, Stevenson Mukoro, Guns, Death and Mr. Krakauer, Xlibris, page 189

She opened her bag and took out her Samsung iPad.

2015, Alfred Lenarciak, Napoleon's Eagle Prophecy, AuthorHouse, unnumbered page

He told me to head back to the colonel. With the iPad thing I had, they were tracking me every step of the way. From that they could get the exact coordinates of the enemy to help us when we attack.

2021, Roy Paul Shields, Out of Darkness (The Freedom Villagers), Dorrance Publishing, page 80

(by extension) Any lightweight low-power tablet computer.


yetling

yetling (countable and uncountable, plural yetlings)

From Middle English yetling, yetlyng, ȝetlynge, equivalent to yet (“to pour”) + -ling.

Still, it occurs to me that Yetlington is more probably indebted to its name from being the spot where " yetlings" were made. To this day the metal pot used by the muggers is known by that appellation in its immediate neighhourhood, and bears a striking resemblance to a sacred utensil used during the sacrifices of the Romans.

1842, Local Collections; Or, Records of Remarkable Events, Connected with the Borough of Gateshead, page 50

Mother had lifted the yetling off the fire, and left it there," pointing to the middle of the room ; " and she comes running along and tumbles in.

1859, Jane Anne Winscom, Onward: or, The mountain Clamberers : a Tale of Progress, page 43

A bronze yetling, or tripod caldron, with an angular handle at each side.

1880, John Collingwood Bruce, A Descriptive Catalogue of Antiquities, Chiefly British, at Alnwick Castle

Baking in the turf-burning areas of the North Yorkshire Moors was also undertaken in a yetling, a cylindrical cast-iron vessel perhaps a foot in diameter and five inches in height which hung over the fire from a reckon-hook.

1987, Peter C. D. Brears, Traditional Food in Yorkshire, page 79

(UK, chiefly Scotland, by extension) A small cauldron, or rounded pot, typically, but not always, made of cast iron.


glide path

(economics, by extension) the pattern of systematic withdrawal of money from a retirement portfolio

(figuratively, by extension) a course that leads smoothly to a particular outcome


unsulfured

(by extension, of fruits, molasses, etc) Having no sulfur dioxide gas involved in production.


elephants' graveyard

elephants' graveyard (plural elephants' graveyards)

John F. Williams, Paul Clifford. low rate, on the other hand may mean that the legal department is an "elephants' graveyard," from which no escape is possible.

1984, John F. Williams, Career Preparation and Opportunities in International Law, page 94

I actually wonder for a moment if my kind has an elephants' graveyard where those of us free to do so withdraw as our lives dwindle down to the ninth one's final moments.

1997, Carole Nelson Douglas, Cat with an Emerald Eye: A Midnight Louie Mystery, page 56

I suppose every garden has one: an elephants' graveyard of discarded labels.

(by extension) A place where lost objects or people end up, and from which there is no escape.


high-wire

T2 isn’t as good as T1: it is a little too long and unwinds a bit into caper sentimentality, broad comedy and self-mythologising. But it has the same punchy energy, the same defiant pessimism, and there’s nothing around like it. This sequel was a high-wire act, but Boyle has made it to the other side.

2017 January 19, Peter Bradshaw, “T2 Trainspotting review – choose a sequel that doesn't disappoint”, in the Guardian


microformal

Both microformal and mesoformal deformations of the bed are considered in the analytical study.

A program of excavation in commoner house groups was selected with the intention of recovering a representative sample of diagnostic ceramics, which would be subjected to a fine-grained microformal analysis as well as a battery of standard tests and classification.

1999, Lauren Rebecca Herckis, Cultural Variation in the Maya City of Palenque (Doctoral dissertation, Anthropology. University of Michigan), page 8

(more generally) Involving structure on a localized, small scale.


lambish

en-adj

lambish (comparative more lambish, superlative most lambish)

more lambish (comparative)
most lambish (superlative)

From Middle English lambish, lambisch, equivalent to lamb + -ish.


basement-dweller

(informal, derogatory, by extension, chiefly Internet slang) A nerd or geek; a person lacking a social life.


call someone's number

en-verb

call someone's number (third-person singular simple present calls someone's number, present participle calling someone's number, simple past and past participle called someone's number)

calls someone's number (present singular third-person)
calling someone's number (participle present)
called someone's number (participle past)
called someone's number (past)

I am glad to have that comment, Sir. I think you have about called our number on that.

1969, Annmarie Hauck Walsh, The urban challenge to government

"I'm sure about this one," I said. "I'm starting the preparations." “Ok, I'm calling your number on this one. I got your word, and everyone else is out of the way.”

2001, Stuart Kaufman, Engine Parts, page 60

People have certainly died from laughing gas,” he says. “They can get into serious trouble using tanks and masks and they certainly shouldn’t be driving while doing it and should be careful round rivers and swimming pools,” he says. “But the second you get into saying people using nitrous in balloons is a massive issue, people will call your number on that, and they’re right. It’s a concern that it’s going up, the numbers of people using are quite stunning, but it’s not the most dangerous thing by a mile.”

2014 August 13, Sam Wolfson, “Is the growth in nitrous oxide misuse a laughing matter?”, in The Guardian

(by extension, idiomatic) To focus on someone, asking them to prove themselves.


boner-killer

That was a pretty sweet movie, but the ending was a real boner-killer.

(slang, vulgar, by extension, derogatory) An unappealing person or situation.


bend the knee

bend the knee (third-person singular simple present bends the knee, present participle bending the knee, simple past and past participle bent the knee)

bends the knee (present singular third-person)
bending the knee (participle present)
bent the knee (participle past)
bent the knee (past)

From the medieval European practice of genuflecting to show respect for a superior. Popularized by its use on the television series Game of Thrones (2011-2019).

Some thought we had in Mr. [Abraham] Lincoln the nerve and decision of an Oliver Cromwell; but the result shows that we merely have a continuation of the Pierces and Buchanans, and that the Republican President bends the knee to slavery as readily as any of his infamous predecessors.

1861 April, Frederick Douglass, “The Inaugural Address”, in Douglass' Monthly, volume III, number XI, page 434

But there's something more sinister in the need for companies to bend the knee to Washington politicians.

2013, Gary Shapiro, Ninja Innovation: The Ten Killer Strategies of the World's Most Successful Businesses, page 117

Kafka had bent the knee to his father’s desires and taken a job in an insurance office.

2016, Stuart Jeffries, Grand Hotel Abyss: The Lives of the Frankfurt School, page 166

(idiomatic, by extension) To show undue deference, obedience, or support for someone or something.


deshelve

deshelve (third-person singular simple present deshelves, present participle deshelving, simple past and past participle deshelved)

deshelves (present singular third-person)
deshelving (participle present)
deshelved (participle past)
deshelved (past)

Basically, "You give us a non-aggression pact, America, and we will look at deshelving our nuclear weapons.

(transitive, by extension) To make unavailable or inactive.


jump out

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

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

If your wallpaper has green and red in it and you put a red carpet in the room then the red jumps out.

2008, Dennis Day, Barbie Dollhouse Plan Traditional, page 48

If you're ever in a situation where you need to make a quick educated guess, that rule of thumb is this. When you look at a skull for the first time, ask yourself what the first thing you notice is. The very first thing. What jumps out at you?

2013, Ted Kosmatka, Prophet of Bones: A Novel, page 110

All are class acts, but Mary's picture jumps out as the best overall.

(idiomatic, by extension) To be obviously, noticeably different; to capture an observer's attention at once.


sufferfest

And if that happened, they were in for a year-long sufferfest.

2012, Owen West, The Snake Eaters: An Unlikely Band of Brothers and the Battle for the Soul of Iraq

(by extension) An activity in which all participants ache, agonize, ail, endure.


sneaking regarder

en-noun

sneaking regarder (plural sneaking regarders)

2011 May 12, Ivan Yates, "Get well soon Garret, we still need your wisdom and experience" Irish Examiner
Critics dismissed FitzGerald as a “sneaking regarder” and a West Brit — betraying the idealism of 1916 and aspirations of Irish sovereignty.

He justified the “necessary lie” and was a sneaking regarder of Machiavelli and Hobbes; he agreed with Cicero’s view that “we must dissemble if we would live in the world”.

2017 April, Tadhg Foley, “A Bit Of Stick”, in Dublin Review of Books

(by extension) Someone who supports an unpopular cause.


land clearer

It is as a pioneer and “land clearer” that we know Martin-Löf – one of the principal clarifiers of the syntax and semantics of constructive mathematics.

2012 -, P. Dybjer, Sten Lindström, Erik Palmgren, Epistemology versus Ontology

(by extension) One who prepares the way for a project or type of endeavor by removing obstacles.


game day

This brings us at last to game day. You are going to speak. You are prepared to speak, but you still have some work to do before, during, and right after your presentation.

2006, Gary Gagliardi, Making Money by Speaking

Thanks to my wonderful team at Brigham and Women's and the awesome folks at the Pulmonary Rehab Department at Concord Hospital, Concord, New Hampshire, as the “game day” approached; it actually looked like I could make it.

2011, Stephen Knipstein, Taking Flight: Inspirational Stories of Lung Transplantation - More Journeys

Every day is game day when you're running for president. Every hand shaken, baby kissed, event attended and door knocked is a chance to influence a vote and change the fate of your campaign.

2016 August 5, Michael Bassik, “Make Marketing Great Again: 3 Lessons from the Campaign Trail”, in Entrepreneur

This is the first big area that will be hit and conditions will arrive in just a few hours. This is game day. This is going to hit.

2016 October 6, Doug Ohlemeier, “Florida growers, PMA preparing for Hurricane Matthew”, in The Packer

(by extension, figurative) The day when something important is scheduled to happen.


derank

en-verb

derank (third-person singular simple present deranks, present participle deranking, simple past and past participle deranked)

deranks (present singular third-person)
deranking (participle present)
deranked (participle past)
deranked (past)

If they do not qualify within thirty days, they are to be so notified and deranked to their former position.

1913, The Car Worker - Volume 11, Issue 9 - Volume 12, Issue 9, page 6

An Engineer shall not be dismissed, suspended, deranked, nor shall an entry be made against his efficiency record without sufficient cause, and not then until after a fair and formal investigation has been held, if he desires it.

1915, Western railroads arbitration, Exhibits Presented by the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen

I think no longer of you as my first trustworthy scribe - I have deranked you to "Pen scribble".

2013, James Clark, Shirley Hitchings, The Poltergeist Prince of London

You would have been deranked and perhaps made a record clerk --no personal reflections, but such things do happen-- and if you now were filing cards all day you would surely be much happier if you could believe in our divinity.

2017, Milo Hastings, City of Endless Night

(more generally) To demote; to give a lower position within a hierarchy.


Corner

Indeed, the whole aspect of the Corner, with its open space and green lawns, is so different from what it once was that it requires a glance at the sturdy brick wall of Buckingham Palace Gardens […] to assure the wanderer that, after all, nothing very revolutionary has occurred, and that things are much as they used to be twenty years ago.

(by extension, archaic, colloquial) The Tattersalls horse repository and betting rooms, originally located at Hyde Park Corner.


overtuned

en-adj

overtuned (comparative more overtuned, superlative most overtuned)

more overtuned (comparative)
most overtuned (superlative)

There was a baby photo, those school portraits with the rainbow background, a big Afro playing basketball, a tuxedo-and-date prom, a couple of graduations, blah, blah, blah. Corny, yes, but these photo montages always touched Myron, exploiting his overtuned sensitivity like a sappy Hallmark commercial.

1998, Harlan Coben, One False Move (Myron Bolitar), New York, N.Y.: Delacorte Press, page 55

(by extension) Excessive in some respect (without any implication of having been "tuned").


prime cut

I got no idea who he thinks is listening to us, but I register that this is prime cut information.

2004, Sidney Offit, “No Time for Senior’s”, in Tim McLoughlin, editor, Brooklyn Noir, Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.: Akashic Books

He graduated magna cum laude from ASU in three years, then promptly earned his MBA from the Wharton School. Corporate recruiters saw him as prime cut.

2011, John Lutz, chapter 39, in Fear the Night, New York, N.Y.: Pinnacle Books

The new kid was covered in mud, the thin drizzle doing nothing to clean him off, but it was clear he was a prime cut.

2013, John Haggerty, “The Meat Forest”, in John [Gregory] Betancourt et al., editors, The Haunts & Horrors Megapack, [Rockville, Md.]: Wildside Press, page 161

[…] with Rolling Stone's John Milward hailing the band's [Lynyrd Skynyrd's] "Southern blues-rock diced with the sharp blade of British hard rock" as "a prime cut of guitar rock" and Ronnie's "world-weary" vocals "barroom-tough on rockers, properly vulnerable on … 'Searching' and 'The Needle and the Spoon'."

2015, Mark Ribowsky, Whiskey Bottles and Brand-New Cars: The Fast Life and Sudden Death of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Chicago, Ill.: Chicago Review Press, page 189

(by extension) Something that represents the best quality in its class.


a magician never reveals his secrets

"So how did you do it? Who were the bodies I saw? You didn't kill someone did you?” “No,” Nathan said, almost insulted by her questions, but a smile came over him. “A magician never reveals his secrets, Damarus. Now turn around and enjoy the silence.”

2003, Michelle Woody, Figment of the Heart, page 291

Combs took a sip of his coffee and recoiled, forgetting how hot it was. He ignored the burning of his tongue, though, and asked Williams: "How did you know it was me?" “A magician never reveals his secrets.”

"How did you get your hands on it?" The kidnapper shrugged, coyly. "I have my ways." "Which are what, exactly?" The kidnapper tsked, shaking a finger at him. “A magician never reveals his secrets, and a reporter never gives up his source.” Blare groaned, struggling to lift his head.

(by extension) A refusal to explain how one accomplished something impressive.


oil and water don't mix

And the Mennonite boys don't consider her suitable. As you know, oil and water don't mix.

2012, Larry Warkentin, Bloodline: of Peasants, Pilgrims and Poets, page 231

(more generally) Some people, things or characteristics do not go together.


Dunblane

A town in Stirling council area, Scotland; historically it was a royal burgh in Perthshire until 1975 (OS grid ref NN7801), infamous for the mass shooting that happened there in 1996.

(by extension) The mass shooting itself.


ekker

The dog ate my ekker.

2015 September 19, hinault, “Chirch membership discussion”, in Boards.ie, retrieved 2017-06-13

(by extension, Ireland and Australia, school slang) Homework.


main bitch

I wanted to believe him, because I love validation. Validation is my main bitch.

(by extension) Something or someone of great importance.


maumy

maumy (comparative more maumy, superlative most maumy)

more maumy (comparative)
most maumy (superlative)


pilot wave

Coined by Louis de Broglie from the idea that the waveform pilots (guides) particles.

Pilot waves and projections from the implicate order to the explicate order of sense-perceptible phenomena are inscrutable to our everyday consiousness, at least directly.

1998, Michael Knapik, Developing Intelligent Agents for Distributed Systems, page 18

Speaking in general terms, my hypothesis is that the pilot wave of my consciousness directs my consciousness through configuration space in the sense of actualizing these possibilities; e.g. a possible hue becomes an actual content of my visual awareness by virtue of being actualized by a mental wave-form, in particular, an intentional act. More exactly, as we shall see below, it is the more complex wave-form produced by the entaglement of my brain's pilot wave with the pilot wave of my consciousness that simultaneously actualizes the sensory quale and a set of nerve cell firings.

2003, Quentin Smith, Aleksandar Jokic, Consciousness: New Philosophical Perspectives, page 430

The quadratic function varies essentially more strongly than the linear function, and, as a result, such a financial pilot wave induces a nontrivial financial force.

2010, Andrei Y. Khrennikov, Ubiquitous Quantum Structure: From Psychology to Finance, page 163

(social sciences, by extension) A wavefunction on some measurement of information that guides the consciousness or behavior of individual people.


genuine article

en-noun

genuine article (plural genuine articles)


baby hatch

A place where a person (typically the mother) can bring a baby to abandon it so that somebody else can find and care for it.

(by extension) A modern healthcare facility for this purpose, incorporating an incubator.


beige box

Beige box (phreaking)
gray-box testing
white box (software engineering)

(derogatory, by extension) An outdated personal computer.


dambuster

en:aircraft or pilot involved in Operation Chastise in 1943

(by extension) An aircraft or pilot involved in Operation Chastise in 1943.


carcinomatophobia

(medicine, loosely) A morbid fear of cancer: Synonym of carcinophobia.


afterstroke

From Middle English after-stroke, equivalent to after- + stroke.


pseudostome

From Ancient Greek ψευδής (pseudḗs, “false, lying”) + Ancient Greek στόμα (stóma, “mouth”).

uder

The opening is via a pseudostome situated on the chamber or at the top of a neck which flares out to form a collar.

1985, Gérard Bignot, Elements of Micropalaeontology, page 123

It is flattened ventrally and is smooth around the pseudostome area.

2003, Ken J. Clarke, Guide to the Identification of Soil Protozoa - Testate Amoebae, page 22

Members of the Arcellina (testate amoebae), especially the terrestrial species, are surrounded by resistent tests with only one small pseudostome.

2012, Jürgen Bereiter-Hahn, O. Roger Anderson, Wolf-Ernst Reif, Cytomechanics: The Mechanical Basis of Cell Form and Structure

(more generally) A false opening that resembles a stoma but without any true aperture.


gun-for-hire

After months of bitter disagreements and legal back-and-forth, he had finally given up and struck out on his own, but he'd met with a string of bad luck—a client who refused to pay, a flood, a false insurance claim—and he'd had to shut up shop; now he was working for a big construction firm as a gun for hire and telling anybody who would listen what a rotten hand he had been dealt.

2023, Eleanor Catton, Birnam Wood, page 128


pay to play

en-verb

pay to play (third-person singular simple present pays to play, present participle paying to play, simple past and past participle paid to play)

pays to play (present singular third-person)
paying to play (participle present)
paid to play (participle past)
paid to play (past)

From sometime practice of charging a fee for admission to a gambling game.

(by extension) To incur a cost to participate in an activity.

(especially US, politics) To make a campaign contribution or illegal payment to avail oneself of business or other opportunities controlled by politicians.


work the refs

work the refs (third-person singular simple present works the refs, present participle working the refs, simple past and past participle worked the refs)

works the refs (present singular third-person)
working the refs (participle present)
worked the refs (participle past)
worked the refs (past)

Slater said that Bush would charm reporters in an attempt to "work the refs" much like a basketball coach will try to cajole and hassle referees in order to influence calls.

2006, James E. Mueller, Towel Snapping the Press

Today this pressure is better funded and more coordinated on the Right, making their efforts to work the refs, to script our political spectacles, more powerful.

2010, Julie Drew, William Lyons, Lance Svehla, Sound-Bite Saboteurs

In a sense, for conservatives the “changed his mind” story is a continuation of their efforts to work the refs, this time treating the American people as the referees in a contest over respect for the Supreme Court.

2013, Mark Tushnet, In the Balance: Law and Politics on the Roberts Court, page 28

Both candidates worked the refs ahead of the game.

2016 September 26, David Goldstein, Anita Kumar, “Trump is still Trump in first debate and Clinton doesn’t take the bait”, in Miami Herald

ThinkProgress’ Judd Legum suggests Comey was overcorrecting in response to a monthslong assault by the GOP on the FBI’s authority. “Republicans worked the refs at the FBI,” Legum tweeted, “and it worked.”

2016 October 31, Isaac Chotiner, “Donald Trump Is on the Ballot Next Week. Why Are We Talking About Emails?”, in Slate Magazine

(politics, by extension) To manipulate the press to view one's candidate favorably and to report negative stories on one's opponent.


head

an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure

It has been said, that the wisdom of a nation is seen in the spirit of their common sayings and proverbs; ours has one in point to the present purpose, that the ounce of prevention is more worth than the pound of cure.

1786, J. Z. Holwell, A new experiment for the prevention of crimes

(idiomatic, by extension) Precaution and prevention of an undesirable thing is preferable to dealing with its potential consequences.


buffty

And it's not like she's a buffty either. She kicked the shit out of a moggy twice her size last night.

2001 May 29, SadKate, “Swifts”, in alt.usenet.legends.duab (Usenet)

(Scotland, slang, by extension) Someone or something weak or effeminate.


cock holster

I really did feel sorry for the guy because all he wanted to do was hang out, get drunk and play some golf, but my sister couldn't quit flappin' her cock holster for ONE weekend.

2009, Shea White, Ron White, The History of My Vagina and Other Sordid Tales

His name is Malloy but you ladies can call him the worst goddamn day of the rest of your short and pathetic life, from now on the first word out of your cock holster will be sir, the last word will be sir, and so forth.

Till then, keep your fuckin' cock holster shut.

2016, Dev Jarrett, Little Sister, page 72


binomial series

en-noun

binomial series (plural binomial series)

A particular useful series is termed the binomial series (or binomial theorem) and is frequently used to simplify engineering expressions. In this chapter we consider the arithmetic, geometric and binomial series.

2000, W. Bolton, Mathematics for Engineering, page 92

The binomial series or binomial theorem is a formula for raising a binomial expression to any power without lengthy multiplication.

2017, John Bird, Higher Engineering Mathematics, page 60

(mathematics, loosely) The binomial theorem.


zhng

From Hokkien 裝／装 (chng). Spelling influenced by Mandarin Pinyin.

[…] I've 'zhng-ed' the graphics and so it looks more like how it feels in my mind […]

2009 February 11, Stephie’s Shop Mailing List (Usenet)

(Singapore, colloquial, transitive, by extension) To embellish or redecorate.


brown-water navy

brown-water navy (plural brown-water navies)

Gunboats and other vessels with shallow drafts that could navigate inland waterways were part of the Civil War's brown-water navies.

2005, Clifford L. Linedecker, Civil War, A to Z: The Complete Handbook of America's Bloodiest Conflict, page 57

(military, nautical, broadly) A naval force capable of military operations in riverine and coastal environments.


take the helm

en-verb

take the helm (third-person singular simple present takes the helm, present participle taking the helm, simple past took the helm, past participle taken the helm)

takes the helm (present singular third-person)
taking the helm (participle present)
took the helm (past)
taken the helm (participle past)

The nation was also at peace. The Cold War had ended before Bill Clinton took the helm, and his presidency had experienced nothing that could be called a major international crisis. Turmoil in the Balkans and Middle East was nothing new. Iraq required attention but no massive deployment of Americans. There had been devastating, but fortunately isolated, terrorist attacks in Africa and in Oklahoma City. But the North Koreans had not invaded South Korea, nor had they lobbed one of their missiles in our direction. Communist China did not invade Taiwan. Libya remained quiet.

2001, Barbara Olson, “The Final Frenzy: Finishing Touches on the Legend”, in The Final Days: The Last, Desperate Abuses of Power by the Clinton White House (Politics/Current Affairs), Washington, D.C.: Regnery Publishing, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 2

(by extension) To take over responsibility (of something) from someone else


run adrift

run adrift (third-person singular simple present runs adrift, present participle running adrift, simple past ran adrift, past participle run adrift)

runs adrift (present singular third-person)
running adrift (participle present)
ran adrift (past)
run adrift (participle past)

(figurative, by extension) To be aimless or pointless; to make no progress.


pluriverse

Or about re-encountering and understanding afresh the profound relevance of Illich's insights at the grassroots, in the pluriverse of millions of peoples decried and denigrated as "uneducated" and "illiterate"?

2002, Lee Hoinacki, Carl Mitcham, The Challenges of Ivan Illich: A Collective Reflection, page 141

In the end it has left actors with the suggestion that they be mindful of the repercussions of their actions in a grand normative pluriverse.

2012, Ingo Venzke, How Interpretation Makes International Law

Politics without commitment to ends or beliefs is not possible. Passion is a culminating state of mind, a fusing of wrath and zeal in a stable bu tvehement subjectivity propelling decisions in a tumultuous pluriverse of values, perhaps charismatically graced or charged but, at the same time, objectively and responsibly channelled.

2013, J.H. Grainger, Tony Blair and the Ideal Type

That process of creating new social subjects does not assume that identities and interests flow mechanically from class positions, but recognizes the pluriverse of overlapping identities (intersectionality) that include experiences filtered through lenses of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, generation, religious/spiritual outlook, and cosmosvision.

2014, Richard Stahler-Sholk, Harry E. Vanden, Marc Becker, Rethinking Latin American Social Movements: Radical Action from Below

(more generally) Any large non-homogenous domain.


self-rape

en-noun

self-rape (countable and uncountable, plural self-rapes)

Only when he desists from his self-rape and gives his animal side its head, no matter how "unnatural" its aspirations, can he finally transcend it and grow into a human being.

1972, Paul J. Stern, In praise of madness: realness therapy--the self reclaimed, page 46

Another parliamentarian, Gabi Potthast, agreed that the situation is destructive. To go into patriarchal politics and adapt to their ways is self-rape.

1985, Woman of Power - Issues 2-7, page 28

Thus, a first generation woman member of parliament for the Greens reported that she needed regular breaks from an atmosphere which she described as self-rape and in which she could only function by shutting out all emotions or personal expectations and functioning like an automaton (Spretnak and Capra 1985: 142).

1989, Eva Kolinsky, The Greens in West Germany: Organisation and Policy Making

If there is any way in which Lyutov is punishing or hurting himself, it is in forcing himself to act completely antithetically to his own nature. If one must search for a dramatic metaphor, the action is more self-rape than self-mutilation. Peter Stine calls the killing of the goose "a violation of the soul" (241).

2000, Eliot Borenstein, Men Without Women: Masculinity and Revolution in Russian Fiction, 1917-1929

The worst part, they agreed, was having to pretend to feelings they didn't have because that's what the Red People expected. "We were a pair of comrades discussing a decade each of self-rape," Donna says, "a pair of prostitutes talking trade."

2005, Walt Harrington, The Beholder's Eye: A Collection of America's Finest Personal Journalism

(by extension) Behaving contrary to one's own nature, usually as a result of outside pressure.

The shipping boom the industry had been riding since the prelude to the war collapsed in 1920. As Europe recovered from its self-rape and rebuilt its industries, the demand for American goods and the ships to carry them was greatly curtailed.

1967, Industrial and Labor Relations Forum - Volume 4, page 25

...as an act of "self-rape" by the "willingly self-conflicting soul that inflicts suffering upon itself, out of pleasure in inflicting suffering" (GM, II, § 18).

1990, Laurence A. Rickels, Looking After Nietzsche: Interdisciplinary Encounters with Merleau-Ponty, page 38

Perhaps if you put people in shit, they behave like animals. The downtrodden destroying the places they live in is a bit like self-rape, isn't it?

1990, Linda Christmas, Chopping down the cherry trees: a portrait of Britain in the eighties

It seemed to me that there was a wide-open field for playing up all the unfortunate circumstances surrounding physical violence, rape as punishable by law, but also for attacking the crime of spiritual rape, and, finally, the worst of all, self-rape, violence against one's own self.

2016, Antonín J. Liehm, Closely Watched Films (Routledge Revivals)

(by extension) Self-destructive activity.


skate one's lane

en-verb

skate one's lane (third-person singular simple present skates one's lane, present participle skating one's lane, simple past and past participle skated one's lane)

skates one's lane (present singular third-person)
skating one's lane (participle present)
skated one's lane (participle past)
skated one's lane (past)

Well, yes, but they're also human beings, fathers, sons, brothers, cousins, uncles and friends. Role players have to skate their lanes off the ice, too.

2011 September 2, Michael Hurley, “Deaths of Wade Belak, NHL Enforcers Leave NHL, NHLPA Left With Problem That's Impossible to Fix”, in NESN

Failing to do so could spell disaster. After all, if skin care for tweens is truly a good business idea, it wouldn’t take long for one or two of the big players that have been watching from the sidelines to tap those customers that Christy is slow to reach, and eventually push her out of the picture. She knows all this, of course, and for now is skating her lane.

2012 April 25, Stephen Sawicki, “Face Time”, in I Love FC (the best of fairfield county living)

Pareene is right. "Dangerous Donald" is stupid and childish. You are not going to out-stupid and/or out-childish He, Trump. Nobody can do that, not even incredibly stupid children. Skate your lane, Clinton people. Yeesh.

2016 May 7, Charles P. Pierce, “Happy Friday. 'Dangerous Donald' Is Childish and Stupid”, in Esquire

mind one's own business
mind one's own business

(by extension, idiomatic) To mind one's own business; focus on one's own goals and tasks and not worry about what others are doing.


take the shilling

take the shilling (third-person singular simple present takes the shilling, present participle taking the shilling, simple past took the shilling, past participle taken the shilling)

takes the shilling (present singular third-person)
taking the shilling (participle present)
took the shilling (past)
taken the shilling (participle past)

/teɪk ðə ˈʃɪlɪŋ/

A reference to the practice during the 18th and 19th century of a recruiting officer getting a person to enlist in the British Army or Royal Navy by accepting (or being tricked into accepting) a shilling, which was then a soldier’s daily pay. The practice was officially ended in 1879.

(military, dated) To enlist as a soldier of any military force; to join the armed forces.

My earlier warnings, both in RAIL and in an article I wrote for The Times, have not fallen on deaf ears. There are many people (I suspect most) in the [rail] industry who recognise that telling people not to use their trains will cause lasting damage, but they are silenced publicly because they are now taking the Government's shilling.

2020 June 17, Christian Wolmar, “The Strategy of ‘Don’t Use the Railways’ Must be Reversed …”, in Rail, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 44

(generally) To be on the payroll of an organization; to work for an organization.


torchbearing

(by extension) Leading a campaign, or giving inspiration to others.


guilty as charged

My coworkers noticed that I was tired, and assumed that I had stayed up all night watching the game. And yes, I was guilty as charged.

(by extension) Truly, indeed, verily responsible for having done something.

such as myönnetään (“I am/was guilty as charged”, literally “it is admitted”)


linguister

Probably from Portuguese lingüista (“linguist”) reinterpreted as linguist + -er.

One day a linguister, a native commission agent, arrived in a trading canoe, and stated that […] a prince some way up the river […] had [said] […] that if I sent him five longs and five gallons of rum he would […] let my trade pass.

1887, Richard Edward Dennett, chapter 4, in Seven Years Among the Fjort: Being and English Trader’s Experiences in the Congo District, London: S. Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, pages 80–81

A “chief linguister” went along in order to act as a broker for the ship’s captain or supercargo.

1991, Philip D. Curtin, chapter 3, in The Tropical Atlantic in the Age of the Slave Trade, Washington, DC: American Historical Association, page 34

(archaic, historical, by extension) In West and Central Africa, a bi- or multilingual agent or broker facilitating trade between Europeans and non-Europeans.


brainlet

Still, we have in this country Whig writers—that is, party Whig writers, of the regular party guage, assuring the other little brainlets who believe their writings, that Ruskin is an author of equivalent genius to Jeremy Taylor's—a great man—an intellectual pinnacle—merely because he puts his hand to madnesses, because he abuses Protestantism, and thinks that Christians should not mind their own business, but all other people's businesses— exactly what a Whig of the latter-day school does in office, devising conspiracy bills for French people and sending advice to Germans— which they don't want, and don't take well;

1859, Tait's Edinburgh Magazine, page 522

I think he told Claudine the same thing when they met, and convinced the tiny brainlet of his sincerity.

1905, Booth Tarkington, The conquest of Canaan: a novel, page 254

(by extension) A dolt; a fool; someone having a small brain.


quadrillionaire

If I were a quadrillionaire, I can see How I might meet these wash-bills with just a degree Of plain aflability,-but as I'm not, And probably never will be, I'll be shot If I see how it is that they charge so much here That a laundryman makes off one man, in a year, Enough boodle to keep him the rest of his life, Besides all his children, his parents, and wife.

1891 September, W.A.G., “Ode On My Washbill”, in The Round Table, volume 38, number 1

Loonies are always good material; they're so unpredictable, so genuine. And a quadrillionaire loonie geek was the acme of ratingsworthiness.

1997, Martin Harry Greenberg, Vampires: The Greatest Stories, page 236

A 'quadrillionaire,' a has-been singer, a loquacious Marcos loyalist — they all ran for the Senate.

(by extension) An extremely wealthy person.


briquetage

From French briquetage (“brickwork”) (In French archaeology the term is also used in this extended, specialist sense).

qf

(archaeology, more generally) any crudely-made objects fashioned of burnt clay.


ram-pack

en-verb

ram-pack (third-person singular simple present ram-packs, present participle ram-packing, simple past and past participle ram-packed)

ram-packs (present singular third-person)
ram-packing (participle present)
ram-packed (participle past)
ram-packed (past)

Editor John T. Amber has ram-packed its 400 giant pages with everything you want to know about guns from the earliest Winchesters (like my Model 1866) to the newest stainless steel revolvers! Handloading, ballistics charts, antique and custom guns, field tests, target shooting and more are covered in remarkable detail.

1966, American Rifleman - Volume 114, Issue 9, page 11


wedgefish

en-noun

wedgefish (plural wedgefish or wedgefishes)

(by extension) Any member of the two other species in family Rhinidae, known as shark rays.


lay a glove on

en-verb

lay a glove on (third-person singular simple present lays a glove on, present participle laying a glove on, simple past and past participle laid a glove on)

lays a glove on (present singular third-person)
laying a glove on (participle present)
laid a glove on (participle past)
laid a glove on (past)

From the sport of boxing, referring to managing to hit someone with one's boxing glove.

It was more than an anticlimax: it was a triumph for the President. “They didn't lay a glove on him,” Robert Bennett, his lawyer, told me. “On a scale of one to ten, it was a fifteen.”

2003, Sidney Blumenthal, The Clinton Wars

“The courts couldn't lay a glove on you, if that's what you did," said Silber.

2012, Ronald P. Formisano, Boston Against Busing: Race, Class, and Ethnicity in the 1960s and 1970s

Even Saturday Night Live, the scourge of President Ford, could hardly lay a glove on the “Teflon president.”

2013, Tevi Troy, What Jefferson Read, Ike Watched, and Obama Tweeted, page 144

But if you say absolutely nothing they can't just keep you inside and do nothing with you. No feedback from you and they have nothing to lay a glove on you with and have to let you go sometime.

2014, Jim Ore, Crime is Everywhere, page 148

(by extension) To harm (someone's) reputation, to make an accusation stick.


ESOP

(by extension) a company that implements such a plan


neuroconsciousness

(by extension from the neurological sense) Soulless/ametaphysical consciousness; Consciousness without a soul; The encephalological and non-Cartesian spectrum of definitions of consciousness.


March break

en-noun

March break (countable and uncountable, plural March breaks)

(by extension) The week of vacation from school that occurs during the winter-spring semester.


steady hand on the tiller

steady hand on the tiller (usually uncountable, plural steady hands on the tiller or steady hands on the tillers)

steady hands on the tiller (plural)
steady hands on the tillers (plural)

[T]heir expressions of confidence in the new Bush administration were likely heartfelt — officials around the world reminisced enthusiastically about the scion of a president best remembered as a sober and steady hand on the tiller of foreign policy.

2000 December 14, Tony Karon, “How the World Sees President Bush”, in Time, retrieved 2018-02-06

In his time, the veteran director Mike Newell has tackled a remarkably wide range of film genres. . . .[H]e was the steady hand on the tiller of the phenomenal Four Weddings and a Funeral, a deceptively effortless-looking romantic comedy which, lest we forget, did not direct itself.

2005 October 28, David Gritten, “I was so fearful of breaking the spell”, in Telegraph, UK, retrieved 2018-02-06

For six years Prime Minister Stephen Harper has promoted himself as a “steady hand on the tiller” to steer the nation through turbulent economic waters.

2014 August 5, Carol Goar, “How to survive a slow-growth recovery”, in The Star, Canada, retrieved 2018-02-06

(idiomatic, by extension) A person exhibiting such control.


sowei

Like the men's society, the corporate consciousness of women and their respected place in the political body is represented by a masked spirit. This sowei (masker), like all the officials of the society, represents the corporate body of women and retains the authority to levy fines and punish women and men or the community as a whole. The ndoli Jowei (dancing sowei) is a masker whose figure is completely covered with black raffia, topped by the sowei mask.

2012, L. Day, Gender and Power in Sierra Leone: Women Chiefs of the Last Two Centuries

(by extension) A woman who represents a sowei by wearing a sowei mask.


the house always wins

The more we sell in our shop, the more profit for all of us. Our customers will be happy, but the house always wins.

The Reddit amateurs may be gloating about their victory over elite hedge funds now, but in the casino of Wall Street the house always wins, and many Redditors may be flirting with financial catastrophe.

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

(by extension) Any economic system is designed to net a profit for the capital holders.

(by extension) A usually unpleasant scenario that is inevitable in the long run and that hopelessly cannot be overcome in the end, regardless of various actions attempting to mitigate or delay it in the short term.


warrant of fitness

warrant of fitness (plural warrants of fitness)

(New Zealand, by extension) An assurance that something is in good working order.


imperial disease

imperial disease (plural imperial diseases)

...in July 1807 we may discern the growth of a singular British imperial disease: Russophobia.

1991, Anthony Verrier, Francis Younghusband and the great game, page 10

The basic administrative and judicial framework, however, was that of the Instructions to the Economic Administration (or ekonomicheskii ustav) which suffered from the usual Russian imperial disease: over-bureaucratization and mistrust of local authorities.

1994, Marc Raeff, Political ideas and institutions in imperial Russia, page 217

Certainly both superpowers suffer from the imperial diseases once so noteworthy among the Romans, the British and the French: arrogance and myopia.

2002, McDougal Littell, The Language of Literature

(by extension) A failing to which an empire is prone.


polypragmatism

polypragmatism (countable and uncountable, plural polypragmatisms)

It would appear, on the whole, that the country is going through a very natural transition-period after the blossoming-time from Bellman to Runeberg, and that the present or recent literary activity is mainly on the surface, and of no particular importance. Perhaps this might be said of the parallel movements in more countries than one, or two, or three. 'Even the literary polypragmatism of Strindberg, as of other contemporary writers, is a “sign.

1907, George Saintsbury, The Later 19th Century, page 327

Epic, tragedy, lyric, satire, epigram itself— Martial has tried them all and dropped them, because he feels himself beaten by Tucca. This is not fair; let Tucca leave him at least one kind, the kind that he doesn't care for. It is not fanciful, surely, to find a critique of poetical polypragmatism here also.

1908, George Saintsbury -, A History of Criticism and Literary Taste in Europe from the Earliest Texts to the Present Day, page 267

As to the monotheistic attitude of Alkmaeon, this is not very surprising, for he was a Pythagoreon, also a mystic with pantheistic tendencies, adhering firmly to the oneness of the whole existence and was known as a bitter and avowed enemy of polytheism and polypragmatism — the belief that nature has various creative forces.

1967, Islamic Review - Volumes 55-56, page 7

(more generally) The use of multiple approaches to a single issue.


Chinese water torture

The growth of subsidies is a Chinese water torture on individual liberty.

1994, James Bovard, Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty, page 162

The end wasn't about money, nobody had an affair, and no firearms were involved. I think what I learned from the experience is that if there are things that bother you before you get married and you can't even discuss them, can't even talk about how to change or deal with whatever issues are going on, run. It was an exercise in Chinese water torture for me.

2007, Theresa Alan, Getting Married, page 8

Compared to Hansen's own blitzkrieg appointment, it was a drawn-out affair, like some kind of political Chinese water torture.

2011, Alun Carter, Nicholas Bishop, Seeing Red: Twelve Tumultuous Years in Welsh Rugby

(idiomatic, by extension) Any repeated irritation that builds to deliver cumulative damage.


superminority

From super + minority, variously involving super-'s separate meanings of "above", "more than", "excellent", or "powerful".

This is an escalating process until we have a highly privileged superminority with a vested interest in increasing its numbers and its power. At that point the people have become servants of the bureaucracy, rather than the bureaucracy being a service function of the government, working for the citizenry.

1979, Rodney Petersen, The philosophy of a peasant, page 244

State governors clamor for state control. They fear local control could generate a hodge—podge of conflicting rules and that a state's solid waste policy could be dictated by a "superminority" of activists in a given county.

1992, Environmental Law Update, page 389

Perhaps because of that, the Russian superminority became singled out as a target of nationalist attack.

2002, Mikhail A. Molchanov, Political culture and national identity in Russian-Ukrainian relations

What, then, is the policy justification for reallocating power in this manner in the direction that Citizens United does, away from the majority and toward an already disproportionately powerful wealthy superminority.

2012, Kyle Langvardt, “The Sorry Case for Citizens United: Remarks at the 2012 Charleston Law Review and Riley Institute of Law and Society Symposium”, in Charleston Law Revue

(more generally) A minority group that wields disproportionate power.


Sunday obligation

holidays of obligation
holidays of obligation

(loosely) the same obligation including that which applies on specified holidays of obligation (varying by diocese)


shirt sleeves

It is to Andrew Carnegie that the expression is attributed in America, "There are only two generations between shirt sleeves and shirt sleeves," The remark is certainly not original with the genial Scot, who is playing such a successful " star engagement " before the American people, nevertheless, it is a most satisfactory sentence. If the wealth which springs from the efforts made in shirt sleeves by one generation, is enjoyed in broad-cloth only by the next two, and that, in the fourth remove, shirt sleeves again become ascendant, so much the better for the country.

2005, Erastus Wiman, Chances of Success: Episodes and Observations in the Life of a Busy Man

(by extension) A working-class socioeconomic status (not requiring a professional business jacket).