weretroll

“This is ingenious,” I told the weretroll. “I'm amazed!”

2008, A. Bradbury, Tablets of Immortality, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN:

“Here,” said The Grunt, “have the boogies back. I'm gonna be the weretroll! You can have the bottle of snot back too.”

2010, tracey Corderoy, The Grunt and the Grouch: Beastly Feast, Capstone, published 2012, →ISBN, page 48:

(fiction, rare) A shapeshifter who can assume the form of a troll.


robotess

(science fiction, dated) A robot designated female; a gynoid.


bodyjack

en-verb

bodyjack (third-person singular simple present bodyjacks, present participle bodyjacking, simple past and past participle bodyjacked)

bodyjacks (present singular third-person)
bodyjacking (participle present)
bodyjacked (participle past)
bodyjacked (past)

My accent may be Brooklyn, not the BBC, pal, but I still got a brain in my head. We've been bodyjacked. Some kind of mind-switch—yours to our bodies, ours ta yours. No offense but this ain't exactly the first time we've been cut loose in that particular neighborhood.

1998 November 20, Chris Claremont, “The First The Final? Fire!”, in Fantastic Four, volume 3, number 11, page 17:

This sounds like a spinoff of "The Boys From Brazil"—until about page 70, when D.T. reveals that he's actually a devil who'd bodyjacked an SS officer.

2007 January 15, “The Devil Wears Swastikas”, in Newsweek, page 66:

I'm not a big fan, however, of the daleks stealing the Cyberman's bodyjacking schtick, and I thought the hybrid looked embarrassingly silly.

2007 April 22, Scott Bennie, “Re: Daleks In Manhattan”, in rec.arts.drwho (Usenet), retrieved 2017-03-31, message-ID <1177302553.825978.79940@n59g2000hsh.googlegroups.com>:

Then I did something that astonished both of us: I took control of our body. […] What are you doing? demanded Seymour. Where are you going? This is my body. Give it back! […] I've been bodyjacked! accused Seymour.

2014, Bruce Coville, Aliens Stole My Body, →ISBN, page 24:

(science fiction) To forcibly seize control of someone's body, sometimes by replacing or exchanging minds.


teep

He was conscious that the Directorate's teep Corps was close by; he didn't particularly want his intimate thoughts in the hands of eighty bored telepaths.

What are you doing, bringing a teep here when we're ready to move?

1997 June 9, Straczynski, Joseph Michael, “The Face of the Enemy”, in Babylon 5, season 4, episode 17, spoken by Number One (Marjorie Monaghan):

She didn't need to be a teep to know what he was thinking.

2011, Nate Kenyon, StarCraft: Ghost—Spectres, →ISBN, page 16:


teep

en-adj

teep (comparative more teep, superlative most teep)

more teep (comparative)
most teep (superlative)

He broke off, because one of the QCA men was bringing out a teep rod, a receptor that would pick up and record his thoughts for police inspection.

1969, Philip K. Dick, Galactic Pot-Healer:

(science fiction) Relating to telepathy.


teep

en-verb

teep (third-person singular simple present teeps, present participle teeping, simple past and past participle teeped)

teeps (present singular third-person)
teeping (participle present)
teeped (participle past)
teeped (past)

Irritated, Benteley answered, "You're being teeped while you stand here. Verrick has them planted all over the place."

Heads up everyone. Mantis is teeping into our poor tired brains.

2008 August 20, Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, “Legacy”, in Guardians of the Galaxy, volume 2, number 2, page 18:


Maycomb

Bryan K. Fair (University of Alabama) published Using Parrots to Kill Mockingbirds: Yet Another Racial Prosecution and Wrongful Conviction in Maycomb, 45 Alabama Law Review 403 (1994);

1989, Association of American Law Schools. Section on Minority Groups, Newsletter, page lxii:

In the excerpt from Snapple's novels given here, the sequence of spaces juxtaposes middle-class ladies condemning the squalid lives of Africans, to the squalid lives of White trash in Maycomb, to the condemning values of Mr. Daley about his hillbillies, to Calpurnia's option that "Yo're no better than others." to the disgrace of Indians in the Gallup Rodeo

1999, Scott Lloyd DeWitt, Kip Strasma, Contexts, Intertexts, and Hypertexts, →ISBN, page 86:

In his essay on the Maycomb model, Elias claims that the ubiquitous desire for the aggrandizement of one's own group in relation to the deprecation of other groups is based on fear, the fear of enslavement, of exploitation or physical extinction, and that the ensuing rivalries among groups are not just byproducts but rather a basic structural feature of human figurations.

2011, Christa Buschendorf, Astrid Franke, Civilizing and Decivilizing Processes, →ISBN, page 244:

(fiction) The fictional small Alabama town that serves as the setting of Harper Lee's 1960 novel To Kill A Mockingbird, as well as the 1962 film of the same name that is based on this novel.


artificial stupidity

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

From the analogy with artificial intelligence.

artificial intelligence
artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence
artificial intelligence#English

(humorous, artificial intelligence, computing, science fiction) Artificial intelligence that is not well developed.


artificially intelligent

en-adj

artificially intelligent (comparative more artificially intelligent, superlative most artificially intelligent)

more artificially intelligent (comparative)
most artificially intelligent (superlative)

artificial intelligence
artificial intelligence#English

(artificial intelligence, computing, science fiction) Possessing artificial intelligence.


kuudere

Borrowed from Japanese クーデレ (kūdere), a portmanteau of クール (kūru, “calm”), from English cool, and デレデレ (dere-dere, “in a lovey-dovey, infatuated, or lovestruck manner”, adverb).

True, she wasn't very expressive—or anyway, I didn't feel like I saw a lot of emotion from her—but if I thought of her as a kuudere, or one of those “weird girl” types, that could actually be seen as a positive.

2018, Ichiro Sakaki, translated by Kevin Steinbach, Outbreak Company, volume 5, unnumbered page:

The cool and tough exterior she displays makes for a good kuudere, and the blue eyes and silver hair already sets her up for the role in the Clannad series.

2018, "Moogle", "Cool As Rain", Otakuzine Anime Magazine, Issue #121, page 40

Her words were as cool as ever, but there was a hint of embarrassment in her voice. Could she be one of those “kuuderes” I'd heard so much abou

2021, Rifujin na Magonote, Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation, Volume 11, unnumbered page:

(chiefly Japanese fiction) A calm, aloof, reserved fictional character (usually a girl) who has a hidden soft side, especially for a love interest.


lekythion

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ληκύθιον (lēkúthion, “small oil-flask”), in reference to a passage in Aristophanes' comedy The Frogs.

bor

(poetry) In classical Greek and Latin poetry, a metric pattern defined by a sequence of seven alternating long and short syllables at the end of a verse.


Transformer

/tɹɑːnsˈfɔːmə/

From transformer (something that transforms).

“It's like a Transformer today,” Stamm said. “It appears as one thing, then becomes another.”

2015, Steve Berry, The Patriot Threat: A Novel, page 304:

A Transformer may be both a robot and a plane, or a robot and a car, but not both simultaneously.

2014, Barbara Brownie, Transforming Type: New Directions in Kinetic Typography, page 95:

Halloween? I dressed up as a Transformer. I dressed up as a Power Ranger. I was one of the Chipmunks for God's sake.

(fiction) In the Transformers franchise, any of the alien humanoid robots that can mechanically alter their appearance, or "transform", into a vehicle, creature, or (rarely) a tool.


xenogeography

He found the relaxed atmosphere fresh and exciting and actually began to excel in many areas of flight systems, propulsion, and even xenogeography.

2009, Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman, Nightsword: A Starshield Novel:

“Like a lot of kids, I wanted to be an exploration spacer, so I got my Blevel certificate in xenogeography. Once I actually met some of them, though, I couldn't see being stuck on a ship with a bunch of arrogant wankers for years at a time.

2016, Carol Van Natta, Pico's Crush: Central Galactic Concordance, Book 3:

(rare, science fiction) The study of exoplanet geography.


xenotech

You can parade the Navy and the Union Earth Colonies around in front of congress and parliament and the Chinese president, but at the end of the day it's xenotechnology that keeps us in the black. It's xenotech that keeps us from getting ...

2006, Marco Palmieri, Star Trek: The Original Series: Constellations Anthology:

(rare, informal, science fiction) Clipping of xenotechnology.


xenochemistry

The engineering scale shows “simple copy” at the biological “system or structure” level down to “xenochemistry of engineered systems” at the “molecular level.”

2012, Norman M. Wereley, Janet M. Sater, Plants and Mechanical Motion: A Synthetic Approach to Nastic Materials and Structures:

(rare, science fiction) The study of extraterrestrial chemistry.


xenotechnology

en-noun

xenotechnology (usually uncountable, plural xenotechnologies)

And the Yard would most likely become the very center of Starfleet's xenotechnology studies. “An intriguing proposal,” said Spock. Bishop pointed to the space station nearest them.

You can parade the Navy and the Union Earth Colonies around in front of congress and parliament and the Chinese president, but at the end of the day it's xenotechnology that keeps us in the black.

(chiefly science fiction) Alien, extraterrestrial technology.


xenonatomy

Until yesterday, McCoy had been teaching a course in Xenoanatomy at the Starfleet medical school on Prima, parsecs away.

The argument was that decisions had to be made by someone who was not herself a specialist, so she wouldn't give preferential treatment to xenoanatomy or linguistics or whatever. Martian cuisine.

I took a course in xenoanatomy. We dissected a variety of human corpses.

“I didn't know you were all up on xenoanatomy.” “I'm not.” Ressk set the blade above the uppermost hole in the skull and began to draw the saw back and forth. It caught on the desiccated flesh, bucked, then bit into bone.

(science fiction) The study of alien anatomy.


xenophysics

Stormchases had always had an interest in xenophysics. He felt his wings furl with shock as he realised that the object might show that heatpattern if it had warmed its belly with friction as it entered the atmosphere, but the upper part were still ...

2012, Jonathan Strahan, Hannu Rajaniemi, Pat Cadigan, Edge of Infinity:

Xenophysics, especially at this level, were not his strong suit. But you didn't go about busting artefact smugglers for a decade without learning something.

I graduated top of my class in Xenophysics and have been pushing for missions ever since.' Mark found her story slightly embarrassing. In some ways, she'd had it harder than him.

(rare, science fiction) The study of extraterrestrial physics.


xenobotany

An oddly lucid part of his stunned mind registered that these were the first fruiting bodies he'd seen. But this was hardly the time for exercising one of the specialties that had got him onto the intercept ship, xenobotany.

2008, Eric Flint, Dave Freer, Slow Train to Arcturus:

Terrell quipped to the new tactical officer, “He also holds doctorates in archaeology and xenobotany. So, if you get the urge to debate him about fossils or flowers . . . don't.”

2012, David Mack, Star Trek: Vanguard: Storming Heaven:

(science fiction) The study of alien plants.


xenopathology

/zɛnəpəˈθɒləd͡ʒi/

“I just completed my boards in theoretical xenopathology. You really should have been at the graduation party.

... being able to deal with battlefield injuries, were also expert in specific fields: xenopathology, bioweapons and battlestress analysis. And so it went. All carried laser carbines, grenades, missile launchers, mines—a whole panoply of death.

oo bad M'Benga is still attending that xenopathology conference on Samaritan Station, McCoy thought. We could use another MD at the moment.

2013, Greg Cox, Star Trek: The Original Series: The Weight of Worlds:

Of course she wouldn't, or Dr. Bonn, her redundancy. Xenopathology and emergency medicine are more practical.

2015, C. Gockel, Murphy's Star: A Story of First Contact:

(science fiction, rare) The study of the nature of disease and its causes, processes, development, and consequences among different sentient species of the galaxy.


xenohistory

“He is a specialist in xenohistory and has recently written a paper on the Terran system and human social interactions.” “Doctor,” To'Jopeviq said, nodding his head. “Any initial thoughts?”

Xenohistory and sociology was her passion and it was rare that she was given a chance to explore it.

(science fiction, rare) The study of alien history.


xenomythology

/zɛnəmɪˈθɒləd͡ʒi/

KaFrahkan was no student of xenomythology, but his intelligence briefing on the Humans had told him the origin of the name, and he found it grimly appropriate as he watched the massive, heavily armored giants grinding into position.

2005, David Weber, Keith Laumer, Old Soldiers:

Did you know that my first degree was in xenomythology?' 'I did not. Please continue.' 'The volcryn story was among the Nor T'alush myths.

2008, George R.R. Martin, Dreamsongs: A RRetrospective:

(science fiction, rare) The study of myths and legends of alien species.


xenosociology

/zɛnəˌsəʊʃiːˈɒləd͡ʒiː/

The almostvirgin xeno- prefix should be used to designate extraterrestrial entities [...], concepts and subdisciplines (for example, xeno-biology, xenosociology), and exo- reserved for life outside of but native to Earth.

2007, Jeff Prucher, Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction:

(science fiction, rare) The study of alien sociology.


xenomedicine

There had been people studying xenomedicine in the same class as the two of them who turned out not to have been particularly well fitted for it. Well, he thought, better they should find out in training, rather than in practicing on a patient.

You seem to be the first person in the history of xenomedicine who's simply been bitten by a yagghorth instead of disassembled into component pieces.”

“I understand, Tobin. Being joined is a great responsibility.” Dax stared, flushing with panic. “You . . . you know?” “Don't look so surprised. I'm an expert in xenomedicine and I've been around the quadrant once or twice.

2015, Christopher L. Bennett, Rise of the Federation: Uncertain Logic:

(science fiction, rare) The study and practice of medicine involving alien species.


xenopsychiatry

Xenopsychiatry. Yvette Heloise Renaud. Xenopsychology. Harold Nelson Bennett. Xenosociology.

Specializations in xenopsychology and xenopsychiatry, and long-term experience as CMO of the Enterprise — thus an acquaintance with what amounted to a gestalt life form, for that defined the multi-racial, multi-species environment aboard the […]

2000, Diane Duane, Peter Morwood, The Romulan Way: Rihannsu #2:

[…] between that of parole adviser for Hawk, and Chief of Xenopsychiatry. There were others equally qualified for the xeno position, but I fear I rather pulled strings and emphasized the illegal and unethical treatment Hawk received […]

(science fiction, rare) The study of alien mental and behavioral health (psychiatry).


xenopsychology

/zɛnəɛθsaɪˈkɑləd͡ʒi/

Dr. Robert A. Freitas, Jr. XENOPSYCHOLOGY So far we have very little direct knowledge of alien minds — but we have some fascinating bases for speculation.

1984, Analog Science Fact, Science Fiction:

Specializations in xenopsychology and -psychiatry, and longterm experience as CMO of the Enterprise— thus an acquaintance with what amounted to a gestalt life form, for that defined the multi-racial, multi-species environment aboard the ...

Galactics were doing little to wrap their minds around xenopsychology as it applied from them to humans. The Tong was already gradually increasing its business transactions directly with various Galactics.

2009, John Ringo, Julie Cochrane, Honor of the Clan:

My original area of interest was in xenopsychology, but I had never been able to get even an entrylevel post in either the public or private sphere. Thus, social work. And now, everything changed.

2013, Kate Elliott, The Price of Ransom:

(science fiction, rare) The study of alien psychology.


cloudscraper

Milord Lucyd's cloudscraper, the Villa de Reve: Traitor. Regim crouched behind the garden wall of the aetherist's cloudscraper and watched him approach.

1999, Lisa Mason, Pangaea: Imperium Without End:

Hogg turned to look at Daniel. "Lad," he said quietly, "I didn't try to wrap you in gauze, you know that. But I wouldn't have let you try to fly from the top of a cloudscraper pine either." "Now, it's not as bad as that, Hogg,"

The journey was soon over, as the car broke away from the main route, and turned towards the nearest cloudscraper.

2016, Alexander Lawes, Ring of Stones: Portal to Another World:

(chiefly science fiction) A very tall building; a skyscraper.


seascraper

"I'm going to build a seascraper. Those don't exist yet." Paul looked at me, totally amazed that I had uttered such a long sentence.

2013, Antonia Michaelis, The Secret Room:

Niki gestured for her AI to once again allow communications to come through from the outside world, something she'd turned off for the duration of her visits with the occupants of the seascraper.

2014, Colin Wright, Real Powers: Trilogy:

Soon the printer head is going to move so fast all you'll see is a blur. As that capability expands, we can create more ambitious projects, whether it's the FLIP or the seascraper." What does Chris mean by "seascraper"?

2017, Joe Quirk, Seasteading: How Floating Nations Will Restore the Environment, Enrich the Poor, Cure the Sick, and Liberate Humanity from Politicians:

(science fiction, architecture) A tall building that is built underwater; an underwater skyscraper.


astrotechnology

astrotechnology (usually uncountable, plural astrotechnologies)

/əˈstɹɑtɛkˈnɒləd͡ʒi/

Ford hunted excitedly through the technical specs of the ship, occasionally gasping with astonishment at what he read – clearly Galactic astrotechnology had moved ahead during the years of his exile.

2009, Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:

He observed using astrotechnology at his disposal to search out a civilization using updated technology.

2014, Darryl Gopaul, Escape from Jipadara: A Solar System of Three Planets with Sentient Life Forms:

Our scientist-kings and our brave new age of biotechnology (and then astrotechnology: the engineering of space) are the latest in giant steps that will take this Babel drive to a new level.

2016, Os Guinness, Impossible People: Christian Courage and the Struggle for the Soul of Civilization:

(science fiction, informal, rare) Space technology.

(science fiction) Synonym of xenotechnology


earthscraper

/ˈɝθˌskɹeɪp.ɚ/

By Vox! We went down all right. Spacious rooms were here piled one upon another connected by wide staircases. This subterranean temple was rather like an inverted skyscraper, an earthscraper, perhaps.

2008, Alan Burt Akers, Gangs of Antares: Dray Prescot 45:

So then I dreamed up a subterranean skyscraper (or,if you will, an earthscraper) with various floors, each of them constituting a different infernal abode;

2014, Leopoldo Marechal, Adam Buenosayres: A Novel:

The earthscraper burst from the tunnel into daylight, sparks trailing. Elara turned hard against the wheel, corrected itstrajectory and spun one hundred and eighty degrees into a brigade of sentinels their weapons drawn.

(science fiction, architecture) A building that is built underground; a subterranean skyscraper.


spacescraper

Spacescraper city on the outskirts of New York–five miles square with nine buildings, each exactly one mile from the next, each a mile square, three miles high, 1,000 stories, 1,000 people per floor, a million folk behind its walls, nine million ...

The ultimate game of belief is an unstoppable intonation. A word that spells the end of Jack and Susie. Twenty-eight missiles into a corporate spacescraper.

It showed the lights of a city at night, viewed from great height, as if the room were the penthouse suite of a spacescraper. A huge black bed dominated the far wall. It was only a foot off the floor. "Amazing!" Arakaki exclaimed.

2013, Michael McCloskey, The Trilisk Hunt::

The biggest one packed enough punch to blow through a spacescraper all the way to the basement.

2014, Michael McCloskey, The Trilisk Revolution::

(science fiction) A building that is tall enough to reach outer space.


freewrite

en-verb

freewrite (third-person singular simple present freewrites, present participle freewriting, simple past freewrote, past participle freewritten)

freewrites (present singular third-person)
freewriting (participle present)
freewrote (past)
freewritten (participle past)

(writing) To write continuously for a set period of time without regard to spelling, grammar, or topic.


freewrite

(writing) Something that is freewritten.


backwards time machine

en-noun

backwards time machine (plural backwards time machines)

(science fiction) A time machine that can only allow travel to the past, but cannot also allow travel to the future.


forward time machine

forward time machine (plural forward time machines)

(science fiction) A time machine that can only allow travel to the future, but cannot also allow travel to the past.


artificial superintelligence

artificial superintelligence (plural artificial superintelligences)

Coordinate term: AGI

(artificial intelligence, science fiction) Artificial intelligence that is far greater than any human intelligence.


Marvel

(fiction, literature, comics) Ellipsis of Marvel Comics.

(fiction, film, television) Ellipsis of Marvel Studios.


holocorder

Blend of holo- + recorder; compare camcorder.

(science fiction) A device for making holographic recordings.


internal monologue

internal monologue (plural internal monologues)

(literature) A representation of someone's thoughts as articulated.


timeship

(science fiction) A vehicle like a spaceship that travels through time.


acromonogrammatic

(poetry) Having each verse begin with the same letter as that with which the preceding verse ends.


Fomalhautian

(science fiction) Of or relating to the star Fomalhaut.


scavvy

(science fiction, slang) A scavenger; one who looks for discarded objects.


rejuve

The spacers thought that he was just the only person lucky enough to be able to take an infinite number of rejuves.

1980, Jack L. Chalker, The Return of Nathan Brazil:

He was a true kid of only twenty-five years old, no rejuves yet.

2017, Travis S. Taylor, Kill Before Dying:

(science fiction) The process of making somebody young again.


protomatter

The No Damage option occurs when the computers are directed to control the protomatter environment from directly harming the user. This is because MegaCorps prefer their executives alive rather than dead.

1995, Elaine Hinman-Sweeney, Hardwear/Softwear: Take a Walk on the Cyber Side, West End Games, Incorporated, →ISBN:

No worlds, no stars, nothing but a raging sea of churning no-forms, the empty vessel of another universe eaten alive by protomatter, consumed and converted and fed upon until nothing else remained.

2009, James Swallow, Titan #6: Synthesis, →ISBN, page 375:

Pioneering work performed at the Vulcan Science Academy by Dr. Temok and at the Daystrom Institute by Dr. Glenn Hauman indicate that the instabilities in protomatter are the result of interactions between its subatomic constituents and a nine-dimensional 5/2 spin variant on the quark stragelet, which Temok and Hauman have agreed to dub a "changelet."

2012, John Vornholt, The Genesis Wave Book One: Star Trek The Next Generation, →ISBN:

Once quantum compression is achieved, if the singularity has excess collapse inertia it will continue to compress the protomatter until a singularity begins to form at the core, venting protomatter through the regional stellar orifices across the multiverse.

2016, Ralph Rotten, Memoirs of a Timelord:

(science fiction) An unstable substance that is powerful and dangerous.


Deimosian

He paled in comparison to the eight foot tall Deimosian female.

2013 August 2, Nathan Skaggs, The Onslaught, →ISBN:

(chiefly science fiction) Of or relating to the moon Deimos.


Deimosian

I was taking Valerie's kid to the Central Park Zoo when the Phobosians and the Deimosians started uprooting the city's power cables.

2002, Peter Crowther, Mars Probes, →ISBN, page 221:

(science fiction) An inhabitant of Deimos.


Phobosian

The Phobosians are encamped outside Grand Central Station, barely a block away.

2013, James Morrow, The Cat's Pyjamas, →ISBN:

After four days of thorough medical examinations, physicians from each species concluded a high level of mutualism could exist between the Phobosians and the Interspecies Coalition species.

2013, Nathan Skaggs, The Red Star Encounter: The Dream Seers, →ISBN:

Meanwhile, the female Phobosian who had introduced herself as Jay Jay led the passengers down a long, narrow ramp that was just wide enough for two people to walk side by side.

2015, E.M. Smith, The Shadow of Olympus, →ISBN, page 203:


Phobian

In walking he would raise the toes of his feet above the heads of the Phobians to a height of five hundred feet.

1892, Scientific American - Volume 67, page 112:

You know the answer already as to why the Phobians acquired the plague.

2006, Alex De Witt, The Phobian Project, →ISBN:

After conferring amongst themselves, the majority of the representative suspected that the Phobians were about to announce plans for another annexation of some economically troubled world.

2010, Lonnie Holman I, Ultimate Dichotomization, →ISBN, page 42:

(science fiction) An inhabitant of Phobos.


werecrab

1999 August 3, Pinky the Werecrab, "question..", alt.romath.
I am a werecrab.

He preached that the Great Spirit had created the Indians but not the whites, whom he hated as the spawn of “an enormous, foul werecrab, which had first crawled out of the sea in the vicinity of Boston, Massachusetts”; soon an apocalypse would come in which the whites and those Indians who followed their ways would be swept aside.

2014, Jeffrey N. Cox, Romanticism in the Shadow of War, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 20:

Apparently werecrabs did.

2015, Lisa Shearin, Con and Conjure, NLA Digital, →ISBN:

(fiction, rare) A shapeshifter who can assume the form of a crab.


genre-savvy

en-adj

genre-savvy (comparative more genre-savvy, superlative most genre-savvy)

more genre-savvy (comparative)
most genre-savvy (superlative)

(literature) aware of the elements that are typically found in a particular genre; able to recognize and/or predict the tropes that come into play


greenskin

(fantasy, fiction, roleplaying games) One of several distinct green-skinned creatures often grouped together, such as orcs, goblins and (sometimes) trolls.


xenogeology

/zɛnəd͡ʒiːɑləd͡ʒɪ/

(science fiction, rare) The science of extraterrestrial geology.


xenoscience

(science fiction, rare) The science of extraterrestrial life.


xenoengineering

/ˌzinoʊˌɛn.d͡ʒɪnˈɪəɹ.ɪŋ/

(science fiction, rare) Engineering of extraterrestrial species.


exocommunication

/ɛɡˈzɔːkʌˌmjunɪˈkeɪʃən/

(science fiction, rare) Communication with extraterrestrial species.


xenomicrobiology

(science fiction, rare) The science of studying extraterrestrial microorganisms.


xenocytology

(science fiction, rare) The study (cytology) of extraterrestrial cells.


xenomorphology

/zɛnəmɔɹˈfɑləd͡ʒi/

(science fiction, rare) The science or study of extraterrestrial biological structures.


xenofiction

[...] escape from their threatened warren and establish a new home has become a classic of xenofiction, a subgenre of science fiction encompassing stories set among species or cultures dramatically different from humanity or human society.

2006, Christopher Harter, Anthony Tedeschi, Jodine Perkins, Places of the Imagination: A Celebration of Worlds, Islands, and Realms, Bloomington, Ind.: Lilly Library, →ISBN, page 64:

(science fiction, rare) Fictional stories about non-humans, especially extraterrestrials.

Raise your hand if you love xenofiction! There’s something about experiencing the world through non-human eyes that makes just about any plot more exciting to me.

2018 February 24, Lydia Schoch, “Saturday Seven: Non-Human Protagonists”, in lydiaschoch.com:

(science fiction, rare) Fiction written with a non-human point of view character.


xenoencyclopedia

The competent reader gradually learns more and more about the genre's own grand-scale xenoencyclopedia in order to understand each new work's specific xenoencyclopedia...

2012, Istvan Csicsery-Ronay, Jr., “Of Enigmas and Xenoencyclopedias”, in Science Fiction Studies, volume 39, number 3:

The (xeno)encyclopedia of the (science fiction) reader In L'empire du pseudo, Richard Saint-Gelais applies Umberto Eco's textual cooperation theory to the science fiction genre. He proposes to call “xenoencyclopedia” all the cognitive ...

2015, Maylis Rospide, Sandrine Sorlin, The Ethics and Poetics of Alterity: New Perspectives on Genre Literature:

They offer a supplement—or possibly a starting point—to the reader's “personal encyclopedia” (Eco 1985 [1979]) or, in this case, “xeno-encyclopedia” (Saint-Gelais 1999), which was constituted through previous Marvel readings and which these publications help to configure according to the publisher's...

2018, J.M. Méon, “Sons and Grandsons of Origins: Narrative Memory in Marvel Superhero Comics”, in Comics Memory:

(science fiction, rare) An encyclopedia of science fiction.


astrogeometry

(science fiction, rare) The study of geometry of the universe or stars.


astrozoology

/ˈæstɹəzəʊˈɒləd͡ʒi/

(rare, science fiction) The branch of xenology dealing with extraterrestrial animals.


xenoarchitecture

/zɛnəˈɑɹkəˌtɛkt͡ʃɚ/

(science fiction, rare) Extraterrestrial architecture.


astrogeography

/ˈæstɹəd͡ʒɪˈɒɡɹəfi/

(rare, science fiction) The study of exoplanet geography.


astrophilosophy

(science fiction, rare) The study of alien philosophy.


xenobacteriology

/zɛnəbækˌtɪəɹ.ɪˈɒləd͡ʒi/

(science fiction, rare) The science of studying extraterrestrial bacteria.


xenoethics

(science fiction, rare) (The study or elaboration of) extraterrestrial ethics.


astrohistory

/ˈæstɹəˈhɪstəɹi/

(rare, science fiction) The study of alien history.


thalassogen

(astronomy, science fiction) A substance capable of forming a planetary ocean.


Memory Alpha

As noted earlier, some researchers cite species as a significant factor in determining the value of Memory Alpha cards. If species affect the value of Memory Alpha cards, why does it fail to do so in this sample?

2012, Ortiz Zezzatti, Carlos Alberto Ochoa, Logistics Management and Optimization through Hybrid Artificial Intelligence:

Approaching Memory Alpha, which Looks Just Like it Did on the Original TV Series I thought I had this when I learned Memory Alpha still existed in this Trekverse.

Memory Alpha was to have been the pride of the Federation's scientific and educational delegations.

2013, Judith Reeves-Stevens, Star Trek: Signature Edition: Worlds in Collision:

In response, online fandoms have turned to the creation and maintenance of wikis to help sort through and organize the often overwhelming amount of detail in the source material. Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki, is one such fandom example.

2014, Marta González-Lloret, Lourdes Ortega, Technology-mediated TBLT: Researching Technology and Tasks:

(science fiction, Star Trek) An inhabited planetoid and the home for a Federation central library.


tri-D

Photos of smaller versions of him — I guessed his children — lined the ultra-modern furniture; as I swept a hand over a cabinet, a couple of tri-Ds even came to life.

2016, Jamie Sawyer, Origins, New York, N.Y.: Orbit, →ISBN, page 245:

(science fiction) Synonym of tri-V (“a system capable of recording or displaying three-dimensional video”).


tri-D

They were still engaged in their mental game of tri-D chess, whispering moves back and forth when they assumed Captain Gold wasn't listening.

2007, Keith R. A. DeCandido, Star Trek: Corps of Engineers: Aftermath, page 452:


demolecularize

en-verb

demolecularize (third-person singular simple present demolecularizes, present participle demolecularizing, simple past and past participle demolecularized)

demolecularizes (present singular third-person)
demolecularizing (participle present)
demolecularized (participle past)
demolecularized (past)

(science fiction, transitive) To disassemble the molecular structure of.


cabbit

(anime, manga) A fictional hybrid of a cat and a rabbit.


startword

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It was the translation of Ovid, Lucan, Seneca, and Virgil that gave English Elizabethan poetry the startword.

1875, THE CORHILL MAGAZINE , VOL XXXII, page 191:

The attraction of the French romances of chivalry for William Morris, of Tuscan painting for D.G. Rossetti, of the spirit of English Gothic architecture for Christina Rossetti, of the combination of all these with Greek and Elizabethan elements for Mr. Swinburne, were to be traced back to startwords given by the prophetic author of the Seven Lamps of Architecture.

1926, Richard Garnett, Edmund Gosse, English Literature: From the age of Johnson to the age of Tennyson:

(literature) The first appearance of a genre in print.


nasnas

(Islam, folklore) A monstrous creature related to the jinn, said to resemble the left or right half of a human being (with half a head, half a body, one arm and one leg).


heterotext

(literature) A text that is heterogeneous, for example in being composed of several different languages. and visual vs textual


alienish

en-adj

alienish (comparative more alienish, superlative most alienish)

more alienish (comparative)
most alienish (superlative)

The bruise on my cheek had ripened into an underlying violet with an alienish green tinge. My ear had a red cut nicked out of it. The hot curling iron burn on my neck was starting to scab but it looked like it might hang around a lifetime.

2007, Nancy Bush, Electric Blue, page 212:

(science fiction) Characteristic of an alien; alienlike


vocabularyclept

From vocabulary + Ancient Greek κλέπτω (kléptō, “I steal”).

It seems reasonable that vocabularyclept poems should be signed first by the poet of combination and second by the poet of permutation, since combination necessarily precedes permutation.

1973, Howard W. Bergerson, Palindromes and Anagrams, page 22:

The second text is just a rearrangement by word of the first; it can be seen as a “vocabularyclept” text created from the first. Here's an even simpler vocabularyclept example: This movie was a great experience, and not disappointing. This movie was not a great experience, and disappointing.

2016, Nick Montfort, Exploratory Programming for the Arts and Humanities, page 200:

(poetry) Being a form of poem that is a rearrangement of the words of an existing work.


tenday

They're confident of having the main walls complete in just under ten tendays.

1993, Vernor Vinge, A Fire Upon The Deep, page 284:


catboy

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(Japanese fiction) A male fictional character who has a cat's ears, tail, or other feline characteristics on an otherwise humanoid body.


holopod

As usual IT didn't turn up until the end of the lesson and Caitlin had to share Michaela's holopod as there wasn't a spare one available.

2010, Caroline Hunter, The Present Future, →ISBN, page 20:

Altman shielded the holopod in his hands, watched the image that appeared, rotating slowly between his palms.

The object appears to be a holopod. Preliminary data scans indicate that it contains nothing more than a holographic presentation.

“It'll be different, that's for sure,” said Addie looking around the celebration holopod.

2015, Louise Park, Three's a Crowd, →ISBN, page 9:

(science fiction) A pod-like device that projects and/or records holographic images.


wereorc

As a wereorc who is happily married to a weretroll, Sir Haggis, I must object to your continuing denigration of the race of trolls as some kind of Usenet vermin.

1999 January 21, Mad Molly Malone, WereOrc, “Troll Striptease 8”, in alt.horror.werewolves (Usenet):

(fiction, fantasy, rare) A shapeshifter who can assume the form of an orc.


prostibot

(science fiction, slang) A sexbot hired out as a prostitute.


spondaical

(poetry) Having or relating to spondees.


diwata

Borrowed from Cebuano diwata, from Proto-Visayan *diwata, from Malay dewata, from Sanskrit देवता (devatā, “god, deity”).

(mythology, folklore) In Filipino folklore, a spirit, usually a lesser god or goddess, believed to guard natural features such as forests.


charactonym

(literature) A name that is somehow descriptive of the character who bears it.


rougarou

From Cajun French rougarou (“werewolf”).

Like the European werewolf and loup-garou, the French Canadian rougarou also often appears in the form of a dog. Whoever neglects his Easter duties or goes unconfessed for seven years finds himself changed into a rougarou at night.

1961, Maria Leach, God Had a Dog: Folklore of the Dog:

“I told you, I'm not the rougarou. And if I say anything, the rougarou will kill me. I may be old, but I don't want to go that way.” “Selena, I'm going to hurt you worse than any rougarou.”

2016, Heather Graham, Blood on the Bayou: A Cafferty & Quinn Novella, Evil Eye Concepts, Incorporated, →ISBN:

“The rougarou—him's a big, bad wolf.” “Bad?” asked Lizabeth. “What do you mean?”

2016, Jonathan Maberry, The Orphan Army, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 78:

(folklore) A werewolf or werewolf-like creature said to inhabit swamps in Louisiana (and sometimes French Canadian) folklore.


Ivan Ivanovich

en-noun

Ivan Ivanovich (plural Ivan Ivanoviches or Ivan Ivanovichs)

Ivan Ivanoviches (plural)
Ivan Ivanovichs (plural)

/ɪˈvɑːn ɪˈvɑːnəvɪt͡ʃ/

Borrowed from Russian Ива́н Ива́нович (Iván Ivánovič, literally “John Johnson”).

bor

Ива́н Ива́нович

(fiction) Synonym of John Doe (an unknown person or body), giving a Russian flavour to fiction set in Russia, by using a Russian name in place of the English term.


exoscience

(science fiction) Science concerning exoplanets and anything on them.


isekai

Borrowed from Japanese 異世界 (isekai, literally “different world”).

bor+

It's not every day that an isekai author gets published out of the sea of isekai stories on there.

2017, Ryo Shirakome, DxS, Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest (volume 1)

(Japanese fiction) A genre of Japanese fiction involving everyday people transported to alternative fantasy or virtual worlds.


forceshield

(science fiction) A forcefield (invisible barrier).


Huainanzi

From the pinyin romanization of Mandarin 淮南子 (Huáinánzǐ, “Writings of the Masters South of the Huai River”), the usual Chinese name of the work, from its origin among the scholars at the court of Liu An, prince of Huainan.

zh-l

(Chinese literature) A 2nd-century bc record of Chinese mythology, legend, history, and thought.


cynocephalic

From cyno- + -cephalic; compare Ancient Greek κυνοκέφαλος (kunoképhalos).

cog

(fiction, history) Of or relating to dogheads, humanoid dog-headed monsters.


Chaucerism

/ˈt͡ʃɔːsəɹɪzəm/

(literature) A word, phrase, etc. that is characteristic of Geoffrey Chaucer or his writings.


zipway

I never cared for zipways as a way to get around megastructures like this. I always thought that there was a reason God invented taxis.

He could only stay there, suspended halfway between the top of the wall and the zipway, and wish would all come out all right. He'd taken a gamble, and sometimes you lost gambles. He felt more than saw the flyers stop, and he dropped down the remaining meter and a half to the surface of the zipway.

2012, Connie Willis, Larry Correia, Mercedes Lackey, A Cosmic Christmas:

(science fiction) A high-speed elevator, corridor, or similar transit route.


macrokinesis

Parapsychologists, whose thinking is based on spiritualistic work, classify the ensemble of these interactions of spirit on matter with such terms as "macrokinesis" or "telekinesis."

2015, Jean Jacques Charbonier, 7 Reasons to Believe in the Afterlife: A Doctor Reviews the Case for Consciousness after Death:

(fiction, rare) The ability to move objects and affect matter at a large-scale level with the power of one's mind.


Lukomorye

From Russian Лукомо́рье (Lukomórʹje, literally “the curve of the sea”).

bor

(folklore, Slavic mythology) A fictional land in Russian folklore.

Loukomorie

a fictional land in the Russian folklore


galliambus

From Latin Galli + iambus. Used by the Galli, priests of the Phrygian goddess Cybele. The first element, Ancient Greek γάλλος (gállos), was said by Ovid to be named after a Phrygian river.

(poetry) A verse consisting of four Ionics a minore, with variations and substitutions.


lenvoy

The First parte of the Mirour on its first appearance, in 1574, included sixteen tragedies and ended with the tragedy of Nennius, after which a conclusion was made in a lenvoy of five stanzas.

1946 [1574], Lily B. Campbell, “Introduction”, in John Higgins, Thomas Blenerhasset, The Mirror for Magistrates, page 7:

Ladies! Lenvoy to you that have this prize; I reed ye hold your owne, if you be wise.

1815, Thomas Park, Heliconia: A Selection of English Poetry (1575-1604), page 134:

For at the end of Bk. II. there is a lenvoy, commencing "Rome, remember of thy foundation"; it is one of the best of Lydgate's remarkable lenvoys, rendered pompous and sonorous by the monotony of its rhyme-system, for it has only three rhymes in its 126 lines (133 in Tottel's)!

1898, Wilbraham Fitzjohn Trench, A Mirror for Magistrates: Its Origin and Influence, page 20:


fairy money

(folklore) Money given by the fairies, which later transforms into withered leaves or similar.


tankobon

Borrowed from Japanese 単行本(たんこうぼん) (tankōbon).

(manga) A standard Japanese book format most commonly encountered as the individual volumes of a manga series.


piskie

The farmer slunk away unperceived, and went to bed, where he lay a long while awake, thinking in what way he could best shew his gratitude to the piskie for such an important Service.

1865, Popular Romances of the West of England:

The piskie was in the shape of a man — very dark, black-haired, and cross-eyed.

1906, J. Henry Harris, Cornish Saints & Sinners:

Glister was determined to prove the wizened piskie wrong, but its taunts were well founded.

(mythology, fantasy literature, fairy tales) Alternative form of pixie (supernatural being): A playful sprite or elflike or fairy-like creature.


grundylow

(UK, folklore, mythology) Alternative form of grindylow


grindylow

Possibly connected to Grendel, the monster from the epic Beowulf.

(UK, folklore, mythology) A folkloric creature, said to inhabit water and to grab children with its long sinewy arms and drown them.


conceptismo

(literature) A 16th- and 17th-century literary movement in Spain associated with Francisco de Quevedo and characterized by a rapid rhythm, directness, wordplay, and witty metaphors.


neo-Gothic

Of the known styles that signal boxes referred to, neo-Gothic was a favourite - especially in the points of locking room windows, and particularly on the Great Northern Railway.

2021 October 20, Dr Joseph Brennan, “A key part of our diverse railway heritage”, in RAIL, number 942, page 54:

(architecture, literature) Of or relating to a more recent iteration of a Gothic style.

neogòtic

of or relating to iteration of Gothic style


Mantuanesque

en-adj

Mantuanesque (comparative more Mantuanesque, superlative most Mantuanesque)

more Mantuanesque (comparative)
most Mantuanesque (superlative)

From Mantuan + -esque, in reference to Baptista Mantuanus.

(literature) Of or relating to a style of pastoral vision with religious overtones of the "Good Shepherd", as opposed to the Arcadian pastoral vision of innocent rural bliss.


exogalactic

(science fiction) Synonym of extragalactic (originating from outside the Milky Way galaxy)


cryo-freeze

en-verb

cryo-freeze (third-person singular simple present cryo-freezes, present participle cryo-freezing, simple past cryo-froze, past participle cryo-frozen)

cryo-freezes (present singular third-person)
cryo-freezing (participle present)
cryo-froze (past)
cryo-frozen (participle past)

Cirno: "I'll cryo-freeze you together with some English beef!"

2002, Team Shanghai Alice, Embodiment of Scarlet Devil:

This requires bulky machinery and other equipment that one person is unlikely to be able to maneuver. Furthermore, even if current technology could cryo-freeze an entire body, the process would take many hours. Dr. Stein made inquiries and found out that a specialist in the field of cryogenics had made a breakthrough just a few weeks before the murder that allowed him to safely freeze single organs, but not entire bodies.

2014, James Luce, The Star-Spangled Triangle, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 60:

(transitive, science fiction, fantasy) To freeze something cryogenically.


cryo-freeze

"Both the original injury and the cryo-freeze did him a lot of damage, some of it permanent. He was forced to take a medical discharge, which he — hm! — did not handle well. It's not my place to discuss those details.” “If he was injured badly enough to need cryo-freeze, he was dead!” she said, startled. “Technically, I suppose so. 'Alive' and 'dead' are not such neat categories as they used to be in the Time of Isolation.”

1999, Lois McMaster Bujold, Komarr, Baen Books, →ISBN:

"What are you going to do with her?" he asked. "Nothing, Dr. Sanders. You are." Sanders shook his head. "What do you mean?" - "We've got two new clients, Dr. Sanders, that need to be put into cryo-freeze..."

2011, Russell Davis, Touchless, Wildside Press LLC, →ISBN, page 154:

Oh I hate this, and she did it on purpose, I'm floating in mid grav feeling like I'm in cryo freeze like the old days. “Lasko you were never in cryo freeze, that has not been used since the star stream was discovered.” Good point, and it is kinda good for the back. “Just be careful of the...” Ow, the transition. “Sorry Lasko, but I told you to stay seated.” The tone in her voice tells me she kinda enjoyed that."

2017, J.W. Delorie, Esper Wars, AuthorHouse, →ISBN:

(science fiction) The state of being cryogenically frozen.


wererabbit

(fiction) A shapeshifter who can assume the form of a rabbit.


werefrog

(fiction) A shapeshifter who can assume the form of a frog.


Red Shirt

This strong dilemma is also a fun one, and works particularly well against players who like to use the controversial "Red Shirt" tactic of sending down small away teams to attempt dilemmas.

1995, Decipher, Inc, Star Trek Next Generation Customizable Card Game, →ISBN:

This is a question about responsibility -- Did Michael send his partner (AKA Red Shirt) into the fire zone SPECIFICALLY to be killed? He was the one who suggested to Operations that they set up a rescue attempt -- TO FAIL.

1997 October 1, Judy Williams, “Verdict-Red Shirt”, in alt.fan.la-femme.nikita (Usenet):

Red Shirts are characters with only a little more personality than Random Grunts, but they are expendable, and you can expect them to get killed.

2009, David Perry, Rusel DeMaria, David Perry on Game Design: A Brainstorming Toolbox, page 242:

(fiction) Alternative form of redshirt (“expendable minor character”)


Centauran

Reincarnation makes them feel superior to you superior Centaurans.

1962, Wallace West, The Memory Bank, Airmont Books, page 44:

The peculiar thing about that war is that the Centaurans gave up.

1974, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, volume 46, Mercury Press, page 64:

The Alpha Centaurans are especially interested in the skies above them.

2006, Giles Sparrow, The Solar System: Exploring the Planets and Their Moons from Mercury to Pluto and Beyond, Thunder Bay Press, page 10:

(science fiction) A member of a fictional or hypothetical Centauran species, colony, civilization, etc.


turbolift

(science fiction) An elevator on a spacecraft.


offworld

From off- + world, by analogy with offshore.

She invested in an offworld mining company.


offworld

The would-be astronauts had not been offworld yet.

(chiefly science fiction) Away from Earth.


microgoggles

With a long-suffering sigh, Cale pulled the microgoggles from his eyes and followed her up the ladder onto the roof.

2000, Kevin J. Anderson, Rebecca Moesta, Titan A.E.: A Novel. Cale's story, →ISBN, page 27:

So whether you are out conquering worlds or are just concerned about these tiny pests, make sure you're prepared with a pair of germ-spotting microgoggles.

2001, Invader Zim, "Germs" (season 1, episode 4a)

She reached into her own field kit for microgoggles, took a closer look.

2015, J. D. Robb, Obsession in Death, →ISBN, page 40:

(rare, science fiction) Goggles that help to see minuscule objects.


werealligator

A Mokolé does not change from human to animal along a fixed track of forms. Instead, during adolescence, the young werealligator dreams of the past of the reptile races, and shapes a form for herself from what she [dreams].

1994, Bill Bridges, Werewolf Players Guide, White Wolf Pub:

(fiction, fantasy) A shapeshifter who can assume the form of an alligator.


skycam

(chiefly science fiction) A camera mounted or flying in the sky, taking aerial pictures or video footage.


redondilla

From Spanish redondilla. Doublet of rondelle.

(poetry) An early verse form in which the first and fourth and the second and third lines of the stanza generally rhymed.

(poetry) In later Spanish use, a verse of six and eight syllables in general, whether making perfect rhymes or assonances only.


seedship

(science fiction) A spaceship designed to convey colonists to another planet etc.


kilolight

(science fiction) a unit of velocity equal to one thousand times the velocity of light

I said slowly: “I must be making a megalight, or more, an hour. At this rate the journey will take about two weeks—” “Yes,” Lipsey said. “We think the Xeelee have a range of hyperdrive capabilities. The standard intragalactic version is limited to a kilolight an hour, ...

2016, Stephen Baxter, Xeelee Sequence, Hachette UK, →ISBN:

(science fiction) a unit of distance equal to one thousand light-years; a kilolight-year


miurus

From Ancient Greek μείουρος (meíouros), from μείων (meíōn, “curtailed, lesser”) + οὐρά (ourá, “tail”).

(poetry) A dactylic hexameter with short penultimate syllable.


baccoo

(folklore) A mischievous little male spirit in Caribbean folklore.


churile

(Ghana, folklore) The ghost of a woman who dies in childbirth, said to prowl in the darkness giving mournful cries.


brainworm

She caught my expression, and added quickly, “Oh, but not bad brain worms. Good brain worms. They know most of the languages that are spoken across the worlds, and pretty soon you will too.”

2012, David Barr Kirtley, “The Ontological Factor”, in John Joseph Adams, editor, Other Worlds Than These, unnumbered page:

"Yes. And I'm going to get back to her. Nothing's going to stand in the way of that. Not two thousand years...not some overambitious species that think they're gods...not monsters or brain-worms or secret assassins."

2012, Mark Chadbourn, Jack of Ravens, unnumbered page:

This allows brain worms to animate their dead bodies, creating shambling warriors that fight for their queens.

2021, Jason Fry, Star Wars The Clone Wars Character Encyclopedia, page 111:

(science fiction) Any parasitic, worm-like species that inhabits the brain of another organism, typically altering its behaviour or giving it special abilities.


microplanetoid

I mean, the Fomalhauters weren't having enough problems with the repairs to their exhaust duct—their StarGrazer'd taken a hit from a rogue microplanetoid—then this earthbound yo-yo tries to put a goddam drift netter up their tailpipe.

1998, Dana Stabenow, Killing Grounds, →ISBN, page 104:

The loose group of rocks, sand, random molecules, and microplanetoids known as the Hallelujah node was traveling in company around the Sun at a speed of eleven miles per second.

2009, Robert A. Heinlein, The Rolling Stones, →ISBN:

Around three hundred meters long and a little less than half as wide, the new shape was much smaller than the microplanetoid configuration.

2015, John Steiner, Flipspace:Astraeus Event, Missions 10-12, →ISBN, page 81:

(science fiction) An astronomical body smaller than a planetoid, such as an asteroid or planetesimal.


underbreed

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

Leaf felt degraded by that — hiring on, in effect, as an indentured underbreed — but what choice was there for him?

1973, Terry Carr, Richard A. Lupoff, Robert Silverberg, No Mind of Man: Three Original Novellas of Science Fiction, page 122:

I had an idea who it was but called the command post and demanded the names of the underbreeds who had last piloted the jet

1995, Alan Cockrell, Tail of the Storm: Flying Missions in the First Gulf War, →ISBN, page 49:

Hi is thinking about those strange advertisements they read in the tabloid to titillate themselves, and the present in which he exists seems suddenly like some weird science fiction movie of the future in which the world is organized in a strange manner with certain people as an underbreed in which they are manipulated by economics to sell their bodies to others who live in another sphere where the repression of their carnality is required as an imagined requisite for social order.

2013, Thomas E. Kennedy, Kerrigan in Copenhagen, →ISBN, page 119:

(chiefly science fiction) An inferior or subservient breed of people or sentient beings.


underperson

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For I felt sure these underpeople had taken it.

1895, Herbert George Wells, The Time Machine, page 118:

Life is no longer the long, easy ride the true men are accustomed to, and although life is not exactly fraught with peril, the true men learn of vulnerability and danger, things that the underpeople have long lived with.

2001, Karen L. Hellekson, The Science Fiction of Cordwainer Smith, →ISBN, page 69:

The Administrator sent me here on a crazy errand, killing an unknown underperson. I find out that the person is really a little girl. Then I find out that she is not an underperson, but a frightening old dead woman, still walking around alive.

2012, Gardner Dozois, A Day in the Life, →ISBN:

These underpeople were even less human than the androids, their very appearance making obvious their animal origins.

2015, A. Bertram Chandler, The Inheritors, →ISBN:

(science fiction) A member of a subhuman sentient species.


gigadeath

They'll have no reason to hit the datasphere now. There will be no gigadeaths.

2008, Ken MacLeod, Fractions: The First Half of The Fall Revolution, page 285:


extinction level event

en-noun

extinction level event (plural extinction level events)

(chiefly science fiction) Synonym of mass extinction


dicatalectic

(poetry) doubly catalectic, at both the middle and the end of the verse


mutantkind

"Dr. Bocklin believes he's discovered what amounts to an on/off switch for human mutation, and current events lead me to believe that his discovery will have the direst consequences for mutantkind."

1997, Eluki Bes Shahar, Smoke and Mirrors, →ISBN:

With the members of their race slowly dying out and no new mutants being born, mutantkind was on the brink of extinction.

2011, Mike Carey, Craig Kyle, Chris Yost, X-Men: Second Coming, Marvel Entertainment, →ISBN:

After all, doesn't Magneto just want to protect mutantkind, and isn't Ra's Al Ghul just trying to save the planet? Lex Luthor is just a frustrated humanist, and if he troubles himself to remember the names of his janitor's kids, he can't be all bad, [...]

2011, Ben Dyer, Supervillains and Philosophy: Sometimes, Evil is its Own Reward, →ISBN:

(chiefly fiction) Mutants, collectively; the race of mutants.


shipgirl

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(Japanese fiction) A female fictional humanoid character featuring design elements of a ship, such as anchors, naval guns or torpedo tubes; usually a namesake moe anthropomorphization of a real life warship.

艦娘

female character with ship characteristics


dialogue tag

Not every paragraph of dialogue needs to have a dialogue tag attached to it.

Sometimes inexperienced writers will discover the useful tool of tacking on detail to a dialog tag with a present participal or adverbial phrase: "It's too late," she said, closing the door.

2000, Tom Romano, Blending Genre, Altering Style: Writing Multigenre Papers, →ISBN, page 63:

A dialogue tag has to indicate sound

2004, Leslie Wainger, Writing a Romance Novel For Dummies, John Wiley & Sons:

An alternative style forsakes italics altogether and assigns a dialogue tag: This is going nowhere, he thought.

2011, Deborah Halverson, Writing Young Adult Fiction For Dummies, John Wiley & Sons:

A line of dialogue followed by a dialogue tag looks like this: “Nothing suits me better than a fried egg on toast early in the morning,” Billy said.

2015, Kris James with Laura E. Koons and Stefanie Spangler Buswell, Beyond the Style Manual: Bundle #1, Red Adept Publishing:

(narratology, authorship) A sentence part that attributes a piece of written dialogue to its speaker. (e.g. In "Get out of here," he said, "he said" is a dialogue tag.)


dematerializer

(science fiction) A device that dematerializes things.


A-story

(authorship) The main plot in a story, especially a television show.


self-edit

en-verb

self-edit (third-person singular simple present self-edits, present participle self-editing, simple past and past participle self-edited)

self-edits (present singular third-person)
self-editing (participle present)
self-edited (participle past)
self-edited (past)

(authorship) To edit one's own writing while it is being written.


radioplay

(authorship) A script for a story to be produced as a radio show, such as a radio drama.


narrative hook

(authorship) A highly exciting opening to a book intended to peak a reader's interest.


content mill

Coordinate term: paper mill

The crux of the hostile narrative was that Demand Media was a “content mill.” An article in Wired magazine actually triggered the drama by comparing Demand Media's system to Henry Ford's production line for cars in the early twentieth century.

2011, Peter Guber, Tell to Win, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 72:

Think of the content mill as a modern-day literary sweatshop—writers hunkering down at hot keyboards, plowing away at 3,000 word articles for, literally, pennies. Content mills were born because someone figured out that by targeting popular search result terms, they could commission an army of crappy posts catering to these terms and dominate Google's results.

2015, Zachary Petit, The Essential Guide to Freelance Writing, Penguin, →ISBN:

One night in early 2019, Magana and Alvarado went to a party at a gaudy, largely unfurnished Los Angeles mansion, the sort of place rented by packs of influencers to use as content mills.

2023 October 19, Brendan I. Koerner, “Watch This Guy Work, and You’ll Finally Understand the TikTok Era”, in Wired, →ISSN:

(Internet, authorship) Synonym of content farm


book tour

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

(authorship) A series of public events performed by authors in order to promote a newly-released book, including book signings, media appearances, etc.


page-one rewrite

en-noun

page-one rewrite (plural page-one rewrites)

(authorship) A complete rewrite from the beginning, most commonly of a screenplay.


expository lump

expository lump (plural expository lumps)

(authorship) A portion of a story that contains an excessive amount of exposition.


earn out

en-verb

earn out (third-person singular simple present earns out, present participle earning out, simple past and past participle earned out or earnt out)

earns out (present singular third-person)
earning out (participle present)
earned out (participle past)
earned out (past)
earnt out (participle past)
earnt out (past)

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.


pishtaco

From a Quechua language term meaning "cut the throat of, cut up".

They are often told that the pishtaco is going to carry them off if they do not behave. Thus, they are taught to fear the mestizo and white man at an early age. The pishtaco also maintains conformity among adults. Individualism is not a norm ...

However, the pishtaco is not an Andean Minotaur. It is, rather, an indigenous Andean folk symbol of Spanish, and later criollo, colonialist oppression. Pishtacos are represented as white foreigners, ...

1997, Milos Kokotovic, Confronting Postmodernism:

For this part of the operation, the pishtaco is said to import specialized equipment from the United States, Germany, or Japan.

2005, Don Kulick, Anne Meneley, Fat, →ISBN:

This explains why the first pishtaco figures in the legend were priests and soldiers. As the power structure changed, so did the pishtaco figure. In later versions of the story he rode a horse and wore leather chaps like a rancher, ...

2008, Jennifer McLagan, Fat, →ISBN, page 217:

(mythology, folklore) A mythical white male demon in South American folklore, who steals and eats the bodyfat of indigenous South Americans, or cuts up their flesh to convert it into food.


jumpgate

Einstein-Rosen bridge
Einstein-Rosen bridge

(science fiction) A fictional device able to create an Einstein-Rosen bridge portal (or wormhole), allowing fast travel between two points in space.


Spenserian stanza

en-noun

Spenserian stanza (plural Spenserian stanzas)

Invented by English poet Edmund Spenser (1552/53–1599) for his epic poem The Faerie Queene (1590–96).

(poetry) A strophe of eight decasyllabic lines and an alexandrine, having three rhymes: the first and third; the second, fourth, fifth, and seventh; and the sixth, eighth, and ninth.


shaggy God story

shaggy God story (plural shaggy God stories)

A pun on shaggy dog story, incorporating God. Coined by writer and critic Brian W. Aldiss in a pseudonymous column in the October 1965 issue of New Worlds.

A typical shaggy God story might feature a pair of astronauts landing on a lush and virgin world; the story ends with their names being revealed as Adam and Eve.

(science fiction) A style of science fiction story that attempts to explain biblical concepts with science fiction tropes.


sleepy sand

(fiction) The sand or dust that the Sandman throws in people's eyes.


elegiac pentameter

(poetry) A poetic metre of six dactylic feet, the third and sixth shortened to a single long syllable.


marsiya

(poetry) An elegiac poem written to commemorate the martyrdom and valour of Hussain ibn Ali and his comrades of the Karbala'.


Fiddler's Green

From 19th-century English maritime folklore.

Sam Tyler: Where to now?
Gene Hunt: Fiddler's Green.
Sam Tyler: I hope that's the name of a pub.

2007 March 6, Julie Rutterford, Life on Mars, Season 2, Episode 3:

(nautical, folklore) A legendary afterlife for retired sailors, where there is perpetual mirth, fiddle music, and dancing.


free-hanging

(editing, typography; said of headings or list items) Not run in; on a separate line (or multiple separate lines) defined by hard returns.


kionedon

From Ancient Greek κιονηδόν (kionēdón), from κίων (kíōn, “pillar”) + -ηδον (-ēdon, “adverbial suffix”).

(historical, calligraphy, of writing) in a vertical manner, as on a pillar (kion); in vertical lines from top to bottom.


kionedon

(historical, calligraphy, of writing) Written in a vertical manner, as on a pillar (kion)


kionedon

(historical, calligraphy, of writing) Writing that is vertical, as on a pillar (kion)


latrinal

en-adj

latrinal (not generally comparable, comparative more latrinal, superlative most latrinal)

more latrinal (comparative)
most latrinal (superlative)

As for the verbal humour, it is normally pornographic; but it achieves the latrinal.

1914, Charles Mills Gayley, Representative English Comedies: The Later Contemporaries of Shakespeare: Fletcher and Others, page xxiii:

Ieva Reklaityke’s work in Kalamazoo on sewers unclogged my mind, Martha Bayless’s latrinal insights were pleasantly pungent, and Kevin J. Wanner guided me to Eyrbyggja Saga.

2015, Susan Signe Morrison, The Literature of Waste, acknowledgements:

(literature, humor) Related to defecation or other taboo body functions, scatological.


toposophy

(science fiction) A fictional science dealing with the theoretical problems and possibilities of attempts to extend and amplify one's mental potential, i.e. via technology, whether by humans, artificial intelligence or extraterrestrials.


otherdimensional

(science fiction) From or in another dimension (another plane or parallel universe).


orthographic neighbour

en-noun

orthographic neighbour (plural orthographic neighbours)

For example, given the word 'cat', the words 'bat', 'fat', 'mat', 'cab', etc. are considered orthographic neighbors.

n.d. Wisconsin Medical College, "MCWord: An Orthographic Wordform Database" (Definitions)

To go even further, the issue concerning the influence of the emotional characteristics of orthographic neighbours has never been investigated directly to our knowledge.

2010 Pamela Gobin and Stéphanie Mathey, "The influence of emotional orthographic neighbourhood in visual word recognition," Current psychology letters [Online], Vol. 26, Issue 1, 2010 | 2010, Online since 07 October 2010, connection on 30 September 2016. URL : http://cpl.revues.org/4984

(orthography) A word that differs from another word of the same length by only one letter.


orthographic neighborhood

orthographic neighborhood (plural orthographic neighborhoods)

In summary, the present experiments have shown that addition and deletion neighbors form part of a word’s orthographic neighborhood.

2009, Colin J. Davis, “Re(de)fining the Orthographic Neighborhood: The Role of Addition and Deletion Neighbors in Lexical Decision and Reading”, in Journal of Experimental Psychology, Human Perception and Performance, 35(5): 1550-1570:

(orthography) The set of words that can be formed by changing one letter while maintaining letter positions.


panthan

Three Sikhs with three mules attempt to take it to them down the causeway scourged by the Chinese fire. First a mule drops, but the tall, gaunt-featured, turbaned panthans stride on. Then a turban goes down; then another turban; and the third ...

1900, Archibald Clavering Gunter, Tangled Flags: A Novel, page 223:

I asked each man his name and his past experience; there were, among the twenty-three, eleven panthans and twelve assassins; and they had fought all over the world. Seven of the panthans were from Helium, ...

1941, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Llana of Gathol and John Carter of Mars:


transparisteel

Blend of transparent + steel. Apparently coined by Brian Daley in 1979.

His gaze went to Hirken, who stood gloating behind invulnerable transparisteel.

1979, Brian Daley, Han Solo at Stars’ End:

Ignoring the familiar discomfort, he padded barefoot across the thick white carpet toward the heavy curtains that lined the richly appointed bedroom’s wide transparisteel window.

2007, Andy Mangels, Michael A. Martin, Star Trek: Enterprise: The Good That Men Do:

The cockpit was located underneath the body, a down slanted oval of transparisteel.

(uncountable, science fiction) a fictional hard transparent metal used instead of glass in windows


fenodyree

(folklore) A little hairy sprite in the folklore of the Isle of Man.


rye wolf

(European folklore) An evil creature of German folklore lurking in the rye-fields.


Gubbins

(folklore) A half-savage race said to live in Devonshire, described by the pastoral poet William Browne, among others.


bridge bunny

(television, science fiction, slang) An attractive female character who serves on the bridge of a spaceship on a science-fiction television show, as eye candy.


xenolinguist

(linguistics, science fiction) One who studies the languages spoken by extraterrestrials.


dinosauroid

Blend of dinosaur + humanoid, coined by American-Canadian paleontologist Dale Russell in 1982.

coin

(science fiction) A hypothetical descendant of troodontid dinosaurs with human-like intelligence and physiology.


misscan

en-verb

misscan (third-person singular simple present misscans, present participle misscanning, simple past and past participle misscanned)

misscans (present singular third-person)
misscanning (participle present)
misscanned (participle past)
misscanned (past)


somnetic

en-adjective

somnetic (comparative more somnetic, superlative most somnetic)

more somnetic (comparative)
most somnetic (superlative)

Before I could get him a somnetic inducer, he was out cold on the floor.

2008, Terri Osborne, That Sleep of Death: Slings and Arrows #4:

(science fiction, rare) Pertaining to sleep.


Hartlepool monkey

(folklore) A monkey, the only survivor of a French ship that foundered near Hartlepool during the Napoleonic Wars, that was supposedly tried and hanged as a spy.


dialytika

(orthography and typography) A diaeresis or trema in the Greek alphabet


nanoreplicator

(science fiction) A nanobot capable of replicating itself or other objects.


Maid Marian

(European folklore) The love interest of the legendary outlaw Robin Hood; originally a shepherdess figure associated with May Day.


riddinite

(science fiction) A particular building material found in the Star Trek universe.


-vac

(obsolete, marketing, science fiction, computing, mid-20th century) Used in the naming of computer systems and computer models, due to the use of vacuum tubes as the functional elements of computers of the time.


Gambrinus

The source of the legend of Gambrinus is uncertain and perhaps based on a mythical Germanic king Gambrivius. The etymology is unknown, but many explanations exist:
* a corruption of Jean Primus, John I, Duke of Brabant (1252–1294)
* Middle High German gambra (“germination of grain”)
* cambier, name given to brewers in the north of France in the Middle Ages

m+

(folklore) A legendary European culture hero celebrated as an icon of beer, brewing, joviality, and joie de vivre.


flycraft

The flycraft was coasting toward the enemy killer biomachines when suddenly chance dealt Andora a soft blow in the form of a collision with a piece of space junk that glowed softly as it was repelled by the cloak and shield.

"They don't have to follow on land. There are flycraft and matboats in Peace City that will search us out."

2015, original 1978, Brian W. Aldiss, Enemies of the System:

Against the blackboard surface of the sky, flycrafts whizzed by, leaving crisscrossing trails of radiance that slowly dissipated, soon replaced by others.

2018, Bill Campbell, Francesco Verso, Future Fiction: New Dimensions in International Science Fiction:

(science fiction) A machine, device, or vessel that is capable of flight


biolet

(poetry) A six-line poem whose rhyme scheme is ABbaBA.


werebeing

(folklore) Any shapeshifting creature, such as a werewolf or werebear.


GAN

en-noun

GAN (countable and uncountable, plural GANs)

During that week of squall in March of that year Hem would talk till dawn about which son of a bitch who could spell cat was going to write the G.A.N.

1973, Philip Roth, The Great American Novel, Random House, published 2010, →ISBN, page 38:

Great American Novel
w:Great American Novel

(literature) Initialism of Great American Novel.


oozlum bird

(humorous, folklore) A fictional bird said to fly backwards or in circles.


orbital defense platform

orbital defense platform (plural orbital defense platforms)

(science fiction) A satellite or space station, found in many different works of science fiction, meant to defend a planet against attack from space.


generation ship

generation ship (plural generation ships)

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

(science fiction, space flight) A type of interstellar spaceship, where generations of humans live and die aboard during the journey through interstellar space, as the journey between stars would take generations.


brachy

Mostly clippings of various scientific terms prefixed with brachy- (short), from the Ancient Greek βραχύ (brakhú).

(orthography, printing) A breve, as applied to Ancient Greek <˘>.


nanofactory

(science fiction) A molecular assembler that uses nanomachines


enjamb

en-verb

enjamb (third-person singular simple present enjambs, present participle enjambing, simple past and past participle enjambed)

enjambs (present singular third-person)
enjambing (participle present)
enjambed (participle past)
enjambed (past)

(poetry) To carry a sentence over to the next line without a pause.


earthist

He moved forward, determinedly trampling on people's feet. "Make way for an earthist," he called out in a polite but ringing tone.

1967, Maggi Lidchi, Maggi Lidchi-Grassi, Earthman, page 10:

We cannot protect the planet Mars against our enemies from the Earth if we permit these Earthists to flourish in our midst.

1970 -, William Whyte Watt, An American rhetoric, page 282:

(science fiction) An advocate for people who live on earth, as opposed to those on other planets.


spring-heeled Jack

en-noun

spring-heeled Jack (plural spring-heeled Jacks)

And he rattled, thumped, brandished his thunderbox, yelled, shouted, raved, roared, stamped, and danced corrobory like any black fellow; and then he touched a spring in the thunderbox, and out popped turnip-ghosts and magic-lanthorns and pasteboard bogies and spring-heeled Jacks and sallaballas […]

1863, Charles Kingsley, The Water Babies: A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby:

Servant-girls who have just received their year's wages at Christmas will frequently profess themselves afraid to go home after dusk, because “there are so many o' these Spring-heeled Jacks about.”

1887, English Dialect Society, Publications, volume 21, number 53, page 367:

London and Edinburgh had their spring-heeled jacks long before they appeared in Lasswade in Johnny's time. As long ago as 1837 a real, flesh-and-blood ghost in the shape of a spring-heeled jack was caught by a London policeman […]

1953, John B. Cairns, Bright and early: a bookseller's memories of Edinburgh and Lasswade:

(historical, folklore) A terrifying man of bizarre appearance and able to make extraordinary leaps, the subject of English folklore of the Victorian era.


serpentine verse

serpentine verse (countable and uncountable, plural serpentine verses)

(poetry) A form of verse constructed so as to begin and end with the same word.


space herpes

Ice Pirates “A ‘Star Wars’ rip-off with S&M scenes, twelfth-rate jokes, and ‘space herpes’”

1985, “1984 entertainment: Movies to see and shun”, in Michiganensian, volume 89, page 60:

Oh! Did we mention that there are families aboard the Enterprise? Yeah, it turns out there are. Because Starfleet did this study and realized that Space Herpes - also known as Kirk's Syndrome - spreads considerably slower if its officers have their spouses and children onboard their ship.

2009 September 17, Wil Wheaton, quotee, “Wil Wheaton's ‘Memories of the Futurecast’ Engages us With Awesome”, in Wired:

“Space herpes got your tongue, boy?” The man came to a stop in front of him. ¶ For some reason the idea of a mutated venereal disease frightened him more than the idea this man could mug him or worse.

2010, P. I. Barrington, Gail Delaney, J. Morgan, Borealis I:

(science fiction, ufology, fandom slang, slang) A generic disease found in space, especially one transmissible by sexual encounters.

shingles

skin condition from reactivated VZV herpesvirus in later life


iceberg theory

An allusion to the greater part of an iceberg being hidden below the water.

(literature) A minimalist literary approach used by Ernest Hemingway, according to which the writer should omit as much as possible, leaving the reader to infer it.


douzeper

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

From Middle English dosse per, dousse-per (“one of Charlemagne’s twelve peers or paladins; one of the twelve great peers of France at later times; a famous knight or noble”) [and other forms], treated as a singular form of dosse pers, dousse pers [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman, Middle French douse pers, douze pers [and other forms], and Old French douze pers, doze pers, duze pers (“Charlemagne’s twelve peers; twelve great peers of France at later times”) [and other forms] (also in the singular forms doze per, duze per, and in Anglo-Norman and Middle French written with a Roman numeral as XII pers), from doze, douze (“twelve”) (modern French douze) + pers (plural of per (“peer”); modern French pair). Doze is derived from Latin duodecim (“twelve”), from duo (“two”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ (“two”)) + decem (“ten”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *déḱm̥ (“ten”)); per is derived from Latin pār (“equal; like”).

ref

From Marion Florence Lansing (1910) “The Battle of Ronceval”, in Page, Esquire, and Knight: A Book of Chivalry (The Open Road Library of Juvenile Literature), Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y.: Ginn and Company, →OCLC, section I (Of the Council of Charlemagne), page 104.

nb...

(Late Middle English) doseper, (Middle English) dose-per, dosi-per, dosse-per, dous-per, doþþeper, doze-per, dozepiere, dozze-per, duche-per, duge-per, duse-per, dus-per, dusse per, duze-per, duzsi-per, duzze-per, (Early Middle English) duzeper

dosiperes, dosipers, dosiperus, dosseperes, dosseperez, dosze-peres, dosȝe perys, douseperes, dousepers, douspiers, douspyers, dousse pers, doussepyers, doussypers, dousȝepeeris, douȝ piers, dozepeers, dozepers, doȝze pers, doþþeperen, doþþe peres, doþþepers, ducheperes, duchepers, dugeperes, dugepers, duȝperis, duseperis, dusperes, duspers, dusseperes, dussepers, dusse-pers, dussiperes, dusze pers, duzepers, duze pers, duzsipiers, duzze peers, duzze peres

Also kynge Charlemayne kynge of Fraunce / With his dyssypers Rowland and Olyuer / With all the resydue of his alyaunce / That in all armes so noble were / On goddys ennemyes brake many a spere / Causynge them to flee to theyr grete vylony / Hardynes was cause that they had vyctory

[1504?], Stephyn Hawys [i.e., Stephen Hawes], chapter VII, in […] The Example of Vertu, [London]: [Wynkyn de Worde], →OCLC, archived from the original on 2021-05-06, signature cc.vi, verso:

Also King Charlemagne, king of France / With his douzepers Roland and Oliver / With all the residue of his alliance / That in all arms so noble were / On God’s enemies broke many a spear / Causing them to flee to their great villany / Hardiness was cause that they had victory

[T]hou art one of the Douze peers already, and fate has forestalled our intended promotion. Yet rise up, sweet Sir Oliver Thatchpate, Knight of the honourable order of the Pumpkin—Rise up, in the name of Nonsense, and begone about thine own concerns, in the devil’s name.

1828 May 15, [Walter Scott], chapter IV, in Chronicles of the Canongate. Second Series. […] (The Fair Maid of Perth), volume II, Edinburgh: […] [Ballantyne and Co.] for Cadell and Co.; London: Simpkin and Marshall, →OCLC, page 127:

Ferumbras, despising Oliver’s youthful appearance, tries to frighten him[…]; asks him to describe Charles [i.e., Charlemagne] and the douzeperes[…]; and enquires his name[…]. Oliver declaring himself to be a poor knight, Ferumbras derides him, and bids him return and send Roland, or another of the douzeperes[…].

1879, “Sketch of the Story of ‘Sir Ferumbras’”, in Sidney J[ohn Hervon] Herrtage, editor, Sir Ferumbras. Edited from the Unique Paper Ms. about 1380 A.D. in the Bodleian Library (Ashmole Ms. 33) (The English Charlemagne Romances; part I; Extra Series; XXXIV), London: Published for the Early English Text Society, by Trübner & Co., […], →OCLC, page xxix:

Cortine, Corteyne, or Cortayn was the name given to the sword of Ogier, one of the celebrated Douzeperes of Charlemagne.

1883, [Robert Hunter], “*cūr-têin, *cūr-tā′-na”, in The Encyclopædic Dictionary: A New and Original Work of Reference to All the Words in the English Language, […], volume II, part II, London, Paris: Cassell, Petter, Galpin, & Co. […], →OCLC, page 625, column 1:

The knights of the Round Table and the douzepers were closely associated by virtue of the juxtaposition of Arthur and Charlemagne in the Nine Worthies.

1962, “Notes”, in D[erek] A[lbert] Pearsall, editor, The Floure and the Leafe and The Assembly of Ladies (Old and Middle English Texts Series), Manchester: Manchester University Press, published 1980, →ISBN, page 149:

Roland defiantly accepts the post of danger; the douzepers and other knights join him. Ganelon leads the van of the army as it starts again toward France. The Saracens prepare for battle.

1967, J[onathan] Burke Seyers, editor, A Manual of the Writings in Middle English, 1050–1500. […], New Haven, Conn.: Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, →OCLC, page 95:

[In The Song of Roland] Ganelon makes his self-interest more obvious by nominating himself to command the van, yet Roland accepts the charge eagerly without mentioning his stepfather, fear of whose treason is so widespread that no other douzeper will volunteer for the mission.

1987, W[illiam] R[aymond] J[ohnston] Barron, “The Matter of France”, in David Carroll, Michael Wheeler, editors, English Medieval Romance (Longman Literature in English Series), Harlow, Essex: Longman, →ISBN, page 90:

(historical fiction) One of the legendary “twelve peers” or renowned warriors of Charlemagne, the Emperor of the Romans from 800 to 814.

doze per

one of the twelve peers or renowned warriors of Charlemagne — see also paladin


rhyme letter

(poetry) The repeated letter or letter sequence in alliteration.


nouveau roman

Unadapted borrowing from French nouveau roman (literally “new novel”); coined by Émile Henriot in the newspaper Le Monde on May 22, 1957.

ubor

(literature) A type of 1950s French novel that diverged from classical literary genres; antinovel.


caudation

From the Medieval Latin caudātus, from the Classical Latin cauda (“tail”).

To make it a bit easier to follow, each added letter is underlined, and insertions/hydrations/ caudations are parenthesized.

1978, Word Ways: The Journal of Recreational Linguistics - Volumes 11-12:

As with the voice, this physicality is natural and flexible, a background of four-beat lines, grouped into four five-line stanzas (a central section flanked by anacrusis and caudation) with occasional moves to five- or six- beat lines, and occasional catalexis ("unrealized"/"silent" beats), always at stanzaic ends.

1996, Language and Literature - Volume 21, page 102:

(writing) A section appended to the end of a word, line, or poem.

There is no adequate reporting system in use that can afford to treat words otherwise than as Hamlet's mother treated her heart, "cleave them in twain and fling away the basser half;" but in script the "baser half" in variably the final portion, and we get in the sentences of the curt style a jumble of inchoate nouns, paraplegic verbs and amputated adjectives, truncated of their tails and dependent each for its re-caudation on the accurate re-cordation (ahem !) of an equally deficient context.

1893, The National Stenographer - Volume 4, page 210:

But besides these examples there are two other ways of expanding the sonnet; by doubling and by caudation.

1956, Louis Lavater, The Sonnet in Australasia, a Survey and Selection:

In it, aided by diagrams and equations, you can learn of caudation and lateral expansion, doubling and interlacing.


phlebotinum

(science fiction) A fictional material used by authors to develop a plot requiring a material with properties not possessed by any real material.


Tristanian

2001, Bonnie Wheeler, Fiona Tolhurst (editors), On Arthurian Women: Essays in Memory of Maureen Fries, Scriptorium Press, page 274,
With this assumption, that Tintagel haunted Hardy from 1870 to 1923, it becomes possible to suggest that not only was his Tristanian work infused with his life-long themes, but that Tristanian themes may have subtly influenced his earlier works as well.

Although Brugger had already expressed this idea, it was because of Bedier's work that academics began to see Tristanian poems as unified literary works with a coherent narrative thread from the lovers' first meeting to their inevitable death:

2008, Isabel DiVanna, Reconstructing the Middle Ages, Cambridge Scholars, page 157:

(literature) Of or pertaining to Sir Tristan, legendary Arthurian knight and tragic hero of the mediaeval romance Tristan and Iseult.


evolutionaries

(science fiction) A group of more evolved sentient beings.


xaser

If we could produce a 'Xaser', could we also produce an image of a crystal structure?

1970, Henry Lipson, Crystals and X-rays, page 190:

Perhaps some day there will be an x-ray system — a xaser — although it will probably self-destruct on each operation.

1978, Laser Focus, volume 14, numbers 7-12, page 57:


cognitive estrangement

Coined by Yugoslav-born academic, writer and critic Darko Suvin in his 1979 book Metamorphoses of Science Fiction.

In his book Metamorphoses of Science Fiction (1979), Suvin introduced a number of ideas that remain central in sf criticism: cognitive estrangement, the novum and sf's genetic link with utopia. In the notion of cognitive estrangement, Suvin conflate two distinct, but related, ideas of estrangement from earlier literary theory: ostranenie (de-familiarization) from the Russian Formalists, and Berthold Brecht's Verfremdungseffekt (alienation effect).[…]Even more influential in sf theory than cognitive estrangement is Suvin's concept of the novum.

2003, Istvan Csicsery-Ronay, Jr., “7: Marxist theory and science fiction”, in Edward James, Farah Mendlesohn, editors, The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction, Cambridge University Press, page 118:

Cognitive estrangement can therefore be seen as defining the textual effects of such work: the text faces its audience with something that will not fit into the existing patterns of verisimilitude, yet is being asserted and explored as fact.

2005, Jan Johnson-Smith, American Science Fiction TV: Star Trek, Stargate and Beyond, I.B. Tauris, page 26:

Darko Suvin, the eminent theorist of science fiction, defined science fiction as a literature of cognitive estrangement, a genre in which the reader enters an imaginative world different or estranged from his or her empirical world, but different in a way that obeys rational causation or scientific law: thus, it is estranged cognitively.

2011, Roger Luckhurst, “1: In the Zone: Topologies of Genre Weirdness”, in Sara Wasson, Emily Alder, editors, Gothic Science Fiction 1980-2010, Liverpool University Press, page 21:

(literature, narratology) A narrative logic, characteristic of science fiction, whereby devices used in the story are afforded plausibility by their being placed in the context of the fictional setting, which is envisioned to be scientifically consistent.

spoznajnog očuđenja

narrative logic characteristic of science fiction


berestology

/ˌbɛɹəsˈtɒləd͡ʒi/

/ˌbɛɹəsˈtɑləd͡ʒi/

Borrowed from Russian берестоло́гия (berestológija) from береста́ (berestá, “birchbark”) + -ло́гия (-lógija, suffix indicating the study of a particular subject).

bor

берестоло́гия

affix

Using certain inscriptions found in the area, the documents pertaining to the affairs of one of the hereditary ruling dynasties of Novgorod, he constructed an entire detective story, entertaining the reader and acquainting him with many questions of the new science of berestology.

1966, The Current Digest of the Soviet Press, volume XVIII, number 19, Columbus, Oh.: American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 23:

A relatively new field of research in Old Russian linguistics is berestology, the study of the numerous birchbark documents from Novgorod and other medieval Russian towns. In the Netherlands, two scholars have recently published articles on berestology and related issues: [...]

1996 March, Jos Schaeken, “The Present State of Russian Studies in the Netherlands”, in R[oger] Comtet, A. G. F. van Holk, W[erner] Lehfeldt, editors, Russian Linguistics: International Journal for the Study of Russian and Other Slavic Languages, volume 20, number 1, Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, →DOI, →ISSN, →JSTOR, →OCLC, section 3.2 (Old Russian), page 135:

This is an unusual book in several aspects. Firstly, it presents a synthesis of current knowledge about the written heritage of early Rus in many fields, palaeography (in its restricted meaning, concentrating on what the author calls "parchment literacy", p. 22), berestology (I may be forgiven for coining this term to designate the study of birch-bark documents), diplomatics, numismatics, and sphragistics, not to forget occasional forays into the history of art and archeology proper.

2004 October, Roland Marti, “Franklin, S[imon]: Writing, Society and Culture in Early Rus, c. 950–1300, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2002, XVI + 325 pp., 14 pl. [book review]”, in R[oger] Comtet, W[erner] Lehfeldt, Jos Schaeken, editors, Russian Linguistics: International Journal for the Study of Russian and Other Slavic Languages, volume 28, number 3, Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, →DOI, →ISSN, →JSTOR, →OCLC, page 433:

A telling example of the fruitful interaction between berestology and epigraphy is N1000, which was already cited at the beginning of this paper. The name of one of the senders of the letter, Kyas, appears to be of Turkic rather than Slavic origin [...].

2017 August, Jos Schaeken, “Comments on Birchbark Documents Found in the Twenty-first Century”, in Russian Linguistics: International Journal for the Study of Russian and Other Slavic Languages, volume 41, Dordrecht: Springer, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2018-07-30, section 2.4 (Berestology Meets Epigraphy), page 132:

The abovementioned research marks the start of a new research area in berestology. The most tangible result is that more accurate interpretations of individual texts have been given, thanks to the discovery of (hidden) communicative heterogeneity.

2018, Simeon Dekker, “The Background: Communicatively Heterogeneous Letters”, in Old Russian Birchbark Letters: A Pragmatic Approach (Studies in Slavic and General Linguistics; 42), Leiden, Boston, Mass.: Brill Rodopi, →ISBN, →ISSN, section 2.7 (Discussion), page 27:

In Russia, the study of birchbark letters is sometimes known informally as berestologija (‘berestology’), derived from the word beresta ‘birchbark’. For many years, ‘berestology’ has been an interdisciplinary research venture that engages archaeologists, philologists, linguists, and historians.

2018, Jos Schaeken, “Preface”, in Voices on Birchbark: Everyday Communication in Medieval Russia (Studies in Slavic and General Linguistics; 43), Leiden, Boston, Mass.: Brill, →ISBN, →ISSN, page XII:

(palaeography) The scientific study of birchbark manuscripts.


Jovial

/ˈd͡ʒəʊ.vɪ.əl/

(chiefly science fiction) An inhabitant of the planet Jupiter; a Jovian.


stoichedon

From Ancient Greek στοιχηδόν (stoikhēdón), from στοῖχος (stoîkhos, “row”) + -ηδον (-ēdon, “in the manner of”).

(historical, calligraphy) An epigraphical form in which the letters are arranged as rows and columns within a grid arrangement.


kickwriting

From kick + writing. Coined by Jack Kerouac in a letter to Neal Cassady, describing Cassady's writing style.

You must and will go on at all costs including comfort & health & kicks; but keep it kickwriting at all costs too, that is, write only what kicks you and keeps you overtime awake from sheer mad joy.

1996, Jack Kerouac, Ann Charters, Selected letters, 1940-1956, →ISBN, page 242:

A rapid typist, Kerouac hit on the idea of typing nonstop to get the 'kickwriting' momentum he wanted.

2011, Ann Charters, On the Road (Introduction), →ISBN:

... many experimental contemporaries—an unplotted, visionary, kickwriting syntax.

2011, Zahn Pesh, Cat-Cup Clones: A Fictional Memoir, →ISBN, page v:

Only by using his free-flow style of “kickwriting” did Kerouac believe he could capture the vibrancy of the man that inspired the book, his friend Neal Cassady.

2012, Nick Tasler, The Impulse Factor: Why Some of Us Play it Safe and Others Risk it All, →ISBN:

To master this "kickwriting" style, Kerouac taped together 12-foot-long pieces of drawing paper, creating a continuous roll for his typewriter.

2016 September 16, Celia San Miguel, “22 Literary Tattoos That Book Lovers Will Appreciate”, in The Stir:

(literature) A frenzied, first-person style of writing.


underverse

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

With this insight they are able to understand this universe and the underverse. In the underverse, space and time are different due to the change in mass due to the feild generated to protect from the foreign opposite universe.

2014, Eric Thompson, The Slave, The Sword and the Stars, page 237:

(science fiction) An alternate universe located in some sense underneath the real one.


Mahjar

(literature) A literary movement started by Arabic-speaking writers who had emigrated to America from Ottoman-ruled Lebanon, Syria and Palestine at the turn of the 20th century.


Mahjari

en-adj

Mahjari (comparative more Mahjari, superlative most Mahjari)

more Mahjari (comparative)
most Mahjari (superlative)

(literature) Of or pertaining to the Mahjar.


retrogarde

From retro- + garde. Doublet of rearguard.

(art, literature) Descriptive of an art movement, particularly in Slovenia, that looks back to the past, as opposed to avant-garde.


Namerican

Namerican (comparative more Namerican, superlative most Namerican)

more Namerican (comparative)
most Namerican (superlative)

What right had a storeful of greasy Namerican merchants to such a truth?

1963, Kenneth Bulmer, The Wizard of Starship Poseidon:

In Juchipila power to the whole community of thirty thousand evaporated as the supraheavy grid buried alongside the little mountain cantina siphoned energy from the entire west-central portion of the Namerican national power net.

2009, Alan Dean Foster, Montezuma Strip, →ISBN:

They kept odd hours, hence the three pm 'mornings,' but all cities were twenty-four hour propositions, so they had no trouble keeping normal lives even though they lived on a Namerican time schedule in Europa.

2012, M. Darusha Wehm, The Beauty of Our Weapons, →ISBN, page 15:

(fantasy, science fiction) North American.


beyonsense

Blend of beyond + nonsense, coined to translate Russian зáумь (záumʹ), from за- (za-, “trans-, beyond”) + ум (um, “mind, intellect”).


Meliboean

From the name of a shepherd in Virgil's first eclogue.


Shadean

(literature) A proponent of an interpretation of Vladimir Nabokov's 1962 novel Pale Fire according to which the character John Shade wrote not only the poem, but the commentary as well, having invented his own death and the character of Kinbote as a literary device.


soft reboot

(television, film, fiction) A reboot of a series etc. in which continuity is retained with the previous material.


downwell

en-adj

downwell (comparative more downwell, superlative most downwell)

more downwell (comparative)
most downwell (superlative)

"[...] spend the two weeks after Translator Dlique's funeral on her estate downwell.

2014, Ann Leckie, Ancillary Sword, →ISBN, page 175:

I bought some land downwell.

(science fiction) towards the nearest planet or other gravity well.


downwell

To be safe, we'll have to go downwell.

(science fiction) toward the nearest planet or other gravity well.


flying white

zh-l

飛白／飞白 (fēibái)

(Chinese calligraphy) A kind of calligraphic technique that involves applying a relatively dry brush at high speed to create dry, streaky strokes.


line gun

(science fiction) A beam weapon, that shoots a long-duration beam to burn through the target, like a laser cutter


pylon poet

After Stephen Spender's poem The Pylons.

(literature, historical, chiefly in the plural) Any of a group of British poets of the 1930s who wrote about new technological developments.


geocriticism

(literature) A form of literary criticism focusing on location and spaces.


NAFAL

(science fiction) Initialism of nearly as fast as light.


sweet savagery

sweet savage romance
sweet savage romance

(literature) The genre of sweet savage romance.


Unseelie

Borrowed from Scots unseely (“mischievous, evil-doing”), from Middle English unsely, from Old English unsǣliġ. Doublet of unsilly.

bor+

(fantasy, folklore) A malevolent or malicious fairy.


Unseelie

en-adj

Unseelie (comparative more Unseelie, superlative most Unseelie)

more Unseelie (comparative)
most Unseelie (superlative)

Unseelie wights

“That is not very Unseelie, and most definitely not very sluagh.”
“I cannot always choose how the magic will come.”
“It is wild magic, and it chooses its own way like water finding a cleft in a rock,” he said.

2008, Laurell K. Hamilton, Swallowing Darkness: A Novel, Ballantine Books, →ISBN:

“I am very Unseelie Tuatha Dé. Almost one hundred percent, in fact. Only a drop of Seelie to muddy the pool. Do you have a problem with that, Shining One?”

2010, Nalini Singh, Erin McCarthy, Jean Johnson, Lora Leigh, Linda Winstead Jones, Angela Knight, Anya Bast, Allyson James, Paranormal Holiday Anthology Trio, Penguin, →ISBN:

(fantasy, folklore) Of or pertaining to the unseelie; malevolent (as a fairy, etc).


Seelie

From Scots sely, seelie (“holy, good”), from Middle English seely, from Old English sǣliġ, gesǣlig. Doublet of silly.

Okay, so that sounded like the Seelie hated the Unseelie and vice versa. But not quite. There was something more here. I puzzled over it several moments. Did it mean the Seelie couldn't actually touch the Unseelie, and vice versa? I read on.

2008, Karen Marie Moning, Faefever: Fever Series, Delacorte Press, →ISBN:

We like the Seelie court and the humans lived, loved and laughed. As the war between the Seelie and the Unseelie escalated and the Seelie gained the upper hand we Unseelie were forced to hide in the shadows and fear for our lives.

2015, Selena Thana, Sidhe Megalomania: Tuath Dé - Tome 4, K. George, →ISBN:

(fantasy, folklore) A benevolent or beneficially-inclined fairy.