mist

en-verb

mist (third-person singular simple present mists, present participle misting, simple past and past participle misted)

mists (present singular third-person)
misting (participle present)
misted (participle past)
misted (past)

The noun is from Middle English mist, from Old English mist (“mist; darkness; dimness (of eyesight)”), from Proto-Germanic *mihstaz (“mist, fog”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃migʰstos, from the root *h₃meygʰ- (“cloud, fog, drizzle”). Cognate with Scots mist (“mist, fog”), West Frisian mist (“mist”), Dutch mist (“mist”), Swedish mist (“mist, fog”), Icelandic mistur (“mist”), West Frisian miegelje (“to drizzle”), Dutch dialectal miggelen, miegelen (“to drizzle”), Lithuanian miglà (“fog”), Sanskrit मेघ (megha, “cloud”), Russian мгла (mgla, “fog, haze”).
The verb is from Middle English misten, from Old English mistian.

inh

(printing, of ink) To disperse into a mist, accompanying operation of equipment at high speeds.


stereo

en-noun

stereo (countable and uncountable, plural stereos)

A shortened form of stereotype, stereoscope or stereophonic, all originally derived from Ancient Greek στερεός (stereós, “solid”).


ancora

From Latin ancora. Doublet of anchor and anker.

(palaeography) Either of the symbols ⟨⸔⟩, ⟨⸕⟩ found in marginal notes to mark missing text.


greeking

If text gets smaller than this value, [Adobe] Illustrator shows the text blocks as gray bars, an operation called greeking. Both type size and view size figure into the equation, so that 6-point type greeks at 100-percent view size and 12-point type greeks at 50 percent. Greeking speeds the screen display because gray bars are easier to draw than individual characters.

2002, Deke McClelland, “The Interface”, in Real World Adobe Illustrator 10, Berkeley, Calif.: Peachpit Press, →ISBN, pages 46–47:

Designers have long worked with a concept known as greeking. Greeking is a method of drawing gray bars to represent blocks of text rather than taking the time to image them all on the screen. […] Unless you really want to see every character of every word at every size, there's hardly any reason to turn greeking off.

2007, David Blatner, Gene Gable, Real World QuarkXPress 7, Berkeley, Calif.: Peachpit Press, →ISBN:

The use of greeking (also called dummy text) allows page designers to place text on a page without the actual content acting as a distraction. The history of greeking is unclear, but it was first used in the middle of the 20th century. The text was based on the words of Cicero, a Roman leader whose writings are admired. The language he spoke and wrote was Latin rather than Greek, so the naming of this dummy text is misleading.

2007, Susan E. L. Lake, Karen Bean, “Using Other Design Tools”, in The Business of Technology: Digital Desktop Publishing, Mason, Oh.: Thompson/South-Western, →ISBN, page 109:

(computing, typography) Nonsense text or graphics inserted into a document as a placeholder to create a dummy layout, or to demonstrate a type font; the practice of using such placeholder text or graphics.


storey

en-noun

storey (plural storeys or (obsolete) stories)

storeys (plural)
stories (obsolete plural)
story (alternative Philippines US)

From Middle English story, via Medieval Latin historia (“narrative, illustraton, frieze”) from Ancient Greek ἱστορίᾱ (historíā, “learning through research”). The current sense arose from narrative friezes on upper levels of medieval buildings, esp. churches. Doublet of story and history.
An alternative etymology derives Middle English story from Old French *estoree (“a thing built, building”), from estoree (“built”), feminine past participle of estorer (“to build”), from Latin instaurare (“to construct, build, erect”), but this seems unlikely since historia already had the meaning "storey of a building" in Anglo-Latin.

der

Storey in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

The IPA symbol for a voiced velar stop is the single-storey , not the double-storey .

(typography) A vertical level in certain letters, such as a and g.


redundant

en-adj

redundant (comparative more redundant, superlative most redundant)

more redundant (comparative)
most redundant (superlative)

From Latin redundāns, present participle of redundō (“to overflow, redound”), from red- (“again, back”) + undō (“to surge, flood”), from unda (“a wave”).

(of words, writing, etc) Repetitive or needlessly wordy.


octave

From Latin octavus (“eighth”). Doublet of octavo, ochava, and oitava.

Octave in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

With mournful melody it continued this octave.

a. 1587, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the folio)”, in [Fulke Greville; Matthew Gwinne; John Florio], editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, →OCLC:

(poetry) A poetic stanza consisting of eight lines; usually used as one part of a sonnet.


trickster

1991, Alan R. Velie (compiler and editor), American Indian Literature: An Anthology, Revised edition, page 44,
The trickster is one of the oldest and most widespread of mythological and literary figures. […] As the name implies, the trickster is, on one level—probably the most important—an amoral practical joker who wanders about playing pranks on unsuspecting victims […] With all the fluctuations, certain things about the trickster are predictable: he is always a wanderer, always hungry, and usually oversexed.
Tricksters abound in folktales […] .

And let us begin with those sympathetic elements, the tricksters who obtain the lovers and the land, always at the expense of fools and knaves, sometimes at the expense of other tricksters.

2015, J. Douglas Canfield, Tricksters and Estates: On the Ideology of Restoration Comedy, page 31:

(mythology, literature) Any of numerous figures featuring in various mythologies and folk traditions, who use guile and secret knowledge to challenge authority and play tricks and pranks on others with their acts of trickery; any similar figure in literature.


cyborg

Blend of cybernetic + organism. Coined by Austrian neuroscientist Manfred Clynes in 1960.

coinage

I would not classify the Tin Woodman as magical robot, but more of a magical cyborg, if anything.

1981, Teri (Pettit at PARC-MAXC), fa.sf-lovers newsgroup, "Re: SF-LOVERS Digest V3 #122", May 15

Prof. Clynes is a published poet and author of five books. He coined the word "cyborg". He also coined the word "sentics" to describe a new science entirely of his own devising.

1991, Timothy K. Smith, "Manfred Clynes Sees A Pattern in Love -- He's Got the Printouts", The Wall Street Journal, September 24, front page

... Kevin Warwick, professor of cybernetics at Reading University. Warwick is no stranger to publicity. His autobiography, I, Cyborg, which came out last month (Century, £16.99), meticulously catalogues his very many newspaper, magazine, radio and TV appearances. With commendable honesty, he also acknowledges the amount of (unfair, obviously) criticism he has received for being greedy for media attention. That isn't the main thrust of the book, though, which is rather an account of why he is turning himself into a cyborg.

2002 September 19, “Short Cuts”, in London Review of Books, volume 24, number 18, Thomas Jones:

The cyborg subject, with its pacemakers, drug regimes and artificial limbs, is usually also the first world middle to upper-class economic subject with a conscious incentive to preserve life for as long as possible under the best possible conditions.

2003, David Simpson, "Are we still tragic?", guardian.co.uk (exclusive from London Review of Books Vol. 25 No. 7, April 3), April 1

On the track of John and Kate is the T-X (Kristanna Loken), a blond female cyborg so metallically single-minded, and so impervious to blandishment and punishment alike, that, from where I was sitting, she looked to be our best hope of getting a woman into the Oval Office.

2003 July 14, Anthony Lane, “The Current Cinema -- Metal Guru”, in The New Yorker:

Opposite of natural monsters there are technological monsters such as terminators, cyborgs, and robocops—all of which undermine dichotomies between the artificial and the organic, the prosthetic and the natural.

2010, Tyson E. Lewis, Richard Kahn, Education Out of Bounds, page 1:

(science fiction) A being which is part machine and part organic.


cyborg

en-verb

cyborg (third-person singular simple present cyborgs, present participle cyborging, simple past and past participle cyborged)

cyborgs (present singular third-person)
cyborging (participle present)
cyborged (participle past)
cyborged (past)

(science fiction) To convert (something) into a cyborg.


inferior

en-adj

inferior (comparative more inferior, superlative most inferior)

more inferior (comparative)
most inferior (superlative)
inferiour (alternative)

Borrowed from Latin īnferior (“lower in situation or place”), comparative of īnferus (“below, underneath”).

bor

an inferior figure or letter

Located below:
(typography) Printed in subscript.


inferior

inferiors (plural)
inferiour (alternative)

(printing) An inferior letter, figure, or symbol.


superior

/sʉːˈpɪə.ɹiː.ə/

From Middle English, borrowed from Old French superiour, from Latin superior (“higher, upper”).

a superior figure or letter


superior

superiors (plural)
superiour (alternative UK obsolete)

/sʉːˈpɪə.ɹiː.ə/

(printing) A superior letter, figure, or symbol.


Persephone

From Ancient Greek Περσεφόνη (Persephónē).

(science fiction) The ninth or tenth planet, orbiting beyond Pluto.


panel

From Middle English panel (“piece of cloth, saddle pad, pane of glass, piece of ice, part, division, jury list, jury members”), from Anglo-Norman panel, panelle (“piece of cloth, saddle cushion”), from Vulgar Latin *pannellus, diminutive of Latin pannus (“cloth, rag, garment”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂n- (“fabric”). Cognate with Old English fana (“a piece of cloth, patch, banner, flag, vane”). Doublet of vane.

cog

The last panel of a comic strip usually contains a punchline.

(comics) An individual frame or drawing in a comic.


cenobite

cenobites (plural)
coenobite (alternative)
cœnobite (alternative)

From Old French cenobite or Ecclesiastical Latin coenobīta, from coenobium, from Ancient Greek κοινόβιον (koinóbion, “community life, convent”), from κοινός (koinós, “common”) + βίος (bíos, “life”).

der

(fiction) A torturous demon creature made famous by the Hellraiser series.


Middle-earth

Middle Earth (alternative)
Middle-Earth (alternative)

(fiction) The main setting of J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and other works.

Միջերկիր

fictional place on Earth where most of the stories of J. R. R. Tolkien are set


rishathra

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

Generalized from the term coined by author Larry Niven in his Ringworld novels.

(science fiction) Sex between any two (or more) humanoids of different species.


cloak

en-verb

cloak (third-person singular simple present cloaks, present participle cloaking, simple past and past participle cloaked)

cloaks (present singular third-person)
cloaking (participle present)
cloaked (participle past)
cloaked (past)
cloke (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English cloke, from Old Northern French cloque (“travelling cloak”), from Medieval Latin clocca (“travelers' cape, literally “a bell”, so called from the garment’s bell-like shape”), of Celtic origin, from Proto-Celtic *klokkos, ultimately imitative.
Doublet of cloche and clock.

onomatopoeic

imitative

The ship cloaked before entering the enemy sector of space.

(science fiction, ambitransitive) To render or become invisible via futuristic technology.


conceit

en-noun

conceit (countable and uncountable, plural conceits)

conceits (plural)
conceipt (alternative obsolete)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Mélange a trois-conceit.wav

From Middle English conceyte, formed from conceyven by analogy with pairs such as (Modern English) deceive~deceit, receive~receipt etc. Doublet of concept and concetto. Akin to Portuguese conceito.

The “cyberspace” conceit allows him to dramatize computer hacking in nontechnical language, although I wonder how much his somewhat florid descriptions of the “bodiless exultation of cyberspace” will mean to readers who have not experienced the illusion of power that punching the keyboard of even a dinky little word-processor can give.

1985 November 24, Gerald Jonas, “Science Fiction”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

In the next and final stanza, Donne expands the conceit of world exploration to present us with a further distinction between the spirituality of the lovers and the “map reader” and “sea-discoverers.”

2009, Harold Bloom, John Donne, Infobase Publishing, →ISBN, page 16:

Jones and Palin wrote and starred in The Complete and Utter History of Britain (1969) for LWT. Its conceit was to relate historical incidents as if TV had existed at the time.

2020 January 22, Stuart Jeffries, “Terry Jones obituary”, in The Guardian:

(countable, rhetoric, literature) An ingenious expression or metaphorical idea, especially in extended form or used as a literary or rhetorical device.

metafora

ingenious expression or metaphorical idea as a literary device


leonine

Léonin
Pope Leo II
Pope Leo IV
San Clemente al Laterano

The adjective is derived from Late Middle English leonin, leonine (“of or pertaining to a person named Leo; specifically Pope Leo IV”), from Latin leōnīnus, from Leo (“man’s name”) (from leo (“lion”): see etymology 1) + -īnus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’).
Sense 2 (“being or relating to a kind of verse with internal rhyme”) is said to refer to a (possibly apocryphal) medieval monk named Leo or Leonius who composed verse with this characteristic; his identity is uncertain, but the composer Léonin (also known as Leo, Leoninus, or Leonius; flourished 1135–1201) has been suggested. Alternatively, the word may refer to Pope Leo II (c. 611–683): see the c. 1760–1761 quotation.
The noun is derived from the adjective.

leonine rhyme

In the Church of St. Dominick is a ſmall Picture of the Bleſſed Virgin, vvith the Infant JESUS in her Arms, vvell painted, and yet, appears to have been done in the Iron Age of Painting and other Arts, by the follovving verses, vvrit under it. […] Theſe Leonine Verſes, as plainly appears by them, expreſs a Senſe contrary to the Intention of the VVriter.

1712, [Bernard de] Montfaucon, “My Journey to Siena; […]”, in [John Henley?], transl., The Travels of the Learned Father Montfaucon from Paris thro’ Italy. […], London: […] D. L. for E[dmund] Curll […], E[gbert] Sanger […], R[obert] Gosling […], and W. Lewis […], →OCLC, page 403:

Observe, that, if the date of this poem be true, the general opinion, that the Leonine verse owes its name to Leonius, seems to be false; […] It is not therefore very likely, as Leonius flourished in 1154, that he should give name to such Latin verses upwards of thirty years before. Indeed some people have thought that it was called after Leo, probably the Second, who lived in 684, a pope who is said to have reformed the hymns and the music of the church.

c. 1760–1761 (date written; published 1814), Thomas Gray, “[Essays. Metrum.] Observations on the Pseudo-Rhythmus.”, in Edmund Gosse, editor, The Works of Thomas Gray in Prose and Verse. […], volume I (Poems, Journals, and Essays), London: Macmillan and Co., published 1884, →OCLC, pages 374–375:

[T]he Latin poetry, instead of Leonine rhymes, or attempts at regular hexameters almost equally bad, becomes, in the hands of Gunther, Gualterus de Insulis, Gulielmus Brito, and Joseph Iscanus, to whom a considerable number of names might be added, always tolerable, sometimes truly spirited; […]

1837–1839, Henry Hallam, “On the General State of Literature in the Middle Ages to the End of the Fourteenth Century”, in Introduction to the Literature of Europe, in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, volume I, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, paragraph 84, page 100:

(poetry) Being or relating to a kind of medieval Latin verse, generally alternative hexameter and pentameter, with rhyming at the middle and end of a line (that is, internal rhyme); also (by extension), of or relating to modern verse having internal rhyme.

leoniininen

being or relating to a kind of medieval Latin verse; of or relating to modern verse having internal rhyme


leonine

A[llen]. The Clink of Syllables call'd Rymes, / Brought in ith' barb'rous Runick times, / To ſober Criticks ſeems to be / A paultry part of Poetry, / Becoming Monkiſh dull Divines, / VVho traded much in Leonines. / J[ohn]. Altho' to ſpoil I ſhould be ſorry, / An undergraduate Antiquary, / Yet I'll produce a Line or tvvo / Of Leonines in Cicero, / Before the Monks long time ago.

1715, “Canto III”, in The Miller of Trompington: being an Exercise upon Chaucer’s Reeve’s Tale, London: […] Jonas Brown, […]; and sold by J[ames] Roberts […], →OCLC, pages 44–45:

[F]rom the jingling of the Greek couplet juſt before, and ſimilar inſtances of his taſte, I am perſuaded Sir VVilliam intended theſe as Leonines perfect in their kind.

1771 December, “Illustration of the Inscription on Sir W[illiam] Browne’s Monument. […] Continued from Our Last. The Notes.”, in The Town and Country Magazine; or, Universal Repository of Knowledge, Instruction, and Entertainment, volume III, London: […] A[rchibald] Hamilton Junr. […]; [a]nd sold by Robinson and Roberts, […], →OCLC, page 648, column 1:

The manuscript of Trinity College, Cambridge, which we have already mentioned, was written at the beginning of the thirteenth century, and the proverbs which it contains are translations into Latin leonines of some of the more popular English, and, in one or two instances, Norman proverbs of that time.

1835 March, “Art. V.— […] 4. Collection of English Proverbs of the Twelfth Century, Translated into Latin Leonines. MS. Trin. Coll. Camb. O. 2. 45. (Unpublished.) [book review]”, in Cochrane’s Foreign Quarterly Review, volume I, number II, London: Whittaker & Co. […]; Edinburgh: Robert Cadell, […], →OCLC, page 395:

(poetry, chiefly in the plural) Synonym of Leonine verse (“a kind of medieval Latin verse, generally alternative hexameter and pentameter, with rhyming at the middle and end of a line (that is, internal rhyme)”).


pathos

pathos (countable and uncountable, plural pathoses)

From Ancient Greek πάθος (páthos, “suffering”).

uder

(literature) An author's attempt to evoke a feeling of pity or sympathetic sorrow for a character.


brayer

(printing) A hand printing tool, in the US often a roller, used to spread a thin even layer of ink. Early brayers, consisting of a vertical cylinder with a single handle, were designed to break up thick inks before spreading.


chuff

en-noun

chuff (countable and uncountable, plural chuffs)

(scriptwriting, uncountable) Superfluous small talk that is free of conflict, offers no character development, description or insight, and does not advance the story or plot.


corona

A favorite and most attractive combination is that of the corona or series of sonnets, employed to frame or develop some one theme. A list of these corone is given by Biadene, who selects and publishes from among them a series of three by Petrarch, and the famous corona of the months by Folgore da San Gemignano.

1889 May, F. M. Warren, “The Sonnet. Morfologia del Sonetto nei secoli xiii e xiv. L. Biadene [Studj di Filologia Romanza, Fasc. 10.]”, in A. Marshall Elliott, editor, Modern Language Notes, volume IV, Baltimore, Md.: [Johns Hopkins University Press], →ISSN, →OCLC, column 308:

But the poets of Siena, and particularly the Academy of the Intronati, found the proper way of constructing coronas—since the ones mentioned above should really be called sequences ['catene'] rather than coronas.

1997, Michael R. G. Spiller, The Sonnet Sequence: A Study of Its Strategies (Studies in Literary Themes and Genres; 13), New York, N.Y.: Twayne Publishers, →ISBN, page 144:

[Lady Mary] Wroth alludes to these contexts as the corona of sonnets that crowns the sequence opens: "In this strang labourinth how shall I turne?" (Wroth, Poems 127).

2000, Mary B. Moore, “The Labyrinth of Style: Lady Mary Wroth and the Idea of Petrarchism”, in Desiring Voices: Women Sonneteers and Petrarchism, Carbondale, Edwardsville, Ill.: Southern Illinois University Press, →ISBN, page 125:

Both sets of echoes derive from the poets' first poems, and since first poems in Petrarchan sequences set stylistic, tonal, and thematic expectations, Robert [Sidney]'s double allusion to first poems should color readings of this, the first poem of his corona.

2015, Mary B. Moore, “Robert Sidney’s Poetry”, in Margaret P. Hannay, Mary Ellen Lamb, Michael G. Brennan, editors, The Ashgate Research Companion to The Sidneys, 1500–1700, volume 2 (Literature), Farnham, Surrey, Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate Publishing, →ISBN, part VI (Poetry), page 250:

(poetry) A series of sonnets linked together such that the last word of each is the first word of the next.


decant

en-verb

decant (third-person singular simple present decants, present participle decanting, simple past and past participle decanted)

decants (present singular third-person)
decanting (participle present)
decanted (participle past)
decanted (past)

From French décanter, from Medieval Latin dēcanthāre, from dē- + canthus (“beak of a cup or jug”).

“We also predestine and condition. We decant our babies as socialized human beings, as Alphas or Epsilons, as future sewage workers or future …” He was going to say “future World controllers,” but correcting himself, said “future Directors of Hatcheries,” instead.

(science fiction) To remove (a clone or other artificially-gestated baby) from its chamber, vat, or artificial womb.


kern

From French carne (“corner; projecting angle; quill of a pen”), from Latin cardinem (“hinge”) or from Etymology 1. The verb is a back-formation from kerned, which is from the noun. Doublet of cardo.

uder

A few types have a portion of the face letter projecting over the body, as in the letter f ; this projection is called the kern, and in combination with other letters the projecting part generally extends over the next letter, as in fe. In those combinations, wherein the kern would come in contact with another letter, compound types are cast, as in the case of ff, fi, fl, ffi, ffl.

1856, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Odd Fellows' Literary Casket, volumes 6-7, page 360:

(hot metal printing, typography) Any part of a letter which extends into the space used by another letter.


kern

en-verb

kern (third-person singular simple present kerns, present participle kerning, simple past and past participle kerned)

kerns (present singular third-person)
kerning (participle present)
kerned (participle past)
kerned (past)
kerne (alternative)

If you need to kern anything beyond the most commonly used pairs, you can use applications software such as Adobe PageMaker to customize pairs.

2001, Constance J. Sidles, Graphic Designer's Digital Printing and PrePress Handbook, page 51:

Especially consider kerning if you are printing on a relatively high-resolution printer, such as a 600-dpi (dots per inch) laser printer.

2001, Bill Camarda, Special Edition Using Microsoft Word 2002, page 122:

Remember, the goal of kerning is to make letter pairs look natural, not necessarily to minimize letterspaces.

2006, Tova Rabinowitz, Exploring Typography, page 320:

You should kern letter pairs when spacing between characters is too wide or too narrow.

2008, Terry Rydberg, Exploring Adobe InDesign CS4, page 98:

(typography, chiefly proportional font printing) To adjust the horizontal space between selected pairs of letters (characters or glyphs); to perform such adjustments to a portion of text, according to preset rules.

välistää

to adjust the horizontal space between selected pairs of letters


ligand

Borrowed from Latin ligandus, gerundive of ligo (“bind”).

ربيطة

something that binds to another chemical entity

(typography) A letter that orthography requires or allows to be ligated with one or more other letters to form a ligature, such as a in æ or o in œ.


pica

en-noun

pica (countable and uncountable, plural picas)

From Medieval Latin pica (“pica: a service book”), possibly from Latin pīca (“magpie”) after the piebald appearance of the typeset page (cf. pie (“disordered type”)). The relation to the printer's measure is unclear, as no edition of the text in pica type is known. The French pica derives from English rather than vice versa.

der

I had been at Baldwin's before dinner in consequence of a letter from him which showed me that, by using a pica instead of an English letter in printing my book, I might comprise it within such a number of sheets as a guinea-volume should contain […].

1790, James Boswell, edited by Danziger & Brady, Boswell: The Great Biographer, Yale, published 1989, page 30:

(typography, printing, uncountable) A size of type between small pica and English, now standardized as 12-point.

(typography, uncountable, usually with qualifier) A font of this size.

(typography, countable) A unit of length equivalent to 12 points, officially ³⁵⁄₈₃ cm (0.166 in) after 1886 but now (computing) ¹⁄₆ in.


platen

From French platine, from plat (“flat”). See plate, and compare platin.

And the form is inked, the paper is applied, the bed is slid, and the platen is levered down and the proof is printed.

2010, Andrea Levy, The Long Song, Tinder Press (2017), page 382:

(printing) The part of a printing press which presses the paper against the type and by which the impression is made.


ret

(printing, historical) Clipping of reiteration.


soma

Transliteration of Sanskrit सोम (soma). Doublet of haoma.

[…] there is always soma, delicious soma, half a gramme for a half-holiday, a gramme for a week-end, two grammes for a trip to the gorgeous East, three for a dark eternity on the moon […]

1932, Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, London: Chatto & Windus:

(by extension, science fiction) Any kind of intoxicating drug.


stasis

en-noun

stasis (usually uncountable, plural stases)

From New Latin stasis, from Ancient Greek στάσις (stásis). See the doublet stead.

I was in stasis for forty years before I woke up orbiting this poxy planet!

(science fiction, uncountable) A technology allowing something to be artificially frozen in time, so that it does not age or change.

pysäytin

scifi: technology allowing something to be artificially frozen in time


vamp

en-verb

vamp (third-person singular simple present vamps, present participle vamping, simple past and past participle vamped)

vamps (present singular third-person)
vamping (participle present)
vamped (participle past)
vamped (past)

A Fool There Was (1915 film)
Derby shoe
Oxford shoe
Theda Bara

Clipping of vampire. From a character type developed first for silent film, notably for Theda Bara's role in the 1915 film A Fool There Was.
The verb is derived from the noun.

If I knew what I know now before I got vamped, I'd do the same thing.

2004, David Sosnowski, Vamped: A Novel, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 277:

Astonishing how few peasants and regular people got vamped back in the olden days, when it wasn't regulated.

2012, Justine Larbalestier, Sarah Rees Brennan, Team Human, Harper Collins, →ISBN:

Nobody ever got the drop on Shades, not even when he was alive, and certainly not in the fifty years since he got vamped.

2017, Keith R. A. DeCandido, Blackout, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN:

(fiction, slang, transitive) To turn (someone) into a vampire.


vee

(computing, typography) A unit of vertical spacing, typically corresponding to the height of an ordinary line of text.


volta

[…][Larmona] Ash describes how “conversion arrives like a volta [poetic shift]^([sic]) in a person's life.” The metaphor is apt, imagining one's spiritual life as a poem, an authored thing, and not preserved on vellum either, but open to revision.

2025 May 31, Tanjil Rashid, quoting Lamorna Ash, “Finding their religion”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 9:

(poetry) A turning point or point of change in a poem, most commonly a sonnet.


philosophy

en-noun

philosophy (countable and uncountable, plural philosophies)

philosophies (plural)
philosophie (alternative obsolete)
phylosophie (alternative obsolete)
phylosophy (alternative nonstandard)

From Middle English philosophie, Old French philosophie, and their source, Latin philosophia, from Ancient Greek φιλοσοφία (philosophía), from φίλος (phílos, “loving”) + σοφία (sophía, “wisdom”). By surface analysis, philo- + -sophy. Displaced native Old English ūþwitegung.

Although I prefer small pica. Or as its^([sic]) sometimes known, philosophy.
– Small pica, or philosophy, she said. It sounds like the title of a novel. With a girl heroine.

2010, Thomas Wharton, Salamander, Emblem Editions, →ISBN:

(printing, dated) Synonym of small pica (especially in French printing).


beam

en-verb

beam (third-person singular simple present beams, present participle beaming, simple past and past participle beamed)

beams (present singular third-person)
beaming (participle present)
beamed (participle past)
beamed (past)

→ German: beamen

→ Dutch: beamen

→ Japanese: ビーム

From Middle English beem, from Old English bēam (“tree, cross, gallows, column, pillar, wood, beam, splint, post, stock, rafter, piece of wood”), from Proto-West Germanic *baum, from Proto-Germanic *baumaz (“tree, beam, balk”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰew- (“to grow, swell”). Cognate with West Frisian beam (“tree”), Saterland Frisian Boom (“tree”), Dutch boom (“tree”), German Low German Boom (“tree”), German Baum (“tree”), Luxembourgish Bam (“tree”), Albanian bimë (“a plant”). Doublet of boom.
The original English meaning of beam ("tree") is preserved in some compound words such as quickbeam.
The verb is from Middle English bemen, from Old English bēamian (“to shine, to cast forth rays or beams of light”), from the noun.

inh

Beam me up, Scotty; there's no intelligent life down here.

The injured crewmembers were immediately beamed to sickbay.

Beam me up (x4) / Beam me up town / Beam me down (x3) / Beam me back downtown

2010, “Beam Me Up”, in Walking the Midnight Streets, performed by Midnight Magic:

(transitive, science fiction) To transmit matter or information via a high-tech wireless mechanism.

säteilyttää

scifi: to transmit over high-tech wireless mechanism


berserker

berserkers (plural)
berserkar (alternative)
berserkir (alternative)
berzerker (alternative)
beserker (alternative common misspelling)

Illustrations of Northern Antiquities
Swedish History Museum
Torslunda plates
Walter Scott

Borrowed from Old Norse berserkr (“Norse warrior who fights with frenzy”), probably from bjǫrn (“bear”) + serkr (“coat; shirt”), referring to the bearskins worn by the warriors. Bjǫrn is possibly ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH- (“brown”); and serkr from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“to bind, tie together; thread”). Alternatively, it has been suggested that the first element of the word is from berr (“bare, naked”), suggesting warriors who went into battle without armour, but this is now thought unlikely. Doublet of berserk.
The word was introduced in English by the Scottish author and historian Walter Scott (1771–1832) in Illustrations of Northern Antiquities (1814) (spelled berserkir), and in his novel The Pirate (1822) (spelled berserkar). The sense “type of von Neumann probe whose mission is to exterminate alien lifeforms” was coined by the American author Fred Saberhagen (1930–2007) in 1963 in his Berserker series of novels and short stories.
Cognates
* Icelandic berserkur
* Swedish bärsärk

ref

From the collection of the Swedish History Museum in Stockholm, Sweden.

coinage

(science fiction) A type of von Neumann probe whose mission is to exterminate alien lifeforms.


brace

From Middle English brace, from Old French brace (“arm”), from Latin bracchia, the nominative and accusative plural of bracchium (“arm”).

(typography) A curved, pointed line, also known as "curly bracket": { or } connecting two or more words or lines, which are to be considered together, such as in {role, roll}; in music, used to connect staves.


elite

From Middle English elit, from Old French elit, eslit (“chosen, elected”) past participle of elire, eslire (“to choose, elect”), from Latin eligere (“to choose, elect”), with past participle electus; see elect.

(typography) A typeface with 12 characters per inch.


foliation

en-noun

foliation (countable and uncountable, plural foliations)

/fəʊlɪˈeɪʃn/

From French foliation, from Latin folium (“leaf”).

(publishing) The process of forming into pages; pagination.

(codicology, publishing) The numbering of the folios of a manuscript or a book.


galley

galley (plural galleys or (obsolete) gallies)

galleys (plural)
gallies (obsolete plural)

From Middle English galeie, from Old French galee, from Latin galea, from Byzantine Greek γάλεα (gálea) of unknown origin, probably from Ancient Greek γαλέη (galéē), a kind of a small fish, from γαλεός (galeós, “dog-fish or small shark”). Doublet of galea.

It was very nerve-racking. When I was finally able to write the story, I wrote it at the typewriter and never reread it until I had to edit the typos on the printer's galleys for the publication of the book.

1976 April 26, Jil Clark, Julia Penelope, Susan Wolfe, “The Politics of Language”, in Gay Community News, page 8:

(printing) An oblong tray of wood or brass, with upright sides, for holding type which has been set, or is to be made up, etc.

(printing) A proof sheet taken from type while on a galley; a galley proof.

게라쇄

printing: proof sheet from type on a galley


core

core (countable and uncountable, plural cores)

desc

Translingual: core eudicots, core Malvales

From Middle English core, kore, coor (“apple-core, pith”), of obscure and uncertain origin. Possibly of native English origin, from Old English *cor, related to Old English *coruc, *corc (diminutive) (> Middle English cork, crok (“core of an apple or other fruit, heart of an onion”)) and Old English corn (“seed", also "grain”); or alternatively perhaps from Old French cuer (“heart”), from Latin cor (“heart”); or from Old French cors (“body”), from Latin corpus (“body”). Compare also Middle English colk, coke, coll (“the heart or centre of an apple or onion, core”), Dutch kern (“core”), German Kern (“core”). See also heart, corpse.

unc

obscure and uncertain

non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger

particular parts of technical instruments or machines essential in function:

(printing) A hollow cylindrical piece of cardboard around which a web of paper or plastic is wound.

сърцеви́на

something that produces a hollow space in a casting


corvette

corvettes (plural)
corvet (alternative rare)

Unadapted borrowing from French corvette.

ubor

(nautical) In a modern navy, a lightly armed and armoured blue water warship, smaller than a frigate, capable of transoceanic duty.

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


gritty

en-adj

gritty (comparative grittier, superlative grittiest)

grittier (comparative)
grittiest (superlative)

(film, literature) Intense and starkly realistic; depicting harsh reality, especially violence.

drsný

intense and starkly realistic, especially if violent


indent

en-verb

indent (third-person singular simple present indents, present participle indenting, simple past and past participle indented)

indents (present singular third-person)
indenting (participle present)
indented (participle past)
indented (past)

Partly from Middle English indenten (“to dent in”), equivalent to in- + dent (see dent); partly from Middle English indenten, endenten, from Old French endenter (“to provide with teeth”), from en- (“in-, en-”) + dent (“tooth”), from Latin dēns.

uder

to indent the first line of a paragraph one em

to indent the second paragraph two ems more than the first

(typography) To begin (a line or lines) at a greater or lesser distance from the margin. See indentation, and indention. Normal indent pushes in a line or paragraph. "Hanging indent" pulls the line out into the margin.

правя абзац

typography: to begin a line or lines at a greater or less distance from the margin


indentation

en-noun

indentation (countable and uncountable, plural indentations)

The resulting document does not contain the indentation and line breaks found in the original document.

2007, Robert Richards, Pro PHP XML and Web Services, Apress, →ISBN, page 502:

(typography) The act of beginning a line or series of lines at a little distance within the flush line of the column or page, as in the common way of beginning the first line of a paragraph.

абзац

act of beginning a line at a distance from the flush line


keep up

en-verb

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

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

From Middle English kepen up (“to perpetuate, maintain, preserve”), equivalent to keep + up.

inh

(obsolete, printing) To use capital letters as much as reasonable.


landscape

en-noun

landscape (countable and uncountable, plural landscapes)

landscapes (plural)
landskip (alternative obsolete)

From an alteration (due to Dutch landschap) of earlier landskip, lantschip, from Middle English *landschippe, *landschapp, from Old English landsċipe, landsċeap (“region, district, tract of land”); in some senses from Dutch landschap (“region, district, province, landscape”), from Middle Dutch landscap, lantscap (“region”), from Old Dutch *landskepi, *landskapi (“region”). Cognate with Scots landskape, landskep, landskip (“landscape”), West Frisian lânskip (“landscape”), Low German landschop (“landscape, district”), German Landschaft (“landscape, countryside, scenery”), Danish landskab (“landscape, countryside”), Swedish landskap (“landscape, scenery, province”), Icelandic landskapur (“countryside”). By surface analysis, land + -ship.

cog

(computing, printing, uncountable) a mode of printing where the horizontal sides are longer than the vertical sides


novelette

(literature) A short novel, synonymous with novella.

Best novella was Nnedi Okorafor’s African-flavoured space opera Binti (Tor), while best novelette was Folding Beijing by Hao Jingfang, translated by Ken Liu.

2016 November 30, Adam Roberts, “The best SF and fantasy books of 2016”, in The Guardian:

Nebula Awards® will be made in the following categories […] Novelette: at least 7,500 words but less than 17,500 words[…]

2023 December 1, Nebula Awards, “Nebula Rules”, in Nebula Awards website:

(literature) A story longer than a short story, but shorter than a novella.


paragon

From Anglo-Norman paragone, peragone, Middle French paragon, from Italian paragone (“comparison”) or Spanish parangón, from Byzantine Greek παρακόνη (parakónē, “whetstone”), from Ancient Greek παρακονάω (parakonáō, “I sharpen, whet”), from παρά (pará) + ἀκόνη (akónē, “whetstone”) (from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ- (“sharp”)).

affix

(typography, printing, dated) The size of type between great primer and double pica, standardized as 20-point.


pearl

en-noun

pearl (countable and uncountable, plural pearls)

Horace
Jean Jannon
New Testament
Vergil
en:pearl
en:pearl (disambiguation)
en:pearl (typography)

From Middle English perle, from Old French perle of uncertain etymology. Probably via unattested Medieval Latin *pernula, from Latin perna (“haunch; a marine bivalve shaped like a leg of lamb”) but also derived from Medieval Latin perla, from Latin perula (“little bag”). Its typographic use follows the name given by Jean Jannon to the type used in his miniature editions of Vergil, Horace, & the New Testament in the 1620s, which were the smallest printed works to his time. Its surfing use derives from the supposed resemblance to pearl diving.

der

(uncountable, typography, printing, dated) The size of type between diamond and agate, standardized as 5-point.


premise

premises (plural)
premiss (alternative)
præmise (alternative archaic)
præmiss (alternative archaic)

From Middle English premise, premisse, from Old French premisse, from Medieval Latin premissa (“set before”) (premissa propositio (“the proposition set before”)), feminine past participle of Latin praemittere (“to send or put before”), from prae- (“before”) + mittere (“to send”).
The sense "a piece of real estate" arose from the misinterpretation of the word by property owners while reading title deeds where the word was used with the legal sense.

In 1949, the simple premise of discovering ordinary people who have hidden, extraordinary talents came to prominence in the UK with Opportunity Knocks, which started out as a nationwide touring radio show, before moving onto TV in 1956.

2021 September 15, Laura Martin, “How talent shows became TV's most bizarre programmes”, in BBC:

(authorship) The fundamental concept that drives the plot of a film or other story.


punk

en-noun

punk (countable and uncountable, plural punks or (sense 4.1) punx)

→ Arabic: بانك (bank)

→ Catalan: punk

→ Chinese: 朋克 (péngkè)

→ Dutch: punk

→ Finnish: punko

→ Finnish: punk

→ French: punk

→ Galician: punk

→ German: Punk

Hebrew: פאנק

→ Icelandic: pönk

→ Japanese: パンク (panku)

→ Marathi: पंक (paṅka)

→ Norwegian Bokmål: punk, pønk

→ Norwegian Nynorsk: punk, pønk

→ Korean: 펑크 (peongkeu)

→ Portuguese: punk

→ Romanian: punk

→ Russian: панк (pank)

→ Georgian: панк

→ Kazakh: панк (pank)

→ Serbo-Croatian: pank

→ Spanish: punk

→ Swedish: punk

→ Ukrainian: панк (pank)

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

putinha

receiving partner in a male-male sexual relationship — see also bottom

Some of these genres produce unique and intriguing subculture groups, usually referred to as types of "punks": cyberpunk, teslapunk, atompunk, biopunk, etc.

2022 June 15, ENC1101 Editorial Board, Composition and Grammar: For HCC by HCC, Accomplishing Innovative Press, →ISBN:

Punk stories look at the current dominant socioeconomic paradigm and don't like what they see. They look at the newest gadget or algorithm and see how it can be misused and abused.

2022 February 3, Rick Dakan, Ryan G. Van Cleave, Writing Sci-Fi, Fantasy, & Horror For Dummies, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 196:

(uncountable) A group of associated musical, artistic and social movements emerging out of the counterculture in the 1970s:

(science fiction, usually in compounds) Any of the -punk genres, typically involving anachronistic technology and its social impact: dieselpunk, solarpunk, steampunk etc.

(countable) A follower of any of these movements, including:

(science fiction, usually in compounds) A fan of a -punk genre of fiction, or a person who dresses in a style associated with it.


revise

Borrowed from Middle French réviser, from Latin revīsō, from re- + vīsō (“examine”), frequentative of videō (“see”).

The question is, not whether the revises of the Catalogue, which I was obliged to circulate prematurely, were faultless, but whether the alterations which I was desired to make would not render them worse.

1837, Anthony Panizzi, A letter to His Royal Highness the President of the Royal Society, on the New Catalogue of the Library of that Institution Now in the Press, page 30:

1869 August 16, Anthony Trollope, letter to W. H. Bradbury, 1983, N. John Hall (editor), The Letters of Anthony Trollope, Volume 1: 1835-1870, page 479,
Looking back at the revises of Bullhampton it seems to me that the printers have fallen into some error as to the numbering of Chapters XXXIV—XXXV—XXXVI—which should have been XXXV—XXXVI— and XXXVII.

1917, United States Congress: House Committee on Rules, Alleged Divulgence of President′s note to Belligerent Powers, page 1440,
I still held the revises; kept them until the type was made up and went to the press, for final page proof.

[…]until I had corrected the proofs of the novel and seen the revises, so that the text was irrevocably fixed, before beginning the screenplay.

1997, David Lodge, The Practice of Writing, published 2011, page 219:

(printing) A second proof sheet; a proof sheet taken after the first or a subsequent correction.


scabby

en-adj

scabby (comparative scabbier, superlative scabbiest)

scabbier (comparative)
scabbiest (superlative)

From Middle English scabby, scabbie, equivalent to scab + -y. Doublet of shabby.

(printing) Having a blotched, uneven appearance.


scan

en-verb

scan (third-person singular simple present scans, present participle scanning, simple past and past participle scanned)

scans (present singular third-person)
scanning (participle present)
scanned (participle past)
scanned (past)

⇒ Lithuanian: skenuoti

From late Middle English scanne (“to mark off verse to show metrical structure”), from earlier scanden, from Late Latin scandere (“to scan verse”), from Classical Latin scandō (“I climb, rise, mount”), from Proto-Indo-European *skend- (“to jump, dart, climb, scale, scan”).

مَحَّصَ

to examine sequentially, carefully, or critically; to scrutinize; to behold closely

In such cases as these, almost any one with a good ear will "scan" the verse correctly enough without instruction. It is not proposed to give here a list of Shakspere's slurred and contracted words; […]

1886, Francis Barton Gummere, A Handbook of Poetics for Students of English Verse, page 218:

(poetry, transitive) To read or mark so as to show a specific metre.

escandir

to read or mark so as to show a specific metre

You're right, sir, it doesn't scan very well in the English, but in the Gaelic it's sheer poetry. Have you the Gaelic?

1998, Milton Acorn, Cedric Smith, edited by James Deahl, The Road to Charlottetown: A Play, UnMon Northland:

(poetry, intransitive) To conform to a metrical structure.


slice

From Middle English sclise, sklise, from Old French esclice, esclis (“a piece split off”), deverbal of esclicer, esclicier (“to splinter, split up”), from Frankish *slitjan (“to split up”), from Proto-Germanic *slitjaną, from Proto-Germanic *slītaną (“to split, tear apart”), from Proto-Indo-European *sleyd- (“to rend, injure, crumble”). Akin to Old High German sliz, gisliz (“a tear, rip”), Old High German slīzan (“to tear”), Old English slītan (“to split up”), modern French éclisse. More at slite, slit.

(printing) A removable sliding bottom to a galley.


stack

en-verb

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

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

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

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

натрупвам

To place objects or material in the form of a stack

(printing) To have excessive ink transfer.


stave

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

Back-formation from staves, the plural of staff.

Let us chaunt a passing stave / In honour of that hero brave.

1815, William Wordsworth, Rob Roy's Grave:

(poetry) A metrical portion; a stanza; a staff.

Ley, in his work on the Metrical Forms of Hebrew Poetry, 1866, has taken too little notice of these frequently occurring alliteration staves; Lagarde communicated to me (8th Sept. 1846) his view of the stave-rhyme in the Book[…]

1874, Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon, page 73:

[The] stave that binds the two halves of the line together the on-verse must be classified as D in spite of the f-stave . . stave-rhyme (OED s.v. Stave sb.)

1974, John Collins Pope, Old English Studies in Honour of John C. Pope, page 193:

... consisting only of the two staves, folches . . . fehta. […] Line 63 contains the two-stave rhyme, aerist ... asckim; the suggested reduplicative rhyme [...] is technically doubtful according to the standards we have[…]

1975, Studies in Medieval Culture, page 11:

This may seem sparse and incomplete, but is reminiscent of the Old Norse stave rhyme technique in which one avoided two alliterating staves in one dipod – which the poets of that time considered superfluous.

(poetry, rare) The initial consonant, consonant cluster, or vowel of a word which rhymes with another word with the same consonant or vowel in stave-rhyme.


strain

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

cog

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

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

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

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

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

напев

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


trope

Japanese: トロープ (torōpu)

Korean: 트로프 (teuropeu)

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

der

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

троп

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


troll

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

der

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

طْرُول

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


vignette

First attested in 1751. From French vignette, diminutive of vigne (“vine”), from Latin vīnea, from vīnum (“wine”). Replaced earlier Middle English vynet.

The centrality of this particular trope can been seen in the vignette adorning the opening page of Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert's Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonnée des sciences, des arts et des métiers (1751–1752).

2011, William Burgwinkle, Nicholas Hammond, Emma Wilson, The Cambridge History of French Literature, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 420:

(printing) A decorative design, originally representing vine branches or tendrils, at the head of a chapter, of a manuscript or printed book, or in a similar position.

винетка

decorative design at the head of a chapter, of a manuscript or printed book


Santa Claus

Santa Clauses (plural)
Santa Clause (alternative)
Santaclaus (alternative)
Santa Klaus (alternative)
Santiclaus (alternative)
Santy Claus (alternative)
Santeclaus (alternative)

Borrowed from Dutch Sinterklaas (“Saint Nicholas”). Doublet of Sinterklaas.

bor+

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

1773 December 26, New York Gazette, p. 3

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

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

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

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

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

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

1980, Douglas Day Stewart, The Blue Lagoon:

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

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

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

Christkind

Christmas; different figure with same role


pentameter

en-noun

pentameter (countable and uncountable, plural pentameters)

pentameters (plural)
pentametre (alternative)

PIE word
 *pénkʷe
From Middle French pentamètre, by surface analysis, penta- + meter.

The best verses, more especially pentameters, are written on the principle of attracting and fixing the attention to their close.

1822, Robert Bland, Elements of Latin Hexameters and Pentameters, third edition, London: John Robinson, page vi:

(poetry, countable) A line in a poem having five metrical feet.

(poetry) Poetic metre in which each line has five feet.


tetrameter

tetrameter (countable and uncountable, plural tetrameters)

tetrameters (plural)
tetrametre (alternative)

(poetry) A line in a poem having four metrical feet.

tetrametër

a line in a poem having four metrical feet (poetry)


dimeter

dimeter (countable and uncountable, plural dimeters)

(poetry) A line in a poem having two metrical feet.

(poetry) A poetic metre in which each line has two feet.


impression

impression (countable and uncountable, plural impressions)

From Old French impression, from Latin impressio.

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


mai

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


seagull

seagulls (plural)
sea gull (alternative)
sea-gull (alternative)

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

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


decimal point

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

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

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

десетична запетая

the decimal mark symbol, characteristic to the native tongue


TDS

technical documentation service
technical documentation service#English

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


SF

SF (countable and uncountable, plural SFs)

→ Japanese: エスエフ, SF (SF)

speculative fiction
speculative fiction#English

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


diacritic

en-adj

diacritic (comparative more diacritic, superlative most diacritic)

more diacritic (comparative)
most diacritic (superlative)

/ˌdaɪəˈkɹɪtɪk/

/ˌdaɪəˈkɹɪtɪk/

[ˌdaɪəˈkɹɪɾɪk]

/ˌdɑɪəˈkɹɪtɪk/

[ˌdɑɪəˈkɹɪɾɪk]

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

bor+

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


battleship

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

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

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

Schlachtschiff n. Schlachtschiff is used for dreadnought battleships

Linienschiff is used for pre-dreadnought battleships.


cedilla

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

bor

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


fairy ring

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


ansible

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

coin

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Earthling

Earthlings (plural)
earthling (alternative)

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

noncog

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

أَرْضِيّ

Mercurian · Venusian · Lunarian · Marsling

Jupiterian · Saturnian · Uranian · Neptunian · Plutonian


tellurian

Benjamin Martin
Harvard Science Center
Harvard University

[tʰəˈlɝː.iː.ɨ̃n]

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

suffix

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

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

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

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

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


magistra

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Earthwoman

/ˈɜːθˌwʊm.ən/

/ˈɝθˌwʊm.ən/

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

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

(usually science fiction) A female inhabitant of Earth.


fantasy

en-noun

fantasy (countable and uncountable, plural fantasies)

fantasies (plural)
phantasie (alternative obsolete)
phantasy (alternative archaic)

→ Armenian: ֆենտեզի (fentezi)

→ Belarusian: фэнтэзі (fentezi)

→ Bulgarian: фентъзи (fentǎzi)

→ Czech: fantasy

→ Danish: fantasy

→ Dutch: fantasy

→ French: fantasy

→ Georgian: ფენტეზი (penṭezi)

→ German: Fantasy

→ Italian: fantasy

→ Japanese: ファンタジー (fantajī)

→ Korean: 판타지 (pantaji)

→ Malay: fantasi

→ Norwegian Bokmål: fantasy

→ Polish: fantasy

→ Russian: фэ́нтези (fɛ́ntɛzi)

→ Swahili: fantasia

→ Swedish: fantasy

→ Thai: แฟนตาซี (fɛɛn-dtaa-sii)

→ Ukrainian: фе́нтезі (féntezi)

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

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

doublet

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


text

en-noun

text (countable and uncountable, plural texts)

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

der

German text

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


identical

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

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

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


grotesque

en-adj

grotesque (comparative grotesquer or more grotesque, superlative grotesquest or most grotesque)

grotesquer (comparative)
more grotesque (comparative)
grotesquest (superlative)
most grotesque (superlative)

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


grotesque

en-noun

grotesque (countable and uncountable, plural grotesques)


prompt

The adjective is from Middle English prompte, from Middle French prompt and its etymon Latin prōmptus (“visible, apparent, evident”), past participle of prōmō (“to take or bring out or forth, produce, bring to light”), from prō (“forth, forward”) + emō (“to take, acquire, buy”). Doublet of pronto.
The verb is from Middle English prompen, apparently from the adjective. The noun is from the verb.

der

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


waka

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

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

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

(poetry) A kind of classical Japanese poem.


Father Christmas

en-proper noun

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


torpedo

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

cog

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

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


Martian

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

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

cog

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Coordinate term: Martianess

An inhabitant of the planet Mars.
A male Martian.


Martian

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

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

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

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

(science fiction) A hypothetical language spoken on Mars.


Venusian

Venusians (plural)
Venutian (alternative)

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

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

(science fiction) An inhabitant of the planet Venus.


Venusian

(science fiction) A hypothetical language spoken on Venus.


cancel

en-verb

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

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

→ German: canceln

→ Gulf Arabic: كنسل (kansal)

→ Welsh: canslo

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

der

kanzellieren (obsolete or translationese)

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


cancel

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


fist

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


throw up

en-verb

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

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

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

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


shoulder

shoulders (plural)
shouder (alternative dialectal)

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

inh

you can't put an old head on young shoulders

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


hickey

hickeys (plural)
hicky (alternative)
hickie (alternative)

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

pecka

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

2008, American Printer, volume 125, page 63:

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

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

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


post

posts (plural)
poast (alternative obsolete)

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

inh+

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


organic

organics (plural)
organick (alternative)

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

Pitiful organics.

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

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


boustrophedon

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

bor+

βουστροφηδόν

af

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


boustrophedon

bor+

βουστροφηδόν

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


boustrophedon

en-noun

boustrophedon (countable and uncountable, plural boustrophedons)

boustrophedons (plural)
bustrophedon (alternative)

bor+

βουστροφηδόν

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

بُطْرُفَة

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


screen

screens (plural)
skreen (alternative obsolete)

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

skerm

viewing area of electronic output device

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

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


issue

From Middle English issue, from Old French issue (“an exit, a way out”), feminine past participle of issir (“to exit”), from Latin exeō (“go out, exit”), from prefix ex- (“out”) + eō (“go”).
The legal meaning originated from the concept of "the end or result of pleadings in a suit (by presenting the point to be determined by trial)," leading to the sense of "the controversy over facts in a trial" (early 14th century, Anglo-French). This later extended to mean "a point of contention between two parties" (early 15th century) and more generally, "an important point to be decided" (1836). Consequently, the verbal phrase take issue with emerged in 1797 (preceded by join issue in the 1690s), meaning "to adopt an affirmative or negative stance in a dispute with another." The expression to have issues, meaning "to have unresolved conflicts," dates back to 1990.

drain

small incision etc. to drain excess bodily fluid

Yeah, I just got the June issue of Wombatboy.

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

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

عَدَد

a single edition of a periodical publication


letterpress

en-noun

letterpress (countable and uncountable, plural letterpresses)

/ˈlɛtɚˌpɹɛs/

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

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

(printing) A machine used for such printing.


xenophile

(science fiction) A human who is attracted to extraterrestrial aliens.


stun

stun (countable and uncountable, plural stuns)

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

cog

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

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

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


Area 51

→ German: Area 51

desc

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

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

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

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

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


back up

en-verb

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

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

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


beamer

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

suf

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

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

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


will o' the wisp

en-noun

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

will o' the wisps (plural)
will-o'-the-wisp (alternative)
will-o'-wisp (alternative)
will of the wisp (alternative)
will-in-the-wisp (alternative)
Will-with-the-wisp (alternative)

/ˌwɪləðəˈwɪsp/

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

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

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

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


composition

composition (countable and uncountable, plural compositions)

→ Korean: 컴포지션 (keompojisyeon)

/ˌkɒmpəˈzɪʃən/

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

hyvitys

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


terminator

[ˈtɜː.mɪ.næɪ.ɾə]

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

Opposite of natural monsters there are technological monsters such as terminators, cyborgs, and robocops—all of which undermine dichotomies between the artificial and the organic, the prosthetic and the natural.

2010, Tyson E. Lewis, Richard Kahn, Education Out of Bounds, page 1:

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