villain

villains (plural)
villan (alternative archaic)

→ Korean: 빌런 (billeon)

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

Count Dracula
Darth Vader
Dracula
Harry Potter
Othello
Sauron
Star Wars
The Hobbit
The Lord of the Rings

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

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

As The Dark Knight Rises brings a close to Christopher Nolan’s staggeringly ambitious Batman trilogy, it’s worth remembering that director chose The Scarecrow as his first villain—not necessarily the most popular among the comic’s gallery of rogues, but the one who set the tone for entire series.

2012 July 18, Scott Tobias, “The Dark Knight Rises”, in AV Club:

In some ways, it’s a relief to see tech bros, especially AI entrepreneurs, reach full, unambiguous movie-villain status.

2025 June 2, Adrian Horton, “Tech-bro satire Mountainhead is an insufferable disappointment”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

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


clicker

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

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

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


query

queries (plural)
quæry (alternative archaic)

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

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

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


query

en-verb

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

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

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


comic strip

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


comic book

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


shank

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

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


pixie

pixies (plural)
pigsie (alternative)
piskie (alternative)
pisky (alternative)
pixy (alternative)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


blank

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


FOC

final order cutoff
final order cutoff#English

(publishing, retailing) Initialism of final order cutoff.


subset

en-verb

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

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

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


cyberpunk

en-noun

cyberpunk (countable and uncountable, plural cyberpunks)

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

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

coin

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

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

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

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

information technology
information technology

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


squabble

en-verb

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

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

The noun form first appears c. 1602, while the verbal form first appears c. 1616. Probably of North Germanic origin and ultimately imitative.
Related to Swedish dialectal skvabbel (“a dispute, quarrel, gossip”), Norwegian dialectal skvabba (“to prattle”), German dialectal schwabbeln (“to babble, prattle”), Swedish dialectal skvappa (“to chide, scold”, literally “make a splash”).

onomatopoeic

imitative

to squabble type

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


catalyst

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

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

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


unicameral

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

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

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

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

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


meridian

The noun is derived from Late Middle English meridian, meridien (“midday, noon; position of the sun at noon; the south; longitude of a place; (astronomy) celestial meridian”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman meridien (“midday”), Middle French meridien (“midday; the south; terrestrial meridian; (astronomy) celestial meridian”) (modern French méridien), and Old French meridiane, meridiiene, and from their etymon Latin merīdiānum (“midday; position of the sun at noon; the south”), a noun use of the neuter form of merīdiānus (“relating to midday; southern”); see further at etymology 1.
Sense 1.1 (“celestial meridian”) is ultimately modelled after Latin merīdiāna līnea (“meridian line”). Sense 5.2 (“midday rest; siesta”) is modelled after Late Latin meridiana (“midday; midday rest”), probably short for Latin merīdiāna hōra (“midday time”).
The verb is derived from the noun.

nb...

meridene, meridiane, meridien, meridyan, meridyen, merydien, merydyen,

cog

(US, printing, dated) The size of type between double great primer and canon, standardized as 44-point.


bugbear

bugbears (plural)
bug-bear (alternative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-bugbear.wav

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


cred

en-noun

cred (countable and uncountable, plural creds)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-cred.wav

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

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

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


signature

/ˈsɪɡnət͡ʃə(ɹ)/

/ˈsɪɡnɪt͡ʃə(ɹ)/

/ˈsɪɡnət͡ʃɚ/

/ˈsɪɡnɪt͡ʃɚ/

/ˈsɪɡnɪt͡ʃə(ɹ)/

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

ncog

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

сигнату́ра

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


stigma

stigmas (plural)
stigmat (alternative)
stigmate (alternative)
stigme (alternative)

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

der

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

stigmo

a ligature of the Greek letters sigma and tau


kasha

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


lyric

en-adj

lyric (comparative more lyric, superlative most lyric)

more lyric (comparative)
most lyric (superlative)
lyrick (alternative obsolete)

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

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


rhapsody

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

cog

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

狂想曲

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


stereotype

en-noun

stereotype (countable and uncountable, plural stereotypes)

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

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


stereotype

en-verb

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

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

to stereotype the Bible

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

(transitive, printing) To print from a stereotype.


stichomythia

en-noun

stichomythia (countable and uncountable, plural stichomythias)

/stɪkəˈmɪθɪə/

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

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

1993, Anthony Burgess, A Dead Man In Deptford:

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

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

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

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

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


hyper

hyper (countable and uncountable, plural hypers)

Shortenings, all ultimately from the prefix hyper-.

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-hyper.wav

hyper

fetish for characters with large exaggerated body parts

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


macron

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


monotone

en-adj

monotone (comparative more monotone, superlative most monotone)

more monotone (comparative)
most monotone (superlative)

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


leprechaun

leprechauns (plural)
lepracaun (alternative)

→ German: Leprechaun

desc

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

→ Japanese: レプラコーン (repurakōn)

→ Korean: 레프러콘 (repeureokon)

→ Portuguese: leprechaun

→ Russian: лепреко́н (leprekón)

→ Spanish: leprechaun

/ˈlɛpɹəkɔːn/

/ˈlɛpɹəˌkɔn/

/ˈlɛpɹəˌkɑn/

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

af

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

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

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

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

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

（愛爾蘭民間傳說裡的）短妖精 /（爱尔兰民间传说里的）短妖精

[Àiěrlán mínjiān chuánshuō lǐ de] duǎn yāojing


insectoid

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

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

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


disintegrate

en-verb

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

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

Recorded since 1785, from dis- + integrate.

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

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

1929, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Disintegration Machine:

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

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


super-

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

superheroic


margin

→ Cantonese: 孖展 (maa¹ zin²)

→ Korean: 마진 (majin)

/ˈmɑːɹd͡ʒ(ə)n/

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

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

kantlyn

typography: edge of the paper that remains blank


smurf

Peyo
The Smurfs
fr:Les Schtroumpfs
nl:De Smurfen

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

der

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

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

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


intergalactic

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

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

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

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


warship

(science fiction) A spacecraft built or armed for space warfare.


initial

From Middle French initial or directly from its Latin etymon initiālis (“of the beginning, incipient, initial”), from initium (“a going in, entrance, beginning”), from inire (“to go in, enter upon, begin”), from in (“in”) + ire (“to go”).

(typography, calligraphy) A distinguished initial letter of a chapter or section of a document.

caplletra

calligraphy: distinguished initial letter


fusion

en-noun

fusion (countable and uncountable, plural fusions)

fission

antonym(s) of “nuclear reaction in which nuclei combine”

First appears c. 1555, in a translation by Richard Eden. From Middle French fusion, from Latin fūsiōnem (the accusative of fūsiō), from fusus, past participle of fundō (“I pour, I melt”) (see also found). Doublet of foison.

The act of merging separate things, or the result thereof.

(fiction) The act of two characters merging into one, typically more powerful, being; or the merged being itself.


stock character

stock character (plural stock characters)

(writing, theater, film) Any fictional character drawn from some stereotype who is instantly recognizable.

ամպլուա

fictional character based on a recognizable stereotype


skip

en-verb

skip (third-person singular simple present skips, present participle skipping, simple past and past participle skipped)

skips (present singular third-person)
skipping (participle present)
skipped (participle past)
skipped (past)

From Middle English skippen, skyppen, of North Germanic origin, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *skupjaną, perhaps related to *skeubaną (“to drive, push”), iterative *skuppōną (“to push/move repeatedly, skip”), from Proto-Indo-European *skewbʰ- (“to push, throw, shake”).
Related to Icelandic skopa (“to take a run”), Old Swedish skuppa (“to skip”), modern dialectal Swedish skopa, skimpa (“to skip, leap”), and English shove. See also dialectal English skimp (“to mock”) (Etymology 1), considered by some to be related.

der

(printing) To have insufficient ink transfer.


heteronym

Coined around 1900, either from hetero- (“different”) + -onym (“name”) or from Ancient Greek ἑτερώνυμος (heterṓnumos), or perhaps both.

polyphone

a letter [or combination of letters] that can be pronounced in two or more different ways, such as 長 / 长 in Chinese, pronounced [cháng] in the sense of ’long’ and [zhǎng] in the sense of ’to grow’

(literature) A fictitious character created by an author for the purpose of writing in a different style.

heteronyymi

fictitious character writing in a different style


gods

So called from the idea of gods (deities) reigning from on high.

(printing, historical) The quadrats used by printers in throwing on the imposing stone, similar to the movement in casting dice.


edition

From French édition, from Latin ēditiō, from ēdere (“to publish”).

She wanted a copy of the Clericotes edition, but had to settle for the 1921 edition. She had never liked abridged editions.

(publishing) A written work edited and published, as by a certain editor or in a certain manner, or at a certain time.


mutton

en-noun

mutton (countable and uncountable, plural muttons)

From Middle English motoun, moton, from Old French mouton (“sheep”), from Vulgar Latin moltō, from Gaulish *multon-, from Proto-Celtic *moltos (“ram, wether”). Doublet of mouton.

(typography slang) Em, a unit of measurement equal to the height of the type in use.


emphasis

emphasis (countable and uncountable, plural emphases)

From Latin emphasis, from Ancient Greek ἔμφασις (émphasis, “significance”), from ἐμφαίνω (emphaínō, “I present, I indicate”), from ἐν- (en-, “in”) + φαίνω (phaínō, “I show”).

der

(typography) The use of boldface, italics, or other such formatting to highlight text.

èmfasi

typography: the use of boldface, italics, or other such formatting to highlight text


biorobot

(science fiction) A biological organism that has been created and designed by artificial means.


corpsicle

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

Blend of corpse + popsicle. The cryogenic sense is a coinage by author Frederik Pohl in The Age of the Pussyfoot (1969).

'Your newspapers called you people corpsicles,' said the blond man. 'I never understood what the tapes meant by that.'
'It comes from Popsicle. Frozen sherbet.' Corbell had used the word himself before he became one of them. One of the corpsicles, the frozen dead.

There are dozens of companies that will turn you into a human corpsicle and store your chilled earthly remains indefinitely.

2007, Daniel H. Wilson, Where's My Jetpack?:, page 176:

I won't turn you into a corpsicle and hope somebody knows how to fix you in a hundred years.

(science fiction) A person who has been cryonically frozen in the hope of later revival.


crotch

Of disputed origin; two possibilities seem likely:
* From Middle English croche, variant of crucche (“crutch”); compare crook.
* From Middle English croche, variant of crouche (“cross, crozier”).

could eat the crotch out of a low flying duck

(typography) The open counter (negative space) formed by two downward strokes that meet at an internal acute angle, potentially above a vertex, as in the letters "V" and "Y".


gutter

Sranan Tongo: gotro

From Middle English gutter, guttur, goter, from Anglo-Norman guttere, from Old French goutiere (French gouttière), ultimately from Latin gutta (“drop”).

(typography) A space between printed columns of text.

(printing) One of a number of pieces of wood or metal, grooved in the centre, used to separate the pages of type in a form.

(comics) A space between comic strip panels.


taut

en-adj

taut (comparative tauter, superlative tautest)

tauter (comparative)
tautest (superlative)

The adjective is derived from Middle English taught [and other forms], Early Middle English tohte, towehte (“strained, stretched; distended; tight; firm”), probably from tough, touth, touʒth, toʒt (“powerful, strong; fierce, violent; not tender, tough; hardy, resilient; steadfast, stout; difficult to do or endure”) and possibly influenced by togen, towen, past participle of ten (“to extend, stretch out; to drag, haul, pull, tow, tug”) (modern English tee (“(obsolete) to draw, lead; to draw away; to go, proceed”)), or directly from its etymon Old English tēon (“to drag, draw, pull”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dewk- (“to draw, pull”)) The word may be related to thight (“(dialectal) compact, dense; close-fitting, tight”) and tight; and is cognate with Scots tacht, taght (“taut”).
The verb is probably derived from the adjective.

nb...

toft, toght, tohte, toth, tought, touht, tout, touȝt, touʒt, towght, towht, towt, towte, toȝt, toʒte

der

If he curbs his swing a little and gets something crisper and tauter in his methods he may yet be very good.

1921 March 19, Bernard Darwin, “Golf on the Forest”, in Peter Anderson Graham, editor, Country Life, volume XLIX, number 1263, London: George Newnes […], →OCLC, page 321, column 2:

The superbly crafted suspense thriller that director Jonathan Demme has made from Thomas Harris's taut best-selling novel The Silence of the Lambs slams you like a sudden blast of bone-chilling, pulse-pounding terror.

1991 February 14, Peter Travers, “The Silence of the Lambs [film review]”, in Rolling Stone, New York, N.Y.: Wenner Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2017-12-05:

Quick action and dialogue create a taut story, although it is illustration that shapes the characters.

1997, “Minty: A Story of a Young Harriet Tubman (written by Alan Schroeder, 1996) [book review]”, in Linda R. Andres, editor, Children’s Literature Review, volume 43, Detroit, Mich.: Gale Research, →ISBN, page 174, column 2; quoted in Milton C. Sernett, “‘Minty’”, in Harriet Tubman: Myth, Memory and History, Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2007, →ISBN, page 35:

Guitarist Jade Puget and vocalist Davey Havok have distilled AFI's strengths (a ferocious, post-hardcore rhythmic backbone; goth-tinctured, post-punky guitars; and Havok's desperate, dramatic croon) into 14 taut, hook-driven songs.

2017 January 20, Annie Zaleski, “AFI Sounds Refreshed and Rejuvenated on Its 10th Album, AFI (The Blood Album)”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 2019-11-03:

(of music, writing, etc.) Containing only relevant parts; brief and controlled.

napínavý

containing only relevant parts; brief and controlled


gallows

en-noun

gallows (plural gallows or (rare) gallowses)

gallows (plural)
gallowses (plural rare)

From Middle English galwes, galewes, plural of galwe, galowe, from Old English galga, gealga, from Proto-West Germanic *galgō, from Proto-Germanic *galgô, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰalgʰ-, *ǵʰalg- (“long switch, rod, shaft, pole, perch”). The plural construction probably refers to the vertical and horizontal beams.
Compare West Frisian galge, Dutch galg, German Galgen, Danish galge, Icelandic gálgi.
For the pronunciation /ˈɡæləs/, compare bellows, bodice.

(printing, obsolete) The rest for the tympan when raised.


Dvorak

August Dvorak
Dvorak Simplified Keyboard

From Czech Dvořák. The keyboard is named after the American inventor August Dvorak.

Dvorak keyboard

(computing, typography) Describing an optimized keyboard layout for the English language, in which the alphabet is arranged in the order PYFGCRL on the top row, AOEUIDHTNS on the middle, or home row, and QJKXBMWVZ on the bottom row, thus placing the letters most frequently used in the home row. Many variants on Dvorak layouts also exist, including keyboards for right-hand-only and left-hand-only-typists.


obelisk

Hippodrome of Constantinople
Obelisk of Theodosius
Theodosius I
Thutmose III

From Middle French obelisque, from Latin obeliscus (“obelisk”), from Ancient Greek ὀβελίσκος (obelískos), diminutive of ὀβελός (obelós, “needle”). Compare obelus.

(historical) A symbol resembling a horizontal line (–), sometimes together with one or two dots (for example, ⨪ or ÷), which was used in ancient manuscripts and texts to mark a word or passage as doubtful or spurious, or redundant.

A dagger symbol (†), which is used in printed matter as a reference mark to refer the reader to a footnote, marginal note, etc.; beside a person's name to indicate that the person is deceased; or beside a date to indicate that it is a person's death date.


distribute

en-verb

distribute (third-person singular simple present distributes, present participle distributing, simple past and past participle distributed)

distributes (present singular third-person)
distributing (participle present)
distributed (participle past)
distributed (past)
distribute (infinitive)
distribute (first-person present singular)
distributed (first-person past singular)
distribute (present second-person singular)
distributest (archaic present second-person singular)
distributed (past second-person singular)
distributedst (archaic past second-person singular)
distributes (present singular third-person)
distributeth (archaic present singular third-person)
distributed (past singular third-person)
distribute (plural present)
distributed (past plural)
distribute (present subjunctive)
distributed (past subjunctive)
distribute (imperative present)
distributing (participle present)
distributed (participle past)

PIE word
 *tréyes
From Latin distributus, past participle of distribuere (“to divide, distribute”), from dis- (“apart”) + tribuere (“to give, impart”); see tribute.

(printing) To separate (type which has been used) and return it to the proper boxes in the cases.

(printing) To spread (ink) evenly, as upon a roller or a table.


baseline

Several characters typically have descenders below the lower baseline.

(typography) A line used as the basis for the alignment of glyphs.

účaří

typography: line used as the basis for the alignment of glyphs


caption

Borrowed from Latin captiō (“deception, fraud”), from the past participle of capiō (“I take, I seize”) (English capture). Compare Middle English capcioun (“seizure, capture”).

cog

(typography) The descriptive heading or title, of a document or part thereof.

заглавие

descriptive title or heading of (part of) a document


octavo

From Latin octavo. Doublet of octave, oitava, and ochava.

(paper, printing) A sheet of paper 7 to 10 inches (= 17.78 to 25.4 cm) high and 4.5 to 6 inches (= 11.43 to 15.24 cm) wide, the size varying with the large original sheet used to create it. It is made by folding the original sheet three times to produce eight leaves.

He was also much of a politician; too much, perhaps, for his station. There fell lately into my hands, in London, a collection he had made of all the principal pamphlets, relating to public affairs, from 1641 to 1717; many of the volumes are wanting as appears by the numbering, but there still remain eight volumes in folio, and twenty-four in quarto and in octavo.

1909 [1793], Benjamin Franklin, edited by Charles W. Eliot, LL.D., The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (The Harvard Classics; 1), U.S.A.: P. F. Collier & Son Corporation, published 1937, page 8:


archdevil

/ɑɹt͡ʃˈdɛvəl/

/ɑɹt͡ʃˈdɛvɪl/

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

From the context and other parts of the work, we are to understand that the demons here described are the personal friends of our sovereign, and that the archdevil was the mother of our sovereign.

1802, The Anti-Jacobin Review and Magazine, Volume 12, Open Court Publishing Company, page 30:

In short, it is purely the work of the devil that they are doing, and especially that of the archdevil, who presides at Muhlhausen, and directs nothing but robbery, murder and bloodshed.

1841, George Waddington, A History of the Reformation on the Continent: In Three Volumes, Duncan and Malcolm, page 155:

A spirit of ultraism seems to pervade the whole community. The language of Milton's archdevil "Evil, be thou my good" is the creed of modern reformers, or, in other words — anything for a change. What is to come of all this, I have not wisdom even to guess. It is an age of transition and whether you and I live to see the elements of the moral and political world at rest, is, I think, extretmely doubtful.

1851, Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, Personal Memoirs of a Residence of Thirty Years with the Indian Tribes on the American Frontiers: With Brief Notices of Passing Events, Facts, and Opinions, A.D. 1812 to A.D. 1842, Lippincott, Grambo and Company, page 517:

The bishops in question were described as archdevils, priests of Baal, standard-bearers of the Balaamites, and children of perdition.

1896, Marvin Richardson Vincent, The Age of Hildebrand, Christian Literature Company, page 267:

They are archdevils. Partake not of anything from their hands. Now I shall sell myself and do this act if only I have thee at my back.

1940, United States Congress, The Madras Law Journal, page 813:

(theology, rare, religion, fantasy, science fiction) A chief or reigning devil.


cartoon

Punch (magazine)
Russian Bear
The Great Game
cartoon

→ Portuguese: cartune, cartum

→ Swahili: katuni

In British English first, from French carton (“sketch, cardboard, card”), from Italian cartone (“cardboard, carton, box”), augmentative of carta (“paper”), from Latin carta (“papyrus, paper”), from Ancient Greek χάρτης (khártēs) (see there for further etymology). Doublet of carton and card.

tekenprent

animated cartoon — see also animated cartoon

(comics) A humorous drawing, often with a caption, or a strip of such drawings.

(comics) A drawing satirising current public figures.


cartoon

en-verb

cartoon (third-person singular simple present cartoons, present participle cartooning, simple past and past participle cartooned)

cartoons (present singular third-person)
cartooning (participle present)
cartooned (participle past)
cartooned (past)

(art, comics, animation) To draw a cartoon, a humorous drawing.


macaroni

en-noun

macaroni (countable and uncountable, plural macaronis or macaronies)

macaronis (plural)
macaronies (plural)
maccaroni (alternative)
maccheroni (alternative)
mac (alternative)

→ Japanese: マカロニ (makaroni)

→ Korean: 마카로니 (makaroni)

→ Malay:

Arabic script: ماكاروني

Latin script: makaroni

→ Scottish Gaelic: macaroni

From Italian maccaroni, plural of maccarone, obsolete variant of maccheroni (“macaroni, fool”), of uncertain origin. Variously derived from late Byzantine Greek μακαρία (makaría, “food made from barley”), from Ancient Greek μακάριος (makários, “blessed, favored by the gods”), and from maccare (“to bruise, to crush”), archaic variant of ammaccare, from Latin maccāre (“to bruise, to crush”). Compare Sicilian maccarruni (“a single piece of macaroni”). As a fop, apparently from the British Macaroni Club rather than from Italian use of maccarone for fools and bumpkins. As a former form of currency, used to calque Spanish macuquino, 18th-century colonial Spanish slang for a similarly clipped coin.

cog

... political songs in Latin or in a maccaroni of Latin and English ...

1884, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, Six Centuries of Work and Wages, volume I, page 166:

(uncountable, literature, obsolete) A mix of languages in macaronic verse.


quad

Shortened, via clipping or abbreviation, from various English terms. Ultimately related to Latin quattuor (“4”); compare quadri-, quadruple.
The typography senses are from the abbreviation quad. for obsolete quadrat; the keyboard command comes from the verb sense.

“Quadrats, sir. We call 'em quads.” . . . Quads are the spaces left between the paragraphs that come white on the paper. If you look here, at this page that is set-up, you will see that they are deeper than the spaces left between the words and letters—regular little trenches.

1853 April 16, Charles Dickens, Household Words, number 160, page 148:

Horizontal spacing is further divided into multiples and fractions of the em. The multiples are called quads. The fractions are called spaces.

1979, Marshall Lee, Bookmaking, page 110:

Other larger spaces – known as quads – were used to space out lines.

2005, Phil Baines, Andrew Haslam, Type & Typography, 2nd edition, page 91:

(typography, obsolete) Abbreviation of quadrat.

(letterpress typography) A blank metal block used to fill short lines of type.

(printing slang) A joke used to fill long days of setting type.

(typography, phototypesetting and digital typesetting) A keyboard command which aligns text with the left or right margin, or centred between them. In combination, as quad left, quad right, or quad centre.


quad

en-verb

quad (third-person singular simple present quads, present participle quadding, simple past and past participle quadded)

quads (present singular third-person)
quadding (participle present)
quadded (participle past)
quadded (past)

(typography, letterpress typography, transitive, intransitive) To fill spaces in a line of type with quads. Also quad out.

(typography, phototypesetting and digital typesetting, transitive, intransitive) To align text with the left or right margin, or centre it.


blink

blink (third-person singular simple present blinks, present participle blinking, simple past and past participle blinked)

blinks (present singular third-person)
blinking (participle present)
blinked (participle past)
blinked (past)

From Middle English blynken, blenken, from Old English blincan (suggested by causative verb blenċan (“to deceive”); > English blench), from Proto-Germanic *blinkaną, a variant of *blīkaną (“to gleam, shine”).
Cognate with Dutch blinken (“to glitter, shine”), German blinken (“to flash, blink”), Danish blinke (“to flash, twinkle, wink, blink”), Swedish blinka (“to flash, blink, twinkle, wink, blink”). Related to blank, blick, blike, bleak.

blikat

to flash on and off at regular intervals

(science fiction, video games) To teleport, mostly for short distances.


gray hat

gray hats (plural)
grayhat (alternative)
grey hat (alternative)
greyhat (alternative)

From being grey (“gray”), a mix between black and white, morally grey/gray. From white hat + black hat. From cowboy country and western fiction, where good guys wear white Stetson hats with light attire, and bad guys wear black ones with black attire. From chivalric fiction, with white knights and black knights. From the association of the color white with good and black with evil.

(idiomatic, fiction) A morally ambiguous character; an antihero.


orientation

en-noun

orientation (countable and uncountable, plural orientations)

→ Japanese: オリエンテーション (orientēshon)

→ Korean: 오리엔테이션 (orienteisyeon)

/ˌɔɹiɛnˈteɪʃən/

From French orientation. By surface analysis, orient + -ation.

(typography, countable) The direction of print across the page; landscape or portrait.


out-of-print

I'm sorry, but that book has been out-of-print for twenty years.

(publishing) No longer offered for sale by a publisher; no longer on the firsthand market.


out of sorts

en-adj

out of sorts (comparative more out of sorts, superlative most out of sorts)

more out of sorts (comparative)
most out of sorts (superlative)

Comes from printing terminology where "sort" means a metal type for printing a particular letter.

(printing, dated) With some letters or sorts of type deficient or exhausted in the case or font.


deconstruction

en-noun

deconstruction (countable and uncountable, plural deconstructions)

(philosophy, literature) A philosophical theory of textual criticism; a form of critical analysis that emphasizes inquiry into the variable projection of the meaning and message of critical works, the meaning in relation to the reader and the intended audience, and the assumptions implicit in the embodied forms of expression.

αποδομισμός

a philosophical theory of textual criticism


kill off

en-verb

kill off (third-person singular simple present kills off, present participle killing off, simple past and past participle killed off)

kills off (present singular third-person)
killing off (participle present)
killed off (participle past)
killed off (past)

The writers are killing off lots of people in the soap opera.

television series
television series#English

(film, television, literature) Of writers or producers, to permanently take a character out of a television series or other work by purposefully and deliberately having them killed within the plot.


xenophilia

While it may appear that Sturgeon has thus become an advocate of homoeroticism, incest, xenophilia, and other exotic or decadent sexual practices, he remains committed rather to the ideals of understanding and tolerance.

1983, Frank Northen Magill, Survey of modern fantasy literature, Volume 4, Salem Press, →ISBN, page 1707:

An alien—seemingly just a tourist—lands in the middle of Washington, assumes human, male form, and is adopted by four college kids for fun and sex. The story is told in snatches of dialogue and scraps of poetry (the title is from e.e. cummings), and is all goofy juxtapositions, happy xenophilia, and affection for the enthusiastic and accepting youth.

2007, Julie Phillips, James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon, →ISBN, page 300:

Xenophilia (header) From a young age, even before I knew what sex was, I always had a thing for girls. Alien girls I mean — Alorians in particular. I broke out in a sweat every time I saw them. They were so beautiful.

2012, Mark Guinane, Horizon's Edge, →ISBN, page 303:

(science fiction) Love (especially sexual love) between humans and extraterrestrials.


italicize

italicize (third-person singular simple present italicizes, present participle italicizing, simple past and past participle italicized)

italicizes (present singular third-person)
italicizing (participle present)
italicized (participle past)
italicized (past)
italicise (alternative Commonwealth)

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


italics

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

There is no need to put the whole paragraph in italics.

[T]hey [the Catholics and Puritans] encumbered their verſion [of the Bible] with a load of uſeleſs Italics; often without the leaſt neceſſity, and almoſt always to the detriment of the text. In fact, either the words in Italics are virtually implied in the Hebrew, or they are not. In the former caſe they are a real part of the text, and ſhould be printed in the ſame character: in the latter, they are generally ill aſſorted and clumſy ekes, that may well be ſpared; and which often disfigure the narration under pretence of connecting it.

1786, Alexander Geddes, Prospectus of a New Translation of the Holy Bible from Corrected Texts of the Originals, Compared with the Ancient Versions. […], Glasgow: Printed for the author, and sold by R[obert] Faulder, […]; C. Eliot, […]; and —— Cross, […], →OCLC, page 95:

Writing of cyclic diagramming, he speaks of ". . . the practical state of locomotives that pass through any number of engine and maintenance crews' hands in the course of a week's common user working, receiving love from none". The italics are mine.

1959 May, G. F. Fiennes (reviewer), “New Reading on Railways: British Railways Today and Tomorrow. By G. Freeman Allen. Ian Allan. 25s.”, in Trains Illustrated, page 271:

(typography, plural only) Letters in an italic typeface.


knock up

knock up (third-person singular simple present knocks up, present participle knocking up, simple past and past participle knocked up)

knocks up (present singular third-person)
knocking up (participle present)
knocked up (participle past)
knocked up (past)

(obsolete, printing) To straighten up a stack of paper.


ultraism

en-noun

ultraism (countable and uncountable, plural ultraisms)

The eight young signers of this “Ultra manifesto” could not have known at the time how accurate and prescient their declaration was. Spanish ultraism, born as a movement with that document, would be distinguished, ironically, by its indiscriminate and eclectic borrowings from the other European vanguard tendencies.

1981, Thorpe Running, Borges' Ultraist Movement and its Poets, Lathrup Village, Mich.: International Book Publishers, →ISBN, page 1:

(poetry) A Spanish poetic movement opposed to modernism.


counter

From Old French contre, Anglo-Norman cuntre, both from Latin contra.

[ˈkʰaʊ̯.ɾ̃ɚ]

(typography) The enclosed or partly closed negative space of a glyph.


TAC

The American Conservative
w:The American Conservative

(publishing) Initialism of The American Conservative.


getup

getups (plural)
get up (alternative)
get-up (alternative)

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

(publishing) Layout and production style, as of a magazine.


picaresque

en-adj

picaresque (comparative more picaresque, superlative most picaresque)

more picaresque (comparative)
most picaresque (superlative)

From picaro (“adventurer, rogue”) + -esque (suffix meaning ‘in the style or manner of’ forming adjectives), modelled after Spanish picaresco (“in the style or manner of a picaro; picaresque”), from pícaro (“rogue”) + -esco (suffix forming adjectives indicating a relation). Compare French picaresque (attested later than the English word), Italian picaresco, Portuguese picaresco.

der

A mere piece of roguery told in the abstract, without the proper picaresque ornaments, its manifold sinuosities and dexterities, has no interest for the reader; it may recommend the executor of it to the administration of a cat-o-nine-tails, or to an honourable post in the gallies: but there is no music in it without the proper accompaniments.

1822, “Art. I.—Primera, y Segunda Parte de Guzman de Alfarache, por Matheo Aleman, Criado del Rey nuestro Senor, Natural, y Vezino de Sevilla. Madrid, 1723. 4to. The Rogue; or, The Life of Guzman de Alfarache. Written in the Spanish by Matheo Aleman, Servant to His Catholic Majestie, and Borne in Sevill. London, printed for Edward Blount, 1623.”, in The Retrospective Review, volume V, part II, London: Charles Baldwyn, […], →OCLC, pages 189–190:

Spain became celebrated about the end of this century for her novels in the picaresque style, of which Lazarillo de Tormes is the oldest extant specimen.

1839, Henry Hallam, “Section III. On Works of Fiction.”, in Introduction to the Literature of Europe, in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Centuries, volume II, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, paragraph 41, pages 435–436:

He [Daniel Defoe] produced an amazing variety of wares: newspapers, magazines, ghost stories, biographies, journals, memoirs, satires, picaresque romances, essays on religion, reform, trade, projects, – in all more than two hundred works.

1923, William J[oseph] Long, “Eighteenth-century Literature”, in Outlines of English Literature: […], Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y.: Ginn and Company, →OCLC, page 189:

Opening in France just before the Revolution and concluding just after the attack on the Tuileries, [Rafael] Sabatini's novel deftly combines historical romance, picaresque novel and revenge tragedy.

2009 November 1, Neil McDonald, “Scaramouche and the Swashbuckler”, in Quadrant, volume LIII, number 11 (number 461 overall), Sydney, N.S.W.: Quadrant Magazine Limited, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2018-04-15, page 103:

The picaresque novel finds its origins in the humanist search for an expansion of the historiographical genre. [...] The protagonist of the picaresque novel is the pícaro, a character of lowly descent who, by passing through a wide array of professions, attempts to rise in social standing.

2014, Konstantin Mierau, Binne de Haan, “Introduction: Bringing together Microhistory and the Picaresque Novel: Studying Menocchio, Guzmán de Alfarache, and Kin”, in Binne de Haan, Konstantin Mierau, editors, Microhistory and the Picaresque Novel: A First Exploration into Commensurable Perspectives, Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, →ISBN, page 2:

(literature) Characteristic of a genre of Spanish satiric novel dealing with the adventures of a roguish hero.

приключенски

characteristic of a genre of Spanish satiric novel dealing with the adventures of a roguish hero


picaresque

Du sublime au ridicule il n'y a qu'un pas [From the sublime to the ridiculous there is only one step]; and that step in Spain was taken by Diego Hurtado de Mendoza (already dealt with in his higher walk), the originator of the Picaresque, or low rogue's march novels, of which his Lazarillo de Tormes was the type— [...]

1850 September, “Art. I.—History of Spanish Literature. By George Ticknor. 3 vols. 8vo. London, 1849. [book review]”, in John Taylor Coleridge, editor, The Quarterly Review, volume LXXXVII, number CLXXIV, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 326:

[T]he word picaro, which is almost synonymous with rogue, [...] has given a name to a whole series of novels in Spain called "Picaresques," the heroes of which are adventurers.

1856, Louis de Loménie, chapter XXVII, in Henry S. Edwards, transl., Beaumarchais and His Times. Sketches of French Society in the Eighteenth Century from Unpublished Documents. [...] In Four Volumes, international copyright edition, volume IV, London: Addey and Co., […], →OCLC, page 121:

And we had agreed completely as to the main stream in the history of the novel … as to its passing from Lope da Vega and the Spanish picaresques, by way of [Danie] Defoe and Richardson, to [Denis] Diderot, Stendahl and [Gustave] Flaubert [...]

1937, Ford Madox Ford, “[Theodore] Drieser”, in Portraits From Life: […], Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Company; […], →OCLC, page 175:

In picaresques, the protagonist usually acts as narrator to provide coherence and unity to the genre's inherent structural weakness—its episodic plot.

1992, Kathryn Zabelle Derounian-Stodola, “The New England Frontier and the Picaresque in Sarah Kemble Knight’s Journal”, in Kathryn Zabelle Derounian-Stodola, editor, Early American Literature and Culture: Essays Honoring Harrison T. Meserole, Newark, N.J.: University of Delaware Press; Cranbury, N.J.; London: Associated University Presses, →ISBN, pages 122–123:


multiverse

First appears c. 1895. Blend of multiple + universe, coined by American philosopher William James. By surface analysis, multi- + -verse.

coined

In the DC multiverse, our reality is called "Earth-33". But in the Marvel multiverse, it's "Earth-1218".

(fiction) The different canons, continuities or timelines of a fictional property, considered as a whole.


runt

The OED classifies this word as "of obscure origin". Some see a connection to Middle Dutch runt (“ox”), but the OED considers this to be unlikely.

unk

obscure

(typography) A single word (or portion of a hyphenated word) that appears as the last line of a paragraph.

orposana

single word that appears as the last line of a paragraph


engraving

en-noun

engraving (countable and uncountable, plural engravings)

(printing) The art of producing an image from an engraved printing form, typically made of copper.


em dash

em dashes (plural)
em rule (alternative)
emdash (alternative)
em-dash (alternative)
m dash (alternative)
m-rule (alternative)
mutton dash (alternative)

Named for its width, which is equal to the width of the letter m or M, or approximately twice the width of an en dash.

(typography) The symbol (—) (used to demarcate a parenthetical thought or to indicate a break, or for emphasis)


en dash

en dashes (plural)
en rule (alternative)
endash (alternative)
en-dash (alternative)
n dash (alternative)
n-rule (alternative)
nut dash (alternative)

Named for its width, which is equal to the width of the letter n or N, or approximately half the width of an em dash.

(typography) The punctuation mark –, which is used, for instance, to indicate a range.


probe

For verb: borrowed from Latin probare (“to test, examine, prove”), from probus (“good”). Doublet of prove.
For noun: borrowed from Late Latin proba (“a proof”), from probare (“to test, examine, prove”); Doublet of proof. Compare Spanish tienta (“a surgeon's probe”), from tentar (“try, test”); see tempt.

сонда

any of various medical instruments used to explore wounds, organs, etc

You know, XR178.9, we haven't done any anal probes in a while.

2004 August 2, Bayard Russell, nonemorecomic:

You listen here! We don't do anal probes like other aliens, but I'm about to make an exception!

2009 September 14, Ryan Hudson, “Can I Abduct You?”, in ChannelATE:

(surgery) Any of various medical instruments used to explore wounds, organs, etc.

(comedy, fiction) An anal probe, a fictional instrument commonly used by aliens on abducted humans.


widow

PIE word
 *dwóh₁
From Middle English widwe, from Old English widuwe, from Proto-West Germanic *widuwā, from Proto-Germanic *widuwǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁widʰéwh₂, possibly from *h₁weydʰh₁-, *widʰ- (“to separate, split, cleave, divide”), whence also wood from Old English widu, wudu.
Cognates include German Witwe, Dutch weduwe, Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐌳𐌿𐍅𐍉 (widuwō), Old Irish fedb, Latin vidua, Old Church Slavonic въдова (vŭdova), Sanskrit विधवा (vidhavā) and Persian بیوه (bive, bêva), Middle Persian wēwag, Avestan viðavā- "widow" .

(typography) A single line of type that ends a paragraph but is separated from it by being carried over to the next page or column.

intañvez

single line of type carried over to the next page


lipogram

From Ancient Greek λειπογγράμμα (leipongrámma), from λείπω (leípō, “leaving out”) + γράμμα (grámma, “letter”), 18th c.

der

λειπογγράμμα

compound

"Transubstantiationalists" is a particularly long single-word lipogram, not using the letter "e".

(literature) A word or writing that does not use a particular symbol or symbols.


cruiser

(military, nautical) A class of fast warships of medium tonnage, having a long cruising range but less armour and firepower than a battleship.

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


aubade

Princess Christina of the Netherlands
Rosalía de Castro

PIE word
 *albʰós
Borrowed from French aubade, from Old French albade, from Old Spanish albada (“musical or poetic composition to be performed in the morning”), from alba (“dawn”), from Vulgar Latin *alba (“dawn; sunrise”), from Latin albus (“bright, clear; white”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *albʰós (“white”).

beuregan

And there he lingered till the crowing cock, / The Alectryon of the farmyard and the flock, / Sang his aubade with lusty voice and clear, / To tell the sleeping world that dawn was near.

1873 August, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “[I. Tales of a Wayside Inn.] The Student’s Tale. Emma and Eginhard.”, in Aftermath, Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, late Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood, & Co., →OCLC, page 27:

Alladad Khan woke to the far crying of kampong cocks in the dark. That noise had been the farmyard aubade in the Punjab in his dream.

1956, Anthony Burgess, chapter 11, in Time for a Tiger (The Malayan Trilogy), London: William Heinemann, published 1968, →ISBN, page 155:

(music, poetry) A poem or song evoking or greeting the dawn or early morning.

(music, specifically) A morning love song, or a song of lovers parting in the morning.

aubade

morning love song; song of lovers parting in the morning


walker

→ Irish: válcaeir

→ Persian: واکر (vâker)

From Middle English walkere (“one who walks, traveller”), equivalent to walk + -er.

inh

Dead people, walkers, as you call them, are somehow, and for some reason, attacking.

1980, Gary Brandner, chapter 17, in Walkers (fiction; paperback), Fawcett Publications, →ISBN:

Two of the walkers circled the pillars. Their searchlights played through the trees, then turned back to Leia and the others.

2011, Dave Wolverton, The Courtship of Princess Leia: Star Wars Legends, page 144:

It also takes a good amount of inspiration from Metal Gear Solid 4s biomechanical designs, namely the Gekko walkers' and their synthetic musculature.

2019, Joe Meno, BrickJournal #60, page 37:

(science fiction) A kind of military robot or mecha with legs for locomotion.


tofu

en-noun

tofu (countable and uncountable, plural tofus)

Borrowed from Japanese 豆(とう)腐(ふ) (tōfu), from Middle Chinese 豆腐 (duwᴴ bju^X, “curdled bean”). Doublet of dubu.

der

(computing, typography) A box or rectangle, empty or with a question mark or hexadecimal code inside, displayed by some systems in place of a character not supported by available fonts. (such as _□ or 𐕪)


wrapping

From Middle English wrappinge, wrappynge, equivalent to wrap + -ing.

See also: autowrap, backwrap, line break, word wrap, and wraparound

(computing, writing) The breaking of a section of text into lines so that it will fit into the available width of a display area.


sapient

en-adj

sapient (comparative more sapient, superlative most sapient)

more sapient (comparative)
most sapient (superlative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-sapient.wav

From Middle English sapient, from Old French sapient, or its source, Latin sapiēns. Doublet of savant.

When EXPLORATION blazed through space / The first sky-trail to far-flung stars, / And found men, sapient, on Mars, / He gained renown's most honored place.

1935 February, Bob Olsen, “Who Deserves Credit?”, in Amazing Stories, volume 9, number 10, page 81:

It was inhabited by a sapient humanoid race, and some of them were civilized enough to put it in Class V, and Colonial Office doctrine on Class V planets was rigid.

1962 January, Henry Beam Piper, “Naudsonce”, in Analog Science Fact and Science Fiction, volume 68, number 5, page 9:

Nessus had not spoken mockingly; but Speaker reacted with rage. “What sapient being would not fear such power?”

a high degree of self-awareness
self-awareness

(chiefly science fiction) Of a species or life-form, possessing intelligence or a high degree of self-awareness.


sapient

It seemed to him a possibility that the Cold War Corps of March might have contacted hitherto unknown sapients on some just discovered interstellar planet.

1960, Philip José Farmer, A Woman a Day, page 30:

(chiefly science fiction) An intelligent, self-aware being.


bump

en-verb

bump (third-person singular simple present bumps, present participle bumping, simple past and past participle bumped)

bumps (present singular third-person)
bumping (participle present)
bumped (participle past)
bumped (past)

From Early Modern English bump (“a shock, blow from a collision”), probably of North Germanic origin; compare Danish bump (“a thump”), Danish bumpe (“to thump”), Old Danish bumpe (“to strike with a clenched fist”), all probably of imitative origin.
Apparently related to Middle English bumben, bummen (“to make a hollow noise”), Dutch bommen (“to hum, buzz”), German Low German bumsen (“to bump, push”), German bummen (“to hum, buzz”), Icelandic bumba (“drum”). More at bum, bumble. Compare also bomb.

onom

imitative

cog

(printing, dated) To spread out material so as to fill any desired number of pages.


get in

en-verb

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

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

(obsolete, printing, of a matter) To produce fewer copies than anticipated.


soliloquy

en-noun

soliloquy (countable and uncountable, plural soliloquies)

Augustine of Hippo
Hamlet
Soliloquiorum libri duo
To be, or not to be
William Shakespeare

1595–1605; From Late Latin sōliloquium in the title of St. Augustine's Soliloquiorum libri duo ("Two Books of Soliloquies"), from sōlus (“only, sole”) + loquor (“I speak”).

The feeling of Singleton's bosom grew heightened in its tone of melancholy, and a more passionate emphasis of thought broke forth in his half-muttered soliloquy:— ¶"How I remember as I look […]

1835, William Gilmore Simms, The Partisan, Harper, Chapter XI, page 135:

Here is a very over-simplified example, this time expressed in the form of a subjective soliloquy rather than a computer simulation.

1976, Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene, Kindle edition, OUP Oxford, published 2016, page 126:

(authorship) A speech or written discourse in this form.


flush

en-adj

flush (comparative flusher, superlative flushest)

flusher (comparative)
flushest (superlative)

Same as Etymology 3, according to the American Heritage Dictionary.

flush left and right
flush left and right#English

(typography) Ellipsis of flush left and right: a body of text aligned with both its left and right margins.


graphic novel

(comics) A comic book containing a single and full nonepisodic story.


graphic novelist

en-noun

graphic novelist (plural graphic novelists)

graphic novel + -ist or graphic + novelist

(comics) A person who creates fiction using a succession of pictures interspersed with text (i.e. a comic book).


strip cartoon

(comics) A series of illustrations depicting a humorous narrative.

comic

illustrations depicting humorous narrative


cartoonist

→ Indonesian: kartunis

(comics) One who creates a cartoon or strip cartoon.

cartooniste m or f dessinateur de dessins animés

(comics) One who both writes and illustrates comic books or graphic novels.

sarjakuvataiteilija

person who writes and illustrates comic books


hyperspace

hyperspace (countable and uncountable, plural hyperspaces)

hyperspaces (plural)
hyper space (alternative)
hyper-space (alternative)

We can only get to the Nimrodian Galaxy if we go through hyperspace.

I'm in command of 18 competitively selected super-perfect physical specimens with an average age of 24.6 who have been locked up in hyperspace for 378 days.

1956, Cyril Hume, Forbidden Planet, spoken by Commander Adams (Leslie Nielsen):

(science fiction) A notional space orthogonal to the usual dimensions of space-time often used for faster-than-light travel.


hyperspace

en-verb

hyperspace (third-person singular simple present hyperspaces, present participle hyperspacing, simple past and past participle hyperspaced)

hyperspaces (present singular third-person)
hyperspacing (participle present)
hyperspaced (participle past)
hyperspaced (past)
hyper space (alternative)
hyper-space (alternative)

If she hyperspaced out to Tionisla or Lave the Courier would simply follow through her witchspace wormhole.

2010, Drew Wagar, Status Quo (Oolite Saga), Drew Wagar, →ISBN:

(science fiction, ambitransitive) To travel or transport into hyperspace.


shojo

/ˈʃəʊˌd͡ʒəʊ/

/ˈʃoʊˌd͡ʒoʊ/

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

From Japanese 少女(しょうじょ) (shōjo, “young woman”).

shōjo (alternative)
shoujo (alternative)

(anime, manga) A style of anime and manga intended for young women.


shojo

en-adj

shojo (comparative more shojo, superlative most shojo)

more shojo (comparative)
most shojo (superlative)
shōjo (alternative)
shoujo (alternative)

/ˈʃəʊˌd͡ʒəʊ/

/ˈʃoʊˌd͡ʒoʊ/

(anime, manga) Being in the style of shōjo manga or anime.


shojo

ja-r

猩々(しょうじょう) (shōjō)

(folklore) A creature in Japanese folklore, often depicted as a sea spirit with red hair and a fondness for alcohol.


drop letter

(typography) A large letter at the beginning of a line of text, positioned in a decorative way below the baseline of the rest of the type.


warp

en-verb

warp (third-person singular simple present warps, present participle warping, simple past and past participle warped)

warps (present singular third-person)
warping (participle present)
warped (participle past)
warped (past)

→ Japanese: ワープ (wāpu)

From Middle English werpen, weorpen, worpen, from Old English weorpan (“to throw”), from Proto-West Germanic *werpan, from Proto-Germanic *werpaną (“to throw, turn”), from Proto-Indo-European *werb- (“to bend, turn”).
Cognate with Scots warp (“to throw, warp”), North Frisian werpen (“to throw”), Dutch werpen (“to throw, cast”), German werfen (“to throw, cast”), Icelandic verpa (“to throw”).

der

Then we warp a ball of atmosphere right out of the sky into the domes, and some fruit trees to go with them, and we also abduct some livestock.

2004, Travis S. Taylor, Warp Speed, →ISBN:

Valerie asked why they couldn't warp to the planet.

2012, Jonathan Henry, The Revelation of Earth: First Contact, page 188:

(ambitransitive, science fiction, video games) To travel or transport across a medium without passing through it normally, as by using a teleporter or time warp.

harpata

(science fiction and videos games) to travel without passing through a medium


italic

Named after the nation of Italy, as it was first used by an Italian printer, Aldo Manuzio, around 1500. Literally Italy + -ic.

(typography, of a typeface or font) Designed to resemble a handwriting style developed in Italy in the 16th century.

курсивен

designed to resemble a handwriting style

The text was impossible to read: every other word was underlined or in a bold or italic font.

(typography, of a typeface or font) Having letters that slant or lean to the right; oblique.


italic

Names of vessels, as the Kearsarge or the Alabama, are frequently put in italic.

1902, Theodore Low DeVinne, The Practice of Typography: Correct Composition, page 104:

[…] ROBERT GRANJON, possibly in collaboration with CLAUDE GARAMOND, had created an italic which matched Garamond Roman.

1983, Ida M. Kimber, The Art of Lettering, translation of original by Albert Kapr, page 329:

(typography) A typeface in which the letters slant to the right.

շղատառ

typeface whose letters slant to the right


Terran

(chiefly science fiction) Of Earth; of terrestrial origin.


Terran

The magazines, in the nearby rack, were in English. And on their covers, laughing Terrans.

1966, Philip K. Dick, Now Wait for Last Year:

(chiefly science fiction) An inhabitant of Earth; an earthling, especially a human.


petit

From French petit (“brevier”) directly or via German Petit (“brevier”).

(printing, dated, French and German contexts) Synonym of brevier.


conscience

en-noun

conscience (countable and uncountable, plural consciences)

From Middle English conscience, from Old French conscience, from Latin conscientia (“knowledge within oneself”), from consciens, present participle of conscire (“to know, to be conscious (of wrong)”), from com- (“together”) + scire (“to know”).

der

(chiefly fiction, narratology) A personification of the moral sense of right and wrong, usually in the form of a person, a being or merely a voice that gives moral lessons and advices.


portrait

en-noun

portrait (countable and uncountable, plural portraits)

portraits (plural)
pourtraict (alternative)

non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger

From Middle French portraict, pourtraict, nominal use of the past participle of portraire (“portray”), from Latin prōtrahō (< pro- + traho).
Compare typologically English drawing.

(computing, printing) A print orientation where the vertical sides are longer than the horizontal sides.

κατακόρυφος προσανατολισμός

εκτύπωσης-χαρτιού


slur

en-verb

slur (third-person singular simple present slurs, present participle slurring, simple past and past participle slurred)

slurs (present singular third-person)
slurring (participle present)
slurred (participle past)
slurred (past)

From Middle English sloor (“thin or fluid mud”). Cognate with Middle Low German sluren (“to trail in mud”). Also related to dialectal Norwegian sløra (“to be careless, to scamp, dawdle”), Danish sløre (“to wobble, be loose”) (especially for wheels); compare Old Norse slóðra (“to drag oneself along”).
* (an extremely offensive term): Influenced by various compounds of sense 1 such as racial slur, ethnic slur, etc.

cog

(printing, dated) To blur or double, as an impression from type; to mackle.

dissimuler

printing: to blur or double, as an impression from type; to mackle


backbench

backbenches (plural)
back bench (alternative)
back-bench (alternative)

A good spread could be allotted on a news page if the dead person was deemed worthy by the powerful and sceptical members of the “backbench” of the senior sub-editors.

1996, David Twiston-Davies, Canada from Afar: The Daily Telegraph Book of Canadian Obituaries, →ISBN:

The attitude of the Observer backbench when I filed the story the following sunday showed how happy my sub-editing colleagues from the previous winter were with my feat.

2006, Ken Haley, Emails from the Edge: A Journey Through Troubled Times, →ISBN, page 17:

After his copy had dropped, MacKenzie had gone over to the backbench and instructed them: 'Don't change a word of this. Then if he's got it wrong the little fucker won't be able to wriggle out of this one!'

2013, Chris Horrie, Peter Chippindale, Stick It Up Your Punter!: The Uncut Story of the Sun Newspaper, →ISBN:

(newspaper, publishing) A group of top-level journalists who jointly review submissions and decide on the layout and emphasis of the newspaper.


baka

en-adj

baka (comparative more baka, superlative most baka)

more baka (comparative)
most baka (superlative)

Borrowed from Japanese 馬鹿(ばか) (baka, “stupid”).

(anime manga, fandom slang, endearing) Stupid, silly.


baka

(anime manga, fandom slang, endearing) A foolish person, a dummy, a silly goose.


script

en-noun

script (countable and uncountable, plural scripts)

From Middle English scrit, borrowed from Old French escrit, from Latin scriptum (something written), from scrībō (“write”).

(typography) Type made in imitation of handwriting.


thriller

/ˈt̪ʰɾi.ləɾ/

(film, literature) A suspenseful, sensational genre of story, book, play, film.

إِثَارَة

a suspenseful, sensational genre of fiction


filmic

en-adj

filmic (comparative more filmic, superlative most filmic)

more filmic (comparative)
most filmic (superlative)

(literature) Of or relating to movies; cinematic.


doggerel

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

dogrel (alternative obsolete)
doggrel (alternative archaic)

True Wit has ſeen its best days long ago, / It ne're look'd up, ſince we were dipt in Show: / When Senſe in Dogrel Rimes and Clouds was loſt, / And Dulneſs flouriſh'd at the Actors coſt.

1677 (date written), John Dryden, “Prologue”, in The Kind Keeper; or, Mr. Limberham: A Comedy: […], London: […] R[ichard] Bentley, and M[ary] Magnes, […], published 1680, →OCLC:

(poetry) Of a crude or irregular construction.


doggerel

en-noun

doggerel (countable and uncountable, plural doggerels)

doggerels (plural)
dogrel (alternative obsolete)
doggrel (alternative archaic)

Taffy drew a long breath into his manly bosom, and kept it there as he read this characteristic French doggerel (for so he chose to call this touching little symphony in ère and ra).

1894, George du Maurier, “Part Sixth”, in Trilby: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, →OCLC, page 302:

As he marched he sang a bit of doggerel in a high and quavering voice: / "Sing a song 'a vic'try, / A pocketful 'a bullets, / Five an' twenty dead men / Baked in a—pie."

1895 October, Stephen Crane, chapter VIII, in The Red Badge of Courage: An Episode of the American Civil War, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC, page 86:

(poetry) A comic or humorous verse, usually irregular in measure.


transformer

transformers (plural)
tformer (alternative)
t-former (alternative)
transformator (alternative archaic)

/tɹɑːnsˈfɔːmə/

(fiction) Alternative letter-case form of Transformer.


bodkin

bodkins (plural)
bodikin (alternative)
bodkine (alternative)
botkin (alternative)
boidken (alternative)

From Middle English boydekin (“dagger”), apparently from *boyde, *boide (of unknown [Celtic?] origin) + -kin. Cognate with Scots botkin, boitkin, boikin (“bodkin”).

(printing) A sharp tool, like an awl, formerly used for pressing down individual type characters (e.g. letters) from a column or page in making corrections.


refactor

en-verb

refactor (third-person singular simple present refactors, present participle refactoring, simple past and past participle refactored)

refactors (present singular third-person)
refactoring (participle present)
refactored (participle past)
refactored (past)

Two significant activities which to contribute to community projects, such as Wikipedia, are to refactor complicated articles into simpler ones, and to refactor duplicated content into reusable templates.

(writing) To rewrite existing text in order to improve its readability, reusability or structure without intentionally affecting its meaning. Similar to, but sometimes involving more extensive restructuring than, copy editing.


xenocide

en-noun

xenocide (countable and uncountable, plural xenocides)

The age that began with one xenocide attempted had now ended with other xenocides prevented or, at least, postponed.

1996, Orson Scott Card, Children of the Mind:

(science fiction) The genocide of an entire alien species.


lay down

en-verb

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

lays down (present singular third-person)
laying down (participle present)
laid down (participle past)
laid down (past)

From Middle English leyen doun, leien doun (“to lay down”), equivalent to lay + down.

(obsolete, printing) To place a sheet in a printing press for printing.


syllabary

/ˈsɪləˌbɛɹi/

From Neo-Latin syllabārium, from syllaba.

(orthography) A table or list of syllabic letters or syllables.

It shouldn't be hard to come up with a musical syllabary in which pitches code for vowels and timbres code for consonants.

(orthography) A writing system where each character represents a complete syllable.


set up

set up (third-person singular simple present sets up, present participle setting up, simple past and past participle set up)

sets up (present singular third-person)
setting up (participle present)
set up (participle past)
set up (past)

(obsolete, printing) Synonym of compose (To arrange (types) in a composing stick for printing; to typeset)


transorbital

(science fiction) A commercial spacecraft operating between the planets of the solar system.


transporter

(science fiction) A device that instantaneously transports, or teleports, a person or object.


branch out

branch out (third-person singular simple present branches out, present participle branching out, simple past and past participle branched out)

branches out (present singular third-person)
branching out (participle present)
branched out (participle past)
branched out (past)

(obsolete, printing) To white out or expand the whitespace around the title or other words, lines, etc. in a document.


mortise

mortise (third-person singular simple present mortises, present participle mortising, simple past and past participle mortised)

mortises (present singular third-person)
mortising (participle present)
mortised (participle past)
mortised (past)
mortice (alternative)

From Middle English morteys, from Old French mortaise, from Arabic مُرْتَزّ (murtazz), from اِرْتَزَّ (irtazza).

(typography) To adjust the horizontal space between selected pairs of letters; to kern.


forward slash

A retronym coined to distinguish the slash from the backslash, particularly in computing contexts.


geminatio vocalium

Borrowed from Latin geminatio vocalium (“doubling of vowels”).

bor

The least-used method is geminatio vocalium, as in Oscan and (occasionally) Umbrian: PAASTORES.

2008, Andrew L Sihler, New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin:

(epigraphy) The process of indicating that a vowel is pronounced long by writing it twice, especially as was sometimes done in Latin due to influence from Oscan.


Oxford comma

From Oxford University Press, where such use is the house style.

It was Collins who invented the ‘Oxford comma’, for which he obtained supported from Herbert Spencer.

2002 [1978], Peter Sutcliffe, “Making the Press what it ought to be”, in The Oxford University Press, Clarendon Press, page 114:

Who gives a fuck about an Oxford comma? / I've seen those English dramas too; they're cruel / So if there's any other way to spell the word / It's fine with me, with me

2008, “Oxford Comma”, in Vampire Weekend, performed by Vampire Weekend:

It is a debate that has torn the nation in two, ripped friends and family apart, and entrenched deep and uncrossable lines throughout the land. Should the Royal Mint have used an Oxford comma on its Brexit 50p piece?

2020 January 27, Alison Flood, “Philip Pullman calls for boycott of Brexit 50p coin over 'missing' Oxford comma”, in The Guardian:


Harvard comma

From Harvard University Press, where such use is the house style.


thunderclap

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

[…] the thunderclaps, and advised Cage on their meaning. Cage considered composing new star-map music, in which microphones attached to the throats of the chorus members would make their singing of Joyce's verbal thunderclaps sound like […]

2012, Kenneth Silverman, Begin Again: A Biography of John Cage, page 292:


bearer

desc

→ Bengali: বেয়ারা (beẏara), বেহারা (behara) (borrowed from sense 4)

General American, Mary–marry–merry merger

From Middle English berer, berere, from Old English berere (attested in Old English wæterberere (“waterbearer”)), equivalent to bear + -er.

(printing) A strip of reglet or other furniture to bear off the impression from a blank page.

(printing) A type or type-high piece of metal interspersed in blank parts to support the plate when it is shaved.


quoin

Next fit the quoins, using the “persuader” to squeeze in the pages, and tap up all around.

1898, John Southward, Modern Printing: A Handbook of the Principles and Practice of Typography and the Auxiliary Arts:

(printing, historical) A metal wedge which fits into the space between the type and the edge of a chase, and is tightened to fix the metal type in place.


layout

→ German: Layout

→ Dutch: lay-out

→ Polish: layout

→ Portuguese: layout

→ Russian: лейаут (lejaut)

→ Swedish: layout

(publishing) The process of arranging editorial content, advertising, graphics and other information to fit within certain constraints.

佈局 /布局

process of arranging media content for publishing


slick

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

cog

The project was delayed because the slick had not been delivered to the printer.

(printing) A camera-ready image to be used by a printer. The "slick" is photographed to produce a negative image which is then used to burn a positive offset plate or other printing device.

Many of the stories in SSB [Sex Behind Bars] first appeared in gay slicks, Mandate, Honcho, First Hand, et al.

1981 December 1, Freddie Greenfield, “Insulting Prison Porn”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 20, page 11:

When Carver, wild to be published in a major slick, decided to accept the changes, Maryann accused him “of being a whore, of selling out to the establishment.”

2009 November 20, Stephen King, “Raymond Carver’s Life and Stories”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:


archetype

From Old French architipe (modern French archétype), from Latin archetypum (“original”), from Ancient Greek ἀρχέτυπον (arkhétupon, “model, pattern”), the neuter form of ἀρχέτυπος (arkhétupos, “first-moulded”), from ἀρχή (arkhḗ, “beginning, origin”) (from ἄρχω (árkhō, “to begin; to lead, rule”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ergʰ- (“to begin; to command, rule”)) + τῠ́πος (tŭ́pos, “blow, pressing; sort, type”) (from τύπτω (túptō, “to beat, strike”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewp- (“to push; to stick”)).

der

Archetypes are figures and creatures that inhabit the pools of the world's mythology, folk tales, epics, and ballads. […] Thus archetypes are universal essences that we all recognize: the Mother, the Lover, the Trickster, the Spiritual and Temporal Leader, the Devil.

2009, Janet B. Rodgers, Frankie Armstrong, “Introduction: Acting and Singing with Archetypes: Tapping into Creative Potential”, in Acting and Singing with Archetypes, Milwaukee, Wis.: Limelight Editions, Hal Leonard Corporation, →ISBN, page Xiii:

(literature) A character, object, or story that is based on a known character, object, or story.

arquetip

character, object, or story based on a known character, object, or story


persuader

One who, or that which, persuades, literally or figuratively.

(printing, historical, colloquial) A tool used to pack the type into the form.


biter

From Middle English biter, bitere, equivalent to bite + -er. Cognate with West Frisian biter (“biter”), Dutch bijter (“biter”), German Low German Bieter (“biter”), German Beißer (“biter”).


lightsaber

lightsabers (plural)
light saber (alternative)
lightsabre (alternative)

From light + saber; coined by American filmmaker George Lucas for the Star Wars film franchise. First mentioned in the film Star Wars (later retitled Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope) which was released on May 25, 1977.

coined

[Obi-Wan Kenobi to Luke Skywalker] Your father's lightsaber. This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight. Not as clumsy or random as a blaster. An elegant weapon for a more civilized age.

1977 May 25, George Lucas, Star Wars, spoken by Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness):

Wielding his flashlight like a lightsaber, Kyle sent golden shafts slicing through the swirling vapors.

2004, Rob N. Hood, Beyond the Wind, Binghamton, N.Y.: Southern Tier Editions/Harrington Park Press, →ISBN, page 1:

This was the era of Star Wars, the reinvention of science fiction with the homely Luke Skywalker. But even Luke had the Force and a tie-fighter. The Doctor was a humanist, and his spacecraft was an obsolete phone box redolent of bobbies with whistles. He would never resort to lightsabre against villains, preferring to confront them with jelly babies.

2006 September, Steve Tomkins, “Icon of the Month No. 82: Dr Who”, in Simon Jones, editor, Third Way, volume 29, number 7, Harrow, London: Third Way Trust, →ISSN, page 24:

Poster Power / Get the scheme behind the scene with Star Wars Blueprints: The Ultimate Collection. This boxed set includes five double-sided posters with blueprints of the Death Star, R2-D2, and C-3PO, lightsabers and blasters, Darth Vader and the Millennium Falcon.

2008 November, “Collecting”, in Boys' Life, volume XCVIII, number 11, Irving, Tx.: Boy Scouts of America, →ISSN, page 52:

(science fiction) A sword having a blade made of a powerful beam of light or energy.


chancery

en-noun

chancery (countable and uncountable, plural chanceries)

/ˈt͡ʃɑːnsəɹɪ/

/ˈt͡ʃænsəɹɪ/

/ˈt͡ʃɑːnsəɹi/

From French chancellerie, from Late Latin cancellaria, from Latin cancellarius, from Latin cancellus (“lattice”) (English chancel), from Latin cancelli (“grating, bars”), from the lattice-work that separated a section of a church or court.
See related chancellor and chancellery, and the more distantly related incarcerate (“put behind bars”), from carcer (“prison”).
The adverbial form is an allusion to the condition of a person involved in the chancery court.


deathtrap

deathtraps (plural)
death trap (alternative)
death-trap (alternative)

(literature) A plot device where a villain in a story puts a hero in an elaborate dangerous situation for the purposes of attempting a sadistic murder.


lifeboat

(science fiction) An emergency vehicle carried aboard a spaceship.


trim

trim (countable and uncountable, plural trims)

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

varustelutaso

the manner in which something is equipped

(printing, binding, publishing) Any of the three cut edges of book pages, trimmed with a shear after binding.


madrigal

/ˈmæd͡ɹɪɡəl/

From Italian madrigale, from Latin mātrīcālis.

(poetry) A short poem, often pastoral, and suitable to be set to music.


verisimilar

en-adj

verisimilar (comparative more verisimilar, superlative most verisimilar)

more verisimilar (comparative)
most verisimilar (superlative)

/ˌvɛɹɪˈsɪmələ/

/ˌvɛɹɪˈsɪməlɚ/

/ˌvɛɹəˈsɪməlɚ/

From Latin vērisimilis, prop. vērī similis (“having the appearance of truth”), from vērī (genitive of vērus (“true”)) + similis (“like, similar”); see very and similar.

af

genitive of <i class="Latn mention" lang="la">vērus</i> (“true”)

(fiction) Faithful to its own rules; internally consistent.


sorcerer

sorcerers (plural)
sorceror (alternative)

/ˈsɔːsəɹə(ɹ)/

From Middle English sorcerere, from Old French sorcier, from Early Medieval Latin sortiārius, derived from Latin sortem (“fate, fortune”), from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“to bind”).

Pope Joan, who once occupied the throne of the Vatican, was reputed to be the blackest sorcerer of them all.

1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 105:

"Well, sorcerer?" growled the Norman. "Nay, not well," replied Catweazle shivering miserably, "I have the bone-ache."

1971, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 7:

(mythology, folklore, fantasy) A magician or wizard. Sometimes specifically male.

yshtës

magician/wizard drawing upon natural powers


justified

en-adj

justified (comparative more justified, superlative most justified)

more justified (comparative)
most justified (superlative)

(typography) Of text, arranged on a page or a computer screen such that the left and right ends of all lines within paragraphs are aligned, with the space between words adjusted as necessary. Also called fully justified to contrast with left-justified and right-justified.

tasattu

having lines arranged on a page or computer screen


gafiate

From GAFIA (“getting away from it all”) + -ate (noun-forming suffix).

af

Westlake's piece is so reminiscent of the old days of fandom, when no gafiate felt he had actually departed until he had alienated everybody on his mailing list.

Herman Stowell King, a long-time gafiate (we first met in the 60s) and collector, turned up in the local Sunday paper with a well-written review of Whitley Streiber's The Forbidden Zone.

1993 October, It Goes On The Shelf, number 10:

Perhaps the disappearance of the vast majority of the copies Dan mailed out in 1981 granted him limited immunity; he did just run for TAFF and win last year, hardly the act of an over-the-hill gafiate.

1996 November, Andy Hooper, “Walking into Midnight”, in Science-Fiction Five-Yearly, number 10, page 37:

(dated, fandom slang, science fiction) A science fiction fan who has become inactive in the fandom community.


gafiate

en-verb

gafiate (third-person singular simple present gafiates, present participle gafiating, simple past and past participle gafiated)

gafiates (present singular third-person)
gafiating (participle present)
gafiated (participle past)
gafiated (past)

From GAFIA (“getting away from it all”) + -ate (verb-forming suffix).

af

She gafiated the moment she first picked up a pulp magazine.

(dated, fandom slang, science fiction) To leave the mundane world and enter the science fiction fandom community.

QUANDRY (Hoffwoman) The famous fanzine published by Lee Hoffman of Savannah Ga. before she gafiated for the first time.

1959, Richard "Dick" Harris Eney, Fancyclopedia II:

He was quite active in the 1940's, vanished for a long while, then reappeared in the 1960's to put out lots of issues of this fanzine with the help of his wife, only to gafiate a second time as abruptly and totally as anyone ever has quit fandom.

1976 November, Harry Warner, Jr., “In One Lustrum and Out the Other”, in Science-Fiction Five-Yearly, number 6, page 11:

And I didn't so much gafiate as move to Asia.

2003 December 3, Marian Rosenberg (brucianna), “Re: Fandom”, in alt.polyamory (Usenet), message-ID <4VPxb.514513$6C4.365955@pd7tw1no>:

(fandom slang, science fiction) To drop out of fandom community activities, with the implication of "getting a life".


sidekick

From side + kick, which in the late 19th and early 20th century was a slang term for the front side pocket of a pair of trousers, known as the pocket safest from theft. Thus, by analogy, a "side-kick" was a person's closest companion.

So even though he had – no question – the best lines in Friends, he was never what he would have been in an earlier era: the sidekick.

2023 October 29, Zoe Williams, “‘An ironic, self-deprecating metrosexual’: how Matthew Perry captured the spirit of the age”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(authorship, figuratively) In literature, theatre, etc., a good foil of the protagonist, a character who helps emphasize the traits of the main character.


justify

en-verb

justify (third-person singular simple present justifies, present participle justifying, simple past and past participle justified)

justifies (present singular third-person)
justifying (participle present)
justified (participle past)
justified (past)
justifie (alternative)

From Middle English justifien, from Old French justifier, from Late Latin justificare (“make just”), from Latin justus, iustus (“just”) + ficare (“make”), from facere, equivalent to just + -ify.

The text will look better justified.

(transitive, typography) To arrange (text) on a page or a computer screen such that the left and right ends of all lines within paragraphs are aligned.

подравня́вам

arrange lines on a page or computer screen


pigeonhole

pigeonholes (plural)
pigeon-hole (alternative)
pigeon hole (alternative)

Stanford University
Thomas Chippendale
pigeon-hole messagebox

The noun is derived from pigeon + hole. The verb is derived from the noun.

分類架 /分类架

one of an array of open compartments in a desk, set of shelves, etc., used for sorting and/or storing letters, papers, or other items; one of an array of open compartments for receiving mail and other messages at a college, office, etc.

kulkuaukko

small opening for looking or passing things through; opening in a ship for passing equipment through

Theſe vvide VVhites are by Compoſiters (in vvay of Scandal) call'd Pidgeon-holes, and are by none accounted good VVorkmanſhip, unleſs in ſuch caſes of neceſſity, as aforeſaid. […] And if he [a compositor] Sets too VVide, and he chance to Set a VVord to tvvo tvvice over, he may be forc'd to make Pidgeon-holes e're he come to a Break, […]

1683, Joseph Moxon, “Numb[er] XIV. Applied to the Compositers Trade.”, in Mechanick Exercises: Or, The Doctrine of Handy-Works. Applied to the Art of Printing. […], volume II, London: […] Joseph Moxon […], →OCLC, § 4 (Of Composing), page 215:

(typography, archaic) A space between two words that is too wide.


Bloody Mary

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

(folklore) A ghost, witch or demonic spirit said to appear in a mirror if her name is chanted repeatedly.


Chaos

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-Chaos.wav

From Latin chaos (“chaos”), from Ancient Greek χάος (kháos).

19521 Chaos
Chaos (Warhammer)
Chaos (cosmogony)

Chaos warrior, Chaos daemon

(fantasy, science fiction) In the Warhammer franchise, a demonic antagonist that sends demons, monsters, warriors, and beasts to wage war on the games' setting.


D

en-noun

D (countable and uncountable, plural Ds)

(printing) Abbreviation of duodecimo, as adopted by the American Library Association.


Ionic

From Ancient Greek ἰωνικός (iōnikós, “related to Ionians”).

uder

(printing, dated) Of or relating to a kind of heavy-faced type.


Ionic

(poetry) A four-syllable metrical unit of light-light-heavy-heavy (‿ ‿ — —) that occurs in Ancient Greek and Latin poetry.


K

Abbreviations.
# (Stenoscript) Abbreviation of counter, prefix counter-, sequence contr.

ng

prefix <i class="Latn mention" lang="en">counter-</i>, sequence contr.


Krypton

(fiction, DC Comics fictional milieu) A fictional planet, the native world of Superman, named after the element krypton.