tittle

From Middle English tytle, titel, titele, from Anglo-Norman titil, titule and Medieval Latin titulus (“small stroke, diacritical mark, accent”), from Latin titulus (“title”). Doublet of tilde, titer/titre, title, titlo, and titulus.

doublet

The foure pricks or tittles are these. The first is a full prick or period. The second is a comma or crooked tittle.

1590, Bales, The Arte of Brachygraphie (quoted in Daid King's 2001 'The Ciphers of the Monks')

The words "jot" and "tittle" in this passage refer to diacritic marks, that is, dashes, dots, or commas added to a letter to accentuate the pronunciation.

1965, P. A. Marijnen, The Encyclopedia of the Bible:

(the page calls both "a superscript sign (hooklike)" and also a diacritical abbreviation of "er" (er) "tittles")

1987, Andrea van Arkel-De Leeuw van Weenen, Möðruvallabók, AM 132 Fol: Index and concordance, page xii

A tittle is more or less the same thing (the dot over an i, for instance), except that it can be traced back to Medieval Latin for a little mark over or under a letter, such as an accent ague or a cedilla. I don't know whether an umlaut is one or two tittles. Maybe it's a jot and a tittle side by side.

2008, Roy Blount, Alphabet juice: the energies, gists, and spirits of letters:

(typography) Any small dot, stroke, or diacritical mark, especially if part of a letter, or of a letter-like abbreviation; in particular, the dots over the Latin letters i and j.


manchette

(printing) A vertical heading within a newspaper article.


frontispiece

frontispieces (plural)
frontispice (alternative archaic)

From Middle French frontispice, from Latin frontispicium, from frōns (“forehead”) + speciō (“to look at”). Spelling altered due to folk etymology, influenced by piece.

The viaduct was illustrated as a frontispiece to THE RAILWAY MAGAZINE of September, 1938. [In this case, the frontispiece is between the title page and the first article.]

1939 September, D. S. Barrie, “The Railways of South Wales”, in Railway Magazine, page 163:

(publishing) An illustration that is on the page before the title page of a book, a section of one, or a magazine.

(archaic, publishing) The title page of a book.


Courier

en-proper noun

Courier (countable and uncountable, plural Couriers)

(uncountable, typography) A monospace font that resembles the characters produced by a typewriter.


pyrokinesis

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

(parapsychology, fantasy, science fiction) The ability to set objects or people on fire or to supernaturally project fire from one's own being through the concentration of psychic power; the power to control fire.

控火

the ability to set objects or people on fire


superscript

en-noun

superscript (countable and uncountable, plural superscripts)

From Middle French superscript, from Latin superscriptus (“written above”). By surface analysis, super- + script.

In x², the 2 written in superscript means “to the power of two”.

(typography) A type of lettering form that appears as a number, figure, or symbol above the normal line of type, located at the right or left of another symbol or text.


superscript

en-verb

superscript (third-person singular simple present superscripts, present participle superscripting, simple past and past participle superscripted)

superscripts (present singular third-person)
superscripting (participle present)
superscripted (participle past)
superscripted (past)

The ambient or unsaturated value of a variable is superscripted with a "*".

1987, Pragasen Pillay, “Permanent magnet synchronous motor drives and brushless DC motor drives for servo applications”, Conference Record of the 1987 IEEE Industry Applications Society Annual Meeting (Part I), IEEE, page 387

(mathematics, sciences, typography, transitive, of a variable) To provide with a superscript.

Select the number or letter you want to superscript and, in the Font dialog box, enter an Offset percentage to tell PowerPoint how high to raise the number or letter.

2011, Peter Weverka, PowerPoint 2007 All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies:

(typography, transitive, of a text) To convert to a superscript form.


prosody

en-noun

prosody (countable and uncountable, plural prosodies)

From Middle French prosodie, from Latin prosōdia, from Ancient Greek προσῳδία (prosōidía, “song sung to music; pronunciation of syllable”), from πρός (prós, “to”) + ᾠδή (ōidḗ, “song”).

der

But the system of prosody in Samson plainly forbids extrametrical syllables in the midst of the line, and there is certainly no other example.

1894, Robert Bridges, Milton's Prosody, Oxford University Press, page 30:

(poetry) The study of poetic meter; the patterns of sounds and rhythms in verse.


slant

Late Middle English, from a variant of the earlier form dialectical slent, from Old Norse or another North Germanic source, cognate with Old Norse slent, Swedish slinta (“to slip”), Norwegian slenta (“to fall on the side”), from Proto-Germanic *slintaną. Probably influenced by aslant.

kalteva lokero

depression with sloping bottom to hold watercolors

Initial inquiries among professional typists uncover names like slant, slant line, slash, and slash mark. Examination of typing instruction manuals discloses additional names such as diagonal and diagonal mark, and other sources provide the designation oblique.

[1965, Dmitri A. Borgmann, Language on Vacation, page 240:

(typography) Synonym of slash ⟨ / ⟩, particularly in its use to set off pronunciations from other text.


wirehead

(science fiction) A person who has an electronic brain implant.


adaptation

en-noun

adaptation (countable and uncountable, plural adaptations)

adaptations (plural)
adaption (alternative rare)

/ˌædəpˈteɪʃən/

/ˌædæpˈteɪʃən/

/aˈɖæpˌʈeːʃan/

From French adaptation, from Medieval Latin adaptātiō, from Latin adaptō (“I fit, adjust, modify; I adapt, fit or adjust to”); see adapt. Equivalent to adapt + -ation.

der

Having partly a bibliographic value, and partly confirming the statements above as to Balzac's influence, the following details concerning theatrical adaptations of some of his novels may serve as a supplement to this chapter.

(countable, authorship) An artistic work that has been adapted from a different medium.


ascent

en-noun

ascent (countable and uncountable, plural ascents)

Formed from ascend on the model of descend/descent.

(typography) The ascender height in a typeface.


bathos

bathos (usually uncountable, plural bathoses)

Borrowed from Ancient Greek βάθος (báthos, “depth”). Employed ironically following Alexander Pope's Peri Bathous, lampooning various errors in contemporary writers.

bathos

unintentional failure at artistic effect

(literature, the arts) Risible failure on the part of a work of art to properly affect its audience, particularly owing to:

anticlimax: an abrupt transition in style or subject from high to low.

banality: unaffectingly clichéd or trite treatment of a topic.

immaturity: lack of serious treatment of a topic.

While a plain and direct Road is pav'd to their ὐψος, or sublime; no Track has been yet chalk'd out to arrive at our βάθος, or profund.

(literature, the arts) The ironic use of such failure for satiric or humorous effect.


chibi

chibi (countable and uncountable, plural chibis)

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

Borrowed from Japanese ちび (chibi, “something small; runt, dwarf; pipsqueak”)

bor+

(countable) A child-like character with exaggerated features, particularly in anime.

Since the eyes take up so much room on the chibi face, the head needs to be stretched and, therefore, usually ends up being oval-shaped to accommodate the oval-shaped eyes.

2013, Christopher Hart, Manga for the Beginner:

(uncountable) A style of cartooning in which the characters are drawn to be very small and cute.


neo

Ken Bulmer pointed out that the attitude of a fan who had read much sf is different from that of a neo who is reading sf for the first time.

1964 April 2, Bennett Ron, Skyrack, number 65:

This fabulous fannish cover illustrated the three stages of fandom: the neo, the trufan, and the BNF.

1976 August 25, Ian Maule, Checkpoint, number 72:

Edwina, and neofen of her generation (this is not a criticism - everyone starts out as a neo), being new to sffandom, and not a member of faandom, would not have noticed this.

1996 November 3, Richard J. Faulder, Gegenschein, number 80:

(dated, fandom slang, science fiction) Clipping of neofan.


paperback

en-verb

paperback (third-person singular simple present paperbacks, present participle paperbacking, simple past and past participle paperbacked)

paperbacks (present singular third-person)
paperbacking (participle present)
paperbacked (participle past)
paperbacked (past)

From paper + back, a shortening of the older term paper-backed book.

Max was anticipating paperbacking The Bodley Head's books in house rather than licensing the paperback rights to a third party, like Penguin, which reduced his royalties and might eventually lose him authors to vertical publishers.

2009, J. Adamson, Max Reinhardt: A Life in Publishing, page 71:

(transitive, publishing) To issue or publish (a book) in a paperback edition.


lolicon

en-noun

lolicon (usually uncountable, plural lolicons)

lolicons (plural)
lolicom (alternative)
loli-con (alternative)
lolikon (alternative)
roricon (alternative)
rorikon (alternative)

Borrowed from Japanese ロリコン (rorikon), clipping of ロリータ・コンプレックス (“Lolita complex”), culturally adapted from the 1966 American academic thesis of the same name that had its name by Russell Trainer, of itself taken from the Vladimir Nabokov novel Lolita and English complex (not from English Lolita complex, which comes from the Japanese term). Lolita comes from Spanish Lolita, diminutive of Lola, from the given name Dolores. By surface analysis, loli + -con (“abnormal sexual attraction”).

clipping

ロリータ・コンプレックス

surf

Innocence’s story—about female sex androids that kill their owners—is possible only in a Lolicon country like Japan. The androids are modeled after little girls[.]

2004, Patrick Macias, Tomohiro Machiyama, Cruising The Anime City: An Otaku Guide to Neo Tokyo, Stone Bridge Press, page 48:

A Japanese term derived from the English phrase “Lolita complex,” lolicon describes a fascination with cartoons of very young-looking girls engaged in varying degrees of erotic behavior.

2014 October 15, Matt Alt, “Pharrell Williams’s Lolicon Video”, in The New Yorker:

(uncountable, Japanese fiction) Attraction (often erotic) to young, typically prepubescent girls, or the fictional depictions thereof.

I don't need to hear you are becoming a lolicon.

1993 October 29, "Eldrick Tobin, Master of Perversion" (username), "The Arc: Joyful Noise Omakefic Unit 01: Sentenced: A Fanboys! Crossover "jnomk01.txt" (1/1)", in alt.hentai.sailor-moon, Usenet

Ken's a lolicon (pedophile).

1998 March 9, Chadwick Ngan, “BLAND Manga Capsules 3/4/98”, in rec.arts.manga (Usenet):

Hey, don't take me for a lolicon: I'm not! It is just that I find that kind of anime... fun, refreshing.

2000 July 6, OLF, i.e. Olf Le Fol, “:: chokes :: :: passes out ::”, in alt.hentai.sailor-moon (Usenet):

I like lolis, I consider myself a lolicon, but I'm not attracted to real children. Your argument fails immediately there since most lolicons are not attracted to real children. Am I a pedophile?

2016 July 14, Aiko_Hiroshi, Kono Bijutsubu ni wa Mondai ga Aru! Episode 2 Discussion:

Let me say it again, lolicon and pedo are a different thing. japanese people are just saying it lolicon because in their mind, they already implanted the word of lolicon as pedo, but in anime community, pedo and lolicon are a different thing. why make it different ? so that we can see the difference from people who likes "fictional" little girl and from people who likes "real" little girl.

2016 July 15, YizelTro, Kono Bijutsubu ni wa Mondai ga Aru! Episode 2 Discussion:

(countable, Japanese fiction) An individual who is attracted to underage girls.

If you are into bishojo, loli-con, or bishonen materials, be advised that customs *does* frown on what might be considered pornography.

1989 September 23, Mark Crispin, “bringing stuff into the US from Japan”, in soc.culture.japan (Usenet):

the whole gamut of lolicon and girls-with-guns genres

1993 March 27, Rafael Brown, “Anime Potrayal of Japanese Women”, in rec.arts.anime (Usenet):

Some critics of lolicon claim that those who enjoy it also necessarily enjoy real child porn […]

2006, Lawrence Eng, Otaku Engagements: subcultural appropriation of science and technology, page 168:

Bizarrely, viewing and collecting lolicon seems to have become a subcultural norm, especially in Japan, […]

2010, Sarah D. Goode, Understanding and Addressing Adult Sexual Attraction to Children: a Study of Paedophiles in Contemporary Society, page 29:

Most importantly, because German child pornography and child abuse laws forbid representation of children as sexual objects, there is a complete ban on shota or lolicon.

2010, Paul M. Malone, “From BRAVO to Animexx.de to Export”, in Boys’ Love Manga, page 33:

(uncountable, Japanese fiction) Erotic or suggestive artwork depicting underage girls.


typesetting

en-noun

typesetting (countable and uncountable, plural typesettings)

(typography) The setting or composition of written material into type.


flashback

→ German: Flashback

→ Spanish: flashback

→ Norwegian: flashback

→ Portuguese: flashback

(authorship) A dramatic device in which an earlier event is inserted into the normal chronological flow of a narrative.

salt enrere

a dramatic device in which an earlier event is inserted into the normal chronological flow of a narrative


dingbat

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

Unknown, US mid 19th century. The word-puzzle sense comes from the board game Dingbats, which is based on these puzzles.

"The compulsive editor, when checking the specs on an article, can't help checking also for such items as initial capital and closing dingbat, if they are used routinely. These decorative items have a way of being forgotten..."

1982, The Elements of Editing: A Modern Guide for Editors and Journalists, Arthur Plotnik, p.8

(typography) A special ornamental typographical symbol, such as a bullet, an arrow, a pointing hand etc.


tympan

As the pressman returns the inkballs to the inkstone, the journeyman closes the frisket and tympan.

2000, Richard L. Saunders, Printing in Deseret:

(printing) A piece of cloth padding placed under the platen of a letterpress to distribute the pressure on the sheet being printed.


typecast

en-verb

typecast (third-person singular simple present typecasts, present participle typecasting, simple past and past participle typecast or typecasted)

typecasts (present singular third-person)
typecasting (participle present)
typecast (participle past)
typecast (past)
typecasted (participle past)
typecasted (past)

Duensing has elected to resuscitate and typecast faces that in the main might be termed scholarly in nature […]

1967, “Inland Printer, American Lithographer”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), volume 159, part 2, page 116:

(printing, historical) To found type in a mold.


fascicle

From Latin fasciculus, a diminutive of fascis (“bundle”); see also fasces. Doublet of fasciculus.

The OED [Oxford English Dictionary] was initially published in a series of 125 slim fascicles between the years 1884 and 1928. The first complete edition in ten volumes was published in 1928.

1993, Donna Lee Berg, A Guide to the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 3:

I was inspired to prepare fascicles like this by the example of Charles Dickens, who issued his novels in serial form; he published a dozen installments of Oliver Twist before having any idea what would become of Bill Sikes!

2005, Donald E. Knuth, MMIX–A RISC Computer for the New Millennium (The Art of Computer Programming), volume 1, Addison-Wesley Professional, →ISBN, page iii:

The printed book appeared in a variety of forms during the course of its history in China. These included, among others, the “whirlwind” binding (xuanfeng zhuang), […] the “thread” binding (xianzhuang), a technical designation that refers to the silken or cotton filaments used to stitch together folded sheets of paper into fascicles.

2005, Anne Burkus-Chasson, “Visual Hermeneutics and the Act of Turning the Leaf”, in Cynthia Joanne Brokaw, Kai-wing Chow, editors, Printing and Book Culture in Late Imperial China, University of California Press, →ISBN, page 371:

(publishing) A discrete section of a book issued or published separately, generally as a temporary measure while the work is in progress.


episodic

en-adj

episodic (comparative more episodic, superlative most episodic)

more episodic (comparative)
most episodic (superlative)
episodick (alternative)

[ˌɛp.ɪˈsɑ.ɾɪk]

From episode + -ic. Compare French épisodique.

I just read five attempts at episodic novels — has nobody heard of a plot anymore?

(literature and television) Consisting of a sequence of seemingly unconnected episodes.


decima

Borrowed from Spanish décima, from Latin decima (“a tenth”). Doublet of decim, decime, and dime.

His album... dealt with the song form of Puerto Rican back-country troubadours, and it had a preoccupation with... the décima, a 10-line stanza with specific rhyme schemes.

(poetry) A 10-line verse or stanza, (chiefly) in the form of a song comprising an introductory verse followed by four such divisions.


clustering

(writing) A prewriting technique consisting of writing ideas down on a sheet of paper around a central idea within a circle, with the related ideas radially joined to the circle using rays.


frigate

From French frégate, from Italian fregata, of uncertain origin.

Frigates are light escort and scouting vessels. They often have extensive GARDIAN systems to provide anti-fighter screening for capital ships, and carry a squad of marines for security and groundside duty. Unlike larger vessels, frigates are able to land on planets.

2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Starships: Frigates Codex entry:

(fiction) A warship or space warship, inspired by one of the many historic varieties of frigate.


battlecruiser

battlecruisers (plural)
battle cruiser (alternative)
battle-cruiser (alternative)

Blend of battleship + cruiser, from being a cruiser-like ship with battleship-like capabilities and possibly operating in the battleline.

(fiction) A warship of intermediate size and/or capability between a heavy cruiser and a (light) battleship.


short story

(literature) A work of fiction that is shorter than a novella.


envoy

From French envoyé (“envoy, messenger”), from envoyer (“send”).

(poetry) Alternative spelling of envoi (“short stanza at end of poem”).


teleplay

(authorship) A script formatted like a screenplay for cinema, but written to be made into an episode of a television show.


screenplay

screenplays (plural)
screen play (alternative)

I know Corinne would be happy if I started writing scripts again. Since my last screenplay, I haven't written anything in over four months.

(authorship, cinematography) A script for a movie or a television show; especially, the former specifically.


lead out

en-verb

lead out (third-person singular simple present leads out, present participle leading out, simple past and past participle leaded out)

leads out (present singular third-person)
leading out (participle present)
leaded out (participle past)
leaded out (past)

(printing, historical, transitive) To pad out (text) by inserting lead slugs between words.


macaronic

en-adj

macaronic (comparative more macaronic, superlative most macaronic)

more macaronic (comparative)
most macaronic (superlative)
maccaronic (alternative)
macaronick (alternative obsolete)

/ˌmækəˈɹɑnɪk/

From New Latin, 1517 coinage, macaronicus, from Italian (Neapolitan dialect) maccarone (“coarse dumpling”).

(literature) Written in a hodgepodge mixture of two or more languages.


macaronic

macaronics (plural)
maccaronic (alternative)
macaronick (alternative obsolete)

/ˌmækəˈɹɑnɪk/

(literature) A work of macaronic character.


háček

háčeks (plural)
háčky (plural)
haček (alternative)
hacek (alternative)
hachek (alternative)
haċek (alternative)
hatcheck (alternative)
hatschek (alternative)
hatchek (alternative)
hacheck (alternative)
hac̬ek (alternative)
haczek (alternative)
hácek (alternative)
haĉek (alternative)
haceck (alternative)

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

First attested in 1951; from the Czech háček (“háček”, literally “little hook”), the diminutive of hák (“hook”) (from Middle High German hāken, from Old High German hāko (“hook”), from Proto-Germanic *hakô (“hook”), from Proto-Indo-European *keg-, *keng- (“peg, hook”)) + the diminutive suffix -ek. Cognate with and formed like English hooklet and German Häkchen. Also cognate with Old English haca (“hook, door-fastening”) and modern English hake (more information below).

cog

The caret (ˇ), háček, is used over the following consonants: c, d, n, t, r, s, and z to indicate the soft sound.

1948, Bohumil Emil Mikula, Progressive Czech (Bohemian), page 6:

Linguistic forms had to be set in ordinary roman type and the capital C of Cäxa had to be left without a háček.

1951, Hans Jakob Polotsky, Notes on Gurage Grammar, page 5:

Good Teutonic Kitsch looks rather forlorn and out of place wearing a Bohemian háček over its shrunken hind quarters. But the high traditions of scholarship must be maintained, and on these pages Meester Kitsch will masquerade as Mr. Kič.

1956, Morris Halle, editor, For Roman Jakobson, page 332:

In the system used here and elsewhere in this article for Bantu tone, low syllables are unmarked, high syllables have an acute accent, and rising syllables a haček respectively; thus a, á, ǎ.

1966, Charles Ernest Bazell et al., editors, In Memory of J.R. Firth, page 205:

The printer had no hatchek — the flattened “v” that appears over letters in Czech — to put over Dvořak’s R. So somebody laboriously inked in all the hatcheks.

1991, Peter Hugh Reed, American Record Guide, LIV:ii, page 69:

háček used to signify the third tone (wǔ — ‘five’)

2002, Torbjörn Lundmark, Quirky QWERTY, page 34:

Another orthographic practice […] was developed […] in the twentieth century: this is the adoption of the hacek for the representation of the Cypriot postalveolar fricatives and affricates, which are otherwise not distinguished by the normal characters of the Greek alphabet alone. It was not until very recently, therefore, that the spellings <σ̌>, <τσ̌>, <ζ̌> and <τζ̌>, for [ʃ], [tʃ], [ʒ] and [dʒ] respectively, became available.

2005, Stavroula Varella, Language Contact and the Lexicon in the History of Cypriot Greek, page 46:

My father always wrote Bětik with a little “v” called haĉek, above the “e”; Marušaks placed the haĉek above the “s”.

2006, Mary Betik Trojacek, Beyond Ellis Island, page 17:

For examples of the usage of other forms of this term see Citations:háček, Citations:haček, Citations:hacek, Citations:haċek, Citations:hachek, Citations:hatcheck, Citations:hatschek, Citations:hǎcek, Citations:hatchek, Citations:hacheck, Citations:hac̬ek, Citations:haczek, Citations:háçek, Citations:hácek, Citations:haĉek, Citations:haceck and Citations:háčky.

diacritical mark
diacritical mark#English

(orthography and typography) A caron; a diacritical mark (ˇ) usually resembling an inverted circumflex, but in the cases of ď, Ľ, ľ, and ť resembling a prime (′) instead.

Ǎǎ Čč Ďď Ěě Ǧǧ Ȟȟ Ǐǐ J̌ǰ Ǩǩ Ľľ Ňň Ǒǒ Řř Šš Ťť Ǔǔ Ǚǚ Žž Ǯǯ DŽDždž Ǆǅǆ

acute accent

diacritics used in Latin-derived scripts

comma

above right ( ̕); below ( ̦), reversed (ʽ), turned (ʻ)

hook

above ( ̉); palatal ( ̡), retroflex ( ̢), rhotic (˞)

tilde

above (˜); below ( ̰), double ( ͠ ), middle / overlay ( ̴), vertical ( ̾)


ranger

/ˈɹeɪnd͡ʒə(ɹ)/

(literature, roleplaying games) A warrior character, often with wilderness and stealth skill, who typically travels the countryside.


empathic

en-adj

empathic (comparative more empathic, superlative most empathic)

more empathic (comparative)
most empathic (superlative)

(science fiction) Of, pertaining to, or being an empath: of or having the capability of sensing the emotions of others.


quadrat

Attested since 1683. Possibly from French cadrat or Italian quadrato (“square”), from Latin quadrātum (“square”). Doublet of quadrate and of etymology 1 above. So called because the basic quadrat, the em quadrat, has a square face, having the same width as the height of a line of type.

If his Title be ſhort, he Sets it in the middle of the Line, by Setting Quadrats on both ſides: If his Title be long, he Sets the middle Line in the middle: If it make three or more Lines, he Indents the firſt with an m Quadrat, and the other with two m Quadrats.

1683, Joseph Moxon, Mechanick Exercises: Or, the Doctrine of Handy-Works. Applied to the art of Printing., volume 2, pages 222–23:

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

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

(letterpress typography, obsolete) A quad; a blank metal block used to fill space in lines of type.


excelsior

Excelsior (Longfellow)
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Stan Lee

From Latin excelsior, comparative of excelsus (“high”). The name of the stuffing material was originally a trademark. As an exclamation, originating in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem Excelsior (1841), based on the New York state motto. Popularized in the comic book fandom by Marvel Comics editor Stan Lee, who chose the term to sign off his columns as it was an obscure term and would confound competing publishers who imitated his style.

pedia

Excelsior (Longfellow)#Adaptations and parodies

Excelsior (Longfellow) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

MARTIN PRINCE: Finally, Bart's one of us!
NERDS: Excelsior!

1993, Frank Mula, “The Last Temptation of Homer”, in The Simpsons, season 5, episode 9:

He makes a fake snorting noises with his nose and says “Excelsior to you too then, man” as he pushes up imaginary glasses on his face as if I'm the nerd.

2014 November 10, Matthew L. Williams, Truth Is, You're Still Dreaming, AuthorHouse, →ISBN:

Comic-Con International in San Diego is the exemplar of the con experience. Hold your breath, prepare your Sonic Screwdriver or Batarang, and dive right in. Excelsior!

2018 April 1, Lonely Planet, Mark Andrew, Amy C Balfour, Sarah Baxter, Andrew Bender, Sara Benson, Alison Bing, Nate Cavalieri, Lisa Dunford, Tom Hall, Lonely Planet Experience USA, Lonely Planet, →ISBN, page 224:

(fandom slang, especially comics) A greeting, farewell or acclamation.


excelsior

(US printing, dated) The size of type between Norse and brilliant, standardized as 3-point.


baria

bareia (alternative)
varia (alternative)

(orthography and typography) An Ancient Greek pitch-marking diacritic: ⟨ ` ⟩; written atop vowels, it denotes normal or low pitch.


periplus

en-noun

periplus (plural peripluses or peripli or periploi)

peripluses (plural)
peripli (plural)
periploi (plural)
periplous (alternative)

/ˈpɛɹɪˌplʌs/

From Latin periplūs (“account of a voyage”) and Ancient Greek περίπλους (períplous, “voyage, naval manouver, account of a voyage”), from περί (perí, “peri-: around”) + πλοῦς (ploûs, “voyage”), from πλεῖν (pleîn, “to swim”). Cf. French périple, Spanish periplo, & Italian periplo.

der

Then follows a Periplus of the Euxine-Sea, which bears the name of Arrian, and was undoubtedly written by him in the time of Adrian, as the inſcription ſhews.

1738, Pierre Bayle, John Peter Bernard, Thomas Birch, John Lockman [et al.], “Hudson (Dr. John)”, in A General Dictionary, Historical and Critical, volume VI, London: Printed by James Bettenham, for G. Strahan, J. Clarke [et al.], →OCLC, page 300, footnote B:

The Periplûs of the Erythrêan Sea is the title prefixed to a work which contains the beſt account of the commerce carried on from the Red Sea and the coaſt of Africa to the Eaſt Indies, during the time that Egypt was a province of the Roman Empire.

1800, William Vincent, The Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, volume I, London: Printed by Andrew Strahan, Printers Street; for Thomas Cadell, Jun. and W. Davies […], →OCLC, page 3:

Another great source of geographical information both for the ancients themselves and, so far as they still exist, for us also, are the Peripli (περίπλοι), that is, descriptions of the coasts of certain seas, in which the towns, ports, and promontories are enumerated, and often with their distances from one another. These peripli were drawn up for the guidance of sailors who had occasion to visit these seas for commercial and other purposes.

1859, Leonhard Schmitz, “Period of Historical Geography, from about B.C. 450, the Age of Herodotus, down to B.C. 276, or the Time of Eratosthenes”, in A Manual of Ancient Geography … With a Map Showing the Retreat of the 10,000 Greeks under Xenophon, Philadelphia, Pa.: Blanchard and Lea, →OCLC, page 25:

[…] the map of the world Ptolemy followed in his geography, finding the longitude that passed through the Gates of Herakles and the island of Rhodes, and placing north and south of it the world as recorded on the periploi of the Phoenician merchants.

1974, Guy Davenport, Tatlin!: Six Stories, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →ISBN:

A periplus of the Mediterranean: Greek sailing directions The following excerpt from one of the most complete periploi was attributed in the nineteenth century to the Greek merchant Scylax of Caryanda, known to have traded with settlements not only along the Red Sea but also on the shores of the Indian Ocean.

1978, “Periplus and Periegesis: Greek Maritime Writings”, in George Kish, editor, A Source Book in Geography (Source Books in the History of the Sciences), Cambridge, Mass., London: Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 24:

Listing cities along a coast, periploi gave details about sailing conditions, harbors, what the area imported or exported, what tariffs to expect, whether the people were friendly or not, and what noteworthy landmarks and marvels (mirabilia) one might expect to see. Hanno, whose periplus of Africa (circa 480 bce) was aborted when supplies ran out, described strange peoples and animals, including Trogodytes clad in animal skins and wild men, called "gorillas."

2016, Georgia Lynette Irby, “Greek and Roman Cartography”, in Georgia L. Irby, editor, A Companion to Science, Technology, and Medicine in Ancient Greece and Rome, volume II, Chichester, West Sussex, Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 827:

(literature) An account of a voyage, particularly those of Hanno and Arrian, recording ports and coastal landmarks.


curly

en-adj

curly (comparative curlier, superlative curliest)

curlier (comparative)
curliest (superlative)

(typography) Curling in a direction, as opposed to straight (quotation marks or apostrophes)

courbe

(typography) curling in a direction, as opposed to straight (quotation marks or apostrophes)


realist

(art, literature) An adherent of the realism movement; an artist who seeks to portray real everyday life accurately.


Apollonian

/æpəˈləʊnɪ.ən/

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

From Latin Apollō (Apollōn-) + -ian and Apollonius/Apollonia + -an.

2008, C. G. Stevenson, The Apollonian Appearance: The Being from the Planet Apollo, →ISBN:

At first, when the Apollonians converged on her, Mary Theresa thought she had made a major mistake by going to the battle.

2013, Jim Henry, Universal Life Force Series Featuring Antiquity Calais Vol. 1-3, →ISBN:

The last person who tried this kind of appeal was actually the new vessel -- an Apollonian, one I knew briefly.

2013, James Bartholomeusz, The Grey Star, →ISBN, page 17:

(science fiction) A native of the planet Apollo.


sans serif

sans serifs (plural)
sanserif (alternative)
sans-serif (alternative)

/ˌsɑ̃ ˈsɛɹɪf/

(typography) A typeface in which the characters do not have serifs.


sans serif

/ˌsɑ̃ ˈsɛɹɪf/

sanserif (alternative)
sans-serif (alternative)

If you have some sans-serif fonts on your computer, you can play this game, too.

2008, Clay Shirky, Gin, Television, and Cognitive Surplus:

(typography) Of a typeface, without serifs.


Lunarian

From the stem of Latin lunaris (“of the moon, lunar”) + -ian.

(science fiction) An inhabitant of Earth's Moon (Luna): either an indigenous one or a human one.


Lunarian

(science fiction) Pertaining to the inhabitants of Luna (Lunarians).


Mercurian

(science fiction) An inhabitant of the planet Mercury.


Plutonian

From Pluto (“dwarf planet in the Solar System”) + -n- + -ian (suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘from, related to, or like’, or nouns meaning ‘one belonging to, relating to, or like’), probably influenced by Plutonian (“of or relating to Pluto, Greek and Roman god of the underworld”) (see etymology 1).

affix

The Plutonians, who are almost extinct, once held a superscience that they have largely lost. Early Plutonian visits to Earth survived in folk memory as the devil, since Plutonians are gigantic, with horns, hooves, and tail.

1998, Everett F[ranklin] Bleiler, Richard Bleiler, “[Story Descriptions.] 1423. THE EARTHMAN’S BURDEN. Astounding Stories, June 1931, Ill. Paul.”, in Science-Fiction: The Gernsback Years: A Complete Coverage of the Genre Magazines Amazing, Astounding, Wonder, and Others from 1926 through 1936, Kent, Oh., London: Kent State University Press, →ISBN, page 409, column 1:

(chiefly science fiction) An inhabitant of the dwarf planet Pluto.


Solarian

en-adj

Solarian (comparative more Solarian, superlative most Solarian)

more Solarian (comparative)
most Solarian (superlative)

(chiefly science fiction) Of or relating to the Sun.

He grinned at the profanity that came out of the communicator-speaker. Then—back at the irreverently nicknamed Galloping Cow which was the base ship of the Extra-Solarian Research Institute expedition to this star-cluster—McRae cut off.

1947 April, Murray Leinster, “Skit-Tree Planet”, in Thrilling Wonder Stories, volume 30, number 1, page 42:

(chiefly science fiction) Of or relating to the Solar System.

The Solarian one-man ships were even smaller than the Nigrian one-man ships, and some of these did a tremendous amount of damage.

1930 Fall, John Wood Campbell, “The Black Star Passes”, in Amazing Stories Quarterly, volume 3, number 4, page 521:

(chiefly science fiction) Of or relating to the inhabitants of the Solar system.


Solarian

It will be proved that a Solarian, supposing him to have a stature equal to our own, would do as much work as seven of our cultivators; and yet the Solarians are the happiest of beings; their lot is the highest degree of happiness to which we can aspire until the epoch when there shall exist stars of a more exalted rank, that are not yet to be found in our young universe.

1851, Charles Fourier, The Passions of the Human Soul, page 225:

"There has been another dive since our meeting, Jacob, and on that dive, we are told, only the first and more prosaic species of Solarian was observed. Not the second variety which has caused Dr. Kepler so much concern." Jacob was still confused by the hurried explanations Kepler had given of the two types of Sun-creatures so far observed.

(science fiction) An inhabitant of the Sun.

The small ships of the Nigrians were beginning to take a terrific toll in the thin ranks of the Solarians. The coming of the Rocket Squad had been welcomed indeed!

Is it true that all Terrans, and other Solarians are frightfully rich, and go simply everywhere, and do as they please, and that almost nobody works?

1956 August, Charles Stearns, “The Golden Ones”, in Science Fiction Quarterly, volume 4, number 4, page 30:

(chiefly science fiction) An inhabitant of any part of the solar system of the Sun.


Mrs. Claus

Mrs. Clauses (plural)
Mistress Santa Claus (alternative)
Mrs Claus (alternative)
Mrs Santa Claus (alternative)
Mrs. Santa Claus (alternative)

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

A relatively new gala, the Celebrate Santa Convention boasts a sea of Santas, Mrs. Clauses, elves, and reindeers, […]

2011, Kristin Luna, Tennessee Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities & Other Offbeat Stuff, Guilford, Conn.: Globe Pequot Press, →ISBN, page 167:

In normal years, he runs a roving school for Santas and Mmes. Claus and supplies a workforce of bearded men to malls and corporate events around the country. […] He led a neighborhood tree-lighting in a blue surgical mask with a Mrs. Claus friend near his apartment in Upper Manhattan, and a few buddies volunteered for a socially distanced Christmas parade.

2020 December 25, Emma Green, “The Christmas Crisis”, in The Atlantic, archived from the original on 2020-12-25:

“Why do I get the feeling that ‘we’ includes me?” I said warily. “Of course it includes you. You’re Mrs. Claus.” She reconsidered. “One of the Mrs. Clauses, at any rate. I signed you up for two shifts and some cookies. Surely that’s not too much to ask?”

2021, Liz Ireland, Mrs. Claus and the Halloween Homicide, Kensington Books, →ISBN:

In 1937, a Michigan school was established in Midland, and it has been training Santas and Mrs. Clauses for eighty-five years.

2022, Bill Loomis, Christmas in Detroit, Charleston, S.C.: The History Press, →ISBN, page 67:


frisket

And while the Tympan is coming, he slips his Left Hand Fingers from under the Frisket to the hither outer corner of it, as well to keep the Sheet close to the Tympan in its position, as to avoid the jobbing of the lower side of the Frisket against the small square shoulder

1677–1683, Joseph Moxon, “(please specify the page)”, in Mechanick Exercises, or The Doctrine of Handy-Works, […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: […] Joseph Moxon, published 1678–1683, →OCLC:

As the pressman returns the inkballs to the inkstone, the journeyman closes the frisket and tympan.

2000, Richard L. Saunders, Printing in Deseret:

(printing) A thin frame in a printing press that holds the sheet of paper in position and acts as a mask.


couplet

From French couplet, from couple + -et. Doublet of cabaletta.

(literature) A pair of lines, typically with rhyming end words.

բեյթ

in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words


spondaic

From Latin spondaicus, spondiacus, from Ancient Greek σπονδειακός (spondeiakós, “(music) used at a libation”).

der

(poetry) Having or relating to spondees.


trochaic

trochaics (plural)
troch. (alternative abbreviation)
trochaick (alternative obsolete)

Either via the French trochaïque or directly from its etymon, the Latin trochaicus, from the Ancient Greek τροχαικός (trokhaikós), from τροχαῖος (trokhaîos), whence trochee.

(poetry) A poetical composition of this kind.


cryokinesis

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

(fantasy, science fiction) The psychic ability to control and create ice and cold temperatures.


aerokinesis

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

(fantasy, science fiction) A telekinetic ability to control the movement of air.


parataxis

en-noun

parataxis (usually uncountable, plural parataxes)

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek παράταξις (parátaxis, “placement side by side”), from παρα- (para-) + τάξις (táxis, “arrangement”); equivalent to para- + taxis.

lbor

(literature) The juxtaposition of two images or fragments, usually starkly dissimilar, without a clear connection.


Verfremdungseffekt

Verfremdungseffekte (plural)
verfremdungseffekt (alternative)

Borrowed from German Verfremdungseffekt.

Brecht's famous ‘Verfremdungseffekte’^([sic]) or ‘alienation effect’, intended to counter the magical associations of stage illusion and the tendency for spellbound audiences to identify emotionally with characters on stage, both of which Brecht found abhorrent.

1997 May, Clive Barker, Simon Trussler, editors, New Theatre Quarterly, volume 13, number 50, page 114:

(theater, literature) Brecht's distancing effect.


terza rima

en-noun

terza rima (usually uncountable, plural terze rime)

/ˌtɛːtsə ˈɹiːmə/

Borrowed from Italian terza rima (literally “third rhyme”).

bor

In attempting to make the ‘Divina Commedia’ better known to English readers, it might have been held only a fitting mark of deference to my original to reproduce it, if practicable, in the metre of the poet's own choice. But on the appearance of my ‘Inferno,’ its Terza Rima was denounced as the one ‘deleterious ingredient’ which corrupted the version throughout, […]

1865, Dante Alighieri, “preface”, in John Dayman, transl., The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: Translated in Terza Rima by John Dayman, page viii:

(poetry) An arrangement of triplets, generally in iambic pentameter in English, with rhyme scheme aba bcb cdc.

тэрцы́на

arrangement of triplets rhyming aba bcb cdc


slush

en-noun

slush (usually uncountable, plural slushes)

Most likely imitative; related to slosh.

(publishing) Unsolicited manuscripts, as in slush pile.


backlist

(publishing) A list of older books available from a publisher, as opposed to the frontlist of more recent titles.

The celebrity tell-all has been proposed as a frontlist title, whereas the cookbook has been proposed as a backlist title and the food history book as a midlist title.

(publishing, attributively, of books being planned) Expected to achieve years of adequate sales while on a backlist, and to be profitable on that basis, even if predicted not to sell in huge numbers when new.


backlist

en-verb

backlist (third-person singular simple present backlists, present participle backlisting, simple past and past participle backlisted)

backlists (present singular third-person)
backlisting (participle present)
backlisted (participle past)
backlisted (past)

(transitive, publishing) To place (a book) on a backlist.


polymorph

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

(fiction) The transformation of an item or creature into something different by magic.


polymorph

polymorph (third-person singular simple present polymorphs, present participle polymorphing, simple past and past participle polymorphed)

polymorphs (present singular third-person)
polymorphing (participle present)
polymorphed (participle past)
polymorphed (past)

I got hemmed in by the werewolf again and, in desperation, tried an experimental new wand on it; and polymorphed it into a black pudding.

1999, Robin Johnson, “My gnomish healer has been having a rough time of it”, in rec.games.roguelike.nethack (Usenet):

(fiction, ambitransitive) To transform into something different by magic.


genki

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

Borrowed from Japanese げんき (“energetic, peppy”).

bor+

(anime and manga) A playful, hyperactive girl.


genki

en-adj

genki (comparative more genki, superlative most genki)

more genki (comparative)
most genki (superlative)

Akira, the genki red head, is accosted by Kyouko, a predatory blond girl in her high school.

2009 July 7, Dave Baranyi, “Aoi Hana - Blue Flowers for a Blue Girl”, in rec.arts.anime.misc (Usenet):

(anime and manga, typically of a girl) Playful and hyperactive.


feyness

en-noun

feyness (countable and uncountable, plural feynesses)

(Shetland, folklore, countable) A ghost resembling a living person, seeing which is an omen of that person's death.


adrenochrome

adrenochrome (countable and uncountable, plural adrenochromes)

“[…]He's one of these Satanism freaks. He offered me human blood—said it would make me higher than I'd ever been in my life,” he laughed. “I thought he was kidding, so I told him I'd just as soon have an ounce or so of pure adrenochrome—or maybe just a fresh adrenalin gland to chew on.”

1971, Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, New York: Popular Library, →ISBN, page 132:

It also revives old slurs, but instead of openly accusing Jews of drinking the blood of gentile children, various euphemisms are employed: “Coastal elites,” “Hollywood,” and “George Soros” are now said to be harvesting a chemical called adrenochrome to prolong their life spans.

2020 September 30, Helen Lewis, “The Joke’s on Us”, in The Atlantic:

(fiction) A fictional drug obtained from human adrenal glands.


boards

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

nonlemma

non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger

His new novel just came out in boards. The paperback will follow in about a year.

(publishing, informal) A hardcover binding on a book.


versification

en-noun

versification (countable and uncountable, plural versifications)

(poetry) The act, art, or practice of composing poetic verse; the construction or measure of verse or poetry; metrical composition.


interrogative

/ˌɪn.təˈɹɒɡ.ə.tɪv/

/ˌɪn.təˈɹɑ.ɡə.tɪv/

[ˌɪn.təˈɹɑ.ɡə.ɾɪv]

/ˌɪn.təˈɹɔɡ.ə.tɪv/

[ˌɪn.təˈɹɔɡ.ə.ɾɪv]

There be five manner of points and divisions most used among cunning men; the which if they be well used, make the sentence very light and easy to be understood, both to the reader and hearer: and they be these, virgil,—come,—parenthesis,—plain point,—interrogative.

Whoever introduced the several points, it seems that a full-point, a point called come, answering to our colon-point, a point called virgil answering to our comma-point, the parenthesis-points and interrogative-point, were used at the close of the fourteenth, or beginning of the fifteenth century.

1842, F. Francillon, An Essay on Punctuation, page 9:

(typography, archaic) Synonym of question mark ⟨?⟩.


timestream

timestreams (plural)
time stream (alternative)

By killing his great-grandfather, the time traveller disrupted the timestream.

The slightest excess of effort might upset the balance at any point of the time stream, sending them backward into the past or forward into the future independently of my will.

[1931 December, Eric Temple Bell, “The Time Stream”, in Wonder Stories:

The timestream is littered with these blank areas.

Two different timestreams running parallel but at different speeds. Amy, you're in a faster timestream.

2011, Tom MacRae, “The Girl Who Waited”, in Nick Hurran, director, Doctor Who, season 6, episode 10, spoken by The Doctor (Matt Smith):

(science fiction, mythology) A metaphorical conception of time as a stream, or flowing body of water.


lithographic

(printing) Related to the method of lithography.


erlking

erlkings (plural)
Erlking (alternative)
erl-king (alternative)

Partial calque of German Erlkönig (literally “alder-king”), a mistranslation of Danish ellerkonge (“king of the elves”).

pcal

This line, and indeed the whole passage (lines 653-664), allude to the well-known poem by Goethe about the erlking, hoary enchanter of the elf-haunted alderwood, who falls in love with the delicate little boy of a belated traveler.

1962, Charles Kinbote [pseudonym; Vladimir Nabokov], Pale Fire, New York, N.Y.: Berkley Books, published November 1985, →ISBN:

So easy for one young son to be swallowed up in a world teeming with Erlkings, real and imagined.

2010, Rachel Billington, The Missing Boy, Hachette, →ISBN:

He was in the forest looking to see the trees / But none were there / He found a girl / She found the erlking

2012, ミラクルミュージカル, “Murders”, in Hawaii: Part II:

By now, he seems less a cartoon character than some contemporary Erlking, the malicious spirit made famous by Goethe (and Schubert) but found originally in a Danish ballad.

2018 October 22, Carol Rumens, “Poem of the week: Three Poetesses by Kristín Ómarsdóttir”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(European folklore) In German literature and modern folklore, a malicious elf or spirit who preys on children.


apostrophic

All we need to know is that, in Shakespeare’s time, an apostrophe indicated omitted letters, which meant Hamlet could say with supreme apostrophic confidence: “Fie on’t! O fie!”; […]

2003 November 6, Lynne Truss, “The Tractable Apostrophe”, in Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, London: Profile Books Ltd, →ISBN, page 38:

(orthography) Pertaining to the grammatical use of, or using, the apostrophe (the diacritical mark ').

apostrófico

pertaining to the apostrophe (the diacritical mark ')


terrene

en-adj

terrene (comparative more terrene, superlative most terrene)

more terrene (comparative)
most terrene (superlative)

From Middle English terrene, from Anglo-Norman terriene, feminine of terrien, from Latin terrēnus, from terra (“earth”).

(science fiction) Made of matter (as opposed to antimatter).


imprimatur

en-noun

imprimatur (plural imprimaturs or imprimantur)

imprimaturs (plural)
imprimantur (plural)

/ˌɪm.pɹɪˈmɑː.tə/

/ˌɪm.pɹɪˈmɑː.tʊə/

/ɪmˈpɹɪmətə/

/ɪmpɹɪˈmɑtʊɹ/

/ɪmˈpɹɪmətɚ/

/ɪmˈpɹɪmətʊɹ/

From Latin imprimātur (“let it be printed”), third person singular present subjunctive passive form of imprimere (“to imprint”).

The Cheats · A Comedy · Written in the Year, M.DC.LXII. Imprimatur, Roger L'estrange. Nov. 5. 1663. By John Wilson

1664, John Wilson, The Cheats, publication info page

Sometimes 5 Imprimaturs are ſeen together dialogue-wiſe in the Piatza of one Title page, complementing and ducking each other with their ſhav'n reverences, whether the Author, who ſtands by in perplexity at the foot of his Epiſtle, ſhall to the Preſſe or to the ſpunge.

1644, John Milton, Areopagitica; a Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing, to the Parlament of England, London: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 8:

(printing) An official license to publish or print something, especially when censorship applies.


mech

mech (countable and uncountable, plural mechs)

(science fiction) A large piloted combat robot.

But I reprogrammed the recognition codes, and they won't treat him as Roubor Transic, nor will they obey any order he gives them. He's Mr. X to the mechs, a casual human to be taken care of just as well as possible, but never, never released.

1999, Analog Science Fiction & Fact - Volume 119, page 55:

He particularly liked the box full of "companions," small, hand-held mechs with advanced AI functions, programmed as individual advice and information systems.

2001, Robert I. Katz, Edward Maret: A Novel of the Future, page 100:

She grew up in Lower Manhattan, suffering the impeccably programmed attentions of the nanny mechs that did the work her mother and father couldn't be bothered with.

2006, Lou Anders, Futureshocks, page 75:

After a round of hugs and kisses, they headed to the lounge where Genie met them at the door and escorted them to the new VIP section followed by a mech that took their drink orders.

2019, Ron S. Nolan, Met Chron New-Humans:


subtitle

(authorship) A heading below or after a title.


storyline

storylines (plural)
story line (alternative)

From story + line. The climate science usage is defined in the IPCC WG III AR5 report (2014).

That film had a wonderful storyline, but the poor acting let it down.


confessionalism

confessionalism (countable and uncountable, plural confessionalisms)

Confessionalism (poetry)
Confessionalism (religion)

Her rendition of "Dry Land" from her first album, Back to the Night, was a poetic fusion of music and lyrics that achieved an intimate tone too often sacrificed to confessionalism by other singers.

1977 April 23, Steve Blevins, “Armatrading: "Sit Back And See"”, in Gay Community News, page 11:

(poetry) A style of American poetry that draws on the personal history of the poet.


minum

(printing, obsolete) A small kind of printing type; minion.


Zaum

From Russian за́умь (záumʹ, literally “nonsense”).

bor

(literature) Linguistic experiments in sound symbolism and language creation, associated with futurist poets of the Russian Empire.


centauroid

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

(fantasy, science fiction) A creature resembling a centaur.


swash

en-noun

swash (countable and uncountable, plural swashes)

Scandinavian. Compare Swedish dialect svasska, Norwegian svakka, English dialect swack (“a blow”).

Yet Svvaſh-Letters, […] ought to have the Upper Sholder of that Svvaſh Sculped dovvn ſtraight, viz. to a Right Angle, or Square vvith the Face; […]

1683, Joseph Moxon, “Numb[er] VI. Applied to the Art of Printing.”, in Mechanick Exercises: Or, The Doctrine of Handy-Works. Applied to the Art of Printing. […], volume II, London: […] Joseph Moxon […], →OCLC, § 4 (Of Graving and Sculpting the Insides of Steel Letters), page 118:

There is a group of decorative swash initials, too.

1955, Club of Printing Women of New York, Antique, Modern & Swash: A Brief History of Women in Printing, page 18:

so swash versions of the capitals were produced as alternatives.

1986, Walter Tracy, Letters of Credit: A View of Type Design, page 163:

Tracy also wrote that the italic was too distinctive to combine well with the roman, and that the alternative swash characters made for the italic "prettify the text only at the expense of comforatable reading."

1992, Allan Haley, Typographic Milestones, page 110:

GX provides a mechanism for determining if a glyph is at the start or end of a text line (so swash substitutions could be made dependent on this) while Opentype ^([sic]) does not.

2004, George Williams, “Beyond Glyphs, Advanced Typographic Features of Fonts”, in Apostolos Syropoulos, Karl Berry, Yannis Haralambous, editors, TeX, XML, and Digital Typography, page 258:

The grim satisfied smile on the woman's pug face suggests that she is doing this primarily to take revenge upon the absent, so conspiciously absent husband: there is a happy violence in the very swash of her signature.

To differentiate between a swash and a flourish, note that swash is a typographical term that refers to the end of a letter that is extended in a curved flourish, and a flourish itself is just a decorative curl in general.

2020, Lisa Quine, Vintage Hand Lettering:

(typography) A long, protruding ornamental line or pen stroke found in some typefaces and styles of calligraphy.


swash

en-adj

swash (comparative swasher, superlative swashest)

swasher (comparative)
swashest (superlative)

The French compositor took the greek capitals for latin ones and sought out his swashest type to set the handwritten letters,

1936, Acta arithmetica - Volume 58, page 217:

The failing to avoid at all costs when using this type of capital is that of making them too swash.

1967, John Le F. Dumpleton, Teach Yourself Handwriting, page 45:

A couple of the swashest Italic capitals have gone over the top

2001, Typography 21: The Annual of the Type Directors Club, page 285:


saurian

From Sauria (suborder of lizards) + -an (suffix forming adjectives), under influence from earlier French saurien.

compound

After dinner we all went on deck and watched the unfamiliar scenes of a Capronian night--that is, all but von Schoenvorts. There was less to see than to hear. From the great inland lake behind us came the hissing and the screaming of countless saurians. Above us we heard the flap of giant wings, while from the shore rose the multitudinous voices of a tropical jungle--of a warm, damp atmosphere such as must have enveloped the entire earth during the Palezoic and Mesozoic eras.

1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp., →OCLC; republished as chapter VI, in Hugo Gernsback, editor, Amazing Stories, (please specify |part=I to III), New York, N.Y.: Experimenter Publishing, 1927, →OCLC:

Good evening, fellow saurians, and welcome once again to the Tri-Sports Arena! I'm your host, Raz Charkov...

1986, Kevin Eastman & al., Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Vol. I, No. 6, page 15

(popularly, especially science fiction) Any large reptilian animal, including crocodiles and reptilian aliens.


cloaking device

en-noun

cloaking device (plural cloaking devices)

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

1968. Coined by D. C. Fontana in the script for the Star Trek episode The Enterprise Incident.

Spock: "I believe the Romulans have developed a cloaking device which renders our tracking sensors useless."

1968, The Enterprise Incident (Star Trek), season 3, episode 2, Dorothy Catherine Fontana (actor):

Captain Needa: "They can't have disappeared. No ship that small has a cloaking device."

1980, The Empire Strikes Back, Leigh Brackett, Lawrence Kasdan, and George Lucas (actors):

I put out my hand and touched the warm surface of the camouflaged Rolls-Royce. I was going to ask Mycroft if I could have the cloaking device fitted to my Speedster but I was too late; enthused by my interest he had trotted off to a large roll-top bureau and was beckoning me over excitedly.

(science fiction) A device which renders a person or thing invisible.


backfill

backfill (countable and uncountable, plural backfills)

backfills (plural)
back-fill (alternative)

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

(literature) Material in a story set earlier in the past, providing history or context for the current action.


boldfaced

en-adj

boldfaced (comparative more boldfaced, superlative most boldfaced)

more boldfaced (comparative)
most boldfaced (superlative)
bold-faced (alternative)

(typography) Of text emphasized by being set in a font having thicker strokes, yielding a heavier or darker appearance.


boldface

en-noun

boldface (countable and uncountable, plural boldfaces)

(typography) A font that is dark, having a high ratio of ink to white space, written or drawn with thick strong lines.


Gotham

Salmagundi (periodical)
Washington Irving

“Homestead where goats are kept”, from Old English gāt (“goat”) + hām (“home”).
* (New York City nickname): First used 1807 by Washington Irving in his Salmagundi Papers.

(fiction) Ellipsis of Gotham City: a fictional city serving as the primary setting for the Batman franchise.


catchword

(printing, historical) A word under the right-hand side of the last line on a book page that repeats the first word on the following page.

siirtymäsana

word that repeats the first word on the following page


yaoi

yaoi (countable and uncountable, plural yaoi or yaois)

From Japanese やおい (yaoi), a blend of 山(やま)無(な)し (yama nashi, “no climax”) + 落(お)ち無(な)し (ochi nashi, “no point”) + 意味(いみ)無(な)し (imi nashi, “no meaning”), originally mocking those who criticised early yaoi works for being too focused on sex scenes instead of storylines.

ja-blend

(Japanese fiction) A narrative or visual work featuring a romantic or sexual relationships between two or more men.


installment

installments (plural)
instalment (alternative)

A 1732 alteration of estallment, from Anglo-Norman estaler (“fix payments”), from Old French estal (“fixed position”), from Old High German stal (“stall", "standing place”)
The sense of "part of a whole produced in advance of the rest" is from 1823.

der

With The Two Towers, the new installment of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, about to storm the box office, we are seeing what might be called the enchanting of America.

2010, Michael A. Cramer, Medieval Fantasy as Performance, →ISBN, page ix:

It is a serial story which we are all reading, and which grows in vital interest with each successive installment.

2012, Charles W. Chesnutt, The Marrow of Tradition, →ISBN:

(publishing, media) A part of a published or broadcast serial.


FTL

en-noun

FTL (countable and uncountable, plural FTLs)

They had been slowly trailing the freighter for over a week, waiting for the ship to drop out of FTL.

2016, A.K. Brown, Jumpstart (Champagne Universe Series: Book 1), page 19:

(science fiction) Initialism of faster-than-light.


logline

loglines (plural)
logge-line (alternative)
log lyne (alternative)
logg line (alternative)
logg-line (alternative)
loggline (alternative)
log line (alternative)
log-line (alternative)

First attested in 1613 as logge-line. A compound of log + line.

Screenwriting Tip #12: If you don't know your own logline, you probably don't know what your script is about. Some writers will tell you they don't have a logline. Their screenplay is “too complex” or “too character-driven,” […]

2013, Xander Bennett, Screenwriting Tips, You Hack, page 16:

The first step in outlining is to make sure that your logline, that one-or-two- sentence summary of your movie you first created in chapter 2 (“Jump-starting the Screenplay”), is the best that it can be in capturing what your movie is about now.

2013, Linda Venis, Cut to the Chase: Writing Feature Films with the Pros at UCLA Extension Writers' Program, Penguin, →ISBN:

(authorship) A very short summary of a script or screenplay.


introversion

introversion (usually uncountable, plural introversions)

/ɪntɹəʊˈvɜːʃən/

/ɪntɹəˈvəɹʒən/

/ɪntɹəˈvəɹʃən/

/ɪntɹoʊˈvəɹʃən/

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

From New Latin intrōversio, from intrōvertere (“to turn within”), from Classical Latin intro (“within”) and vertere (“to turn”). Equivalent to introvert + -sion.

Such introversion is merely a matter of form.

1896, Richard Green Moulton, The Literary Study of the Bible, page 50:

(poetry and literature) Arrangement of two similar words, lines, etc. to form the middle part of a structure.


lockup

(printing, historical) A device for locking type into position for printing.


logotype

(typography) A single type combining two or more letters (as a ligature or otherwise).


redshirt

/ˈɹɛd.ʃəː(ɹ)t/

Redshirt (college sports)
Star Trek: The Original Series
Starfleet
redshirt (stock character)

Calque of Italian camicia rossa, equivalent to red + shirt. In later senses with reference to the uniforms or outfits worn by such people. The fandom slang sense emerged from the tendency of red-uniformed Starfleet officers to die in episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series.

Sensing danger, Captain Kirk decided to beam down to the surface with Spock, McCoy, and a couple of redshirts.

I am not a goddamn redshirt! I have a purpose!

2017, 42m, in 12 Monkeys, season 3, episode 6:

(fiction, science fiction, fandom slang) An unimportant character introduced only to be killed in order to underscore the peril to the important characters; an expendable character.


poulter's measure

poulter's measure (plural poulter's measures)

Coined by George Gascoigne in 1576, because it was said that poulters gave 12 eggs for the first dozen and 14 if you bought a second dozen.

Good ladies, ye that have your pleasure in exile
Step in your foot, come take a place and mourn with me awhile.
And such as by their lords do set but little price,
Let them sit still, it skills them not what chance come on the dice.

1547, Earl Surrey, Complaint on the absence of her lover being at sea.:

(poetry) A metre with alternate lines of 12 and 14 syllables.


go to bed

en-verb

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

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

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-go to bed.wav

Already attested in Old English as tō bedde gān.

The army newspaper "went to bed" several hours before the civilian one, […]

1949, Max Eisen, How to Increase Daily Newspaper Circulation, page 43:

So gone are the days when a Vanguard reporter who had gone to cover an assignment in Victoria Island may not get to his office at Kirikiri before the newspaper went to bed because the reporter was held back by the usual Lagos traffic jam.

2007, Ikechukwu Enoch Nwosu, E. O. Soola, Communication in Global, ICTs and Ecosystem Perspectives, page 238:

(printing) Of a newspaper: to finish being prepared for printing.


mara

Borrowed from Old Norse mara, from Proto-Germanic *marǭ, cognate with Old English mare or mære. Doublet of mare. See nightmare.

The corpus of related texts tells us that within rural society it was not improbable for your neighbour's envy of your fine cattle to take the form of a mara.

1996, Catharina Raudvere, “Now you see her, now you don't: some notes on the conception of female shape-shifters in Scandinavian traditions”, in Sandra Billington, Miranda Green, editors, The Concept of the Goddess, pages 41–55:

(European folklore) A nightmare; a spectre or wraith-like creature in Germanic and particularly Scandinavian folklore; a female demon who torments people in sleep by crouching on their chests or stomachs, or by causing terrifying visions.

խիպիլիկ

(folklore) a nightmare; spectre or wraith-like creature


kenning

A learned borrowing from Old Norse kenning, from kenna (“to know; to perceive”), from Proto-Germanic *kannijaną (“to make known”); see further at etymology 1. Compare can, keen, ken.

der

[A]s we are all aware, the Skalds used all sorts of kennings from Jewels, Gold, Silver, &c., to betoken Women, &c. Gold is called "The Sea's Blink (Blik)", and so on, and a female is "Gold's Mistress", "The Goddess of the Golden Jewel", and so forth.

1867–1868, George Stephens, “Bracteates”, in The Old-Northern Runic Monuments of Scandinavia and England, Now First Collected and Deciphered, volume II, London: John Russell Smith; Copenhagen: Michaelsen and Tillge; printed by H. H. Thiele, →OCLC, pages 509–510:

I venture to say that a close study of the style of Piers Plowman would thoroughly dispose of alliteration as chief factor in the kenning-process.

1887 January, Francis B. Gummere, “Wilhelm Bode: Die Kenningar in der angelsächsen Dichtung. Mit Ausblicken auf andere Litteraturen. Darmstadt und Leipzig, 1886. [Strasburg Dissertation].”, in A. Marshall Elliott, editor, Modern Language Notes, volume II, number 1, Baltimore, Md.: [Johns Hopkins Press], →ISSN, →OCLC, column 36:

If we now move to the second helmingr, Kock tries to unscramble the two kenningar[…], but this is over-zealous, since there are ample parallels for such braiding of kenning elements. Finnbogi interprets the kenning 'ǫrbeiðanda bǫðvar jǫkla' contextually, to mean 'the one who provoked the warrior into drawing his sword' (Orkneyinga saga, 202).

2006, Viking and Medieval Scandinavia, Turnhout, Antwerp, Belgium: Brepols, →OCLC, page 149:

The original also makes frequent use of the circumlocutory type of poetic expression known as the kenning, which consists (in its simplest form) of a base-word (always a noun, sometimes the second of the two elements in a compound word) accompanied by a determinant (either a noun in the genitive or, in the case of a compound-word kenning, the first of the compound's two elements).

2007, Andrew Wawn with Graham Johnson and John Walter, editors, Constructing Nations, Reconstructing Myth: Essays in Honour of T. A. Shippey (Making in the Middle Ages; 9), Turnhout, Antwerp, Belgium: Brepols, →ISBN, page 172:

(poetry) A metaphorical compound or phrase, used especially in Germanic poetry (Old English or Old Norse) whereby a simple thing is described in an allusive way.

kenning

metaphorical phrase used in Germanic poetry


Augustan

From the Latin Augustānus, from Augustus, a Roman emperor who ruled a period of peace and prosperity known as the Pax Romana or Pax Augusta.

Aug. (alternative)
Augustian (alternative)
Augustin (alternative)

(literature) Pertaining to the Roman poetic literature during this time.

Jonathan Swift was an Augustan writer.

(literature) Pertaining to the period of English literature during the first half of the 18th century, known for satire and political themes.

augustuslainen

relating to the era in English literature


nuk

(comics) The sound of a pacifier being suckled on.


dele

en-verb

dele (third-person singular simple present deles, present participle deleing, simple past and past participle deled)

deles (present singular third-person)
deleing (participle present)
deled (participle past)
deled (past)

From Latin dēlē, second person singular imperative of dēleo (“delete”). Alternatively, a clipping of deleatur.

(printing, usually imperative) To delete.


biokinesis

(parapsychology, science fiction) The ability, through the use of psychic power, to affect organic matter on a microscopic level, to manipulate the physiology (e.g. heart rate, breathing, nervous system or brainwaves) and voluntary motor functions of other people or living organisms, inducing processes such as accelerated healing, etc.


transdimensional

en-adj

transdimensional (comparative more transdimensional, superlative most transdimensional)

more transdimensional (comparative)
most transdimensional (superlative)
trans-dimensional (alternative)

A concentrated hyperplasma of Energon, drawn via a transdimensional gateway from the endless supply of Energon that enlivened the planet Cybertron itself.

2010, Alexander Christian Irvine, Exodus: The Official History of the War for Cybertron, Titan, →ISBN, page 198:

(science fiction) Relating to a dimension higher than those of the normal four-dimensional world.


closure

en-noun

closure (countable and uncountable, plural closures)

From Middle English closure, from Old French closure, from Late Latin clausura, from Latin claudere (“to close”); see clausure and cloture (etymological doublets) and close.

The comic book reader performs closure within each panel, between panels, and among panels.

2009, Randy Duncan, Matthew J. Smith, The Power of Comics: History, Form and Culture, page 166:

(comics) The process whereby the reader of a comic book infers the sequence of events by looking at the picture panels.


midline

(typography) The level of the top of the x-height of a typeface.


dipody

From di- + -pody, from Ancient Greek δι- (di-, “two”) and πούς, ποδός (poús, podós, “foot”).


set out

en-verb

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

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

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

(transitive, obsolete, printing) To arrange the necessary type into a printing press in preparation to run it.


camel case

camelcase (alternative)
camelCase (alternative)
CamelCase (alternative)

From camel + case (“nature of a piece of alphabetic type”), probably modelled after lowercase and uppercase, from a fancied resemblance of the capital letters to the humps of a two-humped camel.

compound

Near-synonyms: intercapping, intercaps

In the SMIL 1.0 specification, test criteria were hyphenated (e.g., system-bitrate and system-screen-size). This was deprecated by the SMIL 2.0 specification in favor of camel case attributes to be consistent with other developing standards.

2001 September, Jennifer Niederst, “Introduction to SMIL”, in Lorrie LeJeune, Richard Korman, editors, Web Design in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference, 2nd edition, Sebastopol, Calif.: O’Reilly Media, →ISBN, page 457:

It's common practice to name private members in camelCase, that is with an initial lower case letter and a capital for the start of each word.

2003, Rob Birdwell [et al.], “Introduction to Objects”, in Beginning ASP.NET 1.0 with C#, Wrox Programmer to Programmer, Wiley Publishing, →ISBN, page 298:

Write element and attribute names in a style called "CamelCase." Elements reflecting an entity should be written in UpperCamelCase; elements and attributes reflecting a property should be written in lowerCamelCase.

2003, Berthold Daum, Udo Merten, “Groundwork”, in System Architecture with XML, San Francisco, Calif.: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, →ISBN, page 81:

Type and attribute names, and occasionally variable names, are traditionally written using camel case (with the first word lowercased and subsequent words title-cased, like dateTime), although there are exceptions to this rule (such as anyURI and QName), and some people prefer hyphenated lowercase words (like local-name).

2004 January, Michael Brundage, “Practical Examples”, in XQuery: The XML Query Language, Boston, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, →ISBN, part III (Application), pages 195–196:

RadioShack is an example of a company name that uses camel case. In some cases, technology uses camel case, such as VistaVision, which is a widescreen format for movies. It's little wonder that camel case appears in application code—everyone already knows how to use it. […] Microsoft and other industry leaders have modified the standard use of camel case. When you talk about camel casing for .NET, what you really mean is that the first letter of each word, except the first word, is capitalized. For example, if you want to create a variable that contains the background color for an object, you might call it backColor.

2009, John Paul Mueller, “Coding the Application”, in C# Design and Development (Expert One-on-One), Indianapolis, Ind.: Wrox Programmer to Programmer, Wiley Publishing, →ISBN, page 243:

CamelCase is a common way of writing variable names in programming. It allows the programmer or someone reading their code to easily parse long variable names. […] The key feature of camelCase is that it allows multiple words to be combined into one with a medial capital letter at the beginning of each original word. It is named camelCase because it looks a bit like the humps on a camel's back.

2023, Jenny Gibson Bond, “Variables and Components”, in Mark Taub, editor, Introduction to Game Design, Prototyping, and Development, 3rd edition, Boston, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, →ISBN, part II (Programming C# in Unity):

computer programming
computer programming

(typography, often programming) Especially in computer programming, and in the names of brands and organizations: a style of typography in which several words are concatenated together without any spaces between them, with the first letter of each word (sometimes excluding the first word) capitalized.


set off

en-verb

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

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

(printing, historical) To deface or soil the next sheet; said of the ink on a freshly printed sheet, when another sheet comes in contact with it before it has had time to dry.


lock up

lock up (third-person singular simple present locks up, present participle locking up, simple past and past participle locked up)

locks up (present singular third-person)
locking up (participle present)
locked up (participle past)
locked up (past)

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

(obsolete, printing) To fasten quoins securely with a mallet and a shooting-stick.


blackface

en-noun

blackface (countable and uncountable, plural blackfaces)

blackfaces (plural)
Blackface (alternative)

The laboratory procedure in the most important tests and methods is printed in blackface type for convenience of reference.

1917, Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, Journal - Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania, →OCLC:

(uncountable, countable, typography) Synonym of boldface.


ecumenopolis

ecumenopolis (plural ecumenopolises or ecumenopoleis or ecumenopoli)

ecumenopolises (plural)
ecumenopoleis (plural)
ecumenopoli (plural)

desc

ეკუმენოპოლისი

→ Georgian: ეკუმენოპოლისი (eḳumenoṗolisi)

From ecumene (“inhabited world”) + -polis (“city”).
From use as a common noun of Ecumenopolis, applying the concept to diverse scenarios. Ultimately from Ancient Greek.

suffix

(chiefly science fiction) A city spanning an entire planet or large moon.


diegetic

/ˌdaɪəˈd͡ʒɛtɪk/

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek διηγητικός (diēgētikós).

lbor

(fiction) Existing within a fictional universe (rather than as background), and able to be perceived by the characters.


fleuron

From Old French floron (“flower”), spelling later changed to match modern French fleuron.

Fleurons include ❦, 🙐, 🙘, 🙠, 🙨, ☘, 🙬, 🕊, ✾, 𐡷, 𐫱.

(typography) A decorative typographic element, used to separate passages or simply for decoration. Often doubled, e.g. 🙚 🙘 or 🙘🙚, or combined with other fleurons into a short line.


overprint

en-verb

overprint (third-person singular simple present overprints, present participle overprinting, simple past and past participle overprinted)

overprints (present singular third-person)
overprinting (participle present)
overprinted (participle past)
overprinted (past)

/ˈəʊvə(ɹ)ˌpɹɪnt/

/ˌəʊvə(ɹ)ˈpɹɪnt/

(printing) To overlap different colours to avoid gaps.


wingding

After the Wingdings font developed by Microsoft in 1990. Its name was presumably derived from dingbat and earlier senses of wingding.

Instead of going through the menu selections needed to insert a special symbol like a Wingding, you can rely on AutoCorrect to substitute the symbol for the text you type […]

2004, Mary Millhollon, Katherine Murray, Microsoft Office Word 2003 Inside Out, page 202:

Don't know a wingding from a ring-a-ding-ding? Check out one of the For Dummies books on Microsoft Office.

2011, Suzanne Gilad, Copyediting and Proofreading For Dummies, page 179:

(computing, typography) A dingbat (ornamental typographical symbol), especially one from the Wingdings font.


keep down

keep down (third-person singular simple present keeps down, present participle keeping down, simple past and past participle kept down)

keeps down (present singular third-person)
keeping down (participle present)
kept down (participle past)
kept down (past)

(obsolete, printing) To refrain from using capital letters more than absolutely necessary.


multidimensional

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

(science fiction, New Age religion) a being that exists in more than one dimension


duple

PIE word
 *dwóh₁
From Latin duplus (“twofold, double”). Attested since the 16th century. Doublet of double and doppio.

McGonagall is earnestly trying to gather the resources of a metrical tradition, not subvert it, but the mismatch of duple and triple measure in the first line alone means that, while it’s made of recognisable metrical feet, the line doesn’t feel like it belongs to any specific metrical pattern (iambic, dactylic, anapestic etc) or mode (pastoral, elegy or ballad).

2015, Ben Lerner, “Diary”, in London Review of Books, volume 38, number 12:


Tarzan

Coined by Edgar Rice Burroughs. A name created by Burroughs for his fiction.
Means "white skin" in the apes' fictional language; possibly echoic in its phonetics of various "exotic" names (see Orientalism).

(fiction) A heroic fictional character, raised in the jungle by apes.


oddment

(printing) A part of a book that is not a portion of the text, such as the title, index, etc. (usually plural).


imposition

en-noun

imposition (countable and uncountable, plural impositions)

From Middle English imposicioun, from Old French imposicion, from Latin impositio.

(printing) Arrangement of a printed product’s pages on the printer's sheet so as to have the pages in proper order in the final product.


italicized

Claire, however, sat looking profoundly unamused by her family’s spirited, italicized conversations.

1991, Douglas Coupland, “It Can't Last”, in Generation X, New York: St. Martin's Press, →OCLC, page 34:


duodecimo

Latin ablative of duodecimus (“twelfth”) (from duodecim 'twelve', from duo 'two' + decem 'ten')

(paper, printing) A size of paper, so called because it is originally made by folding and cutting a single sheet from a printing press into 12 leaves; (5 by 7¾ inches): 6.5 to 7.5 inches high, approximately 4.5 inches wide.

In recent years, I have taken to reading while walking. I believe the Romantics were guilty of such behavior; a duodecimo was small enough to fit into a jacket pocket.

2015, William Logan, “A Critics Notebook”, in Guilty Knowledge, Guilty Pleasure, page 304:

(printing) A book having pages of that size.


cauchemar

(folklore) A demon or witch in French folklore that drains a sleeping person's energy by night.


flitter

Then all three went out to the flitter. A tiny speedster, really; a torpedo bearing stubby wings and the ludicrous tail-surfaces, the multifarious driving-, braking-, side-, top-, and under-jets so characteristic of the tricky, cranky, but ultra-maneuverable breed.

1941 July, Edward Elmer Smith, “The Vortex Blaster”, in Comet Stories, volume 1, number 5, page 10:

Small flitters were powered and made ready, and everything that carried manual controls was inspected and cleared for action.

1944 March, George Oliver Smith, “Circle of Confusion”, in Astounding Science Fiction, volume 33, number 1, page 54:

The small flitters carried by the Queen for exploration work held with comfort a two-man crew—with crowding, three.

1955, Alice Mary Norton (as Andrew North), Sargasso of Space, page 53:

The flitter tumbled from the shimmering throat of the wormhole transit route from Port Sol to Earthport.

1994, Stephen Baxter, Ring, →ISBN, page 43:

(science fiction) A small aircraft or spacecraft.


headband

From Middle English *hedband, from Old English hēafodbænd, hēafodbend (“headband”), equivalent to head + band. Cognate with Old High German houbitbant (“headband”), Dutch hoofdband (“headband”).

(printing) A thin slip of iron on the tympan of a printing press.


line feed

(typography) On a typewriter, the action of the carriage roller to push the page up one or more lines, often simultaneously with executing a carriage return.


line feed

en-verb

line feed (third-person singular simple present line feeds, present participle line feeding, simple past and past participle line fed)

line feeds (present singular third-person)
line feeding (participle present)
line fed (participle past)
line fed (past)

(typography) To advance the page one line at a time, particularly in rapid succession.


descender

(typography) The part of a letter or number that is drawn below the baseline (the bottom of most lowercase letters).

(typography, uncommon) A letter that has such a portion, such as g, j, or in some fonts Q.


hot metal

A Fleet Street veteran of the hot-metal days, he had moved to the Mediterranean and spotted an anglophone niche among the marinas and yacht brokers.

2000, JG Ballard, Super-Cannes, Fourth Estate, published 2011, page 127:

In the mid-80s, most British newspapers were still produced using hot metal, despite the widespread use elsewhere of modern offset litho technology.

2011 July 27, Jon Henley, “Rupert Murdoch and the battle of Wapping: 25 years on”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

hot metal typesetting
hot metal typesetting

(printing) Printing type cast from molten metal; hot metal typesetting.


kavya

(poetry) A highly artificial Sanskrit literary style used by Indian court poets in the early centuries AD.


synth

(science fiction) A synthetic humanoid, an android, a robot, a clone


improvisatore

en-noun

improvisatore (plural improvisatores or improvisatori)

improvisatores (plural)
improvisatori (plural)
improvvisatore (alternative)

There were buffoons, there were improvisatori, there were ballet-dancers, there were musicians, there was Beauty, there was wine.

1842, Edgar Allan Poe, The Masque of the Red Death:

(poetry) An individual who recites impromptu verse, as from a song or poem.


distributor

distributors (plural)
distributour (alternative obsolete)
distributer (alternative rare)

(printing, historical) A machine for distributing type.

(printing, historical) An appliance, such as a roller, in a printing press, for distributing ink.


underprint

en-adj

underprint (comparative more underprint, superlative most underprint)

more underprint (comparative)
most underprint (superlative)

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

(printing) The addition of colour under black areas to produce a deeper black and prevent oversaturation of the paper.


redcap

redcaps (plural)
red cap (alternative)
red-cap (alternative)

From red + cap.
In sense of "porter", 1890s US; compare contemporary Japanese 赤帽 (akabou), Chinese 小紅帽 /小红帽 (Xiǎo Hóng Mào). On Labor Day, 1890, John Williams, an African-American railway porter, tied a red ribbon to his black uniform cap to stand out from the crowd at Grand Central Terminal. The strategy was so successful that it was soon adopted by others in the profession, leading to the synecdochic use of redcap as a term for all railway porters.

1876: Porter & Coates (pub.), Reliques of Ancient English Poetry
Lord Soulis he sat in Hermitage Castle,
And beside him Old Redcap sly; —
"Now, tell me, thou sprite, who are meikle of might,
The death that I must die?"

"What's a Brownie?" you say. Oh, it's a kind of a sort of a Bogle, but it isn't so cruel as a Redcap! What! you don't know what's a Bogle or a Redcap!

1890, Joseph Jacobs, English Fairy Tales:

[…] the goblin had aroused the mercenary's ire. This seemed to bring out a formidable and hitherto unrecognized talent in the taciturn young man.
"Why cam' ye by my door?" The redcap brandished his pikestaff menacingly.
Redcap - A malevolent goblin easily distinguishable by their namesake red cap, fiery red eyes, claws and iron boots. They often appear as little old men, but can run very fast despite the boots. They reside in castles and watchtowers along the English-Scottish border, but will move their residence to avoid detection. They have sharp eagle’s talons which they use for weapons, but can easily be repelled simply by reading holy verse. http://www.vf11.com/legendsofvalhal/legendsofvalhal-post-814.html

2002, Cecilia Dart-Thornton, The Ill-Made Mute: The Bitterbynde:

After boggarts, they studied Red Caps, nasty little goblinlike creatures that lurked where there had been bloodshed […]

1999 July 8, J. K. Rowling [pseudonym; Joanne Rowling], Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter; 3), London: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN:

(British, folklore) A type of evil goblin or imp.


nanite

I had the nanites install the brackets, then climbed up there with the panels, placed them on the brackets, and had the nanites secure them.

2017, Stephanie C. Fox, New World Order Underwater, page 76:

Disperse into a cloud of nanites.

2021 August 11, Thomas Happ, Axiom Verge 2, Nintendo Switch, description for Tilhar

"Anyway," their guide continued, "he didn't know the first thing about tech. Pushed the team hard. We couldn't get a chemical solution that worked right, but nanites showed real promise."
"You're joking." Quinn didn't even try to keep the horror from her voice.
"Memory-altering nanite clouds?" Tonya growled. "What did they call this, Project Grey Goo? That's wildly irresponsible."

2023 June 25, HarryBlank, “Transposthumousism”, in SCP Foundation, archived from the original on 2024-12-18:

“A nanite cluster has infested the resort, consuming metal to self-replicate. Starfleet has ordered us to humanely capture and study the microscopic robots.”

2024 October 31, Stephanie Amante-Ritter, “The Best Exotic Nanite Hotel” (0:48 from the start), in Star Trek: Lower Decks, season 5, episode 3, spoken by Carol Freeman (Dawnn Lewis):


apologetic apostrophe

en-noun

apologetic apostrophe (plural apologetic apostrophes)

While not all agreements were carried out as planned, what this attempt at consistency achieved in Smith's case was to give his poetry the appearance of a distinctive literary language, related to English, but having its own identity and forms, and without the distraction for the reader of the apologetic apostrophes.

2009, Margery Palmer McCulloch, Scottish Modernism and Its Contexts 1918-1959:

(sociolinguistics, orthography) An apostrophe added to a Scots word in order to give the appearance that it is a contraction of an English word.


3 D (alternative)
three-D (alternative)
three-dee (alternative)
threedee (alternative)

No, the slightest imbalance there would have alarms flashing all over the room. Probably it was the fact that he knew the threedee was a little out of whack.

1969, Dave Van Arnam, Starmind, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, page 14:

(science fiction) A system capable of recording or displaying three-dimensional video.

A man Ellaby's own size was sitting there, viewing a 3D. When he heard Ellaby at the door he got up.

1955 January, Martin Lesser, “The Dictator”, in Imagination, volume 6, number 1, page 85:

(science fiction) A three-dimensional video.


mandrake

mandrake (countable and uncountable, plural mandrakes)

From Middle English mandrake, mandroke, an alteration of mandragora with the ending -dragora reinterpreted as related to dragon and replaced with native drake, from Old English mandragora, from Medieval Latin mandragorās.

(folklore) A kind of tiny demon immune to fire.


Augustin

From French Saint-Augustin (“14-point type”).

(printing, French contexts, dated) Synonym of English.


ice bucket

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

(science fiction, slang, humorous) A pod or similar device containing a person in cryosleep.


plucking

plucking (countable and uncountable, plural pluckings)

Letterpress and offset gloss varnishes normally have viscosities varying from 50 to 250 poises; they must stain the paper as little as possible, have insufficient tack to cause plucking, […]

1959, E. A. Apps, Printing Ink Technology, page 415:

(printing) The undesirable situation in which printed ink becomes detached from the paper.


angle bracket

Any of a number of angle-shaped brackets.

(typography, mathematics) Either of a pair of symbols, ⟨ ⟩, used to enclose text in various technical contexts, and in mathematical formulas to denote an interval, a continuous parameter or an inner product.

(typography) Either of a pair of symbols, 〈 〉, used in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean punctuation.


slipstream

slipstream (countable and uncountable, plural slipstreams)

Compound of slip + stream. Fiction sense coined by cyberpunk author Bruce Sterling in 1989.

coin

Slipstream is not simply a mixture of fantasy and realism, but something which lies between or even beyond the two.

2000, Damien Broderick, quoting Justina Robson and Rozanne Rabinowitz, Transrealist Fiction: Writing in the Slipstream of Science, Greenwood Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 88:

(uncountable, fiction) A genre of fantastic or non-realistic fiction that crosses conventional genre boundaries.


strikeover

(printing) Strikeover or strikeout text, i.e., fonts where each letter appears to be "crossed out".


colour bar

colour bars (plural)
color bar (alternative)

(printing) A pattern of varying tonal density that enables visual and numeric comparisons to be made across multiple printed sheets or pages.


shapeshifter

shapeshifters (plural)
shape-shifter (alternative)

/ˈʃeɪpʃɪftə/

The shapeshifter Lisa Bowalk, unable to shed the guise of a black panther, had gone onto the plain as a prisoner but was not now to be found among the dead above or the Captured down below.

Like the teller of shapeshifter stories—who conjures a shifting world of perceptions and expectations for his or her audience that is strikingly similar to the worlds created by the shapeshifter for its victims—the cultural practice of imagination...is an inherently shifty enterprise....

2003, Michael Bathgate, The Fox's Craft in Japanese Religion and Folklore: Shapeshifters, Transformations and Duplicities:

There have also been verified reports of fire-starters and ice-makers and a shapeshifter so powerful she was able to frame another Smallville citizen for a bank robbery!

Granted, Grace is talking about actual transformation, but she's a shapeshifter. For her, growing a couple inches taller is like an alternative to wearing high heels.

2015 January 30, Dan Shive, “Comic for Friday, Jan 30, 2015”, in El Goonish Shive - EGS:NP, archived from the original on 2022-08-13:

“The Jem'Hadar? You fought the Dominion? Ah. The shapeshifters sent many warriors to Sto-vo-kor. I wish I could have seen it.” “No, you do not. There was no honor, just massacres.” “But in the end you were victorious.” “Starfleet is supposed to be about puzzling together the mysteries of life, not fighting wars. I don't want to be a general. I don't, I don't want to send my friends off to die. I just want to be an ensign. If it was good enough for Sito, then it's good enough for me.”

2023 October 26, Mike McMahan, “The Inner Fight” (16:32 from the start), in Star Trek: Lower Decks, season 4, episode 9, spoken by Ma'ah (Jon Curry):

“Oh, no! That house belongs to shapeshifters. [spits]” “Fuck.” “You're kidding me, right?” “Shapeshifters are... extremely freaky.” “They are awful, abhorrent creatures that use the most ancient of sorcery to transform into whatever murderous, all-powerful shape their wicked hearts desire. And now, they have infiltrated our street.” “I have had horrible experiences with shapeshifters in the past. I was once in a relationship with a woman for four years who then transformed into a possum. I stayed with her for six more months, but then I just had to end it.”

2024 November 11, Jake Bender & Zach Dunn, “Laszlo's Father” (1:34 from the start), in What We Do in the Shadows, season 6, episode 6, spoken by Nadja of Antipaxos (Natasia Demetriou):

(fantasy, mythology, science fiction) A person or creature capable of changing their appearance or form at will.

canviaformes

creature capable of changing its appearance


cast off

en-verb

cast off (third-person singular simple present casts off, present participle casting off, simple past cast off or casted off, past participle cast off)

casts off (present singular third-person)
casting off (participle present)
cast off (past)
casted off (past)
cast off (participle past)

To conserve type, copy was "cast off"; that is, type needed for the initial pages was estimated so that the pages need not be composed in the same sequence as the copy.

2012, Christa Jansohn, Problems of Editing, page 102:

(printing, historical) To estimate the amount of space required by the type used for the given copy.


warbird

(science fiction) A heavily-armed starship.


funnies

And I'm turning to the horoscope and looking for the funnies / When I'm feeling someone watching me and so I raise my head

1987, “Tom's Diner”, in Suzanne Vega (lyrics), Solitude Standing:

(comics) The section of a newspaper containing comic strips.


deathless

en-adj

deathless (comparative more deathless, superlative most deathless)

more deathless (comparative)
most deathless (superlative)

Her novels are filled with unforgettable characters and deathless prose.

"We cannot do less than call it Ixodes Maloni. The very small inconvenience of being bitten, my young friend, cannot, I am sure, weigh with you as against the glorious privilege of having your name inscribed in the deathless roll of zoology."

1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

Finally, one voice in England proclaimed him a deathless dramatist and portrayer of character (Morgann) (<422).

2000, Jacques Barzun, From Dawn to Decadence, HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 516:

(of a work of art, literature, etc.) Guaranteed not to be lost or forgotten due to its importance or conspicuous excellence.


tracking

en-noun

tracking (countable and uncountable, plural trackings)

(typography) A consistent adjustment of space between individual letters; letterspacing.


spacing

spacing (countable and uncountable, plural spacings)

He was a laconic old soul who loved spacing only a jot better than he loved Martian alky.

1949 February 7, Alfred Coppel, “Runaway”, in Planet Stories, volume 4, number 2 (Spring):

Shepard: You don't seem too broken up about your partner's death.
Pitne For: Dakni Kur knew the risks when he took to spacing. Right now, my worry is me.
Pitne For: It's unhealthy to be a volus in the Nos Astra spaceport right now. Especially a volus named Pitne For!

2010, BioWare, Mass Effect 2: Normandy Crash Site (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, PC, scene: Nos Astra spaceport, Illium:

(science fiction) The activity of working or living in outer space; the occupation of a spacer.


humaniform

(science fiction, robotics) A robot resembling a human.


fairy dust

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

Based on the story of the fictional character Peter Pan, see quotations.

Of course Peter had been trifling with them, for no one can fly unless the fairy dust has been blown on him.

1911, J[ames] M[atthew] Barrie, “Come away, Come away!”, in Peter and Wendy, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 54:

(fiction) A magical powder that would give the power of flight to whoever it was sprinkled on.


okurigana

(orthography) In the Japanese language, the kana which follow a stem written with kanji, which record how that stem is inflected, and guides recognition of the appropriate kun'yomi reading (word stem associated with the kanji); for example, く (ku) and かべる (kaberu) in 浮(う)く (uk-u, “to float”, intransitive) and 浮(う)かべる (uk-aberu, “to float”, transitive), or む (mu) and きる (kiru) in 生(う)む (umu, “to birth”) and 生(い)きる (ikiru, “to live”). Perhaps analogous to -st, -nd in English 1st (first), 2nd (second).


black spot

black spot (countable and uncountable, plural black spots)

black spots (plural)
blackspot (alternative)

I went down on my knees at once. On the floor close to his hand there was a little round of paper, blackened on the one side. I could not doubt that this was the black spot; and taking it up, I found written on the other side, in a very good, clear hand, this short message: “You have till ten to-night.”

1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC, part I (The Old Buccaneer), page 31:

(fiction) A fictional judicial device among pirates, consisting of a black circle indicating condemnation.


borganism

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

The word and concept are derived from the Borg, a race of cyborgs in the fictional Star Trek universe with a hive mind that operates as one.

(rare, idiomatic, science fiction, politics) Some forms of government.


xenoarchaeology

(science fiction) A fictional science concerned with the physical remains of alien cultures that may be found on planets which have been inhabited or visited by extraterrestrials.