cstr/en-wiktionary-extracted-all huggingface dataset:
fly in the face of
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Forms: form: flies in the face of
form: flying in the face of
form: flew in the face of
form: flown in the face of
Senses: examples: text: The new design is very edgy and certainly flies in the face of tradition.
text: DB Cargo is clearly upset by the Royal Mail decision. Not only will it lose a valuable customer, but this flies in the face of its own high-profile campaign, called Freight Belongs on Rail.
ref: 2024 October 30, Andy Comfort, “Can the Royal Mail trains keep on running?”, in RAIL, number 1021, page 60:
glosses: To act in a manner highly contrary to; to counteract or contradict.
have it coming
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Forms: form: has it coming
form: having it coming
form: had it coming
form: had it coming
Senses: examples: text: You had that coming (to you).
text: He was on his first vacation in ten years and he figured he had it coming to him.
ref: 1940 February 5, “Manufacturing: Done with Mirrors”, in Time, archived from the original on 25 May 2009:
text: But when the shock had faded, more hard-headed reaction set in. This wasn’t just the feeling that, however tactfully you dress it up, the United States had it coming.
ref: 2001 October 4, Mary Beard, “11 September”, in London Review of Books, volume 23, number 19, →ISSN:
text: Although one might baulk at giving an 83-year-old a hard time, this particular 83-year-old has it coming.
ref: 2007 April 8, Ruth Dudley Edwards, “Kissinger on Black list of witnesses for the defence”, in Irish Independent, retrieved 24 Jan 2010:
glosses: To deserve or merit, as the consequences of one's actions.
Related terms: ask for it
ask for trouble
look for trouble
as you make your bed, so you must lie in it
be in for
burn one's fingers
face the music
get what one asked for
get what's coming to one
have it your way
it's someone's funeral
just deserts
karma
payback
pay the fiddler
pay the price
poetic justice
reap the whirlwind
serve someone right
decrescendo
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˌdiːkɹɪˈʃɛndəʊ/
ipa: /ˌdiːkɹəˈʃɛndəʊ/
Forms: form: decrescendos
form: decrescendi
Etymology: Borrowed from Italian decrescendo.
Senses: topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: An instruction to play gradually more softly.
examples: text: The peace was ended by the sound of an approaching train, the steady exhaust beat that has its own appeal, and amid a cloud of steam a rebuilt "Scot" burst from under the bridge at the south end of the station, and roared past at high speed. A long line of lighted windows flashed past, and then, in decrescendo, the sound and fury passed northwards.
ref: 1954 January, H. P. White, “Vignettes of the Rail”, in Railway Magazine, page 53:
glosses: A gradual decrease in volume or loudness of a piece of music.
decrescendo
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˌdiːkɹɪˈʃɛndəʊ/
ipa: /ˌdiːkɹəˈʃɛndəʊ/
Forms: form: decrescendos
form: decrescendoing
form: decrescendoed
form: decrescendoed
Etymology: Borrowed from Italian decrescendo.
Senses: topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: To gradually become quieter
decrescendo
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˌdiːkɹɪˈʃɛndəʊ/
ipa: /ˌdiːkɹəˈʃɛndəʊ/
Forms: form: more decrescendo
form: most decrescendo
Etymology: Borrowed from Italian decrescendo.
Senses: glosses: becoming quieter gradually.
Synonyms: diminuendo
mezzo forte
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Senses: topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: Louder than mezzo piano, but softer than forte.
Synonyms: mf
mezzo forte
Language: English
Part of speech: adv
Senses: topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: Louder then mezzo piano, but softer than forte.
Synonyms: mf
lotus position
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: lotus positions
Senses: glosses: A cross-legged sitting position in which the feet are resting on the thigh of the opposite leg; a meditative position in Hinduism and Buddhism, also used in yoga and sexual intercourse.
glosses: a cross-legged sitting position in which the feet are resting below the lower leg of the opposite leg
boastful
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈbəʊstfʊl/
ipa: /ˈbəʊstf(ə)l/
Forms: form: more boastful
form: most boastful
form: boastfull
Etymology: From Middle English bostful, equivalent to boast + -ful.
Senses: examples: text: He wrote a boastful autobiography, recording all his great deeds.
text: It makes one's blood boil, yet heart tremble, to think that we Englishmen and our American descendants, with their boastful cry of liberty, have been and are so guilty
ref: 1839, Robert FitzRoy, Phillip Parker King, Charles Darwin, Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty’s Ships Adventure and Beagle, between the Years 1826 and 1836, […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC:
glosses: Tending to boast or brag.
Synonyms: word: boastful
word: bragging
word: crowing
word: gasconade
word: spread-eagle
word: swaggering
word: thrasonic
word: thrasonical
word: vaunting
Hypernyms: word: arrogant
word: proud
word: triumphant
word: vain
Derived terms: boastfully
boastfulness
overboastful
unboastful
Related terms: word: cocky
word: proud
word: bravado
word: braggart
word: verbose
IITYWYBAD
Language: English
Part of speech: phrase
Senses: examples: text: The signs on cards, picked out with shining mica: Pies Like Mother Used to Make. Credit Makes Enemies, Let's Be Friends. Ladies May Smoke But Be Careful Where You Lay Your Butts. Eat Here and Keep Your Wife for a Pet. IITYWYBAD?
ref: 1939, John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, published 2014, page 160:
text: I saw a tank one day with the cabalistic letters "IITYWYBAD" on its side, and wondered if it were the name of some South Pacific Campaign or battleground; later I learned that it meant […]
ref: 1995, William J. Leonard, Where thousands fell, page 85:
glosses: Initialism of if I tell you, will you buy another drink?.
stir-crazy
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Forms: form: more stir-crazy
form: most stir-crazy
form: stir crazy
Etymology: First attested around 1925, from prison slang stir (“jail or prison”).
Senses: glosses: Of a prisoner, mentally unbalanced due to prolonged incarceration.
examples: text: After so many days of rain, the kids started to get a bit stir-crazy.
text: And many, at the same time, are anxious and bored and underemployed and overemployed and stir-crazy and uncertain and lonely and terrified.
ref: 2020 March 19, Megan Garber, “The Utter Weirdness of Small Talk in a Pandemic”, in The Atlantic:
glosses: Restless, uncomfortable, or impatient due to inactivity or confinement.
Related terms: cabin fever
bedew
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Forms: form: bedews
form: bedewing
form: bedewed
form: bedewed
Etymology: From Middle English bidewen, bideawen; equivalent to be- + dew. Cognate with Dutch bedauwen (“to bedew”), German betauen (“to bedew”).
Senses: examples: text: Balm, from a ſilver-box diſtill'd around, / Shall all bedew the roots, and ſcent the ſacred ground.
ref: a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “The Epithalamium of Helen and Menelaus. From the 18th Idyllium of Theocritus.”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume II, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1760, →OCLC, page 412:
text: Soft tears again bedewed my cheeks, and I even raised my humid eyes with thankfulness towards the blessed sun which bestowed such joy upon me.
ref: 1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], chapter VIII, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume II, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →OCLC, pages 132–133:
text: As if their own indignant earth, / Which gave the sons of England birth, / Had felt their blood upon her brow, / And shuddering with a mother's throe, / Had turned every drop of blood, / By which her face had been bedewed / To an accent unwithstood, / As if her heart had cried aloud: […]
ref: 1819 (date written), Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Masque of Anarchy. A Poem. […], London: Edward Moxon […], published 1832, →OCLC, stanzas XXXV–XXXVI, pages 18–19:
text: I LOVE it, I love it ; and who shall dare
To chide me for loving that old Arm-chair ?
I've treasured it long as a sainted prize ;
I've bedewed it with tears, and embalmed it with sighs.
ref: 1836, Eliza Cook, The Old Armchair:
text: While sympathetic tears / My cheeks bedew
ref: 1885, W[illiam] S[chwenck] Gilbert; Arthur Sullivan, composer, […] The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu, London: Chappel & Co., […], →OCLC:
glosses: To make wet with or as if with dew.
Derived terms: bedewed
bedewer
morning, noon and night
Language: English
Part of speech: adv
Senses: examples: text: They toiled morning, noon and night to sell their idea and make it work.
glosses: Constantly; ceaselessly; without stopping.
Related terms: around the clock
at all hours
24/7
Madame Tussaud's
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: /ˈmædəm t(j)uːˈsɔːdz/
/ˈmædəm t(j)uːˈsəʊdz/
Etymology: After Marie Tussaud (1761-1850), known for sculpting human figures in wax.
Senses: examples: text: The vestibule or entrance hall is a Madame Tussaud's on a small scale, containing the trial of Christ, the Siamese-twins, St. Paul incarcerated
ref: 1851, John Delaware Lewis, Across the Atlantic, page 26:
text: .... the other consisted of a Madame Tussaud's galaxy of lay figures, with straw-colored hair and waxy, pink- and-white cheeks.
ref: 1896, Halliwell Sutcliffe, The Eleventh Commandment, page 73:
glosses: A gallery of realistic figures of famous persons.
Related terms: Tussaudian
waxwork
not half bad
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Etymology: Variant of not bad. Compare not half.
Senses: examples: text: It was his first attempt at cooking, but I tried it and it was not half bad.
glosses: Pretty good, imperfect but more than OK.
Synonyms: satisfactory
burn out
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Forms: form: burns out
form: burning out
form: burned out
form: burned out
form: burnt out
form: burnt out
Senses: examples: text: All four engines and the entire train were derailed, and owing to the fact that all the vehicles except the sleeping cars were gas-lit, the whole of the coaching stock except the two rear brakes was burned out, beginning with the two front coaches, which were completely wrecked.
ref: 1941 April, “The Why and the Wherefore: Hawes Junction Collision”, in Railway Magazine, page 191 (the collision occurred in 1910):
glosses: To destroy by fire.
examples: text: The candle finally burned out.
text: 1847, Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Chapter XVIII
Mr. Mason, shivering as some one chanced to open the door, asked for more coal to be put on the fire, which had burnt out its flame, though its mass of cinder still shone hot and red. The footman who brought the coal, in going out, stopped near Mr. Eshton's chair, and said something to him in a low voice, of which I heard only the words, "old woman,"—"quite troublesome."
coordinate_terms: flame out
glosses: To become extinguished due to lack of fuel.
glosses: To become nonfunctional (especially of lightbulbs or similar light-producing devices).
examples: text: After six months of twelve-hour workdays, most people just burn out and quit.
glosses: To tire due to overwork; to overwork to one's limit.
glosses: To cause (someone) to tire due to overwork; to cause (someone) to overwork to one's limit.
examples: text: I start my shift at three in the afternoon, and get to burn out at midnight.
glosses: To end one's shift at a job.
topics: automotive
transport
vehicles
glosses: To have one's tires skid against the ground; to peel off, peel out.
examples: text: The repairs on this nuclear reactor have burned out every welder in the province.
glosses: To make (someone) unavailable for work involving exposure to ionizing radiation by employing (the person) in such work until the person's accumulated exposure reaches the maximum permitted for an administrative period, typically a year.
topics: bowling
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
synonyms: burn up
roll out
glosses: To use up too much energy when first bowled and to therefore not finish strongly.
raw_tags: of a ball
Derived terms: word: burn-out
word: burnout
burn out
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: burn outs
Senses: examples: text: His burn out hadn't been caused by too many dead bodies; it was from spending his life doing for people what most of them had refused to do for themselves.
ref: 2002, Chuck Purdy, The Street Saint: Emergency in the Emergency Services:
glosses: Nonstandard spelling of burnout.
connubially
Language: English
Part of speech: adv
Forms: form: more connubially
form: most connubially
Etymology: From connubial + -ly.
Senses: examples: text: So he decreed, in words succinct,
That all who flirted, leered or winked
(Unless connubially linked),
Should forthwith be beheaded.
ref: 1885, W[illiam] S[chwenck] Gilbert; Arthur Sullivan, composer, […] The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu, London: Chappel & Co., […], →OCLC:
glosses: as in marriage
Related terms: nubile
nuptial
push-bike
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: push-bikes
Senses: examples: text: In England I learned to ride what the Australians call a push-bike, and spent many week-end leaves, and one four days' leave, riding in the South of England and Wales. [...] Today, I wished the push-bike was in its old place—especially when three boys sailed past on push-bikes and offered to give me some "gas."
ref: 1919, The Motorcycle Illustrated, volume 15, New York, N.Y.: Motorcycle Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 15:
text: It wasn't long before Californian youngsters started turning out customised push-bikes, mimicking the grown-up motorbikes in the fast lane. The fad of bicycle polo spawned a push-bike with a big fat seat, which became a backyard classic.
ref: 2004, New Statesman, volume 133, London: New Statesman Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 41, column 1:
glosses: Alternative form of pushbike.
push-bike
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Forms: form: push-bikes
form: push-biking
form: push-biked
form: push-biked
Senses: examples: text: It makes me miserable when I think of the number of poor surveyors still push-biking their daily round.
ref: 1913, Surveyor, volume 43, London: [Taylor & Francis?], →OCLC, page 1001, column 2:
text: Dr. Smith is making a tour of the world "push-biking" from place to place, forwarding whatever he finds interesting along his travels.
ref: 1932, Herbert N. Smith, “English Personalities”, in Year Book of Optometry, New York, N.Y.: New York State Optometric Association, →OCLC, page 249:
text: Apart from a wireless-repair van parked a few yards off and a vicar's-wife type, energetically push-biking past in bright yellow oilskins, the streets were deserted.
ref: 1994, Kingsley Amis, You Can’t Do Both, London: Hutchinson, →ISBN; republished London: Vintage Books, 2004, →ISBN, page 318:
text: It was cloudy, cool and misty as he [Thomas Edward Lawrence] push-biked up the long hill into Elsfield village.
ref: 1996, Paul [J.] Marriott, Yvonne Argent, The Last Days of T. E. Lawrence: A Leaf in the Wind, Brighton, East Sussex; Portland, Or.: Alpha Press, →ISBN, page 64:
glosses: Alternative form of pushbike.
what's-his-name
Language: English
Part of speech: pron
Forms: form: what's-her-name
form: what's-his-face
form: who's-his-face
form: who's-his-name
form: what's-his-butt
Senses: examples: text: I left his arm that night myself / For what's-his-name's, the new prose-poet / Who wrote the book there, on the shelf
ref: 1842, Robert Browning, Waring:
text: And 'St—'st—'st and What's-his-name, and also You-know-who— / The task of filling up the blanks I'd rather leave to you.
ref: 1885, W[illiam] S[chwenck] Gilbert; Arthur Sullivan, composer, […] The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu, London: Chappel & Co., […], →OCLC:
glosses: A male person or entity whose name one does not remember or want to mention but that is known to the person to which one is speaking.
Synonyms: you-know-who
so-and-so
Related terms: John Doe
Jane Doe
parcel out
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Forms: form: parcels out
form: parceling out
form: parcelling out
form: parceled out
form: parceled out
form: parcelled out
form: parcelled out
Senses: examples: text: It's a large job, but if we parcel it out among several people over several weeks, it shouldn't be too difficult.
glosses: To divide into portions or chunks; to ration.
thingmabob
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: thingmabobs
Senses: glosses: Alternative form of thingamabob.
grand total
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: grand totals
Senses: examples: text: The bill came to a grand total of $2560.
glosses: The entire or final sum.
Related terms: bottom line
unwary
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: -ɛəɹi
Forms: form: unwarier
form: unwariest
Etymology: From un- + wary. Compare Old English unwær (“unaware, unwary”) and unwærlīċ (“unwary, heedless”).
Senses: glosses: Lacking caution as a result of naïveté or inexperience
glosses: Unprepared; not watchful
Synonyms: careless
Related terms: unwarily
strands
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Senses: glosses: plural of strand
strands
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Senses: glosses: third-person singular simple present indicative of strand
take its toll
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Forms: form: takes its toll
form: taking its toll
form: took its toll
form: taken its toll
form: take a toll
form: take their toll
form: take a heavy toll
Senses: examples: text: Time had taken its toll on the old bridge, and it was no longer sound.
text: Heavy smoking and drinking will take its toll on a person's health.
text: The Thirty Years' War in Germany took its toll of bloodshed without bequeathing as a recompense any real political or moral blessing.
ref: 2015, Charles Sydney Goldman, The Empire and the century, Introduction:
text: A lot of attention has rightly been paid to the toll that fulfilling our orders takes upon workers in warehouses or drivers in delivery vans.
ref: 2019 November 21, Samanth Subramanian, “How our home delivery habit reshaped the world”, in The Guardian:
text: England not only reached the World Cup semi-finals for the first time since Italia 90, they did the job under the pressure of the occasion and the requirement to back up the victory over Colombia on penalties in the last 16 - with all of the mental toll that will have taken.
ref: 2018 July 7, Phil McNulty, “Sweden 0-2 England”, in BBC Sport:
glosses: To affect something, especially negatively; to damage or degrade; to cause harm or destruction.
raw_tags: followed by on
Synonyms: do a number on
negatively
Language: English
Part of speech: adv
Forms: form: more negatively
form: most negatively
Etymology: From negative + -ly.
Senses: examples: text: How justly then might human law and Philosophy rise up against the righteousnesse of Moses, if this be true which our vulgar Divinity Fathers upon him, yeah upon God himselfe; not silently and only negatively to permit, but in his law to divulge a written and generall priviledge to commit and persist in unlawfull divorces with a high hand, with security and no ill fame […]
ref: 1644, John Milton, chapter 3, in The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce, London, page 38:
text: 1722, Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders, London: J. Cooke, 1765, p. 17,
At last one of them asked me what a Gentlewoman was? that puzzled me much; but however, I explained myself negatively; that it was one that did not go to Service to do Housework […]
text: Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively, by uniting our affections; the latter negatively, by restraining our vices.
ref: 1776, Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 6th edition, Philadelphia, page 5:
text: Allow me to introduce myself—first, negatively. ¶ No landlord is my friend and brother, no chambermaid loves me, no waiter worships me, no boots admires and envies me.
ref: 1859, Charles Dickens, chapter 1, in The Uncommercial Traveller, London: Chapman & Hall, published 1905, page 1:
text: Having the entire summer off from school negatively affects learning.
ref: 1997 June 2, John E. Chubb, “Too much of a good thing”, in Time:
text: Tynesiders appear to be proud of their accents, according to the findings, but Brummies responded negatively to hearing their vowels on TV and radio, partly because they recognise they are ridiculed for them by some of their compatriots.
ref: 2009 May 13, Mark Sweney, James Robinson, “Not all regions like to hear their own accents in ads, survey finds”, in The Guardian:
glosses: In a negative manner; so as to be damaging or not positive.
examples: text: 1683, Richard Browne (translator), The Cure of Old Age and Preservation of Youth by Roger Bacon, London: Tho. Flesher, Doubt VII, p. 83,
I answer negatively:
text: Throttling his joy, Ahab negatively answered this unexpected question […]
ref: 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “Chapter 128”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:
text: Twelve States now in the affirmative column at one time or another in the past voted negatively.
ref: 1935 April 8, “Season’s End”, in Time:
text: 1983, Reuters, “Iran rebuffs Iraq on sparing civilians,” New York Times, 27 May, 1983,
Iran responded negatively today to a proposal by Iraq that the two countries agree to stop shelling each other’s towns and villages.
qualifier: responding to a question; proposal; vote; responding to a question; proposal; vote
glosses: In the negative; with the answer “no.”
Derived terms: hypernegatively
negatively privileged
nonnegatively
Related terms: negative
nutritious
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /njuːˈtɹɪʃəs/
ipa: /nuːˈtɹɪʃəs/
rhymes: -ɪʃəs
Forms: form: more nutritious
form: most nutritious
Etymology: Learned borrowing from Latin nūtrītius, from nūtrītus, from nūtrīre.
Senses: synonyms: nourishing
nutritive
glosses: Providing nutrients; healthy to eat or drink.
raw_tags: of food or drink
examples: text: A cumbrous, circuitous, and often a sophisticative mode of commenting upon the Prophets, and of darkening their meaning, had taken the place of what might have been a nutritious popular instruction.
ref: 1861, Isaac Taylor, The Spirit of the Hebrew Poetry, page 247:
glosses: Salutary.
Derived terms: antinutritious
innutritious
nonnutritious
nutritiously
nutritiousness
supernutritious
undernutritious
unnutritious
Related terms: nutrient
nutrition
nutritional
take a toll
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Forms: form: takes a toll
form: taking a toll
form: took a toll
form: taken a toll
Senses: examples: text: Air marshals interviewed for this article said their biggest problem was the number of hours they were expected to fly. They are not allowed to sleep on flights, and back-to-back international trips involving prolonged periods of sitting awake take a toll.
ref: 2018 April 25, Ron Nixon, “Scandals and Investigations, but Few Arrests, for Air Marshals Program”, in The New York Times:
glosses: Alternative form of take its toll.
mak
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /mæk/
Forms: form: maks
form: makkin
form: makin
form: makked
form: makked
form: made
form: made
form: myek
form: make
Senses: glosses: Alternative form of make.
Related terms: mak nyah
State of the Union
Language: English
Part of speech: name
Forms: form: the State of the Union
Senses: topics: government
politics
glosses: The State of the Union address, an annual event in which a president of the United States reports the status of the country, normally to a joint session of the United States Congress.
gaming
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈɡeɪmɪŋ/
rhymes: -eɪmɪŋ
Senses: glosses: present participle and gerund of game
gaming
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈɡeɪmɪŋ/
rhymes: -eɪmɪŋ
Forms: form: gamings
Senses: examples: text: […] the unprofitable plays, frivolous recreations, sportings, and gamings which are invented to pass away the precious time, and divert the mind from the witness of God […]
ref: 1678, Robert Barclay, An Apology for the True Christian Divinity:
text: The US gaming industry, in a pamphlet called Demystifying Slot Machines […], argues that "slot manufacturers need to build devices for a society with a decreasing attention span and an increasing demand for exciting, fast-paced entertainment, all in a marketplace overflowing with competing entertainment options".
ref: 2013 June 28, Tom Vanderbilt, “The lose-lose logic of the machine zone”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 3, page 29:
glosses: The playing of a game.
glosses: The playing of a game.
Ellipsis of videogaming.
glosses: The playing of a game.
Ellipsis of videogaming.
Used in noun compounds to describe anything that is decorated in rainbow colors, in a parody of LED-equipped peripherals marketed as "gaming mice", etc.
glosses: The playing of a game.
Synonym of gambling.
synonyms: word: gambling
glosses: Careful, strategic use of rules to achieve one's purposes, as one would use the rules of a game.
Derived terms: antigaming
archaeogaming
back-seat gaming
casual gaming
cybergaming
exergaming
gaming attendant
gaming board
gaming center
gaming chair
gaming computer
gaming console
gaming house
gaming machine
gaming pants
gaming purse
gaming table
heated gaming moment
metagaming
neurogaming
nongaming
non-gaming
pre-gaming
retro gaming
retro-gaming
retrogaming
telegaming
video gaming
wargaming
Related terms: gamifying
game theory
game the system
play games
put through the wringer
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Forms: form: puts through the wringer
form: putting through the wringer
form: put through the wringer
form: put through the wringer
Senses: examples: text: They really put each candidate through the wringer before choosing one to hire.
text: Psychiatrists say that for many people who have been put through the wringer over the past decade, the climate extremes are one crisis too many.
ref: 2023 September 16, Jason Horowitz, “How Do We Feel About Global Warming? It’s Called Eco-Anxiety.”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
glosses: To interrogate or scrutinize closely; to subject to some trial or ordeal.
Synonyms: sense: subject to trial or ordeal
word: run through the wringer
sense: subject to trial or ordeal
word: put through the mangle
fauces
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: /fɔː.siːz/
Forms: form: faux
Etymology: Borrowing from Latin faucēs (“the upper part of a throat”).
Senses: topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
glosses: The narrow passage from the mouth to the pharynx, situated between the soft palate and the base of the tongue.
topics: biology
botany
natural-sciences
glosses: The throat of a calyx, corolla, etc.
examples: text: There are two orange-coloured spots at the fauces of that Cypræa Isabella, whence its name, orange-tip.
ref: 1826, Mary Anne Venning, Rudiments of Conchology, page 94:
text: Even at that early age the lamella in the fauces may be distinctly traced through the translucent shell.
ref: 1872, American Journal of Conchology, volume 7, page 226:
text: The tubercle is the same color but with white fauces. The glossy shell coloring is extremely various; the background is white, yellow or black, with or without longitudinal zigzag lines, transverse bands or blotches covering the surface.
ref: 1993, Recovery Plan for the Oʻahu Tree Snails of the Genus Achatinella, page 14:
topics: biology
natural-sciences
zoology
glosses: That portion of the interior of a spiral shell which can be seen by looking into the aperture.
falx
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /fælks/
ipa: /fɔlks/
rhymes: -ælks
rhymes: -ɔlks
Forms: form: falxes
form: falces
Etymology: From Latin falx (“sickle”). Doublet of dalk.
Senses: glosses: A short Dacian sword resembling a sickle.
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
glosses: Any sickle-shaped part or process.
A curved fold or process of the dura mater or the peritoneum, especially one of the partition-like folds of the dura mater which extend into the great fissures of the brain.
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
glosses: Any sickle-shaped part or process.
A chelicera.
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
glosses: Any sickle-shaped part or process.
A snake's poison fang.
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
glosses: Any sickle-shaped part or process.
A rotula of a sea urchin.
Derived terms: falcate
falcial
falcoid
falx cerebelli
falx cerebri
lanx
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: lances
Etymology: From Latin lanx.
Senses: glosses: A platter or dish for serving food in Ancient Rome.
go ahead
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˌɡəʊ əˈhɛd/
ipa: /ˌɡoʊ əˈhɛd/
ipa: /ˌɡəʉ əˈhɛd/
ipa: /ˌɡɐʉ əˈhɛd/
note: Black Country
ipa: /ˌɡu əˈhɛd/
Forms: form: goes ahead
form: going ahead
form: went ahead
form: gone ahead
Senses: examples: text: I went ahead with my plan.
text: In the meantime, strikes already planned for NR are to go ahead, despite an offer being put to RMT members in an electronic ballot that was due to close on December 12 (after this issue of RAIL went to press).
ref: 2022 December 14, Mel Holley, “Network News: Strikes go on as RMT rejects RDG's "detrimental" offer”, in RAIL, number 972, page 8:
glosses: To proceed with; to begin.
examples: text: Go ahead and eat without me. I expect to be very late.
text: “Tom Sawyer, I want to ask you some questions.” “Go ahead,” he says, and I see Jim chirk up to listen.
ref: 1894, Mark Twain, chapter 12, in Tom Sawyer Abroad:
synonyms: go for it
be my guest
feel free
glosses: Used to grant permission for or to give endorsement of a suggestion or proposal.
examples: text: Bravo Six Actual, this is Bravo Six Four. Go ahead, over.
topics: government
military
politics
war
qualifier: procedure word
glosses: To send communication over the radio.
Derived terms: go-ahead
go-aheadative
Related terms: go nuts
go wild
help oneself
knock oneself out
at the ready
Language: English
Part of speech: prep_phrase
Senses: examples: text: The soldiers held their rifles at the ready and listened for the enemy.
text: The soldiers' rifles were at the ready.
text: Her apartment is filled with evidence of a furiously busy creative life: […] a laptop perched on a crate atop the dining table; lyric revisions in notebooks on a music stand by an ever-at-the-ready guitar.
ref: 2022 October 5, Michael Paulson, “Suzan-Lori Parks Is on Broadway, Off Broadway and Everywhere Else”, in The New York Times:
glosses: Ready; in a state of preparation or waiting; in position or anticipation.
plug away
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Forms: form: plugs away
form: plugging away
form: plugged away
form: plugged away
Senses: examples: text: He kept plugging away at the work until it was done.
text: The end is nigh (or at least it was supposed to be), but the Pacers in northern England kept plugging away providing a service while awaiting the much-delayed arrival of their replacements.
ref: 2020 May 20, John Crosse, “Soon to be gone... but never forgotten”, in Rail, page 63, photo caption:
glosses: To persist or continue, as with an effort.
Related terms: chip away
reevaluate
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˌɹiːɪˈvæljueɪt/
ipa: /ˌɹiɪˈvæljueɪt/
Forms: form: reevaluates
form: reevaluating
form: reevaluated
form: reevaluated
Etymology: From re- + evaluate.
Senses: examples: text: Rather than imposing privacy-invading tattleware on their employees, employers should instead reevaluate how they measure success. Is it about “productivity?” Or is it about results?
ref: 2021 October 19, Emma McGowan, “'Tattleware' not only intrusive but ineffective”, in Avast Blog:
text: San Jose Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson successfully underwent surgery to fix a muscle tear in his left forearm, according to the team. Per the Sharks, Karlsson is expected to be reevaluated in March.
ref: 2022 January 25, The Athletic Staff, “Sharks’ Erik Karlsson has surgery on left forearm; to be reevaluated in March”, in The New York Times:
text: Many young people are also reevaluating what once constituted cringe, attributing use of the term to unacknowledged bigotry more than just a rejection of sincerity. Some niche communities, such as furries, anime fans, and fetish groups, who were once mocked on social media, have since amassed cultural power that has launched them into the mainstream.
ref: 2023 April 23, Taylor Lorenz, “'Am I Cringey? Yes. Do I Care? Absolutely Not'”, in Rolling Stone, New York, N.Y.: Penske Media Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 22 Jun 2023:
text: “While I understand that mistakes were made by Angel City, I sincerely hope that the league reevaluates its policies around childcare and supporting working moms, as that should be encouraged and NEVER subject to the salary cap.”
ref: 2024 October 26, Melanie Anzidei, quoting Sydney Leroux (@sydneyleroux), “Sydney Leroux calls for NWSL to reevaluate its childcare policies following Angel City salary cap sanctions”, in The New York Times:
glosses: Alternative spelling of re-evaluate.
optime
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: /ˈɒptɪmeɪ/
Forms: form: optimes
Etymology: Borrowed from Latin optimē (“very well”), in the phrase optimē disputāstī (“you have disputed very well”), formerly used in reporting results at Cambridge.
Senses: examples: text: The winning of even a single optime was very rare. Upon winning the second optime, Hamilton “became a celebrity in the intellectual circle of Dublin; and invitations, embarrassing from their number, poured in upon him. . .” (2,I; 209)
ref: 1994, Michael J. Crowe, A History of Vector Analysis: The Evolution of the Idea of a Vectorial System, Courier Corporation, →ISBN, page 20:
qualifier: Cambridge University
glosses: A student who graduates with second class ("senior optime") or third class ("junior optime") honours in mathematics, or (loosely) in any other subject.
Related terms: wrangler
Minnie
Language: English
Part of speech: name
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈmɪni/
rhymes: -ɪni
Forms: form: Minnies
Etymology: Its diminutives + -ie.
Senses: examples: text: When they are used to express the affectionate regard of near friends and relatives they also may be pretty and appropriate, but they look very silly in a formal signature, and surely do not befit the dignity of womanhood. We had, for instance, among these 800 names scores of Minnies, Mamies, and only here and there a Mary, a much more euphonious as well as a dignified name.
ref: 1880 Emily Faithfull, The Victoria Magazine, v.36 (July-Dec 1880), page 264
glosses: A diminutive of the female names Wilhelmina, Minerva, Mary, Mina, Mamie and Hermione. Popular as a formal female given name in the 19th century.
glosses: A surname.
glosses: Minneapolis.
glosses: Alternative letter-case form of minnie (“minenwerfer trench mortar”).
Wilhelmina
Language: English
Part of speech: name
Pronunciation: /ˌwɪl.əˈmiːn.ə/
/ˌwɪl.(h)ɛlˈmiːn.ə/
Etymology: Borrowed from German Wilhelmina, equivalent to Wilhelm + -ina.
Senses: examples: text: She comforted herself however, on the first appearance of her pregnancy, that so odious a surname should be qualified in her children with the genteelest and most elegant Christian names that history or romance could supply. - - - My eldest sister, who came into the world a year after, was called Wilhelmina Charlotta, the second Penthesilea, the third Telethusa, and the fourth Honoria.
ref: 1776 Adam Fitz-Adam: The World of Adam Fitz-Adam. Edinburgh, Apollo Press 1776: Numb. 187. Thursday, July 29, 1756
text: ‘Wilhelmina’—I knew then that he was in deadly earnest, for he has never called me by that name since he asked me to marry him—‘you know, dear, my ideas of the trust between husband and wife: there should be no secret, no concealment.[…]’
ref: 1897, Bram Stoker, “Letter, Mina Harker to Lucy Westenra”, in Dracula, New York, N.Y.: Modern Library, →OCLC, chapter IX, page 115:
glosses: A female given name from German, masculine equivalent Wilhelm.
hoo-ha
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈhuːˌhɑː/
Forms: form: hoo-has
form: hoohaa
form: hoohar
form: hoo-haa
form: hoo-har
form: hoo-hah
form: hoohah
Etymology: Perhaps from Yiddish הו־האַ (hu-ha, “a hullabaloo”).
The second sense is likely expressive; compare such similar terms in other languages as Spanish juju.
Senses: examples: text: There was a big hoo-ha about it in the papers, and then the world completely forgot the matter.
text: Tucker Carlson (also a jacket and tie guy) picked up on the hoo-ha on his Fox News show, calling the hoodie-jacket combination a “cry for help” and inviting Roger Stone, the disgraced former political operative and author of his own “Best and Worst dressed List,” to comment.
ref: 2023 February 20, Vanessa Friedman, “Don Lemon, Nikki Haley and the Lessons of a Hoodie”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
synonyms: word: ado
word: argy-bargy
word: bangarang
word: bobbery
word: brouhaha
word: bunfight
word: bustle
word: bust-up
word: chaos
word: clamour
word: clatter
word: commotion
word: disruption
word: disturbance
word: flap
word: foofaraw
word: fracas
word: furor
word: fuss
word: hobbleshaw
word: hoo-ha
word: hoo-hah
word: hubbub
word: hullabaloo
word: hurly-burly
word: kerfuffle
word: mayhem
word: merry hell
word: outcry
word: palaver
word: pandemonium
word: pother
word: quarrel
word: riot
word: rowdydow
word: ruckus
word: rumpus
word: shemozzle
word: shindy
word: splatterdash
word: stir
word: stooshie
word: three-ring circus
word: to-do
word: tomfoolery
word: trouble
word: tumult
word: turmoil
word: unrest
word: uproar
word: upstir
glosses: A fuss, uproar, commotion or stir; hype; brouhaha, hullabaloo.
examples: text: Did that make her a good judge of character, or a fool who was letting her hoo-ha do her thinking for her?
ref: 2009, Linda Howard, Burn, page 242:
text: She didn't want to lose their childish battle of wills, but neither did she want some parasite swimming up her hoo-ha.
ref: 2009, Lexi Ryan, Stilettos, Inc., page 163:
text: His mother later expressed disappointment that she'd been wrong, but by then, Belinda had a butterfly on her hoo-ha.
ref: 2010, Dee Tenorio, All Or Nothing, page 54:
text: Tara Davis-Woodhall, an American who placed sixth in the long jump at the Tokyo Games and took silver at last year’s world championships, reacted with equal parts humor and horror, commenting: “Wait my hoo haa is gonna be out.”
ref: 2024 April 13, Tara Davis-Woodhall, quotee, “‘My hoo haa is gonna be out’: US Olympians slam Nike for skimpy women’s track kit”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
glosses: Vagina, vulva.
Related terms: brouhaha
what of it
Language: English
Part of speech: intj
Senses: examples: text: Yes, I ate the last cookie. What of it?
text: "Hiram took my snowballs."
"Aw, what of it, kid?" sneered the bully. "There's lots more snow. Make yourself another set and see what you can do."
ref: 1912, Stratemeyer Syndicate, chapter 1, in Baseball Joe on the School Nine:
glosses: So what? Who cares? Expresses disinterest, disregard or lack of concern.
underserved
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˌʌndəˈsɜːvd/
ipa: /ˌʌndɚˈsɝvd/
ipa: /ˌɐndəˈsɜːvd/
Forms: form: more underserved
form: most underserved
form: under-served
Etymology: From under- + served.
Senses: examples: text: Many families who live paycheck-to-paycheck are currently underserved by the financial services industry.
glosses: Underresourced; not having sufficient service.
topics: medicine
sciences
glosses: Underresourced; not having sufficient service.
Disadvantaged with regard to health services because of inability to pay, inability to access care, or other disparities for reasons of race, religion, language group or social status.
examples: text: It's too early to say precisely which corridors it will use, but TS notes a potential focus on underserved areas with poor connectivity - a need to improve access to the city centre, hospitals, colleges, employment centres, shopping centres and leisure facilities.
ref: 2021 February 24, Philip Haigh, “A shift from cars: Scotland's railways are friends of electric!”, in RAIL, number 925, page 31:
glosses: Underresourced; not having sufficient service.
Poorly served.
underserved
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˌʌndəˈsɜːvd/
ipa: /ˌʌndɚˈsɝvd/
ipa: /ˌɐndəˈsɜːvd/
Etymology: From under- + served.
Senses: glosses: simple past and past participle of underserve
smash hit
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: smash hits
Senses: examples: text: The cookies, though soft and gooey, proved a smash hit at the party.
text: All undergraduate libraries have been a screaming success as study halls. The Undergraduate Library of the University of Michigan may be the smash hit of all time; the attendance in that library during 1968-69 was 1,899,000.
ref: 1971, Library Journal, volume 96, page 1569:
glosses: Something that is tremendously popular or successful.
quaffed
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Senses: glosses: simple past and past participle of quaff
quaffs
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Senses: glosses: plural of quaff
quaffs
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Senses: glosses: third-person singular simple present indicative of quaff
catchpole
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈkatʃpəʊl/
Forms: form: catchpoles
form: catchpoll
Etymology: From Old French chacepol (“one who chases fowls”) (or a northern variant thereof).
Senses: examples: text: With two such catchpoles as Henry and Uncle Fred at his heels there was nothing left for Grandpa Piper but to sign his abdication to the drapery business.
ref: 1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, →OCLC, page 247:
glosses: A taxman, one who gathers taxes.
glosses: A sheriff’s officer, usually one who arrests debtors.
Related terms: myrmidon
catchpole
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈkatʃpəʊl/
Forms: form: catchpoles
form: catch-pole
Etymology: From catch + pole.
Senses: examples: text: The use of the catch-pole is said to have been to take horsemen in battle by the neck and drag them from their horses.
ref: 1843, Henry Shaw, Dresses and Decorations of the Middle Ages, W Pickering:
glosses: An implement formerly used for seizing and securing a person who would otherwise be out of reach.
ukiyo-e
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /uːˌkiːjəʊˈeɪ/
ipa: /uːˈki.oʊˌeɪ/
Forms: form: ukiyo-e
form: ukiyoe
form: ukiyoé
form: ukiyoye
Etymology: Borrowed from Japanese 浮世絵 (ukiyoe), from 浮 (uki, “floating, fleeting”) + 世 (yo, “world; era”) + 絵 (e, “image, picture”).
Senses: examples: text: Like many Ukiyo-e artists, Jacoulet hires woodcarvers and printers to convert his ideas into prints.
ref: 1946 January 20, “Approved by the Air Force”, in Time:
text: The masters of Ukiyo-e, the woodblock print, like Utamaro, immortalized its great courtesans and its famous houses of prostitution.
ref: 1958 April 2, The Times, p.11 col. F:
text: Starling looked past Carter, to an ukiyo-e woodcut of a Kabuki player.
ref: 2001, Glen David Gold, Carter Beats the Devil:
topics: art
arts
glosses: A Japanese painting or woodblock print depicting everyday life.
Hyponyms: uke-e
sodium tetraborate
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Senses: glosses: borax
acidity regulator
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: acidity regulators
Senses: glosses: any food additive used to control pH
ees
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈiːz/
rhymes: -iːz
homophone: ease
Senses: examples: text: These names […] may form regular plurals; thus, Aes, Bees, Cees, Dees, Ees, Effs, Gees, Aitches, Ies, Jays, Kays, Ells, Ems, Ens, Oes, Pees, Kues, Ars, Esses, Tees, Ues, Vees, Double-ues, Exes, Wies, Zees.
ref: 1856, Goold Brown, The First Lines of English Grammar, page 10:
text: 1998, Ricardo Corona, "These Esses" ("Esses esses"), in Other Shores (Outras Praias), translated by Ricardo Corona & Charles Perrone
to say (full of ees, ies, ues) that plurals are always two or more
text: The verse is further slowed by the heavy punctuation of the refrain and by the long vowel sounds—not only the "hollow oes and aes" but especially the interminable "ees" of "dreary . . . aweary, aweary."
ref: 2005, David Riede, Allegories of One's Own Mind: Melancholy in Victorian Poetry, page 51:
glosses: plural of e, the name of the letter E.
ees
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈiːz/
rhymes: -iːz
homophone: ease
Etymology: Pronunciation spelling of is, representing Latino- or French-accented English.
Senses: glosses: Alternative spelling of is.
ees
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈiːz/
rhymes: -iːz
homophone: ease
Senses: glosses: plural of ee
firming agent
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: firming agents
Senses: glosses: Any food additive added to react with pectin and give the food product a stronger structure.
freckly
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Forms: form: frecklier
form: freckliest
Etymology: From freckle + -y.
Senses: glosses: Full of or marked with freckles; sprinkled with spots; freckled.
freckly
Language: English
Part of speech: adv
Forms: form: more freckly
form: most freckly
Senses: glosses: hurriedly
glosses: boldly; eagerly.
crucified
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Senses: glosses: simple past and past participle of crucify
crucified
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Senses: glosses: that has been subject to crucifixion
Derived terms: uncrucified
Campbell
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈkæmbəl/
rhymes: -æmbəl
Forms: form: Campbells
Etymology: * As a Scottish surname, from Scottish Gaelic Caimbeul, from cam (“crooked”) + beul (“mouth”). Compare Cameron, from Scottish Gaelic cam (“crooked”) + sròn (“nose”).
* As an Irish surname, from Mac Cathmhaoil (“son of Cathmhaol”), see Caulfield, Cowell.
* As an English surname, variant of Camel, probably influenced by the above.
* (duck breed): Developed by Adele Campbell.
Senses: glosses: A British breed of domestic duck developed at Uley, in Gloucestershire, England, at the turn of the 20th century.
Derived terms: Khaki Campbell
Sophocles
Language: English
Part of speech: name
Pronunciation: enpr: sŏfəklēs
ipa: /ˈsɒ.fə.kliːz/
Etymology: From Latin Sophoclēs from Ancient Greek Σοφοκλῆς (Sophoklês).
Senses: glosses: A Greek dramatic poet (ca. 497 BCE – 405 BCE); Sophocles was one of the three greatest Greek tragedians. In the Athenian dramatic competitions of the Festival of Dionysus, he won more first prizes (around 20) than any other playwright, and placed second in all others he participated in. He is best remembered for his Oedipus Cycle of plays.
glosses: A male given name from Ancient Greek, equivalent to Ancient Greek Σοφοκλῆς (Sophoklês) or Greek Σοφοκλής (Sofoklís).
Related terms: Sophoclean
Aeschylus
Euripides