spike

en-verb

spike (third-person singular simple present spikes, present participle spiking, simple past and past participle spiked)

spikes (present singular third-person)
spiking (participle present)
spiked (participle past)
spiked (past)

From Middle English spike, spyke, spik, from Old Norse spík (“spike, sprig”), from Proto-Germanic *spīkō (“stick, splinter, point”), from Proto-Indo-European *spey- (“to be pointed; sharp point, stick”). Cognate with Icelandic spík (“spike”), Swedish spik (“spike, nail”), Dutch spijker (“nail”), Old English spīcing (“spike”), and Latin spīca (“ear of corn”), which may have influenced some senses.

terästää

to covertly put alcohol or another intoxicating substance into a drink

Nicolaas, or Nick, as the family called him, wanted to turn professional but an ear injury, sustained during the war, spiked his plans.

1981, Chris Greyvenstein, The Fighters, page 145:

Instead, the "Beaver" declared he would spike the story about Wallis Simpson and make sure his fellow media moguls sat on it too.

2002 October 14, Jonathan Sale, “Edward VIII news blackout”, in The Guardian:

Anyway, on this day I was still struggling with how to use fewer than twenty words to sum up my day in Blackpool in a manner which would not prove too upsetting for my parents, when I learned that I'd got spiked. Again.

2010, Sharon Marshall, Tabloid Girl, Hachette UK, →ISBN:

With two such wildly contradictory versions of why and how NBC News spiked Farrow’s Weinstein story, it’s difficult to determine what objectively occurred.

2017 October 11, Lloyd Grove, “How NBC ‘Killed’ Ronan Farrow’s Weinstein Exposé”, in Daily Beast:

(figurative, journalism) To discard; to decide not to publish or make public.


reel

From Middle English reel, reele, from Old English rēol, hrēol, from Proto-West Germanic *hrehul, from Proto-Germanic *hrehulaz, *hrahilaz, from Proto-Indo-European *krek- (“to weave, beat”). Cognate with Icelandic ræl, hræll.

(film) A short compilation of sample film work used as a demonstrative resume in the entertainment industry.


stack

en-verb

stack (third-person singular simple present stacks, present participle stacking, simple past and past participle stacked)

stacks (present singular third-person)
stacking (participle present)
stacked (participle past)
stacked (past)

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

From Middle English stack, stacke, stakke, stak, from Old Norse stakkr (“a barn; haystack; heap; pile”), from Proto-Germanic *stakkaz (“a barn; rick; haystack”).
The data structure sense is a calque of Dutch stapel, introduced by Edsger W. Dijkstra. Cognate with Icelandic stakkur (“stack”), Swedish stack (“stack”), Danish stak (“stack”), Norwegian stakk (“stack”). Related to stake and sauna.

натрупвам

To place objects or material in the form of a stack

(printing) To have excessive ink transfer.


stray

From Middle English stray, strey, from Anglo-Norman estray, stray, Old French estrai, from the verb (see below).

This invention relates broadly to radio communication, but more particularly to a radio receiving system used for the reception of high frequency current signals wherever they are subject to interference from "static" or strays of an untuned or aperiodic character.

1926, Popular Radio, volume 9, page 191:

Because of their shortness, such signals are usually easy to distinguish from the bomb returns but, when such a stray is recorded just before the bomb return, too close to be distinguished by ear […]

1942, John C. Mathisson, Radio Acoustic Ranging, page 652:

Electromagnetic interference EMI, radio interference RI, television interference TVI, and radio frequency interference RFI, can all be described as a confusion to received radio signals due to strays and undesirable signals.

1976, IEEE Power Engineering Society, Nuclear Power: Health, Safety, Waste Disposal, page 20:

(radio) An instance of atmospheric interference.


punk

en-noun

punk (countable and uncountable, plural punks)

Uncertain. Possibly from punk ("rotten wood dust used as tinder", attested since 1678; see Etymology 2 below) to anything worthless (attested since 1869) and then to any undesirable person (since 1908).

gl

(uncountable, science fiction) Any of the punk genres: dieselpunk, solarpunk, steampunk etc.


jerk off

en-noun

jerk off (countable and uncountable, plural jerk offs)

He became one of the industry's top horsemen, specializing in Running Ws, pit falls, and cable jerk-offs.

2014, Gene Scott Freese, Hollywood Stunt Performers, 1910s-1970s:

(film) A stunt in which the performer is suddenly pulled off a horse, etc. by means of a cable.


TDS

technical documentation service
technical documentation service#English

(publishing, R&D, uncountable) Initialism of technical documentation service.


seagull

From sea + gull. The second element is from a Brythonic language. Compare Welsh gwylan, Breton gouelan.

(orthography) The symbol ̼, which combines under a letter as a sort of accent.


decimal point

(typography) A period/full stop ⟨.⟩ or middot ⟨·⟩ used to set off the decimal or fractional part of a number.

(typography, inexact) Any decimal mark, inclusive of commas, separatrices, etc.

desetinná čárka

the decimal mark symbol, characteristic to the native tongue


Santa Claus

Borrowed from Dutch Sinterklaas (“Saint Nicholas”).

bor+

Last Monday the Anniversary of St. Nicholas, otherwise called St. A Claus, was celebrated at Protestant-Hall.

1773 December 26, New York Gazette, p. 3

The noted St. Nicholas, vulgarly called Santaclaus—of all the saints in the kalendar the most venerated by true hollanders, and their unsophisticated descendants.

Here, too, the winter festivals are just commencing; and the toy-shops are full of dolls and gew-gaws for the Bifana, who acts here the same comedy for children that Santiclaus does in America.

1828 November, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, letter to his mother from Italy

This is one of the developments Karl Marx failed to predict. Had he foreseen it he might have expired in guffaws, rolling in the aisle of the British Museum Library amid the notes for Das Kapital, that bearded Santa Claus of the revolution who slipped the unwanted gift of communism down the world's chimneys.

1937 August, Lawrence Martin, "The Odyssey of a Bogeyman", Esquire, Vol. 8, No. 2, p. 39

Emmeline: Oh Richard, you can't know everything. Only God knows everything.
Richard: God—He can't find us any better than Santa Claus.

1980, Douglas Day Stewart, The Blue Lagoon:

By 1900, department-store Santa Clauses were common – lodged in grottoes, cottages, and workshops or on thrones, they presided over a never-ending stream of children.

2005, Gerry Bowler, “Santa the Adman”, in Santa Claus: A Biography, McClelland & Stewart, →ISBN, page 142:

(folklore) A figure said to bring presents to people (especially children) at Christmas time.

Christkind

Christmas; different figure with same role


MILF

Acronym of mother/mom/mama I'd like to fuck. Popularized via the sex comedy American Pie (1999), see quotations.

acronym

(pornography, slang) A pornographic actress in her late twenties or older.


impression

en-noun

impression (countable and uncountable, plural impressions)

From Old French impression, from Latin impressio.

(printing) set of copies of a publication printed at one time having the same content, layout, pagination, etc.


trope

Japanese: トロープ (torōpu)

Korean: 트로프 (teuropeu)

From Latin tropus, from Ancient Greek τρόπος (trópos, “a manner, style, turn, way; a trope or figure of speech; a mode in music; a mode or mood in logic”), related to τροπή (tropḗ, “solstice; trope; turn”) and τρέπειν (trépein, “to turn”); compare turn of phrase. The verb is derived from the noun.

der

You have to give director Colm McCarthy, a Scottish TV veteran making his feature film debut, and writer Mike Carey, adapting his own novel, credit for attempting the seemingly impossible task of doing something new with the zombie subgenre. And by blending it with the common YA [young adult] trope of a young female protagonist who leads the world into a new revolutionary era, they almost get there—largely thanks to newcomer [Sennia] Nanua, who presents her character's grappling with complex themes of identity and original sin with a childlike guilelessness.

2017 February 23, Katie Rife, “The Girl With All The Gifts tries to put a fresh spin on overripe zombie clichés”, in The A.V. Club:

They have completely supported the Russians diplomatically, they’ve abstained in key votes at the United Nations, they’ve absolutely cynically repeated all the Russian tropes, particularly in places like Africa and Latin America – [by]^([sic]) blaming Nato and all of this stuff.

2023 July 20, Helen Davidson, quoting Richard Moore, “China complicit in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, says MI6 chief”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

Contrary to the familiar trope that regulation kills innovation, Harding argues that in fact the political, moral and legal clarity provided by the Warnock commission spurred investment and economic growth.

2024 May 11, John Thornhill, “More than human?”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 8:

(art, literature) Something recurring across a genre or type of art or literature; a motif.

троп

art, literature: something recurring across a genre or type of art or literature


triptych

From Ancient Greek τρίπτυχος (tríptukhos, “consisting of three layers, threefold”), from τρι- (tri-) + πτυχή (ptukhḗ, “a fold”).

uder

Hieronymus Bosch
The Garden of Earthly Delights
triptych

The centerpiece of the show is a poised, luminous, tender, and diabolically clever video installation, “Le Triptyque de Noirmoutier” (The Noirmoutier Triptych), which Varda shot on 35-mm. film[…]. The man gets himself a bottle of beer; the older woman heads with dishes from the sink toward the cupboard—and crosses the dividing line of the triptych exactly like crossing a threshold.

2017 March 27, Richard Brody, “Agnès Varda’s Art of Being There”, in The New Yorker:

(by extension) A group of three people or works, especially when considered representative of a particular field or theme.

(film) A film or video sequence intended to be shown on a triple screen with the use of linked projectors.


SF

en-noun

SF (countable and uncountable, plural SFs)

→ Japanese: エスエフ, SF (SF)

speculative fiction
speculative fiction#English

(fiction) Initialism of science fiction or speculative fiction, often used to avoid having to choose between the two.


desk

en-verb

desk (third-person singular simple present desks, present participle desking, simple past and past participle desked)

desks (present singular third-person)
desking (participle present)
desked (participle past)
desked (past)

From Middle English deske, desque, from Medieval Latin desca, modified from Old Italian desco, from Latin discus. Doublet of dais, disc, discus, dish, disk, and diskos. See also German Tisch, "table".

doublet

(transitive, journalism) To reject (an article submitted to a newspaper or academic journal etc.) on initial receipt, without reviewing it further.


hitchhike

There are just too many diseases for each to have its own special organization, complete with radio hitchhikes, sponsored ads, expensive brochures, pledge cards, team captains and collection envelopes.

1952, Frank Emerson Andrews, Corporation Giving, page 183:

(radio, advertising) Alternative form of hitchhiker (“advertisement at the end of a programme”)


diacritic

en-adj

diacritic (comparative more diacritic, superlative most diacritic)

more diacritic (comparative)
most diacritic (superlative)

Borrowed from Ancient Greek διακριτικός (diakritikós, “distinguishing, separative”), from διακρίνειν (diakrínein, “to distinguish, separate”), from διά (diá, “between”) + κρίνω (krínō, “I separate, distinguish”).

bor+

(orthography, not comparable) Denoting a distinguishing mark applied to a letter or character.


mai

(anime, manga, fandom slang, Internet slang) Alternative form of my (used in the expressions mai waifu and mai husbando)


strain

From Middle English streen, strene, streon, istreon (“race, stock, generation”), from Old English strēon, ġestrēon (“gain, wealth”), from Proto-Germanic *streuną (“heap, treasure, profit, gain”), from Proto-Indo-European *strew- (“to spread, strew”) (cognate with Old Saxon gistriuni, Old High German gistriuni (“gain, property, wealth, business”), Latin strues (“heap”)). Confused in Middle English with the related noun strend, strynd, strund, from Old English strȳnd (“race; stock”), from strēonan, strȳnan (“to beget; acquire”). Related also to Dutch struinen (“to prowl, root about, rout”).

cog

Yet Keats, though for so many years he has given nothing to the world, is understood to have devoted himself to the composition of an epic poem. Some passages of it have been communicated to the inner circle of his admirers, and impressed them as the loftiest strains that have been audible on earth since Milton’s days.

1846, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “P.'s Correspondence”, in Mosses from an Old Manse:

A baby gurgled, a photographer dropped her lens cap, and the strains of the U.S. Army Brass Quintet echoed off the murals depicting seminal moments in American history.

2024, Christa Case Bryant, As US marks 9/11, a divided Congress unites to honor 13 fallen in Afghanistan, in: The Christian Science Monitor, September 11, 2024

(music, poetry) Any sustained note or movement; a song; a distinct portion of an ode or other poem; also, the pervading note, or burden, of a song, poem, etc.

напев

music, poetry: any sustained note or movement; a song; a distinct portion of an ode or other poem; also, the pervading note, or burden, of a song, poem, etc.


battleship

From battle + ship; shortened from line-of-battle ship, attested 1794.

Schlachtschiff n. Schlachtschiff is used for dreadnought battleships

Linienschiff is used for pre-dreadnought battleships.

(military, nautical) A large capital warship displacing thousands to tens of thousands of tons, heavily armoured and armed with large-caliber guns; now obsolescent and replaced by smaller vessels with guided missiles.

(science fiction, by extension) A starship of comparable role


cedilla

From Spanish cedilla (literally “little zed”), c. 1600. In Spanish cedilla referred to the letter ⟨Ç⟩, which had evolved from ⟨Ꝣ⟩, a Visigothic form of the letter Z (called a Z with copete); hence the name. The lower part of ⟨Ç⟩ (which came to be reinterpreted as a diacritical mark under a C) is the remnant of the original Z, after it gradually reduced in size; whereas the upper part was originally just an ornamentation over the Z (which increased in size until it resembled letter C, and finally came to be identified with this letter).

bor

(orthography) In the spelling of Catalan, French, Portuguese and some other languages, a mark ⟨¸⟩ sometimes placed under the letter c to indicate that it is pronounced /s/ rather than /k/, as in Catalan força, French menaçant, and Portuguese almoço, and also used in various other languages to change the sounds of other letters.


fairy ring

The idea of a ring where fairies danced was a traditional explanation for the fungal phenomenon before it was understood.

They are fond of music and dancing. It is their dancing that forms the fairy rings.

1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 262:

1914, "Rhys at the Fairy Dance" in Maud Keary, Enchanted Tulips and Other Verses for Children, Macmillan and Company, page 102,
Though many a year has passed away, / None have seen Rhys since that day! / Does he dance and does he sing / For ever in a Fairy Ring?

Welsh folklore also reveals few references to fairy rings but there is a fine example found in the legend "Rhys at the Fairy Dance" (collected in 1827) in which Rhys is lost but found again when several people venture to a nearby fairy ring.

1972, North Carolina Folklore Society, North Carolina Folklore Journal, Volumes 20-21: 1972-1973, page 51:

(folklore) A place where fairies congregate in a ring, particularly in order to dance.


ansible

Coined by American writer Ursula K. Le Guin in 1966 in her novella Rocannon's World; Le Guin states that she derived it from answerable. The word was further spread by its adoption into other science fiction worlds, including by Orson Scott Card in Ender's Game (1986), Vernor Vinge in The Blabber (1988) and Dan Simmons in Hyperion (1989).

coin

“You remember the ansible, the machine I showed you in the ship, which can speak instantly to other worlds, with no loss of years– […] ”
“An ansible would theoretically be powered by subatomic particles that have undergone quantum entanglement, which utilizes Einstein's 'spooky action at a distance', allowing the alteration of one particle to instantaneously alter the state of its paired particle. […] ”

1966, Ursula K. Le Guin, Rocannon's World, reprinted in Worlds of Exile and Illusion, Macmillan (1996), page 25

“[…] The master ansible is there, in contact with all our invasion fleet; the ships are all working, ready to fight. […]”

1985, Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game, reprinted by Macmillan, published 2002, →ISBN, page 251:

Ky had allotted two hours here, time to strip the news from the ansible, share it, even discuss it, but she didn’t plan to have everyone clustered and vulnerable.

2008, Elizabeth Moon, Victory Conditions, reprint by Random House, published 2009, →ISBN, page 39:

(science fiction) A hypothetical device that enables users to communicate instantaneously across great distances; that is, a faster-than-light communication device.

Dan Simmons
Ender's Game
Orson Scott Card
Rocannon's World
Vernor Vinge


Earthwoman

One was what had been born in me, what had been inextricably entangled in the structure of the germ cell from which I had been created; the other remembered all the long years on Earth when I, in common with every other Earthman and Earthwoman, had been flexed and shaped by the insistent pounding of the Combine; my brain had been conditioned to believe what it was desired that I should believe, and nothing beyond that.

1934 September, Frank King Kelly, “Famine on Mars”, in Astounding Stories, volume 14, number 1, page 77:

(usually science fiction) A female inhabitant of Earth.


Earthling

From earth + -ling (suffix indicating a resident); earth is ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₁er- (“earth”). Old English ierþling (“farmer, husbandman, ploughman”, literally “one of the earth”) is formed from the same roots but generally did not outlive Old English; all modern uses are historical: see earthling. Compare also human, which is derived from Latin humus (“ground, soil”).

noncog

(chiefly science fiction) An inhabitant of Earth, as opposed to one of another planet; specifically, a sentient member of any species native to Earth. [from 20th c.]

أَرْضِيّ

Mercurian · Venusian · Lunarian · Marsling

Jupiterian · Saturnian · Uranian · Neptunian · Plutonian


magistra

Your grandmother must have provided assistance to the magistra at some point.

2002, Evelyn Vaughn, Forest of the Night, →ISBN, page 13:

What the magistra hadn’t said was that a number of the other students were children, some as young as eight or nine.

2007, L. E. Modesitt, Jr., Natural Ordermage, →ISBN, page 119:

“You will take the magistra and magister wherever they need to go, please. They have done my household great service tonight.”

2009, Alison Sinclair, Darkborn, New American Library, →ISBN:

The Magistra was waiting for him in the entrance hall, the vast double doors already opened.

2013, R. S. Ford, Herald of the Storm (Steelhaven: Book One), Headline Publishing Group, →ISBN:

It was, after all, addressed to the magistra of the branch, and technically she fit the description.

2013, Daniel Abraham, The Tyrant’s Law (book 3 of The Dagger and the Coin), Hachette, →ISBN:

With some difficulty, the magistra managed to undo the clasp.

2015, Paul E. Horsman, Rhidauna: The Shadow of the Revenaunt, Book 1, Red Rune Books, →ISBN:

Giving the magistra an apologetic nod, he turned to the karanat and observed, “You do speak Esse. Let’s have no more pretense of that kind. I have questions, which I can put to you in civilized fashion here, under Magistra Ilia’s eye, or elsewhere, under no concerned gaze.[…]”

2016, Rachel Neumeier, The Mountain of Kept Memory, Saga Press, →ISBN:

“On the contrary, show them both in, and bring us a can of Tulamyde Gold and some cookies. It will not be said that I am stingy with important guests,” Emmeran Stoerrebrandt proclaimed. Yet another violation of his dietary rules. He regretted it almost at once. At least until the Magistra rushed into the room, her face set in a grim scowl.

2017, Kevin MacGregor, editor, The Dark Eye: Starless Sky, Ulisses Spiele, →ISBN:

The magistra, who came to inspect the cleaning, interrupted her, “Why are you standing there staring at the wall when there’s much work to do, Floriana?[…]”

2019, Eleanor Cripps, The Countess Choir Woman, Christian Faith Publishing, Inc., →ISBN:

She had always been jealous of the Magistras and their proximity to Queen Leona and now she could solve a problem for one of them.

2020, A.N. Sage, Kartega, Cauldron Press, →ISBN:

It didn’t help that Zuri pulled out her saltiest language in Ky’s required meetings with the coven council. He was convinced she did it on purpose. For one thing, she always looked far too smug at the outraged expressions on the magistras’ faces.

2020, E.J. Russell, Witch Under Wraps, Riptide Publishing, →ISBN, page 34:

Our physician is not available, and we have sought aid from the magistra and Leah Sara Garcia.

2022, Esther Erman, Rebecca of Salerno: A Novel of Rogue Crusaders, a Jewish Female Physician, and a Murder, She Writes Press, →ISBN:

(fiction, especially fantasy) A woman with power or authority, such as a teacher or archmage; a mistress.


terrestrial

aerial

antonym(s) of “of, made of, related to, or living or growing on land”

celestial

antonym(s) of “concerned with the world”

/tɪˈɹɛstɹɪ.əl/

/tɪˈɹɛstɹɪ.əl/

/təˈɹɛstɹɪ.əl/

/tɪˈɹɛstɹɪ.əl/

From Middle English terrestrialle, from terrestre or Latin terrestris, from terra (“land, earth, ground”), with the suffix -al.

(broadcasting) Broadcast using radio waves as opposed to satellite or cable.


national

From Middle French national, corresponding to nation + -al.

I had a crush on Bardot / Fell in love with Monroe / Read about 'em in the nationals / All the juicy little scandals

1978, “Blondes (Have More Fun)”, performed by Rod Stewart:

(usually in the plural, journalism) A national newspaper.


tellurian

Benjamin Martin
Harvard Science Center
Harvard University

[tʰəˈlɝː.iː.ɨ̃n]

From Latin tellūs (“earth, ground; the globe, planet Earth; country, land”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *telh₂- (“ground, bottom”), + -ian (suffix meaning "from, related to, or like" when forming an adjective, or "one from, belonging to, relating to, or like" when forming a noun).

suffix

Friends are not alone in this magnanimity, that likes truth only when it suits them. But among all tellurians or lunarians of my acquaintance, they are distinguished for liking those like them, and liking no others.

[1833, Samuel Hanson Cox, Quakerism Not Christianity: Or, Reasons from Renouncing the Doctrine of Friends. In Three Parts, Boston, Mass.: Printed by D. Fanshaw; sold by Jonathan Leavitt, […]; and Crocker & Brewster, […], →OCLC, part first, pages 166–167:

But it's well that that bunch of tellurians are dead! Our diamond was the cause of that much good for the earth!" Nega slowed her orbital speed, oscillated a bit, and twinkled: "Are all tellurians like those we've met in the last year?"

1935 May, Joseph William Skidmore, “A Saga of Posi and Nega”, in T[homas] O’Conor Sloane, editor, Amazing Stories, volume 10, New York, N.Y.: Teck Publishing Corporation, →OCLC, page 107:

(chiefly science fiction) Alternative letter-case form of Tellurian (“inhabitant of the planet Earth”)


heat wave

(idiomatic) A period of exceptionally hot weather.

(US, weather broadcasting) Three consecutive days with daytime high temperature of 90 degrees Fahrenheit or higher.


grotesque

en-adj

grotesque (comparative grotesquer, superlative grotesquest)

grotesquer (comparative)
grotesquest (superlative)

From Middle French grotesque (French grotesque), from Italian grottesco (“of a cave”), from grotta. Compare English grotto.


grotesque

en-noun

grotesque (countable and uncountable, plural grotesques)


dateline

Other bits of furniture include the dateline, which says where a journalist is reporting from – historically with the date of dispatch, eg “Buenos Aires, 1 March.”

2023 January 31, Elisabeth Ribbans, “The perils of using journalist jargon outside the newsroom”, in The Guardian:

(journalism) A line at the beginning of a document (such as a newspaper article) stating the place of origin and typically the date, and often written in capital letters.

dátlíne

a line at the beginning of a document stating the date and place of origin


MGM

(film) Initialism of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, a US movie studio.


identical

The strictest construction of the rule requires complete and unvarying repetition of end-words, but some license is granted in the use of identicals.

1992, Clarence Hugh Holman, William Harmon, A Handbook to Literature, page 439:

(poetry) A rhyme on the same syllable, such as "leave" and "believe".


Father Christmas

en-proper noun

Father Christmas (plural Father Christmases or Father Christmasses or Fathers Christmas)

Father Christmases (plural)
Father Christmasses (plural)
Fathers Christmas (plural)

The old men who had moustaches came with their breath frozen on them, and looked like so many old Father Christmasses: although all seemed poor and were indifferently clad, they almost all looked in good health and spirits.

1879 May, “Famine Relief. Welcome Words from Shan-si in a letter from Mr. James.”, in J[ames] Hudson Taylor, editor, China’s Millions, number 47, London: Morgan and Scott, […], page 63, column 2:

Again Donna Maria’s anger was interrupted by the rising of the curtain; or, rather, diverted from Carlo’s décadent æsthetics to the extreme badness of the mise en scène, to rows of Father Christmasses and ladies in grey waterproofs, who bellowed and gesticulated as unhappy shades at the gates of hell, and the chains of thick thighed and tight waisted furies who capered about in the rose-coloured Bengal light.

1889 June, Vernon Lee [pseudonym; Violet Paget], “Orpheus in Rome: Irrelevant Talks on the Use of the Beautiful”, in The Contemporary Review, volume LV, London: Isbister and Company […], section I, page 833:

The five Father Christmases walked slowly on, oblivious alike of the children who gaped at them and the man-hunt that was taking place under their noses.

1939, Nicholas Blake [pseudonym; Cecil Day-Lewis], The Smiler with the Knife, Harper & Row, page 199:

‘Yeah, I’ve seen those things they think are gnomes,’ said Ron, bent double with his head in a peony bush. ‘Like fat little Father Christmases with fishing rods …’

1998 July 2, J. K. Rowling [pseudonym; Joanne Rowling], “The Burrow”, in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter; 2), London: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN:

At the beginning of the 1990s, therefore, Bardo moved to the current establishment, and was finally able to house his Father Christmases in the style they deserve.

2003, Piers Letcher, Eccentric France: The Bradt Guide to Mad, Magical and Marvellous France, Bradt Travel Guides; The Globe Pequot Press, →ISBN, page 207:

At Christmas, also in 2004, members processed as Fathers Christmas, employing the slogan ‘Put the fathers back into Christmas’.

2007, Duncan Watts, Pressure Groups (Politics Study Guides), Edinburgh University Press, →ISBN, page 122:

After the confrontation with the fictitious peer’s solution process, namely actually drawing rectangles around the Fathers Christmas’ irregular shapes, in Phase 4, another nine of the remaining 22 students (five 12–13- and four 15–16-year olds^([sic])) exchanged their initial linear answer for the correct nonlinear one.

2007, Dirk De Bock, Wim Van Dooren, Dirk Janssens, Lieven Verschaffel, The Illusion of Linearity: From Analysis to Improvement, Springer, →ISBN, page 103:

I was paid £1.92 an hour to wear a pink tutu and entertain the children waiting to see the two Father Christmases (one on either side of the grotto) as the increasingly irate families inched their way past the hour wait markers.

2011, Clare Hemmings, “Crossings”, in Kathy Davis, Mary Evans, editors, Transatlantic Conversations: Feminism as Travelling Theory, Routledge, published 2016, →ISBN, part I (Becoming a Feminist in a Transatlantic Context), page 29:

The smiling carol singers and the laughing Father Christmasses on the television seemed to make my misery more acute.

2016, Bryony Gordon, “I think I might be dying”, in Mad Girl, London: Headline Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 20:

In 1836, English artist Robert Seymour illustrated Thomas K. Hervey’s Book of Christmas with a couple of boozy, wild-haired Fathers Christmas that set the tone for the next fifty years in which the London newspapers were more likely to emphasize the good father’s drinking than anything else.

2020, Tom A. Jerman, Santa Claus Worldwide: A History of St. Nicholas and Other Holiday Gift-Bringers, McFarland & Company, →ISBN, pages 166–167:

In 1958, it was reported that for "the fourth year in succession, staff of four South London stations have combined to decorate the booking hall at Peckham Rye station". They installed a nativity scene, models of Father Christmas, and a sleigh driven by huskies, and Christmas trees were placed around the station.

2023 December 27, David Turner, “Silent lines...”, in RAIL, number 999, page 29:

(folklore) A mythical figure said to bring presents to people (especially children) at Christmas time.


grinder

From Middle English grinder, grindere, from Old English grindere (“one or that which grinds; grinder”), equivalent to grind + -er.

inh

(radio, informal) Atmospheric interference producing a roaring background noise.


fantasy

en-noun

fantasy (countable and uncountable, plural fantasies)

→ Armenian: ֆենտեզի (fentezi)

→ Belarusian: фэнтэзі (fentezi)

→ Bulgarian: фентъзи (fentǎzi)

→ Czech: fantasy

→ Danish: fantasy

→ Dutch: fantasy

→ French: fantasy

→ Georgian: ფენტეზი (penṭezi)

→ German: Fantasy

→ Italian: fantasy

→ Japanese: ファンタジー (fantajī)

→ Korean: 판타지 (pantaji)

→ Malay: fantasi

→ Norwegian Bokmål: fantasy

→ Polish: fantasy

→ Russian: фэ́нтези (fɛ́ntɛzi)

→ Swahili: fantasia

→ Swedish: fantasy

→ Thai: แฟนตาซี (fɛɛn-dtaa-sii)

→ Ukrainian: фе́нтезі (féntezi)

Noun inherited from Middle English fantasie, from Old French fantasie (“fantasy”), from Latin phantasia (“imagination”), from Ancient Greek φαντασία (phantasía, “apparition”), from φαντάζω (phantázō, “to render visible”), from φαντός (phantós, “visible”), from φαίνω (phaínō, “to make visible”); from the same root as φάος (pháos, “light”); ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰh₂nyéti, from the root *bʰeh₂- (“to shine”). Doublet of fancy, fantasia, phantasia, and phantasy.
Verb from Middle English fantasien, from Old French fantasier. Doublet of fancy.

doublet

(literature) The literary genre generally dealing with themes of magic and the supernatural, imaginary worlds and creatures, etc.


Venusian

The Venusians, unlike other planetary races, were almost like Earthpeople. There was only one notable difference—they had feathers on their heads instead of hair.

1953 May, Eando Binder, “Interplanetary Tenements”, in Captain Marvel Adventures, volume 24, number 144, page (inside front cover):

(science fiction) An inhabitant of the planet Venus.


Venusian

(science fiction) A hypothetical language spoken on Venus.


text

en-noun

text (countable and uncountable, plural texts)

From Middle English text, from Old French texte (“text”), from Medieval Latin textus (“the Scriptures, text, treatise”), from Latin textus (“style or texture of a work”), perfect passive participle of texō (“I weave”). Cognate to English texture.

der

German text

(printing) A style of writing in large characters; also, a kind of type used in printing.


variety

en-noun

variety (countable and uncountable, plural varieties)

From Middle French varieté (“variety”) (modern French variété (“variety; genre, type”)) or directly from its etymon Latin varietās (“difference; diversity, variety”) + English -ty (suffix forming abstract nouns from adjectives). Varietās is derived from varius (“different, diverse, various; variegated”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- (“to abandon; to give out; to leave”)) + -tās (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns indicating a state of being). The English word displaced the native Old English mislīcnes.
Sense 1.3.2 (“total number of distinct states of a system; logarithm to the base 2 of the total number of distinct states of a system”) was coined by the English psychiatrist William Ross Ashby (1903–1972) in his work An Introduction to Cybernetics (1956).
cognates
* Galician variedade (“variety”)
* Italian varietà (“difference; variety”)
* Portuguese variedade (“variety”)
* Spanish variedad (“breed; variety”)

der

(radio, television, theater) Ellipsis of variety performance. or variety show (“a type of entertainment featuring a succession of short, unrelated performances by various artistes such as (depending on the medium) acrobats, comedians, dancers, magicians, singers, etc.”).

variety performance
variety performance#English

variety performance

(radio, television, theater) The kind of entertainment given in variety performances or shows; also, the production of, or performance in, variety performances or shows.


channel

→ Japanese: チャンネル (channeru)

→ Korean: 채널 (chaeneol)

→ Welsh: sianel

From Middle English chanel (also as canel, cannel, kanel), a borrowing from Old French chanel, canel, from Latin canālis (“groove; canal; channel”). Doublet of canal.

kanal

communication: single path provided by a transmission medium via physical separation

kanaal

broadcasting: specific radio frequency or band of frequencies used for transmitting television

KNDD is the channel at 107.7 MHz in Seattle.

(broadcasting) A specific radio frequency or band of frequencies, usually in conjunction with a predetermined letter, number, or codeword, and allocated by international agreement.

NBC is on channel 11 in San Jose.

2008, Lou Schuler, "Foreward", in Nate Green, Built for Show, page xi
TV back then was five channels (three networks, PBS, and an independent station that ran I Love Lucy reruns), […]

(broadcasting) A specific radio frequency or band of frequencies used for transmitting television.


prompt

From French prompt, from Latin prōmptus (“visible, apparent, evident”), past participle of prōmō (“to take or bring out or forth, produce, bring to light”), from prō (“forth, forward”) + emō (“to take, acquire, buy”).

(writing) A suggestion for inspiration given to an author.


prompt

en-verb

prompt (third-person singular simple present prompts, present participle prompting, simple past and past participle prompted)

prompts (present singular third-person)
prompting (participle present)
prompted (participle past)
prompted (past)

If he forgets his words I will prompt him.

(transitive, theater and television) To show or tell (an actor/person) the words they should be saying, or actions they should be doing.

sufloj

to show or tell an actor/person the words they should be saying, or actions they should be doing


rock and roll

/ˈɹɒk ən(d)ˈɹəʊl/

From rock (move back and forth) + and + roll; originally a verb phrase common among African Americans, meaning "to have sexual intercourse"; it was a euphemism that appeared in song titles since at least 1914 (Trixie Smith's "My Man Rocks Me With One Steady Roll").
As a name for a specific style of popular music from the early 1950s, popularized by disc jockey Alan Freed in reference to the euphemistic use in song titles.

The dubbing theatre is a viewing theatre equipped for running the picture with a great many tracks interlocked to run synchronously. Once laced up, they can be run forwards or backwards remaining in synch; when it was first introduced this system was given the name 'rock and roll'.

2004, Robert Angell, Getting Into Films & Television, page 56:

It is very rare that an entire commentary is recorded in one take. If you need to stop for some reason — the performance isn't quite right, there's a rustle of papers, etc — you can always go back on the recording and pick it up from the point at which it went wrong. This is known as rock and roll.

2012, Colin Hart, Television Program Making, page 196:

An alternative method is the use of ADR (automated dialogue replacement), which consists basically of a high speed rock and roll dubbing system and a programmable locating device.

2014, K. G. Jackson, G. B. Townsend, TV & Video Engineer's Reference Book, pages 38–7:

(film, television) The ability to run the picture and audio back and forth in synchronization, allowing the correction of mistakes during dubbing.


satellite

satellite (third-person singular simple present satellites, present participle satelliting, simple past and past participle satellited)

satellites (present singular third-person)
satelliting (participle present)
satellited (participle past)
satellited (past)

From Middle French satellite, from Latin satelles (“attendant”). Ultimately perhaps of Etruscan origin.

It had to speed up its efforts to participate in the international satellite television market. In the summer of 1986 it began satelliting TV programs to Africa, and in early 1987, to Asia and twenty countries in Latin America […]

1997, Alvin A. Snyder, Warriors of Disinformation, page 160:

(broadcasting, transitive) To transmit by satellite.


Martian

Amazing Stories
Frank R. Paul
H. G. Wells
Hubble Space Telescope
The War of the Worlds

From Latin Mārtius (“of or relating to the planet Mars”) + -an (adjective-forming suffix). The word is cognate with Middle English marcien, marcyan, mercien (“subject to the influence or power of the planet Mars; relating to the god Mars, that is, warlike”), Middle French martien (“Martian”) (modern French martien), French Martien (“imaginary inhabitant of Mars; any extraterrestrial”), Italian marziano, Latin Mārtiānus (“Martian”), Portuguese marciano, Spanish marciano.

cog

Thus she [one of the moons of Mars] has a disc, always on this assumption be it remembered, equal to about a quarter of our moon's; and being illuminated by the sun, like the other moon, with a light varying from one-half to one-third that which he pours on the earth, it follows that the light she reflects to Martians, or would reflect to them if there were any such beings, varies from one-eighth to one-twelfth of that which we receive from the full moon.

1877 October, Wentworth Erck, “The Moons of Mars”, in The Cornhill Magazine, volume XXXVI, number 214, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC, page 424:

Those who have never seen a living Martian can scarcely imagine the strange horror of their appearance. The peculiar V-shaped mouth with its pointed upper lip, the absence of brow ridges, the absence of a chin beneath the wedge-like lower lip, the incessant quivering of this mouth, the Gorgon groups of tentacles, [...]

1895–1897, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “The Cylinder Unscrews”, in The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, published 1898, →OCLC, book I (The Coming of the Martians), page 28:

[...] M. le Coultre, the distinguished astronomer of Geneva, has once more declared that the Martians are trying to signal to us. [...] How long M. le Coultre's suggestion will stand before it goes the way of other similar conjectures now exploded, no one can say.

1913 November 8, “Signals from Mars”, in The North-China Herald and Supreme Court & Consular Gazette: The Weekly Edition of the North-China Daily News, volume CIX (New Series), number 2413, Shanghai: Printed and published at the offices of the North-China Daily News & Herald, Ld., →OCLC, page 399, column 2:

If the Martian understood and could analyze the character of men and women, he would find in shops, factories, mills, schools, offices, in business, in the professions and arts, multitudes of men and women in the unhappy position of the fish out of water. Floundering hopelessly in vocations for which they have no aptitude, unless some merciful wave carry them to their native element, the place for which nature especially equipped them, their lives will be wrecked.

1921 May, Orison Swett Marden, “Are You a Fish Out of Water?”, in Orison Swett Marden, editor, The New Success: Marden’s Magazine, volume V, number 5, New York, N.Y.: The Lowrey-Marden Corporation, →OCLC, page 54:

Like a philosopher, or rather the hermit crab, he [Hoo Keng Tuck] lives in complete retirement, looking out occasionally from his coign of vantage upon his luckless compatriots who are struggling to make this world a better place to live in for themselves and their children, pretty much as a Martian might watch the social activities of the earth's inhabitants.

1923, Song Ong Siang, “The Third Decade (1839–49)”, in One Hundred Years’ History of the Chinese in Singapore: […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 57:

However, despite a declared interest in Mexico's Indian past, he feels that his country's uneducated and mostly Indian citizens are like creatures of another species. To then, "we are like Martians," Javier says, "We don't speak as they do or think as they do … If we do see them, it's like the zoo … We are their enemies and they know it" [...].

1982, Malva E. Filer, “A Change of Skin and the Shaping of a Mexican Time”, in Robert Brody, Charles Rossman, editors, Carlos Fuentes: A Critical View (Texas Pan American Series), Austin, Tx.: University of Texas Press, →ISBN, page 128:

A Martian who landed in Britain in the past few weeks—assuming he managed to get a visa—would take it for a place that dislikes visitors. [...] And yet, if he lingered, the Martian might find himself being asked how health care was organised on his planet, or how its retailers were coping with the internet.

2013 August 24, “Bagehot” [pseudonym], “Go away, we need you: In Britain, xenophilia runs almost as deep as xenophobia”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8850, archived from the original on 2013-08-22:

(chiefly science fiction) An inhabitant of the planet Mars.

Coordinate term: Martianess

An inhabitant of the planet Mars.
A male Martian.


Martian

Although impressed by [Catherine Elise] Muller as a person, [Théodore] Flournoy regarded her experiences as a marvel of psychology rather than spiritualism. One of his key findings was that, while Muller's Martian had a consistent 23 letter alphabet, grammar and syntax, it was in fact a twisted variant of French.

2004 January 8, Mark Pilkington, “Martian spoken here”, in The Guardian, London, archived from the original on 2014-09-12:

Suvi: Between the Remnant city, Meridian, and however the Scourge fits in... pardon my Martian, but it's all weird as shit.

2017, BioWare, Mass Effect: Andromeda (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Tempest:

(science fiction) A hypothetical language spoken on Mars.


throw up

en-verb

throw up (third-person singular simple present throws up, present participle throwing up, simple past threw up, past participle thrown up)

throws up (present singular third-person)
throwing up (participle present)
threw up (past)
thrown up (participle past)

The vomit sense is a clipping of throw up one's accounts (18th century), from earlier idiom cast up one's accounts (15th century).

(obsolete, transitive, printing) To give special prominence to a line or lines.


torpedo

* Borrowed from Latin torpēdō (“a torpedo fish; numbness, torpidity, electric ray”), from torpeō (“I am stiff, numb, torpid; I am astounded; I am inactive”) + -ēdō (noun suffix), from Proto-Indo-European *ster- (“stiff”). In the military sense coined by Robert Fulton in 1805. Cognate with Old English steorfan (“to die”), Ancient Greek στερεός (stereós, “solid”), Lithuanian tirpstu (“to become rigid”), Old Church Slavonic трупети (trupeti).
* (type of car): From 1908, after "the Torpedo", a car designed by Captain Theo Masui.

cog

(military) A cylindrical explosive projectile that can travel underwater and is used as a weapon.

(science fiction) A similar projectile that can travel through space.


hickey

(printing) A printing defect caused by foreign matter on the printing surface resulting in a ring where the ink is missing, appearing as a spot of ink surrounded by a halo, or as an unprinted spot within a solid printed area.

pecka

Years ago, there were internal company standards for dark center (ink color) hickeys and for white voids in solids/type.

2008, American Printer, volume 125, page 63:

It is generally believed, by those who study such things, that serif typefaces are easier to read when reading a lot of words. The hickeys (serifs) on each letter tend to push our eye toward the next letter.

2018, Paul W. Ross, Revival: The Handbook of Software for Engineers and Scientists:

(printing, informal) A serif or other ornamentation on type.


CV

en-noun

CV (countable and uncountable, plural CVs)

Abbreviation
* (anime, Japanimation): From Japanese CV (CV), from English character+voice
* (aircraft carrier): Initialism of cruiser (“croiseur”) + French voler (“to fly”).

initialism of

(anime) character's voice (“voice actor”)


mush

en-noun

mush (countable and uncountable, plural mushes)

Audio (UK)

Audio (US)

Probably a variant of mash, or from a dialectal variant of Middle English mos (“mush, pulp, porridge”); compare Middle English appelmos (“applesauce”), from Old English mōs (“food, victuals, porridge, mush”), from Proto-West Germanic *mōs, from Proto-Germanic *mōsą (“porridge, food”), from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂d- (“wet, fat, dripping”).
Cognate with Scots moosh (“mush”), Dutch moes (“pulp, mush, porridge”), German Mus (“jam, puree, mush”), Swedish mos (“pulp, mash, mush”).

der

(radio) A mixture of noise produced by the harmonics of continuous-wave stations.


troll

Partly:
* from Middle English trol (“demon (?); sorcerer (?)”) [and other forms], from Old Norse trǫll (“conjurer, mage; witch”), from Proto-Germanic *truzlą (“supernatural being; demon, fiend; giant; monster”), probably from *trudaną (“to step on; to tread”) + *-ilą (suffix forming agent nouns); and
* borrowed from Norwegian Bokmål troll, Swedish troll, or Danish trold, from Old Norse trǫll (see above).
Doublet of droll and trow.
cognates
* Danish fortrylle (“to bewitch”), trylle (“to conjure”)
* Icelandic tröll
* Middle High German trol, trolle (“spook, wraith; ogre, monster”)
* Norwegian fortrylle (“to bewitch”), trylle (“to conjure”)
* Swedish trolla (“to conjure”)

der

He followed their advice, and rode through a rye-field, where the Trolls were unable to follow him, but in their exasperation cried after him, "The red cock shall crow over thy dwelling." And behold! his house stood in a blaze.

1851, Benjamin Thorpe, “Norwegian Traditions. [The Girl at the Sæter.]”, in Northern Mythology, […], volumes II (Scandinavian Popular Traditions and Superstitions), London: Edward Lumley, […], →OCLC, page 7:

The Scandinavian fancied himself surrounded by Trolls,—a kind of goblin men, with vast power of work and skilful production,—divine stevedores, carpenters, reapers, smiths, and masons, swift to reward every kindness done them, with gifts of gold and silver.

1856, R[alph] W[aldo] Emerson, “Ability”, in English Traits, Boston, Mass.: Phillips, Sampson, and Company, →OCLC, page 81:

The bear got so angry that he rushed at the trolls and scratched them all over, while Peter took the other handspike and hammered away at them as if he wanted to beat their brains out. The trolls had to clear out at last, but Peter stayed and enjoyed himself with all the Christmas fare the whole week. After that the trolls were not heard of there for many years.

1881, P. Chr. Asbjörnsen [i.e., Peter Christen Asbjørnsen], “Peter Gynt”, in H. L. Brækstad, transl., Round the Yule Log. Norwegian Folk and Fairy Tales, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, →OCLC, page 150:

In these manuscripts we are again in an atmosphere of eotens and trolls, there are traces of even older terrors, when the first Teuton settlers in Europe struggled with the aborigines who lived in caves, hints as elusive as the phantom heroes in the Saxon poems, and as unforgettable.

1922, Eleanour Sinclair Rohde, “The Anglo-Saxon Herbals”, in The Old English Herbals, London: Longmans, Green and Co. […], →OCLC, page 3:

(originally Scandinavian mythology, now also European folklore and fantasy) a giant supernatural being, especially a grotesque humanoid creature living in caves or hills or under bridges.

طْرُول

giant supernatural being; grotesque humanoid creature living in caves or hills or under bridges


rushes

(cinematography) Unedited footage; film material as recorded to tape etc.


cancel

en-verb

cancel (third-person singular simple present cancels, present participle cancelling or (US) canceling, simple past and past participle cancelled or (US) canceled)

cancels (present singular third-person)
cancelling (participle present)
canceling (US participle present)
cancelled (participle past)
cancelled (past)
canceled (US participle past)
canceled (US past)

→ German: canceln

→ Gulf Arabic: كنسل (kansal)

→ Welsh: canslo

From Middle English cancellen, from Anglo-Norman canceler (“to cross out with lines”) (modern French chanceler (“to stagger, sway”)), from Latin cancellō (“to make resemble a lattice”), from cancellus (“a railing or lattice”), diminutive of cancer (“a lattice”).

der

kanzellieren (obsolete or translationese)

(transitive, media) To stop production of a programme.

(printing, dated) To suppress or omit; to strike out, as matter in type.


cancel

(printing) The suppression on striking out of matter in type, or of a printed page or pages.


letterpress

en-noun

letterpress (countable and uncountable, plural letterpresses)

(printing) The printing process in which ink is applied to the top surface of a raised image area, which is then pressed against paper to transfer the image.

(printing) Printing directly from type, in distinction from printing from plates.

(printing) A machine used for such printing.


fist

From Middle English fist, from Old English fȳst (“fist”), from Proto-West Germanic *fūsti, of uncertain origin. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Fääste (“fist”), West Frisian fûst (“fist”), Dutch vuist (“fist”), German Low German Fuust (“fist”), German Faust (“fist”). More at five.


waka

Borrowed from Japanese 和歌 (waka), from Middle Chinese 和 (ɣwa), a gloss for 倭 (ʔwa, “Japan”) + 歌 (ka, “song”).

“Hey, look. There's one of those Jap waka poems on the back of this cigarette package.”

1962, Philip K. Dick, “The Man in the High Castle”, in Four Novels of the 1960s, Library of America, published 2007, page 122:

(poetry) A kind of classical Japanese poem.


boustrophedon

Borrowed from Ancient Greek βουστροφηδόν (boustrophēdón, literally “turning like an ox”), from βοῦς (boûs, “ox”) + στροφή (strophḗ, “turning”) + -ηδόν (-ēdón, adverbial suffix).

bor+

βουστροφηδόν

af

(historical, calligraphy, of writing) In a fashion such that the reading direction changes from right-to-left to left-to-right with each new line.


boustrophedon

bor+

βουστροφηδόν

(historical, calligraphy, of writing) Written from right-to-left and left-to-right on alternate lines.


boustrophedon

en-noun

boustrophedon (countable and uncountable, plural boustrophedons)

bor+

βουστροφηδόν

The number of Attic boustrophedon texts is fairly small; most of those just cited have been brought down by the experts to a date close to 550 B.C., a date to which several texts of more than one line inscribed left to right may also be assigned (cf. pp.56—57 infra), besides the four-line retrograde sep. mon. of Pediarchus cited in the previous section (cf. p.52 supra). Stone texts only really become numerous in Attica about 550, and by this time it is clear that left-to-right writing is just as common as boustrophedon, and may have been so even earlier.[…]After 540 boustrophedon was certainly unusual.

1980, Leslie Threatte, The Grammar of Attic Inscriptions: Phonology, page 55:

(Venetic apparently had both kinds of boustrophedon, either flipping the face of the characters when switching direction or else inverting them (Lejeune, 1974, pages 180-181).)

2000, Richard Sproat, A Computational Theory of Writing Systems, page 61:

He draws a sharp distinction between true boustrophedon, which has the tops of the runes pointed in the same direction, but with a change in the direction of writing with each line, and false boustrophedon, which changes from upright to inverted runes with each line, but the lines themselves are each written in the same direction.

2002, Elmer H. Antonsen, Runes and Germanic Linguistics, page 132:

(historical, calligraphy, of writing) Writing that is right-to-left and left-to-right on alternate lines.

بُطْرُفَة

writing that is alternately right-to-left and left-to-right


Area 51

→ German: Area 51

desc

→ Mandarin: 51區 /51区 (Wǔshíyī qū) (calque)

Unclear, but perhaps from a grid numbering system of the area by the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). While Area 51 is not part of this system, it is adjacent to Area 15.

Nevada Test and Training Range
w:Nevada Test and Training Range

(science fiction or ufology, informal) A secret military facility, airport, and airbase in Nevada Test and Training Range, Nevada, United States.

Atomic Energy Commission
en:Area 51
en:Area 51 (disambiguation)


beamer

From beam (“project, transmit”) + -er (agent noun suffix), or, for the ball, + -er (patient suffix).

suf

For several days he went about his charge with disgust, trying everything he could to avoid the stench of rotting vegetation and of human feces, which was overpowering even as it all burned under the plasma from his beamer.

2013, Paul Alcorn, The Rhoedraegon Chronicles: Book Two:

(science fiction) A device that projects or transmits matter, information, or energy.


back up

en-verb

back up (third-person singular simple present backs up, present participle backing up, simple past and past participle backed up)

backs up (present singular third-person)
backing up (participle present)
backed up (participle past)
backed up (past)

(obsolete, printing) To run a printing press in reverse.


organic

From Middle English organic, organik, from Old French organique, from Latin organicus.

Pitiful organics.

2016, Paradox Interactive, Stellaris (video game), scene: Anomaly Event 3089:

(science fiction) A living organism, as opposed to a robot or hologram.


stun

en-noun

stun (countable and uncountable, plural stuns)

From Middle English stunien, stonien, stounien, from Old English stunian (“to crash, make a loud sound, resound, roar, strike with a loud sound, dash, impinge, knock, confound, astonish, stupefy”), from Proto-West Germanic *stunōn, from Proto-Germanic *stunōną, *stunjaną (“to sound, crash, bang, groan”), from Proto-Germanic *stenaną (“to moan, shout”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tona-, *(s)tena- (“to thunder, roar, groan”) (compare thunder). Cognate with Middle Low German stonen (“to groan”), Middle High German stunen, stunden (“to drive, push, knock, strike”), Swedish stöna (“to moan, groan”), Danish stønne (“to moan, groan”), Icelandic stynja (“to moan”). Related also to Dutch steunen (“to groan; support”), German stöhnen (“to groan, moan”), German staunen (“to be astonished, be amazed, marvel at”), Russian стонать (stonatʹ), стена́ть (stenátʹ, “to moan, groan”). See also Occitan estonar, Old French estoner, English astonish.

cog

Captain James Kirk: "Set your phaser on one quarter. I'll leave mine on stun."

1966 September 8, George Clayton Johnson, The Man Trap (Star Trek), season 1, episode 1:

(science fiction, uncountable) A low-range setting for an energy weapon that will stun its target but not injure or kill it.


will o' the wisp

en-noun

will o' the wisp (plural will o' the wisps)

/ˌwɪləðəˈwɪsp/

Will (“male given name”) + of + the + wisp (“bundle of straw or hay used as a torch”)

1988, Michael Weikath, "Keeper of the Seven Keys", Helloween, Keeper of the Seven Keys: Part II.
Will o' the wisps / Misguiding your path / You can't throw a curse / Without takin' their wrath

Any of several kinds of pale, flickering light, appearing over marshland in many parts of the world with diverse folkloric explanations and multiple possible scientific explanations including bioluminescence and chemiluminescence.

(British folklore) A flickering light or lantern, especially over bogs, swamps or marshes, held by a supernatural creature who uses it to lure travelers at night to their demise.


shoulder

From Middle English schuldre, sholder, shulder, schulder, from Old English sculdra, sculdor (“shoulder”), from Proto-West Germanic *skuldru (“shoulder”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps related to Proto-Germanic *skelduz (“shield”), see shield. Cognate with Old Frisian skuldere (“shoulder”) (West Frisian skouder (“shoulder”)), Middle Low German scholder (“shoulder”), Low German Schuller (“shoulder”), Dutch schouder (“shoulder”), German Schulter (“shoulder”).

inh

you can't put an old head on young shoulders

(printing) The flat portion of type that is below the bevelled portion that joins up with the face.


terminator

[ˈtɜː.mɪ.næɪ.ɾə]

* Partly from post-classical Latin terminator (5th century), from Latin terminō; partly from terminate + -or.
* (android that kills humans): After the 1984 film The Terminator.

(science fiction) An intelligent android created to destroy humans.


clicker

w:Webster's Dictionary#Webster's New International Dictionary 1909

(printing, obsolete) One who has charge of the work of a companionship.

(printing, historical) An employee who locks the type in the form to make it ready for printing.


bumper

Dutch: bumper

Japanese: バンパー (banpā)

Korean: 범퍼 (beompeo)

Russian: ба́мпер (bámper)

(broadcasting) A short ditty or jingle used to separate a show from the advertisements.


issue

From Middle English issue, from Old French issue (“an exit, a way out”), feminine past participle of issir (“to exit”), from Latin exeō (“go out, exit”), from prefix ex- (“out”) + eō (“go”).

drain

small incision etc. to drain excess bodily fluid

Yeah, I just got the June issue of Wombatboy.

Someone or something that flows out or comes out, particularly:

(publishing) A single edition of a newspaper or other periodical publication.

عَدَد

a single edition of a periodical publication


comic strip

(comics) A series of drawings, in sequence, often but not necessarily depicting something funny or satirical in nature; more specifically, a single work consisting of a short row of such drawings.


airspace

en-noun

airspace (countable and uncountable, plural airspaces)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-airspace.wav

The legalisation of free radios caused a bitter fight for airspace.

(broadcasting) Space (i.e. a few neighboring frequencies) available for broadcasting within a particular frequency band.


comic book

(comics) A book or magazine that uses sequences of drawings to narrate a story or a series of stories, primarily in a serialized form, usually fiction.


composition

composition (countable and uncountable, plural compositions)

→ Korean: 컴포지션 (keompojisyeon)

/ˌkɒmpəˈzɪʃən/

From Middle English composicioun, borrowed from Old French composicion, from Latin compositiō, compositiōnem.

hyvitys

agreement to pay money in order to clear a liability or obligation


screen

From Middle English scren, screne (“windscreen, firescreen”), from Anglo-Norman escren (“firescreen, the tester of a bed”), Old French escren, escrein, escran (modern French écran (“screen”)), from Middle Dutch scherm, from Old Dutch *skirm, from Proto-West Germanic *skirmi, from Proto-Germanic *skirmiz (“fur, shelter, covering, screen”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut, divide”).
Cognate with Dutch scherm (“screen”), German Schirm (“screen”). Doublet of scherm.
An alternative etymology derives Old French escren, escran from Old Dutch *scranc (“barrier”) (compare Middle Dutch schranc, schranke (“palisade, trellis, grid”), German Schrank (“cupboard, cabinet”), German Schranke (“fence”)), from Proto-West Germanic *skrank, from Proto-Germanic *skrankaz.

der

A material woven from fine wires intended to block animals or large particles from passing while allowing gasses, liquids and finer particles to pass.

(printing) A stencil upon a framed mesh through which paint is forced onto printed-on material; the frame with the mesh itself.


screen

en-verb

screen (third-person singular simple present screens, present participle screening, simple past and past participle screened)

screens (present singular third-person)
screening (participle present)
screened (participle past)
screened (past)

The news report will be screened at 11:00 tonight.

(film, television) To present publicly (on the screen).

上映

film, television: to present publicly (on the screen)


query

An anglicisation of quere, an obsolete variant form of Latin quaere, second-person singular present active imperative of quaerō (“seek, look for; ask”). Cognate with French quérir, Italian chiedere, Portuguese querer, Romanian cere, and Spanish querer. Compare question.

Although many agents accept email queries, check to see if they prefer mailed query letters.

2006, Michael Larsen, How to Get a Literary Agent, Sourcebooks Inc., page 46:


query

query (third-person singular simple present queries, present participle querying, simple past and past participle queried)

queries (present singular third-person)
querying (participle present)
queried (participle past)
queried (past)

(intransitive, publishing) To send out a query letter.


cutter

From Middle English cutter, cuttere, kutter. By surface analysis, cut + -er.

Flags and other cutters allow the DP or gaffer to throw large controlled shadows on parts of the scene.

2012, John Jackman, Lighting for Digital Video and Television, page 86:

(television) A flag or similar instrument for blocking light.


villain

Probably from Middle English vilein, from Old French vilein (modern French vilain), in turn from Late Latin villanus, meaning serf or peasant, someone who is bound to the soil of a Latin villa, which is to say, worked on the equivalent of a plantation in late Antiquity, in Italy or Gaul. Doublet of villein.

Count Dracula
Darth Vader
Dracula
Harry Potter
Lady Macbeth
Macbeth
Macbeth (character)
Othello
Sauron
Star Wars
The BFG
The Hobbit
The Lord of the Rings
The Merchant of Venice

Miss Phyllis Morgan, as the hapless heroine dressed in the shabbiest of clothes, appears in the midst of a gay and giddy throng; she apostrophises all and sundry there, including the villain, and has a magnificent scene which always brings down the house, and nightly adds to her histrionic laurels.

1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Affair at the Novelty Theatre”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:

July 18 2012, Scott Tobias, AV Club The Dark Knight Riseshttp://www.avclub.com/articles/the-dark-knight-rises-review-batman,82624/
As The Dark Knight Rises brings a close to Christopher Nolan’s staggeringly ambitious Batman trilogy, it’s worth remembering that director chose The Scarecrow as his first villain—not necessarily the most popular among the comic’s gallery of rogues, but the one who set the tone for entire series.

(fiction) In fiction, a character who has the role of being bad, especially antagonizing the hero; an antagonist who is also evil or malevolent.


pixie

Uncertain; 17thC, originally in the folklore of southwest England; perhaps diminutive of Swedish pysk (“fairy”); perhaps Puck + -sy; see Wikipedia.

Then she saw pixies — dozens and dozens of pixies — dancing and singing.

2005, Dan Keding, “The Pixies’ Bed”, in Dan Keding, Amy Douglas, editors, English Folktales, page 98:

When she looked around, Mary saw four pixies flying toward her. She had to jump out of the way to avoid being hit. Then the pixies turned around and attacked again.

2005, Kathryn Reyes, Mystery Door Manor and the Dragon Realm, page 72:

The servant that had raised him, an elderly pixie called Rolog, had died. On his deathbed he had called the young Captain to his side. Seeing the pixie dying had had no effect on him.

2007, Jeremy Phillips, The Wizardon Star, page 165:

Tiffy froze as the two pixies looked directly into each other's eyes.
Then Tiffy raised her hand and said, “Hi, I'm Tiffy the Tooth Fairy.” Even though the other pixie lifted her hand too, she didn't answer.

2010, Sandra A. Filbin, The Enchanted World: A Tooth Fairy's Tale, page 49:

(mythology, fantasy literature, fairy tales) A playful sprite or elflike or fairy-like creature.


shank

From Middle English schanke, from Old English sċanca (“leg”), from Proto-West Germanic *skankō, from Proto-Germanic *skankô (compare West Frisian skonk, Low German Schanke, German Schenkel (“shank, leg”), Danish skank, Norwegian skank, Swedish skänkel), from *skankaz (compare Old Norse skakkr (“wry, crooked”)), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)keng- (compare Middle Irish scingim (“I spring”), Ancient Greek σκάζω (skázō, “to limp”).

(printing, dated) The body of a type; between the shoulder and the foot.


refer

From Middle English referren, from Old French referer, from Latin referre. The noun (used in journalism) is from the verb.

A refer on page 1 of the Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2015, edition of The Herald-News contained incorrect information about the story “Neighbors at odds over Joliet liquor license” that appeared on Page 4 of the same edition.

2015 August 5, “Corrections”, in The Herald-News, Joliet, Illinois: Shaw Media, via Issuu, page 2:

Looking at the refers on page 2, it's obvious that May became something of an accidental women's issue.

2017 May 14, Amanda May Aruani, “Letter from the Editor”, in The Arts Paper, New Haven, Connecticut: The Arts Council of Greater New Haven, via Issuu, page 3:

The paper of Sept. 11 was not without its alarms. On Page One, an ominous “refer” (pronounced reefer) to an article inside the paper: Palestinian snipers had killed two Israelis, bringing a retaliatory shelling by Israeli tanks. On A3: A suicide bomber had killed two police officers in Istanbul.

2021 September 10, Ralph Blumenthal, “A Time Capsule in Two Front Pages”, in The New York Times, New York City:

(journalism) A blurb on the front page of a newspaper issue or section that refers the reader to the full story inside the issue or section by listing its slug or headline and its page number.


FOC

final order cutoff
final order cutoff#English

(publishing, retailing) Initialism of final order cutoff.


western

From Middle English westerne, from Old English westerne, from Proto-Germanic *westrōnijaz.
Morphologically west + -ern.

Coordinate term: northern

(film) A film, or some other dramatic work, set in, the historic (c. 1850–1910) American West (west of the Mississippi river) focusing on conflict between whites and Indians, lawmen and outlaws, ranchers and farmers, or industry (railroads, mining) and agriculture.


subset

subset (third-person singular simple present subsets, present participle subsetting, simple past and past participle subsetted)

subsets (present singular third-person)
subsetting (participle present)
subsetted (participle past)
subsetted (past)

(transitive, computing, typography) To extract only the portions of (a font) that are needed to display a particular document.


dresser

From Middle English dresser, equivalent to dress + -er.

(theater, film, television) A wardrobe assistant (who helps actors put on their costume).


strip

Brill Publishers
en:strip (disambiguation)

From alteration of stripe or from Middle Low German strippe, of uncertain ultimate origin, perhaps derived from a lost strong verb Proto-Germanic *strīpaną, with no clear cognates outside of Germanic except for Irish sríab (“line, stripe”).

(television) A television series aired at the same time daily (or at least on Mondays to Fridays), so that it appears as a strip straight across the weekly schedule.


strip

strip (third-person singular simple present strips, present participle stripping, simple past and past participle stripped)

strips (present singular third-person)
stripping (participle present)
stripped (participle past)
stripped (past)

From Middle English strepen, strippen, from Old English strīepan (“plunder”), from Proto-Germanic *strēpōną, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ter(h₁)- (“to be stiff; be rigid; exert”). Probably related to German Strafe (“deprivation, fine, punishment”).

cog

(television, transitive) To run a television series at the same time daily (or at least on Mondays to Fridays), so that it appears as a strip straight across the weekly schedule.


squabble

en-verb

squabble (third-person singular simple present squabbles, present participle squabbling, simple past and past participle squabbled)

squabbles (present singular third-person)
squabbling (participle present)
squabbled (participle past)
squabbled (past)

1600s, probably of North Germanic origin and ultimately imitative.
Related to Swedish dialectal skvabbel (“a dispute, quarrel, gossip”), Norwegian dialectal skvabba (“to prattle”), German dialectal schwabbeln (“to babble, prattle”), Swedish dialectal skvappa (“to chide, scold”, literally “make a splash”).

onomatopoeic

imitative

to squabble type

(transitive, printing) To disarrange, so that the letters or lines stand awry and require readjustment.


cyberpunk

en-noun

cyberpunk (countable and uncountable, plural cyberpunks)

From cyber- + -punk, coined by American writer and software developer Bruce Bethke as the title of a 1983 short story, and later popularized by Gardner Dozois.

coin

But by 1987, cyberpunk had become a cliche. Other writers had turned the form into formula: implant wetware (biological computer chips), government by multinational corporations, street-wise, leather-jacketed, amphetamine-loving protagonists and decayed orbital colonies.

1991 January 7, Lewis Shiner, “Confessions of an Ex-Cyberpunk”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Cyberpunk stories are set in a futuristic, dystopic environment—the opposite of utopian—in which computer technology plays an important role. […] The protagonists of cyberpunk stories are technologically proficient, lonely adventurers struggling with issues of identity and forced to use computer skills to fight menacing forces of domination.

2015, Abby H. P. Werlock, Encyclopedia of the American Short Story, Infobase Learning, →ISBN:

information technology
information technology

(science fiction, uncountable) A subgenre of science fiction which focuses on computer or information technology and virtual reality juxtaposed with a degree of breakdown or radical change in the social order.


post

Inherited from Old English post (“pillar, door-post”) and Latin postis (“a post, a door-post”) through Old French. .

inh+

(paper, printing) A printing paper size measuring 19.25 inches x 15.5 inches.


post

we'll fix it in post

Admittedly many of these can be fixed in post, but this may limit your flexibility in other areas.

2013, Bruce Mamer, Film Production Technique: Creating the Accomplished Image:


catalyst

The current view by both Labour and Conservative politicians is that the state of the UK railway is unsustainable, and the pandemic acted as a catalyst in exposing its weaknesses.

2023 May 31, Tammy Samuel, Fergus McLaverty, “The political picture: what lies ahead for Britain's railways?”, in RAIL, number 984, page 31:

(literature) An inciting incident that sets the successive conflict into motion.


unicameral

In the ancient world, Greek was written in a script that was unicameral and atonic. It consisted of a single set of forms – the ones we now regard as upper case. There was little or no punctuation, and there were no diacritics.

2004, Letter Arts Review, volume 19, Norman, Okla.: Calligraphy Review, →OCLC, page 37:

There have been several misunderstandings with regard to Georgian. The Unicode table speaks of "capital" Georgian letters (for example, georgian capital letter an) and of caseless letters (for example, georgian letter an). In fact, the modern Georgian script is unicameral. Two issues gave rise to this confusion. First, the fact that there are two types of Georgian fonts: those for running text and those for titles. […] Second, in the ancient Georgian script, khutsuri, there were indeed two cases.

2007 September, Yannis Haralambous, translated by P. Scott Horne, Fonts & Encodings, Sebastopol, Calif.: O'Reilly Media, Inc., →ISBN, page 75:

(typography) Of a script or typeface: making no distinction between upper and lower case, but rather having only one case.


fringe

From Middle English frenge, from Old French frenge, from Vulgar Latin *frimbia, a metathesis of Latin fimbriae (“fibers, threads, fringe”, plural), of uncertain origin. Compare German Franse and Danish frynse. Eclipsed native Middle English fnæd (“fringe”), Middle English byrd (“fringe”), Middle English fasel (“fringe”) from Old English fæs (“fringe”), and Old English fnæs (“fringe”). Doublet of fimbria.

der

(television, radio) A daypart that precedes or follows prime time.


cred

en-noun

cred (countable and uncountable, plural creds)

And you're getting well paid, of course, but that's nothing to them, is it? They could double your salary, Gertler—pay you two million creds a year —and it'd still be peanuts to these people […]

2021, Michael Carroll, Laurel Sills, Matthew Smith, Judge Dredd Year Three:

(science fiction, slang) A credit (currency unit).


gonzo

en-adj

gonzo (comparative more gonzo, superlative most gonzo)

more gonzo (comparative)
most gonzo (superlative)

Coined in 1971 by Boston Globe editor Bill Cardoso. Of uncertain origin; OED proposes Italian gonzo (“dolt”) and / or Spanish ganso (“dolt, goose”). The etymology supplied by Cardoso himself (French gonzeaux) is spurious.

I ask Hunter to explain ... Just what is Gonzo Journalism? ... “Gonzo all started with Bill Cardosa ^([sic]), ... after I wrote the Kentucky Derby piece for Scanlan's ... the first time I realized you could write different. And ... I got this note from Cardosa saying, ‘That was pure gonzo journalism!’ ... Some Boston word for weird, bizarre.”

1972, Richard Pollack, chapter VI, in Stop the Presses, I Want to Get Off!:

(journalism) Using an unconventional, exaggerated, and highly subjective style, often when the reporter takes part in the events of the story.


bugbear

From obsolete meaning of bug (“something terrifying”) + bear. See Middle English bugge, modern bogey.

Ha, ha: alas poore wretch: a poore Chipochia, haſt not ſlept to night? would he not (a naughty man) let it ſleepe: a bug-beare take him.

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

“How could you lie so glaringly as to affirm I hated the ‘poor child’? and invent bugbear stories to terrify her from my door-stones?[…]”

1847 December, Ellis Bell [pseudonym; Emily Brontë], chapter XXII, in Wuthering Heights: […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Thomas Cautley Newby, […], →OCLC:

"My young friends," quietly replied Jason, "I do not wonder that you think the dragon very terrible. You have grown up from infancy in the fear of this monster, and therefore still regard him with the awe that children feel for the bugbears and hobgoblins which their nurses have talked to them about.[…]"

1853, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Golden Fleece”, in Tanglewood Tales:

The partisans of the Administration object to the word “imperialism,” calling it a mere bugbear having no real existence.

1900, Carl Schurz, For Truth, Justice and Liberty:

(folklore, fantasy) A generic creature, often described as a large goblin, meant to inspire fear in children.


lyric

lyric (comparative more lyric, superlative most lyric)

more lyric (comparative)
most lyric (superlative)

From French lyrique, or its source, Latin lyricus, from Ancient Greek λυρικός (lurikós), from λύρα (lúra, “lyre”). Its English equivalent would be lyre + -ic.
The original Greek sense of "lyric poetry"—"poetry accompanied by the lyre" i.e. "words set to music"—eventually led to its use as "lyrics", first attested in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Stainer and Barrett used the word as a singular substantive: "Lyric, poetry or blank verse intended to be set to music and sung". By the 1930s, the present use of the plurale tantum "lyrics" had begun; it has been standard since the 1950s for many writers. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song by authorities such as Alec Wilder, Robert Gottlieb, and Stephen Sondheim. However, the singular form is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics.

(poetry) Of, or relating to a type of poetry (such as a sonnet or ode) that expresses subjective thoughts and feelings, often in a songlike style


kasha

(folklore) A yokai that steals the corpses of those who have died as a result of accumulating evil deeds.


stichomythia

en-noun

stichomythia (countable and uncountable, plural stichomythias)

/stɪkəˈmɪθɪə/

From Latin, from Ancient Greek στιχομυθία (stikhomuthía), from στίχος (stíkhos, “line of verse”) (see sticho-) + μῦθος (mûthos, “speech”).

The trial in the great hall under its high vaults, dusty sunlight shafting in, full of murmurers and growlers quietened by beadles and bailiffs, with howlers in the street held back with pikes, was by way of being a play without plot or exercise in what the Senecans term stichomythia.

1993, Anthony Burgess, A Dead Man In Deptford:

The stichomythias are just as necessary in Sophocles' tragedies as are his choruses.

2006, Olga Freidenberg, Image and Concept, page 297:

The two modes have different effects: while a rhesis allows the speaker to give an account of himself, attempt to persuade his hearers, or move freely across a range of emotions or types of argument, stichomythia is better suited to swift exchange of information through question and answer, though it can also be used for spicy polemic, aggressive interrogation, or accusation and defence.

2012, R. B. Rutherford, Greek Tragic Style: Form, Language and Interpretation, page 165:

(poetry) A technique in drama or poetry, in which alternating lines, or half-lines, are given to alternating characters, voices, or entities.


crawl

→ Portuguese: crol, crawl

From Middle English crawlen, crewlen, creulen, crallen, *cravelen, from Old Norse krafla (compare Danish kravle (“to crawl, creep”), Swedish kravla, kräla)), from Proto-Germanic *krablōną (compare Dutch krabbelen, German Low German krabbeln, German krabbeln), frequentative of *krabbōną (“to scratch, scrape”). Compare also West Frisian kreauwelje (“to crawl”), Dutch krevelen, krieuwelen (“to crawl”), German Low German kribbeln, German kribbeln (“to creep, crawl, tingle”). See also crab, crabble.

cog

22 March 2012, Scott Tobias, AV Club The Hunger Gameshttp://www.avclub.com/articles/the-hunger-games,71293/
The opening crawl (and a stirring propaganda movie) informs us that “The Hunger Games” are an annual event in Panem, a North American nation divided into 12 different districts, each in service to the Capitol, a wealthy metropolis that owes its creature comforts to an oppressive dictatorship.

(television, film) A piece of horizontally or vertically scrolling text overlaid on the main image.


catharsis

en-noun

catharsis (countable and uncountable, plural catharses)

/kəˈθɑɹˌsɪs/

From Ancient Greek κάθαρσις (kátharsis, “cleansing, purging”), from καθαίρω (kathaírō, “I cleanse”). Coined in the dramatic-emotional sense by Aristotle.

uder

True, as the show has entered its later years, there have been more inspired moments of catharsis, but fewer unpredictable arcs and story beats, as a narrative nearing its conclusion is no longer attempting to shock.

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

(drama) A release of emotional tension after an overwhelming vicarious experience, resulting in the purging or purification of the emotions, as through watching a dramatic production (especially a tragedy).


macron

From Ancient Greek μακρόν (makrón), neuter form of μακρός (makrós, “long”) (English macro-).

We say such words belong to a Long family, because of the long macron hat the vowels wear. Like the other twin o's, one hat is enough for both, for these twins are always found together.

1889, Rebecca S[mith] Pollard, A Complete Manual: Pollard’s Synthetic Method of Reading and Spelling. Designed to Accompany Synthetic Readers and Spellers, New York, N.Y.: American Book Company, →OCLC, page 75:

A macron is a mark placed above a long vowel to mark its quantity.

1974, Floyd L. Moreland, Rita M. Fleischer, Latin: An Intensive Course, University of California Press, page 13:

All vowels are pronounced short unless marked with a ¯ (macron) over them. So observe different vowel length of ‘i ’ in, e.g., fīlia, etc. It may be helpful, but is not essential, to mark macra in your exercises.

1986, Peter V. Jones, Keith C. Sidwell, “Introduction”, in Reading Latin, volumes 1 (Grammar, Vocabulary and Exercises), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 2, general note 1:

(orthography) A short, straight, horizontal diacritical mark (◌̄) placed over a letter, usually to indicate that the pronunciation of a vowel is long.


praxis

en-noun

praxis (countable and uncountable, plural praxes or praxises)

Partly from Latin prāxis and partly from its etymon Ancient Greek πρᾶξις (prâxis, “action, activity, practice”).

bor

(drama) The deliberate action of a rational being.

ihmistoiminta

drama: deliberate action of a rational being


outline

(film) A prose telling of a story intended to be turned into a screenplay; generally longer and more detailed than a treatment.

juoni

(film industry) a prose telling of a story intended to be turned into a screenplay


stereotype

en-noun

stereotype (countable and uncountable, plural stereotypes)

Borrowed from French stéréotype, equivalent to stereo- + type. Printing sense is from 1817, the “conventional, formulaic, and oversimplified conception, opinion, or image” sense is recorded from 1922 in Walter Lippmann's book Public Opinion.

(printing) A metal printing plate cast from a matrix moulded from a raised printing surface.


stereotype

en-verb

stereotype (third-person singular simple present stereotypes, present participle stereotyping, simple past and past participle stereotyped)

stereotypes (present singular third-person)
stereotyping (participle present)
stereotyped (participle past)
stereotyped (past)

to stereotype the Bible

(transitive, printing) To prepare for printing in stereotype; to produce stereotype plates of.

(transitive, printing) To print from a stereotype.


FPS

frames per second
frame per second#English

(film, television, computing) Initialism of frames per second.


hyper

en-noun

hyper (countable and uncountable, plural hypers)

Shortenings, ultimately from the prefix hyper-.

(uncountable, science fiction, informal) Clipping of hyperspace.


blank

From Middle English blank, blonc, blaunc, blaunche, from Anglo-Norman blonc, blaunc, blaunche, from Old French blanc, feminine blanche, from Frankish *blank (“gleaming, white, blinding”), from Proto-Germanic *blankaz (“white, bright, blinding”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleyǵ- (“to shine”). Akin to Old High German blanch (“shining, bright, white”) (German blank), Old English blanc (“white, grey”), blanca (“white steed”), Spanish blanco. More at blink, blind, blanch. Doublet of blanc.


monotone

en-adj

monotone (comparative more monotone, superlative most monotone)

more monotone (comparative)
most monotone (superlative)

From the post-Classical Latin monotonus (“unvarying in tone”) or its etymon the Ancient Greek μονότονος (monótonos, “steady”, “unwavering”); compare cognate adjectives, namely the French monotone, the German monoton, the Italian monotono, and the Spanish monótono, as well as the slightly earlier English noun monotony and adjective monotonical.


signature

/ˈsɪɡnət͡ʃə(ɹ)/

/ˈsɪɡnɪt͡ʃə(ɹ)/

/ˈsɪɡnət͡ʃɚ/

/ˈsɪɡnɪt͡ʃɚ/

/ˈsɪɡnɪt͡ʃə(ɹ)/

Borrowed from Middle French signature, or from Medieval Latin signātūra, future active periphrastic of verb signāre (“to sign”) from signum (“sign”), + -tūra, feminine of -tūrus, future active periphrastic suffix. Displaced native Old English handseten (literally “hand setting”).

nc

(printing) A group of four (or a multiple of four) sheets printed such that, when folded, they become a section of a book.

сигнату́ра

printing: four or multiple of four pages folded to form a section of a book


comedy

en-noun

comedy (countable and uncountable, plural comedies)

drama

antonym(s) of “light, humorous, or satirical work”

→ Japanese: コメディ (komedi)

→ Korean: 코미디 (komidi)

From Middle English comedie, from Middle French comedie, from Latin cōmoedia, from Ancient Greek κωμῳδία (kōmōidía), from κῶμος (kômos, “revel, carousing”) + either ᾠδή (ōidḗ, “song”) or ἀοιδός (aoidós, “singer, bard”), both from ἀείδω (aeídō, “I sing”). Doublet of commedia.

comedie

often affected as such for humorous effect

(countable, drama) a dramatic work that is light and humorous or satirical in tone


rhapsody

The noun is derived from Latin rhapsōdia (“part of an epic poem suitable for uninterrupted recitation”), from Koine Greek ῥαψῳδία (rhapsōidía, “part of an epic poem suitable for uninterrupted recitation; rigmarole”), Ancient Greek ῥαψῳδία (rhapsōidía, “composition or recitation of Epic poetry”), from ῥαψῳδός (rhapsōidós, “composer or performer of Epic poetry”) + -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā, suffix forming feminine abstract nouns). Ῥαψῳδός (Rhapsōidós) is derived from ῥᾰ́πτω (rhắptō, “to sew”) (possibly from Proto-Indo-European *werb- (“to bend; to turn”)) + ᾠδή (ōidḗ, “ode; song”) (ultimately from Proto-Hellenic *awoidā́ (“song”)) + -ος (-os, suffix forming o-grade action nouns).
Sense 2.2 (“instrumental composition of irregular form”) probably developed from sense 2.1 (“exaggeratedly enthusiastic or exalted expression of feeling in speech or writing”), and both of these senses may have been influenced by rapture (“extreme excitement, happiness, or pleasure”), the latter being a quality associated with the senses. Sense 2.3 (“literary composition consisting of miscellaneous works”) is borrowed from Middle French rhapsodie (modern French rhapsodie), from Latin rhapsōdia: see above.
The verb is derived from the noun.
cognates
* French rhapsodie (“instrumental composition of irregular form”)
* German Rhapsodie (“instrumental composition of irregular form”)

cog

(Ancient Greece, poetry, historical) An epic poem, or part of one, suitable for uninterrupted recitation.

狂想曲

ancient Greek epic poem, or part of one, suitable for uninterrupted recitation


insectoid

Two hundred Earth years earlier, a race of Insectoids discovered them as the Squishys were sending their first probes to other planets in their own star system.

2017, A.K. Brown, Humans on the Menu (Champagne Universe Series: Book 2), page 24:

(science fiction, ufology) An insect-like creature.


leprechaun

→ German: Leprechaun

desc

→ Italian: leprecauno, leprechaun (unadapted), leprecano, lepricauno

→ Japanese: レプラコーン (repurakōn)

→ Korean: 레프러콘 (repeureokon)

→ Portuguese: leprechaun

→ Russian: лепреко́н (leprekón)

→ Spanish: leprechaun

/ˈlɛpɹəkɔːn/

/ˈlɛpɹəˌkɔn/

/ˈlɛpɹəˌkɑn/

From Irish leipreachán, luprachán, from Middle Irish luchrupán, from Old Irish luchorpán. See also Irish lucharachán.
The word's further etymology is disputed; it is traditionally explained as a compound containing lú (“small”, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁lengʷʰ-) + corp (“body”, which is from Latin corpus). However, an alternative suggestion is that it is a derivative of Latin Lupercī (“priests of Lupercus”), who were misinterpreted as an antediluvian species by medieval Irish scholars.

af

from Proto-Indo-European <i class="Latn mention" lang="ine-pro">*h₁lengʷʰ-</i>

which is from Latin <i class="Latn mention" lang="la">corpus</i>

Do you not catch the tiny clamour, / Busy click of an elfin hammer, / Voice of the leprechaun singing shrill, / As he merrily plies his trade?

1888, William Allingham, “The Lepracaun; or Fairy Shoemaker”, in William Butler Yeats, editor, Irish Fairy and Folk Tales, pages 86–87:

(Irish folklore) One of a race of elves that can reveal hidden treasure to those who catch them.

（愛爾蘭民間傳說裡的）短妖精 /（爱尔兰民间传说里的）短妖精

[Àiěrlán mínjiān chuánshuō lǐ de] duǎn yāojing


stigma

Partly from Ancient Greek στίγμα (stígma, “mark, sign”), and partly from the acrophonic value of its initial st- as well as the analogy with the name of sigma.

der

(typography) A ligature of the Greek letters sigma and tau, (Ϛ/ϛ).

stigmo

a ligature of the Greek letters sigma and tau


gallery

From Middle English galery, gallerye, from Middle French galerie, gallerie, from Old French galerie, gallerie (“a long portico, a gallery”), from Medieval Latin galeria (“gallery”), perhaps an alteration of galilea (“church porch”), probably from Latin Galilaea, Galilee, region of Palestine. More at Galilee.

en:production control room, in television program creation

(television) The production control room.


lines

I have yet to learn my lines.

(film, theater) Words spoken by the actors.


fluffer

"This isn't MGM. I don't do this full-time," she said. "During production, I'm the AD. Occasionally, I fill in as a fluffer."

1991, Robert Reeves, Peeping Thomas, →ISBN, page 112:

(pornography) One who arouses male pornographic actors before filming.

撫弄師 /抚弄师

arouses a male pornographic actor through fellatio


cutting

en-noun

cutting (countable and uncountable, plural cuttings)

(uncountable, cinematography, sound engineering) The editing of film or other recordings.


film noir

film noir (countable and uncountable, plural film noirs or films noirs)

film noirs (plural)
films noirs (plural)

Borrowed from French film noir (“dark film”, literally “black film”), attributed to French film critic Nino Frank (1946).

bor

During this period his own films were being studied alongside classic film noir together with European arthouse cinema and the works of directors from around the world.

2017, Ian Brookes, Film Noir: A Critical Introduction, Bloomsbury Publishing USA, →ISBN:

(film, uncountable) A film genre characterized by low-key lighting, a bleak urban setting, and corrupt, cynical or desperate characters.


cinema

en-noun

cinema (countable and uncountable, plural cinemas)

→ Bengali: সিনেমা (śinema)

→ Gujarati: સિનેમા (sinemā)

→ Hindi: सिनेमा (sinemā)

→ Kannada: ಸಿನಮಾ (sinamā)

→ Lao: ຊິເນມາ (si nē mā)

→ Malayalam: സിനിമ (sinima)

→ Punjabi: ਸਿਨਮਾ (sinmā)

→ Sinhalese: සිනමාහල (sinamāhala)

→ Tamil: சினிமா (ciṉimā)

desc

→ Telugu: సినిమా (sinimā), సైన్మ (sainma), సీన్మ (sīnma) — Telangana

→ Urdu: سِنیما (sinemā)

→ Welsh: sinema

→ Yoruba: sinimá

Borrowed from French cinéma, clipping of cinématographe (term coined by the Lumière brothers in the 1890s), from Ancient Greek κίνημα (kínēma, “movement”) + γράφω (gráphō, “write, record”). Compare German Kino (“cinema”), ultimately from the same Greek source.

der

Despite the critics, he produced excellent cinema.

In the long history of Spanish cinema[…].

Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee.

2013 June 29, “Travels and travails”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 55:

(film, uncountable) The film and movie industry.

Throughout the history of cinema, filmmakers[…].

The French and Italian cinemas can seem to persist autonomously—in the sense of being spaces of separate development and marked difference from Hollywood and other national cinemas.

2005, Tom O'Regan, Australian National Cinema, page 79:

(film, countable, uncountable) The art of making films and movies; cinematography


disintegrate

en-verb

disintegrate (third-person singular simple present disintegrates, present participle disintegrating, simple past and past participle disintegrated)

disintegrates (present singular third-person)
disintegrating (participle present)
disintegrated (participle past)
disintegrated (past)

Recorded since 1785, from dis- + integrate.

There is a Latvian gentleman named Theodore Nemor living at White Friars Mansions, Hampstead, who claims to have invented a machine of a most extraordinary character which is capable of disintegrating any object placed within its sphere of influence.

1929, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Disintegration Machine:

(transitive) To undo the integrity of; to break into parts.

(science fiction, transitive) To cause to break up into infinitesimal parts through the use of a disintegrator.

dīlābor (Due to Latin treating the verb "to disintegrate" as purely intransitive, "X disintegrates Y" is expressed with (nominative of Y) + (appropriate form of dīlābor) + (ablative of X), faciō dīlābī (literally "to cause to fall apart")


intergalactic

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-intergalactic.wav

They say he's a member of the Exchange – you know, the big intergalactic criminal organization.

2003 July 16, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic:

(proscribed, science fiction) Occurring across a single galaxy, interstellar.


previously

(television) Recapitulating the preceding episodes of a series.

az előző részek tartalmából

recapitulating the preceding episodes of a series


background

en-noun

background (countable and uncountable, plural backgrounds)

(film) An extra who appears in the background, with no speaking role.


background

en-verb

background (third-person singular simple present backgrounds, present participle backgrounding, simple past and past participle backgrounded)

backgrounds (present singular third-person)
backgrounding (participle present)
backgrounded (participle past)
backgrounded (past)

(journalism) To gather and provide background information (on).


MLS

en-noun

MLS (countable and uncountable, plural MLSs)

(television) Initialism of medium long shot.


super-

Learned borrowing from Latin super-. Doublet of sur-, over-, and hyper-.

superheroic


smurf

Peyo
The Smurfs
fr:Les Schtroumpfs
nl:De Smurfen

Borrowed from Dutch smurf (via the Belgian comic De Smurfen, a translation of French Les Schtroumpfs), from French schtroumpf, a word that was created by Peyo based on German Strumpf (literally “stocking, sock”), either simply because it sounds funny to the French ear or based on a regional German use for “idiot”. Armand van Raalte was an employee for the Belgian publisher of Peyo's stories who felt that schtroumpf would not have the same effect in Dutch, so he tried to find a simple word that could be used both as a noun and a verb. The result was smurf. In other languages, the term was similarly altered; compare the translations below.

der

He occasionally used the proper noun of the restaurant as an adverb, the way a Smurf would.

2021 December 8, Geraldine DeRuiter, “Bros., Lecce: We Eat at The Worst Michelin Starred Restaurant, Ever”, in The Everywhereist:

(comics, fiction) A blue pixie with white stocking cap, from the media franchise The Smurfs.


margin

→ Cantonese: 孖展 (maa¹ zin²)

→ Korean: 마진 (majin)

/ˈmɑːɹd͡ʒ(ə)n/

From Middle English margyn, from Latin marginem (possibly via Old French margin), accusative of margō (“edge, brink, border, margin”). Doublet of marge and margo.

(typography) The edge of the paper, typically left blank when printing but sometimes used for annotations etc.

kantlyn

typography: edge of the paper that remains blank


watershed

From water + shed, a calque of German Wasserscheide, a compound of Wasser (“water”) + scheiden (“to divide”).

(Canada, British, television, radio) The time during the day which material of a more adult nature (e.g., violence, swear words, or sex) may be broadcast on television or radio, either one permitted by law or one contrived from convention (e.g. when children are not watching).

dos rombos

time after which adult material may be broadcast


black box

black box
black box#History
flight recorder#Terminology
gray-box testing
white box (software engineering)

* Since circa 1945 in both main senses (that is, event recorders and objects with unknown innards), which are historically related to each other; for details, see black box § History and flight recorder § Terminology.
* (type of theater): Such theaters are often painted black.

(drama) A type of theater characterized by a lack of decoration or complex mechanisms.


ED

From Japanese ED(エンディング) (endingu), from English ending.

Coordinate term: OP

(films, television) Abbreviation of ending theme (end title sequence)..


trombone

/ˌtɹɒmˈbəʊn/

Borrowed from Italian trombone, from tromba (“trumpet”) + -one (augmentative), literally “large trumpet”.
The telecommunications sense alludes to the shape of the musical instrument.

affix

The trombone […] permits an instrument to be positioned over a studio set wall, enabling the set wall to support the weight of the instrument.

1983, Alan Wurtzel, Television Production, page 131:

The two secondary controls are the trombone handle and the focus knob.

2013, Harry Box, Set Lighting Technician's Handbook, page 480:

(film, television) A kind of extendable support for attaching lighting elements to a set.


trombone

en-verb

trombone (third-person singular simple present trombones, present participle tromboning, simple past and past participle tromboned)

trombones (present singular third-person)
tromboning (participle present)
tromboned (participle past)
tromboned (past)

/ˌtɹɒmˈbəʊn/

[…] do things wrong (like rotating the lens turret while shooting or backwinding and doing multiple passes on the same strip of film or doing in-camera fades with the variable shutter or tromboning a zoom lens like a teenager on acid, etc., etc., etc.) […]

2015, Kathryn Ramey, Experimental Filmmaking: Break the Machine, page 357:

He recalls (email to editor, 2 December 2012) that Durgnat 'shouted out' in response to his 'tromboning' the zoom-lens at the film's 1967 London Film Festival screening: […]

2014, Henry K. Miller, The Essential Raymond Durgnat, page 71:

(film, slang, transitive) To extend and retract (the zoom lens); to use it too enthusiastically.