nonsense

en-noun

nonsense (usually uncountable, plural nonsenses)

nonsenses (plural)
nonsence (alternative archaic)
non-sense (alternative)

From non- (“no, none, lack of”) + sense, from c. 1610. Compare the semantically similar West Frisian ûnsin (“nonsense”), Dutch onzin (“nonsense”), German Unsinn (“nonsense”), English unsense (“nonsense”).

Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class IV § 497. Absurdity

Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class IV § 517. Unmeaningness

(literature) A type of poetry that contains strange or surreal ideas, as, for example, that written by Edward Lear.


pie

(letterpress typography) Alternative form of pi (“metal type that has been spilled, mixed together, or disordered”).


elephant

elephant (countable and uncountable, plural elephants)

→ Hawaiian: ʻelepani

→ Maori: arewhana

→ Tokelauan: elefane

→ Tongan: ʻelefanite

→ Welsh: eliffant

From Middle English elefant, elefaunt, from Old French elefant, elefan, olifant, re-latinized in Middle French as elephant, from Latin elephantus, from Ancient Greek ἐλέφᾱς (eléphās) (gen. ἐλέφαντος (eléphantos)). Believed to be derived from an Afroasiatic form such as Proto-Berber *eḷu (“elephant”) (compare Tamahaq êlu, Tamasheq alu) or Egyptian ꜣbw (“elephant; ivory”). More at ivory. Replaced Middle English olifant (from the aforementioned Old French form, from Vulgar Latin *olifantus), which replaced Old English elpend (“elephant”).

elephant trunk

Pachypodium namaquanum or Agave attenuata

elephant tortoise

Testudo gigantea or Testudo elaphantopus

elephant yam

Amorphophallus konjac or Amorphophallus paeoniifolius

Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant

(paper, printing) Synonym of elephant paper.


f

Abbreviations.
f
# (Stenoscript) Abbreviation of for.
# (Stenoscript) prefix for-.
# (Stenoscript) suffix/sequence for(e).

ng

prefix <i class="Latn mention" lang="en">for-</i>.

(printing, abbreviation) Folio, paper and book size (10"-12.5" x 15"-20")


robot

desc

→ Arabic: رُوبُوت (rūbūt), رُوبُوط (rūbūṭ)

→ Hindi: रोबोट (roboṭ)

→ Japanese: ロボット (robotto)

→ Korean: 로봇 (robot)

→ Persian: رُبات (robât), روبات (rôbât)

→ Swahili: roboti

→ Welsh: robot

Etymology tree
Proto-Balto-Slavic *árbas
Proto-Slavic *orbъ
Proto-Indo-European *-yeti
Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti
Proto-Slavic *-iti
Proto-Slavic *orbiti
Proto-Balto-Slavic *-atā́ˀ
Proto-Slavic *-ota
Proto-Slavic *orbota
Old Czech robota
Czech robota
Czech robotbor.
English robot
Borrowed from Czech robot, from robota (“drudgery, servitude”). Coined in the 1920 science-fiction play R.U.R. by Karel Čapek after having been suggested to him by his brother Josef. Ultimately a cognate with Old English earfoþe and German Arbeit. Doublet of orphan.

etymon

Young Rossum invented a worker with a minimum amount of requirements. He had to simplify him. He rejected everything that did not contribute directly to the progress of work—everything that makes man more expensive. In fact, he rejected man and made the Robot. My dear Miss Glory, the Robots are not people. Mechanically they are more perfect than we are, they have an enormously developed intelligence, but they have no soul.

c. 1921 (date written), Karel Čapek, translated by Paul Selver, R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots): A Fantastic Melodrama […], Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1923, →OCLC, Act I, page 17:

The robots in Dick's novel, loosely adapted by Ridley Scott into the film Blade Runner, were so similar to humans that when they went rogue, trained bounty hunters were called in to perform psychological tests to see whether suspected androids lacked human empathy.

2010 January 26, Tom Chivers, Iain McDiarmid, The Telegraph:

(chiefly science fiction) An intelligent mechanical being designed to look like a human or other creature, and usually made from metal.


English

en-noun

English (countable and uncountable, plural English or Englishes)

English (plural)
Englishes (plural)
Inglish (alternative dated rare)
Englishe (alternative archaic)
english (alternative US)
english (alternative dated rare)

From Middle English Englisch, English, Inglis, from Old English Englisċ (“of the Angles; English”), from Engle (“the Angles”), a Germanic tribe + -isċ; equivalent to Engle + -ish. Compare West Frisian Ingelsk, Scots Inglis (older ynglis), Dutch Engels, Danish engelsk, Old French Englesche (whence French anglais), German englisch, Spanish inglés, all ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂enǵʰ- (“narrow”) (compare Sanskrit अंहु (áṃhu, “narrow”), अंहस् (áṃhas, “anxiety, sin”), Latin angustus (“narrow”), Old Church Slavonic ѫзъкъ (ǫzŭkŭ, “narrow”)).

cog

(printing, dated) A size of type between pica (12 point) and great primer (18 point), standardized as 14-point.


academicism

en-noun

academicism (countable and uncountable, plural academicisms)

academicisms (plural)
Academicism (alternative)
academism (alternative)

(art, literature) Traditional or orthodox formalism; conventionalism.


accessible

en-adj

accessible (comparative more accessible, superlative most accessible)

more accessible (comparative)
most accessible (superlative)

First attested in 1400, from French, from Late Latin accessibilis, from accessus, perfect passive participle of accēdō (“approach”), equivalent to access + -ible.

But something new was rippling through a million MySpace profiles. The sound was electro, and bass-laced synthetic dance pop would soon start streaming in from producers in Paris, dizzying the twenteens of Britain with its accessible, anthemic funk.

(art, literature) Easily understood or appreciated.


accolade

First use appears c. 1591 in the publications of Thomas Lodge, borrowed from French accolade, from Occitan acolada (“an embrace”), from acolar (“to embrace”), from Italian accollato, from Vulgar Latin *accollō (“to hug around the neck”), from Latin ad- + collum (“neck”) (English collar).


homeworld

But Woman's heart within itself lives more, / And in her Homeworld she can happy be, / Loving and lov'd: from Nature's founts her Lore / Instinctive flows, she drinks it fresh and free

1839, Henry Ellison, Madmoments, page 229:

"First the Patrons wipe-out our home world, now you blow any chance of us making any credits," Kane said in his gruff sinking voice.

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

(science fiction) The world on which someone or something originated; a home planet or moon.


color

colors (plural)
colour (alternative Commonwealth Ireland)
usage notes (alternative)

From Middle English colour, color, borrowed from Anglo-Norman colur, from Old French colour, color, from Latin color. Doublet of couleur.
Displaced English blee, Middle English blee (“color”), from Old English blēo. Also partially replaced Old English hīew (“color”) and its descendants (English hue), which is less often used in this sense.
The spelling color was popularized in modern American English by Noah Webster, to match the spelling of the word's Latin etymon, and make all American spellings of the derivatives consistent (colorimeter, coloration, colorize, colorless, etc).

колори́т

interest, especially in a selective area

(typography) The relative lightness or darkness of a mass of written or printed text on a page. (See type color on Wikipedia.Wikipedia)


en

The name of the letter comes from Latin en. The typographic sense dates to 1793.

(typography) A unit of measurement equal to half an em (half the height of the type in use).


star

Sranan Tongo: stari
Aukan: sitali

→ Finnish: stara

→ French: star

→ German: Star

→ Italian: star

→ Swahili: staa

From Middle English sterre, from Old English steorra (“star”), from Proto-West Germanic *sterrō, variant of *sternō, from Proto-Germanic *sternô, *sternǭ (“star”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂stḗr (“star”). Doublet of aster, stella, étoile, and estoile.
Cognates
Cognate with Scots starn, ster, North Frisian steer, West Frisian stjer, Saterland Frisian Stiern, Dutch ster, Luxembourgish Stär, German Stern, Yiddish שטערן (shtern), Vilamovian śtaom, Swedish stjärna, Norwegian stjerne, Icelandic stjarna, Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌽𐍉 (stairnō), Spanish estrella, Portuguese estrela, French étoile, Italian stella, Romanian stea, Occitan estela, Venetan stéła, Sicilian stidda, Sardinian isteddu, Mirandese streilha, Walloon sitoele, Romansch staila, Megleno-Romanian steau̯ă, Istriot stila, Istro-Romanian ste, Latin stēlla, Greek αστέρι (astéri), Ancient Greek ἀστήρ (astḗr), Old Armenian աստղ (astł), Persian ستاره (setâre), Tajik ситора (sitora), Pashto ستوری (storay), Mazanderani اساره (ëssâre), Northern Kurdish stêr, Central Kurdish ئەستێرە (estêre), Zazaki astare, Ossetian стъалы (st’aly), Hindi तारा (tārā), Urdu تارا (tārā), Punjabi ਤਾਰਾ (tārā), Gujarati તારો (tāro), Sanskrit तारा (tārā).

аеҵǝа

a celestial body appearing as a point of light on the clear night sky, whose position is relatively fixed with respect to each other

Above all, the 48-page timetables of the new service, which have been distributed free at every station in the scheme, are a model to the rest of B.R. For the first time on British Railways, so far as we are aware, a substantial timetable has been produced, not only without a single footnote but also devoid of all wearisome asterisks, stars, letter suffixes and other hieroglyphics.

1960 December, “The Glasgow Suburban Electrification is opened”, in Trains Illustrated, page 714:

(printing) An asterisk (*) or comparable symbol (e.g., ★, ☆, ✶, ✦, ✧, ✷, ✪, ⭐) inspired by a celestial star.


teleport

(science fiction) Synonym of teleporter (“science fiction device”).


bug-eyed monster

en-noun

bug-eyed monster (plural bug-eyed monsters)

(science fiction, derogatory) An extraterrestrial.


deep sleep

deep sleep (countable and uncountable, plural deep sleeps)

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

Donnchadh and Gwalcmai, along with the other fourteen teams selected for planetary infiltration, had been put into deep sleep shortly after liftoff from their planet.

2004, Robert Doherty, Area 51: Legend, →ISBN:

The Kironian had remained in deep sleep until alerted by a high-pitched squeaky sound. When the Kironian woke, everything seemed as though it had just left Kiron.

2005, Bob Ticer, Visiting the Strange Planet Called Earth, →ISBN, page 13:

There is also the possibility that our aliens perfected cryogenics and simply went into deep sleep until the environment improved.

2008, Cavin Wright, The Golden Prize, →ISBN, page 17:

(rare, fiction) Artificially induced hibernation in humans for the purpose of long distance space travel.


German

German (countable and uncountable, plural Germans)

Germans (plural)
Germ. (alternative abbreviation)

/ˈd͡ʒɜː.mən/

From Latin Germānus, Germānī (“the peoples of Germānia”), as distinct from Gauls (in the writings of Caesar and Tacitus), and of uncertain ultimate origin (possibly Celtic/Gaulish).
Not related to german (“closely related”) or germane (from the Latin adjective germānus, through Old French).
Attested since at least 1520. Replaced the older terms Almain and Dutch (from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz) in English. Besides cognates of German, Almain, and Dutch, two other categories of words for the Germans in other languages are cognates of Saxon and descendants of Proto-Slavic *němьcь; see those entries for more.
The surname is generally from the noun, though sometimes confused with Herman, Hermann under Russian influence. As a German surname, Americanized from Germann. Compare Germán, Germain, Jerman.

(uncountable, US printing, rare, dated) A size of type between American and Saxon, 1+¹⁄₂-point type.


slushpile

(colloquial, publishing) A collection of rejected or unsolicited manuscripts.


seme

Borrowed from Japanese 攻め (seme), derived from the verb 攻める (semeru, “to attack”).

[…] BL manga readers chose intelligence, protectiveness, and beauty/handsomeness as the top three most important traits in a seme […]

2008, Dru Pagliassotti, “Better Than Romance? Japanese BL Manga and the Subgenre of Male/Male Romantic Fiction”, in Antonia Levi, Mark McHarry, Dru Pagliassotti, editors, Boys' Love Manga: Essays on the Sexual Ambiguity and Cross-Cultural Fandom of the Genre, McFarland & Company (2008), →ISBN, page 73:

Sebas has always been the seme.

2010, Pentabu, My Girlfriend's a Geek, volume 1, Yen Press (2012), →ISBN:

The seme is larger, stronger, and more traditionally masculine, while the uke is smaller, weaker, and more feminine.

2011, Robin E. Brenner, Snow Wildsmith, “Love through a DIfferent Lens: Japanese Homoerotic Manga through the Eyes of American Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Other Sexualities Readers”, in Timothy Perper, Martha Cornog, editors, Mangatopia: Essays on Manga and Anime in the Modern World, Libraries Unlimited (2011), →ISBN, page 97:

(Japanese fiction, fandom slang) An active or dominant male character in a same-sex relationship; a top.


spacer

It was the futile throwing back in the face of the Spacers their most keenly felt insult: their insistence on considering the natives of Earth as disgustingly diseased.

"How do I know I can trust you?" asked BKR.
Grakker hesitated. "Spacer's oath," he said at last.

2014 [1993], Bruce Coville, Aliens Ate My Homework, page 134:

Shepard: What are you running for?
Charles Saracino: I'm seeking one of the five spacer seats in Parliament. They have certain baroque conditions for a citizen to be able to vote for them.
Charles Saracino: You have to spend more than six months a year in space. But you can't have stayed in any one settled system for more than a month.

2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Citadel:

He was thankful that he still had his suit on when the ship had a catastrophic decompression, a spacer's worst nightmare.

2017, A.K. Brown, Humans on the Menu (Champagne Universe Series: Book 2), page 20:

(science fiction) A person who works or lives in space.


letter

letters (plural)
lettre (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English letter, lettre, from Old French letre, from Latin littera (“letter of the alphabet"; in plural, "epistle”). Displaced Old English bōcstæf (literally “book staff”) in sense 1 and ǣrendġewrit (literally “message writing”) in sense 2.

displaced

Under these, thro’ a garden in which is an ample fountaine, was the King's printing-house, and that famous letter so much esteem’d.

1644 February 18 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 8 February 1644]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […]; and sold by John and Arthur Arch, […], published 1819, →OCLC, page 41:

(printing, dated) A single type; type, collectively; a style of type.


point

en-noun

point (countable and uncountable, plural points)

→ Cantonese: point

→ Indonesian: poin

→ Japanese: ポイント (pointo)

→ Korean: 포인트 (pointeu)

→ Malay: poin

From Middle English poynt, from Old French point m (“dot; minute amount”), from Latin pūnctum (“a hole punched in; a point, puncture”), substantive use of pūnctus m, perfect passive participle of pungō (“I prick, punch”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pewǵ- (“prick, punch”)); alternatively, from Old French pointe f (“sharp tip”), from Latin pūncta f (past participle). Mostly displaced native Middle English ord (“point”), from Old English ord (“point”). Doublet of pointe, ponto, puncto, punctum, punt, and punto.

kärki

position at the front or vanguard of an advancing force

decimal point

not used when reading decimal fractions aloud

A small discrete division or individual feature of something.

(typography) a unit of measure equal to 1/12 of a pica, or approximately 1/72 of an inch (exactly 1/72 of an inch in the digital era).


bot

I stared at the bot and recognized her for the first time. She was me.

1998, David G. Hartwell, editor, Year's best SF 3, page 130:

As he guided the bot, Andrews reminisced about his younger days in Wyoming, when he had witnessed a mishandled load of wheat puff out a dusty fog.

The bot juddered to a halt, as the whole lower segment of its power arm darkened.

2007, Peter F. Hamilton, The Dreaming Void:

(science fiction, informal) A physical robot.


stock

en-noun

stock (countable and uncountable, plural stocks or (obsolete) stocken)

stocks (plural)
stocken (obsolete plural)

→ Dutch: stock

desctree

→ French: stock
→ Romanian: stoc
→ Turkish: stok

→ Italian: stock

→ Portuguese: estoque

→ Spanish: stock

From Middle English stok, from Old English stocc, from Proto-West Germanic *stokk, from Proto-Germanic *stukkaz (“tree-trunk”), with modern senses mostly referring either to the trunk from which the tree grows (figuratively, its origin and/or support/foundation), or to a piece of wood, stick, or rod. The senses of "supply" and "raw material" arose from a probable conflation with steck (“an item of goods, merchandise”) or the use of split tally sticks consisting of foil or counterfoil and stock to capture paid taxes, debts or exchanges. Doublet of chock.

stark (non-rhotic, father-bother merger)

(folklore) A piece of wood magically made to be just like a real baby and substituted for it by magical beings.


DOD

(printing) Initialism of drop-on-demand.


bank

banks (plural)
banck (alternative obsolete)
bancke (alternative obsolete)
banke (alternative obsolete)

Probably from French banc. Of Germanic origin, and akin to English bench.

(archaic, printing) A kind of table used by printers.


take

Brill Publishers
Helmut Rix
Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben

From Middle English taken (“to take, lay hold of, grasp, strike”), from Old English tacan (“to grasp, touch”), of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse taka (“to touch, take”), from Proto-Germanic *tēkaną (“to touch”), from pre-Germanic *deh₁g- (“to touch”), possibly a phonetically altered form of Proto-Indo-European *te-th₂g- (“to touch, take”) (see there for details).
Gradually displaced native Middle English nimen (“to take”; see nim), from Old English niman (“to take”).
Cognates
Scots tak, Icelandic and Norwegian Nynorsk taka (“to take”), Norwegian Bokmål ta (“to take”), Swedish ta (“to take”), Danish tage (“to take, seize”), Middle Dutch taken (“to grasp”), Dutch taken (“to take; grasp”), Middle Low German tacken (“to grasp”). English thack may be from the same root. Compare tackle. Despite superficial similarity, unrelated to Proto-Indo-European *tek- (“to take by hand, obtain”), which is instead cognate with English thig (“to beg”).

gloss

“to take”; see <i class="Latn mention" lang="en">nim</i>

noncog

When the copy arrives, it is taken in hand by the printer, who first of all divides it into "takes" or short portions, distributing these among the various compositors. A take usually consists of a little more than a stickful of matter, but it varies sometimes, for if a new paragraph occurs it is not overlooked. These takes are carefully numbered, and a list is kept of the compositors who take the several pieces.

1884, John Southward, chapter XXI, in Practical Printing: A Handbook of the Art of Typography, second edition, London: J. M. Powell & Son, page 197:

(printing) The quantity of copy given to a compositor at one time.


comma

en-noun

comma (plural commas or (rare) commata or (obsolete) commaes)

commas (plural)
commata (plural rare)
commaes (obsolete plural)
come (alternative obsolete)

From Latin comma, from Ancient Greek κόμμα (kómma), from κόπτω (kóptō, “I cut”).

No points were used by the ancient printers, excepting the colon and the period; but, after some time, a short oblique stroke, called a virgil, was introduced, which answered to the modern comma. In the fifteenth century this punctuation was improved by the famous Aldus Manutius with the typographical art in general; when he gave a better shape to the comma, added the semicolon, and assigned to the former points more proper places.

1828, Richard Thomson, Illustrations of the History of Great Britain, Vol. II, pp. 145–6

(typography) The punctuation mark ⟨,⟩ used to indicate a set of parts of a sentence or between elements of a list.

Komma

also denotes the German or Fraktur comma with a shape similar to /

(Romanian typography) A similar-looking subscript diacritical mark.


colon

From Latin cōlon (“a member of a verse of poem”), from Ancient Greek κῶλον (kôlon, “a member, limb, clause, part of a verse”).

uder

(palaeography) A clause or group of clauses written as a line, or taken as a standard of measure in ancient manuscripts or texts.


offset

From off- + set, used to construct the noun form of the verb to set off. Compare Middle English ofsetten (“to encumber, harass, beset, besiege”), from Old English ofsettan (“to press, oppress, overwhelm, crush”).

cog

offset lithographs

offset process

(printing, often attributive) The offset printing process, in which ink is carried from a metal plate to a rubber blanket and from there to the printing surface.


accent

en-noun

accent (countable and uncountable, plural accents)

From Middle English accent, from Medieval Latin accentus and Old French accent, acent, both from Latin accentus, past participle of accinō (“sing to, sing along”). The word accent had been borrowed into Old English already, but was lost and reborrowed in Middle English.

tongval

distinctive pronunciation associated with a region, social group, etc.

The name Cézanne is written with an acute accent.

(orthography) A mark or character used in writing, in order to indicate the place of the spoken accent, or to indicate the nature or quality of the vowel marked.

pilkku

geometry: mark indicating minutes and seconds of a degree

(prosody, poetry) Stress laid on certain syllables of a verse.


index

index (plural indexes or indices or (obsolete, in use in the 17th century) index's)

indexes (plural)
indices (plural)
index's (obsolete plural)

⇒ Chinese: 引得 (yǐndé)

→ Japanese: インデックス (indekkusu)

From Latin index (“a discoverer, informer, spy; of things, an indicator, the forefinger, a title, superscription”), from indicō (“point out, show”); see indicate.

der

(typography) A symbol resembling a pointing hand, used to direct particular attention to a note or paragraph.


Bigfoot

August/September 1958, originally Big Foot, big + foot, relating to the large size of its supposed footprints relative to human footprints.

Big Foot (alternative)
bigfoot (alternative)

This imprint was made either Wednesday night or early Thursday morning by "Big Foot".

[1958 October 6, Andrew Genzoli, “Huge Foot Prints Hold Mystery Of Friendly Bluff Creek Giant”, in Humboldt Times, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2010-06-11:

Stories of “Bigfoot,” an eight-foot denizen of the forest in Northern California’s wild Trinity County, are among the main topics of conversation in that area. He is supposedly an Indian or half-breed who has reverted to an animal existence. A footprint believed to be his was measured by a Redding shoe store owner and found to be size 24!

1961 July 1, “Big deal”, in Boot and Shoe Recorder, volume 160, number 3, Philadelphia, Pa.: Chilton Company, →OCLC, The Last Word, page 68, column 3:

Some Earth people believe Bigfoot lives in underground caves; others believe Bigfoot is connected with extraterrestrials; still others believe Bigfoot is a spirit that can sometimes manifest in form.

1994, Sun Bear, Wabun Wind, Shawnodese, “A Dream Language of the Earth”, in Dreaming with the Wheel: How to Interpret and Work with your Dreams Using the Medicine Wheel, Fireside, →ISBN, page 145:

Then there are the sharp divisions of opinion about whether Bigfoot is a Gigantopithecus or a Neanderthal or some other hominid.

2016, Bryan Sykes, “The Guru”, in Bigfoot, Yeti, and the Last Neanderthal: A Geneticist’s Search for Modern Apemen, Disinformation Books, →ISBN, part II, page 173:

Many enthusiasts believe that Bigfoot is not some sort of undiscovered hominid, but rather a mystical being that moves between dimensions.

2019, Christopher D. Bader, Joseph O. Baker, “Bigfoot: Undiscovered Primate or Interdimensional Spirit?”, in Deviance Management: Insiders, Outsiders, Hiders, and Drifters, University of California Press, →ISBN, page 77:

(cryptozoology, folklore) A very large, hairy, humanoid creature, similar to the yeti, said to live in the wilderness areas of the United States and Canada, especially the Pacific Northwest.

بيغ فوت

unidentified yeti-like animal (individual creature)


Bigfoot

en-noun

Bigfoot (plural Bigfoot or Bigfeet or Bigfoots)

Bigfoot (plural)
Bigfeet (plural)
Bigfoots (plural)
Big Foot (alternative)
bigfoot (alternative)

My answer to those who believe that all Bigfoot are just huge cuddly Ewoks is to remind them that there is plenty of evidence that every member of the great apes family […] has exhibited hostility […].

2007, Matthew Scott Hansen, The Shadowkiller: A Novel, page 434:

The striking news on the appearance of a Bigfoot on Taibai Mountain in Xi'an, Shaanxi Provnice^([sic – meaning Province]) recently spread among local residents of Mei County located near the foot of Taibai Mountain. Is Taibai Mountain really home to a Bigfoot?
Who encountered the Bigfoot on Taibai Mountain?
Reporters interviewed many residents of Mei County, and their accounts varied.

2010 October 15, “Bigfoot sighted on Taibai Mountain”, in 叶欣, editor, People's Daily, archived from the original on 2015-05-23:

(cryptozoology, folklore) An individual creature of this type.


stylus

styli (plural)
styluses (plural)
stilus (alternative)

Borrowed from Latin stylus (“a stake or pale”). Probably not directly related to Ancient Greek στῦλος (stûlos, “a pillar”). Doublet of style.

иго́лка

граммофо́нная

(writing) An ancient writing implement consisting of a small rod with a pointed end for scratching letters on clay, wax-covered tablets or other surfaces, and a blunt end for obliterating them.

A small implement with a pointed end used for engraving and tracing.

(computing) A small device resembling a pen used to input handwritten text or drawings directly into an electronic device with a touch-sensitive screen.

ստիլուս

pen for writing on a touch-sensitive screen

[T]he pleasure of writing on wax with a stylus is exemplified by the fine, flowing hand of a Roman scribe who made out the birth certificate of Herennia Gemella, born March 128 AD.

2013 September 14, Jane Shilling, “The Golden Thread: the Story of Writing, by Ewan Clayton, review”, in The Telegraph:


small

en-adj

small (comparative smaller, superlative smallest)

smaller (comparative)
smallest (superlative)

From Middle English smal, from Old English smæl (“small, narrow, slender”), from Proto-Germanic *smalaz (“small”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mal-, *(s)mel- (“small, mean, malicious”). Cognate with Scots smal; sma (“small”); West Frisian smel (“narrow”); Dutch smal (“narrow”); German schmal (“narrow, small”); Low German small (“narrow”); Danish, Norwegian, Swedish smal (“narrow; thin; slender”); Latin malus (“bad”); Russian ма́лый (mályj, “small”).

inh

better to light one small candle than to curse the darkness

"I've got catholic tastes. Catholic with a small "c", of course."

1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 584:

(writing, not comparable) Minuscule or lowercase, referring to written or printed letters.

փոքրատառ

minuscule or lowercase, referring to written letters


black

en-adj

black (comparative blacker or more black, superlative blackest or most black)

blacker (comparative)
more black (comparative)
blackest (superlative)
most black (superlative)
blacke (alternative obsolete)
Black (alternative)
blk (alternative)
blak (alternative)

Bislama: blak

Sranan Tongo: blaka

Aukan: baaka

→ Caribbean Hindustani: blaaka

Tok Pisin: blak

Torres Strait Creole: blaik

→ Dutch: black

→ French: black

→ Greek: μπλάκης (blákis)

From Middle English blak, black, blake, from Old English blæc (“black, dark", also "ink”), from Proto-West Germanic *blak, from Proto-Germanic *blakaz (“burnt”) (compare Dutch blaken (“to burn”), Low German blak, black (“blackness, black paint, (black) ink”), Old High German blah (“black”)), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleg- (“to burn, shine”) (compare Latin flagrāre (“to burn”), Ancient Greek φλόξ (phlóx, “flame”), Sanskrit भर्ग (bharga, “radiance”)).
Sense 20 is a semantic loan from Cantonese 黑面 (hak1 min6, “to pull a long face, to scowl”).

sort

of coffee or tea, without milk or other whitener

Compare two Unicode symbols: ☞ (“WHITE RIGHT POINTING INDEX”); ☛ (“BLACK RIGHT POINTING INDEX”).

(typography) Said of a symbol or character that is solid, filled with color.


white

en-adj

white (comparative whiter or more white, superlative whitest or most white)

whiter (comparative)
more white (comparative)
whitest (superlative)
most white (superlative)
whight (alternative obsolete)
whyte (alternative obsolete)
whyght (alternative obsolete)
White (alternative)

Bislama: waet

Sranan Tongo: weti

Aukan: weti

Saramaccan: wéti

Tok Pisin: wait

→ Japanese: ホワイト (howaito)

white fella

⇒ Nyunga: wadjela

white gin

⇒ Gamilaraay: waatyin

⇒ Ngiyambaa: wadjiin

⇒ Wiradjuri: waajin

Inherited from Middle English whit, hwit, from Old English hwīt, from Proto-West Germanic *hwīt, from Proto-Germanic *hwītaz, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱweydós, a byform of *ḱweytós (“bright; shine”).
Cognates
* West Frisian wyt
*Dutch wit
* German weiß
* German weiss
* Norwegian Bokmål hvit
* Norwegian Nynorsk kvit
* Lithuanian šviẽsti (“to gleam”), šviesa (“light”)
* Old Church Slavonic свѣтъ (světŭ, “light”), свѣтьлъ (světĭlŭ, “clear, bright”)
* Persian سفید (sefid, “white”), Persian سپید (sepid, “white”)
* Avestan 𐬯𐬞𐬀𐬉𐬙𐬀 (spaēta, “white”)
* Sanskrit श्वेत (śvetá, “white, bright”).

cog

(typography) Not containing characters; see white space.

Compare two Unicode symbols: ☞ = "WHITE RIGHT POINTING INDEX"; ☛ = "BLACK RIGHT POINTING INDEX"

(typography) Said of a symbol or character outline, not solid, not filled with color. Compare black (“said of a character or symbol filled with color”).


yellow

en-adj

yellow (comparative yellower, superlative yellowest)

yellower (comparative)
yellowest (superlative)
yeallow (alternative)
yeller (alternative)

From Middle English yelwe, yelou, from Old English ġeolwe, oblique form of Old English ġeolu, from Proto-West Germanic *gelu, from Proto-Germanic *gelwaz, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃wos, from *ǵʰelh₃- (“gleam, yellow”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian jel, jeel (“yellow”), West Frisian giel (“yellow”), Dutch geel (“yellow”), German Low German geel (“yellow”), German gelb (“yellow”), Swedish gul (“yellow”), Icelandic gulur (“yellow”). Compare also Welsh gell (“bay, tawny”), Latin helvus (“dull yellow”), Irish geal (“white, bright”), Italian giallo (“yellow”) Lithuanian žalias (“green”), Ancient Greek χλωρός (khlōrós, “light green”), Persian زرد (zard, “yellow”), Sanskrit हरि (hari, “greenish-yellow”), Russian жёлтый (žóltyj, “yellow”), Russian зелёный (zeljónyj, “green”).
The verb is from Middle English yelwen, ȝalowen, ȝolewen, from Old English ġeolwian, from the adjective.

cog

The denizens of the gossipy world of the pink press, purple prose and yellow tabloids are shivering over disputed photographs of Princess Caroline of Monaco.

2004 October 4, Doreen Carvajal, “Photo edict muffles gossipy press”, in International Herald Tribune, retrieved 2008-07-29:

(publishing, journalism) Characterized by sensationalism, lurid content, and doubtful accuracy.


cast

en-verb

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

casts (present singular third-person)
casting (participle present)
cast (participle past)
cast (past)
casted (nonstandard participle past)
casted (nonstandard past)
cast (infinitive)
cast (first-person present singular)
cast (first-person past singular)
cast (present second-person singular)
castest (archaic present second-person singular)
cast (past second-person singular)
castest (archaic past second-person singular)
casts (present singular third-person)
casteth (archaic present singular third-person)
cast (past singular third-person)
cast (plural present)
cast (past plural)
cast (present subjunctive)
cast (past subjunctive)
cast (imperative present)
casting (participle present)
cast (participle past)

New York, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Baltimore

Etymology tree
Proto-Germanic *kas-
Proto-Germanic *kastōną
Old Norse kastabor.
Middle English casten
English cast
From Middle English casten, from Old Norse kasta (“to throw, cast, overturn”), from Proto-Germanic *kastōną (“to throw, cast”), of unknown origin.
Cognate with Scots cast (“to cast, throw”), Danish kaste (“to throw”), Swedish kasta (“to throw, cast, fling, toss, discard”), Icelandic kasta (“to pitch, toss”). In the sense of "flinging", displaced native warp.
The senses relating to broadcasting are based on that same term; compare -cast.

cog

let he who is without sin cast the first stone

let him that is without sin cast the first stone

let him who is without sin cast the first stone

To shape (molten metal etc.) by pouring into a mould; to make (an object) in such a way.

(printing, dated) To stereotype or electrotype.


Saxon

→ Korean: 색슨 (saekseun)

→ Welsh: Sacson

Partially from Middle English Saxe, Sax; from Old English *Seaxa (attested in plural Seaxan), and Saxoun, from Old French *Saxoun, Saxon (“Saxon”), from Late Latin Saxōnem, accusative of Saxō (“a Saxon”), both from Proto-West Germanic *sahs, from Proto-Germanic *sahsą (“rock, knife”), from Proto-Indo-European *sek- (“to cut”). Doublet of Sais.
Cognates
Cognate with Middle Low German sasse (“someone speaking Saxon, i.e. (Middle) Low German”), Old English Seaxa (“a Saxon”), Old High German Sahso (“a Saxon”), Icelandic Saxi (“a Saxon”), Estonian saks (“lord; German”), Finnish Saksa (“Germany”). Also cognate to Old English seax (“a knife, hip-knife, an instrument for cutting, a short sword, dirk, dagger”); more at sax.

(uncountable, US printing, rare, dated) A size of type between German and Norse, 2-point type.


morph

en-verb

morph (third-person singular simple present morphs, present participle morphing, simple past and past participle morphed)

morphs (present singular third-person)
morphing (participle present)
morphed (participle past)
morphed (past)

Meta leapt forward. In midair his lower half morphed, and suddenly he was one-half humanoid, one-half coiled spring.

"Would it reflect badly on women if I morphed my bust size up a bit for it? Sorta like wearing a padded bra?"

2015 January 30, Dan Shive, El Goonish Shive - EGS:NP (webcomic), Comic for Friday, Jan 30, 2015:

(science fiction, fantasy) To shapeshift.


parallel

General American, Mary–marry–merry merger

From Middle French parallèle, borrowed from Latin parallelus.

parallel universe

(science fiction, of realities, dimensions, timelines, etc.) Coexisting but normally not interacting with the regular reality.


parallel

(printing) A character consisting of two parallel vertical lines, used in the text to direct attention to a similarly marked note in the margin or at the foot of a page.


square

→ Welsh: sgwâr

From Middle English square, sqware, squyre; from Old French esquarre, esquerre, (modern French équerre), from Vulgar Latin *exquadra, from Latin ex- + quadro, from quadrus (compare English quad and quadra). Doublet of squad and squadra.
Displaced Old English fēowerecge (fēower nominative + ecg accusative, as in "four-edged").

Something characterized by a square, or nearly square, form.

(printing) A certain number of lines, forming a portion of a column, nearly square; used chiefly in reckoning the prices of advertisements in newspapers.


pi

en-noun

pi (countable and uncountable, plural pis)

Unclear. Possibly from the Greek letter (see Etymology 1) as a common example of non-alphabetic character, possibly from pica (“type size”) (see Etymology 3), possibly from pie referring to its mixed nature or pied (“checkered, multicoloured”).

(letterpress typography) Metal type that has been spilled, mixed together, or disordered.


pi

en-verb

pi (third-person singular simple present pies, present participle piing, simple past and past participle pied)

pies (present singular third-person)
piing (participle present)
pied (participle past)
pied (past)

(letterpress typography) To spill or mix printing type.


pi

In computing, pi characters may be entered with special key combinations.

(typography) Not part of the usual font character set; especially, non-Roman type or symbols as opposed to standard alphanumeric Roman type.


pi

(typography) pica (conventionally, 12 points = 1 pica, 6 picas = 1 inch).


ass

From Middle English asse, from Old English assa, back-formed from assen (“she-ass”), from Celtic (compare Old Irish asan, Old Cornish asen), from Latin asinus. Displaced Old English esol, from Proto-West Germanic *asil, also a loanword from the same Latin word. Sense “stupid person” from the animal's reputation for stubbornness, going back to antiquity (compare Latin asinus (“slow-witted person”)).

Sometimes by way of joke, and sometimes by way of irritation, compositors are called Asses by the pressmen.

[1841, William Savage, Dictionary of the Art of Printing, page 24:

(printing, slang, obsolete) A compositor.


adjunct

/ˈæd͡ʒ.ʌŋkt/

From Latin adiunctus, perfect passive participle of adiungō (“join to”), from ad + iungō (“join”). Doublet of adjoint.

(palaeography) A graphic element that modifies another, such as (in Linear B script) a small syllabogram that is attached to a logogram as an abbreviation of an adjective that modifies that logogram (rather than as a phonetic complement that disambiguates the logogram).


action

en-noun

action (countable and uncountable, plural actions)

→ Arabic: أَكْشِن (ʔakšin)

→ Bulgarian: екшън (ekšǎn)

→ German: Action

→ Irish: aicsean

→ Hebrew: אקשן (akshn)

→ Japanese: アクション (akushon)

→ Korean: 액션 (aeksyeon)

→ Russian: экшн (ekšn)

From Middle English accioun, accion, from Old French aucion, acciun, from Latin āctiō(n) (“act of doing or making”), from āctus + action suffix -iō(n), perfect passive participle of agere (“do, act”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵeti; see also act, active. By surface analysis, act + -ion.

der

(literature) The event or connected series of events, either real or imaginary, forming the subject of a play, poem, or other composition; the unfolding of the drama of events.


vowel

→ Yoruba: fáwẹ̀lì

From Middle English vouel, from Old French vouel, a variant of voyeul (whence French voyelle), from Latin vōcālis (“voiced”), itself a semantic loan of Koine Greek φωνῆεν (phōnêen). Doublet of vocal and vocalis.

Facetiously is spelled with all six vowels in alphabetical order.

(orthography) A letter representing the sound of a vowel; in English, the vowels are a, e, i, o, u, w (sometimes), y (sometimes) .


case

From Middle English case, from Old Northern French casse (compare Old French chasse (“box, chest, case”)), from Latin capsa (“box, bookcase”), from capiō (“to take, seize, hold”). Doublet of cash, chase, and chasse. Compare Spanish caja, Asturian caxa, Portuguese caixa.

(printing, historical) A shallow tray divided into compartments or "boxes" for holding type, traditionally arranged in sets of two, the "upper case" (containing capitals, small capitals, accented) and "lower case" (small letters, figures, punctuation marks, quadrats, and spaces).

դուրճ

(printing, historical) a shallow tray divided into compartments or "boxes" for holding type

(typography, by extension) The nature of a piece of alphabetic type, whether a “capital” (upper case) or “small” (lower case) letter.

դուրճ

typography: the nature of a piece of alphabetic type


stem

From Middle English stem, stemme, stempne, stevin, from Old English stemn, from Proto-West Germanic *stamni, from Proto-Germanic *stamniz, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand, stay”).

the apple does not fall far from the stem

(typography) A vertical stroke of a letter.


wing

en-noun

wing (countable and uncountable, plural wings)

wings (plural)
weng (alternative obsolete)
whing (alternative obsolete)
wyng (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English winge, wenge, from Old Norse vængr ("wing of a flying animal, wing of a building"; compare vængi (“ship's cabin”)), from Proto-Germanic *wēingijaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂weh₁- (“to blow”), thus related to wind. Cognate with Danish vinge (“wing”), Swedish vinge (“wing”), Icelandic vængur (“wing”).
Replaced native Middle English fither (from Old English fiþre, from Proto-Germanic *fiþriją), which merged with Middle English fether (from Old English feþer, from Proto-Germanic *feþrō). More at feather.

gl

"wing of a flying animal, wing of a building"; compare <i class="Latn mention" lang="non">vængi</i> (“ship's cabin”)

der

ˇ wing, wedge, hǎcek, inverted circumflex (Karel Čapek)

1985, David Grambs, Literary Companion Dictionary, page 378:


flower

en-noun

flower (countable and uncountable, plural flowers)

flowers (plural)
flowre (alternative obsolete)
flow'r (alternative archaic poetic)

flour (for people who pronounce flower as one syllable, or flour as two)

From Middle English flour, from Anglo-Norman flur, from Latin flōrem, accusative of flōs, from Proto-Italic *flōs, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₃- (“to thrive, bloom”). Doublet of fleur, flor, flour, bloom, and blossom.
Partly displaced native Old English blostma (which is cognate), whence Modern English blossom.

doublet

I pointed out to the late Mr. Catherwood, of the firm of Caslon and Catherwood, the inconvenience of both these modes of cutting flowers,

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

(printing) Ornamental type used chiefly for borders around pages, cards, etc.


hack

Abbreviation of hackney (“an ordinary horse”), probably from place name Hackney.

Dason is nothing but a two-bit hack.

He's nothing but the typical hack writer.

(derogatory, authorship) An untalented writer.


jump

Brill Publishers
hydraulic jump
jump cut
jump discontinuity
jump instruction

From Middle English jumpen (“to walk quickly, run, jump”), probably of Middle Low German or North Germanic origin, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *gumpōną ~ *gumbōną (“to hop, skip, bounce”), an iterative verb. The OED suggests an imitative origin. Related to jumble. In the sense “to propel oneself” it displaced leap partially and spring largely.
Cognates
Cognate with German Low German jumpen (“to jump”), archaic German gumpen (“to jump, hop, bounce”), dialectal German gampen (“to hop”), Alemannic German gumpe (“to leap, jump”), Walser dialect kumpu, Old Norse gopta (“to jump; make jump”) Danish gumpe (“to jolt”), Swedish gumpa (“to jump”), Danish gimpe (“to move up and down”), Middle English jumpren, jumbren (“to mix, jumble”).

onomatopoeic

imitative

cog

(science fiction) An instance of faster-than-light travel, not observable from ordinary space.


bold

en-adj

bold (comparative bolder or more bold, superlative boldest or most bold)

bolder (comparative)
more bold (comparative)
boldest (superlative)
most bold (superlative)

From Middle English bold, bolde, bald, beald, from Old English bald, beald (“bold, brave, confident, strong, of good courage, presumptuous, impudent”), from Proto-West Germanic *balþ, from Proto-Germanic *balþaz (“strong, bold”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel-, *bʰlē- (“to bloat, swell, bubble”).
Cognate with Dutch boud (“bold, courageous, fearless”), Middle High German balt (“bold”) (whence German bald (“soon”)), Swedish båld (“bold, dauntless”). Perhaps related to Albanian ballë (“forehead”) and Old Prussian balo (“forehead”). For semantic development compare Italian affrontare (“to face, to deal with”), sfrontato (“bold, daring, insolent”), both from Latin frons (“forehead”).

cog

Many bold fonts are available on this computer.

In HTML, wrapping text in <b> and </b> tags produces bold text.

(typography, of typefaces) Having thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface.

թավ

having thicker strokes than the ordinary form of the typeface

מֻדְגָּשׁ (mudgásh, literally “emphasized”)

בּוֹלֵט m (bolét, literally “conspicuous”)


turtle

Modification of Middle English tortou, tortu, from Old French tortüe (under the influence of Middle English turtel, turtur (“turtledove”), see Etymology 2 below), from Medieval Latin tortuca (compare Spanish tortuga), the same source of tortoise (see there for more). Displaced native Old English byrdling.

(printing, historical) The curved plate in which the form is held in a type-revolving cylinder press.


alligator

]
From early Modern English alligater, alligarta, aligarto, alegarto, alagarto, from Spanish el lagarto (“the lizard”), from Latin lacertus (“lizard”), modern spelling possibly influenced by the unrelated Latin alligator (“one who binds”).

Any of various machines with strong jaws, one of which opens like the movable jaw of an alligator.


emerald

en-noun

emerald (countable and uncountable, plural emeralds)

→ Welsh: emrald, emrallt

From Middle English emeraude, borrowed from Old French esmeraude, from Vulgar Latin *smaralda, *smaraldus, *smaraudus, variant of Latin smaragdus, from Ancient Greek σμάραγδος (smáragdos), μάραγδος (máragdos), from a Semitic language. Compare Hebrew בָּרֶקֶת (bāréqeṯ, “emerald, flashing gem”), Akkadian 𒁀𒊏𒄣 (baraqu, literally “scintillation”), Arabic بَرْق (barq, literally “flashing”), Egyptian bwyrqꜣ (literally “to sparkle”):D58-Z7-Z4:D21-N29-Z1-G1-D6 and loanwords with Semitic etymon such as Sanskrit मरकत (marakata) and Persian زمرد (zomorrod) (whence Turkish zümrüt and Russian изумру́д (izumrúd)).

cog

(dated, printing, UK) A size of type between nonpareil and minion, standardized as 6½-point.


ruby

en-noun

ruby (countable and uncountable, plural rubies)

From Middle English ruby, rube, from Old French rubi, from Medieval Latin rubīnus. Doublet of rubine.

(uncountable, printing, UK, dated) The size of type between pearl and nonpareil, standardized as 5½-point.


ruby

→ Japanese: ルビ (rubi)

From the British 5½-point type size ruby (etymology 1), used for annotations in printed documents.

(typography) A pronunciation guide written above or beside Chinese characters.


bad

en-adj

bad (comparative worse or (nonstandard) badder or (nonstandard) more bad, superlative worst or (nonstandard) baddest or (nonstandard) most bad)

worse (comparative)
badder (comparative nonstandard)
more bad (comparative nonstandard)
worst (superlative)
baddest (nonstandard superlative)
most bad (nonstandard superlative)

From Middle English bad, badde (“wicked, evil, depraved”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps a shortening of Old English bæddel (“hermaphrodite”) (for loss of -el compare Middle English muche from Old English myċel, and Middle English wenche from Old English wenċel), or at least related to it and/or to bǣ̆dan (“to defile”), compare Old High German pad (“hermaphrodite”).
Alternatively, perhaps a loan from Old Norse into Middle English, compare Norwegian bad (“effort, trouble, fear”, neuter noun), East Danish bad (“damage, destruction, fight”, neuter noun), from the Proto-Germanic noun *badą, whence also Proto-Germanic *badōną (“to frighten”), Old Saxon undarbadōn (“to frighten”), Norwegian Nynorsk bada (“to weigh down, press”); ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰedʰ- (“to bend, press, push, oppress”).

unk

uncertain

der

æ-tensing, New York City, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Baltimore

Don't you dare speak to me with that bad language!

(of a word, speech, or writing) Vulgar, obscene, or blasphemous.


beat

→ Pennsylvania German: biede

From Middle English beten, from Old English bēatan (“to beat, pound, strike, lash, dash, thrust, hurt, injure”), from Proto-West Germanic *bautan, from Proto-Germanic *bautaną (“to push, strike”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewd- (“to hit, strike”).
Compare Old Irish fo·botha (“he threatened”), Latin confutō (“to strike down”), fūstis (“stick, club”), Albanian bahe (“sling”), Lithuanian baudžiù, Old Armenian բութ (butʻ)).

march to the beat of a different drummer

(authorship) A short pause in a play, screenplay, or teleplay, for dramatic or comedic effect.


bed

en-noun

bed (countable and uncountable, plural beds)

→ Chichewa: bedi

→ Chuukese: pet

→ Esperanto: bedo

→ Japanese: ベッド (beddo)

African-American Vernacular, some speakers

Inherited from Middle English bed, bedde, from Old English bedd, from Proto-West Germanic *badi, from Proto-Germanic *badją (“resting-place, plot of ground”).
Cognates
Cognate with North Frisian baad, beed, Saterland Frisian Bääd, West Frisian bêd, Low German Bedd, Dutch bed, German Bett, Swedish bädd, Icelandic beður, all meaning “bed”.
further possible etymology and cognates
The Proto-Germanic term may in turn be from Proto-Indo-European *bʰedʰ- (“to dig”) with various theories explaining the development in meaning. If it is, the term is also cognate with Ancient Greek βοθυρος (bothuros, “pit”), Latin fossa (“ditch”), Latvian bedre (“hole”), Welsh bedd (“grave”), Breton bez (“grave”); and probably also Russian бодать (bodatʹ, “to butt, gore”).

bed

flat surface or layer on which something else is to be placed

A place, or flat surface or layer, on which something else rests or is laid.

(printing, dated) The flat part of the press, on which the form is laid.


ML

en-noun

ML (countable and uncountable, plural MLs)

(slang, manga, anime) Abbreviation of male lead.


NA (countable and uncountable, plural NAs)


bite

bite (countable and uncountable, plural bites)

Sranan Tongo: beti

From Middle English biten, from Old English bītan (“bite”), from Proto-West Germanic *bītan, from Proto-Germanic *bītaną (“bite”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd- (“split”).
Cognates include Saterland Frisian biete (“bite”), West Frisian bite (“bite”), Dutch bijten (“bite”), German Low German bieten (“bite”), German beißen, beissen (“bite”), Danish bide (“bite”), Swedish bita (“bite”), Norwegian Bokmål bite (“bite”), Norwegian Nynorsk bita (“bite”), Icelandic bíta (“bite”), Gothic 𐌱𐌴𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (beitan, “bite”), Latin findō (“split”), Ancient Greek φείδομαι (pheídomai), Sanskrit भिद् (bhid, “break”).

(printing) A blank on the edge or corner of a page, owing to a portion of the frisket, or something else, intervening between the type and paper.


eye

eye (plural eyes or (archaic or dialectal) eyen or (archaic) eyne)

eyes (plural)
eyen (archaic dialectal plural)
eyne (archaic plural)

Sranan Tongo: ai

From Middle English eye, eie, yë, eighe, eyghe, yȝe, eyȝe, from Old English ēage (“eye”), from Proto-West Germanic *augā, from Proto-Germanic *augô (“eye”) (compare Scots ee, West Frisian each, Dutch oog, German Auge, Danish øje, Norwegian Bokmål øye, Norwegian Nynorsk auga, Swedish öga), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃okʷ-, *h₃ekʷ- (“eye; to see”).
Other Indo-European cognates include Latin oculus (whence English oculus), Lithuanian aki̇̀s, Old Church Slavonic око (oko), Albanian sy, Ancient Greek ὄψ (óps, “(poetic) eye; face”) and ὄσσε (ósse, “eyes”), Armenian ակն (akn), Avestan 𐬀𐬱𐬌 (aši, “eyes”), Sanskrit अक्षि (ákṣi). Related to ogle.
The uncommon plural form eyen is from Middle English eyen, from Old English ēaġan, nominative and accusative plural of ēaġe (“eye”).

cog

an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind

better than a poke in the eye with a burnt stick

better than a poke in the eye with a rusty nail

better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick

better than a poke in the eye with a shitty stick

eye movement desensitization and reprocessing

it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God

it's all fun and games until someone loses an eye

The “e” was a bit over-inked, with a blacked-out eye.

2022, Hernan Diaz, Trust, Picador (2023):

(typography) The enclosed counter (“negative space”) of the lower-case letter e.


CT

(science fiction) Initialism of contraterrene.


FL

FLs (plural)
effell (alternative)
Fl (alternative)

(slang, manga, anime) Abbreviation of female lead.


voice

voices (plural)
voyce (alternative obsolete)

→ Russian: войс (vojs) (slang, from "voice message")

From Middle English voice, voys, vois, borrowed from Anglo-Norman voiz, voys, voice, Old French vois, voiz (Modern French voix), from Latin vōcem, accusative form of vōx (“voice”), from Proto-Indo-European *wṓkʷs, root noun from *wekʷ- (“to utter, speak”). Cognate with Sanskrit वाच् (vāc), Ancient Greek ὄψ (óps), Persian آواز (âvâz). Displaced native Middle English steven (“voice”) (from Old English stefn (see steven)), Old English hlēoþor, Old English woþ, and Old English reord. Compare advocate, advowson, avouch, convoke, epic, vocal, vouch, vowel. Doublet of vox.

the voice of the people, the voice of God

(literature) A particular style or way of writing that expresses a certain tone or feeling.


banshee

banshees (plural)
banshie (alternative dated)
benshee (alternative obsolete)

desc

→ Arabic: بَانْشِي (bānšī)

→ Arabic: بَانْشِي (bānšī)

→ Catalan: banshee

→ Dutch: banshee

→ Esperanto: banŝio

→ Finnish: banshee

→ French: banshee, banshie

→ German: Banshee

→ Japanese: バンシー (banshī)

→ Korean: 반시 (bansi)

→ Northern Kurdish: banşî

→ Portuguese: banshee

→ Russian: ба́нши (bánši), банши́ (banší), ба́ньши (bánʹši), баньши́ (banʹší)

→ Spanish: banshee

Borrowed from Irish bean sí, from Old Irish ben síde (literally “woman of the fairy mound”). The term banshee entered English in 1771.

der

Late had he heard, in prophet's dream, / The fatal Ben-Shie's boding scream […].

1810, The Lady of the Lake, Walter Scott, 3.VII:

(Scotland, Ireland, folklore) A female spirit, usually taking the form of a woman whose mournful wailing warns of an impending death.


foot

en-noun

foot (plural feet or (UK colloquial, unit of measure) foot)

feet (plural)
foot (plural)
foote (alternative obsolete)
feets (alternative dialectal)
foots (alternative nonstandard)

→ Assamese: ফুট (phut)

q

from <i class="Latn mention" lang="en">feet</i>

→ Japanese: フット (futto), フート (fūto); フィート (fīto) (from feet)

→ Russian: фут (fut)

Sranan Tongo: futu

Aukan: futu

Saramaccan: fútu

→ Swahili: futi

→ Thai: ฟุต (fút)

Tok Pisin: fut, put

→ Urdu: فٹ (fuṭ)

→ Phalura: fuṭ

From Middle English fot, fote, foot, from Old English fōt, from Proto-West Germanic *fōt, from Proto-Germanic *fōts, from Proto-Indo-European *pṓds. Doublet of pes, pie (“Spanish unit of length”), and pous.

doublet

not touch something with a ten-foot pole

you cannot put the same shoe on every foot

(printing) The bottommost part of a typed or printed page.

(printing) The base of a piece of type, forming the sides of the groove.


neck

The Neck no more upon the river sings.
And no Mermaid to bleach her linen flings
Upon the waves in the mild solar ray.

1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 234:

(folklore) A shapeshifting water spirit in Germanic mythology and folklore; a nix.


face

Sranan Tongo: fesi

→ Danish: fjæs

→ Norwegian:

Norwegian Bokmål: fjes

Norwegian Nynorsk: fjes

→ Swedish: fejs, fjäs

→ Wu: 番斯 (¹fe-sy)

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-?
Latin faciēs
Late Latin facia
Old French facebor.
Middle English face
English face
From Middle English face, from Old French face, from Late Latin facia, from Latin faciēs (“form, appearance”). Doublet of facies. Displaced native onlete (“face, countenance, appearance”), anleth (“face”), from Old English anwlite, andwlita, compare German Antlitz; Old English ansīen (“face”), Middle English neb (“face, nose”) (from Old English nebb), Middle English ler, leor, leer (“face, cheek, countenance”) (from Old English hlēor), and non-native Middle English vis (“face, appearance, look”) (from Old French vis) and Middle English chere (“face”) from Old French chere.
In the sense of face as in reputation, influenced by Chinese 面子 (miànzi) or 臉／脸 (liǎn), both of which mean literally the front of the head and metaphorically one's public image. See lose face.

noncog

talk to the hand 'cause the face ain't listening

For the typophiles reading this, the book is attractively designed. It is set in Classic Aldine, a handsome face akin to the more popular Palatino. The designer's work is unfortunately marred by indifferent printing.

1982 August 28, Mark McHarry, “A Minor Delight”, in Gay Community News, volume 10, number 7, page 12:


IMF

Since 1996 and over six installments, special IMF (The Impossible Missions Force) agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) has been spectacularly ‘figuring things right in the face of danger, often without a plan.

2018, Deborah Cornelious, “‘Mission: Impossible - Fallout’ review: mission successful”, in The Hindu, archived from the original on 2022-12-07:

Impossible Mission Force
w:Impossible Mission Force

(fiction) Initialism of Impossible Mission Force, a fictional spy organization from the Mission: Impossible franchise.


slug

Nicoline van der Sijs
Slug (disambiguation)

Originally referred to a slow, lazy person, from Middle English slugge (“lazy person", also "sloth, slothfulness”), probably of either Old English or Old Norse origin; compare Norn slug (“lazy, slothful, sluggish”), dialectal Norwegian slugg (“a large, heavy body”), sluggje (“heavy, slow person”), Danish slog (“rascal, rogue”); perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sliǵ-ōn, from *sley- (“smooth; slick; sticky; slimy”) or otherwise from the root of Old Norse slókr (“lazy person, oaf”), whence Icelandic slókur (“laziness”). Compare also Dutch slak (“snail, slug”). Doublet of slotch.

inh

(television editing) A black screen used to separate broadcast items.

(letterpress typography) A piece of type metal imprinted by a linotype machine; also a black mark placed in the margin to indicate an error; also said in application to typewriters; type slug.


furigana

Borrowed from Japanese 振り仮名 (furigana, “annotating kana”, literally “assigned phonetic character”).

bor

Furigana are indispensable for some names of people and places whose Kanji are not included among the official Kanji list, and whose sounds can be unusual and even idiosyncratic.

2014, Insup Taylor, M. Martin Taylor, Writing and Literacy in Chinese, Korean and Japanese, revised edition, John Benjamins, →ISBN, page 290:

(Japanese typography) Kana printed next to or above a kanji or other character to indicate the pronunciation.


force

en-noun

force (countable and uncountable, plural forces)

From Middle English force, fors, forse, from Old French force, from Late Latin fortia, a noun derived from the neuter plural of Latin fortis (“strong”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- (“to rise, high, hill”).

der

non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger

ուժեր

group that aims to attack, control, or constrain

ҡеүәт

ability to attack, control, or constrain

The Europeans tried, my goodness how they tried. But on the day the US proved too strong and too inspired. They were, dammit, just better. And when Leonard's putt dropped they clearly had the force with them as well.

1999 September 28, Mike Selvey, “Crenshaw vindicated by a chain reaction”, in The Guardian:

The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural.

2005, George Lucas, Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, spoken by Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid), published 2005:

(physics) A physical quantity that denotes ability to push, pull, twist or accelerate a body and which has a direction and is measured in a unit dimensioned in mass × distance/time² (ML/T²): SI: newton (N); CGS: dyne (dyn)

(countable) A particular form or type of force.

(humorous or science fiction, with the, often capitalized) A metaphysical and ubiquitous power from the fictional Star Wars universe created by George Lucas. See usage note.

voima

science fiction: binding, metaphysical, and ubiquitous power


dimension

a machine that lets you travel to a parallel dimension.

"If a man should wish to be in some other place, it is entirely possible for him to imagine himself in that place and, diving back through the negative dimension, to emerge out of it in that place with instantaneous rapidity. To imagine oneself———"

1938 July, L. Ron Hubbard, “The Dangerous Dimension”, in Astounding Science-Fiction, volume XXI, number 5, Street & Smith, →OCLC, page 105:

DR. PAUL MANHEIM: I have been on the other side. I have touched another dimension. Part of me is still there.
LAURA MANHEIM: Help him.
DR. CRUSHER: Try to stay calm Dr. Manheim. I don't think it's going to help you're struggling against it.
DR. PAUL MANHEIM: My mind is floating between two places. It is difficult to know which is which. There is no way to explain it.

1988 May 2, Rod Loomis, Michelle Phillips, Gates McFadden, We'll Always Have Paris (Star Trek: The Next Generation), Paramount Domestic Television, →OCLC:

He was experimenting with matter transportation through the nth dimension.

2016, A.K. Brown, Jumpstart (Champagne Universe Series: Book 1), page 2:

(science fiction, fantasy) A universe or plane of existence.


race

en-noun

race (countable and uncountable, plural races)

1560s, via Middle French race from Italian razza (early 14th century), of uncertain origin. Partially displaced native Middle English kinde (“kind, type, sort, race, nature”), whence English kind.
theories
* Diez and some other scholars suggest derivation from Proto-Germanic *raitō (whence Old High German reiza (“line”) and Old Norse ríta (“to score, log, outline”)), perhaps via Lombardic *raiza (“line”), which Körting notes is a literal rendering of Latin linea sanguinis (“bloodline of descent”). Anatoly Liberman says "the semantic fit is good" but the chronology falters; he says the Germanic word went out of use before the Italian word arose, and he says the intermediary is not attested.
* Some scholars suggest derivation from Old Spanish raza, rasa, from earlier ras, res (“head of cattle”), from Arabic رَأْس (raʔs, “head”), but Italian razza predates the Spanish word according to Diez and Meyer-Lübke.
* Meyer-Lübke suggested Latin generatio as the root; Körting says "the disappearance of two initial syllables hardly seems credible", but Meyer-Lübke notes the Venetian form narazza and the Old Bellunesian form naraccia, positing that after the first syllable ge- was lost, the remaining (una) narazza came to be reanalysed as una razza.
* Gianfranco Contini suggests the Italian word comes from Old French haraz (“troop of horses”), whence Modern French haras (“breeding farm for horses; stud farm”), from Old Norse hárr (“grey-haired; hoary”). Liberman considers this derivation the most likely.
* Other suggested Latin etyma:
** radius (perhaps via Vulgar Latin *radia) (per Baist).
** radix (“root”) (per Ulrich); Liberman says "the semantic match is excellent", and race (“rhizome of ginger”) (which definitely derives from radix) shows that the phonology is plausible.
** *raptiare (“breed falcons”) (per Körting).
** The nominative of ratio (perhaps via an unattested intermediate form *razzo), as opposed to ragione which derives from the accusative rationem.
* Other implausible suggestions include Slavic raz and Basque arraca, supposedly meaning "stud animal" (Basque arrazza, "race", derives from Spanish).

raça

a group of sentient beings distinguished by common characteristics

عِرْق

a large group of people distinguished from others on the basis of physical characteristics

raça

a group of organisms distinguished by common characteristics

A treaty was concluded between the race of elves and the race of men.

There are two distinct races of gods known to Norse mythology[.]

1898, Herman Isidore Stern, The gods of our fathers: a study of Saxon mythology, page 15:

Imagine a race of aliens that develops on a dimly lit world perpetually shrouded in clouds so that vision would be less useful for survival than on Earth.

1999, Clifford A. Pickover, The Science of Aliens, page 47:

Tali: My father is responsible for the lives of seventeen million people—our entire race is in his hands. And I'm his only child.

2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Normandy SR-1:

A group of sentient beings, particularly people, distinguished by common ancestry, heritage or characteristics (see Wikipedia's article on historical definitions of race):

(fantasy, science fiction, mythology) A large group of nonhumans distinguished from others on the basis of a common heritage.


human

From Late Middle English humaigne, humayne, humain, from Middle French humain, from Old French humain, umain (“of or belonging to man”, adjective), from Latin hūmānus m (“of man, human”, adjective); see there for further details. Spelling human has been predominant since the early 18th century. Not etymologically related to man.

der

Greetings. I am Blor-Utar from Zimtok-5. I have come to subjugate the human race. Do not resist. Why humans? Because, in addition to their value as slave labor, they are also delicious and nutritious!

1994 March 29, Bill Watterson, Calvin & Hobbes:

(strictly, biology) The most abundant of the primates; Homo sapiens.

(fantasy, science fiction, mythology) A human as contrasted from superficially similar but typically more powerful humanoid creatures; a member of the human race.

Greetings, human! You have stumbled into the dimension of the Snow People.[…]Flesh plows clear the streets to make them safe to drive.[…]Does this shock you, human? Do the ways of our world open your eyes to the truths of your own?

2011 December 29, Alex Culang, Raynato Castro, Buttersafe (webcomic):

(fantasy, science fiction) A term of address for any human, often implying the listener's species is their only noteworthy trait.

чолові́к m (čolovík) (now usually means "man", "male human")


lead

en-noun

lead (countable and uncountable, plural leads)

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

From Middle English led, leed, from Old English lēad (“lead”), from Proto-West Germanic *laud (“lead”), possibly borrowed from Proto-Celtic *ɸloudom, from Proto-Indo-European *plewd- (“to flow”).
Cognate with Scots leid, lede (“lead”), North Frisian lud, luad (“lead”), West Frisian lead (“lead”), Dutch lood (“lead”), Low German Lod (“solder, plummet”), German Lot (“solder, plummet, sounding line”), Swedish lod (“solder, plummet”), Icelandic lóð (“a plumb, weight”), Irish luaidhe (“lead”) Latin plumbum (“lead”), Finnish luoti (“bullet”). Doublet of loth. More at flow.
* (graphite in a pencil): Graphite was once believed to be a form of lead; see black lead and plumbago.

cog

This copy has too much lead; I prefer less space between the lines.

(uncountable, typography) Vertical space in advance of a row or between rows of text. Also known as leading.


lead

en-verb

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

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

to lead a page

leaded matter

(transitive, printing, historical) To place leads between the lines of.

odsadit

printing: place leads between the lines of


bleed

bleed (third-person singular simple present bleeds, present participle bleeding, simple past and past participle bled)

bleeds (present singular third-person)
bleeding (participle present)
bled (participle past)
bled (past)

From Middle English bleden, from Old English blēdan (“to bleed”), from Proto-West Germanic *blōdijan, from Proto-Germanic *blōþijaną (“to bleed”), from *blōþą (“blood”).
Cognates
Cognate with Scots blede, bleid (“to bleed”), Saterland Frisian bläide (“to bleed”), West Frisian bliede (“to bleed”), Dutch bloeden (“to bleed”), Low German blöden (“to bleed”), German bluten (“to bleed”), Danish bløde (“to bleed”), Swedish blöda (“to bleed”).

кровоточи́ть

seldom used, име́ть кровотече́ние (imétʹ krovotečénije), идёт кровь (idjót krovʹ)

Full-page and double-page colour advertisements in the Sunday colour magazines usually bleed off the page' (or are 'bled to the margin'), […]

1998, Macmillan Dictionary of Marketing and Advertising, page 35:

Too, bleeding beyond margins provides editors with several picas of space for more layout.

2004, Dorothy A. Bowles, Diane L. Borden, Creative Editing, page 361:

(publishing, advertising, ambitransitive) To (cause to) extend to the edge of the page, without leaving any margin.


bleed

en-noun

bleed (countable and uncountable, plural bleeds)

(printing) A narrow edge around a page layout, to be printed but cut off afterwards (added to allow for slight misalignment, especially with pictures that should run to the edge of the finished sheet).


come

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

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

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

(typography, obsolete) Alternative form of comma in its medieval use as a middot ⟨·⟩ serving as a form of colon.

comma in its medieval use as a middot serving as a form of colon


creep

creep (countable and uncountable, plural creeps)

function creep
instruction creep
mission creep
requirement creep

From Middle English crepen, from Old English crēopan (“to creep, crawl”), from Proto-West Germanic *kreupan, from Proto-Germanic *kreupaną (“to twist, creep”), from Proto-Indo-European *grewbʰ- (“to turn, wind”). Cognate with West Frisian krippe, krûpe, West Frisian crjippa (“to creep”), Low German krepen and krupen, Dutch kruipen (“to creep, crawl”), Middle High German kriefen (“to creep”), Danish krybe (“to creep”), Norwegian krype (“to creep”), Swedish krypa (“to creep, crawl”), Icelandic krjúpa (“to stoop”).
The noun is derived from the verb.
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *grewbʰ-der.
Proto-Germanic *kreupaną
Proto-West Germanic *kreupan
Old English crēopan
Middle English crepen
English creep

etymon

(publishing) In sewn books, the tendency of pages on the inside of a quire to stand out farther than those on the outside of it.


drive

en-noun

drive (countable and uncountable, plural drives)

[d̠ɹ̠ ̝ʷaɪv]

From Middle English driven, from Old English drīfan (“to drive, force, move”), from Proto-West Germanic *drīban, from Proto-Germanic *drībaną (“to drive”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰreybʰ- (“to drive, push”).
Cognates
Cognate with Scots drive (“to drive”), North Frisian driwe (“to drive”), Saterland Frisian drieuwe (“to drive”), West Frisian driuwe (“to chase, drive, impel”), Dutch drijven (“to drive”), Low German drieven (“to drive, drift, push”), German treiben (“to drive, push, propel”), Norwegian Bokmål drive, Danish drive (“to drive, run, force”), Norwegian Nynorsk driva, Swedish driva (“to drive, power, drift, push, force”), Icelandic drífa (“to drive, hurry, rush”).

cog

(typography) An impression or matrix formed by a punch drift.


fly

From Middle English flye (“flying, flight”), from Old English flyge (“flying, flight”), from Proto-Germanic *flugiz.

дюкян

strip that hides the opening of trousers/pants or underpants

The person who took the printed sheets from the press.

A vibrating frame with fingers, attached to a power printing press for doing the same work.


lay

en-verb

lay (third-person singular simple present lays, present participle laying, simple past laid, past participle laid or (colloquial) lain)

lays (present singular third-person)
laying (participle present)
laid (past)
laid (participle past)
lain (colloquial participle past)
lay (infinitive)
lay (first-person present singular)
laid (first-person past singular)
lay (present second-person singular)
layest (archaic present second-person singular)
laid (past second-person singular)
laidst (archaic past second-person singular)
laidest (archaic past second-person singular)
lays (present singular third-person)
layeth (archaic present singular third-person)
laid (past singular third-person)
lay (plural present)
laid (past plural)
lay (present subjunctive)
laid (past subjunctive)
lay (imperative present)
laying (participle present)
laid (participle past)

Inherited from Middle English leyen, leggen, from Old English leċġan (“to lay”), from Proto-West Germanic *laggjan, from Proto-Germanic *lagjaną (“to lay”), causative form of Proto-Germanic *ligjaną (“to lie, recline”), from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ- (“to lie, recline”).
Cognate with West Frisian lizze (“to lay, to lie”), Dutch leggen (“to lay”), German legen (“to lay”), Norwegian Bokmål legge (“to lay”), Norwegian Nynorsk leggja (“to lay”), Swedish lägga (“to lay”), Icelandic leggja (“to lay”), Albanian lag (“troop, band, war encampment”).

cog

the best laid plans of mice and men go oft astray

the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry

(printing) To place and arrange (pages) for a form upon the imposing stone.

(printing) To place (new type) properly in the cases.


lean

en-adj

lean (comparative leaner, superlative leanest)

leaner (comparative)
leanest (superlative)

From Middle English lene (“lean”), from Old English hlǣne (“lean”), (cognate with Low German leen), perhaps from hlǣnan (“to cause to lean (due to hunger or lack of food)”), from Proto-Germanic *hlainijaną (“to cause to lean”). If so, then related to Old English hlinian, hleonian (“to lean”).

der

lean copy, matter, or type

(printing, archaic) Of a character which prevents the compositor from earning the usual wages; opposed to fat.


back

front

antonym(s) of “side opposite the front or useful side”

front

antonym(s) of “that which is farthest away from the front”

From Middle English bak, from Old English bæc, from Proto-West Germanic *bak, from Proto-Germanic *baką, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg- (“to bend”). The adverb represents an aphetic form of aback.
Compare Middle Low German bak (“back”), from Old Saxon bak, and West Frisian bekling (“chair back”), Old High German bah, Swedish and Norwegian bak. Cognate with German Bache (“sow [adult female hog]”).

agter

break one's arm patting oneself on the back

could be written on the back of a postage stamp

could fit on the back of a postage stamp

you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours

Convenience and custom have familiarised us to the printed page being a little higher than the middle of the leaf, and to its having a little more margin at the fore edge than in the back.

1841, William Savage, A Dictionary of the Art of Printing, Ayer Publishing, published 1965, →ISBN, page 472:

That which is farthest away from the front.

The side of any object which is opposite the front or useful side.


cliché

(printing) A stereotype (printing plate).


contraction

en-noun

contraction (countable and uncountable, plural contractions)

PIE word
 *ḱóm
From Late Middle English contraccioun, contraxion (“spasm, contraction; constriction, shrinking; act of pressing together”), from Old French contraction (modern French contraction), from Latin contractiō(n) (“a drawing together, contraction; abridgement, shortening; dejection, despondency”), from contrahō (“to draw things together, assemble, collect, gather; to enter into a contract”) + -tiō(n) (suffix forming nouns relating to actions or their results). Contrahō is derived from con- (prefix denoting a bringing together of objects) + trahō (“to drag, pull”) (probably from Proto-Indo-European *dʰregʰ- (“to drag, pull; to run”)). By surface analysis, contract + -ion (suffix denoting actions or processes, or their results).

verkleining

Don’t is a contraction of do not; and ’til is a contraction of until.

Senses relating to pulling together or shortening.

A (sometimes reversible) contracting or reduction in length, scope, size, or volume; a narrowing, a shortening, a shrinking.

(orthography) In the English language: a shortened form of a word, often with omitted letters replaced by an apostrophe or a diacritical mark.


machine

→ Ainu: マシン

→ Bengali: মেশিন (meśin)

→ Cowlitz: məšín

→ Irish: meaisín

→ Japanese: マシン (mashin)

→ Korean: 머신 (meosin)

→ Maori: mīhini

→ Punjabi

Gurmukhi script: ਮਸ਼ੀਨ (maśīn)

Shahmukhi script: مشین (maśīn)

→ Swahili: mashine

→ Tok Pisin: masin

Borrowed from Middle French machine, from Latin māchina (“a machine, engine, contrivance, device, stratagem, trick”), from Doric Greek μᾱχᾰνᾱ́ (mākhănā́), cognate with Attic Greek μηχᾰνή (mēkhănḗ, “a machine, engine, contrivance, device”), from which comes mechanical. Displaced native Old English searu.

cog

perpetual motion machine of the first kind

perpetual motion machine of the second kind

Outline of machines on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

I am apt to think, that the changing of the Trojan fleet into water-nymphs, which is the most violent machine in the whole Æneid[…]

1712 May 2 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “MONDAY, April 21, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 351; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume IV, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:

(poetry) Supernatural agency in a poem, or a superhuman being introduced to perform some exploit.


tractor

en-verb

tractor (third-person singular simple present tractors, present participle tractoring, simple past and past participle tractored)

tractors (present singular third-person)
tractoring (participle present)
tractored (participle past)
tractored (past)

Formed from Latin tractus, perfect passive participle of trahere (“to pull”), + agent noun suffix -or.

(transitive, science fiction) To move with a tractor beam.


thunder

en-noun

thunder (countable and uncountable, plural thunders)

→ Alemannic German: Thönder

→ Japanese: サンダー (sandā)

→ Tagalog: tanders

→ Tok Pisin: tanda

From Middle English thunder, thonder, thundre, thonre, thunnere, þunre, from Old English þunor (“thunder”), from Proto-West Germanic *þunr, from Proto-Germanic *þunraz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ten-, *(s)tenh₂- (“to thunder”).
Compare astound, astonish, stun. Germanic cognates include West Frisian tonger, Dutch donder, German Donner, Old Norse Þórr (English Thor), Danish torden, Norwegian Nynorsk tore. Other cognates include Persian تندر (tondar), Latin tonō, detonō, Ancient Greek στένω (sténō), στενάζω (stenázō), στόνος (stónos), Στέντωρ (Sténtōr), Irish torann, Welsh taran, Gaulish Taranis. Doublet of donner, Thunor, and Thor.

Adam's fall and Vico's thunder are embodied in a word of a hundred letters, the first of ten thunders in the Wake.

1996, William York Tindall, A Reader's Guide to Finnegans Wake, page 31:


bug

bugs (plural)
bugg (alternative obsolete)

First attested in this form around 1620 (referring to a “bedbug”), from earlier bugge (“beetle”), from Middle English bugge (“scarecrow, hobgoblin”) which is traced alternatively to:
* a Celtic root found in Scots bogill (“goblin, bugbear”) and obsolete Welsh bwg (“ghost, hobgoblin”); compare Welsh bwgwl (“threat, fear”) and Isthmus Mixe bocanách (“supernatural being”).
* Proto-Germanic *bugja- (“swollen up, thick”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰew-, *bu- (“to swell”); compare Norwegian bugge (“big man”), dialectal Low German Bögge (“goblin, snot”).
* or to a word related to buck and originally referring to a goat-shaped spectre.
For the “insect” meaning the assonance with Middle English budde (“beetle”), from Old English budda, from Proto-Germanic *buddô, *buzdô, from the same ultimate source as above, might have played a role. Compare Low German Budde (“louse, grub”), Norwegian budda (“newborn domestic animal”)). More at bud. But ultimately this convergence of meaning doesn't prove a conflation of the two terms, they might have existed parallely since PIE times with similar meanings, even if unnoticed by literary sources.
The term is used to refer to technical errors and problems at least as early as the 19th century, predating the commonly known story of a moth being caught in a computer.

cog

given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow

paruli mosmenis elekṭronuli moc̣q̇obiloba

ფარული მოსმენის ელექტრონული მოწყობილობა


weight

en-noun

weight (countable and uncountable, plural weights)

weights (plural)
wt. (alternative)
waight (alternative obsolete)

Belizean Creole: wayt

→ Japanese: ウエイト (ueito)

→ Burmese: ဝိတ် (wit)

From Middle English weight, weiȝte, weght, wight, from Old English wiht, ġewiht (“weight”), from Proto-Germanic *wihtiz ("weight"; compare *weganą (“to move”)), from Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- (“to move; pull; draw; drive”). Equivalent to weigh + -th (abstract nominal suffix).
Cognate with Scots wecht, weicht (“weight”), Saterland Frisian Wächte (“scale”), Gewicht (“weight”), West Frisian gewicht (“weight”), Dutch gewicht (“weight”), German Low German Wicht, Gewicht (“weight”), German Wucht (“massiveness, force”), Gewicht (“weight”).

gloss

"weight"; compare <i class="Latn mention" lang="gem-pro">*weganą</i> (“to move”)

inh

font weight

(typography) The boldness of a font; the relative thickness of its strokes.


body

en-noun

body (countable and uncountable, plural bodies)

bodies (plural)
bodie (alternative obsolete)

→ Bislama: bodi

→ Chichewa: bóde

→ Finnish: bodi

→ Indonesian: bodi

Jamaican Creole: badi, bady

Nigerian Pidgin: bọdí

→ Spanish: bodi

→ Swahili: bodi

desc

→ Thai: บอดี้ (bɔɔ-dîi), บอดี

→ Thai: บอดี้ (bɔɔ-dîi), บอดี

Tok Pisin: bodi

Torres Strait Creole: bodi

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *bʰewdʰ-
Proto-West Germanic *bodag
Old English bodiġ
Middle English bodi
English body
From Middle English bodi, bodiȝ, from Old English bodiġ (“body, trunk, chest, torso, height, stature”), from Proto-West Germanic *bodag (“body, trunk”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewdʰ- (“to be awake, observe”). Cognate with Old High German botah (whence Swabian Bottich (“body, torso”)).

有黏性

comparative viscosity, solidity or substance

body-focused repetitive behavior disorder

a nonpareil face on an agate body

The stemless notes could have been cast on a body as short as 4 mm but were probably cast on bodies of the standard 14 mm size for ease of composition.

1992, Mary Kay Duggan, Italian Music Incunabula: Printers and Type, page 99:

(printing) The shank of a type, or the depth of the shank (by which the size is indicated).


basket

en-verb

basket (third-person singular simple present baskets, present participle basketing, simple past and past participle basketed)

baskets (present singular third-person)
basketing (participle present)
basketed (participle past)
basketed (past)

From Middle English basket, from Anglo-Norman baschet, basket, bascat, of obscure origin.
One theory is that it derives from Late Latin bascauda (“kettle, table-vessel”), from Proto-Brythonic (in Breton baskodenn), from Proto-Celtic *baskis (“bundle, load”), from purported Proto-Indo-European *bʰask- (“bundle”), but this is now widely viewed as a substrate word for phonetic reasons. Related to Latin fascis (“bundle, package, load”) (whence English fasces), Albanian bokshe (“bundle”), Breton bac'h (“bundle, load”), Ancient Greek φάκελος (phákelos) and βάσκιοι (báskioi) (“bundle (of sticks)”); see also faggot (“(originally) bundle of sticks”).

unk

obscure

der

Foreign language paperback, serial and book club would be basketed together in a 50/50 subsidiary rights clause.

1974, Publishers Weekly, volume 206, numbers 1-14, page 70:

It may very well be that such "basketing" of hardcover, paperback, movie, and other rights within the divisions of […]

1981, Thomas Whiteside, The Blockbuster Complex:

(transitive, publishing) To cross-collateralize the royalty advances for multiple works so that the creator is not paid until all of those works have achieved a certain level of success.


bridge

bridges (plural)
bridg (alternative obsolete)
brigge (alternative)

From Middle English brigge, from Old English brycġ (“bridge”), from Proto-Germanic *brugjō, *brugjǭ (“bridge”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerw-, *bʰrēw- (“wooden flooring, decking, bridge”).
Cognate with Scots brig, brigg, breeg (“bridge”), Saterland Frisian Brääch (“bridge”), West Frisian brêge (“bridge”), Dutch brug (“bridge”), German Brücke (“bridge”), Danish brygge (“wharf”), Icelandic brygga (“pier”), Gaulish briua (“bridge”).
The verb is from Middle English briggen, from Old English brycġian (“to bridge, make a causeway, pave”), derived from the noun. Cognate with Dutch bruggen (“to bridge”), Middle Low German bruggen (“to bridge”), Old High German bruccōn (“to bridge”) (whence Modern German brücken).
The musical connection sense is a semantic loan from German Steg, from Old High German steg.

ацҳа

construction or natural feature that spans a divide

if someone told you to jump off a bridge, would you do it

(poetry) A point in a line where a break in a word unit cannot occur.


overlay

en-verb

overlay (third-person singular simple present overlays, present participle overlaying, simple past and past participle overlaid or overlayed)

overlays (present singular third-person)
overlaying (participle present)
overlaid (participle past)
overlaid (past)
overlayed (participle past)
overlayed (past)

/ˌəʊ.vəˈleɪ/

From Middle English overleyen, from Old English oferleċġan, from Proto-West Germanic *obarlaggjan, from Proto-Germanic *uberlagjaną, equivalent to over- + lay. Cognate with Saterland Frisian uurläze, úurlääse, Dutch overleggen, German Low German overleggen, överleggen, German überlegen, Swedish överlägga, Norwegian overlegge. Compare overlie.

(transitive, printing) To put an overlay on.


overlay

/ˈəʊ.vəˌleɪ/

(printing) A piece of paper pasted upon the tympan sheet to improve the impression by making it stronger at a particular place.


overrun

overrun (third-person singular simple present overruns, present participle overrunning, simple past overran, past participle overrun)

overruns (present singular third-person)
overrunning (participle present)
overran (past)
overrun (participle past)

/ˌəʊ.vəˈɹʌn/

/ˌoʊ.vɚˈɹʌn/

(printing) To carry (some type, a line or column, etc.) backward or forward into an adjacent line or page.


overshoot

en-noun

overshoot (countable and uncountable, plural overshoots)

/ˌəʊ.vəˈʃuːt/

From Middle English overshoten, oversheten (“to shoot beyond, shoot past, pour down from above”), perhaps continuing Old English ofersċēotan (“to shoot down”), equivalent to over- + shoot.

inh

The portion resting beyond the capline or baseline is called overshoot.

2019, Reece Patton, Formatting for Print:

The bowl of the D and the O are usually not identical, as most D forms do not have overshoot or undershoot.

2020, Karen Cheng, Designing Type, 2nd edition, page 88:

(countable, uncountable, typography, design) The portion of a letter extending above the capline of other letters of the same font, or the relative degree of such extent.


prove

en-verb

prove (third-person singular simple present proves, present participle proving, simple past proved, past participle proved or proven)

proves (present singular third-person)
proving (participle present)
proved (past)
proved (participle past)
proven (participle past)
prove (infinitive)
prove (first-person present singular)
proved (first-person past singular)
prove (present second-person singular)
provest (archaic present second-person singular)
proved (past second-person singular)
provedst (archaic past second-person singular)
proves (present singular third-person)
proveth (archaic present singular third-person)
proved (past singular third-person)
prove (plural present)
proved (past plural)
prove (present subjunctive)
proved (past subjunctive)
prove (imperative present)
proving (participle present)
proved (participle past)
proven (participle past)
proove (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English proven, from Old English prōfian (“to esteem, regard as, evince, try, prove”) and Old French prover (“to prove”), both from Latin probō (“test, try, examine, approve, show to be good or fit, prove”, verb), from probus (“good, worthy, excellent”), from Proto-Indo-European *pro-bʰuH-s (“being in front, prominent”), from *pro-, *per- (“toward”) + *bʰuH- (“to be”). Displaced native Middle English sothen (“to prove”), from Old English sōþian (“to prove”). Doublet of probe. More at for, be, soothe.

der

to prove a page

(printing, dated, transitive) To take a trial impression of; to take a proof of.


rerun

(publishing) Another printing run (impression; batch of copies of a given edition) of a book, cartoon, etc.


reset

→ German: Reset

→ Japanese: リセット (risetto)

(typography) That which is reset; printed matter set up again.


ride

From Middle English riden, from Old English rīdan, from Proto-West Germanic *rīdan, from Proto-Germanic *rīdaną, from Proto-Indo-European *Hreydʰ-, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reyH-.
Cognates
From Proto-Germanic: North Frisian ride (“to ride”), Saterland Frisian riede (“to ride”), West Frisian ride (“to ride”), Low German rieden (“to ride”), Dutch rijden (“to ride”), German reiten (“to ride”), Danish ride (“to ride”), Swedish rida (“to ride”).
From Indo-European: Welsh rhwyddhau (“to hurry”).

(printing, historical) A fault caused by the overlapping of leads, etc.


ring

→ French: ring
→ Romanian: ring

→ Hungarian: ring

→ Italian: ring

→ Japanese: リング

→ Polish: ring

→ Serbo-Croatian: ring

→ Spanish: ring

→ Turkish: ring

From Middle English ryng, from Old English hring (“ring, circle”), from Proto-West Germanic *hring, from Proto-Germanic *hringaz (“ring”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)krengʰ-, extended nasalized form of *(s)ker- (“to turn, bend”). Doublet of rank and rink, as well as indirectly range.
Cognates
* West Frisian ring
* Low German Ring
* Dutch ring
* German Ring
* Swedish ring
* Finnish rengas
More distantly cognate with Proto-Slavic *krǫgъ (whence Bulgarian кръг (krǎg), Polish krąg, Russian круг (krug)).

(typography) A diacritical mark in the shape of a hollow circle placed above or under the letter; a kroužek.


rise

en-verb

rise (third-person singular simple present rises, present participle rising, simple past rose, past participle risen or (nonstandard) rised or (now nonstandard) rose)

rises (present singular third-person)
rising (participle present)
rose (past)
risen (participle past)
rised (nonstandard participle past)
rose (nonstandard participle past)

From Middle English risen, from Old English rīsan, from Proto-West Germanic *rīsan, from Proto-Germanic *rīsaną, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rey- (“to rise, arise”). According to Kroonen (2013), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃er- (“to stir, rise”). See also raise.
Cognates
Cognate with West Frisian rize, Saterland Frisian riese (“to arise”), Dutch rijzen (“to rise, ascend, lift”), German Low German riesen (“to rise; arise”), German dialectal reisen (“to fall”), Norwegian Nynorsk risa (“to rise”), Icelandic rísa (“to rise”). Related also to German reisen (“to travel, fare”), Dutch reizen (“to travel”), Danish rejse (“to travel”), Swedish resa (“to travel”). Non-Germanic cognates include Albanian rris (“I raise, grow”) and Russian рост (rost, “growth”).

cog

sure as the sun is going to rise tomorrow morning

(printing, dated) To be lifted, or capable of being lifted, from the imposing stone without dropping any of the type; said of a form.


set

From Middle English set, sette, from Old English set (“seat, place of residence, camp, settlement, entrenchment, stable, pen”), from Proto-West Germanic *set (“seat”), from Proto-Germanic *setą (“seat”).

inh

(printing, dated) The width of the body of a type.


bourgeois

/bəɹˈd͡ʒɔɪs/

From Middle English burjois, from French Bourgois, probably from Bourges (a city in France) + -ois (forming adjectives) but possibly from bourgeois above or after Jean de Bourgeois who worked as a printer in Rouen c. 1500.

(printing, dated) A size of type between brevier and long primer, standardized as 9-point.


stick

en-noun

stick (countable and uncountable, plural sticks)

→ Catalan: estic

→ Italian: stick

→ Korean: 스틱 (seutik)

→ Portuguese: stique, estique

→ Sranan Tongo: tiki

From Middle English stikke (“stick, rod, twig”), from Old English sticca (“rod, twig”), from Proto-West Germanic *stikkō, from Proto-Germanic *stikkô, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teyg- (“to pierce, prick, be sharp”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Stikke (“stick”), West Flemish stik (“stick”). Related to stigma.

der

better than a poke in the eye with a burnt stick

better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick

better than a poke in the eye with a shitty stick

it is easy to find a stick to beat a dog

[…]although the headings may often be in other type, still, as these are composed in the same stick, they cannot fail to justify;[…]

1854, Thomas Ford, The Compositor's Handbook, page 125:

A tool, control, or instrument shaped somewhat like a stick.

(dated, letterpress typography) A composing stick, the tool used by compositors to assemble lines of type.


stick

en-verb

stick (third-person singular simple present sticks, present participle sticking, simple past and past participle sticked)

sticks (present singular third-person)
sticking (participle present)
sticked (participle past)
sticked (past)

to stick type

(transitive, printing, slang, dated) To compose; to set, or arrange, in a composing stick.


strike

→ Danish: strike

→ Dutch: strike

→ French: strike

→ German: Strike

→ Italian: strike

→ Japanese: ストライク (sutoraiku)

→ Korean: 스트라이크 (seuteuraikeu)

→ Portuguese: strike

→ Russian: страйк (strajk)

→ Spanish: strike

→ Swedish: strike

→ Danish: strejke

→ Esperanto: striko

→ Hungarian: sztrájk

→ Japanese: ストライキ (sutoraiki)

desctree

→ German: Streik, Strike (obsolete, 19th c.)
→ Kashubian: sztrajk
→ Macedonian: штрајк (štrajk)
→ Serbo-Croatian: štrȁjk /штра̏јк
→ Slovak: štrajk

→ Polish: strajk
→ Belarusian: страйк (strajk)
→ Ukrainian: страйк (strajk)

→ Swedish: strejk

→ Welsh: streic

From Middle English stryken, from Old English strīcan, from Proto-West Germanic *strīkan, from Proto-Germanic *strīkaną, from Proto-Indo-European *streyg- (“to stroke, rub, press”).
Cognate with Dutch strijken, German streichen, Danish stryge, Icelandic strýkja, strýkva.

der

(printing, historical) An imperfect matrix for type.


tell

en-verb

tell (third-person singular simple present tells, present participle telling, simple past and past participle told or (dialectal or nonstandard) telled)

tells (present singular third-person)
telling (participle present)
told (participle past)
told (past)
telled (dialectal participle past)
telled (dialectal past)
tell (infinitive)
tell (first-person present singular)
told (first-person past singular)
tell (present second-person singular)
tellest (archaic present second-person singular)
told (past second-person singular)
toldest (archaic past second-person singular)
tells (present singular third-person)
telleth (archaic present singular third-person)
told (past singular third-person)
tell (plural present)
told (past plural)
tell (present subjunctive)
told (past subjunctive)
tell (imperative present)
telling (participle present)
told (participle past)

From Middle English tellen (“to count, tell”), from Old English tellan (“to count, tell”), from Proto-West Germanic *talljan, from Proto-Germanic *taljaną, *talzijaną (“to count, enumerate”), from Proto-Germanic *talą, *talǭ (“number, counting”), from Proto-Indo-European *dol- (“calculation, fraud”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian tälle (“to say; tell”), West Frisian telle (“to count”), West Frisian fertelle (“to tell, narrate”), Dutch tellen (“to count”) and Dutch vertellen (“to tell”), Low German tellen (“to count”), German zählen, Faroese telja. More at tale.

cog

don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining

don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining

piss on someone's leg and tell them it's raining

Maria rewrote the section of her novel that talked about Meg and Sage's friendship to have less telling and more showing.

(authorship, intransitive) To reveal information in prose through outright expository statement — contrasted with show.


underlay

/ˈʌndəɹˌleɪ/

From Middle English underlay, underlei, equivalent to under- + lay.

(printing, historical) A piece of paper pasted under woodcuts, stereotype plates, etc. in a form, to bring them up to the necessary level for printing.


round

en-adj

round (comparative rounder or more round, superlative roundest or most round)

rounder (comparative)
more round (comparative)
roundest (superlative)
most round (superlative)
around (alternative)
ron (alternative)

From Middle English round, rounde, from Old Northern French roünt, rund, Old French ront, runt, reont ( > French rond), from both Late Latin retundus and the original Latin rotundus. The noun developed partly from the adjective and partly from the corresponding French noun rond. Doublet of rotund.

pyöreä

pronounced with the mouth in the shape of an "O"

(authorship, of a fictional character) Well-written and well-characterized; complex and reminiscent of a real person.


bottle

en-verb

bottle (third-person singular simple present bottles, present participle bottling, simple past and past participle bottled)

bottles (present singular third-person)
bottling (participle present)
bottled (participle past)
bottled (past)

From Middle English botel (“bottle, flask, wineskin”), from Old French boteille, from Late Latin butticula, diminutive of buttis (“cask”). Doublet of botija.
Displaced native and pinne and non-native Old English ampella. Broadly overtook Old English flasce.

inh

Closely related to creep is the process of bottling. As you may have noticed from your folded sheet of paper, pages don't merely creep when they're folded — they also rotate slightly. This rotation or bottling is caused by the thickness or bulk of the paper.

2002, Against the Clock, QuarkXPress 5: Advanced Electronic Documents, page 58:

(printing, intransitive) Of pages printed several on a sheet: to rotate slightly when the sheet is folded two or more times.