cstr/en-wiktionary-extracted-all huggingface dataset:
catch up
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Forms: form: catches up
form: catching up
form: caught up
form: caught up
form: catch-up
Senses: examples: text: Oscar stopped the horses and waved to Carl, who caught up his hat and ran through the melon patch to join them.
ref: 1913, Willa Cather, O Pioneers!, chapter 3:
glosses: To pick up suddenly.
examples: text: The speaker wires have got caught up with the wires from the lights.
glosses: To entangle (something).
examples: text: That's why she got caught up in addiction.
glosses: To involve in (something).
examples: text: I hadn't seen her for so long. It was great to catch up.
glosses: To be brought up to date with news.
examples: text: After Alice's vacation, her boss caught her up on policy changes.
text: I have to miss the end of the meeting, but you can catch me up later.
glosses: To bring (someone) up to date with the news.
examples: text: Rose was three seconds behind, but managed to catch up with the race leader and eventually won.
text: I'll go ahead and you can catch up with me later.
text: But you run / And you run to catch up with the sun / But it's sinking
ref: 1973 March 1, Roger Waters, “Time”, in The Dark Side of the Moon, performed by Pink Floyd:
glosses: To reach something that had been ahead.
examples: text: After a slow start, they've been catching up lately.
text: The sales quarter ends soon and we've got to try to catch up.
glosses: To compensate for or make up a deficiency.
examples: text: His years of drinking were catching up with him.
text: You are reminded that old age is catching up with you each time you read in the newspaper that another athlete whom you idolized when you were young just passed away.
ref: 2008, Bardas Benetbunk, Musings of One Thousand and One Nights of Solitude, page 61:
text: The episode begins with a lifetime of junk food, beer and no exercise catching up with Homer in the form of painful heart contractions.
ref: 2012 June 17, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Homer’s Triple Bypass” (season 4, episode 11; originally aired 12/17/1992)”, in The Onion AV Club:
glosses: To finally overtake (someone or something) after a long period of approaching (them or it).
raw_tags: of some inevitable phenomenon
with with
catch up
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: catch ups
form: catch-up
Senses: glosses: Alternative spelling of catch-up.
hypersurface
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: hypersurfaces
Etymology: From hyper- + surface.
Senses: topics: mathematics
sciences
glosses: A n-dimensional surface in a space (often a Euclidean space) of dimension n+1
Related terms: hyperplane
catch-up
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈkæt͡ʃ.ʌp/
ipa: /ˈkɛt͡ʃ.ʌp/
ipa: /ˈkæt͡ʃ.ɐp/
ipa: /ˈkɛt͡ʃ.ɐp/
homophone: ketchup
Forms: form: catch-ups
form: catchup
form: catch up
Etymology: Deverbal from catch up.
Senses: examples: text: Rapid expansion of Britain's transport network during the 'railway mania' of the 19th century meant that the testing of engineering principles often played catch-up to the ambitions of progress.
ref: 2021 March 24, Dr. Joseph Brennan, “Metallic marvels from rail's Iron Age”, in RAIL, number 927, page 57:
glosses: An act of catching up or attempting to catch up.
examples: text: Catch-up is also available on the TV set using Digitial^([sic]) TV Services: BT Vision offers BBC, ITV, 40D and Demand 5 via the TV Replay service.
ref: 2006, James Watson, Anne Hill, Dictionary of Media and Communication Studies, page 303:
text: They have shown their staying power before and it would be daft to write them off but it must be disturbing, nonetheless, for Mourinho that his team are five points behind already and locked in a game of catch-up against the side that has just subjected them to a rare, old-fashioned beating.
ref: 2015 August 16, Daniel Taylor, The Guardian:
glosses: An amount, a thing, or a receipt or repetition of information that enables one to catch up.
ninefold
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Etymology: From Middle English *nynefold, *niȝenfald, from Old English niġonfeald. Equivalent to nine + -fold.
Senses: glosses: Having nine times as much or as many.
examples: text: If so, where is your ninefold thread?
ref: 1872, Palmer Boyd, transl., Nágánanda, act III, page 46:
glosses: Having nine parts.
Derived terms: ninefoldness
ninefold
Language: English
Part of speech: adv
Etymology: From Middle English *nynefold, *niȝenfald, from Old English niġonfeald. Equivalent to nine + -fold.
Senses: glosses: By a factor of nine.
Related terms: nonadic
unavailing
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Forms: form: more unavailing
form: most unavailing
Etymology: From un- + availing.
Senses: examples: text: The Begums' ministers, on the contrary, to extort from them the disclosure of the place which concealed the treasures, were, […] after being fettered and imprisoned, led out on to a scaffold, and this array of terrours proving unavailing, the meek tempered Middleton, as a dernier resort, menaced them with a confinement in the fortress of Chunargar. Thus, my lords, was a British garrison made the climax of cruelties!
ref: 1788 June, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, “Mr. Sheridan’s Speech, on Summing Up the Evidence on the Second, or Begum Charge against Warren Hastings, Esq., Delivered before the High Court of Parliament, June 1788”, in Select Speeches, Forensick and Parliamentary, with Prefatory Remarks by N[athaniel] Chapman, M.D., volume I, [Philadelphia, Pa.]: Published by Hopkins and Earle, no. 170, Market Street, published 1808, →OCLC, page 474:
text: During the next ten years, efforts to secure support for extending the railway south of Hawick were unavailing.
ref: 1952 January, H. A. Vallance, “The Waverley Route”, in Railway Magazine, page 5:
glosses: Fruitless, futile, useless.
Synonyms: futile
ashen
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈæʃ.ən/
rhymes: -æʃən
Forms: form: more ashen
form: most ashen
Etymology: From Middle English asshen, aisshen, esscen, from Old English æsċen (“made of ashwood”), equivalent to ash + -en (“made or consisting of”). Cognate with Scots aschin, eschin (“ashen”).
Senses: examples: text: An ashen bow and quiver of arrows beside.
glosses: Made from the wood of the ash-tree.
Derived terms: ashenly
ashenness
ashen
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈæʃ.ən/
rhymes: -æʃən
Forms: form: more ashen
form: most ashen
Etymology: From Middle English asshen, axen (“ash-colored; pale; lifeless”). By surface analysis, ash + -en (“made or consisting of”).
Senses: examples: text: A fine, ashen dust hung in the air.
glosses: Of or resembling ashes.
examples: text: His ashen face belied his claims of good health.
glosses: Ash-colored; pale; anemic
glosses: Appalled; upset.
glosses: Anaemic.
Synonyms: ashy
cineraceous
cinereous
Derived terms: ashen knight
ashen-faced
ashen
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈæʃ.ən/
rhymes: -æʃən
Forms: form: ashens
form: ashening
form: ashened
form: ashened
Etymology: From ash + -en (verbal suffix).
Senses: glosses: To turn into ash; make or become ashy
glosses: To make or become pale
stability
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /stəˈbɪlɪti/
ipa: [stəˈbɪlɪɾi]
rhymes: -ɪlɪti
Forms: form: stabilities
Etymology: From Middle English stabletee, stabilite, from Old French stabilité, from Latin root of stabilitas (“firmness, steadfastness”), from stabilis (“steadfast, firm”). Displaced native Old English staþolfæstnes.
Senses: examples: text: This platform offers good stability
synonyms: stableness
antonyms: instability
glosses: The condition of being stable or in equilibrium, and thus resistant to change.
examples: text: emotional stability
text: Globalization has re-ordered the global economy in ways that are destructive to civic stability, as decentralized, localized producers cannot compete with globalized, commoditized crops, capital, labor and goods.
ref: 2025 February 13, Charles Hugh Smith, The Not-So-Strange Paradox of American Power and Dysfunction:
glosses: The tendency to recover from perturbations.
Derived terms: acidostability
angle of vanishing stability
autostability
biostability
bistability
chemostability
continent of stability
cryostability
dimensional stability
directional stability
electronic stability control
Fourier stability analysis
halostability
hyperstability
hypostability
island of stability
limit of positive stability
mechanostability
mesostability
metacentric stability
metastability
monostability
multistability
nonstability
overstability
photostability
polystability
prestability
price stability
quasistability
semistability
stability conditions
superstability
thermostability
tristability
ultrastability
von Neumann stability analysis
fissure
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈfɪʃ.ə/
ipa: /ˈfɪʃ.ɚ/
ipa: /ˈfɪʒ.ɚ/
homophone: Fischer
homophone: Fisher
homophone: fisher
homophone: phisher
rhymes: -ɪʃə(ɹ)
Forms: form: fissures
Etymology: From Middle English fissure, from Old French fissure, from Latin fissūra (“a cleft, chink”), from findō (“to cleave, split, divide”) + -tūra (nominal suffix).
Senses: examples: text: After Miller's Dale Junction, the main Derby-Manchester line crosses the Wye for the last time and turns north-west up Great Rocks Dale, a natural fissure several miles long.
ref: 1960 April, J. P. Wilson, E. N. C. Haywood, “The route through the Peak—Derby to Manchester: Part Two”, in Trains Illustrated, page 224:
glosses: A long, narrow crack or opening made by breaking or splitting, especially in rock or earth.
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
coordinate_terms: fossa
fovea
sulcus
cleft
lacuna
vallecula
glosses: A groove, deep furrow, elongated cleft or tear between body parts or in the substance of an organ.
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
glosses: A break or slit in tissue usually at the junction of skin and mucous membrane.
synonyms: schism
glosses: A state of incompatibility or disagreement.
Derived terms: ape-fissure
contrafissure
counterfissure
fissural
fissurate
fissureless
fissurelike
fissure needle
fissure vein
fissure vent
fissuriform
fissurization
fissurotomy
fissury
inferior orbital fissure
laryngofissure
pterygomaxillary fissure
superior orbital fissure
Sylvian fissure
thyrofissure
fissure
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈfɪʃ.ə/
ipa: /ˈfɪʃ.ɚ/
ipa: /ˈfɪʒ.ɚ/
homophone: Fischer
homophone: Fisher
homophone: fisher
homophone: phisher
rhymes: -ɪʃə(ɹ)
Forms: form: fissures
form: fissuring
form: fissured
form: fissured
Etymology: From Middle English fissure, from Old French fissure, from Latin fissūra (“a cleft, chink”), from findō (“to cleave, split, divide”) + -tūra (nominal suffix).
Senses: glosses: To split, forming fissures.
Derived terms: word: fissuration
word: fissured
word: fissuring
predilection
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˌpɹiː.dəˈlɛk.ʃn̩/
ipa: /ˌpɹɛ.dəˈlɛk.ʃn̩/
rhymes: -ɛkʃən
Forms: form: predilections
form: prædilection
Etymology: Borrowed from Medieval Latin praedīlēctiō.
Senses: examples: text: The young King looked tenderly at Mademoiselle Mancini, who gave him a glance quite as tender in return—not, however, unobserved. His mother had been for some time past a displeased spectator of a predilection which might become dangerous.
ref: 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIX, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 219:
text: American operating practice aims at the minimum wastage of time by locomotives at water columns and coal stages, and this predilection for shunters with high capacity tenders is thereby explained.
ref: 1941 November, “Notes and News: American Tank Locomotives”, in Railway Magazine, page 523:
text: It was an illusion, of course, generated by Clevinger's predilection for staring fixedly at one side of a question and never seeing the other side at all.
ref: 1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “Lieutenant Scheisskopf”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 66:
text: The appointment as Member of the B.T.C. with "special responsibility for railway workshops" of Sir Steuart Mitchell is in accordance with Mr. Marples' predilection for non-railwaymen in the highest posts.
ref: 1962 April, “Talking of Trains: From guided weapons to the B.T.C.”, in Modern Railways, page 221:
text: A row of houses he regards as a row of necessary evils. The softening and degeneration of the human race he attributes to its progressive predilection for interiors and waning interest in the art of going out and staying there.
ref: 1967, Flann O’Brien, chapter 2, in The Third Policeman:
text: But for him the first rule of judging was to set aside personal predilection and vote the law and the facts.
ref: 1987 June 29, Edwin M. Yoder Jr., “Lewis Powell a Fine Sense of Balance”, in Washington Post:
text: ... youth’s predilection for revolt.
ref: 2000 October 23, Terry McCarthy, “Lost Generation”, in Time Asia:
text: Wilson doesn’t see any inconsistency between his socialism and his predilection for the high life.
ref: 2001 March 13, Marina Cantacuzino, “On deadly ground”, in The Guardian:
glosses: A condition of favoring or liking; a tendency towards; proclivity; predisposition.
Synonyms: word: affinity
word: bag
word: bent
word: cup of coffee
word: cup of joe
word: cup of tea
word: fancy
word: liking
word: partiality
word: penchant
word: predilection
word: predisposition
word: preference
word: proclivity
word: propension
word: propensity
word: shine
word: taste
word: thing
Hypernyms: word: bias
word: disposition
word: inclination
word: prejudice
word: tendency
Hyponyms: word: desire
word: fetish
Related terms: word: druthers
rhapsodic
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Etymology: From Latinized form of Ancient Greek ῥαψῳδῐκός (rhapsōidĭkós).
Senses: examples: text: I love all that romantic stuff and I'm tired of seeing it given over entirely to straights when we experience the same stupid, fabulous, rhapsodic feelings in our own relationships.
ref: 1977 December 17, Harold Pickett, quoting Jim Ferguson, “New York, New York”, in Gay Community News, volume 5, number 24, page 6:
glosses: highly emotional; rapturous
glosses: Of or relating to rhapsody; consisting of rhapsody
glosses: confused, unconnected
Related terms: rhapsody
rapturous
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈɹæp.t͡ʃəɹ.əs/
Forms: form: more rapturous
form: most rapturous
Etymology: From rapture + -ous.
Senses: examples: text: the rapturous applause
text: the rapturous emotions on the pulpit
text: Díaz told a rapturous crowd of 5,000 who turned out in Madrid on Sunday for the launch: “I want to be Spain’s first female president because women’s time has come, and women want to be the ones who make history.”
ref: 2023 April 3, Stephen Burgen, “Spanish minister Yolanda Díaz launches leftwing political party”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
text: Both players were given rapturous rounds of applause as they collected their trophies after the second longest major final in history.
ref: 2025 June 8, Jonathan Jurejko, “Alcaraz stuns Sinner in extraordinary French Open final”, in BBC:
text: He wanted his life to be greater than it was. ChatGPT agreed, with responses that grew longer and more rapturous as the conversation went on. Soon, it was telling Mr. Torres that he was “one of the Breakers — souls seeded into false systems to wake them from within.”
ref: 2025 June 13, Kashmir Hill, “They Asked ChatGPT Questions. The Answers Sent Them Spiraling.”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
glosses: Full of rapture.
Related terms: rapture
rapturously
rapturesome
repudiation
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /rɪˌpjuːdɪˈeɪʃ(ə)n/
ipa: /rəˌpjudiˈeɪʃən/
Forms: form: repudiations
Etymology: From Latin repudiātiōnem, equivalent to repudiate + -ion.
Senses: examples: text: The young man's repudiation of the church's doctrines caused a conflict with his religious parents.
text: Santorum, in a comment regarding Senator John McCain's repudiation of torture, stated, "He doesn't understand how enhanced interrogation works. I mean, you break somebody, and after they've broken they become cooperative" (Summers 2011).
ref: 2015 November 30, Shane O'Mara, Why Torture Doesn’t Work: The Neuroscience of Interrogation, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 12:
glosses: The act of refusing to accept; the act of repudiating.
Derived terms: nonrepudiation
anticipatory repudiation
non-repudiation
analemma
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˌæn.əˈlɛm.ə/
Forms: form: analemmas
form: analemmata
Etymology: From Ancient Greek ἀνάλημμα (análēmma, “pedestal of a sundial”).
Senses: examples: text: People commonly encounter the equation of time in a strangely distorted figure 8, the analemma (Figure 6.5), frequently seen on terrestrial globes. The analemma is the equation of time plotted against the Sun's declination.
ref: 1996, James B. Kaler, The Ever-Changing Sky: A Guide to the Celestial Sphere (paperback), published 2002, page 169:
text: The analemma also records the difference between local solar time and local mean time for each day of the year.
ref: 2002, Timothy G. Feeman, Portraits of the Earth: A Mathematician Looks at Maps, page 108:
text: The analemma's shape varies by location, but is seldom perfectly balanced.[…]
The ends of the analemma represent summer and winter, but if we expect the solstices to be exactly at the ends and the equinoxes to be at the crossing point, we'd be wrong.
ref: 2011, Renna Shesso, Planets for Pagans: Sacred Sites, Ancient Lore, and Magical Stargazing, page 58:
glosses: A figure-eight curve that results when the Sun's position in the sky is plotted out over the year at the same hour of mean solar time every day.
Derived terms: tutulemma
Related terms: equation of time
lemniscate
anandrous
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Etymology: From Ancient Greek ἄνανδρος (ánandros). Equivalent to an- + -androus.
Senses: examples: text: Anandrous flowers eight or nine; their ligular portion white, hardly exceeding one line in length, undivided and acute […]
ref: 1882, Transactions and Proceedings and Report of the Philosophical Society of Adelaide, South Australia, page 108:
topics: biology
botany
natural-sciences
glosses: Lacking stamens; devoid of the male part.
examples: text: anandrous aunts
glosses: Without a man or a husband.
apert
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /əˈpɜː(ɹ)t/
rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)t
Etymology: From Middle English apert, from Old French apert, from Latin apertus, past participle of aperire. Doublet of ouvert and overt.
Senses: examples: text: apert Confessions
ref: 1622, Martin Fotherby, Atheomastix:
glosses: open; uncovered; revealed
Derived terms: apertly
apertness
malapert
Related terms: pert
aplomb
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /əˈplʌm/
ipa: /əˈplɒm/
rhymes: -ʌm
rhymes: -ɒm
Forms: form: aplombs
Etymology: Unadapted borrowing from French aplomb.
Senses: examples: text: His nonchalance and aplomb during hard times have always been his best character trait.
text: “Oh, Wooster,” he said, “I was talking to my mother a night or two ago.” “Oh, yes?” I said, with a slight wave of the hand intended to indicate that if he liked to talk to his mother anywhere, all over the house, he had my approval. “She tells me you are interested in mice.” I didn't like the trend the conversation was taking, but I preserved my aplomb. “Why, yes, fairly interested.” “She says she found you trying to catch one in my bedroom!”
ref: 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XV, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:
text: We can handle functions of a few variables with some aplomb and view sets of quantities totalling IO6 or IO7 with sangfroid.
ref: 1961, Richard Bellman, Adaptive Control Processes: A Guided Tour, Princeton University Press, page 197:
text: They have a seven-year-old son named Timothy, never called Timmy or Tim; a little scrawny guy who wears thick glasses already, and who tucks his striped T-shirts into his pants with the aplomb of a silver-templed CEO.
ref: 2000, Elizabeth Berg, Range of Motion:
text: Fly-half Jonny Wilkinson put his below-par performance against Argentina behind him with a fine first-half showing, slotting four kicks from six and controlling his back-line with aplomb, while England's three-quarters were brimming with life and clinical with their execution.
ref: 2011 September 24, Ben Dirs, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 67-3 Romania”, in BBC Sport:
text: Installing lift shafts in station buildings which were not originally designed to accommodate them can be a fraught exercise, but a necessary one if the legitimate aspiration of the travelling public for step-free access is to be achieved. At Sudbury Hill, on London Underground's Piccadilly Line extension out to the north-western suburbs, Transport for London has achieved this with aplomb.
ref: 2022 December 14, Robin Leleux, “A royal occasion as heritage projects honoured: Sudbury Hill”, in RAIL, number 972, page 57:
text: But Cruise remains the main attraction. He carries the film with aplomb and invests the action with enough familiarity from the previous films that fans will be more than happy.
ref: 2023 July 5, Murtada Elfadl, “Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One review: Tom Cruise runs, jumps, and delivers again”, in AV Club:
text: Korda, preternaturally calm about everything, confronts his past with outward aplomb, but there’s an uneasiness growing in him.
ref: 2025 May 29, Alissa Wilkinson, “‘The Phoenician Scheme’ Review: Benicio Del Toro Plans to Save His Soul”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
glosses: Self-confidence; poise; composure.
qualifier: ballet
glosses: The apparent elegance and precision exhibited by a confident, accomplished dancer.
glosses: The perpendicular; perpendicularity.
apidictor
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: apidictors
Senses: topics: agriculture
beekeeping
business
lifestyle
glosses: An instrument which measures and records the sounds in a beehive.
dolina
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: dolinas
Senses: topics: geography
geology
natural-sciences
glosses: Alternative form of doline.
cravat
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /kɹəˈvat/
ipa: /kɹəˈvæt/
rhymes: (General American) -æt
Forms: form: cravats
Etymology: From French cravate, an appellative use of Cravate (“Croat”), from Dutch Krawaat, from German Krawatte, from Serbo-Croatian Hr̀vāt/Хр̀ва̄т (“Croat”). The cravat is regarded as originating from a linen scarf worn by Croatian mercenaries which was adopted into French fashion in the 17th century. Doublet of Croat.
Senses: examples: text: It was April 22, 1831, and a young man was walking down Whitehall in the direction of Parliament Street. He wore shepherd's plaid trousers and the swallow-tail coat of the day, with a figured muslin cravat wound about his wide-spread collar.
ref: 1906, Stanley J[ohn] Weyman, “The Dissolution”, in Chippinge Borough, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., →OCLC, page 3:
text: I'm not like, a fashion person, so maybe I just don't get it, but I don't even understand how you're going to match. What, are you going to get like... a cravat that's the same color as her dress? / I would rock a dope cravat.
ref: 2025, S.E. Case, chapter 1, in Rigsby WI, volume 1: Foothold, →ISBN, retrieved 23 Aug 2025, page 9:
glosses: A wide fabric band worn as a necktie by men having long ends hanging in front.
glosses: A decorative fabric band or scarf worn around the neck by women.
topics: medicine
sciences
surgery
glosses: A bandage resembling a cravat, particularly a triangular bandage folded into a strip.
Hyponyms: ascot
ascot tie
Derived terms: word: cravating
word: cravatted
word: hempen cravat
cravat
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /kɹəˈvat/
ipa: /kɹəˈvæt/
rhymes: (General American) -æt
Forms: form: cravats
form: cravatting
form: cravatted
form: cravatted
Etymology: From French cravate, an appellative use of Cravate (“Croat”), from Dutch Krawaat, from German Krawatte, from Serbo-Croatian Hr̀vāt/Хр̀ва̄т (“Croat”). The cravat is regarded as originating from a linen scarf worn by Croatian mercenaries which was adopted into French fashion in the 17th century. Doublet of Croat.
Senses: glosses: To adorn with a cravat; to tie a cravat, or something resembling a cravat, around the neck.
black art
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: black arts
Senses: examples: text: dabbling in the black arts
text: In 1690s Salem, anyone was at mortal risk of being accused of practicing the black arts.
text: For even the enchantresses Circe and Medea could not, by their black arts, prevent the unfaithfulness of Odysseus and Jason.
ref: 1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 175:
glosses: A practice such as witchcraft, sorcery, necromancy, or black magic.
examples: text: Operating a hand card punch was something of a black art.
text: Traincrew management has always been a bit of a black art, rather than a science. The present traincrew difficulties that beset the UK rail industry are neither new nor were they unforeseeable.
ref: 2022 November 16, Graham Eccles, “The Rest Day Working saga...”, in RAIL, number 970, page 32:
glosses: A process that is esoteric or difficult to master.
Synonyms: dark art
black magic
tumid
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈtjuːmɪd/
ipa: /ˈtuːmɪd/
rhymes: -uːmɪd
Forms: form: more tumid
form: most tumid
Etymology: Borrowed from Latin tumidus (“swollen”).
Senses: glosses: Swollen, enlarged, bulging.
glosses: Cancerous, unhealthy.
examples: text: Tumid blustering, with more or less of sincerity, which need not be entirely sincere, yet the sincerer the better, is like to go far.
ref: 1837, Thomas Carlyle, chapter III, in The French Revolution: A History […], volume II (The Constitution), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, book I (The Feast of Pikes), page 19:
glosses: Pompous, bombastic.
Related terms: tumescent
tumor
turgescent
turgid
severity
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /sɪˈvɛɹɪti/
ipa: /səˈvɛɹəti/
note: Indic
ipa: /səˈvɪɐɾɪti/
note: Indic
ipa: /səˈvɪæɾɪti/
rhymes: -ɛɹɪti
Forms: form: severities
Etymology: From severe + -ity, from Middle French severite, from Latin severitas.
Senses: examples: text: […] the fear of God whereof ' tis written Keeper : But not the fear of punishment for sin
And I can see that the uncertainty In which we act is a severity ,
A cruelty , amounting to injustice
That nothing but God's mercy can assuage . […]
ref: 1948, Harold Vinal, Voices, numbers 132-136, →OCLC, page 51:
glosses: The state of being severe.
examples: text: The severity of the offence merits a long prison sentence.
glosses: The degree of something undesirable; badness or seriousness.
Synonyms: severeness
specified
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈspɛsɪfaɪd/
Forms: form: more specified
form: most specified
Senses: glosses: Thoroughly explained.
Derived terms: above-specified
other specified dissociative disorder
specifiedness
unspecified
specified
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈspɛsɪfaɪd/
Senses: glosses: simple past and past participle of specify
mugu
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: mugus
form: maga
Senses: examples: text: They sent emails asking mugus to wire funds in order to claim nonexistent prizes.
ref: 2010, Sefi Atta, News from Home: Stories, page 245:
glosses: Alternative spelling of moegoe.
examples: text: It is people like you who make my hustlers in Europe call Americans mugu.
ref: 2020, Mirka Honkanen, World Englishes on the Web: The Nigerian Diaspora in the USA, page 240:
glosses: A fool.
glosses: A victim of an online scam.
Synonyms: mumu
Related terms: english: Nigerian slang
translation: Nigerian slang
word: Yahoo boy
subterranean
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˌsʌbtəˈɹeɪniən/
Etymology: From Latin subterrāneus + -an. Compare subterrane and subterraneous.
Senses: examples: text: Again the bearers took up the coffin, and cold and damp the subterranean air came from the opened vault. The tapers were lowered, and shed a ghastly light on the rows of piled coffins, and the moisture glittering on the walls.
ref: 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIX, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 162:
text: And you were in the parking lot / Subterranean by your own design
ref: 1975, Joni Mitchell, “The Boho Dance”, in The Hissing of Summer Lawns:
text: This is a story of north-south connection, and it begins with the fact that late in 1863 the Great Northern Railway completed a subterranean connection from its terminus at King's Cross to the tracks of the Metropolitan enabling the Great Northern to run through to the Met's easterly terminus at Farringdon Street.
ref: 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 52:
text: The best way to neutralise its [nuclear waste's] threat is to move it into a subterranean vault, of the kind the UK plans to build later this century. Once interred, the waste will be left alone for tens of thousands of years, while its radioactivity cools.
ref: 2022 December 15, Samanth Subramanian, “Dismantling Sellafield: the epic task of shutting down a nuclear site”, in The Guardian:
text: Today is that most sacred of American holidays. A day when people from all walks of life set aside their differences and focus their undivided attention on the prognostication abilities of a subterranean rodent.
ref: 2025 February 2, Andrew Torgan and Kimberly Richardson, “Start your week smart: Trump tariffs, DC air collision, hostages released, medevac jet crash, FAA system outage”, in CNN:
glosses: Below ground, under the earth, underground.
examples: text: The subterranean tool of buying rigged opinion polling and media coverage is outlined in remarkable detail in chat exchanges recovered from the cellphone of one of Mr. Kurz’s closest allies and friends, Thomas Schmid.
ref: 2021 October 17, Katrin Bennhold, “Fake Polls and Tabloid Coverage on Demand: The Dark Side of Sebastian Kurz”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
glosses: Secret, concealed.
Synonyms: sense: below the ground
word: subterraneous
sense: below the ground
word: subterrene
sense: below the ground
word: underground
sense: below the ground
word: hypogean
word: belowground
word: chthonian
word: chthonic
word: cuniculate
word: subterranean
Hyponyms: word: buried
Derived terms: subterranean clover
Related terms: word: terranean
word: chthonic
word: deep
word: subaqueous
subterranean
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˌsʌbtəˈɹeɪniən/
Forms: form: subterraneans
Etymology: From Latin subterrāneus + -an. Compare subterrane and subterraneous.
Senses: examples: text: [H]e continues Lean like a Hawke or Heron, notwith ſtanding his devouring Appetite: yet it would ſeem that they convey that ſubſtance elſewhere, for theſe Subterraneans eat but little in their Dwellings; […]
ref: 1691, Robert Kirk, “Of the Subterranean Inhabitants”, in Andrew Lang, editor, The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns, & Fairies: A Study in Folk-Lore & Psychical Research (Bibliothèque de Carabas; VIII), London: […] David Nutt, […], published 1893, →OCLC, page 11:
text: Whatever elſe the Tauric Cimmerium have been right or wrong called, it is no leſs ſurely a capital of darkneſs, than, near the famous Baths of Baiae, in Campania, the Cimmerium, where the inhabitants were truly Cimmerian; as miners, or other ſubterraneans; who, for good or evil purpoſe, never faced the ſun.
ref: 1782, James Elphinston, “A Comment on the Epigrams of Martial”, in M[arcus] Val[erius] Martial, translated by James Elphinston, The Epigrams of M. Val. Martial, in Twelve Books: with a Comment, London: […] Baker and Galabin, […], →OCLC, book I, part II, page 503, columns 1–2:
text: Prue found an ample subterranean, neatly furnished; […]
ref: 1906, Richard Whiteing, chapter X, in Ring in the New, London: Hutchinson & Co. […], →OCLC, page 66:
text: Above: a stretch of the walls of the old Cathedral of S. Reparata in the subterraneans of the Duomo.
ref: 1988, Erika Pauli, transl., “Santa Reparata”, in Art and History of Florence, Florence: Casa Editrice Bonechi, page 56:
glosses: Someone or something that is subterranean.
International Monetary Fund
Language: English
Part of speech: name
Forms: form: the International Monetary Fund
Senses: synonyms: word: IMF
glosses: The international organization entrusted with overseeing the global financial system by monitoring foreign exchange rates and balance of payments, as well as offering technical and financial assistance when requested.
postmodern
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Forms: form: more postmodern
form: most postmodern
form: pomo
form: po-mo
form: post-modern
Etymology: From post- + modern.
Senses: examples: text: The nearer is a fact to the temporary limits of knowledge, the more implicated becomes this regression and the more blurred ought to be statement of fact. [Percy W.] Bridgman of Harvard recently has emphasized this conclusion, but his postmodern position has as yet made small impression.
ref: 1937 May, John Q. Stewart, “An Astronomer Looks at the Modern Epoch”, in The Scientific Monthly, volume 44, number 5, page 402:
text: A new book by Peter Drucker, author of “The New Society” and “America's Next Twenty Years,” will be published next Wednesday by Harper. In “Landmarks of Tomorrow,” Mr. Drucker discusses the postmodern world and how it differs from the old “modern” world that began with Descartes and the empiricists.
ref: 1958 December 31, “Books–Authors”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
glosses: Relating to what follows the modern era.
examples: text: What I am objecting to is that aspect of postmodern thought that rejects the idea of any objective reality.
ref: 2001 Apr, Kristen Renwick Monroe, “Paradigm Shift: From Rational Choice to Perspective”, in International Political Science Review, volume 22, number 2, page 167 n22:
text: For an illustration of the differences between the traditional, positivist curriculum and the more postmodern reconceptualized curriculum, see Hanley and Montgomery.
ref: 2005 Mar, Janet R. Barrett, “Planning for Understanding: A Reconceptualized View of the Music Curriculum”, in Music Educators Journal, volume 91, number 4, page 25:
glosses: Of, relating to, or having the characteristics of postmodernism, especially as represented in art, architecture, literature, science, or philosophy that reacts against an earlier modernism.
Derived terms: nonpostmodern
postmodernese
postmodernisation
postmodernise
postmodernism
postmodernity
postmodernization
postmodernize
postmodernly
postmodern patient
postpostmodern
prepostmodern
unpostmodern
postmodern
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: postmoderns
form: pomo
form: po-mo
form: post-modern
Etymology: From post- + modern.
Senses: examples: text: Trajal Harrell frames his program notes for “Twenty Looks or Paris Is Burning at the Judson Church (S)” with the potentially academic question, “What would have happened in 1963 if someone from the ball scene in Harlem had come downtown to perform alongside the early postmoderns at Judson Church?”
ref: 2009 October 3, Claudia La Rocco, “Where All the World’s a Fashion Show”, in New York Times:
glosses: A postmodernist.
moder
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: mŏd′ər
ipa: /ˈmɒd.ə/
note: older Received Pronunciation
ipa: /ˈmɔːd.ə/
ipa: /ˈmɒd.ɐ/
ipa: /ˈmɒd.a/
ipa: /ˈmɔd.əɹ/
ipa: /ˈmɑd.əɹ/
ipa: /ˈmɒd.əɹ/
ipa: /ˈmɑd.əɹ/
ipa: /ˈmɔd.ə/
ipa: /ˈmɔɖ.əʳ/
rhymes: -ɒdə(ɹ)
homophone: modder
Forms: form: moders
form: modering
form: modered
form: modered
Etymology: Clipping of moderate.
Senses: glosses: To moderate.
all right
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: enpr: ôl'rīt'
ipa: /ˌɔːlˈɹaɪt/
ipa: /ˌɔlˈɹaɪt/
ipa: /ˌɑlˈɹaɪt/
rhymes: -aɪt
homophone: alright
Forms: form: alright
form: allright
Senses: examples: text: The car is all right. It gets me there, anyway.
glosses: Good; in acceptable, if not excellent condition.
examples: text: I had a headache earlier, but now I'm all right.
text: The dread of most etherizers is a quiet breather who may stop breathing without his notice, and requires the almost constant presence of his ear at the patient's mouth to be sure he or she is all right.
ref: 1903, William Brodie, Carl Jungk, Francis Edward Stewart, The Therapeutic Gazette, page 536:
text: ‘No. I only opened the door a foot and put my head in. The street lamps shine into that room. I could see him. He was all right. Sleeping like a great grampus. Poor, poor chap.’
ref: 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 20, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
text: Next I called my dear friend Nellie Connally in Dallas. We had been close to Nellie and John for many years, sharing moments of sorrow and happiness alike. She reported that the surgeon had just finished operating and that John was going to be all right.
ref: 1971, Lyndon Johnson, “The Beginning”, in The Vantage Point, Holt, Reinhart & Winston, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 16:
glosses: In good health, unharmed.
Derived terms: it'll be all right on the night
you're all right
all right
Language: English
Part of speech: adv
Pronunciation: enpr: ôl'rīt'
ipa: /ˌɔːlˈɹaɪt/
ipa: /ˌɔlˈɹaɪt/
ipa: /ˌɑlˈɹaɪt/
rhymes: -aɪt
homophone: alright
Forms: form: alright
form: allright
Senses: examples: text: It went all right because my old drill still works all right.
glosses: Fairly well.
examples: text: You taught them a lesson all right! They won't be back.
glosses: Most certainly; for sure.
all right
Language: English
Part of speech: intj
Pronunciation: enpr: ôl'rīt'
ipa: /ˌɔːlˈɹaɪt/
ipa: /ˌɔlˈɹaɪt/
ipa: /ˌɑlˈɹaɪt/
rhymes: -aɪt
homophone: alright
Forms: form: alright
form: allright
Senses: examples: text: All right, let's go then.
text: Presently there came a loud ring, then a decided voice, asking for 'Mr. Laurie', and a surprised-looking servant came running up to announce a young lady. "All right, show her up, it's Miss Jo," said Laurie, going to the door of his little parlor to meet Jo, who appeared, looking rosy and quite at her ease, with a covered dish in one hand and Beth's three kittens in the other.
ref: 1868, Louisa May Alcott, Little Women:
glosses: Used to affirm, indicate agreement, or consent.
examples: text: All right! They scored!
glosses: Used to indicate support, favor or encouragement.
examples: text: All right, so what you suggest we do next?
glosses: Used to fill space or pauses.
examples: text: All right, let's get started.
glosses: Used as a general lead-in or beginning.
examples: text: All right, already! Let me finish what I was doing first, and then we can talk.
glosses: Used to express exasperation or frustration, often reduplicated or with already.
examples: text: All right, mate, how are things with you and the missus?
glosses: Term of greeting, equivalent to how are you or hello.
Derived terms: aight
all righto
alright
a'right
Related terms: all-right
OK
okay
safecracking
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: safecrackings
form: safe-cracking
Etymology: From safe + cracking.
Senses: glosses: The act of defeating the security mechanisms of a safe or vault to gain access to its contents.
Related terms: safecracker
convoy
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈkɒn.vɔɪ/
Forms: form: convoys
Etymology: From Middle English, from Old French convoier, another form of conveier, from Vulgar Latin *convio (compare Medieval Latin convio (“to accompany on the way”)), from Latin con- (“together”) + via (“way”).
Senses: topics: nautical
transport
glosses: One or more merchant ships sailing in company to the same general destination under the protection of naval vessels.
examples: text: 'Cause we got a great big convoy
Rockin' through the night.
Yeah, we got a great big convoy
Ain't she a beautiful sight?
Come on and join our convoy
Ain't nothin' gonna get in our way.
We gonna roll this truckin' convoy
'Cross the USA.
ref: 1975, “Convoy”, in C.W. McCall, Chip Davis (lyrics), Black Bear Road, performed by C. W. McCall:
glosses: A group of vehicles travelling together for safety, especially one with an escort.
glosses: The act of convoying; protection.
Derived terms: convoy coat
lock convoy
Related terms: convey
convoy
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈkɒn.vɔɪ/
Forms: form: convoys
form: convoying
form: convoyed
form: convoyed
Etymology: From Middle English, from Old French convoier, another form of conveier, from Vulgar Latin *convio (compare Medieval Latin convio (“to accompany on the way”)), from Latin con- (“together”) + via (“way”).
Senses: examples: text: A frigate convoys a merchantman.
text: I know ye skilful to convoy / The total freight of hope and joy / Into rude and homely nooks, / Shed mocking lustres on shelf of books, […]
ref: 1867, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “May-Day”, in May-Day and Other Pieces, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 23:
glosses: To escort a group of vehicles, and provide protection.
glosses: To travel under convoy.
Derived terms: unconvoyed
attentive
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /əˈtɛntɪv/
Forms: form: more attentive
form: most attentive
Etymology: From Middle English attentif, attentijf, from Old French attentif.
Senses: examples: text: She is an attentive listener, but does not like to talk much.
text: King-of-the-Sky was sitting alone in the Leeward Village meeting-house, gesticulating to the attentive shades of night, roaring out the genealogy of his ancestors, telling the sleeping world of his greatness.
ref: 1929, Robert Dean Frisbee, The Book of Puka-Puka, republished by Eland, 2019; p. 94:
glosses: Paying attention; noticing, watching, listening, or attending closely.
examples: text: a husband attentive to his wife’s needs
glosses: Courteous; mindful.
Synonyms: audient
heedful
mindful
reckful
Derived terms: attentively
attentiveness
attentivity
hyperattentive
nonattentive
overattentive
polyattentive
preattentive
unattentive
Related terms: alert
wary
watchful
ff.
Language: English
Part of speech: phrase
Etymology: Abbreviation of Latin foliō (“on the (next) page”), ablative of folium (“leaf, page”).
Senses: glosses: and the following (pages, paragraphs etc.)
Synonyms: et seq.
Related terms: f.
Venezia
Language: English
Part of speech: name
Etymology: From Italian Venezia. Doublet of Venetia and Venice.
Senses: examples: text: But it would have been so nice to have a private income, and to be able sometimes to go to Venezia, Firenze, Roma, those places with the beautiful names.
ref: 1896, W[alter] D[elaplaine] Scull, “Mrs. Platt”, in The Garden of the Matchboxes and Other Stories, London: Elkin Mathews, page 94:
text: When you plan your first visit to Italy, you will likely put Roma, Firenze, and Venezia at the top of your list, perhaps adding Milano and Napoli as well. These destinations make sense because they are all world-class cities with great history, art, architecture, culture, and food.
ref: 1996, Fred Plotkin, “Introduction: Garibaldi with a Fork”, in Italy for the Gourmet Traveler, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 5:
text: “[…] The only thing I really want to see is Venice. That is the place where they have the gondolas, right?” / “Right,” Marcos said. “That is where I live. Venezia.” […] “Do you have water right outside your front door and ride around in gondolas?” Katie asked. / “Of course. Venezia is built on more than a hundred islands. Nearly everyone has water outside the front door. My father owns a jewelry store near the Piazza San Marcos. Carlo Savini Jewelers. If you go to Venezia, you must go to his store.[…]”
ref: 2000, Robin Jones Gunn, chapter 6, in Until Tomorrow, Minneapolis, Minn.: Bethany House Publishers, →ISBN, pages 65–66:
text: By mid-morning, a squall came whipping up the Adriatic, the sea churning and frothing as it swept into the lagoon, stirring up the canals that made Venezia famous; […]
ref: 2014 December, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, chapter 2, in Sustenance: A Novel of the Count Saint-Germain, New York, N.Y.: Tor, →ISBN, page 40:
glosses: Synonym of Venice (“the capital city of Veneto, Italy”).
synonyms: word: Venice
extra: the capital city of Veneto, Italy
Luftwaffe
Language: English
Part of speech: name
Pronunciation: /ˈlʊftvafə/
/ˈlʊftwɑfə/
Etymology: Unadapted borrowing from German Luftwaffe (literally “air-weapon”).
Senses: examples: text: Politicians insist that lockdown under coronavirus is like the experience of wartime. It’s not – except in one way, which I’ll come to. It’s so quiet, for one thing. War is noisy. Sirens, soldiers tramping past singing, Luftwaffe engines in the night sky.
ref: 2020 April 19, Neal Ascherson, “After the crisis, a new world won’t emerge as if by magic. We will have to fight for it”, in The Guardian:
text: Owing to its location at the entrance to the River Tyne, South Shields was of strategic importance in the Second World War, especially to the merchant navy, and the town was heavily hit by a Luftwaffe strike in October 1941.
ref: 2021 September 8, Dr Joseph Brennan, “Electric tramways at the heart of our seaside story”, in RAIL, number 939, page 57:
topics: government
military
politics
war
glosses: The German air force, especially during the Second World War.
wikipedia: Luftwaffe
cimbal
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈsɪmbəl/
rhymes: -ɪmbəl
homophone: cymbal
homophone: symbol
Forms: form: cimbals
Etymology: From Italian ciambella.
Senses: examples: text: The genteel form of doughnut called in the native dialect cymbal[…]which graced the board with its plastic forms.
ref: 1867, Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Guardian Angel:
glosses: A kind of confectionery or cake.
glosses: Obsolete spelling of cymbal.
saison
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈsɛzɒn/
ipa: /ˌseɪˈzɑn/
rhymes: -ɑːn
Forms: form: saisons
Etymology: From French saison (“season”). Doublet of season.
Senses: glosses: A kind of highly carbonated pale ale.
idyllic
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɪˈdɪlɪk/
ipa: /aɪˈdɪlɪk/
rhymes: -ɪlɪk
Forms: form: more idyllic
form: most idyllic
Etymology: From idyll + -ic.
Senses: glosses: Of or pertaining to idylls.
examples: text: My fellow-creatures, from whom I was thus separated, began to assume idyllic virtue and beauty in my memory.
ref: 1896, H. G. Wells, “chapter 17”, in The Island of Dr. Moreau:
text: The rest of the road was as idyllic as the start.
ref: 1922, John Buchan, “chapter II”, in Huntingtower:
text: I think I learned more from my family than they did from me in the brief idyllic time we spent together. None of them much more than a mile from home, they carried the aura of a close-knit community as a shield against against the unknown.
ref: 1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 217:
glosses: Extremely happy, peaceful, or picturesque.
Derived terms: idyllical
idyllically
nonidyllic
unidyllic
idyllic
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɪˈdɪlɪk/
ipa: /aɪˈdɪlɪk/
rhymes: -ɪlɪk
Forms: form: idyllics
Etymology: From idyll + -ic.
Senses: examples: text: He could retire to the idyllic with the knowledge that he had not been wanting when Romance called.
ref: 1922, John Buchan, chapter V, in Huntingtower:
glosses: An idyllic state or situation. (A substantive use of the adjective)