seventh art

/ˌsɛvnθ ˈɑːt/

/ˌsɛvənθ ˈɑɹt/

Calque of Italian settima arte, which was coined by the Italian film theoretician Ricciotto Canudo (1877–1923) in 1921, considering filmmaking to be a new art combining the six previous arts of architecture, sculpture, painting, music, dance, and poetry. Canudo had previously used the term sesta arte (literally “sixth art”) to describe filmmaking around 1911 when he did not include dance in the set of preceding arts.

Georges Charensol's Panorama du cinema, originally published in 1927, […] was the bible of devotees of the seventh art.

1948, Jacques Queval, “Three French Histories of Film [book reviews]”, in Hollywood Quarterly, volume 3, number 4, Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 454, column 2:

Because of the inherent interdisciplinarity of studying film—once called, appositely, the "seventh art"—film studies was among the first disciplines to embrace such theories and methodologies as feminism, semiotics, and structuralism.

2004 spring, Barry Keith Grant, “Diversity or Dilution? Thoughts on Film Studies and the SCMS [Society for Cinema and Media Studies]”, in Jon Lewis, editor, Cinema Journal: The Journal of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies, volume 43, number 3, Austin, Tex.: University of Texas Press for the Society for Cinema and Media Studies, →ISSN, →JSTOR, →OCLC, page 90:

With some 40,000 professionals in attendance, Cannes is the world's largest annual convention, and a yearly thermometer for the temperature of the seventh art.

2008 May 14, Richard_Corliss, Mary Corliss, “Can Cannes still Do It?”, in Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Warner Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2008-05-16:

(film, chiefly preceded by the definite article) The art of making motion pictures; filmmaking; cinema.

Cinémathèque Française
Federico Fellini
Il bidone
Jean Epstein
Ricciotto Canudo

seitsemäs taide

art of making motion pictures — see also filmmaking


press avail

Shortening of press availability, itself a shortening of "press availability session". First recorded in early 1990s.

"There won't be a press avail," she explained briskly about Clinton's first stop at - where else - the Italian Market. "It'll basically be a photo op."

1992 April 18, Craig R. McCoy, “A Campaign Juggernaut Jaunts Through Phila.”, in Philadelphia Inquirer, page A4:

press availability
press availability#English

(US, politics, journalism) Short for press availability.


press availability

en-noun

press availability (plural press availabilities)

Shortening of "press availability session." Originally synonymous with press conference.

I was told that there was a request for press availabilities.

1974 June 5, Carl B. Leubsdorf, quoting Ronald Reagan, “Reagan Puts Presidential Ambitions 'Between Lines'”, in The Lima News, page B12:

Mrs. Clinton rarely holds press availabilities or takes questions from reporters who cover her campaign.

2007 November 3, Christina Bellantoni, “Hillary criticized for press strategy”, in Washington Times, archived from the original on 2008-02-14:

(US, politics, journalism) An event at which a politician is made available for questioning by the media.


remaster

en-verb

remaster (third-person singular simple present remasters, present participle remastering, simple past and past participle remastered)

remasters (present singular third-person)
remastering (participle present)
remastered (participle past)
remastered (past)

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

(film) To create a new master copy by enhancing sound or picture quality of an older recording.

remasteritzar

to create a new master copy by enhancing sound or picture quality of an older recording


press gaggle

By analogy with a gaggle of goose. First recorded in the briefing sense in the early 2000s.

In 20 years of journalism, I'd never seen a public official do what McGreevey did when asked a question he didn't want to answer at a press gaggle after a public event […]

2004 November 15, Herb Jackson, “Codey can expect a cozy honeymoon”, in The Record, Bergen County, New Jersey:

(US, journalism, politics) An informal off-camera briefing given by a spokesperson or politician.


copy boy

(publishing) A boy employed to carry copy and run errands.


closed caption

(television) Text which can be displayed on a television or other video screen with suitable equipment, usually a transcription or description of audio material.

隱藏字幕 /隐藏字幕

text displayed on a screen with suitable equipment


roman font

The Roman fonts of Aldus were eclipsed by his Italic and Greek, but he cut several fine alphabets.

1897, Old Faces of Roman and Medieval Types, De Vinne Press, page 13:

(typography) An oldstyle serif font or typeface (sometimes capitalized "Roman").


psychohistory

en-noun

psychohistory (countable and uncountable, plural psychohistories)

/sʌɪkəʊˈhɪstəɹi/

From psycho- + history.
* The science-fictional usage was created by Isaac Asimov in the mid-20th century.

(science fiction) A fictional mathematical statistical science of large population dynamics, where mathematical models can predict general futures, based on activities of quadrillions of individuals. The fictional science first occurs in Asimov's 1950s Foundation series, and has since been picked up by other authors for other works.


alexandrine

From Middle French alexandrin. So called from its use in old French poems on Alexander the Great (Roman d'Alexandre, c. 1177).

The dominant metre in Les Fleurs du Mal is the twelve-syllable alexandrine, the defining metre of French versification, with the eight-syllable line a distant runner-up and the ten-syllable line barely visible.

2005, Rachel Killick, “Baudelaire's versification: conservative or radical?”, in Rosemary Lloyd, editor, The Cambridge Companion to Baudelaire, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 52:

(poetry) A line of poetic meter having twelve syllables, usually divided into two or three equal parts.


Adonic

(poetry) A verse consisting of a dactyl and spondee.


letterboxing

(film) The practice of transferring film shot in a widescreen aspect ratio to standard-width video formats while preserving the film's original aspect ratio.


country of origin

country of origin (plural countries of origin)

The country of origin of the work is that in which the work is first published.

1912, Richard Rogers Bowker, Copyright, Its History and Its Law: Being a Summary of the Principles and ..., page 607:

(publishing) Country of first publication.


senryū

(poetry) A haiku-like poem of up to 17 syllables that is usually humorous or satirical.


fantastique

Unadapted borrowing from French fantastique. Doublet of fantastic.

ubor

And certainly the film's free-floating fantasy and the blatant transparency of its narrative--its capacity to be seen for the artifice that it is--are a lot closer to fantastique than they are to the more logically circumscribed forms of fancy celebrated in this country.

1988 January 29, Jonathan Rosenbaum, “Invitation to the Trance”, in Chicago Reader:

(film, literature) A genre of literature and film that is characterized by the intrusion of the supernatural into the realistic framework of a story.


gravure

en-noun

gravure (countable and uncountable, plural gravures)

for too long have the walls of our houses been adorned with examples of effete Old World portrait gravure.

1916 March 25, Irvin S. Cobb, “"Unaccustomed as I am—"”, in Saturday Evening Post:

THE POCKET ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF BRITISH STEAM LOCOMOTIVES. By O. S. Nock. Blandford Press. 18s.
Mr. Nock, he remarks in his preface, was "incredulous" when the idea of this book of 192 colour gravure illustrations of a representative collection of British steam locomotives from Locomotion to BR's Evening Star was broached to him.

1964 December, “New Books”, in Modern Railways, page 429:

(art, printing) A type of intaglio printing process, in which an image is engraved onto a rotating copper cylinder.


target audience

target audience (plural target audiences)

(media, marketing) The primary group of people for whom a publication, advertisement or other type of media is designed to appeal.


orthotic

en-adj

orthotic (comparative more orthotic, superlative most orthotic)

more orthotic (comparative)
most orthotic (superlative)

(typography) Of Greek typography: having an upright form, distinct from the cursive and chancery types.


virelai

From Old French virelai, alteration (after lai) of vireli.

Now making layes of loue and louers paine, / Bransles, Ballads, virelayes, and verses vaine [...].

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

(historical, poetry) A medieval poetic form consisting of two or more three line units in each stanza, in the form aabaab... and continuing on in that pattern.


literary technique

en-noun

literary technique (plural literary techniques)


literary theory

(literature) The theory or the philosophy of the interpretation of literature and literary criticism


literary device

literary device (plural literary devices)

(literature) An identifiable rule of thumb, convention, or structure that is employed in literature and storytelling.


literary criticism

In certain kinds of writing, particularly in art criticism and literary criticism, it is normal to come across long passages which are almost completely lacking in meaning.

1946, George Orwell, Politics and the English Language:

(literature) The study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of literature.


edisonade

From Edison + -ade, coined by Canadian author John Clute in 1993, after inventor Thomas Edison.

coin

(science fiction) A genre of science fiction and adventure fiction featuring a brilliant robust inventor, engineer or scientist hero who has an adventure in the wilds of the world, created from the mid-19th century to early 20th century, mostly American.

scientific romance

European science-fiction genre of the same period


alternate history

en-noun

alternate history (usually uncountable, plural alternate histories)

Alternate history is[…]a mournful exercise; in it, the world we know has been erased, and usually not for the better. Sometimes the main character realizes this, but most often the reader alone is left to fathom the loss.

2004 September 5, Laura Miller, “Imagine”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(fiction) A genre of fiction based around or involving ahistorical events (often occurring after a fixed point of divergence from real history).


QSO

en-verb

QSO (third-person singular simple present QSOs, present participle QSOing, simple past and past participle QSOed)

QSOs (present singular third-person)
QSOing (participle present)
QSOed (participle past)
QSOed (past)

The basic award is issued when 500 countries have been successfully QSOed on the three bands.

1993, CQ: The Radio Amateurs' Journal, volume 49, numbers 7-12, page 66:

(transitive, intransitive, radio slang) To communicate (with) by means of amateur radio.


and finally

From a newsreader's standard introduction to such pieces, which typically come at the end of a news bulletin.

All this was broadcast on the evening of 23 February 1956, and it's the earliest surviving example of an Independent Television News bulletin. Even then, there was an ‘And finally...’ item, but on this occasion it was merely the good news that a thaw was on the way.

2005 December 26, Raymond Snoddy, The Independent:

The best ‘and finallies’ of 2005.

2006, BBC News website, headline, 1 January

Racing domestic animals in funny costumes on soapbox sleds is surely no more offensive than watching David Blaine take a dump in a Perspex box, and will look much better as an ‘And finally...’ on the news.

2006 June 20, Eddy Lawrence, Time Out, London:

The shots were included as part of BBC natural history producer Fergus Beeley nature diary from Beinn Eighe’s National Nature Reserve show water being blown back uphill on a windy day in Torridon. They have been picked up by the media as an ‘and finally’ and widely circulated.

(idiomatic, journalism, colloquial) A light news story reserved for the end of a bulletin when there is a lack of more important items; typically involving animals or other features supposed to be amusing.

boa-noite

a light news story reserved for the end of a bulletin


creature feature

en-noun

creature feature (plural creature features)

"Godzilla" is one of the classic creature features.

(idiomatic, film, humorous) A horror film in which one or more monsters plays a prominent role.


line art

(printing, graphic design) Artwork to be reproduced with one solid colour, contrasted with artwork having tone or shading (halftones), or full colour (colour separations).


RQQ

(radio astronomy) Initialism of RadioQuiet Quasar.


NLQ

near letter-quality
near letter-quality#English

(typography, computing) Initialism of near letter-quality.


LQ

LQ (countable and uncountable, plural LQs)

(typography, uncountable) Initialism of letter quality.


Chaucerian

en-adj

Chaucerian (comparative more Chaucerian, superlative most Chaucerian)

more Chaucerian (comparative)
most Chaucerian (superlative)

/tʃɔːˈsɪəɹɪ.ən/

/t͡ʃɔˈsɪɹi.ən/

Literary Bengali of prose, during the greater part of the 19th century, was thus a doubly artificial language ; and, with its forms belonging to Middle Bengali, and its vocabulary highly Sanskritised, it could only be compared to a 'Modern English' with a Chaucerian grammar and a super-Johnsonian vocabulary, if such a thing could be conceived.

1926, Suniti Kumar Chatterji, The Origin and Development of the Bengali Language, page 134:

(literature) Of or pertaining to Geoffrey Chaucer or his writings.

chaucérien

of or pertaining to Geoffrey Chaucer or his writings


Chaucerian

/tʃɔːˈsɪəɹɪ.ən/

/t͡ʃɔˈsɪɹi.ən/

(literature) A poet influenced by Chaucer.


intercut

en-verb

intercut (third-person singular simple present intercuts, present participle intercutting, simple past and past participle intercut)

intercuts (present singular third-person)
intercutting (participle present)
intercut (participle past)
intercut (past)

The film's plot revolves around Robert Adams […] whose older lover […] is in prison. He knows that he cannot send the love letters he wants to, so he writes and keeps them in a journal. Most of the film features voice-overs of his writing intercut with the memories of their life together.

1987 August 22, Michael Bronski, “Real To Reel”, in Gay Community News, volume 15, number 6, page 8:

(cinematography) To alternate between scenes from one sequence and scenes from another film sequence, often with the sequences to be perceived as simultaneous.


intercut

Smith's execution of the gangster who busted his car is the closest to some of the violence of Hill's early films, including a Peckinpahesque use of intercut slow-motion to track the gangster's harness-aided trip down the stairs to the dusty street.

2022, Brian Brems, The Films of Walter Hill: Another Time, Another Place, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 217:

(cinematography) An alternating sequence of this kind.


archigrapheme

From archi- + grapheme, by analogy with archiphoneme.

(typography) a grapheme which represents any of several graphemes (often causing ambiguity), by analogy with the archiphoneme, which represents several phonemes.


POD

en-noun

POD (countable and uncountable, plural PODs)

(uncountable, publishing) Initialism of print on demand.


fill music

(broadcasting) Music broadcast as an interlude between formally scheduled programming, or to fill in during an unscheduled interruption, in order to forestall listener abandonment of the station.


uncredited

en-adj

uncredited (comparative more uncredited, superlative most uncredited)

more uncredited (comparative)
most uncredited (superlative)

Several uncredited musicians worked on the film score.


talk radio

(radio) A radio program format consisting of discussions regarding topical or controversial issues.


iota subscript

en-noun

iota subscript (plural iotas subscript or iota subscripts)

iotas subscript (plural)
iota subscripts (plural)

(Greek orthography) A small iota written below an alpha, eta or omega – e.g. in ᾠδή (ōidḗ) – representing a vocalic offglide that was pronounced in early Ancient Greek, but later became silent; invented in the Middle Ages in order to mark those vowels which would originally have had such an offglide.


film crew

(film) The group of people, excluding the cast and producers, who are hired by a film company to make a film.


plasma rifle

(science fiction, weaponry) An assault rifle-styled gun that shoots plasma.


anacreontic

From Late Latin Anacreonticus, from Ancient Greek Ἀνακρέων (Anakréōn), Anacreon a Greek poet.

(poetry) A short lyrical piece about love and wine.


belter

(science fiction) A person who mines asteroids for minerals or lives in the vicinity of an asteroid belt.


warp speed

The ship was accelerating to warp speed, when one of the engines failed.

(science fiction) A hypothetical, extremely rapid, speed, resulting from entering a separate dimension, termed hyperspace; much faster than the speed of light.


polyschematic

(poetry) Having unusual or multiple metre.


(poetry) Placed over a vowel letter to indicate that the syllable is long. Also used alone to mark stress in a metrical foot or verse: see ⟨ˉ⟩.


GG

(slang, pornography) Initialism of girl/girl.


staple character

staple character (plural staple characters)

The mad scientist was a staple character in many horror films.

(writing, theater, film) A stock character, especially one that is overused.


theatrical film

theatrical film (plural theatrical films)

(film) A motion picture specifically made to be shown in a theatre, as opposed to a made-for-television film, or a film released directly to video.


radioland

The circus people might be a bit odd, but any discomfort along those lines tends to pale against being known in radioland as New York's version of Dogpatch.

1998 September 19, Glenn Collins, “A Little Town and the Big Top; After Months of Traveling, Circus Settles in New Home”, in The New York Times:

(radio, broadcasting) The radio broadcasting industry.

Hello, all my friends out there in Radioland—this is your friend Melba Melsing, here to sing melodious melodies from faraway lands just for you. . . .

1985, Gloria Vanderbilt, Once Upon a Time: A True Story, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, →ISBN, page 135:

(radio, broadcasting) The notional place where an audience is listening to a radio program.


senpai

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

Borrowed from Japanese 先(せん)輩(ぱい) (senpai). Doublet of sunbae.

(anime and manga, fandom slang) An upperclassman or elder student, in the context of Japan.


multigraph

(historical, printing) A combined rotary typesetting and printing machine for office use. The type is transferred semi-automatically by means of keys from a type-supply drum to a printing drum. The printing may be done by means of an inked ribbon to print "typewritten" letters, or directly from inked type or a stereotype plate, as in a printing press.


terzanelle

(poetry) A poetry form which is a combination of the villanelle and the terza rima.


kabouter

(Dutch folklore) A tiny folkloric man who traditionally wears a pointy red hat, lives in harmony with nature and resides in mushrooms, similar to a gnome, leprechaun or a smurf.


antinovel

Digressions are usually considered a characteristic feature of the antinovel tradition.

(literature) A novel that deliberately avoids the typical conventions of the novel, such as a coherent plot and protagonist.

antiromaani

a novel that deliberately avoids the typical conventions of the novel

(literature, by extension) Any style of writing that deviates from the norm of technical conventions used in writing literature.


line break

(typography) A point in writing where text that would normally continue on the same line starts at the beginning of a new line.

斷行 /断行

a point in writing where text that would normally continue on the same line starts at the beginning of a new line or the character indicating that subsequent characters should appear on a separate line of text


chyron

Genericization of the trademark Chyron, from Chiron (“centaur of Greek mythology”).

Chyrons (electronically enlarged words or numbers superimposed on the screen) might be used to illustrate and compare budget figures or to emphasize a quote.

1982, Judy Woodruff, Kathleen Maxa, “This is Judy Woodruff at the White House”, Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 63:

Chyron recognition: A celebrity who needs no electronically inserted title or caption (a chyron) to identify him or her on television, especially news programs or interview shows.

1999, Rodger W[illiam] Claire, Entertainment 101: An Industry Primer, Beverly Hills, Calif.: Pomegranate Press, →ISBN:

The ABC broadcast also began to use Chyrons, which "generated brightly colored maps, charts, graphs, and illustrations and imposed text over pictures. A red slash, like the one on the cover of Time magazine, was superimposed on stories, in an effort to give ABC's newscast a distinctive identity."

2004, James T. Hamilton, All the News That's Fit to Sell: How the Market Transforms Information into News, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, →ISBN, page 170:

In the days before desktop video production software, such as Final Cut Pro and After Effects, making even a simple black and white title was a tough business. Creating broadcast-quality video titles required a specialized piece of expensive equipment called a Chyron generator and a highly skilled Chyron operator to run it. In fact, there was a time when Chyron operators made a good living because they were the only ones who knew how to make good, professional quality titles.

2006, Ian David Aronson, DV Filmmaking: From Start to Finish, Sebastopol, Calif.: O'Reilly Media, →ISBN, page 168:

The TV images that would shake American politics like none had since Watts in 1965 began innocuously enough: on NBC, above a chyron reading taped, it looked like a busy New York rush hour, though some are holding handkerchiefs to their faces. […] [T]he hemmed-in cops threw tear-gas canisters across the street at the apex of the marchers' U-turn […] grant park, chicago, illinois, the chyron now reads, and a woman's voice says, "The kids are still marching, it looks like a whole gathering of people with terrible colds"; […]

2008 May, Rick Perlstein, Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America, New York, N.Y.: Scribner, →ISBN, page 321:

Chyron. Words shown on a video screen. Also known as a super. A slash (/) indicates a line break in a Chyron message in a script.

2015, Charles Marsh, David W. Guth, Bonnie Poovey Short, “Broadcast/Podcast Writing”, in Strategic Writing: Multimedia Writing for Public Relations, Advertising, and More, 3rd edition, Abingdon, Oxon., New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 13:

On the TV, a guest sits on the George Drudge couch. Below her a chyron reads: Chandice, Admits she eats her Kleenex. A chyron reads: Rick, Says he doesn't trust Amy, that's why he watches her poop. On the bus, someone shouts, 'I do dat, too!' On the TV, a chyron reads: Selena, Admits she's obsessed with burping.

2016, Michael Grothaus, Epiphany Jones, [London]: Orenda Books, →ISBN:

(US, television) A set of graphics or words at the bottom of a television screen, sometimes unrelated to the current viewing content.


chyron

en-verb

chyron (third-person singular simple present chyrons, present participle chyroning, simple past and past participle chyroned)

chyrons (present singular third-person)
chyroning (participle present)
chyroned (participle past)
chyroned (past)

(US, television, transitive) To display (material) on screen by this technology.


cover story

It's ironic that the day before the Prime Minister confirmed the go-ahead for HS2, RAIL 898 hit my doormat with a cover story 'Is reopening the GC a viable alternative to HS2?'

2020 May 6, “Letters: Open Access”, in Rail, page 48:

(media) A story included in a publication that is highlighted on the front cover.


wireless cable

(television) A method of cable television distribution using prior wireless signal reception via a microwave antenna.


tragic hero

(drama) A hero who suffers from a tragic flaw that eventually causes his downfall.


production value

en-noun

production value (plural production values)

Soon the novelty of all-talking pictures wore off and incidental music began to make a comeback. It was, after all, an added production value.

1969, Toby Haggith, “Face the Music”, in Film Quarterly, volume 22, number 4, page 11:

The New York publicity people asked the studio people if the films were to be shot in colour or not so as to decide if whether to feature that production value in the promotional campaigns.

1994, Mark S. Miller, “Helping Exhibitors: Pressbooks at Warner Bros. in the Late 1930s”, in Film History, volume 6, number 2, page 189:

(film, performing arts, usually in the plural) A method, material, or stagecraft skill used in the production of a motion picture or artistic performance; the technical quality of such a method, material, or skill.


shakycam

For quotations using this term, see Citations:shakycam.

(film, television) A style of filming using a handheld camera, giving an on-screen effect of shakiness.


fandub

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

The fandub Evangelion: ReDeath is shown every year at Fanime.

(US, anime) An anime title that has been dubbed by fans.


punctum delens

Unadapted borrowing from Latin pūnctum dēlēns.

ubor

(orthography) A dot placed above a letter to indicate that it is a copying error and should be ignored.

(orthography) A dot placed above a consonant in Irish, when it is written in Gaelic script, to indicate that the consonant is lenited.


realspace

(science fiction) Normal, three-dimensional space; as opposed to hyperspace


sub-light

"We are about to test sub-light engine disengage."

2017, A.K. Brown, Humans on the Menu (Champagne Universe Series: Book 2), page 36:

(science fiction) At less than the speed of light.


monoline

[…] monolines appear everywhere in the art of the Western letter, and have shaped the alphabet's development as much as the edged line of the broad pen.

1984, Margaret Shepherd, Calligraphy Now, page 31:

(calligraphy) A font line of consistent width, as occurs when imitating pencil script.

With the straight matter being set on the linotype or monoline, the hand compositor was left with what he claimed was the most 'skilled' part of his old work.

1993, Rae Frances, The Politics of Work: Gender and Labour in Victoria 1880-1939, →ISBN, page 126:

(printing, dated) A type of composing machine in which each line of type is cast as a single slug.


wererat

The only other animal he'd seen hadn't been an animal at all, but a wererat who had given him a curious look before darting away into an alley.

2006, Christine Warren, Wolf at the Door: A Novel of The Others, page 205:

(fiction) A shapeshifter who can assume the shape of a rat.


weretiger

(fiction, mythological) A creature of Southeast Asian myth; a shapeshifter who can assume the shape of a tiger.


interactive fiction

en-noun

interactive fiction (countable and uncountable, plural interactive fictions)

(literature, uncountable) Text adventures and their descendants.


plotty

en-adj

plotty (comparative plottier, superlative plottiest)

plottier (comparative)
plottiest (superlative)

“Now Beacon, Now Sea,” his first memoir, is perhaps more straightforward than his voicey, plotty novels, and he indulges in novelistic and cinematic flourishes — cascading lists, lyrical still lifes — only occasionally.

2021 September 6, Eleanor Henderson, “Why Did Two People So Poorly Matched Stay Together So Long?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(informal, of a book, film, story) Having a complicated plot.


cyberize

en-verb

cyberize (third-person singular simple present cyberizes, present participle cyberizing, simple past and past participle cyberized)

cyberizes (present singular third-person)
cyberizing (participle present)
cyberized (participle past)
cyberized (past)

At this Nightshade mutters under his breath and begins to metamorphose. Slowly more metal appears on him, and his looks change drastically from a pure human to a fully cyberized hunk of man and machine.

1993 August 25, Robert Johan Enters, “Re: [ADMIN] Re: Newcomer to the Theatre...”, in alt.cyberpunk.chatsubo (Usenet):

I don't see ItX [=Iteration X] forcefully cyberizing anyone against their will. Not only is it wildly unethical, Devices are far too valuble ^([sic]) to waste on people who will try to resist the Union.

2000 March 21, Julian Mensch, “Re: Iteration X Conventionpage for a noble Union [*LONG*]”, in alt.games.whitewolf (Usenet):

But he did report to Starfleet HQ his encounter with a race of cyberized humanoids who are out to assimilate everyone, and T'Pol's estimate that said race would likely return during the 24th century.

2009 May 8, "Tim Bruening" (username), "Re: Archer Vs Borg", on alt.tv.star-trek.enterprise and alt.humor.puns, Usenet

(science fiction, rare) To make into a cyborg; to fit with a cybernetic implant or prosthesis.


x-height

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

(typography) The distance between the baseline and midline in a typeface, typically equal to the height of the lower-case letter x.

x-korkeus

the distance between the baseline and midline in a typeface


fachan

A fachan is a large, fierce monstrosity that is as dangerous as it is strange. A fachan has one eye in the middle of its forehead, a single arm in the middle of its chest and one leg supporting it from underneath. The fachan's[…]

(Can we date this quote?), RuneQuest Monsters, Mongoose Publishing, →ISBN, page 63:

"I can handle a fachan on my own,” Sir Celes said. “Don't worry, my regiment is...” “My father...” It felt so cold all of a sudden. Like a cloud had covered the sun. A fachan. A horrible, one-eyed giant. A terrifying monster that had taken something[…]

2020 April 27, Nao Wakasa, The Extraordinary, the Ordinary, and SOAP! Volume 1, J-Novel Club, →ISBN:

(folklore and now also fantasy) A giant in Irish and Scottish folklore, which has one central leg, one hand protruding from its chest, and one eye.


PIP

en-noun

PIP (countable and uncountable, plural PIPs)

(television) Acronym of picture-in-picture.


bury the lede

en-verb

bury the lede (third-person singular simple present buries the lede, present participle burying the lede, simple past and past participle buried the lede)

buries the lede (present singular third-person)
burying the lede (participle present)
buried the lede (participle past)
buried the lede (past)

The news account started by recounting details of the candidate's appearance and buried the lede by not mentioning his new call for tax reform until the 19th paragraph.

(idiomatic, US, journalism) To begin a story with details of secondary importance to the reader while postponing more essential points or facts.


DTV

(television) digital television broadcast


PVR

personal video recorder
personal video recorder#English

(television) Initialism of personal video recorder.


digital video recorder

en-noun

digital video recorder (plural digital video recorders)

personal video recorder
personal video recorder


union bug

Printed matter circulated by the (US) Democratic Party inevitably displays a union bug.

(printing) A maker’s mark imprinted on a work to show that it is sanctioned by members of a trade union. It is often a tiny elongated rhomboid containing and surrounded by, in minuscule typeface, identifying names and the union’s local chapter number.


derezz

en-verb

derezz (third-person singular simple present derezzes, present participle derezzing, simple past and past participle derezzed)

derezzes (present singular third-person)
derezzing (participle present)
derezzed (participle past)
derezzed (past)

From the film Tron, perhaps from de- and resolve or resolution.

(science fiction, intransitive, of an image) To disappear, or dissolve into pixels.


manhwa

Borrowed from Korean 만화(漫畫) (manhwa), from Japanese 漫(まん)画(が) (manga). Doublet of manga and manhua.

In fact, many manga fans don't realize that their favorite comics — such as Priest, Ragnarock, and Island — are actually Korean manhwa!

2004, Christopher Hart, Manhwa Mania: How to Draw Korean Comics, Watson-Guptill Publications, →ISBN, page 7:

Since the Korean language reads left to right (unlike Chinese and Japanese), manhwa are printed left to right in the same format as English books.

2007, Jason Thompson, Manga: The Complete Guide, Del Rey, published 2007, →ISBN:

As the best Japanese titles were mined, the American companies began to look for alternatives, and Tokyopop's founder Stuart Levy already had a budding interest in Korean manhwa.

2008, Mark James Russell, Pop Goes Korea: Behind the Revolution in Movies, Music, and Internet Culture, Stone Bridge Press, published 2008, →ISBN:


manhua

en-noun

manhua (countable and uncountable, plural manhuas)

Borrowed from Mandarin 漫畫 /漫画 (mànhuà), from Japanese 漫(まん)画(が) (manga). Doublet of manga and manhwa.

(comics) A comic originating in China or Taiwan.


info-dump

(literature) A long section in a work of fiction that reveals often tedious expository information through the voice of the narrator.


autofire

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(science fiction) A feature that allows a weapon to fire automatically.


graveyard poetry

(literature, poetry) A type of morbid poetry which lingers on human mortality, tombs, and burial grounds, popular in the preromantic period of 18th-century Britain.


featurette

→ French: featurette

The 1950 production program of the RD-DR Corporation (Reader's Digest-deRochemont) has been expanded to include six hour-length “featurettes” in addition to two longer pictures, it was announced yesterday by Louis de Rochemont, the producer.

1949 September 24, “8 Films in '50 Set by De Rochemont”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

With DVDs steadily joining VHS cassettes as extinct technology, what has become of the fun, insightful mixed bag that movie fans came to know as bonus features — the audio commentaries, behind-the-scenes featurettes, bloopers, deleted scenes and alternate endings?

2018 April 6, Fabrice Robinet, “Oh for the Days of the Making-Of Featurette — Seriously”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(film) A short film of bonus material, companion to the main feature, frequently part of additional material in a home video release on LaserDisc, DVD, Blu-Ray.


Grauniad

Deliberate misspelling of Guardian, coined by the UK satirical magazine Private Eye, implying that the Guardian newspaper was prone to typographical errors.

Good old Grauniad.

1984 [1981], Jonathan Lynn, Antony Jay, “The Right to Know”, in The Complete Yes Minister, →ISBN, page 135:

Stop along the road for papers; scan headlines, make sure that no late-breaking story displaced the Vanguard piece and that it's intact (ninety-five percent – a satisfyingly high score), check out Doonesbury in the Grauniad, then away.

Katherine Viner wants to appoints a "1 per cent correspondent" to hound the filthy rich. As befits a possible Grauniad editrix, the NUJ misspelt her name.

2015 February 24, Patrick Kidd, “Guardian Angels Declare”, in The Times, page 11:

His appointment marked the start of a daily corrections and clarifications column, a first for a UK newspaper, which has mined a rich seam of typos and other slips for which “the Grauniad” is fondly known.

2021 May 12, Elisabeth Ribbans, “Typo negative: the best and worst of Grauniad mistakes over 200 years”, in The Guardian:

(UK, newspapers, humorous) The Guardian, a British daily national newspaper.


hench

en-verb

hench (third-person singular simple present henches, present participle henching, simple past and past participle henched)

henches (present singular third-person)
henching (participle present)
henched (participle past)
henched (past)

(comics) To be a henchman or henchwoman, usually for a supervillain.


bookjacket

Under certain circumstances and because of the method of application, lamination of all but the flaps of a bookjacket can prove more costly...

1965, The Bookseller: The Organ of the Book Trade:

(printing, publishing) The jacket of a book.


costume drama

From the works of Jane Austen and novels including Waugh's Brideshead Revisited (1945), D H Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover (1928), Nancy Mitford's The Pursuit of Love (1945), Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca (1938), and Ian McEwan's Atonement (2001) to costume dramas such as Downton Abbey and Bridgerton, there's a particular narrative allure to houses full of secrets and staff quarters.

2023 November 13, Rosalind Jana, “Saltburn and the bizarre life of Britain's stately homes”, in BBC:

(film or television) A period piece featuring elaborate costumes which capture the atmosphere of the portrayed era.


exord

One peculiarity of Bello is his having first broken through the custom of religious invocations at the heads of his cantos, in place of which he substituted poetical exords, or reflections on the events of his narrative, or on circumstances connected with them.

1830, “Ferrario -- On Chivalry and Romance and Italian Romantic Poetry”, in Foreign Quarterly Review, volume VI, number XIII, page 387:

(literature) A preface or prefatory passage


soft hyphen

(computing, typography) A generally invisible text character marking a point where hyphenation can occur without forcing a line break in an inconvenient place if the text is later reflowed.

weiches Trennzeichen

a generally invisible text character marking a point where hyphenation can occur without forcing a line break in an inconvenient place if the text is later reflowed


electrokinesis

But Grey's electrokinesis and Greenman's telekinesis put me in a tight spot.

2008, A. Lee Martinez, The Automatic Detective, →ISBN, page 138:

(fantasy, science fiction) The generation of electrical force using the mind alone.


cicero

From its use in Pannartz and Sweynheim's 1467 Roman edition of Cicero's Epistulae ad Familiares ("Letters to My Friends").

(typography, Continental printing) The Continental equivalent of the English pica: a measure of 12 Didot points (4.51368 mm or about 0.178 in.) or a body of type in this size.

Pannartz and Sweynheim
cicero (typography)


bullet time

First used with reference to the 1999 film The Matrix, and later to the slow-motion effects in the 2001 video game Max Payne.

...particularly in the use of the bullet-time technique...

2006, Dani Cavallaro, The Cinema of Mamoru Oshii: Fantasy, Technology and Politics:

(film, video games) A visual effect in which the camera pans around a slowed-down object, such as a flying bullet.


psionics

In any case, psionics appears quite legitimately in science fiction.

1976, Reginald Bretnor, The Craft of Science Fiction:

In the 1960s, Campbell abandoned his public obsessions with psionics and pseudo-science.

1998, Gary Westfahl, The Mechanics of Wonder: The Creation of the Idea of Science Fiction:

(science fiction) Mental powers, especially those under conscious control, that affect physical matter, such as telekinesis.


swap out

Luckily, on this show we have swap outs, so we don't have to wait.

(television) A pre-prepared food item used in place of an unfinished food item in order to cut down the overall preparation time during filming.


terraformer

(science fiction) A machine that has the capability to terraform.

(chiefly science fiction) A person who terraforms.


lineation

en-noun

lineation (countable and uncountable, plural lineations)

Lineation is very much a matter of syntax, organizing the poem's grammar across its lines in ways significant and central to the poem's meaning.

2001, Shira Wolosky, The Art of Poetry, →ISBN, pages 26–27:

(literature) The way in which line breaks are inserted in a poem


talk show

→ Danish: talkshow

→ Korean: 토크쇼 (tokeusyo)

→ Polish: talk-show

→ Russian: ток-шо́у (tok-šóu)

→ Spanish: talk show

→ Swedish: talkshow

→ Chinese: 脫口秀 /脱口秀 (tuōkǒuxiù)

(broadcasting) A television or radio programme in which a host converses on various topics with guests who may be experts, celebrities, or members of the listening or viewing audience.

بَرْنَامَج حِوَارِيّ

TV or radio programme in which a host converses with guests


variety show

(radio, television, theater) 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.


adscript

From Latin adscriptus, past participle of adscribere (“to enroll”). See ascribe.

(typography) Something written or printed immediately after another character and aligned with it.


keyer

(television) A device that replaces a fixed colour in the image with some other picture or background; chromakeyer.


VF

(typography) Initialism of variable font.


Walkerism

(British, sports, journalism) A form of words spoken by motorsports commentator Murray Walker that, due to grammatical errors, malapropisms, etc. is characteristic of his broadcasting style.


out of print

(publishing) Not available from the publisher (of a printed work, especially a book, or a music release).


refeed

refeed (countable and uncountable, plural refeeds)

During the current season, PBS will transmit […] 1,482 hours of program transmission and 2,366 hours of refeeds, station services, and regional split.

1973, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce. Subcommittee on Communications and Power, Public Broadcasting - 1973: Hearings, Ninety-third Congress, page 29:

The network also provides a refeed of programs which schools feel warrant repeating […]

Pennsylvania Public Television Network Commission, Annual Report - Volume 7, Parts 1974-1975


manicule

(typography) A symbol resembling a hand with the index finger extended, used to draw attention to or indicate something.


telepath

(parapsychology, science fiction) A person with telepathic ability, capable of reading the thoughts of others around them.


telepath

en-verb

telepath (third-person singular simple present telepaths, present participle telepathing, simple past and past participle telepathed)

telepaths (present singular third-person)
telepathing (participle present)
telepathed (participle past)
telepathed (past)

Jan. 3rd, 1984.—I was in the front sitting-room and dare not go out of the room for the cold; my plants were awfully dry, and hearing E. [her niece] in the kitchen, I telepathed to her to bring me in some water. She at once came with a jug full and asked if I would water the plants.

1896 October, “A Diary of Telepathic Impressions”, in Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, volume 7, number 132, page 300:

He does not attribute one single experience to what we might term a "ghost" for lack of a better term. Witches, poltergeists, goblins, gremlins, fairies, dwarfs—all of them are real, physical, alive, being either the real thing or the teleported or telepathed image of the real thing.

1947 June, Raymond A. Palmer, “Observatory”, in Amazing Stories, volume 21, number 6, page 9:

Thanos: "Did you not suspect I could tell you had been telepathing?"

1973 February, Stan Lee, Iron Man, number 55

In your mind you have capacities you know / To telepath messages through the vast unknown

1976, John Woloschuk and Terry Draper (lyrics and music), “Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft”, in 3:47 EST, performed by Klaatu:

(parapsychology, science fiction) To communicate by thought; to use telepathy.


page proof

Coordinate term: galley proof

(printing) A trial page or proof that has been made up into pages.


galley proof

Coordinate term: page proof

(printing) A trial page or proof of continuous text that has not been divided into pages.


fullwidth

From full + width, as a calque of Japanese 全角 (zenkaku).

(computing, typography) Of a text character, occupying the space of two alphanumeric characters in a monospace font, or two "normal" text columns.

全角

occupying two columns on a traditional text display


Flying Dutchman

(nautical folklore) A mythical Dutch-flagged ghost clipper that is very fast sailing, and never makes it to port, seen on the high seas, where upon being hailed, occupants request information on persons long dead, or leave messages for said people. In European naval folklore, it was considered to portend bad luck.


instant replay

(sports, television) A video recording of an action that can be replayed immediately after being recorded.


homodiegetic

The second part of the novella, including chapters 13-15, is more personal and reflective. Here, our apparently heterodiegetic narrator reveals himself to be homodiegetic: to be Tanner's sidekick BB Trane, previously referred to in the third person.

2018, Nicole Seymour, Bad Environmentalism, page 185:

(literature, film) Of or relating to the narrator of a dramatic work who is also the protagonist or other character in the work.


digital press

(printing) A high-speed industrial digital printer.


resample

resample (third-person singular simple present resamples, present participle resampling, simple past and past participle resampled)

resamples (present singular third-person)
resampling (participle present)
resampled (participle past)
resampled (past)

(computing, media) To change the sample rate or dimensions of digital imagery or audio


grav

Since there is no such thing as top or bottom in space, the ship's artificial gravs hold you to the floor no matter which end of the vessel points which way.

1950, Nelson Bond, Lancelot Biggs: Spaceman, →ISBN, page 76:

... We will be going to low-gravity just before jump. Passengers should be firmly strapped in at this time." "Good," murmured Muerotte. "Cutting gravs...brace yourself.

2007, L. E. Modesitt, Jr., The Ecolitan Enigma, →ISBN:

Trystin shut down the ventilation system and shifted the last of the power for gravs into the thrusters.

2010, L. E. Modesitt, Jr., The Parafaith War, →ISBN:

(science fiction) An artificial gravity generator.

A starship thundered invisibly close overhead, its gravs at full lift-off power.

The orbot was a speck, a clot, a ball, a toy. It was gliding silently in on gravs, directly overhead.

1992, Gardner Dozois, Geodesic Dreams: The Best Short Fiction Of Gardner Dozois, →ISBN, page 83:

Air cars include any vehicle which are grav powered and are capable of flying, but unlike aeroplanes they handle similar to normal ground cars.

2008, Martin Rait, FSpace Roleplaying Conspiracy Convention Skills Guide v1.1, →ISBN, page 7:

I set things up for the grav sled support and the Averonian operation.

2011, R Richard, Second Chance King of Avuls, →ISBN, page 7:

With the gravs, I can land in ten seconds and be cutting a door for you at the same time.

2011, J. E. Murphy, Sanctuary, →ISBN, page 317:

(science fiction) An anti-gravity device.


doorstepping

en-noun

doorstepping (usually uncountable, plural doorsteppings)

(journalism) The action of cornering someone for an unexpected interview.


bar line

(journalism) Synonym of crossline (“type of headline”)


postgame

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The Sunday job of wraparounds and pregames and postgames and half-time shows is certainly the toughest job I've ever been around.

1987, Tony Verna, William T. Bode, Live TV, →ISBN, page 63:


exode

(Ancient Greek drama) The final chorus; the catastrophe.


intimist

en-adj

intimist (comparative more intimist, superlative most intimist)

more intimist (comparative)
most intimist (superlative)

However, he had not yet at that time fully displayed the principle of expression through intonation, the amazing ability to construct a line of verse in accordance with the most ready-to-hand, most colloquial speech - a characteristic which makes some critics group him with the intimist poets who write of the most complicated inner experiences, ostensibly inaccessible to the ordinary reader of today, and which makes others see him, no less mistakenly, as far too closely continuing the Futurists' methods of fashioning language.

1970, Donald Davie, Angela Livingstone, Pasternak, page 76:

Now its form is a psychological/intimist film which is less perceivable as a genre because it slips over so many (i.e., thrillers, adventure, historical reconstruction, etc.).

2006, Susan Hayward, French National Cinema, →ISBN:

For Barma, the close-up is an essential device to turn Macbeth into an intimist piece, but also to enhance realism and break away from the stage experience.

2013, Sarah Hatchuel, Nathalie Vienne-Guerrin, Victoria Bladen, Shakespeare on screen : Macbeth, →ISBN:

In actual fact, the project of redefining and purifying the Church's orthodox patrimony and the related re-establishment of an inward, intimist dimension of religion, which the head-on opposition in the early part of the century had unilaterally attributed to the Protestant enemy, was destined to gradually lose strength, with the setting of the sun on the generations of ecclesiastics who had themselves promoted the project and especially with the gradual disappearance of the Protestant menace.

2016, Giorgio Caravale, Forbidden Prayer, →ISBN:

(film, literature) Introspective; concerned with inner life and psychological experiences.


overscan

(television) The additional area around the four edges of a video image, outside of the safe area, that is not normally seen by the viewer.


geokinesis

(parapsychology, fantasy, science fiction) The ability to manipulate the movement of minerals in the earth using supposed psychic powers.


colourman

(British spelling, broadcasting) A commentator employed to provide background information, analysis, etc., on a given news or sports event.


blockbustery

blockbustery (comparative more blockbustery, superlative most blockbustery)

more blockbustery (comparative)
most blockbustery (superlative)

He's a very blockbustery screenwriter.

You're never sure that what you'll see will be completely safe and blockbustery.

2003 June 24, Michael Atkinson, “Time to Get Ill”, in The Village Voice, archived from the original on 2008-10-22:

(film, informal) Having one or more characteristics associated with a blockbuster, such as commercial success, a large budget, or glossy production values


chronokinesis

(science fiction) The ability to manipulate the flow of time.


ferrokinesis

(parapsychology, fantasy, science fiction) The ability to mentally manipulate iron and other metals.


netminder

Clint Benedict, Windsor goalie, was the lone netminder to suffer a penalty.

1931 April 6, “Hockey Review”, in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, page 18:

Wilson said starting tonight against the Wild makes sense because his other two netminders have both been off the ice since last Wednesday's shootout loss to the Bruins because of the all-star break.

2009 January 27, Paul Hunter, “Apprentice plan for Pogge”, in Toronto Star:

Curran won three Ulster SFC medals and a Celtic Cross in 2008 as a substitute netminder during a golden age for Tyrone football.

2020 October 18, “Former Tyrone goalkeeper Jonathan Curran dies at 33”, in RTÉ News:

(journalism, sports) A goalkeeper or goaltender.


superspecial

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No indoor pleasures, no television superspecials, can compare to a night full of shooting stars.

2002, Chet Raymo, 365 Starry Nights, →ISBN, page 129:

(media) An especially large or spectacular mass-media special, such as on television


laydown

en-noun

laydown (countable and uncountable, plural laydowns)

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It was a week's worth of laydowns portraying the full line of athletic clothing for that season […]

2006, Susan Linnet Cox, Photo Styling, →ISBN, page 114:

(publishing) A physical mockup or layout of a page design.


metal master

(printing) A metal sheet used in offset printing for carrying ink onto the rubber printing form.


newsgathering

Coordinate term: sports gathering

This portable camera is just the thing for on-the-spot newsgathering.

Our network has the best newsgathering operation in the country.

How does the media love Twitter? Let us count the ways: as a tech platform practically indispensable to the work of newsgathering; as a metrics system designating clear numerical value to once-squishy concepts of popularity and esteem; as a gossip-fueled lunchroom of the elites more or less available for public participation; as an arena for duking out industry controversies ranging from #MeToo to opinions about opinion pages.

April 14 2022, Delia Cai, “Severance, the New York Times’s Twitter Guidelines, and the Forever Illusion of Work-Life Balance”, in Vanity Fair:

(broadcasting) The collection of information related to current events.


tendency writing

tendency writing (countable and uncountable, plural tendency writings)

The name is borrowed from German forms such as Tendenzschrift, Tendenzroman ("tendency novel"), and Tendenzdrama.

(literature) Literature produced in order to promote a cause or serve a rhetorical purpose that the writing itself never makes explicit. These purposes are typically social, political, or moral.


newsmagazine

Their newsmagazine airs twice weekly.

(broadcasting) A news show presenting feature-length stories on current events, rather than immediate reports.


theme song

“Liberty Bell March” is the theme song to Monty Python's Flying Circus.

(music, broadcasting) A song which accompanies a television or radio program, usually as an intro or outro.


sankyu

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From Japanese サンキュー (sankyū), from English thank you.


spinner

From Middle English spynnere; equivalent to spin + -er.

Now, Cher was a spinner. Spinner is slang for a petite “chez chez la femme” who loved to assume the dominate sexual position on top. In other words, one could take a spinner and turn her around rapidly thus creating a circular motion and a geometrically induced orgasm.

2007, Hank Miller, The Admiral's Son, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 293:

For example, some johns used the term spinner to refer a petite female. This was exemplified by an exchange in the Dayton forum where individuals discussed the meaning of the term spinner:
 Purplehead: I picked up what looked to be a young thin WSW just south of McDs … She looked really good, about 100 lbs, and very cute, dark hair … a definite spinner..

2009, K.R. Blevins, T.J. Holt, “Examining the virtual subculture of johns”, in Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, volume 38, number 5, Sage Publications:

He hadn't dated any Asian girls at Princeton, even though there were tons of them. They tended to be petite, and he wasn't into little girls, "spinners," as Andy called them.

2012, Amy Sohn, Motherland, New York: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 112:

The girl peeking up at him under strawberry[-]blond curls was what men commonly referred to as a “spinner.” Petite, passionate, and pliable...one you could switch into a different sexual position without removing yourself from her heat.
[…]
"I'm going to fuck my little spinner now. She's had it too easy so far."

2014, Tessa Bailey, Staking His Claim, Fort Collins, CO: Entangled Publishing, →ISBN:

[…] petite women, whom he called 'spinners,' because, in comparison to 'heifers,' they are far more manageable.”

2016, LR Penn, The Syzygy, Lulu.com, →ISBN, pages 204–205:

(often vulgar, slang, film) Primarily in the adult film industry, an actress or prostitute with a tiny frame, usually very thin and small-breasted.


noirish

en-adj

noirish (comparative more noirish, superlative most noirish)

more noirish (comparative)
most noirish (superlative)

His feature directing career began with the third installment of the "Alien" franchise, and before "Benjamin Button" all his movies were noirish thrillers of a sort.

2009 January 2, Dennis Lim, “Journey of a Director, From Night Creature to Tender Time Traveler”, in New York Times:

It must be acknowledged that the now global recognition his work has received […] has no doubt to do with his works’ noirish mixture of extraordinary artistic delicacy and ultra-creepy subject matter […]

2011 July 28, Terry Castle, “Do I like it?”, in London Review of Books, volume 33, number 15, →ISSN:

(film, art) Having the character of film noir.


chopsocky

en-noun

chopsocky (countable and uncountable, plural chopsockies)

Punningly from chop suey (“stir-fried vegetable dish”), chop (“fighting blow”), and sock (“punch”). Coined by Variety magazine.

Chopsocky actioner with standard fight scenes and atrocious dubbing.

1983, Variety's Film Reviews: 1978-1980:

The chopsocky films garnered a small following in this country precisely because of their often-ludicrous dubbing and the unrealistically-hard smacking […]

2001, Lisa Morton, The Cinema of Tsui Hark:

[…] bad enough that we settle for the typical chopsocky fare or do we protest and demand more realistic portrayals […]

2003, Gary D Rawnsley, Political Communications in Greater China:

(uncountable, film, colloquial, sometimes derogatory) A genre of exaggerated martial arts films made primarily in Hong Kong and Taiwan during the 1960s and 1970s.


first team

(film) The actors who will actually appear in a scene, as opposed to the stand-ins, or second team, who take their places for the purpose of setting up the shot.


playwriting

playwriting (usually uncountable, plural playwritings)


empath

She was the empath who would betray empaths if she got the chance. So they'd tried to fix things so that she didn't get the chance.

1957, Hans Stefan Santesson, editor, Fantastic Universe:

How did a complete stranger know he was an empath? He rarely if ever talked about it, even to his closest friends. It made people uneasy.

The aura may, in fact, linger around objects or places and that "lingering energy" is what an empath senses and intuits.

(science fiction, parapsychology) A person with extra-sensory empathic ability, capable of sensing the emotions of others around them in a way unexplained by conventional science and psychology.


antiheroism

(literature) The quality of being an antihero


chaqu

Borrowed from the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 插曲 (chāqǔ).

/ˌt͡ʃɑːˈt͡ʃuː/

Teo clarifies that chaqu were eventually differentiated from "full-fledged" musicals […]

2001, Corey K. Creemur, “Picturizing American Cinema”, in Soundtrack Available, →ISBN, page 403:

(film) An inserted musical sequence in a Chinese movie.


black-letter

a black-letter manuscript or book

In the summer of 1877, a gentleman with whom I was well acquainted, took lodgings in Preston-street, Brighton. The morning after his arrival, he found in the W.C. some leaves of an old black-letter book.

1880, William Blades, The Enemies of Books, page 54:

(printing) Written or printed in black letter.


yandere

/ˈjɑːndɛɹeɪ/

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Borrowed from Japanese ヤンデレ (yandere), a portmanteau of 病んでる (yanderu), contraction of 病んでいる (yande iru), progressive tense of 病む (yamu, “to be sick”), and デレデレ (dere-dere, “in a lovey-dovey, infatuated, or lovestruck manner”, adverb).
Developed on the model of tsundere (“being cold and even hostile towards another person before gradually showing a warm and caring side over time”).

And it finally answered the question as to whether Senjougahara is tsundere or yandere.

2009 October 4, sanjian [username], “Re: Bakemonogatari - comments on the end of the TV broadcast”, in rec.arts.anime.misc (Usenet):

Looking at anime charts, there's always the harem series with the dense hero and a bunch of girls whose personalities are pulled out of a set cast of tropes (the Childhood Friend, Tsundere, Yandere, and Lolita, for instance).

2012, Jazmine Brusola, Rabble Rousers: A Fate/Zero Anime Review, Flyleaf (Ateneo Literary Association), page 14:

“Believe it, man. In fact, she's seriously creepy. Like creepier than that pink-haired girl from Future Diary.”
 “Wait, what?” Sam got that reference quickly, but was not happy with the comparison. She wasn't a psychopathic, murderous Yandere stalker, from what he could see.

2014, Olivia D. Knight, Please, Let Me Be a Seiyuu!, BookRix, →ISBN, unnumbered page:

(chiefly Japanese fiction) A character, usually a girl, who has an obsessive and possessive side in regards to their crush, ready to use violent and murderous means to maintain an exclusive bond.

يَانْدِرِي

character who fits the archetype of being genuinely kind, loving, or gentle, but suddenly switching to being aggressive or deranged


biopunk

biopunk (countable and uncountable, plural biopunks)

From bio- + -punk, apparently on the model of cyberpunk. Compare biotech.

In the early nineties there grew up biopunk, a derivative sub-genre building not on IT but on biology, the other dominating scientific field of the end of the twentieth century. Individuals are enhanced not by mechanical means, but by genetic manipulation of their very chromosomes.

1997 September 13, Michael Quinion, “Biopunk”, in World Wide Words, archived from the original on 2015-12-08:

At its heart, The Wind Up Girl is a biopunk thriller following a^([sic]) undercover corporate agent and a genetically modified woman – but its detailed, bleak depiction of the effects of climate change sets it apart.

2017 January 19, “Five of the best climate-change novels”, in The Guardian:

(uncountable, science fiction) A science fiction genre that focuses on biotechnology and subversives.


stargate

From star + gate. A science-fiction film of this title, Stargate, was released in 1994.

Find examples of stargates and wormholes in the ancient world […]

2000, David Hatcher Childress, Technology of the Gods:

Perhaps the first clear depiction of a stargate is to be found in Robert Heinlein's classic novel Tunnel in the Sky […]

2001, William R Alschuler, Howard Zimmerman, The Science of UFOs:

A stargate takes you to that star or constellation. […] The opening of a stargate requires the participation of the Archangel Michael […]

2002, Richard Leviton, The Galaxy on Earth: A Traveler's Guide to the Planet's Visionary Geography:

At some point it might be possible to devise a "stargate" such as depicted in the movies 2001: A Space Odyssey and Stargate […]

2003, Albert A Harrison, After Contact: The Human Response to Extraterrestrial Life:

With a stargate, travel is instantaneous. It is quite possible that the secret government either has a stargate or is trying to get one.

2004, Stephanie Relfe, The Mars Force Book 2:

(neologism, science fiction) A hypothetical device consisting of a traversable portal (typically a wormhole) that can send one to another location light years away nearly instantaneously.


grotesquerie

grotesquerie (countable and uncountable, plural grotesqueries)

/ˌɡɹəʊˈtɛskəɹi/

(literature) A genre of horror literature that was popular in the early 20th century, and practiced by writers such as Ambrose Bierce and Fritz Leiber.


nondocumentary

The director James Cameron on the set of "Avatar," a 3-D space adventure and his first nondocumentary film since "Titanic."

2009 January 12, Brooks Barnes, “Hollywood Finds Headaches in Its Big Bet on 3-D”, in New York Times:

(film) Not a documentary, or not documentary in nature


maximalist

en-adj

maximalist (comparative more maximalist, superlative most maximalist)

more maximalist (comparative)
most maximalist (superlative)

From maximal + -ist, by analogy with minimalist.

This, his [Frank Stella's] second Museum of Modern Art retrospective, shows him in his second incarnation, turning his back on Minimalist rationality and opting for a “maximalist,” seemingly free-wheeling Baroque complexity that helped set the stage for New-Expressionism.

1987 December 6, Roberta Smith, “Schnabel and Stella: Art, Myth and Ego”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Three elephantine examples of that trend have been in the news of late, and they call into question their underlying maximalist presumption that more is more.

1990 May 27, John Rockwell, “Complete Everything, or Is More Enough?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Mr. Shadbolt's maximalist, when-in-doubt-be-vivid style capaciously suits “Monday's Warriors,” his novel of the wars between the Maoris and the British in New Zealand in the mid-19th century; […]

1992 May 3, Ivan Doig, “Maps Made by Blind Men”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

The biennial also includes a sprawling cityscape by Chris Burden incorporating thousands of model buildings, cranes and automobiles, a maximalist vision where Mr. Ashkin's is minimalist.

1997 April 6, Trip Gabriel, “Trafficking in Toxic Waste and Human Loneliness”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Bach's choral music was once often heard in maximalist renditions, undertaken by large ensembles who by sheer vocal and instrumental weight emphasize the majestic side of his compositions.

1998 May 17, Sarah Bryan Miller, “Classical Brief”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

[Christian] Lacroix's maximalist aesthetic has been at odds with fashion trends in recent years. But fashion is just now beginning to swing back his way, with an emphasis on volume and flounce above sleekness.

2005 January 26, Jess Cartner-Morley, “Ovation for Lacroix as maximalist look makes a comeback”, in The Guardian:

At the moment, for example, while a minimalist aesthetic, or the tail end of one, still manifests itself in a lot of painting and music, we are living in age of maximalist novels—books less concerned with le mot juste than with being full-service entertainment centers.

2005 April 17, Charles McGrath, “The Souped-Up, Knock-Out, Total Fiction Experience”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

You might call [Louis] Wain’s ‘mad’ style a version of the outsider mode in its paranoid or maximalist aspect.

2011 July 28, Terry Castle, “Do I like it?”, in London Review of Books, volume 33, number 15, →ISSN:

Such a bustling, maximalist extravaganza is in keeping with the excitable energy of the crowd, who are clearly thrilled to revisit the block-party beats of Cruel Summer and tribal doo-wop of Really Sayin’ Somethin’.

2017 November 14, Graeme Virtue, “Bananarama review – hi-NRG poignancy as pop trio return for first proper tour”, in The Guardian:

Returning to the sound of her maximalist electro-pop heyday, Gaga explores buried trauma, mental illness and the complexities of fame on this return to form

2020 May 29, Michael Cragg, “Lady Gaga: Chromatica review – Gaga rediscovers the riot on her most personal album”, in The Guardian:

[Chappell] Roan draws from the mega-pop of the 2010s, from Lady Gaga to Taylor Swift – then laces it with sexually frank asides and lavish doses of camp, and performs it with a maximalist, absurd aesthetic indebted to drag, John Waters and Freddie Mercury.

2024 August 9, Laura Snapes, “It’s a femininomenon! How Chappell Roan slow-burned her way to stardom”, in The Guardian:

(art, music, literature) Preferring redundancy; tending to do or provide more rather than less.


maximalist

Concerning his own purpose in making music, Mr. Babbitt says he would call himself a maximalist: “I try to make music as much as it has ever been or as much as it could be. I may try to put too much into a piece. […]”

1982 October 17, Joan Peyser, “Milton Babbitt's Serialism”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

The music, of course, for all of its determined frivolity, is wonderfully eloquent, and composers as diverse as Webern, the great Minimalist, and Mahler, a great “Maximalist,” have come to worship at the shrine.

1986 August 24, Tim Page, “Opera: ‘Die Fledermaus’ Gets a Change of Cast”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Critics have aptly borrowed those terms to characterize the difference between Mr. Beckett, for example, and his erstwhile master James Joyce, himself a maximalist except in his early works.

1986 December 28, John Barth, “A Few Words About Minimalism”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

In the 1960's, he [Peter Gourfain] was a Minimalist, using wood beams to build allusive and ephemeral constructions. This show is primarily concerned with the artist since he became a maximalist.

1987 April 3, Michael Brenson, “Works by Gourfain at Brooklyn Museum”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

A maximalist, Mr. [Craig] Baldwin is at once a collector and curator of 20th-century visual culture.

2009 January 14, Manohla Dargis, “Star Log: Trippy Sci-Fi Mash-Up Alert!”, in New York Times:

David Foster Wallace was a maximalist. His masterpiece, Infinite Jest, is a 1,000-page, polyphonic epic about addiction and obsession in millennial America.

2015 May 25, Chris Power, “A brief survey of the short story: David Foster Wallace”, in the Guardian:

Mohawke is known as a musical maximalist, which is a polite way of saying that he lumps prodigiously distorted beats on top of each other, as if playing techno Jenga.

2015 December 11, Ian Gittins, “Hudson Mohawke review – ferocious, apocalyptic electro”, in The Guardian:

(art, literature, music) A person with maximalist beliefs or tendencies; someone who prefers redundancy or excess, especially in the arts.


deinterlace

en-verb

deinterlace (third-person singular simple present deinterlaces, present participle deinterlacing, simple past and past participle deinterlaced)

deinterlaces (present singular third-person)
deinterlacing (participle present)
deinterlaced (participle past)
deinterlaced (past)

A deinterlace filter for interlaced raster scanned video data receiving sequential fields of video data one pixel at a time with each pixel of video data being received during a pixel time and outputing a deinterlaced frame of video data for each field received, the deinterlace filter comprising […]

1984, System for spatially transforming images, US Patent 4472732 (PDF version):

I think that an improved receiver, which could do deinterlacing, doubling the frame rate, perhaps combined with some way of getting rid of subcarrier-related artifacts, might be MAC or something else.

1985, SMPTE Journal: Publication of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, volume 94:

One advantage of MPEG-2 video on DVD is that computers and future players can deinterlace it and display it on progressive-scan HDTV screens, with considerably better quality than today's interlaced screens.

1998, Jim Taylor, DVD demystified, page 117:

Bob deinterlacing provides good results when the image intensity varies smoothly, but it can soften the image because it also reduces the vertical resolution.

2013, Michael Parker, Digital Video Processing for Engineers: A Foundation for Embedded Systems Design, page 43:

(film, transitive) To convert (video footage) into a non-interlaced format; to remove one field from each video frame.


antiheroine

Since she sprang from the imagination of the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen in 1890, this coldhearted antiheroine has maintained a tight grip on the attention of audiences across the globe, outstripping all the many other complicated women in Ibsen’s oeuvre, even the door-slamming Nora of “A Doll’s House”.

2009 January 18, Charles Isherwood, “Hedda Forever: An Antiheroine for the Ages”, in New York Times:

(literature, roleplaying games) A female protagonist who proceeds in an unheroic manner, such as by criminal means, via cowardly actions, or for mercenary goals; a female antihero.


antiauteurist

en-adj

antiauteurist (comparative more antiauteurist, superlative most antiauteurist)

more antiauteurist (comparative)
most antiauteurist (superlative)

Compared with the macho rich-boy fantasies of Rafelson's previous work, there is something rather antiauteurist about this well-crafted film noir thriller.

1988 January 8, Jonathan Rosenbaum, “10 From '87”, in Chicago Reader:


auteurist

auteurist (comparative more auteurist, superlative most auteurist)

more auteurist (comparative)
most auteurist (superlative)

In the case of documentaries, our thinking tends to be less warped and biased, if only because the auteurist sensibility has never been too comfortable outside of fiction.

1988 February 5, Jonathan Rosenbaum, “Process of Illumination”, in Chicago Reader:

(film) Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of auteurism


ambisyllabicity

(poetry, phonetics) The property of a consonant being analysed as acting simultaneously as the coda of one syllable and the onset of the following syllable, as in "upper" or "button".


octosyllable

(poetry) line of verse with eight syllables


dipodic

(poetry) Consisting of two metrical feet.


cutup

Jeff Lawton's Truck Stop (1969), which read like a William Burroughs cut-up novel and was printed in a skewed, rotated, and oddly spaced type.

2001, Susan Stryker, Queer Pulp, page 118:

(literature) A work produced by the aleatory literary technique of cutting up and rearranging a written text to create a new text.


envoi

From the pulsing throb of the very opening, this was a detailed, incisive playing, culminating in an envoi glowing enough to provide the catharsis this programme so uncompromisingly demanded.

2009 January 28, Erica Jeal, “LSO/Segerstam”, in The Guardian:

(poetry) A short stanza at the end of a poem, used either to address a person or to comment on the preceding body of the poem.


minimusical

Both shows lean heavily on their Jewish orientation, but where Fiddler is a folk musical of size and substance, Kaplan is a minimusical of sweetness.

1968 April 12, “New Plays: The Education of Hyman Kaplan”, in Time, archived from the original on 2010-10-29:

The video consists of a minimusical whose soundtrack sounds as if it were generated by an inexpensive electronic keyboard.

2009 January 25, Randall Stross, “Microsoft Songsmith Is Easy (if Painful to Hear)”, in New York Times:


disintegrator

'Well, gentlemen,' said he, in a velvety voice with only the least trace of a foreign accent, 'you have come, as I understand from our short chat over the wires, in order to learn more of the Nemor Disintegrator.'

1929, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Disintegration Machine:

(science fiction) A laser or similar weapon or device that can disintegrate matter.


hair stroke

(printing) A fine line drawn out at the top or bottom of a letter.


anilox

(printing) A method used to provide a measured amount of ink to a flexo printing plate, involving a hard cylinder whose surface is covered in tiny cells that capture the ink.


dhampir

(mythology, fiction, fantasy) A half-human, half-vampire hybrid.


grindhouse

From grind + house.
* Perhaps from the grinding or cranking motion employed by early projectionists.
* Perhaps from bump and grind (dubious). The term may originally have been used for burlesque houses in the 1940s.

For Mr. Bava[…], the road from the grindhouse to the art house — or at least, the virtual art house of the DVD player — has turned out to be surprisingly, encouragingly short.

2007 April 10, Dave Kehr, “New DVDs”, in New York Times:

(US film) A low-budget film theater that shows primarily exploitation films


poetics

Both significantly build on the poetics of death and dissolution that Black and Tan broached so powerfully[…].

1988 October 21, Jonathan Rosenbaum, “Bird Watching”, in Chicago Reader:

(philosophy, literature) The theory of poetry, or of literature in general.


stewpot

It’s a nasty stewpot of intellectually untenable premises and irresponsible speculation that frequently reads like a “Saturday Night Live” parody of the crackpot right.

2007 February 6, Michiko Kakutani, “Dispatch From Gomorrah, Savaging the Cultural Left”, in New York Times:

(art, literature) A jumble, especially one that lacks intellectual coherence.


AAM

Alliance for Audited Media
w:Alliance for Audited Media

(journalism) Initialism of Alliance for Audited Media.


clothbound

They also published in clothbound, hardback volumes with full-color paintings mounted on the front.

2007 May 17, Charles Mcgrath, “Magazine Suspends Its Run in History”, in New York Times:

(publishing) Bound with cloth, as opposed to other bindings such as paper or leather.


softcover

It gives more emphasis to the literary novels and short-story collections reviewed so often in our pages (and sometimes published only in softcover).

2007 September 23, The Editors, “Up Front”, in New York Times:

(publishing, of a book) Having covers made of paper or thin cardboard; paperback.


hammerspace

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

From hammer + space, referring to the large mallets often produced from nowhere by cartoon characters.

Okay, now just picture what you want to pull out of hammerspace and just reach in and grab it.

1996, Vincent Tagle, “Love and a single Ukclone...”, in rec.arts.anime.misc (Usenet):

...it's a commonly known fact that dust is physically incapable of collecting in Hammerspace, so everything is always looking brand new! I for one would want to keep my collection of--I think it's sixty-four--manga spotless!

2000, Jason Howe, “Hammerspace Cleaning”, in alt.fan.sailor-moon (Usenet):

I just learned how to take my sword out of my hammerspace, and I'm not afraid to use it.

(humorous, fiction) A notional extradimensional storage space able to contain objects larger than itself.


undesked

undesked (comparative more undesked, superlative most undesked)

more undesked (comparative)
most undesked (superlative)

I can only think of a small handful of journalists who blog direct to the web without being either desked or subbed first. We don't publish news stories undesked and although our journalists can publish pictures direct to blogs, they rarely do.

2009 February 16, Siobhan Butterworth, ‘Open Door’, The Guardian:

(journalism) Not having been looked at or sub-edited by a desk-based journalist.


loli

From Japanese ロリ or a clipping of lolicon.

(fandom slang, chiefly anime and manga) A childlike female character, particularly in the lolicon genre.


symbolist

From French symboliste, coined by poet Paul Verlaine in 1885.

The general picture that has emerged is one of Cubism bubbling up out of a thick Parisian stew of symbolist poetry, Cézanne, cafe society, African masks, absinthe and a fascination with all things mechanical and modern, mostly airplanes and automatons.

2007 April 15, Randy Kennedy, “When Picasso and Braque Went to the Movies”, in New York Times:

(art, literature) Of or pertaining to the Symbolist movement in late 19th-century and early 20th-century European arts and literature


megastructure

For lack of anything intelligent to do (it's a slow weekend), I've been compiling a list of stories about "megastructures" -- ringworlds, Dyson spheres, and so forth.

1993 January 17, Ross Smith, “Enormous Big Things”, in rec.arts.sf.written (Usenet), message-ID <alien.02jk@acheron.amigans.gen.nz>:

Wright and his co-authors say the unusual star’s light pattern is consistent with a “swarm of megastructures,” perhaps stellar-light collectors, technology designed to catch energy from the star.

2015 October 13, Ross Andersen, “The Most Mysterious Star in Our Galaxy”, in The Atlantic:

(science fiction) A hypothetical structure not possible with current technology, e.g., a Dyson sphere.


webcartoonist

(comics, Internet) A person who creates webcomics.


overplotted

overplotted (comparative more overplotted, superlative most overplotted)

more overplotted (comparative)
most overplotted (superlative)

Pursuing its preposterous, overplotted premise, Time merrily confuses myth with fact--Romeo and Juliet and Arthur never lived, or they did so under other names.

1988 July 1, Lawrence Bommer, “Channel This, or Die, Yuppie Scum!; Time in a Battle”, in Chicago Reader:

(drama) Having an excessively elaborate plot.


Earthman

Such dreams! Always of Mars, and during my waking hours at night my eyes always sought out the Red Planet when he was above the horizon and clung there seeking a solution of the seemingly unfathomable riddle he has presented to the Earthman for ages.

1928, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Master Mind of Mars, page 2:

(usually science fiction) A male inhabitant of Earth.


mumblecore

From mumble + -core, coined by sound editor Eric Masunaga.

(film) An American independent film movement or subgenre of the early twenty-first century, characterised by low-budget production, focus on personal relationships between twentysomethings, improvised scripts, and non-professional actors.


broadcast delay

en-noun

broadcast delay (countable and uncountable, plural broadcast delays)

Some networks have started using a broadcast delay on live programs to catch any offensive material before it aired.

2005 January 21, Jeremy Pelofsky, “FCC chairman Powell says he'll resign in March”, in USA Today, retrieved 2009-02-24:

(broadcasting) A very brief postponement, achieved by technical means, often used in the public broadcasting of live radio or television programs in order to provide sufficient time to edit out undesired content, such as profanity or coughing.


hambone

HAMBONE — An unconvincing blackface dialectician.

1946, Radio Alphabet: A Glossary of Radio Terms, Hastings House, page 38:

Ferrell is the ubiquitous hambone, an affably oblivious man-child prone to shirtless prancing onscreen.

2009 February 15, Rob Salem, “When comedy geniuses unite”, in Toronto Star:

(US slang, acting) A ham; an eager or inferior performer


separatrix

separatrix (plural separatrixes or separatrices)

separatrixes (plural)
separatrices (plural)

Borrowed from Latin separatrix, the feminine form of separator (originally owing to an implied līnea (“line”)), from sēparāre (“to divide; to separate”) + -trix (forming female agents); equivalent to separate + -trix. First developed as a decimal mark among the medieval Arab mathematicians, whence a shorter variant gave rise to the decimal comma employed by many European countries and their former colonies.

Therefore in writing of decimall parts let the separatrix be always used.

1660, Jonas Moore, Moor's Arithmetick, page 13:

(typography, historical) The ⟨L⟩ or pipe ⟨|⟩ mark formerly used to divide integers from decimals.

(typography, obsolete) Synonym of decimal point, which replaced such marks.

(typography) The proofreader's mark resembling a slash ⟨ / ⟩ or vertical bar ⟨ | ⟩ placed after a note in the margin to indicate that it should replace the item(s) struckthrough in the running text or to separate it from other margin notes.


call-in show

Billed as "the first and only" nationwide call-in show," it invites listeners to "call collect from anywhere in North America to have a heart-to-heart squawk."

1969 April 6, Beatrice Berg, “Let's Not Burn, Baby, Burn, Let's Talk, Baby, Talk”, in New York Times, page D19:

(broadcasting) In television or radio programming, a type of talk show in which a host and one or more guests sometimes converse with members of the listening or viewing audience who telephone the show while the program is being broadcast.


hub world

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

From hub, meaning the central point or are of an activity, region, or network.

Otherwise, our beautiful tree might become a definite nuisance on any Hub world to which it is introduced.

1965, John Wood Campbell, editor, Analog Science Fact/science Fiction, page 43:

A hub world in the Kasna Republik, Kasnearfar was a cosmopolitan port for beings across the Four Galaxies.

2007, Aaron Michael Fanthorpe, Genesis Project: Prelude to Destiny, volume 1, page 8:

But something was shaping up—something incomprehensible and vast, concerning the Hub Worlds, something that was apparently tangled in and directly related to tens of thousands of years of interacting histories.

(science fiction) A planet which serves as a hub.


hoverboard

Back to the Future Part II
Self-balancing two-wheeled board
hoverboard

From hover + board, patterned off of skateboard. First mentioned in the 1989 film Back to the Future Part II.

(chiefly science fiction) A levitating board that can be ridden in the manner of a surfboard or skateboard.


hoverboard

en-verb

hoverboard (third-person singular simple present hoverboards, present participle hoverboarding, simple past and past participle hoverboarded)

hoverboards (present singular third-person)
hoverboarding (participle present)
hoverboarded (participle past)
hoverboarded (past)

(chiefly science fiction) To travel by hoverboard.


Asimovian

en-adj

Asimovian (comparative more Asimovian, superlative most Asimovian)

more Asimovian (comparative)
most Asimovian (superlative)

(literature) Of or pertaining to Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) or his writings, especially science fiction.

asimovien

of or pertaining to Isaac Asimov or his writings


hyperlocal

Or, as Placeblogger.com, a Web site that promotes and tracks blogs with a hyperlocal focus, put it: “Placeblogs are about the lived experience of a community, some of which is news and some of which isn’t.”

2007 July 8, Gregory Beyer, “Cracker-Barrel 2.0”, in New York Times:

Each customized boutique location would be a one-of-a-kind representative for its neighborhood, allowing you to go out on the (home)town, then walk or bike back to your room […] .
Everything about the experience would be hyperlocal. Dine at a neighborhood restaurant, hit the bar down the street, stop at a gallery or shop at a store.

2010 September, Bill Keaggy, "STL Lo-tels", St. Louis magazine, ISSN 1090-5723, volume 16, issue 9, page 76

(chiefly journalism and blogging) Related to a very small area, smaller than normally considered local.


auteurism

Samantha Who?, a comedy beginning tonight on ABC, makes quite a good case against auteurism.

2007 October 15, Ginia Bellafante, “Emerging From a Coma a Slightly Better Person”, in New York Times:

(film) A theory that considers a work of cinema or television as the work of its director, rather than of the actors or producers


nonstory

Some said the article was a mean-spirited, unnecessarily damaging nonstory.

2009 February 27, Gail Swainson, “Champions horse show out to pasture”, in Toronto Star:

(journalism) Something that is considered to be not a real story, or not newsworthy


showrunner

Those so-called showrunners, the thousand or so people who share both writing and managerial duties on television shows, have already been squeezed by conflicting demands from guild leaders and company employers.

2007 November 3, Brooks Barnes, “With Resolution Unlikely, Writers Guild Sets Strike for Monday”, in New York Times:

The person at the apex of the production triangle is the showrunner: in short, the boss.

2013, Bethany Rooney, Mary Lou Belli, Directors Tell the Story: Master the Craft of Television and Film Directing, →ISBN, page 66:

(television) The person in overall charge of the production of a television series.


single-spaced

(typography) Formatted without leaving a full blank line between each line of text.


HMV

Coordinate term: PMV

(pornography) Abbreviation of hentai music video. A fan-made hentai anime clipshow set to music


variation selector

en-noun

variation selector (plural variation selectors)

(computing, typography) A metacharacter in Unicode that selects one of a set of semantically equivalent glyphs.


whiskering

(printing) A defect of gravure printing characterized by printed areas possessing hairlike tendrils of ink sticking out into non-image areas.


unpointed

an unpointed vowel


midroll

(photography, film) In the middle of a roll of film.


werebear

/ˈwɪəbɛə(ɹ)/

/ˈwɛəbɛə(ɹ)/

(fiction) A shapeshifter who can change between bear and human form


midlist

He scoffs at the lesser-known, midlist and emerging authors […].

2007 June 4, Celia Mcgee, “A Way to Give Authors a Lucrative Second Platform”, in New York Times:

(publishing, of a book or author) Unlikely to be more than modestly successful.


walled garden

A long time ago, back before Al Gore invented the Internet, there were three big kids on the online block, each of which ran its own proprietary online service. America Online, Prodigy and CompuServe each had a "walled garden" of sorts for their customers.

2000 September 4, “AOL's 'Walled Garden'”, in Wall Street Journal:

AOL tried to provide a walled garden for all their subscribers in the early 1990s.

2007, Wes Simpson, Howard Greenfield, IPTV and Internet video, →ISBN, page 39:

When you deal with iPhones and iPads (and the iCloud, iMacs, iTVs, iPods, and all those other iThingies), you're living in a walled garden. Apple controls it from the beginning to end.

2016, Woody Leonhard, Windows 10 All-In-One For Dummies, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 885:

The walled garden made AOL money, some of it real, but also hastened the site's loss of allure to the Internet, whose open design was the opposite of AOL's, and which was by now growing a greater variety of things to see and do.

2017, Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, Atlantic Books, →ISBN:

The content sludge is also present in Big Tech’s plans to reimagine search as an interactive, chatbot-powered walled garden.

2023 May 17, Charlie Warzel, “Here’s How AI Will Come for Your Job”, in The Atlantic:

(figurative, media, technology) A closed platform for content or services controlled by a single carrier or service provider, typically requiring subscription to access.


blue film

(slang, film, pornography) a pornographic film


polymetric

(poetry, music) Involving more than one metre


monometric

(poetry) Of or pertaining to a monometer.


lead off

(broadcasting) The first item in a broadcast schedule.


gnaborretni

This is why we still need the Interobang on keyboards, not the gnaborretni .

2007 November 21, Docky Wocky, “Re: Did UN artificially raise AIDS numbers to swindle more funds ?”, in alt.politics.bush (Usenet):

Butbutbut, what other articles link to the interrobang article, and how else would I have discovered the gnaborretni‽

2009 October 29, Dr. HotSalt, “Re: Wackypedia”, in alt.religion.kibology (Usenet):

Switch one of the interrobang sequences to gnaborretni

2010 November 19, Cyril Brulebois, “Accepted libx11 2:1.3.3-4 (source all amd64)”, in linux.debian.changes.devel (Usenet):

(typography, very rare) The symbol ⸘ (an inverted superimposed exclamation point and question mark), used in place of ¡¿ in Spanish, Galician, and Leonese.


off-worlder

/ˌɒfˈwɜːldə/

/ˈɔfˈwɜɹldəɹ/

From off-world (adjective) + -er (suffix denoting a person characterized by [the adjective to which the suffix is attached]).

suffix

suffix denoting a person characterized by 􂀿the adjective to which the suffix is attached􂁀

So? On your world you do as custom rules. Customs are different here, off-worlder.

1955, Andre Norton [pseudonym; Alice Mary Norton], “Classic move to Disaster”, in Star Guard, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Company, →OCLC, page 58:

The distinguished scientist, winner of the Seo Oren Prize for service to all nations through science, has accepted a professorship at Ieu Eun University, an honor never before accorded to an off-worlder.

1974, Ursula K[roeber] Le Guin, chapter 3, in The Dispossessed, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, published July 1975, →ISBN, page 63:

TRAVEL ADVISORY: Korlus ranks second in murder per capita in the Terminus Systems and first in offworlder murder. Civilian traffic is encouraged to employ security professionals when visiting.

2010, BioWare, Mass Effect 2, Redwood City, Calif.: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Korlus:

(fantasy, science fiction) One who is not from the local world (whether a dimension, plane, planet, or universe); an alien.

ulkoplaneettalainen

one who is not from the local world — see also alien


subheadline

Coordinate term: strapline

The March 5, 1978 issue of National Reader […] contained an exciting front page headline -- "Most Major Hollywood Stars Are Gay or Bisexual!!!!" Splashed on the cover are photos of Rock Hudson, Shaun and David Cassidy, […] and, last but not least, Lily Tomlin. In the top right hand corner is the subheadline -- "Finally Shocking Truth Can Be Told!"

1978 April 8, Eric Rogers, “Speaking Out”, in Gay Community News, page 5:

(journalism) A smaller, secondary headline that usually elaborates on the main headline above it.


multicamera

Involving or relating to more than one camera.

(television) Filmed using multiple cameras and camera angles concurrently, often used when filming in front of a live audience.


screenless

(printing) That does not involve a screen; see screen printing.


hack-and-slash

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-hack-and-slash.wav

"Oh yes, I meant it as a compliment." Olin tapped the books. "I expect to finish these... but for the writing. It's the writing I like. I was surprised to find myself laughing at your quite unsupernatural adventures in Gartsby Castle, and I was surprised to find you as good as you are. As subtle as you are. I expected more hack and slash."

(literature) Shallowly devoted to the gory details.


genlock

(television) A technique whereby the video output of one source, or a specific reference signal, is used to synchronize other sources.


stylesheet

(publishing) A document issued by a publisher informing authors how to style their works for publication; a small style guide.

tyyliohje

a document issued by a publisher informing authors how to style their works for publication


package film

(film) A film consisting of several short films, often a feature-length compilation of short subjects in animation.


reverse intaglio

en-noun

reverse intaglio (plural reverse intaglios)

(art, printing) A design impressed into the back of transparent or translucent items.


noncapital

(typography) A letter that is not uppercase.


antigrav

antigrav (countable and uncountable, plural antigravs)

(science fiction) Antigravity, or a device that counters gravity.


holodeck

From holo- + deck, coined in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation.

[…] the fact that science-fiction film, and indeed much — if not most — contemporary film, has become a technology on the way to somewhere else, whether that goal turns out to be immersive, interactive, or some holodeck-style fusion of the two.

1999, Annette Kuhn, Alien Zone II: The Spaces of Science-fiction Cinema:

Computer music might someday replace acoustic music made by human beings, but that time is far away, waiting either for Holodecks to be perfected or for a generation of listeners to arrive who are too busy and too uninvolved with their ambient surroundings to want to relate to them[.]

1999 June, Al Stevens, “Jukebox: Covering the Basses”, in Dr. Dobb's Journal, volume 24, number 6, San Francisco, Calif.: Miller Freeman, Inc., →ISSN, page 115:

Building a holodeck will require breakthroughs in sensors, robotics, and mechanical interfaces […]

2002, Kay M Stanney, Handbook of virtual environments:

In such a world, would one want to be hooked up to a pleasure machine or live on a holodeck?

2007, Fritz Allhoff, Patrick Lin, James Moor, Nanoethics:

(science fiction) A room that provides holographic simulations for recreation, training, etc.


tonos

From the Modern Greek τόνος (tónos, “stress, accent”). Doublet of tone.

(orthography and typography) The Modern Greek stress-marking diacritic: ⟨ ΄ ⟩, written atop a vowel in a given word’s stressed syllable.


slip sheet

(printing) A sheet inserted between freshly printed pages to prevent them from sticking together.


reglet

The footsticks may be a trifle shorter than the width of two pages and the gutter; for as there should always be a line of quadrats, or a reglet cut to measure, at the foot of each page, the footstick may be a pica shorter without danger, on this account, of any thing falling out, when the form is lifted and it thus prevents the side and foot sticks from binding when locked up.

1841, William Savage, A Dictionary of the Art of Printing, page 330:

(printing) A strip of wood or metal of the height of a quadrat, used for regulating the space between pages in a chase, and also for spacing out title pages and other open matter.


em space

(typography) A space which has a nominal width of 1 em.


en quad

(typography) A quad with a fixed width of 1 en.


en space

(typography) A space which has a nominal width of 1 en.


em quad

Attested in 1841.
From 1808 em quadrat, from 1683 m quadrat, from m + quadrat, a metal type, which is as wide as the point size of the font. The origin of the letter m is unclear; perhaps because the type body of the letter M was approximately square during the early days of typesetting, and to contrast it with the n quadrat, the letter n being approximately half as wide.

(typography) A quad which has a fixed width of 1 em.


doctor blade

(printing) A metal blade used in printing for scraping off excess ink or toner from the printing roll.


jeffing

(printing slang) A dice game played with em quads.


jeff

en-verb

jeff (third-person singular simple present jeffs, present participle jeffing, simple past and past participle jeffed)

jeffs (present singular third-person)
jeffing (participle present)
jeffed (participle past)
jeffed (past)

(printing slang, intransitive) To play or gamble with em quads, throwing them as dice.


slow burn

The second episode of tonight’s two part finale is the culmination of a storyline first introduced way back in the first season (episode ten, “Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind”). That aired over seven years ago. Even shows that pay very close attention to serialization rarely manage that kind of slow burn.

2021 September 6, Zack Handlen, “Rick And Morty ends its fifth season looking for an escape hatch”, in The A.V. Club:

You might politely describe this werewolf thriller set in the English countryside, in which the werewolf is kept off-camera, as a slow-burn. A devastating revelation awaits us at the end, but for the first two-ish-thirds of the movie we watch a man in a cottage […] looking alarmed and perturbed, possibly having a psychotic breakdown.

2023 May 2, Cath Clarke, “Wolf Garden review – English rural werewolf horror is a major slow burn”, in The Guardian:

Despite its dramatic opening, this is a slow burn of a novel. Salvioni might not display the flair of [Elena] Ferrante, but Francesca and Maddalena are vibrant characters for whom we quickly root.

2024 June 16, Lucy Popescu, “The Cursed Friend by Beatrice Salvioni review – rebels with a cause”, in The Observer:

(idiomatic) Something that emerges or unfolds slowly or gradually.

(fiction) A work of fiction with a slow-paced plot; also, such a storyline.

Another familiar trope, the slow burn, teases the reader as characters secretly pine for one another . . . for a long time.

2018, Francesca DiPiazza, Fandom: Fic Writers, Vidders, Gamers, Artists, and Cosplayers, page 30:

Slow burns are torture. Why wait? I want my characters getting down and dirty ASAP, and there's nothing wrong with that.

2019, Robinwritesallthethings, “porn with plot”, in Lemon, page 62:

On some nights, I want a good long, juicy 70k word slowburn, mutual pining, angst (with a happy ending, of course, I'm not a monster).

2021, Aditi Dubey, “Considering Fanfic”, in Rabbit Hole, number 1, Australian National University, page 33:

(fiction, fandom slang) A romantic story (especially a work of fan fiction) in which the central relationship develops slowly.