Saturday, January 27, 2007

antidisestablishmentarianism

antidisestablishmentarianism (n)

1. A political philosophy opposed to the separation of church and state, esp. opponents in 19th century England against separating the Anglican church from the state.

2. Referred to as an atypically long word for showing intellectual pretence.

pedantic

pedantic (adj)

1. Like a pedant, overly concerned with formal rules and trivial points of learning.

2. Being showy of one’s knowledge, often in a boring manner.

3. Often used to describe a person who emphasizes his/her knowledge through the use of vocabulary; ostentatious in one’s learning.

4. Being finicky or picky with language.

eschew

eschew (vt)

1. To avoid; to shun (usually applied to ideas or concepts and not to concrete objects).

sanguine

sanguine (adj)

1. (color) Having the color of blood; red.

2. Characterized by abundance and active circulation of blood.

3. Warm; ardent.

4. Anticipating the best; not despondent; confident; full of hope.

5. (Obsolete): irresponsibly mirthful; indulgent in pleasure to the exclusion of important matters.

sanguine (n)

1. (colour) Blood color; red.

2. Anything of a blood-red color, as cloth.

3. Bloodstone.

4. Red crayon.

sanguine (vt)

1. To stain with blood; to impart the color of blood to; to ensanguine.

lilliputian

lilliputian (adj)

1. Very small, diminutive.

2. Trivial, petty.

lilliputian (n)

A very small person or being.

tintinnabulation

tintinnabulation (n)

A tinkling sound, as of a bell or bells.

eleemosynary

eleemosynary (adj)

1. Relating to charity, alms, or almsgiving; intended for the distribution of charity.

2. Given in charity or alms; having the nature of alms; as, eleemosynary assistance.

3. Supported by charity; as, eleemosynary poor.

Verfremdungseffekt

Verfremdungseffekt (plural Verfremdungseffekte) (n)

1. Brecht's alienation effect, sometimes translated as the estrangement effect.

2. (theater) Distance between the audience and the performers.

apraxia

apraxia (n)

1. Total or partial loss of the ability to perform coordinated movements or manipulate objects in the absence of motor or sensory impairment; specifically, a disorder of motor planning.

bellicose

bellicose (adj)

1. Warlike in nature; aggressive; hostile.

2. Showing or having the impulse to be combative.

hypertrophy

hypertrophy (n)

1. (medicine) An increase in the size of an organ due to swelling of the individual cells.

2. (bodybuilding) Increase in muscle size through increased numbers of muscle fibers; a result of strict diet, weightlifting, and other exercise.

orrery

orrery (n)

1. A clockwork model of the solar system.

coruscate

coruscate (vi)

1. To give off light; to reflect in flashes; to sparkle.

2. To exhibit brilliant technique or style.

excrescence

excrescence (n)

1. Something, usually abnormal, which grows out of something else.

2. A disfiguring or unwanted mark or adjunct

defenstrate

defenstrate (vi)

1. (computing) (slang) To stop using the Windows operating system.

defenestrate (vt)

1. To eject or throw (someone or something) from a window.

anaphora

anaphora (n)

1. The repetition of a phrase at the beginning of phrases, sentences, or verses, used for emphasis.

2. (linguistics) An expression that refers to another expression, especially a preceding one. An example is a pronoun that refers to its antecedent.

anthropomorphic

anthropomorphic (adj)

1. (of inanimate objects, animals, or other non-human entities) Given human attributes.

catafalque

catafalque (n)

1. A platform used to display or convey a coffin during a funeral, often ornate.

qualia

qualia (n)

1. Properties not defineable with numbers. A quality.

2. Properties, as redness, which are considered independent from things having the property.

3. Plural form of quale

heterophenomenology

heterophenomenology (n)

1. Phenomenology of the Other.

2. The method of studying the consciousness of other people.

satyriasis

satyriasis (n)

1. Uncontrollable sexual desire, found in a man (contrast to nymphomania).

2. The quality of excessive sexual passion in a male.

amative

amative (adj)

1. Pertaining to love; amorous.

boustrophedon

boustrophedon (adv)

1. Of writing, in a fashion such that the reading direction changes from right-to-left to left-to-right every line.

boustrophedon (adj)

1. Written from right-to-left and left-to-right on alternate lines.

2. (figurative) Changing direction, going back and forth.

keratinization

keratinization (n)

1. The process in which cells from beneath the skin are converted to hair and nails (made of keratin).

eschar

eschar (n)

1. A dry, dark scab or scar, especially as a result of burning.

algedonic

algedonic (adj)

1. Pertaining to both pleasure and pain.

aboulia

aboulia (n)

1. Absence of will-power or decisiveness, especially as a symptom of mental illness.

peregrinate

peregrinate (vi)

1. To travel from place to place, or from one country to another, especially on foot; hence, to sojourn in foreign countries.

peregrinate (vt)

2. To travel through a specific place.

diatribe

diatribe (n)

1. An abusive, bitter denunciation.

2. A speech or writing which bitterly denounces something.

syzygy

syzygy (n)

1. (astronomy) A kind of unity, namely an alignment of three celestial bodies (for example, the Sun, Earth, and Moon) such that one body is directly between the other two, such as an eclipse.

2. (psychology) An archetypal pairing of contrasexual opposites, symbolizing the communication of the conscious and unconscious minds.

3. (mathematics) A relation between generators of a module.

4. (medicine) The fusion of some or all of the organs.

5. (zoology) The association of two protozoa end-to-end or laterally for the purpose of asexual exchange of genetic material.

6. (zoology) The pairing of chromosomes in meiosis.

oniochalasia

oniochalasia (n)

1. The purchasing of objects as a form of mental relaxation

indelible

indelible (adj)

1. Having the quality of being difficult to remove, wash away, blot out, or efface.

2. Incapable of being canceled, lost, or forgotten.

3. Incapable of being annulled.

epigenetics

epigenetics (n)

1. (genetics) The study of the processes involved in the genetic development of an organism, especially the activation and deactivation of genes.

2. (genetics) The study of heritable changes caused by the activation and deactivation of genes without any change in DNA sequence.

statism

statism (n)

1. A belief in the importance of the power of the state over an individual, used to describe more extreme views.

brume

brume (n)

1. (literary) Mist, fog, vapor.

concatenation

concatenation (n)

1. A series of links united; a series or order of things depending on each other, as if linked together; a chain, a succession.

ekstasis

ekstasis (plural ekstases) (n)

1. (mysticism and philosophy) The state of being beside one's self or rapt out of one's self.

alpenglow

alpenglow (n)

1. A rosy or reddish glow seen near sunset or sunrise on the summits of mountains, especially snow covered mountains.

agon

agon (plural agonies) (n)

1. A struggle or contest; conflict; especially between the protagonist and antagonist in a literary work.

2. A test of will; a conflict.

3. A contest in ancient Greece, as in athletics or music, in which prizes were awarded.

roborant

roborant (adj)

1. Invigorating, strengthening, or energizing.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

foment

foment (vt)

1. To apply a poultice to; to bathe with a cloth or sponge.

2. To cherish and promote, to encourage; to instigate.

fecundate

fecundate (vt)

1. To make fertile.

2. To inseminate.

onomatopoeia

onomatopoeia (n)

1. The property of a word of sounding like what it represents.

2. A word which has the property of onomatopoeia, such as "moo" or "hiss".

extirpate

extirpate (vt)

1. To pull up by the roots; uproot.

2. To destroy completely; to annihilate.

3. To surgically remove.

extemporize

extemporize (vi)

1. To make or create extempore.

2. (music) To compose extemporaneously or improvise.

extemporize (vt)

1. To do something, particularly to perform or speak, without prior planning or thought; to act in an impromptu manner; to improvise.

2. To do something in a makeshift way.

ensonify

ensonify (vt)

1. To fill with sound.

efface

efface (vt)

1. To erase (as anything impressed or inscribed upon a surface); to render illegible or indiscernible.

2. To cause to disappear as if by rubbbing out or striking out.

3. (reflexive) To make oneself inobtrusive as if due to modesty or diffidence.
Always the shy violet, Edna effaced herself in front of her sister, of whom she was in awe.

4. (medicine) Of the cervix during pregnancy, to thin and stretch in preparation for labor.

excoriate

excoriate (vt)

1. To wear off the skin of; to chafe or flay.

2. To strongly renounce or censure.

enounce

to enounce (vt)

1. To say or pronounce; to enunciate.

2. To declare or proclaim.

3. To state unequivocally.

excarnate

excarnate (adj)

1. Deprived of flesh.

excarnate (vt)

1. To deprive of flesh.

perpetuate

perpetuate (vt)

1. To make something perpetual.

2. To prolong the existence of something.

infer

infer (vi)

1. To draw a conclusion (by reasoning).

infer (vt)

1. To conclude by reasoning or deduction, as from premises or evidence.

2. To surmise or reason from circumstance.

educe

educe (vt)

1. To draw out or bring out; elicit.

cachinnate

cachinnate (vi)

1. To laugh loudly, immoderately, or too often.

circumambulate

circumambulate (vt)

1. To walk around something in a circle, especially for a ritual purpose.

ablation

ablation (n)

1. A carrying or taking away; removal.

2. (medicine) The surgical removal of a body part; amputation.

3. (geology) The erosion of a glacier.

4. (physics) The dissipation of the heat of re-entry of a spacecraft.

ablate

ablate (vi)

1. To undergo ablation.

ablate (vt)

To remove or decrease something by the process of ablation.

abjure

abjure (vi)

1. To renounce on oath.

abjure (vt)

1. To renounce upon oath; to forswear; to disavow.

2. To renounce or reject with solemnity; to recant; to abandon forever; to reject; repudiate.

abberate

aberrate (vi)

To go astray; to diverge; to deviate (from).

abberate (vt)

1. To distort; to cause aberration of.

advoke

advoke (vt)

1. To summon or call (to a higher tribunal).

abrogate

abrogate (adj)

1. (obsolete) Abrogated; abolished.

abrogate (vt)

1. To annul by an authoritative act; to abolish by the authority of the maker or his successor; to repeal; -- applied to the repeal of laws, decrees, ordinances, the abolition of customs, etc.

2. To put an end to; to do away with.

maraud

maraud (vi)

1. To move about in roving fashion looking for plunder. (e.g. a marauding band).

maraud (vt)

2. To raid and pillage.

mire

mire (n)

1. Deep mud; moist, spongy earth.

2. An undesireable situation, a predicament.

3. (obsolete) An ant.

mire (vt)

1. To weigh down.

mung

mung (n)

1. A type of small bean.

2. A type of plant cultivated for its sprouts Vigna radiata or Phaseolus aureus.

mung (vt)

1. (computing) To make repeated changes to a file or data which individually may be reversible, yet which ultimately result in an unintentional irreversible destruction of large portions of the original data.

2. Hence to destroy.

mordant

mordant (adj)

1. Biting; caustic; sarcastic; keen; severe.
2. Serving to fix colors when dyeing.

mordant (n)

1. Any substance used to facilitate the fixing of a dye to a fibre; usually a metallic compound which reacts with the dye using chelation.

mordant (vt)

1. To subject to the action of, or imbue with, a mordant.

macerate

macerate (vt)

1. To soften (something), or separate (something) into pieces, by immersion in a liquid.

2. To make lean; to cause to waste away.

3. To subdue the appetites of by poor and scanty diet; to mortify.

macerate (n)

1. A macerated substance.

affine

affine (adj)

1. (mathematics) Assigning finite values to finite quantities.

2. (mathematics) Describing a function expressible as f(x)=ax+b (which is not linear, but is similar).

2. Of or pertaining to a transformation that maps parallel lines to parallel lines and finite points to finite points.

affine (n)

1. (genealogy) A relative by marriage.

affine (vt)

1. To refine.

holotype

holotype (n)

1. The single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to be used when the taxon was formally described.

histrionics

histrionics (n)

1. Exaggerated, overemotional behaviour, especially when calculated to elicit a response; melodramatics.

dorter

dorter (n)

1. (historical) A bedroom or dormitory, especially in a monastery.

dodecicosidodecahedron

dodecicosidodecahedron (n)

1. A uniform polyhedron with 44 faces, 120 edges, and 60 vertices.

hoplophobia

hoplophobia (n)

1. (often used derogatorily) The fear of guns.

holocoen

holocoen (n)

1. An ecosystem.

weasand

weasand (n)

1. The esophagus.

2. The throat in general.

heuristic

heuristic (adj)

1. Pertaining to how something is discovered.

heuristic (n) (plural heuristics)
1. Any method found through discovery and observation.

2. A method known to produce incorrect or inexact results at times but likely to produce correct or sufficiently exact results when applied in commonly occurring conditions.

diacaustic

diacaustic (adj)

1. Relating to the caustic curves formed by the refraction of light.

diacaustic (n)

1. A refracting lens, which can be used to cauterise.

2. The curve or surface formed by the intersection of refracted light rays.

heirophant

heirophant (n)

1. A person whose role is to bring a religious congregation into the presence of that which is deemed holy.

dysphemism

dysphemism (n)

1. The use of a word or phrase to replace another and that is considered more offensive or more vulgar than the word or phrase it replaces.

2. A word or phrase that is used to replace another in this way.

dodecahedron

dodecahedron (n)

1. (geometry) A polyhedron with twelve faces; the regular dodecahedron has regular pentagons as faces and is one of the Platonic solids.

docetism

docetism (n)

1. (Christianity) The belief (considered a heresy by some early Christians) that Jesus only appeared to have a physical body and was ultimately of celestial substance.

xenophobia

xenophobia (n)

1. Pathological fear of foreigners.

2. Pathological hatred for foreigners.

3. Pathological fear or hatred of the unknown.

doyen

doyen (n)

1. The senior, or eldest male member of a group.

dispulsion

dispulsion (n)

1. The act of dispelling (e.g. myths, rumors, magic), the state of being dispelled.

2. Negative propulsion, the act of reducing the effect of propulsion, the act of decelerating.

dirigisme

dirigisme (n)

1. Any economy in which the government exerts a strong directive influence; a centrally planned economy.

discomfiture

discomfiture (n)

1. A feeling of frustration, disappointment, perplexity or embarrassment.

dioptric

dioptric (adj)

1. (obsolete) Pertaining to a diopter.

2. Acting as a medium for sight; making use of refraction (of lenses, etc.).

3. (obsolete) Capable of being seen through.


dioptric (n)

1. (in plural) The branch of optics concerned with refraction.

2. A dioptric telescope.

hebdomad

hebdomad (n)

1. A group of seven.

2. A period of a seven days, a week.

3. (Gnosticism) A group of seven superhuman beings.

diminution

diminution (n)
1. A lessening, decrease or reduction.
2. (music) The shortening of the notes of a melody or theme.

witenagemot

witenagemot (n)

2. (historic) The assembly of the Anglo-Saxon national council.

2. Any assembly, parliament or discursive gathering.

diaclasis

diaclasis (n)

1. (medicine) Osteoclasis.

2. (geology) A network of cracks in limestone rock allowing the infiltration of water and causing sinkholes.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

declination

declination (n)

1. At a given point, the angle between magnetic north and true north.

2. At a given point, the angle between the line connecting this point with the geographical center of the earth and the equatorial plane.

3. A refusal.

4. (archaic) Declension.

deixis

deixis (n)

1. (linguistics) A reference within a sentence that relies on the context being known to interpret correctly.

definiend

definiendum (n)

1. A word or phrase defined in a definition.

demesne

demesne (n)

1. A lord’s chief manor place, with that part of the lands belonging thereto which has not been granted out in tenancy; a house, and the land adjoining, kept for the proprietor’s own use.

charabanc

charabanc (n)

1. A horse-drawn, and then later, motorized omnibus with open sides, and often, no roof.

ceilidh

ceilidh (n)

1. An Irish or Scottish informal social gathering where traditional folk music is played, with dancing and story telling.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

caesura

caesura (n)

1. A pause or interruption in a poem, music, building or other work of art.

2. In Classical prosody, using two words to divide a metrical foot.

bedlamite

bedlamite (n)

1. (obsolete) A lunatic.

berdache

berdache (n)

1. (Anthropology) Among North American Indians, a transvestite or transgendered person.

beignet

beignet (n)

1. A type of fried donut or fritter covered in powdered sugar.

Baritsu

Bartitsu (n)

1. A form of martial arts based on jujitsu and also incorporating elements of boxing, savate, and stick fighting, popularized by E.W. Barton-Wright in late-Victorian London.

barbule

barbule (n)

1. Any of the secondary barbs that form a fringe of small projections on a feather.

ballotade

ballotade (n)

1. (dressage) A leap of a horse, as between two pillars, or on a straight line, so that when his four feet are in the air, he shows only the shoes of his hind feet, without jerking out.

bactericidin

bactericidin (n)

1. Any antibody that, together with a complement, can kill bacteria.

polaxe

poleaxe (n)

1. An ax having both a blade and a hammer face; used to slaughter cattle.

2. A long-handled battle-ax, being a combination of ax, hammer and pike.

poleaxe (vt)

1. To fell someone with, or as if with, a poleaxe.

balustrade

balustrade (n)

1. A row of balusters topped by a rail, serving as an open parapet, as along the edge of a balcony, terrace, bridge, staircase, or the eaves of a building.

bandolier

bandolier (n)

1. A pocketed belt for holding ammunition, worn over the shoulder.

bairn

bairn (n)

1. (Northern English dialect, Geordie) A child or baby.

infanta

infanta (n)

1. The daughter of a king in Spain and Portugal.

insuperable

insuperable (adj)

1. Impossible to achieve or overcome or be negotiated.

2. Overwhelming or insurmountable.

indomitable

indomitable (adj)

1. Impossible to subdue or overcome or vanquish.

inanition

inanition (n)

1. Emptiness.

warren

warren (n)

1. The system of burrows where rabbits live.

2. A mazelike place of dark alleys etc in which it's easy to lose oneself; especially one that may be overcrowded.

leet

leet (adj)

1. Of or related to leetspeak.

2. Possessing outstanding skill in a field; expert, masterful.

3. Having superior social rank over others; upper class, elite.

4. Awesome, typically to describe a feat of skill; cool, sweet.

leet (n)

1. (Scottish) A portion or list, especially a list of candidates for an office.

2. (British obsolete) a regular court in which the certain lords had jurisdiction over local disputes, or the physical area of this jurisdiction.

3. (zoology) The European pollock.

4. (Internet slang) Abbreviation of leetspeak.

leet (vt)

1. (obsolete) Imperfect of let (to allow).

lavolta

lavolta (n)

1. An ancient dance of the Renaissance which incorporated many challenging twists and skips.

laches

laches (n)

1. (law) legal doctrine that a person who waits too long to bring a claim alleging a wrong shall not be permitted to seek an equitable remedy.

lapsarian

lapsarian (adj)

1. Of or pertaining to the fall of man from innocence, especially to the role of women in that fall.

lapsarian (n)

1. A person who believes in this doctrine.

Apocalypticism

Apocalypticism (n)

1. A worldview based on the idea that important matters are hidden from view and they will soon be revealed in a major confrontation of earth-shaking magnitude, perhaps pitting good against evil, that will change the course of history.

voluptuary

voluptuary (n)

1. One whose life is devoted to sensual appetites; a pleasure-seeker.

sybarite

sybarite (n)

1. A native or inhabitant of Sybaris.

2. A person devoted to pleasure and luxury; a voluptuary

prognosticate

prognosticate (vt)

1. To predict or forecast, especially through the application of skill.

2. (transitive) To presage, betoken.

caprice

caprice (n)

1. An impulsive seemingly unmotivated notion or action.

2. An unpredictable or sudden condition, change, or series of changes.

3. A disposition to be impulsive.

4. An impulsive change of mind.

limpid

limpid (adj)

1. Clear, particularly transparent or bright.

celerity

celerity (n)

1. (in literary usage) Speed.

2. (oceanography) The speed of individual waves (as opposed to the speed of groups of waves).

maunder

maunder (vi)

1. To speak in a disorganized or desultory manner; to babble or prattle.

2. To wander or walk aimlessly.

euphony

euphony (n)

1. a pronunciation of letters and syllables which is pleasing to the ear.

2. good phonetic quality of certain words.

cacophony

cacophony (n)

1. A mix of discordant sounds; dissonance.

febrile

febrile (adj)

1. Feverish, or having a high temperature.

2. Full of nervous energy.

austral

austral (adj)

1. Of, relating to, or coming from the south.

austral (n)

1. A form of currency in Argentina.

ersatz

ersatz (adj)

1. Made in imitation; artificial, especially of an inferior quality.

idyllic

idyllic (adj)

1. Of or pertaining to idylls.

2. Extremely happy, peaceful, or picturesque.

internacine

internecine (adj)

1. Mutually destructive; most often applied to warfare.

2. Characterized by struggle within a group, usually applied to an ethnic or familial relationship.

iterative

iterative (adj)

iterative (not comparable)

1. Of a procedure that involves repetition of steps (iteration) to achieve the desired outcome.

2. (grammar) Expressive of an action that is repeated with frequency.

3. (computing): Using iteration; using a mechanism such as a loop.

iconoclast

iconoclast (n)

1. One who destroys religious images or icons, especially an opponent of the Orthodox Church in the 8th and 9th centuries, or a Puritan during the Reformation.

2. One who opposes orthodoxy and religion; one who adheres to the doctrine of iconoclasm.

3. One who attacks cherished beliefs.

ignominious

ignominious (adj)

1. Marked by shame or disgrace.

impugn

impugn (vt)

1. (obsolete) To assault, attack.

2. To verbally assault, especially to argue against an opinion, motive, or action; to question the truth or validity of.

absquatulate

absquatulate (vi)

1. To leave quickly or in a hurry; to take oneself off; to decamp; to depart.

2. To cause to absquatulate.

3. To die.

4. To argue.

corsair

corsair (n)

1. A privateersman or pirate in the Mediterranean, especially along the Barbary coast

2. A pirate ship or privateer.

3. A nocturnal assassin bug of the genus Rasahus, found in the southern US.

4. The F4U Corsair, a fighter aircraft from World War II.

gimcrack

gimcrack (adj)

1. Showy but of poor quality; worthless.