bugbear

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


stichomythia

en-noun

stichomythia (countable and uncountable, plural stichomythias)

/stɪkəˈmɪθɪə/

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

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

1993, Anthony Burgess, A Dead Man In Deptford:

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

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

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

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

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


cred

cred (countable and uncountable, plural creds)

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

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

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


blank

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


lyric

en-adj

lyric (comparative more lyric, superlative most lyric)

more lyric (comparative)
most lyric (superlative)

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

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


macron

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


kasha

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


hyper

en-noun

hyper (countable and uncountable, plural hypers)

Shortenings, ultimately from the prefix hyper-.

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


leprechaun

→ German: Leprechaun

desc

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

→ Japanese: レプラコーン (repurakōn)

→ Korean: 레프러콘 (repeureokon)

→ Portuguese: leprechaun

→ Russian: лепреко́н (leprekón)

→ Spanish: leprechaun

/ˈlɛpɹəkɔːn/

/ˈlɛpɹəˌkɔn/

/ˈlɛpɹəˌkɑn/

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

af

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

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

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

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

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

（爱尔兰民间传说里的）短妖精

[Àiěrlán mínjiān chuánshuō lǐ de] duǎn yāojing


rhapsody

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

cog

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

狂想曲

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


insectoid

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

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

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


disintegrate

en-verb

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

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

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

1929, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Disintegration Machine:

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

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

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


super-

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

superheroic


intergalactic

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

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

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


smurf

Peyo
The Smurfs
fr:Les Schtroumpfs
nl:De Smurfen

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

der

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

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

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


stock character

en-noun

stock character (plural stock characters)

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

ամպլուա

fictional character based on a recognizable stereotype


heteronym

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

polyphone

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

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

heteronyymi

fictitious character writing in a different style


fusion

fusion (countable and uncountable, plural fusions)

fission

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

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

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

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


biorobot

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


corpsicle

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

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

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

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

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

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


initial

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

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

caplletra

calligraphy: distinguished initial letter


taut

en-adj

taut (comparative tauter, superlative tautest)

tauter (comparative)
tautest (superlative)

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

nb...

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

der

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

napínavý

containing only relevant parts; brief and controlled


archdevil

/ɑɹt͡ʃˈdɛvəl/

/ɑɹt͡ʃˈdɛvɪl/

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


gutter

Sranan Tongo: gotro

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

(comics) A space between comic strip panels.


gray hat

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

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


deconstruction

en-noun

deconstruction (countable and uncountable, plural deconstructions)

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

αποδομισμός

a philosophical theory of textual criticism


macaroni

macaroni (countable and uncountable, plural macaronis or macaronies)

→ Japanese: マカロニ (makaroni)

→ Korean: 마카로니 (makaroni)

→ Malay:

Arabic script: ماكاروني

Latin script: makaroni

→ Scottish Gaelic: macaroni

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

cog

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

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

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


cartoon

Punch (magazine)
Russian Bear
The Great Game
cartoon

→ Portuguese: cartune, cartum

→ Swahili: katuni

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

der

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

(comics) A drawing satirising current public figures.

tekenprent

animated cartoon — see also animated cartoon


cartoon

en-verb

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

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

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


xenophilia

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


ultraism

en-noun

ultraism (countable and uncountable, plural ultraisms)

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

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

(poetry) A Spanish poetic movement opposed to modernism.


blink

en-verb

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

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

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

blikat

to flash on and off at regular intervals

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


multiverse

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

coined

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

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


picaresque

en-adj

picaresque (comparative more picaresque, superlative most picaresque)

more picaresque (comparative)
most picaresque (superlative)

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

der

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

приключенски

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


picaresque

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


lipogram

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

λειπογγράμμα

compound

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

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


timeline

graphical representation of a chronological sequence of events

SISKO: I don't quite know how to say this... but now that we know about the accident that sent the ship back in time, we should be able to avoid it.
WORF: Well if we do that, your timeline will collapse and everything here will cease to exist.

1997 May 5, Children of Time (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), season 5, number 22 (Science Fiction), Paramount Domestic Television, →OCLC:

(science fiction) An individual universe or reality, especially a parallel/alternate one in which events differ from actual history, or differ from the established canon of a fictional world.


aubade

Princess Christina of the Netherlands
Rosalía de Castro

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

beuregan

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

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

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

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

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

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

aubade

morning love song; song of lovers parting in the morning


cruiser

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

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


probe

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

сонда

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

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

2004 August 2, Bayard Russell, nonemorecomic:

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

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

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

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


walker

→ Irish: válcaeir

→ Persian: واکر (vâker)

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

inh

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


resolution

en-noun

resolution (countable and uncountable, plural resolutions)

/ˌɹɛzəˈluːʃ(ə)n/

Recorded since 1412, as Middle English resolucioun (“dissolution”), either from Anglo-Norman resolucion or directly from Latin resolūtiō (“a loosening, solution”), from resolvō (“I loosen”), itself from the intensive prefix re- + solvō (“I loosen”).

der

Near-synonym: dénouement

(literature) The moment in which the conflict ends and the outcome of the action is clear.

ratkaisu

moment when the outcome of action is clear


sapient

en-adj

sapient (comparative more sapient, superlative most sapient)

more sapient (comparative)
most sapient (superlative)

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

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

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

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

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

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

a high degree of self-awareness
self-awareness

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


sapient

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

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

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


soliloquy

en-noun

soliloquy (countable and uncountable, plural soliloquies)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


graphic novelist

graphic novelist (plural graphic novelists)

graphic novel + -ist or graphic + novelist

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


strip cartoon

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

comic

illustrations depicting humorous narrative


graphic novel

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


cartoonist

→ Indonesian: kartunis

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

cartooniste m or f dessinateur de dessins animés

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

sarjakuvataiteilija

person who writes and illustrates comic books


hyperspace

hyperspace (countable and uncountable, plural hyperspaces)

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

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

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

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


hyperspace

en-verb

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

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

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

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

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


shojo

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From the Japanese 少女 (shōjo, “young woman”).

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


shojo

en-adj

shojo (comparative more shojo, superlative most shojo)

more shojo (comparative)
most shojo (superlative)

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


shojo

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


Terran

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


Terran

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

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

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


warp

en-verb

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

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

→ Japanese: ワープ (wāpu)

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

der

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

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

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

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

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


conscience

en-noun

conscience (countable and uncountable, plural consciences)

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

der

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


filmic

en-adj

filmic (comparative more filmic, superlative most filmic)

more filmic (comparative)
most filmic (superlative)

(literature) Of or relating to movies; cinematic.


thriller

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

إِثَارَة

a suspenseful, sensational genre of fiction

pulp novel

A suspenseful, sensational genre of fiction


doggerel

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

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

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

(poetry) Of a crude or irregular construction.


doggerel

en-noun

doggerel (countable and uncountable, plural doggerels)

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

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

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

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

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


refactor

en-verb

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

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

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

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


xenocide

en-noun

xenocide (countable and uncountable, plural xenocides)

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

1996, Orson Scott Card, Children of the Mind:

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


transorbital

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


syllabary

/ˈsɪləˌbɛɹi/

From Neo-Latin syllabārium, from syllaba.

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

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

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


geminatio vocalium

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

bor

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

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

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


transporter

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


thunderclap

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

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


baka

en-adj

baka (comparative more baka, superlative most baka)

more baka (comparative)
most baka (superlative)

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

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


baka

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


archetype

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

der

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

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

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

arquetip

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


chancery

en-noun

chancery (countable and uncountable, plural chanceries)

/ˈt͡ʃɑːnsəɹɪ/

/ˈt͡ʃænsəɹɪ/

/ˈt͡ʃɑːnsəɹi/

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


lightsaber

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

coined

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


biter

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


lifeboat

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


verisimilar

en-adj

verisimilar (comparative more verisimilar, superlative most verisimilar)

more verisimilar (comparative)
most verisimilar (superlative)

/ˌvɛɹɪˈsɪmələ/

/ˌvɛɹɪˈsɪməlɚ/

/ˌvɛɹəˈsɪməlɚ/

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

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


madrigal

/ˈmæd͡ɹɪɡəl/

From Italian madrigale, from Latin mātrīcālis.

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


gafiate

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

af

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

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

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

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

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

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


gafiate

en-verb

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

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

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

af

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


sidekick

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

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

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

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


sorcerer

/ˈsɔːsəɹə(ɹ)/

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

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

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

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

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

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

yshtës

magician/wizard drawing upon natural powers


Bloody Mary

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


Chaos

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

19521 Chaos
Chaos (Warhammer)
Chaos (cosmogony)

Chaos warrior, Chaos daemon

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


Krypton

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


Matrix

From the 1984 novel Neuromancer and popularized in the 1999 movie The Matrix.

“The matrix has its roots in primitive arcade games,” said the voice-over, “in early graphics programs and military experimentation with cranial jacks.” […] “Cyberspace. A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation, by children being taught mathematical concepts … A graphic representation of data abstracted from the banks of every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity. […]”

1984, William Gibson, chapter 3, in Neuromancer (Sprawl; book 1), New York, N.Y.: Ace Books, →ISBN, page 51:

Now some folks want to claim that we're in the Matrix right now (or that the physical world is an illusion).

2009 September 23, possum, “Re: In which the Trollpa evinzes hizzelf aza profezzional nuizzance”, in talk.religion.buddhism (Usenet), message-ID <64c3fc87-b24c-4339-9e04-b4ecaa1497f7@a6g2000vbp.googlegroups.com>:

2017, Chuck Lorre Productions #557 (post-episode text), "The Recollection Dissipation", The Big Bang Theory
Recent events have made it abundantly clear that the fabric of the universe is unraveling. Reality as you know it, the matrix if you will, is dissolving.

(science fiction) A simulated reality to which many humans are connected. In some works created by sentient machines to subdue humans.


Ionic

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

uder

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


Standard

"I felt that I had to come," she said, as if she could tell from my face that I still wasn't getting it. She spoke Standard, with no real accent. She was dressed in pragmatic, sexless human clothes; if we hadn't been face-to-face, she could have passed for a human.

1996, Joan D. Vinge, Dreamfall, New York, N.Y.: Warner Books, →ISBN, page 150:

universal language
universal language#Noun

(science fiction, fantasy) Denoting the name of a universal language in various works.


Shylock

Possibly derived from Hebrew שלח (Šélaḥ, the grandson of Shem), or Old Saxon [Term?] (“white-haired”), referring to goldsmiths and scriveners. It may also be derived from Michael Lok and an archaic meaning of shy (“untrustworthy”).

(fiction) A moneylender (Jewish stereotype) in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice.


Luna

From Middle English lune, luna (“the moon”), from Latin lūna/Lūna, from Proto-Indo-European *lówksneh₂. Doublet of Roxane.

Luna that ne'er shines by day.

1868, George Villiers Duke of Buckingham, Edward Arber, The Rehearsal: With Illustrations from Previous Plays, Etc, page 129:

He has but little prudence, no apprehension of consequences, and none of that melancholy which in tempraments of Luna and Venus is generally felt, and from which he is saved by the combination of Mars and Mercury.

1896, The Era Almanack, Dramatic & Musical, page 22:

The different visible shapes of Luna are called her phases.

1909, Govind H. Keskar, Combined Introductory Astrology, page 14:

Lagrange point L1 is the perfect location for humanity's next major space station, the natural gateway to the moon. This one-of-a-kind point in space is located on the direct line between Earth and Luna about 200,000 miles from Earth, or conversely, a mere 39,000 miles above the geometric center of Luna's nearside.

2011, Charles Lee Lesher, Aldrin Station - Rise of Luna:

(chiefly science fiction or poetic) The name of Earth's moon; Moon.


Tellus

Borrowed from Latin tellus (“Earth, globe, world”), from Proto-Italic *telnos, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *telnos ~ *telnes-, from *telh₂- (“flat ground”), but reshaped after rūs. Otherwise, could derive from Etruscan 𐌕𐌖𐌋𐌀𐌓 (tular, “earth”).

bor+

"Greetings, oh guests from Tellus! I feel more like myself, now that I am again in my trappings and have my weapons at my side." He attached a timepiece to the wrist of each of the guests, with a bracelet of the blue metal. "Will you accompany me to fourth-meal or aren't you hungry?"

1958, Edward E[lmer] Smith, The Skylark of Space, revised edition, Pyramid Books, page 121:

(literary, now chiefly science fiction) The planet Earth.


Tonto

From Spanish tonto (“fool, idiot”), the Spanish name for the tribe, a calque of Western Apache kounʼnde (“wild rough people”). The fictional character (described as Comanche or Potawatomi) either from Potawatomi or named after Tonto Basin, Arizona.

cal

(fiction) The Native American sidekick of the Lone Ranger.


Sol

(poetic, science fiction) The Sun, the star orbited by the Earth.


Yahoo

Century Dictionary
Gulliver's Travels
Jonathan Swift
Yahoo (Gulliver's Travels)

Coined by Jonathan Swift in Gulliver's Travels. According to the Century Dictionary, "[a] made name, prob[ably] meant to suggest disgust".

I therefore often begged his Favour to let me go among the Herds of Yahoos in the Neighbourhood, to which he always very graciouſly conſented, being perfectly convinced, that the Hatred I bore thoſe Brutes, would never ſuffer me to be corrupted by them; […]

1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author Relates Several Particulars of the Yahoos. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part IV (A Voyage to the Houyhnhnms), pages 271–272:

(fiction) One of a race of brutes, who look and act similar to men, inhabiting the same land as the civilized Houyhnhnms.


Winter

en-proper noun

Winter (countable and uncountable, plural Winters)


shuck

(European folklore) A supernatural and generally malevolent black dog in English folklore.


MAC

en-noun

MAC (countable and uncountable, plural MACs)

(science fiction) Initialism of magnetic accelerator cannon.


middle-earth

(fiction) Alternative letter-case form of Middle-earth: the setting of the Lord of the Rings mythos.


Martial

From Latin Martialis (“Roman cognomen”), from martiālis (“belonging or dedicated to the Mars, the Roman god of war, or to war”), from Mārs (“the god Mars; the planet Mars”) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship from nouns).

The Martials, if there be Martials in any sense in which there are terrestrials on our own planet, may have no eyes at all; their whole civilisation, if they have say, may depend on senses of which we have absolutely no trace, […]

1892, The Spectator: A Weekly Review of Politics, Literature, Theology, and Art, volume LXIX, London: F. C. Westley, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 218, column 2:

(chiefly science fiction, obsolete) Alternative letter-case form of martial (“inhabitant of the planet Mars; Martian”)


elegant variation

elegant variation (countable and uncountable, plural elegant variations)

Introduced by H. W. Fowler and F. G. Fowler in The King's English (1906).

A closely related rule for encoding legal texts is the same meaning, same form principle. We saw previously that this rule requires lawyers to avoid elegant variation. Instead, they should consistently use one word if they mean the same thing.

1999, Peter M. Tiersma, Legal Language, University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 131:

(journalism, literature) A form of journalese characterized by the overuse of synonyms for fear of repeating a word.

Francis George Fowler
H. W. Fowler
The King's English


martial

From Middle English martial, marcial, mercial, mercialle (“relating to war, warlike; military; for use in fighting or warfare; brave, hardy; combative, fierce; ruthless, vicious; domineering, overbearing”), from Middle French martial (modern French martial (“martial”)), or directly from its etymon Latin mārtiālis (“of or pertaining to Mars, the Roman god of war”), from Mārtius (“of or pertaining to Mars”) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship). The English word is cognate with Italian marziale (“martial”), Portuguese marcial (“martial”), Spanish marcial (“martial”).

der

The Martials, if there be Martials in any sense in which there are terrestrials on our own planet, may have no eyes at all; their whole civilisation, if they have say, may depend on senses of which we have absolutely no trace, [...]

(chiefly science fiction, obsolete) Synonym of Martian (“inhabitant of the planet Mars”)


Q

(literature, pseudonym) Arthur Quiller-Couch.


zombify

en-verb

zombify (third-person singular simple present zombifies, present participle zombifying, simple past and past participle zombified)

zombifies (present singular third-person)
zombifying (participle present)
zombified (participle past)
zombified (past)

She managed to flee the sorcerer who had attempted to zombify her and enjoyed relative prosperity in Jamaica.

1994, A History of Literature in the Caribbean: Hispanic and Francophone Regions, Arnold, et al:

(transitive, fiction) To turn into a zombie (a member of the living dead or undead).


pulp

en-adj

pulp (comparative more pulp, superlative most pulp)

more pulp (comparative)
most pulp (superlative)

From Middle English pulpe, from Latin pulpa.

The Nightwing annual had what felt like a very 'pulp-ish' plot, and the Superman annual was great, with a very pulp plot and a^([sic]) incredible Doc Savage tribute cover.

1997 July 22, Eric Gimlin, “Re: Annual theme '98”, in rec.arts.comics.dc.universe (Usenet), message-ID <33D504B4.105@swbell.net>:

Rather than Asimov I might suggest Stanley Weinbaum (since he died young and early in his career, he is far more "pulp" than Asimov - and remarkably readable - there is a LANCER collection of some of his short stories).

2003 January 3, Mark Wheatley, “Re: PULP 2003 READING”, in alt.pulp (Usenet), message-ID <3E159FC7.70409@insightstudiosgroup.com>:

(fiction) Of or pertaining to pulp magazines; in the style of a pulp magazine or the material printed within such a publication.


uplift

en-verb

uplift (third-person singular simple present uplifts, present participle uplifting, simple past and past participle uplifted)

uplifts (present singular third-person)
uplifting (participle present)
uplifted (participle past)
uplifted (past)

извисявам

to raise something or someone to a higher level

—genetically uplifted the ancestors of the saurs, and culturally—at least—uplifted the kraken. We are used to thinking of these species as wise and ancient, which indeed they are, but the octopods are their 'Elder Race.'

2003, Ken MacLeod, Engine City, New York, N.Y.: Tor, →ISBN, page 79:

To raise something or someone to a higher physical, social, moral, intellectual, spiritual or emotional level.

(science fiction) To raise (a nonsentient species) into sentience.


volte-face

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

Shakespeare often used volte-faces in the rhyming couplets at the end of his sonnets.

(literature, chiefly poetry) A dramatic change in mood or tone.


Neptunian

From Neptune (“eighth planet in the solar system”) + -ian.

suffix

I need not say that from Neptune the earth is completely invisible, as well as Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter. Saturn is a little star which departs from the sun up to 18°. For the Neptunians the solar system appears to be composed of the sun, Saturn, Uranus, their own world, and the planet which doubtless gravitates beyond Neptune.

1894, Camille Flammarion, “The Planet Neptune and the Frontiers of the Solar Domain”, in J[ohn] Ellard Gore, transl., Popular Astronomy: A General Description of the Heavens: … Translated from the French with the Author’s Sanction, London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC, page 470:

We learn the energy quotient of a bogus Earthling, note how much it varies from that of a genuine one, and then proceed to carefully single out every Neptunian. It will take time, no doubt, but not perhaps as long as we think, as the percentage of Neptunians to Earthlings is small.

1952, John Russell Fearn, chapter 12, in Quorne Returns (The Golden Amazon Saga; book 6), [Rockville, Md.]: Wildside Press, published 2013, →ISBN, page 102:

Pretend that you are a visitor to Earth from the planet Neptune. When you return home you will want to describe Earthlings to your fellow Neptunians. [...] Good luck! Or as Neptunians say, "Urk bliff!"

2001, Justin McCory Martin, “March”, in Marvelous Month-by-month Writing Prompts: 250 Knock-their-socks-off Writing Prompts to Inspire Super Writing All Year Long!, New York, N.Y.: Scholastic Professional Books, →ISBN, page 43:

Since Neptune had been the chosen planet to help Earth work through its current series of crises, Neptunians were key beings at this time. Each visit to Earth was a specific mission for those who were chosen to travel there.

2001 April 12, Patricia Ann Pich, “Neptune”, in Out of this World: A Fairy Tale for Children of All Ages, [Bloomington, Ind.]: 1stBooks, →ISBN, pages 5–6:

(chiefly science fiction) An (imaginary) inhabitant of the planet Neptune.


Jovian

From Latin Iovis, genitive of Iuppiter, analysable as Jove + -ian.

(chiefly science fiction) An imaginary inhabitant of the planet Jupiter.


annum

From Latin per annum (“yearly”), from annus (“year”).

(uncommon, science fiction) A "year" determined by the revolution of an extraterrestrial planet.


fey

en-noun

fey (countable and uncountable, plural fey or feys)

From Middle English faie, fei (“a place or person possessed with magical properties”), from Middle French feie, fee (“fairy", "fae”). More at fairy.


Alcaic verse

(poetry) A Greek meter, supposedly invented by Alcaeus, consisting of combinations of spondee, iambs and dactyls.


literal

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

From Middle English literal, from Old French literal, from Late Latin litteralis, also literalis (“of or pertaining to letters or to writing”), from Latin littera, litera (“a letter”); see letter.

(epigraphy, typography) A misprint (or occasionally a scribal error) that affects a letter.


royalty

royalty (countable and uncountable, plural royalties)

→ Danish: royalty

→ German: Royalty

→ Italian: royalty

→ Norwegian Bokmål: royalty

→ Norwegian Nynorsk: royalty

→ Portuguese: royalty

→ Swedish: royalty

From Middle English royaltee, roialtee, royalte, from Old French roialté, roiauté, realté (compare earlier Old French realted (“realm, kingdom”)), from Vulgar Latin *rēgālitās, from Latin rēgālis, equivalent to royal + -ty.

Until the total of advances in that contract has been earned out by royalties from any or all books in that contract, the author will not receive additional royalties.

2014, Richard Curtis, Mastering the Business of Writing:

(authorship) To make more money from a book than it cost to run an advertising campaign for it; to make enough in royalties to cover the advance a book received.


cunny

cunny (countable and uncountable, plural cunnies)

(countable, fandom slang, chiefly anime and manga) The vulva or vagina of a child or childlike character (loli).

(countable, synecdochically) A child or childlike character, especially when considered sexually attractive; a loli.

(uncountable, metonymically) Lolicon-themed media, especially when erotic (hentai).


reptilian

From reptile + -ian, replacing earlier reptilious and adjectival reptile.

More evolved than the Grays or Reptilians, the Humanoids seem to feel some sort of kinship with humans and are likely to be kind.[…] Some researchers believe the Grays are merely preparing the way for a full-scale invasion of Reptilian aliens.

2001, Caroline Tiger, The UFO Hunter’s Handbook: A Field Guide to the Paranormal, →ISBN, pages 62–63:

Such powerful human families would descend upon the reptilians themselves and they would be willing to do just anything to retain their power.

2010, Chico Penteado, Talking to the Reptilians-A Report from Brazil, →ISBN, page 11:

The reptilians are the creation of the Carians.

2011, Collin Robert Bowling, A New Order of the Ages, →ISBN:

Reptilians generally are envisioned as half snake, half human, and they are thought to have come from the Alpha Draconian star system.

2015, Marty Crump, Eye of Newt and Toe of Frog, Adder's Fork and Lizard's Leg, →ISBN:

(science fiction) A reptilian alien, especially (ufology, often capitalized) of a shapeshifting race alleged to secretly control the world.


extradimensional

(science fiction) Originating outside the known physical reality of the universe.

(science fiction) Coming from a world outside Einsteinian space-time.


aug

(science fiction) Clipping of augmentation.


empathy

empathy (countable and uncountable, plural empathies)

A twentieth-century borrowing from Ancient Greek ἐμπάθεια (empátheia, literally “passion”) (formed from ἐν (en, “in, at”) + πάθος (páthos, “feeling”)), coined by Edward Bradford Titchener in 1909 to translate German Einfühlung. The modern word in Greek εμπάθεια (empátheia) has an opposite meaning denoting strong negative feelings and prejudice against someone.

coin

(parapsychology, science fiction) A paranormal ability to psychically read another person's emotions.


stanza

From Italian stanza, from Vulgar Latin *stantia (“standing, stopping-place”), from Latin stāns, stantis, from stō, stāre, from Proto-Italic *staēō, from Proto-Indo-European *sth₂éh₁yeti, stative verb from *steh₂- (whence English stand). Doublet of stance.

der

(poetry) A unit of a poem, written or printed as a paragraph; equivalent to a verse.


sentient

en-adj

sentient (comparative more sentient, superlative most sentient)

more sentient (comparative)
most sentient (superlative)

From Latin sentiēns (“feeling, perceiving”), present active participle of sentiō.

Not even a microbe? I don't want to blow up something that could evolve into a sentient species in a couple of billion years.

2002, André Bormanis, “Silent Enemy”, in Star Trek: Enterprise, season 1, episode 12, spoken by Jonathan Archer:

Lemoine has been placed on “paid administrative leave” after publishing a transcript of conversations with LaMDA which he claims support his belief that the chatbot is sentient and comparable to a seven- or eight-year-old child. […] While Lemoine no doubt genuinely believes his claims, LaMDA is likely to be as sentient as a traffic light.

2022 June 14, Toby Walsh, “Labelling Google’s LaMDA chatbot as sentient is fanciful. But it’s very human to be taken in by machines”, in The Guardian:

After more than 25 years as an artificial intelligence researcher[…]Dr. Goertzel knew he had finally reached the end goal: Desdemona, a machine he had built, was sentient. But a few minutes later, he realized this was nonsense.

2022 August 5, Cade Metz, “A.I. Is Not Sentient. Why Do People Say It Is?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(loosely, chiefly science fiction) Possessing human-like awareness and intelligence.

բանական

science fiction: possessing human-like awareness, knowledge and intelligence


sentient

The merpeople and the sentients who lived on the beach often hitched rides on these creatures, steering them by pressure on exposed nerve centers.

1965, Philip José Farmer, The Maker of Universes:

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


destroyer

/dəˈstɹɔɪ.ɚ/

From destroy + -er. Designating a warship, it is ellipsis of torpedo-boat destroyer, the longer term appearing at the end of the 19th century and the shorter form early in the 20th.

(military) A larger warship with guided missile armament, usually intended for air defence or anti-ship roles. Often, but not always, larger than a frigate and smaller than a cruiser.

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


cockatrice

First attested 1382 as Middle English cocatrice (“basilisk”), from Old French cocatriz, from Late Latin calcātrīx (“she who treads upon something”), from Latin calcō (“tread”), from calx (“heel, hoof”).

der

For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the Lord.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Jeremiah 8:17:

(fantasy, folklore) A snake or serpent that appears to be hatched from a rooster, or cock's, egg.


Uranian

Aphrodite Pandemos
Aphrodite Urania
Louvre
Voyager 2

/jʊˈɹeɪnɪən/

[T]he fury of a fiery hot-brained Marsian, may kindle immediate and incessant wrangling and feuds; whilst a quiet placid Uranian, in his turn, may yet at times be excessively annoyed, ay, worried and tormented, by the tardiness, listlessness and inactivity of his dronish companion.

1839, A Fantastical Excursion into the Planets, London: Saunders and Otley, […], →OCLC, page 172:

And obviously, since the year of the Uranians lasts 84 of our years, the continuance of the sun above the horizon would last for many years. [...] And as with the summer day, so with the winter night, years elapse before either comes to an end. For upwards of 20 years, in a latitude corresponding to that of London, the Uranians—if there are any—never see the small Uranian sun.

1872, Richard A[nthony] Proctor, “Uranus and Neptune, the Arctic Planets”, in Other Worlds than Ours: The Plurality of Worlds Studied under the Light of Recent Scientific Researches, 3rd edition, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, pages 171–172:

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


impressionism

en-noun

impressionism (countable and uncountable, plural impressionisms)

(poetry) A style that used imagery and symbolism to portray the poet's impressions.


seven-league boots

seven-league boots pl (normally plural, singular seven-league boot)

The Count strode away as if he had secured seven-league boots, and in less time than it seemed possible, though it was an age to Lady Anne (...), he returned with two bank of England notes in his hand, which he put into the bailiff's, saying,—"There's your money for yourself and all. You have proper behavour, and will make no say of this littel matter."

1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XL, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 211:

(folklore, fairy tale) A pair of boots enabling the wearer to cross seven leagues at one stride.


sector

Sector (Star Trek)
Sector (instrument)
sector

(science fiction) a fictional region of space designated for navigational or governance purposes.


ghostwrite

en-verb

ghostwrite (third-person singular simple present ghostwrites, present participle ghostwriting, simple past ghostwrote, past participle ghostwritten)

ghostwrites (present singular third-person)
ghostwriting (participle present)
ghostwrote (past)
ghostwritten (participle past)

Mariana would rather not ghostwrite for a living because she finds it a thankless task.

(authorship, intransitive) To write under the name of another (especially literary works).

The president has someone to ghostwrite his addresses.

(authorship, transitive) To author a literary work or speech in the place of another.


sleeper

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


synaesthesia

en-noun

synaesthesia (countable and uncountable, plural synaesthesiae or synaesthesias)

synaesthesiae (plural)
synaesthesias (plural)

/ˌsɪn.ɪsˈθiː.ʒə/

From Ancient Greek σύν (sún, “with”) + αἴσθησις (aísthēsis, “sensation”), modelled after anaesthesia. It is analysable as syn- + -aesthesia.

Linking moods with colours is one example of synaesthesia. […] As a tool for improving writing, the idea of synaesthesia is versatile and innovative. Why use only visual references to describe visual impressions? Why just describe sounds using sound-related words? Play with cross-matching the senses.

2006, Stephen Bowkett, “Descriptive Writing”, in Boys and Writing (Pocket PAL), London: Network Continuum Education, Continuum International Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 38:

[I]t may be stated that the concept of synaesthesia is instrumental for understanding music videos, since videos are based on the soundtrack's visual associations. Yet to discuss associations here may cause some problems. […] [Nicholas Cook] seems to be relying on a rather normative conception of synaesthesia, which for its part supports the idea of absolute, nonrepresentational music. The implication of his discussion is that the "true" forms of music–image synaesthesia come only in the forms of perception of color or light when hearing a certain musical sound.

2007, Antti-Ville Kärjä, “Visions of a Sound Nation: Finnish Music Videos and Secured Otherness”, in Roger Beebe, Jason Middleton, editors, Medium Cool: Music Videos from Soundies to Cellphones, Durham, N.C., London: Duke University Press, →ISBN, page 181:

(art, literature) A literary or artistic device whereby one kind of sensation is described in the terms of another.


sequential art

(art, comics) A form of art where the content is presented in a series of artistic items positioned in a specific order to convey its message or effect, such as a comic strip.


monologue

dialogue

antonym(s) of “a monopolizing utterance”

First attested in c. 1550. Borrowed from Middle French monologue, modeled on dialogue, ultimately from Byzantine Greek μονόλογος (monólogos, “soliloquy, monologue”).

der

(drama, authorship) A long speech by one person in a play; sometimes a soliloquy; other times spoken to other characters.


shape-shifter

(fantasy, mythology, science fiction) Alternative form of shapeshifter


formalism

en-noun

formalism (countable and uncountable, plural formalisms)

/ˈfɔɹml̩ˌɪzm̩/

(literature) An approach to interpretation and/or evaluation focused on the (usually linguistic) structure of a literary work rather than on the contexts of its origin or reception.

形式主義

literature: structural approach to interpretation


hard-boiled

en-adj

hard-boiled (comparative more hard-boiled, superlative most hard-boiled)

more hard-boiled (comparative)
most hard-boiled (superlative)

(literature, especially detective fiction) Written in a laconic, dispassionate, often ironic style for a realistic, unsentimental effect.


shoot 'em up

My wife won't watch this movie; it's a shoot ’em up.

The arcaders have it easy. All they need to do is drop a quarter into a machine to find out how good the latest shoot 'em up game really is. But for the home computer owner, it's another story.

1983 August, Popular Mechanics, volume 160, number 2, page 88:

An unmissable shoot 'em up.

1989, Duncan Macdonald, R-Type (video game review) in Your Sinclair issue 37, January 1989

(idiomatic, film, television, literature, video games) A piece of media which depicts considerable gunplay.


uke

From Japanese 受け (uke), derived from the verb 受ける (ukeru, “to receive, to get”).

Yaoi uke in fanfics often bear the brunt of stereotypical "negative female characteristics" such as passivity, helplessness, and masochism.

2008, Tan Bee Kee, “Rewriting Gender and Sexuality in English-language Yaoi Fanfiction”, 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, →ISBN, page 142:

You'd rather have Sebas be an uke?

2010, Pentabu, My Girlfriend’s a Geek, volume 1, Yen Press, published 2012isbn=9780316221801:

Shizuku is so, so, so cute! I love him as an uke so much I can't stand it!

2010, Kyoka Wakatsuki, “Afterword”, in The Selfish Demon King, Digital Manga Publishing, →ISBN:

(Japanese fiction, fandom slang) A passive or submissive male fictional character in a same-sex relationship; a bottom.


changeling

/ˈt͡ʃeɪnd͡ʒlɪŋ/

The noun is derived from change + -ling (suffix with the sense ‘immature; small’). Sense 6 (“idiot, simpleton”) is from the idea that foolish children had been left by magical creatures (sense 1).
The adjective is derived from the noun.

suffix

[S]he, as her attendant, hath / A louely boy ſtollen, from an Indian king: / She neuer had ſo ſweete a changeling.

[c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, A Midsommer Nights Dreame. […] (First Quarto), London: […] [Richard Bradock] for Thomas Fisher, […], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

Every Lover admires his miſtris, though ſhee be very deformed of her ſelfe, [...] her feet ſtinke, ſhee breed lice, a meere changeling, a very monſter, [...]: if he loue her once, he admires her for all this, he takes no notice of any ſuch errors, or imperfections of body or minde.

1638, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Symptomes or Signes of Love Melancholy, in Body, Minde, Good, Bad, &c.”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy. […], 5th edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] [Robert Young, Miles Flesher, and Leonard Lichfield and William Turner] for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 3, section 2, member 3, subsection 1, page 515:

Juſt as a Changeling ſeems below the reſt / Of Men, or rather is a two-legg’d Beaſt, / So theſe Gigantick Souls amaz'd we find / As much above the reſt of human kind.

1709, Earl of Murlgrave [i.e., John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby, formerly Earl of Mulgrave], An Essay on Poetry, London: […] H. Hills, […], →OCLC, page 15:

It was easy enough to see that the child was a changeling, for it wasn't like other children at all it screamed and cried, as if a knife stuck in it, and it wheezed and hit about with its arms like a huldre-cat, and was as ugly as sin.

1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 298:

His nurse had told him all about changelings, and how the little people would always try to steal a beautiful human child out of its cradle and put in its stead one of their own ailing, puking brats [...]

1961, Muriel Saint Clare Byrne, Elizabethan Life in Town and Country, 8th edition, London: Methuen & Co., →OCLC, page 285:

(European folklore, also figurative) In pre-modern European folklore: an infant of a magical creature that was secretly exchanged for a human infant. In British, Irish and Scandinavian mythology the exchanged infants were thought to be those of fairies, sprites or trolls; in other places, they were ascribed to demons, devils, or witches.

خائن

infant of a magical creature secretly exchanged for a human infant

(fantasy, science fiction) An organism which can change shape to mimic others; a shape-shifter.


exposition

en-noun

exposition (countable and uncountable, plural expositions)

From Middle English exposicioun, from Old French esposicion, from Latin expositiō, from expōnere (“to put forth”). The sense meaning "exhibition" is a later semantic loan from French exposition.

This essay has too much exposition in it.

My reviewer said she couldn't picture the setting for my story, so I'm improving the exposition.

(authorship) The act or process of declaring or describing something through either speech or writing, in nonfiction or in fiction; the portions and aspects of a piece of writing that exist mainly to describe or explain a set of things (such as, in fiction, the setting, characters and other non-plot elements).

I turned my research into an exposition on the traditional music of Borneo.

(authorship) An essay or speech in which any topic is discussed in detail.

বয়ান

(authorship) An opening section in fiction, in which background information about the characters, events or setting is conveyed.


speech bubble

(comics) A rounded outline, containing words, representing speech in a comic.

shtëllungë ligjërimi

rounded outline representing speech in a cartoon


comm

My comm was set on silent mode—nothing in or out except emergency transmissions.

2018, Joseph Kainz, Sector 12 and the Art of Burning, page ix:


run-in

en-adj

run-in (not generally comparable, comparative more run-in, superlative most run-in)

more run-in (comparative)
most run-in (superlative)

These headings are of the run-in type because a free-hanging style would just be a waste of column inches.

participial adjective
participial adjective

(participial adjective; editing, typography) (not comparable) Having been run in before or behind previous text.


Bruno

en-proper noun

Bruno (countable and uncountable, plural Brunos or Brunoes)

From Italian, German etc continental European Bruno, name of medieval Italian and German saints and royalty, Latinized form of Old High German brūn (“brown”), from Proto-West Germanic *brūn. The surname is mostly borrowed from Italian Bruno. Doublet of Brown.


in-line

An in-line mathematical formula does not have to be on a line of its own.

Parenthetical referencing is a citation style which uses in-line citations enclosed within parentheses.

This is an inline (e.g. mid-sentence) template for marking up text as a Wikipedia self-reference.

(writing) Inserted in the flow of a text.


sestet

From Italian sestetto, from sesto (“sixth”), Latin sextus, from sex (“six”).

(poetry) The last six lines of a sonnet, forming two stanzas of three lines each.


longueur

Borrowed from French longueur (literally “length”).

bor+

Most of the reasons given for its disappearance make sense: people are happier, busier; the work done by the anti-Freudian skeptics has finally taken hold of the popular imagination, so that people have no time for analytic longueurs and no patience with its mystifications.

1998 August 17, Adam Gopnik, “Man Goes To See a Doctor”, in The New Yorker:

He cultivated the aura, if not quite of the Anti-Christ, at least of an Anti-Sun King, discountenancing his uncle and shocking the dévots by preferring the intimacy and informality of a clique of drinking companions to the formal longueurs of the courtly round […].

2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 30:

[T]he reader can’t help feeling that a few judicious nips and tucks might have dispersed the longueurs that waft around the third quarter of the book.

2015 October 5, Michiko Kakutani, “Review: ‘City on Fire,’ Garth Risk Hallberg’s Novel of New York in the Bad Old Days”, in New York Times:

Claire Fontaine (who are actually a duo) have queered the phrase, lending its pungency and ambiguity to a biennale that I wish were nearly so succinct. There are longueurs. There are detours and incomprehensible delays.

2024 April 22, Adrian Searle, “Venice Biennale 2024 review – everything everywhere all at once”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(authorship) A lengthy passage in a dramatic or literary work, especially a dull or tedious one; a period of boredom.


gen

en-verb

gen (third-person singular simple present gens, present participle genning, simple past and past participle genned)

gens (present singular third-person)
genning (participle present)
genned (participle past)
genned (past)

Samples could be taken from the original, and plans could be made, but genning could not be initiated until death had occurred.

2008, Bart Dahmer, Primal Screams, →ISBN, page 36:

Her nurturer ears, genned to be hyper-sensitive, had to be hurting from the noise.

2011, Karen Sandler, Tankborn, →ISBN, page 28:

(science fiction) To genetically engineer.


chronoscope

/ˈkɹɒnəˌskəʊp/

(science fiction) A device able to directly view other times, past or future.


tin can

For here am I sitting in a tin can / Far above the world / Planet Earth is blue / And there's nothing I can do

1969, David Bowie (lyrics and music), “Space Oddity”:

(science fiction, slang) A metal spaceship or space station.


phaser

* (science fiction): For the fictional weapon coined for Star Trek: originally a "ph(oton ma)ser," later changed canonically to a "phas(ed)-e(nergy) r(ectifier)" (of "nadions", not photons).
* (phase modulation): phase + -er

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

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

His oddly reserved nature stands out [...]. Whyte sets his phaser on stun, not kill.

A Bajoran rushed past with an armful of phaser rifles, another with a box of hand phasers.

1999, Dafydd ab Hugh, chapter 3, in Fallen Heroes [Star Trek: Deep Space Nine; 5], New York, N.Y.: Pocket Books:

Giolitti's Gold Key art is widely admired, [...] and this is a terrific opportunity to pick up a page—set your phasers on bid.

2004, Hertiage Signature Auction #811, page 185:

I said, "Set phasers on be-a-bastard."

Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction

Oxford University Press
w:Oxford University Press

(science fiction) Fictional energy weapon, with multiple settings for degree of intensity, from the television series Star Trek (1966–69).


phaser

phaser (third-person singular simple present phasers, present participle phasering, simple past and past participle phasered)

phasers (present singular third-person)
phasering (participle present)
phasered (participle past)
phasered (past)

(science fiction, transitive) To shoot with a phaser weapon.


Nordic

From French nordique, from nord (“north”).

Called “Nordics,” the aliens are human-like in appearance, of average height, and often have long, flowing hair. Contactees are typically struck by the beauty of the Nordics, as was Howard Menger (1959): “She seemed to radiate and glow,” Menger explains,

2007, Erich Goode, D. Angus Vail, Extreme Deviance, Pine Forge Press, page 41:

But the third most common alien is called a Nordic, or humanoid.

2012, Kelly Milner Halls, Alien Investigation: Searching for the Truth about UFOs and Aliens, Millbrook Press, page 45:

Known as Nordics, these extraterrestrials are said to have blond hair, blue eyes, and pale skin and are anywhere from 6 to 8 feet (183cm to 244cm) tall.

2012, Patricia D. Netzley, Extraterrestrial Life: Alien Encounters, Reference Point Press, page 33

(ufology, science fiction) A race of extraterrestrials similar in appearance to Nordic humans.


kobold

en-noun

kobold (plural kobolds or (rare) kobolde)

Borrowed from German Kobold. Doublet of cobalt.

a. 1867, George MacDonald, The Shadows, 2000 [1980], The Golden Key and Other Stories, page 96,
The king had seen all kinds of gnomes, goblins, and kobolds at his coronation; […] .

Among the nonhuman creatures that peopled rural Europe in the Middle Ages — the fairies, elves, dwarfs, trolls, and kobolds — there were beneficent female spirits who patronized those households that treated them well.

1977, James Buchanan Given, Society and Homicide in Thirteenth-Century England, published 2007, page 138:

In Germany also the kobolds are rather troublesome than otherwise, to the miners, taking pleasure in frustrating their objects, and rendering their toil unfruitful.

2011, William Wirt Sikes, Varla Ventura, The Occult Powers of Goats and Other Welsh Tales of Goblins, Fairies, Gnomes, and Elves, unnumbered page:

(German folklore) A mischievous elf or goblin, or one connected (and helpful) to a family or household.

There were also various trolls like great smiling badgers, brownies darting about laughing, dwarves with large gray heads, sensuous mermaids, stony kobolds, green gnomes, sirens and many elves, who were busy purifying the sacred hilltop in a mythological cooperation marvelous to the soul's perception.

2005, Scott Elliot Hicks, The Shattering Light of Stars, page 62:

(fantasy literature) One of a diminutive and usually malevolent race of beings, often with a reptilian or dog-like appearance.


Dalek

Dalek
Doctor Who
Genesis of the Daleks
I, Davros
Terry Nation
The Daleks

Coined by Terry Nation in 1963 for his script of The Mutants (later retitled "The Daleks"), the second serial of the first season of Doctor Who. Accounts of how he devised the word vary. Within the Doctor Who universe, the word is supposed to be related to the name of the people from whom the Daleks evolved, either the Kaleds (as according to later serial Genesis of the Daleks) or the Dals (as in The Daleks), or to derive from a word meaning "gods" in their (fictional) language, in which the sacred "Book of Predictions" is written. According to the I, Davros audio fiction the book reads "...and on that day, men will become as gods", with the last word pronounced "Dal-eks".

'But Alydon,' I persisted, 'the Daleks aren't human beings. They're just evil, half creatures, half machines, determined to destroy you.'

1964, David Whitaker, Dr. Who and the Daleks, chapter 6 (based on the film script Dr. Who and the Daleks by Milton Subotsky, based itself on the tele-script The Mutants/The Daleks by Terry Nation)

[…] what kind of courage it must have taken for Hawkins, an actor renowned for the quality of his voice, to go back onto the set to deliver lines in that oesophageal monotone, what he called his "Dalek voice".

1987, Barry Norman, The Movie Greats, page 144:

This synthesizer is by far the best I have heard, because it varies the intonation, and does not speak like a Dalek.

p. 1996, Together with English Core, fourteenth edition (Rachna Sagar Pvt. Ltd., page 234

My voice still insisted on disappearing into my shoes every time it happened so that I sounded like a Dalek, but with a bit of experience behind me I felt marginally more confident.

2000, Rosie Parnell (Rosie White), The Crit: An Architecture Student's Handbook (co-written with Charles Doidge, Rachel Sara), page xii

One man was skiting around on a big, wheeled camera like a Dalek, dodging the scurrying assistants and clipboard-wielders, […]

2003, Siân Preece, “Country Cooking Countdown”, in Scottish Girls About Town, published 2004, page 19:

Then the Dalek turned and picked off the other passengers one by one. It screamed... 'Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!'

2006, Gareth Roberts, chapter 9, in I Am a Dalek:

Gordon Brown sounds like a Dalek with about three stock phrases... Remember, Daleks always want world domination but they always lose.

a. 2010, Peter Bazalgette, quoted in the Funniest Thing You Never Said: 2, page 333

And Peter was so focused too: like a Dalek in a track suit.

2011, Colin Neill, Turas: A Story of Strangers in a Strange Land, page 166:

(science fiction) A member of a species of extraterrestrial cyborg mutants who appear in the television programme Doctor Who and are known for travelling in metallic shells, having monotone, mechanically distorted voices, repeating a limited number of phrases, and their fanatical obsession with exterminating other, non-Dalek beings.


kokoro

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

/ˈkoʊkəˌɹoʊ/

Borrowed from Japanese 心(こころ) (kokoro, “heart, mind, spirit”).

Fame is for weenies. I'd rather be remembered for inventing a weird guitar effect or a recording technique than becoming famous by a song, unless the song is genuinely from my kokoro.

1992 December 7, Mike, “Re: When Things Go Wrong”, in bit.listserv.allmusic (Usenet), message-ID <ALLMUSIC%92120719125825@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU>:

(fandom slang, chiefly anime and manga) A heart.


juvenile

Borrowed from Latin iuvenīlis (“youthful; juvenile”), from iuvenis (“young; a youth”) + -īlis (suffix forming adjectives indicating a relationship or a pertaining to). Iuvenis is ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂yuh₁en- (“young”), from *h₂óyu (“long life; lifetime”) (from *h₂ey- (“age; life”)) + *h₁én (“in”).

Formerly a publisher of juveniles, out of the market till 1959, when it will enter adult fiction field.

1958, The Author and Journalist, volumes 42–43, Denver, Colo.: H. Ellithrope, →OCLC, page lxxxiv, column 1:

(literature) A publication for young adult readers.


webcomic

From Web + comic. The word is first attested 2000, but websites titled "WebComics" existed previously (as early as 1995).

Webcomics certainly have their selling points. They are harder to censor and generally free from editorial meddling[…]

2008, Danny Fingeroth, The Rough Guide to Graphic Novels, →ISBN, page 275:

Almost six years ago, Andrew Hussie began another one of a series of webcomics on his website, MS Paint Adventures. These early comics were experiments in fan-sourced storytelling: He’d create and monitor forums for character and story suggestions, then fold them into the story.

2015 February 24, Lilian Min, “How the Internet Invented a New Kind of Storytelling”, in The Atlantic:

(comics, Internet) An online comic, especially one first published on the Internet.


spondee

From Latin spondēus (“spondee”), from Ancient Greek σπονδεῖος (spondeîos, “associated with a libation”) from σπονδή (spondḗ, “libation”): spondees were often used in melodies sung at libations.

der

(poetry) A word or metrical foot of two syllables, either both long or both stressed.