cstr/en-wiktionary-extracted-all huggingface dataset:
tetter
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈtɛtə/
ipa: /ˈtɛtɚ/
ipa: /-ɾɚ/
rhymes: -ɛtə
rhymes: -ɛtə(ɹ)
Forms: form: tetters
Etymology: From Middle English teter, from Old English teter, tetr, tetra, from Proto-West Germanic *tetru, from Proto-Germanic *tetruz, *tetruhaz, from Proto-Indo-European *dedru-, from Proto-Indo-European *der- (“to flay, split, crack”).
Senses: examples: text: heal this tetter of pedagogism that bespreads him
ref: 1642 April, John Milton, An Apology for Smectymnuus; republished in A Complete Collection of the Historical, Political, and Miscellaneous Works of John Milton, […], Amsterdam [actually London: s.n.], 1698, →OCLC:
text: Angelus Politianus had a tetter in his nose continually running, fulsome in company, yet no man so eloquent and pleasing in his works.
ref: 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 3, member 2:
text: A scabby tetter on their pelts will stick
ref: 1697, Virgil, “The Third Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
text: She works at St. Veronica’s hospital, lives nearby at the home of a Mrs. Quoad, a lady widowed long ago and since suffering a series of antiquated diseases—greensickness, tetter, kibes, purples, imposthumes and almonds in the ears, most recently a touch of scurvy.
ref: 1973, Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow:
glosses: Any of various pustular skin conditions.
Derived terms: honeycomb tetter
moist tetter
scaly tetter
tetterous
tetter
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈtɛtə/
ipa: /ˈtɛtɚ/
ipa: /-ɾɚ/
rhymes: -ɛtə
rhymes: -ɛtə(ɹ)
Forms: form: tetters
form: tettering
form: tettered
form: tettered
Etymology: From Middle English teter, from Old English teter, tetr, tetra, from Proto-West Germanic *tetru, from Proto-Germanic *tetruz, *tetruhaz, from Proto-Indo-European *dedru-, from Proto-Indo-European *der- (“to flay, split, crack”).
Senses: examples: text: […] And all my smooth body, barked and tettered over.
ref: c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene v]:
text: Most deaths are ugly, pathetic events, and Shakespeare must have seen his share of them in bodies tettered by the pox, made noseless by syphilis, or festering blackly from the plague.
ref: 1987, James L Calderwood, Shakespeare & the Denial of Death, page 134:
text: I bent down to touch him, for my revulsion had gone, and had been replaced by a great love and sorrow; and thus I wept upon his form, that was cold like a corpse's, its wasted brawn tettered all over with sores and encrustations that were not the botches and whelks of leprosy — though e'en then I would have embraced him, as St Hugh of Lincoln kissed many a leper for the good of his own spirit!
ref: 2009, Adam Thorpe, Hodd, published 2010, page 284:
glosses: To affect with tetter.
tetter
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈtɛtə/
ipa: /ˈtɛtɚ/
ipa: /-ɾɚ/
rhymes: -ɛtə
rhymes: -ɛtə(ɹ)
Forms: form: tetters
Etymology: Corruption of potato.
Senses: examples: text: Buh Sparruh biggin fur brag, an eh say: "Me tetter, him heap bigger den any me see. Me farruh befo me blan plant tetter, an him tetter bigger ner de calf er me leg. Me kin beat me farruh raise tetter
ref: 1888, Charles Colcock Jones, Negro Myths from the Georgia Coast, Told in the Vernacular:
text: But mebbe you ax, is tetter wine("vine") a bad ting? No, I say, tetter wine is a good ting. You cant hab tetter widout de tetter wine. Dat wha' tetter wine fur? To mek tetter. But dat tetter wine dat ent mek tetter, dats a bad tetter wine kase e barren tetter wine.
ref: 1895, John G. Williams, "De Ole Plantation.":
qualifier: Regional Dixieland vernacular
glosses: Potato, or sweet potato root.
tettix
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈtɛtɪks/
Forms: form: tettixes
Etymology: From Ancient Greek τέττιξ (téttix), or perhaps a modern Greek descendant thereof.
Senses: examples: text: [T]he Tettix or Cicada in the day time is extremely troubleſome. It is a brown inſect reſembling a chafer, with wings much longer than its body, and thin like thoſe of a fly. […] Dionyſius of Syracuſe ſignified his reſolution to burn and lay waſte the territory of a people, with whom he had a quarrel, when he ſaid, that, if they refuſed to comply with his demands, their Tettixes ſhould ſing on the ground.
ref: 1776, Richard Chandler, “chapter LXXXII”, in Travels in Asia Minor: Or An Account of a Tour Made at the Expense of the Society of Dilettanti, 2nd edition, London: Sold by J[ames] Dodsley, J[ames] Robson, T[homas] Cadell, P[eter] Elmsley, and G. Robinson; Oxford: D. Prince, →OCLC, pages 276–277:
text: [T]hat Greek waste silent but for the risp of the tettix and the wash of listless wind through the spare grass.
ref: 1974, Guy Davenport, Tatlin!: Six Stories, New York, N.Y.: Scribner, →ISBN:
text: The woman who had lived on no food at all, however, recalls once more the insect into which Tithonos was transformed: the tettix, which was believed to exist without food or drink, or only on dew, or on dew and air.
ref: 1989, Helen King, “Tithonos and the Tettix”, in Thomas M. Falkner, Judith de Luce, editors, Old Age in Greek and Latin Literature (SUNY Series in Classical Studies), Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, →ISBN, page 75:
glosses: A cicada, especially in Greece.
tewel
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈtjuːəl/
rhymes: -uːəl
Forms: form: tewels
form: tuel
Etymology: From Middle English tuwel, from Old French tueil, tuel, tudel (“tube, pipe”) (whence modern French tuyau), from Vulgar Latin *tūta, from Frankish *thūta (“pipe”), from Proto-Germanic *þeutǭ (“pipe, channel, flow”), from *þeutaną (“to howl, roar, resound”), from Proto-Indo-European *tu-, *tutu- (“bird-cry, shriek”). Compare Spanish and Portuguese tudel, from the same Germanic source.
Senses: examples: text: 1825 September 29, patent for a Forge and furnace water back and tewel, recorded in A List of Patents Granted by the United States
text: Lamasure, M. Le Petit, French patent of, for a double-case furnace tewel supplied with water, &c., xiv. (3d s.) 29
ref: 1846, The Repertory of Patent Inventions and Other Discoveries, page 128:
text: Also, there are no obvious differences in the proportion of tewel pieces with attached slag in the two furnace types.
ref: 1987, Ian Hodder, The Archaeology of Contextual Meanings, →ISBN, page 5:
text: […] the ore-smelting furnace is like a pregnant woman. […] For example, the furnace is described as the reproductive organs of a woman in one of the lessons in the Venda domba ritual while the tewel pipes are described as being symbolically male (Blacking 1969, p. 167).
ref: 2014, The Archaeology of Africa: Food, Metals and Towns, →ISBN, page 502:
glosses: A vent or chimney or pipe, especially one leading into a furnace or bellows.
examples: text: It healeth also cuts, and swelling of the tewel, or fundament, […]
ref: c. 1550, Albertus Magnus, The Book of Secrets:
text: Falconers use many queer but ancient terms of the condition and ailment of birds of prey. Mr Cooper makes sense out of all that. 'Snurt' seems to me an entirely appropriate name for a runny nose, […]. When next I am constipated I shall complain that I have something wrong with my ‘tewel’.
ref: 1978, Leslie Brown June, “Foreword to the First Edition”, in Birds of Prey: Health and Disease, page xi:
glosses: The anus, rectum or posterior.
mendicancy squad
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: mendicancy squads
Senses: examples: It did not exactly beggar description, but it certainly had that word on the look-out for the mendicancy squad. - The Gift of the Magi - "O. Henry" - 1906
glosses: police who arrested beggars and homeless people
thanadar
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: /tɑːnəˈdɑː/
Forms: form: thanadars
form: tanadar
form: tannadar
form: tannahdar
form: tanahdar
form: thannadar
form: thannahdar
form: tandar
form: thandar
Etymology: From Urdu ثاندار (thānadār), from ثانا (thānā, “thana”) + دار- (-dār, “holder”).
Senses: examples: text: The thanadar had specified that he be taught moral principles along with the Erewhonian language.
ref: 1974, Guy Davenport, Tatlin!:
glosses: The commander of a thana; a police chief.
thana
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈtɑː.nə/
ipa: /ˈtɑ.nə/
ipa: /ˈtɐː.nə/
note: Indic
ipa: /ˈtaː.na/
rhymes: -ɑːnə
homophone: Thaana
Forms: form: thanas
form: tana
form: tanna
form: tannah
form: thanna
form: thannah
Etymology: Transliteration of Hindi थाना (thānā), from Sanskrit स्थान (sthāna, “military outpost”). Doublet of Thane.
Senses: glosses: An Indian military outpost.
examples: text: To this talk the dacoits agreed, and we had no trouble at the Thana, and could eat melons in peace, sitting upon our charpoys all day long.
ref: 1888, Rudyard Kipling, ‘At Howli Thana’, Black and White, Folio Society, published 2005, page 387:
text: Accompanied by some other young men from the village, he made rounds of the police thana and military base to get a release order.
ref: 2015, Arupa Patangia Kalita, translated by Ranjita Biswas, Written in Tears, Harper Perennial, page 70:
glosses: A police station, or a police jurisdiction.
Related terms: thanadar
atomi
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Senses: glosses: plural of atomus
cambist
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈkæmbɪst/
Forms: form: cambists
Etymology: From French cambiste, Italian cambista, from Latin cambire (“to exchange”). See change.
Senses: glosses: A banker; a money changer or broker; one who deals in bills of exchange, or who is skilled in the science of exchange.
Related terms: cambistry
bungstarter
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: bungstarters
form: bung starter
Etymology: From bung + starter.
Senses: examples: text: But he had not yet learned to estimate these cool, languid, Southwestern knights of the bungstarter, who had the manners of an Earl of Pawtucket, ...
ref: 1914, O. Henry, “Doubleday, Page & company, for Review of reviews co”, in Heart of the West, page 133:
text: The Portuguese equivalent of bungstarter whiffed Angus Jones by an eyelash.
ref: 1929, John Russell, Color of the East, W. W. Norton, page 229:
text: That's where the barkeeper took a bungstarter and killed a man who was shooting wild.
ref: 1941, Clark Barnaby Firestone, Flowing South, National Travel Club, page 138:
text: "Pat, let me have that keg," and the schoolteacher proceeded to hammer around the bung, in the way of the orthodox bungstarter.
ref: 1943, Ernest Thompson Seton, “The Seton village press”, in The Preacher of Cedar Mountain, page 134:
text: When he came around the end of the bar he laid down the pistol and he was carrying a bungstarter in one hand.
ref: 1985, Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian […] , →OCLC:
glosses: A tool for opening barrels by removing the bung.
beach volleyball
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: beach volleyballs
Senses: glosses: An outdoor variant of volleyball played on sand.
glosses: The ball used to play this sport.
Synonyms: outdoor volleyball
sand volleyball
Derived terms: beach volleyball player
pantalon
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: pantalons
Senses: glosses: Alternative form of pantaloon (“buffoon”).
muta
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Senses: glosses: Alternative form of mootah (“marijuana”).
Related terms: persona muta
piscetarian
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: piscetarians
Etymology: From Latin pisces (“fish”), by analogy with vegetarian.
Senses: glosses: Alternative spelling of pescetarian.
service of process
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: services of process
Senses: examples: text: The process server could not effect service of process because the defendant was nowhere to be found.
topics: law
glosses: The delivery of information to a person or entity providing notice that they are being sued with sufficient detail for them to respond to the suit.
examples: text: The court found plaintiff's service of process effective, although the defendant refused to receive the complaint.
topics: law
glosses: The effective notification of a lawsuit such that a court may proceed with the case.
Synonyms: service of summons
process server
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: process servers
form: process-server
Senses: examples: text: The process server could not effect service of process because the defendant was nowhere to be found.
text: The bailiff does not like to see himself as the brutal oppressor of the poor or as the agent of malicious creditors... This distinction between warrant officer and process server is not at all dissimilar to the gulf that divides the law officer and the peace officer in the police force... Warrant officers execute warrants whilst process servers distribute court summonses and cajole debtors.
ref: 1973, Paul Rock, Making People Pay, page 162:
topics: government
law-enforcement
glosses: A deliverer of processes or summonses, the formal announcements of the beginning of a legal action; a huissier de justice or other equivalent position in other legal systems.
Synonyms: word: bailiff
word: police officer
Related terms: process-serving
warrant officer
peeping tom
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: peeping toms
form: peeping Tom
form: Peeping Tom
Etymology: From Peeping Tom, a tailor in the legend of Lady Godiva who watched Godiva riding naked.
Senses: examples: text: Reynolds contended that the Chinese was a peeping tom whom he caught spying on his wife one night last March while she was toweling herself after a shower.
ref: 1957 June 3, “A Question of Justice”, in Time:
text: The girls complained about peeping Toms. There was a skylight window in the communal ladies' shower, and one night Jennie and a friend looked up while showering, to see two young male faces staring at them from above.
ref: 2000, Jeffrey Geri, Oh, Henry, →ISBN, page 148:
text: "They claim that the security is good at UM, but we had five break-ins into student dorms and numerous reports of peeping Toms in the women's dorm bathrooms."
ref: 2005, a UM student quoted in College Prowler: University Of Michigan: off the record →ISBN, page 20
glosses: A person who watches another without the other's permission and usually without the other's knowledge, especially for the purpose of deriving sexual pleasure from the sight of the other.
Synonyms: peeper
voyeur
Derived terms: peeping Thomasina
Related terms: gatecrasher
interloper
persona non grata
encroacher
backseat driver
kibitzer
meddler
nosy parker
marplot
buttinsky
busybody
voyeurism
sisterhood
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈsɪstə.hʊd/
ipa: /ˈsɪstɚˌhʊd/
Forms: form: sisterhoods
Etymology: From Middle English susterhede; equivalent to sister + -hood (with a modification in the suffix).
Senses: glosses: The state, or kinship of being sisters.
glosses: The quality of being sisterly; sisterly companionship; especially, the sense that women have of being in solidarity with one another.
examples: text: In contrast, she said, women join sisterhoods and do volunteer work for Jewish fundraising organizations that are run and dominated by men.
ref: 1975 April 21, Eleanor Blau, “Feminists Decry the Role Of Women in Jewish Life”, in The New York Times:
glosses: A religious society of women.
examples: text: What does the rallying cry of sisterhood and the concept of feminism mean when last year, the majority of white, female voters chose whiteness as a political identity over womanhood?
ref: 2017 September 23, Kaitlyn Greenidge, “‘Sisterhood’ Felt Meaningless. So My Sisters and I Got in the Car.”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 03 Nov 2018:
text: In a terrible way, I’ve never felt more part of a sisterhood or more certain that pain is shared within that family.
ref: 2024 November 16, Naomi Beinart, “I’m 16. On Nov. 6 the Girls Cried, and the Boys Played Minecraft.”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 19 Nov 2024:
topics: feminism
government
human-sciences
ideology
philosophy
politics
sciences
glosses: The idea of universal experience amongst women, regardless of other traits or factors. (Considered obsolete in third-wave feminism.)
Synonyms: sense: state of being sisters
word: sistership
sense: feminist concept
word: womanhood
Hypernyms: siblinghood
Related terms: brotherhood
sorority
eleve
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: eleves
Etymology: From French élève.
Senses: examples: text: “I had the honour of being a favourite eleve of his—and in some instances, have improved on his ideas.”
ref: 1789, John Moore, Zeluco, Valancourt, published 2008, page 176:
glosses: A pupil or student.
hitmen
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Senses: glosses: plural of hitman
geothermal energy
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Senses: synonyms: geothermy
glosses: Heat under the ground used to heat water and make steam to turn generator turbines and make electricity.
ingratiating
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Forms: form: more ingratiating
form: most ingratiating
Senses: examples: text: That was an ingratiating smile.
glosses: Which ingratiates; which attempts to bring oneself into the favour of another, often with flattery or insincerity; smarmy; unctuous; oily.
Synonyms: honeyed
unctuous
Derived terms: ingratiatingly
uningratiating
ingratiating
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Senses: glosses: present participle and gerund of ingratiate
IPv6
Language: English
Part of speech: name
Senses: glosses: Initialism of Internet Protocol version 6, a successor to IPv4 allowing for a much larger number of possible IP addresses.
Related terms: IPv4
ICMP
IP address
TCP
TCP/IP
UDP
pull the other one, it's got bells on
Language: English
Part of speech: phrase
Forms: form: pull the other one
form: pull the other one, it's got brass bells on
Etymology: As an extension of the phrase pull someone's leg—now that you've pulled one leg, pull the other one.
Senses: examples: text: Is he going to study integrals? Pull the other one, it's got bells on—he can't even do basic multiplication.
glosses: Expresses disbelief.
Synonyms: pull the other leg
bullshit
Related terms: pulling my leg
fool me once
pull my finger
with bells on
amorality
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: amoralities
Etymology: From a- + morality.
Senses: examples: text: "I don't think we're headed for a grey-goo scenario here, but we'd all feel really bad if the local biosphere got consumed by nanobots after we left." "We'd still get paid, right?" "I'm going to treat that as a humorous stab at your own exaggerated amorality, and then move on if you don't mind."
ref: 2007 August 24, Howard Tayler, Schlock Mercenary, archived from the original on 11 May 2024:
glosses: Lack or absence of morality.
examples: text: In law school, when we students thought the outcome of a case was determined by a rule we had studied, leftist professors admonished us, “Tools not rules!” In other words, rules control nothing; they’re merely tools you manipulate for the results you want. The fancy word for this kind of amorality is “instrumentalism,” and it subverts the rule of law.
ref: 2023 November 29 – December 5, Rob Natelson, “Why I Still Doubt the 2020 Election”, in The Epoch Times, U.S. edition, number 488, A, page 17:
glosses: The metaethical belief that nothing is morally right or morally wrong, that morality does not exist.
Related terms: immorality
nanostructure
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: nanostructures
Etymology: From nano- + structure.
Senses: examples: text: We demonstrated a chemiresistive sensor based on core-shell hybridized nanostructures of Fe 3 O 4 and PEDOT for the efficient detection of VOC biomarkers.
ref: 2015 August 28, Tran Thanh Tung et al., “Core-shell nanostructured hybrid composites for volatile organic compound detection”, in International Journal of Nanomedicine, volume 10, →DOI:
text: In the close vicinity of a chiral nanostructure, the circular dichroism of a biomolecule could be greatly enhanced, due to the interaction with the local superchiral fields.
ref: 2016, S. Hamed Shams Mousavi, Sajanlal R. Panikkanvalappil, Mostafa A. El-Sayed, Ali A. Eftekhar, Ali Adibi, “Large Enhancement of Circular Dichroism Using an Embossed Chiral Metamaterial”, in arXiv:
glosses: Any manufactured or natural structure having a scale between molecular and microscopic.
Related terms: nanofabrication
nanotechnology
nano-
ne'er-do-well
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈnɛə.duˌwɛl/
ipa: /ˈnɛɹ.duˌwɛl/
Forms: form: ne'er-do-wells
Etymology: "Ne'er-do-well" is a contracted compound word stemming from the combination of the words "never do well."
“Never-do-well” is sometimes used as an offhand, expanded version of the phrase, where “never” is not contracted. The usage of this version is often attributed to the northeastern United States.
Senses: examples: text: So they have trooped forth to organize village down-and-outs and ne'er-do-wells into would-be combat units.
ref: 1933, The Commonweal, volume 19, page 241:
text: Clara's father, a trollish ne'er-do-well who spent most of his time in brothels and saloons, would disappear for days and weeks at a stretch, leaving Clara and her mother to fend for themselves.
ref: 2012, Christoper Zara, Tortured Artists: From Picasso and Monroe to Warhol and Winehouse, the Twisted Secrets of the World's Most Creative Minds, part 1, chapter 1, 26:
glosses: A person without a means of support; an idle, worthless person; a loafer; a person who is ineffectual, unsuccessful, or completely lacking in merit; a good-for-nothing.
glosses: A person who is up to no good; a rogue.
ne'er-do-well
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈnɛə.duˌwɛl/
ipa: /ˈnɛɹ.duˌwɛl/
Forms: form: more ne'er-do-well
form: most ne'er-do-well
Etymology: "Ne'er-do-well" is a contracted compound word stemming from the combination of the words "never do well."
“Never-do-well” is sometimes used as an offhand, expanded version of the phrase, where “never” is not contracted. The usage of this version is often attributed to the northeastern United States.
Senses: examples: text: The brother who sought me out and would have redeemed me from the power of darkness, but he couldn't; and has robbed himself of joy and comfort in life to keep his ne'er-do-well brother from starvation; who has paid his debts over and taken him out of jail again and again....
ref: 1859, George Sargent, The Story of a Pocket Bible, The Religious Tract Society, page 392:
text: Before the 1850s, when women figured most prominently in textile employment, the reasons that caused women to seek paid labor—a ne'er-do-well husband, economic distress of the natal family, or a belief that factory work was a road to self-betterment—often precluded their considering an away-from-home cure.
ref: 2010, Susan Cayleff, Wash and Be Healed: The Water-Cure Movement and Women's Health, Temple University Press, page 88:
text: Think of the scorn with which Nicholas Nicklebys Madame Mantalini treats her ne'er-do-well' husband from whom she insists "on being separated and left to myself...."
ref: 2013, Kelly Hager, Dickens and the Rise of Divorce: The Failed-Marriage Plot and the Novel Tradition, Ashgate Publishing Limited, page 146:
glosses: Showing the characteristics of a ne'er-do-well: indolent, worthless, or roguish.
Synonyms: good-for-nothing
nogoodnik
vagabond
never-do-well
Related terms: ne'er
neurites
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Senses: glosses: plural of neurite
night letter
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: night letters
Senses: examples: text: "Someone named Rose sent a night letter from Philadelphia asking for six free tickets. A relative?"
ref: 1976, [Walter Wager], My Side by King Kong: As Told to Walter Wager, New York, NY: Collier Books, page 104:
topics: communications
electrical-engineering
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
telecommunications
telegraphy
synonyms: word: NL
coordinate_terms: day letter
fast telegram
straight telegram
glosses: A telegram sent overnight at a reduced rate for delivery on the morning of the following day, typically with a minimum charge for 25 words or less.
examples: text: Until one night this October, when members of Echo Company, from the Second Battalion, Fourth Marines […] quietly sneaked into Juz Ghoray and posted signs on people’s doors and windows. Their idea was to co-opt the infamous Taliban practice of intimidating government sympathizers with night letters threatening execution.
ref: 2012 February 1, Luke Mogelson, “The Hard Way Out of Afghanistan”, in The New York Times Magazine:
glosses: An unsigned leaflet distributed clandestinely.
ninon
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: ninons
Senses: glosses: A sheer fabric of silk, rayon, or nylon made in a variety of tight smooth weaves or open lacy patterns.
nitpicking
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: nitpickings
form: nit-picking
Etymology: From nit + picking.
Senses: glosses: The painstaking process of removing nits (lice eggs) from someone's hair.
examples: "Of all life's pleasures, I like nitpicking the best." -- Wally in Dilbert
glosses: A process of finding or pointing out tiny details or errors, particularly if the pointed-out details seem insignificant or irrelevant to all but the finder.
Related terms: netpicking
nitpick
nitpicker
nitpickingly
nitpicky
noreasterner
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: noreasterners
Senses: glosses: A native or inhabitant of the north-east of the USA
glosses: A severe winter storm where the winds blow from the northeast.
Related terms: nor'easter
nosophilia
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Etymology: From noso- + -philia.
Senses: glosses: Sexual arousal from knowing that a partner has a terminal illness
nuisance fee
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: nuisance fees
Senses: glosses: A nominal fee, fine or penalty charged to deter an action (rather than to compensate for the costs of that action).
octosyllabic
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˌɒk.təʊ.sɪˈlæb.ɪk/
ipa: /ˌɔk.təʉ.sɪˈlæb.ɪk/
ipa: /ˌɑk.toʊ.sɪˈlæb.ɪk/
rhymes: -æbɪk
Forms: form: octasyllabic
Etymology: From octo- + syllabic.
Senses: examples: text: If you hum or whistle the rhythm of the common English metres,— of the decasyllabic quatrain, or the octosyllabic with alternate sexisyllabic, or other rhythms, […]
ref: 1872, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Poetry and Imagination:
glosses: Containing eight syllables
Related terms: octosyllable
octosyllabic
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˌɒk.təʊ.sɪˈlæb.ɪk/
ipa: /ˌɔk.təʉ.sɪˈlæb.ɪk/
ipa: /ˌɑk.toʊ.sɪˈlæb.ɪk/
rhymes: -æbɪk
Forms: form: octosyllabics
form: octasyllabic
Etymology: From octo- + syllabic.
Senses: glosses: A word of eight syllables.
off book
Language: English
Part of speech: prep_phrase
Senses: examples: text: After 5 days studying the script, Jane is now off book, and can concentrate on gesture more.
text: "He will glibly parse a sentence ... and repeat the catechism and whole chapters of the Bible 'off book.'"
ref: 1873, Thomas Wright, Our New Masters, Strahan & Co., page 125:
text: "In all likelihood, the director will leave you alone throughout the rest of the production and focus attention on the guy who isn't off book yet."
ref: 1993, Doug Moston, Coming to Terms with Acting, →ISBN, page 74:
text: "'So if Antigone wants to be off book, I think the rest of you should be off book too.'"
ref: 2003, Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex, Picador,, →ISBN, page 332:
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
theater
antonyms: on book
glosses: No longer needing the script to rehearse.
examples: text: "in the winter of 1957-58 prices were 60 percent off book."
ref: 1963, Richard Austin Smith, Corporations in Crisis, Doubleday, page 74:
glosses: Ellipsis of off book value (“below book value”).
Related terms: hold the book
keep the book
off-book
off the books
on book
on the book
on the books
officious intermeddler
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: officious intermeddlers
Senses: topics: law
glosses: A person who voluntarily, and without request or pre-existing legal duty, interjects themselves into the affairs of another, then seeks remuneration for services or reimbursement.
oldster
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: oldsters
Etymology: From old + -ster, modelled after youngster.
Senses: examples: text: The oldsters start squabbling about whose memory is better. “It was cold that day,” one says about some faraway memory. “What are you talking about? It was May, late May,” says another.
ref: 2020 February 10, David Brooks, “The Nuclear Family Was a Mistake”, in The Atlantic:
synonyms: word: geezer
word: old timer
word: senior citizen
word: ager
word: antique
word: badge-cove
word: cheeser
word: coffin dodger
word: crinkly
word: eld
word: elder
word: elderly
word: geriatric
word: genarian
word: geezer
word: grayhead
word: greyhead
word: hoarhead
word: mzee
word: old
word: no spring chicken
word: old timer
word: old-timer
word: oldtimer
word: older adult
word: oldie
word: oldster
word: senior
word: senior citizen
word: silver top
word: twirly
word: weazen
word: wrinkly
antonyms: youngster
qualifier: sometimes disrespectful
glosses: Someone who is old.
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: A midshipman of four years' standing; a master's mate.
opacifier
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: opacifiers
Etymology: From opacify + -er.
Senses: topics: chemistry
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: a chemical agent added to a material, such as rocket propellant, to make it opaque
glosses: an extraneous agent or vehicle which, intentionally otherwise, makes something opaque
orismology
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Etymology: From Ancient Greek ὁρισμός (horismós, “definition”) + -logy.
Senses: topics: human-sciences
lexicography
linguistics
sciences
glosses: The explanation of technical terms.
examples: text: In the Terminology, or what, to avoid the barbarism of a word compounded of Latin and Greek, they would beg to call the Orismology of the science, they have endeavoured to introduce throughout a greater degree of precision and concinnity—dividing it into general and partial Orismology; […]
ref: 1815, William Kirby, William Spence, “Preface”, in An Introduction to Entomology: Or Elements of the Natural History of Insects: with Plates, 3rd edition, volume 1, London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, published 1818, page xii:
topics: human-sciences
lexicography
linguistics
sciences
glosses: Technical terms collectively; terminology.
Derived terms: orismological
Related terms: orismologist
onomasiology
osteotome
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: osteotomes
Etymology: From osteo- + -tome.
Senses: glosses: A medical tool used for cutting or marking bone, used in dental implantation.
glosses: A kind of bone saw used in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
out of character
Language: English
Part of speech: prep_phrase
Senses: examples: text: The burst of anger was out of character for the normally placid boy.
text: In “Treehouse Of Horror” episodes, the rules aren’t just different—they don’t even exist. If writers want Homer to kill Flanders or for a segment to end with a marriage between a woman and a giant ape, they can do so without worrying about continuity or consistency or fans griping that the gang is behaving out of character.
ref: 2012 April 29, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Treehouse of Horror III” (season 4, episode 5; originally aired 10/29/1992)”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name):
text: Now, that, admittedly, did do an awful lot more damage (the 5th and 6th were almost completely wiped out), but the High Seas Fleet was, in turn, almost completely wiped out (in fact, basically was wiped out, to a man) by the oncoming rest of the British Grand Fleet, and it was decided by everybody that this kind of, like, suicidal, completely suicidal, charge was probably a bit out of character for Hipper, and so we didn't take that particular one into account.
ref: 2018 October 17, Drachinifel, 33:41 from the start, in Last Ride of the High Seas Fleet - Battle of Texel 1918, archived from the original on 04 Aug 2022:
glosses: Inconsistent with someone's personality, disposition, or usual expected behaviour.
examples: text: I was out of character for most of the first act because those people in the third row wouldn't stop chatting.
topics: acting
broadcasting
entertainment
film
lifestyle
media
television
theater
glosses: Not in character; not in the zone; not successfully performing within the mindset of a given character in a theatrical performance.
examples: text: After watching him perform so energetically, it is a bit of a trip to hang out with him when he's out of character. In real life, he's really mellow.
text: Susan asked the GM, out of character, whether she was able to sense magic in the room.
text: The comedian stepped out of character to mug directly to the audience.
topics: acting
broadcasting
entertainment
film
lifestyle
media
television
theater
qualifier: roleplaying games
glosses: Not acting; not "on"; behaving within one's natural personality rather than that of a character, or taking actions entirely outside the fictional context.
Related terms: break character
drop character
uncharacteristic
overglaze
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: rhymes: -eɪz
Forms: form: overglazes
Etymology: From over- + glaze.
Senses: glosses: The outer layer or coat of glaze on a piece of pottery
glosses: A decoration, usually enamel, applied over a glaze.
overglaze
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: rhymes: -eɪz
Forms: form: overglazes
form: overglazing
form: overglazed
form: overglazed
Etymology: From over- + glaze.
Senses: glosses: To apply overglaze to.
examples: text: If the dish is "overglazed," the glaze will "run" and bubble.
ref: 1904, Special Report of the Commissioner of Labor, United States: Bureau of Labor, page 678:
glosses: To glaze excessively.
Rachael
Language: English
Part of speech: name
Senses: examples: text: My friends, we are now—Rachael my wife, and I—in the mansions of the rich and great.
ref: 1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, chapter LIV, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC:
glosses: A female given name from Hebrew, a spelling variant of Rachel first recorded in the 17th century.
alepidote
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Etymology: From a- + lepidote.
Senses: topics: biology
natural-sciences
glosses: Not having scales.
alepidote
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: alepidotes
Etymology: From a- + lepidote.
Senses: topics: biology
natural-sciences
zoology
glosses: A fish that has no scales.
sentons
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Senses: glosses: plural of senton
call a spade a spade
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Forms: form: calls a spade a spade
form: calling a spade a spade
form: called a spade a spade
form: called a spade a spade
form: call a spade a spade and a shovel a shovel
form: call a shovel a shovel
form: call a spade a spade, not a big spoon
form: call a spoon a “spoon” and a spade a “spade”
Etymology: A mistaken translation of Ancient Greek τὰ σῦκα σῦκα, τὴν σκάφην δὲ σκάφην ὀνομάσων (tà sûka sûka, tḕn skáphēn dè skáphēn onomásōn, “calling figs figs, and a trough a trough”). The word σκάφη (skáphē, “trough”) was mistranslated by the Renaissance scholar Desiderius Erasmus as σκαφείον (skapheíon, “digging tool”).
Senses: examples: text: Maybe God just calls a spade a spade, when the president talks to God.
ref: 2005, Bright Eyes, When the President Talks to God:
glosses: To put it bluntly, to be outspoken; to speak the truth, to say things as they really are.
wikipedia: Desiderius Erasmus
Coordinate terms: call a spade a shovel
call it as one sees it
tell it like it is
beat around the bush
beat about the bush
pull one's punches
Related terms: spadish
property law
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Senses: topics: law
glosses: The area of law concerned with the ownership and conveyance of property rights and title.
glosses: The formal course in property law required of most first-year law school students in common-law systems.
Related terms: law of succession
estate
trust law
tanda
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: tandas
Etymology: Borrowed from Spanish tanda (literally “turn”).
Senses: examples: text: The disc jockey, Hernan Brizuela, 33, was playing sets, or tandas, of Argentine tangos: fast, medium, then slow.
ref: 2007 August 25, Glenn Collins, “Tangoing Cheek to Cheek for 3 Minutes in the Park”, in New York Times:
glosses: A turn of dancing in a milonga or tango; a music set or broadcast corresponding to such a turn.
hypernyms: ROSCA
glosses: An informal money-pooling plan, in any of various Latin American countries, whose members all chip in regularly and take turns withdrawing accumulated sums.
kas
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: kases
form: kaas
Senses: glosses: A kind of large cupboard or wardrobe of Dutch origin, popular in the Netherlands and America in the 17th and 18th centuries.
kas
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Senses: glosses: plural of ka
bunda
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: [ˈbʊn.dɐ]
ipa: [ˈbʊ̃n.dɐ]
Forms: form: bundas
Etymology: Borrowed from Brazilian Portuguese bunda, from Kimbundu mbunda.
Senses: examples: text: He could see through her cotton slacks, the cheeks of her bunda rubbing together, muscular, mashing, gnashing, eating each other alive, then kissing each other good night, and rolling their heads together on one pillow, relieved.
ref: 2006, Kathleen de Azevedo, Samba Dreamers, page 30:
text: Viewers watching any female entertainer performing on television will be treated to repeated shots of her bunda — usually filmed from knee level, so one actually looks up her (inevitably short) dress.
ref: 2009, Don Kulick, Travesti: Sex, Gender, and Culture among Brazilian Transgendered Prostitutes, page 70:
text: The waitress finally consents to Lourenco's proposition to pay to see her bunda because he offers her a secretarial position as well as the emotional attachment implied by his avowed need to have her close by.
ref: 2013, Cynthia Tompkins, Experimental Latin American Cinema: History and Aesthetics, page 84:
glosses: Ass, butt.
ikra
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /iˈkɹɑː/
rhymes: -ɑː
Etymology: Borrowed from Russian икра́ (ikrá). Doublet of ikura, and possibly hepar.
Senses: synonyms: ikura
red caviar
salmon caviar
glosses: Roe of the salmon.
imprimatur
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˌɪm.pɹɪˈmeɪ.tə/
ipa: /ˌɪm.pɹɪˈmɑː.tə/
ipa: /ˌɪm.pɹɪˈmɑː.tʊə/
ipa: /ˌɪm.pɹɪˈmeɪ.tʊə/
ipa: /ɪmˈpɹɪmətə/
ipa: /ˌɪm.pɹɪˈmɑ.tɚ/
ipa: /ˌɪm.pɹɪˈmeɪ.tɚ/
ipa: /ɪmpɹɪˈmɑtʊɹ/
ipa: /ɪmˈpɹɪmətɚ/
ipa: /ɪmˈpɹɪmətʊɹ/
Forms: form: imprimaturs
form: imprimantur
Etymology: From Latin imprimātur (“let it be printed”), third person singular present subjunctive passive form of imprimere (“to imprint”).
Senses: examples: text: The Cheats · A Comedy · Written in the Year, M.DC.LXII. Imprimatur, Roger L'estrange. Nov. 5. 1663. By John Wilson
ref: 1664, John Wilson, The Cheats, publication info page
text: Sometimes 5 Imprimaturs are ſeen together dialogue-wiſe in the Piatza of one Title page, complementing and ducking each other with their ſhav'n reverences, whether the Author, who ſtands by in perplexity at the foot of his Epiſtle, ſhall to the Preſſe or to the ſpunge.
ref: 1644, John Milton, Areopagitica; a Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing, to the Parlament of England, London: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 8:
topics: media
printing
publishing
glosses: An official license to publish or print something, especially when censorship applies.
examples: text: Children, the final imprimatur to family life, are being borrowed, adopted, created by artificial insemination.
ref: 1988, New York Times, Gay fiction comes home:
text: Even with the imprimatur of Tynan and Hobson, the play was not an instant hit.
ref: 2015 March 30, Michael Billington, “Look Back in Anger: how John Osborne liberated theatrical language”, in The Guardian:
text: The author suggests that Grace is hoping to meet at church a respectable marriage candidate who will have the imprimatur of her pastor and the church community.
ref: 2024 May 18, Jane Shaw, “When belief is a business”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 8:
synonyms: approval
authorization
endorsement
glosses: Any mark of official approval.
Synonyms: approval
endorsement
sanction
Related terms: authorization
vices
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Senses: glosses: plural of vice
thanatopsis
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: /θænəˈtɒpsɪs/
Forms: form: thanatopses
Etymology: From Ancient Greek θάνατος (thánatos, “death”) + ὄψις (ópsis, “seeing”), via the poem "Thanatopsis" by William Cullen Bryant. Although a surface analysis of thanato- + -opsis readily suggests itself and might invite a semantic expectation of deathliness, Bryant's sense of the word corresponds to "the seeing of death" rather than "the appearance/likeness of death".
Senses: glosses: Contemplation of death.
wikipedia: Thanatopsis
William Cullen Bryant
Related terms: word: thanatosis
word: for more
english: and its derivatives
translation: and its derivatives
word: thanato-
thenar
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈθiːnə/
ipa: /ˈθinɑɹ/
Forms: form: thenars
Etymology: From Ancient Greek θέναρ (thénar).
Senses: examples: text: the parts of the human anatomy most sensitive to cold being the nape, stomach, and thenar or sole of foot?
ref: 1922, James Joyce, Ulysses:
glosses: The palm of the hand or sole of the foot.
glosses: The ball of the thumb, or the muscle controlling it.
thenar
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈθiːnə/
ipa: /ˈθinɑɹ/
Etymology: From Ancient Greek θέναρ (thénar).
Senses: topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
glosses: Relating to the palm of the hand or the sole of the foot.
pia
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Senses: examples: text: One screen in the theatre relays live colour pictures of Harkness and his colleague Tiernan Byrnes's progress, cutting and pushing through first the dura, then the arachnoid and finally the pia, the thin, spider's web-type membranes that cover the brain itself.
ref: 2009 January 25, Denis Campbell, “Kian, 4, needs a miracle. He's in the right place”, in The Observer:
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
glosses: The pia mater, the innermost of the meninges that protect the brain and spinal cord.
Derived terms: pial
pia
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Etymology: Borrowed from Hawaiian pia.
Senses: glosses: Polynesian arrowroot (Tacca leontopetaloides), whose fleshy tubers yield arrowroot starch.
theopneust
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: /ˈθɪəpnjuːst/
Forms: form: more theopneust
form: most theopneust
Etymology: From Ancient Greek θεόπνευστος (theópneustos), from θεός (theós, “god”) + stem of πνεῖν (pneîn, “to breathe, blow”).
Senses: glosses: Inspired or possessed by a god.
pili
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Senses: glosses: plural of pilus
Derived terms: arrector pili
pilicide
pili multigemini
pili torti
pili
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: pilis
form: pili
Etymology: Borrowed from Tagalog pili.
Senses: examples: text: The pili is indigenous to the Philippines (Merrill 1912, 1923; Wester 1921; Brown 1954; Li 1970).
ref: 1996, Roberto E. Coronel, Pili Nut, Canarium Ovatum Engl, page 12:
text: Pili (Canarium ovatum) is the most important tree nut of the Philippines.[…]Natural populations of pili are found in forests and are threatened by human activities and natural disasters.
ref: 2009, Bioversity International, Bioversity Annual Report 2009, page 19:
text: 2012, M.N. Normah, S. K. Malik, R. Chaudhury, I. Salma, M. A. Makeen, Chapter 8: Conservation of Tropical Fruit Genetic Resources, M. N. Normah, H. F. Chin, Barbara M. Reed (editors, Conservation of Tropical Plant Species, page 143,
The crops covered by the project include jackfruit and other Artocarpus species, pili (Canarium ovatum), mangosteen and other Garcinia species, and durian (Durio zibethinus).
glosses: A tropical tree, Canarium ovatum, native to maritime Southeast Asia, New Guinea and northern Australia, and cultivated in the Philippines for its nuts.
examples: text: Pili—pronounced “peeley”—is a distinctive, tear-shaped nut native to Southeast Asia and the Pacific islands. It’s here that roasted, fried, and sugared varieties of pili can be found for sale on nearly every street.
ref: 2017 July 13, Claudia McNeilly, “Pili—The Delicious, Healthy Nut You’ve Never Heard Of”, in Vogue:
synonyms: pili nut
glosses: The edible nut of the tree.
tatu
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: tatus
Senses: glosses: Archaic form of tattoo (“decorative ink design on the skin”).
tatu
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Forms: form: tatus
form: tatuing
form: tatued
form: tatued
Senses: glosses: Archaic form of tattoo (“decorative ink design on the skin”).
tatu
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: tatus
Senses: glosses: Alternative form of tatou (“giant armadillo”).
tego
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: tegos
Senses: glosses: Alternative form of toego.