nandhakumarms/qualc-wiktionary-en huggingface dataset:
Word: hermaphrodite Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Hermaphroditus, the mythical son of Hermes and Aphrodite, who merged bodies with a naiad, thereafter having both male and female qualities. Pronunciation: /hɝˈmæfɹədaɪt/ 1. A person possessing ambiguous sexual organs or characteristics. Labels: dated, offensive 2. Cosexual: an organism possessing both types of gonads; a flower possessing both stamens and pistils. Example: An earthworm is a hermaphrodite. 3. Dichogamous: an organism which begins its life as one sex and changes its sex over its life cycle. Example: Comb jellies are sequential hermaphrodites. 4. A person or thing possessing two opposing qualities. 5. A hermaphrodite brig. 6. A farm wagon convertible to multiple purposes. 7. An armoured fighting vehicle having features of both male tanks and female tanks. Labels: World-War-I, historical
Word: hermaphrodite Part of Speech: adj Etymology: From Hermaphroditus, the mythical son of Hermes and Aphrodite, who merged bodies with a naiad, thereafter having both male and female qualities. Pronunciation: /hɝˈmæfɹədaɪt/ 1. Having ambiguous sexual organs or characteristics. Labels: dated, not-comparable, offensive 2. Having both ovaries and testes or both stamens and pistils. Labels: not-comparable 3. Combining two opposing qualities. Labels: not-comparable
Word: false hermaphrodite Part of Speech: noun 1. pseudohermaphrodite.
Word: pseud- Part of Speech: prefix 1. Alternative form of pseudo- used before a vowel other than O. Labels: alt-of, alternative, morpheme
Word: jazeraint Part of Speech: noun 1. Alternative spelling of jazerant. Labels: alt-of, alternative, countable, uncountable Example: Some authorities profess to discover jazeraint work in this representation, which was a method of defence much used in later centuries for archers' jacques and various other garments, but we have no right to assume that the Normans at that period carried such a heavy weight of armor as this would necessitate, or were acquainted with such a technical and complicated manufacture as jazeraint work.
Word: tegulated Part of Speech: adj Etymology: From tegula + -ate + -ed. 1. Composed of small plates, as of horn or metal, overlapping like tiles; said of a kind of ancient armor. Example: Hefner gives an illustration of tegulated armour (Fig. 90) from a painting on vellum dating from c. 1090, when this system appears to have been introduced.
Word: chausse Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Borrowed from French or Middle French chausse (“stocking, cloth covering the leg up to the thigh”). Pronunciation: /ʃoʊs/ 1. Armor for the legs, usually made of mail, either covering the entire leg from foot to thigh, or variously covering only the thigh or only the calf and foot, with the chausson covering the other half of the leg. Labels: historical Example: As the period advanced, the legs were covered with mail chaussons above the knee, and below it with chausses, which were made to cover the feet. Example: The hauberk is shown continuous with the coif; the legs are protected by chausses of some pliable material, thickly covered with protective studs. 2. A stocking, clothing covering the leg. Labels: historical Example: He clasped Matthew tightly on the shoulder. “As I began . . . since my loyal squire is dead, and I am somewhat wounded, more than I'd thought. . .” He pointed to his thigh, where his chausse was ripped and blood dripped to the ground. Example: A single seam ran under the foot and all the way up the back of the leg; each chausse was cut on the bias of the woollen cloth, so as to retain a degree of elasticity.
Word: nasal Part of Speech: adj Etymology: From Middle English, from Medieval Latin nāsālis, from nāsus (“the nose”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix). Doublet of nasalis. Pronunciation: /ˈneɪ.zəl/, [ˈnej.zl̩], /ˈnæɪ.zəl/, [ˈnæɪ.zl̩] 1. Of or pertaining to the nose or to the nasion. Labels: relational Example: Reindeer are well suited to the taiga’s frigid winters. They can maintain a thermogradient between body core and the environment of up to 100 degrees, in part because of insulation provided by their fur, and in part because of counter-current vascular heat exchange systems in their legs and nasal passages. Example: Neffy uses the same spray device as Narcan, the naloxone nasal spray for opioid overdose, according to a spokesperson for its maker, ARS Pharmaceuticals. 2. Having a sound imparted by means of the nose; and specifically, made by lowering the soft palate, in some cases with closure of the oral passage, the voice thus issuing (wholly or partially) through the nose, as in the consonants m, n, ng. Example: nasal vowel 3. Characterized by resonance in the nasal passage. Example: nasal utterance Example: "Are you sure you're OK?" she said with a nasal Australian accent. 4. Sharp, penetrating.
Word: nasal Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English, from Medieval Latin nāsālis, from nāsus (“the nose”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix). Doublet of nasalis. Pronunciation: /ˈneɪ.zəl/, [ˈnej.zl̩], /ˈnæɪ.zəl/, [ˈnæɪ.zl̩] 1. A medicine that operates through the nose; an errhine. Labels: archaic 2. Ellipsis of nasal consonant. Labels: abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis 3. Ellipsis of nasal vowel. Labels: abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis 4. The part of a helmet projecting to protect the nose; a nose guard. Labels: historical Example: The nasal continued in use until about 1140, when it was generally discarded, but isolated examples may be found in every succeeding century down to the seventeenth. Example: Rorge had donned a black halfhelm with a broad iron nasal that made it hard to see that he did not have a nose. 5. Ellipsis of nasal bone. Labels: abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis 6. A plate, or scale, on the nose of a fish, etc.
Word: fusil Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English fusill, from Old French fusel, fuisel, from a late Latin diminutive of Latin fūsus (“spindle”). Pronunciation: /ˈfjuːzɪl/ 1. A bearing of a rhomboidal figure, originally representing a spindle in shape, longer than a heraldic lozenge.
Word: fusil Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle French fusil, ultimately from Latin focus (“hearth; fire”). Doublet of fusee. Pronunciation: /ˈfjuːzɪl/ 1. A light flintlock musket or firelock. Labels: historical Example: [H]e out of meer wantonness attempted to trip up the heels of the soldier that stood next him, but failed in the execution, and received a blow of his breast with the butt end of a fusil, that made him stagger several paces backward.
Word: fusil Part of Speech: adj Etymology: Alternative forms. Pronunciation: /ˈfjuːzɪl/ 1. Obsolete spelling of fusile. Labels: alt-of, obsolete Example: what might else be wrought / Fusil or grav'n in metal Example: A fusil sea.
Word: lys Part of Speech: noun 1. plural of ly Labels: form-of, plural
Word: CJK Part of Speech: name 1. Initialism of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, languages typically grouped because they all use writing systems derived from Chinese characters. Labels: abbreviation, alt-of, initialism
Word: fiber Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From French fibre, from Old French fibre, from Latin fibra. Pronunciation: /ˈfaɪ.bɚ/, /ˈfaɪ.bə/ 1. A single elongated piece of a given material, roughly round in cross-section, often twisted with other fibers to form thread. Labels: US, countable Example: The microscope showed a single blue fiber stuck to the sole of the shoe. 2. A material in the form of fibers. Labels: US, uncountable Example: The cloth is made from strange, somewhat rough fiber. 3. A material whose length is at least 1000 times its width. Labels: US, countable, uncountable Example: Please use polyester fiber for this shirt. 4. Dietary fiber. Labels: US, countable, uncountable Example: Fresh vegetables are a good source of fiber. 5. Moral strength and resolve. Labels: US, countable, figuratively, uncountable Example: The ordeal was a test of everyone's fiber. 6. The preimage of a given point in the range of a map. Labels: US, countable, uncountable Example: Under this map, any two values in the fiber of a given point on the circle differ by 2π. 7. The pullback of a morphism along a global element (called the fiber of the morphism over the global element). Labels: US, countable, uncountable 8. A kind of lightweight thread of execution. Labels: US, countable, uncountable Example: We've seen how to create a new fiber and convert the current thread into a fiber (which continues to run after the conversion), but we have yet to focus on how to schedule a new fiber onto the current thread. 9. A long tubular cell found in bodily tissue. Labels: US, countable, uncountable
Word: * Part of Speech: symbol 1. A star. Labels: Internet Example: ur a *! 2. Used to replace the sounds /stɑː(ɹ)/ (star) in any word that has this pronunciation or similar. Labels: Internet Example: *t Example: *fish 3. Used to replace censor profanities. Labels: Internet Example: f**k Example: sh*t 4. ＊: A star (also ✶ or ⚹).
Word: A-flat Part of Speech: noun 1. A tone one semitone below A, between G and A, denoted A♭. Example: The bassoon came in on a low A-flat. 2. A key or other mechanism for producing an A-flat. Example: I had to take it to the shop because the A-flat was stuck. 3. The key of A-flat major. Example: We will now hear the third sonata, in A-flat.
Word: A-sharp Part of Speech: noun 1. A tone one semitone higher than A, denoted A♯. Example: The counterpoint began on a low A-sharp. 2. The key of A sharp major Example: Here the passage modulates into A-sharp and becomes very difficult to read.
Word: gaijin Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Borrowed from Japanese 外人 (gaijin, “foreigner”), from Middle Chinese 外人 (ngwajᴴ nyin). Compare Mandarin 外人 (wàirén), from Old Chinese 外人 (*ŋʷaːds njin, “foreigner, outsider” < “non-relative”), from 外 (wài, “outside, outer”) + 人 (rén, “person”). Pronunciation: /ˈɡaɪˌd͡ʒɪn/ 1. A non-Japanese person. Example: The peculiar position of his group, according to Mr. Okimoto, is shown by the Japanese habit of referring to such persons as either nisei or nikkeijin —of Japanese descent—instead of calling them gaijin, that is, foreigners, or identifying them by nationality. Example: For a while he began to speak Japanese, rather slangy, never having seemed to learn it — karoshi for death from overwork, yakitaori-ya for eatery, and gaijin for clumsy foreigner. 2. A white person. Labels: Hawaii
Word: cycle of fifths Part of Speech: noun 1. A sequence of bass notes at intervals of one perfect fifth lower than the previous note. In twelve-tone equal temperament the sequence repeats every twelve tones, forming a cycle. Example: The composition modulates upwards through the cycle of fifths, eventually returning to the original key.
Word: A-per-se Part of Speech: noun Etymology: A (the letter A) + the Latin phrase per se (by itself). 1. A person or thing that is preeminent, unique, or which has unusual merit. Labels: obsolete Example: O fair Creseide, the flower and A-per-se Of Troy and Greece.
Word: livescanned Part of Speech: verb 1. simple past and past participle of livescan Labels: form-of, participle, past
Word: livescanned Part of Speech: adj 1. subjected to the livescan fingerprinting system
Word: translated Part of Speech: verb Pronunciation: /ˈtɹænzleɪtɪd/, /ˈtɹænsleɪtɪd/, /tɹɑːnzˈleɪtɪd/ 1. simple past and past participle of translate Labels: form-of, participle, past
Word: ion engine Part of Speech: noun 1. a type of spacecraft propulsion, whereby electric fields accelerate ions out the exhaust to provide motive force
Word: blagger Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From blag + -er. Pronunciation: /ˈblæɡɚ/ 1. A smooth talker, a persuasive person. Labels: informal 2. A thief or robber, one who blags. Labels: informal
Word: tmesis Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Late Latin tmēsis, from Ancient Greek τμῆσις (tmêsis, “a cutting”), from τέμνω (témnō, “to cut”). First attested in 1586. Pronunciation: /t(ə)ˈmiːsɪs/, /ˈmiːsɪs/ 1. The insertion of one or more words between the components of a compound word. Labels: countable, rhetoric, uncountable
Word: senior moment Part of Speech: noun Etymology: An allusion to the memory difficulties sometimes experienced by senior citizens. 1. A brief interval of forgetfulness or inattention. Labels: derogatory, humorous, sometimes
Word: automagical Part of Speech: adj Etymology: Blend of automatic + magical. Pronunciation: /ˈɑtoʊˈmæd͡ʒɪkəl/ 1. Automatic, but with an apparent element of magic. Commonly referring to complex technical processes hidden from the view of users or operators, resulting in technology that "just works". Labels: informal Example: Throughout this text we will emphasize the employment of a systems approach to the practice of analysis and design. In it we attempt to present this portion of the software lifecycle as a discipline rather than an "automagical" (automated magic) process. Example: "How're we paying you, actually?" I asked. "Certain automagical manipulations."
Word: -ja Part of Speech: suffix 1. You, ya. Labels: colloquial, morpheme
Word: perspicacity Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle French perspicacité (whence -acity) or directly from Latin perspicācitās (“sharpsightedness, discrimination”), from perspicāx (“sharp-sighted”), from perspicio, from per- + specio, "see through (something)". Pronunciation: /ˌpɜː.spɪˈkæs.ɪ.ti/, /ˌpɜːɹ.spɪˈkæs.ɪ.ti/ 1. Acute discernment or understanding; insight. Labels: uncountable, usually Example: "I understand," I said. "The fact is that you have the money." His face brightened. He seemed pleased at my perspicacity. Example: The citizens chose a university. They reasoned, with considerable perspicacity, that taxes come and go in response to political considerations, but a university, once established, is a permanent benefit to a city and a nation. 2. The human faculty or power to mentally grasp or understand clearly. Labels: uncountable, usually Example: His very veneration for his father-in-law, combined as it is with a total want of the most ordinary perspicacity, is an additional disqualification. Example: As the former consists in the transmission of psychic states inappreciable to the normal perspicacity or senses, the transfer cannot pass through the medium of intelligence. 3. Keen eyesight. Labels: obsolete, uncountable, usually Example: Attentive consideration of the phenomena of vision has led to the invention of artificial aids by which the sight may be wonderfully strengthened and preserved, and man endowed at once with the perspicacity of the eagle or the minute scrutiny of the insect.
Word: biome Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From bio- + -ome. Pronunciation: /ˈbaɪ.oʊm/, /ˈbɑjəwm/, /ˈbɑjəm/ 1. Any major regional biological community such as that of forest or desert. 2. All the genomes of such a community.
Word: oh my God Part of Speech: intj 1. Said in supplication to God. 2. An expression of anger, frustration, excitement, shock, awe, dismay, etc. Example: Creep niggas like a seal Tote the steel Stick a nigga, make him squeal "Oh, my God!" Those can't be the last words of ya man Damn, ya man was so hard Example: Jen: Douglas has asked me to be his PA. Moss: Oh. My. God! Well, that is something and a half. His PA? How... Whoa! His PA... Shut up! His PA! Jen: It means "personal assistant". Moss: Thank you. Right, OK.
Word: stellerite Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Steller + -ite, named after its discoverer Georg Wilhelm Steller. Pronunciation: /ˈstɛləɹaɪt/ 1. A hydrated calcium aluminosilicate zeolite, similar to stilbite. Labels: countable, uncountable
Word: Whelan Part of Speech: name Etymology: Reduced Anglicized form of Irish Ó Faoláin (“descendant of Faolán”), a hypocoristic form of faol (“wolf”). Doublet of Phelan. Pronunciation: /ˈwiː.lən/, /ˈʍiː.lən/ 1. A surname from Irish.
Word: letter grade Part of Speech: noun 1. A letter of the alphabet assigned as an evaluation of schoolwork. Example: Do you give letter grades for class participation, or just for homework and exams?
Word: ebb and flow Part of Speech: noun 1. The flowing out and in of the tide. 2. A large flowing out and in, or any waxing and waning of fortunes or activity. Labels: figuratively Example: October 29 2001, The New Yorker Online I want to hear the roaring ebb and flow of Broadway.
Word: ebb and flow Part of Speech: verb 1. To alternately ebb and flow, as: Example: As true we are as flesh and blood can be: / The sea will ebb and flow, heaven show his face 2. To alternately ebb and flow, as: Labels: figuratively Example: The quality of his service game varied as the contest ebbed and flowed, but landing 54% of his first serves over the whole match was a telling statistic.
Word: ǃKung Part of Speech: name Etymology: Borrowed from ǃKung. Pronunciation: /kʊŋ/ 1. A group of Bushmen people living in the Kalahari Desert. Example: Given the early sex play, I will hazard a guess that there are few ǃKung virgins, male or female, at puberty. Example: […] and that ǃKung women are married so young because ǃKung men try to marry them before the Bantu do! 2. A Khoisan language spoken in Namibia, Angola, and South Africa, famous for its click consonants. Example: The ǃ in the word ǃKung is an orthographic symbol denoting a "click" sound. The ǃKung language, aside from sharing many of the same sounds found in all languages, has four distinct clicks […] Example: Harpending spoke ǃKung because of his previous fieldwork in the area, […]
Word: bikini babe Part of Speech: noun 1. An attractive young woman wearing a bikini or swimsuit. Example: workers were busily rehanging the Budweiser bikini-babe posters that they'd taken down the night before
Word: babe magnet Part of Speech: noun 1. Synonym of chick magnet Labels: Canada, US, idiomatic, slang Example: Donald Rumsfeld had become a sex symbol. She observed that he was called a “virtual rock star” on CNN, a “babe magnet” on Fox, and “Rumstud” by the president. Example: Those of you who were in diapers during this time may not understand this, but Drakkar Noir was considered a serious babe magnet back in the day.
Word: sleaze Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Back-formation from sleazy, originally used to describe the thinness and low quality of cloth. Pronunciation: /sliːz/ 1. Low moral standards. Labels: uncountable Example: The level of sleaze in this city seems to have been rising rapidly in recent years. 2. Political corruption. Labels: Ireland, UK, uncountable Example: ministerial sleaze and mendacity Example: While no-one accused Major of corruption, it rebounded to his disadvantage because he was unable to stamp it out, and contradictory reports appeared in the Press as to whether senior Conservatives really supported those accused of sleaze, or whether they were furious and wanted them to stand down immediately. 3. A person of low moral standards. Labels: countable, informal Example: She knew that sleaze Hakido would do something to stick the knife in and twist it to the hilt. 4. A man who is sexually aggressive or forward with women to the point of causing disgust. Labels: countable, informal Example: 1989, Weekly World News, "My hubby robbed the cradle and left me with the baby", 7 November, p. 42. I'll bet you dollars to doughnuts that sleaze slept with your boss and I wouldn't take it lying down. Example: Mother, he's such a sleaze! The way he looked at you! 5. Sleazy material or publications. Labels: informal, uncountable Example: a tabloid newspaper full of sleaze
Word: sleaze Part of Speech: verb Etymology: Back-formation from sleazy, originally used to describe the thinness and low quality of cloth. Pronunciation: /sliːz/ 1. To act or progress in a sleazy manner. Example: He sleazed his way over to the women at the bar. 2. To slander.
Word: exculpatory Part of Speech: adj Etymology: From exculpate + -ory (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘of or pertaining to, serving for’). Exculpate is derived from Medieval Latin exculpātus, perfect passive participle of exculpō (“to free from blame, exculpate”), from ex- (prefix meaning ‘out, away’) + culpa (“defect, fault; crime”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷelp-). Cognate with Spanish exculpatorio. Pronunciation: /ɪksˈkʌl.pə.tɹi/, /ɪksˈkʌl.pə.tə.ɹi/, /ɛksˈkʌl.pəˌtɔ.ɹi/, /ɪks-/ 1. Tending to excuse or clear of wrongdoing. Example: [I]t remains only to examine the Relevancy of the two general exculpatory Defences pled for the Pannells. Example: In the case of the King against Owen, the judge allowed the defendant to produce exculpatory evidence to the jury. In order to shew, that he had no malicious or traitorous intention in publishing the libel, with which he was charged, the court permitted him to plead, that during the rebellion, he had printed many papers in defence of the government and Hanoverian succession.
Word: inchoate Part of Speech: adj Etymology: The adjective is first attested in 1534, the verb circa 1631; borrowed from Latin incohātus (“begun, unfinished”), perfect passive participle of incohō (“to begin”), see -ate (etymology 1, 2 and 3). Cognate with Spanish incoar (“to initiate, commence, begin”). Pronunciation: /ɪnˈkəʊət/, /ɪnˈkəʊeɪt/, /ɪnˈkoʊət/, /ɪnˈkoʊeɪt/ 1. Recently started but not fully formed yet; just begun; only elementary or immature. Example: neither a substance perfect, nor a substance inchoate Example: It do's indeed perfect and crown thoſe graces which were here inchoate and begun, but no mans converſion ever ſucceeded his being there ... 2. Chaotic, disordered, confused; also, incoherent, rambling. Example: The Met's chairman, Sir Edward Watkin, was also chairman of that company [the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway], which duplicated other railways' routes in an inchoate way between Manchester and Grimsby, and generally stumbled about the north. 3. Of a crime, imposing criminal liability for an incompleted act. Example: Congress considers the inchoate offenses of attempt and conspiracy, even conspiracy without an overt act, to be just as serious as the federal substantive drug offenses which they contemplate.
Word: inchoate Part of Speech: noun Etymology: The adjective is first attested in 1534, the verb circa 1631; borrowed from Latin incohātus (“begun, unfinished”), perfect passive participle of incohō (“to begin”), see -ate (etymology 1, 2 and 3). Cognate with Spanish incoar (“to initiate, commence, begin”). Pronunciation: /ɪnˈkəʊət/, /ɪnˈkəʊeɪt/, /ɪnˈkoʊət/, /ɪnˈkoʊeɪt/ 1. A beginning, an immature start. Labels: rare
Word: inchoate Part of Speech: verb Etymology: The adjective is first attested in 1534, the verb circa 1631; borrowed from Latin incohātus (“begun, unfinished”), perfect passive participle of incohō (“to begin”), see -ate (etymology 1, 2 and 3). Cognate with Spanish incoar (“to initiate, commence, begin”). Pronunciation: /ɪnˈkəʊeɪt/, /ɪnˈkoʊeɪt/ 1. To begin or start (something). Labels: transitive 2. To cause or bring about. In the field of criminology, to encourage, assist, conspire, aid and abet, incite, etc. Labels: transitive 3. To make a start. Labels: intransitive
Word: blimp Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Origin not entirely certain. However, most historians believe that it is onomatopoeia for the sound a blimp makes when thumped. Although there is some disagreement among historians, credit for coining the term is usually given to Lt. A. D. Cunningham of the British Royal Navy in 1915. There is an often repeated, but false, alternative explanation for the term. The erroneous story is that at some time in the early 20th century, the United States military had two classes for airships: Type A-rigid and Type B-limp, hence “blimp”. In fact, A. D. Topping reports on the “Etymology of ‘Blimp’”, in the AAHS Journal, Winter 1963, that: : “there was no American ‘A-class’ of airships as such—all military aircraft, heavier or lighter-than-air were designated with ‘A’ until the appearance of B-class airships in May 1917. There was an American B airship—but there seems to be no record of any official designation of non-rigids as ‘limp’. Further, according to the Oxford Dictionary, the first appearance of the word in print was in 1916, in England, a year before the first B-class airship.” Pronunciation: /ˈblɪmp/ 1. An airship constructed with a nonrigid lifting agent container. Example: 2004 February 16&23, The New Yorker 2. Any large airborne inflatable. Labels: broadly Example: a 6 meter high blimp made by a professional inflatables company, to be flown in the skies 3. An obese person. Labels: slang 4. A person similar to the cartoon character Colonel Blimp; a pompous, reactionary British man. 5. A soundproof cover for a video camera. Example: You can create your own blimp or barney with anything that will deaden the camera noise, such as a changing bag, foam rubber, […]
Word: blimp Part of Speech: verb Etymology: Origin not entirely certain. However, most historians believe that it is onomatopoeia for the sound a blimp makes when thumped. Although there is some disagreement among historians, credit for coining the term is usually given to Lt. A. D. Cunningham of the British Royal Navy in 1915. There is an often repeated, but false, alternative explanation for the term. The erroneous story is that at some time in the early 20th century, the United States military had two classes for airships: Type A-rigid and Type B-limp, hence “blimp”. In fact, A. D. Topping reports on the “Etymology of ‘Blimp’”, in the AAHS Journal, Winter 1963, that: : “there was no American ‘A-class’ of airships as such—all military aircraft, heavier or lighter-than-air were designated with ‘A’ until the appearance of B-class airships in May 1917. There was an American B airship—but there seems to be no record of any official designation of non-rigids as ‘limp’. Further, according to the Oxford Dictionary, the first appearance of the word in print was in 1916, in England, a year before the first B-class airship.” Pronunciation: /ˈblɪmp/ 1. To expand like a blimp or balloon; to become fat. Labels: intransitive, slang Example: After college, she started blimping and could no longer wear her favorite little black dress. Example: Over a few years the software had blimped into typical bloatware. 2. To fit (a video camera) with a soundproof cover. Labels: transitive
Word: Indian summer Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Of North American origin, exact etymology uncertain. The most plausible suggestions are that Native Americans (or American Indians) called it a form of “summer” due to harvesting late plants or preparing for winter, or that European settlers coined it due to various Native American activities in this season, or due to the weather phenomenon being associated with regions inhabited by Native Americans. Alternatively, the use of the word Indian may indicate something deviating from the norm: compare terms like Indian bread, Indian corn. Pronunciation: /ˈɪn.dɪ.ən ˈsʌ.mə(ɹ)/, /ˈɪn.di.ən ˈsʌ.mɚ/ 1. A stretch of sunny and warm, often hazy, days during late autumn. Labels: offensive, possibly Example: Then a severe frost succeeds which prepares it to receive the voluminous coat of snow which is soon to follow; though it is often preceded by a short interval of smoke and mildness, called the Indian Summer. Example: And while the bards, before my fancy bring / The Indian ſummer, and Italian ſpring, / Rapt let me mark the different climates found, / In Temple's gardens, and his lawns around. 2. The late autumn of life; a late flowering of activity before old age. Labels: figuratively Example: Thus, while at times before our eye / The clouds about the present part, / And, smiling through them, round us lie / Soft hues of Memory's evening sky – / The Indian summer of the heart, / In secret sympathies of mind, / In founts of feeling which retain / Their pure fresh flow, we yet may find / Our early dreams not wholly vain! Example: We may come to look back on the Sixties as the Indian summer of the Western imagination, of the last aristocrats of Western taste. Beginning with [John F.] Kennedy, the era ends with [Richard] Nixon and Joe Frazier, his hatchet-man … Cavaliers had better beware. The Roundheads are back in force. 3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see Indian, summer.
Word: dace Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Old variant of earlier darse, from Late Middle English darse (also as dace already), from Old French darz, oblique plural form of dart (“spear; javelin”). For a similar loss of r, compare bass, while for the pronunciation with /eɪ/, see scarce. Pronunciation: /deɪs/ 1. A shoal-forming fish of species Leuciscus leuciscus, common to swift rivers in England and Wales and in Europe. Example: Somewhere near at hand, though out of sight, there was a clear, slow-moving stream where dace were swimming in the pools under the willow trees. 2. Any of various related small fish of the family Cyprinidae that live in freshwater and are native to North America. Labels: US
Word: Burman Part of Speech: adj Etymology: Etymology tree English Burma Middle English -n English -n English Burman From Burma + -n. Pronunciation: /ˈbɜː(ɹ)mən/ 1. Of or relating to the principal, Burmese-speaking ethnic group of Myanmar. Labels: not-comparable 2. Of or relating to Myanmar; Burmese. Labels: not-comparable
Word: Burman Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Etymology tree English Burma Middle English -n English -n English Burman From Burma + -n. Pronunciation: /ˈbɜː(ɹ)mən/ 1. A member of the principal, Burmese-speaking ethnic group of Myanmar, especially as distinguished from the Shan, Karen, and other minority peoples. 2. A native or inhabitant of Myanmar; a Burmese.
Word: Burman Part of Speech: name Etymology: Etymology tree English Burma Middle English -n English -n English Burman From Burma + -n. Pronunciation: /ˈbɜː(ɹ)mən/ 1. The Burmese language. 2. A surname.
Word: euphonium Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Ancient Greek εὔφωνος (eúphōnos, “sweet-voiced”) + -ium. Pronunciation: /juːˈfəʊnɪəm/ 1. A valved brass instrument with conical tubing similar in appearance to a tuba but of higher pitch. Example: [T]hey could easily have been wearing euphoniums and woad for all the notice their quarry would have taken of them.
Word: glockenspiel Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From German Glockenspiel (literally “bells-set”). Pronunciation: /ˈɡlɒk.ənˌʃpiːl/, /ˈɡlɑk.ənˌʃpil/, /ˈɡlɔk.n̩ˌʃpiːl/, /ˈɡlɔk.ŋ̩ˌʃpiːl/ 1. A musical instrument of the percussion idiophone family of instruments. Like the xylophone, it has tuned bars arranged like the keys on a piano. It is smaller in size and higher in pitch than the xylophone, and the bars are made of metal instead of wood.
Word: first violinist Part of Speech: noun 1. A violinist who is assigned to play melody (usually more technically difficult music).
Word: call collect Part of Speech: verb 1. To make a telephone call in which the cost of the call is paid by the person receiving the call; to place a collect call. Labels: US, intransitive Example: In the days of payphones, if you had no coins, you could call collect and hope that the callee would accept the charges. 2. To call (someone) in this way. Labels: US, transitive Example: Call me what you want — just don’t call me collect. Example: Please call me to let me know you’re safe — you’re welcome to call me collect.
Word: second violinist Part of Speech: noun 1. A violinist who is assigned to play the second violin part.
Word: minutia Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Borrowed from Latin minutia, from minūtus (“small, little”), from minuō (“make smaller”). By surface analysis, minute + -ia. Pronunciation: /maɪ̯ˈn(j)uːʃ(iː)ə/, /məˈn(j)uːʃ(iː)ə/ 1. A minor detail, often of negligible importance. Example: They spent all their time on minutiae, never making real progress. Example: I think I can ſee the preciſe and diſtinguiſhing marks of national characters more in theſe nonſenſical minutiæ, than in the moſt important matters of ſtate ; where great men of all nations talk and ſtalk ſo much alike, that I would not give ninepence to chuſe amongſt them. 2. Any of the point features on fingerprints used for matching, usually endings and bifurcations of ridges.
Word: collectible Part of Speech: adj Etymology: Etymology tree English collect Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr Proto-Indo-European *-dʰlom Proto-Indo-European *-dʰlis Proto-Italic *-ðlis Latin -bilis Latin -ibilis Old French -ibleder. Middle English -ible English -ible English collectible From collect + -ible. Pronunciation: /kəˈlɛktɪbəl/ 1. Worthy or suitable for collecting on historical/financial grounds, or for meeting a personal aesthetic. Example: collectible stamps, collectible china, collectible Beatles memorabilia Example: With the lifting of his “depression,” he’d developed a new interest, hobbylike in its intensity, in framable and collectible railroad memorabilia, and he could happily have spent the whole day—the whole week!—pursuing it. . . 2. Rightfully subject to payment. Example: a collectible bill 3. That is likely to be paid. Example: He's owed it to us for six months, but it doesn't look very collectible to me.
Word: collectible Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Etymology tree English collect Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr Proto-Indo-European *-dʰlom Proto-Indo-European *-dʰlis Proto-Italic *-ðlis Latin -bilis Latin -ibilis Old French -ibleder. Middle English -ible English -ible English collectible From collect + -ible. Pronunciation: /kəˈlɛktɪbəl/ 1. An object which someone might want to collect. Example: Topps[…], the candy and collectibles company that Mr. Eisner bought in 2007, has signed the Clique Girlz as commercial spokeswomen for Baby Bottle Pop, one of the Top 10 nonchocolate candy brands.
Word: argumentative Part of Speech: adj Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂erǵ- Proto-Indo-European *-us Proto-Indo-European *h₂érǵus Proto-Italic *argus Proto-Indo-European *-eti Proto-Indo-European *-ti Proto-Italic *-ō Proto-Italic *arguō Latin arguō Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥ Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥tom Proto-Italic *-mentom Latin -mentum Latin argūmentum Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin argūmentor Proto-Indo-European *-wós Proto-Indo-European *-iHwósder. Latin -īvus Medieval Latin argūmentātīvusder. Middle English argumentatif English argumentative From Late Middle English argumentatif (“syllogistic, sophistic”), from Old French argumentatif, argumentative (modern French argumentatif (“argumentative”)) and Medieval Latin, Late Latin argūmentātīvus, from Latin argūmentātor + -īvus (suffix forming adjectives). Pronunciation: /ˌɑːɡjʊˈmɛntətɪv/, /ˌɑɹɡjəˈmɛn(t)ətɪv/, [-ɾɪv], /ˌɑːɡjʊmɛnˈteɪtɪv/ 1. Of or relating to argumentation; specifically, presenting a logical argument or line of reasoning; argumentive, discursive. Example: I proceed next to treat of the argumentative or reaſoning Part of a Diſcourſe. In whatever place, or on whatever ſubject one ſpeaks, this beyond doubt is of the greateſt conſequence. Example: There muſt be a Special Demurrer to a Negative Pregnant, that is, a Negative Plea, which doth alſo contain in it an Affirmative; and to an Argumentative Plea, that is a Plea which concludes nothing directly, but only by Way of Argument or Reaſoning, for the Court will intend every Plea to be good till the contrary doth appear. 2. Prone to argue or dispute. Example: Your host was in his turn eloquent,—authoritative,—facetious,—argumentative,—precatory,—pathetic, above all, pertinacious. Example: He found that in an argumentative discussion, when an adversary responded argumentatively, male and female subjects did not differ in their preference for message strategies. However, when the adversary responded with verbal aggression, male and female subjects differed in their responses; female subjects were more likely to select an argumentative strategy, while male subjects were more likely to select verbally aggressive strategies.
Word: second violin Part of Speech: noun 1. The second violin part in an orchestral score, generally a harmony to the first violin's melody and generally less technically demanding; the violin that supplies this part, or (metonymic) the violinist who plays it. Example: Holonyms: string section < orchestra
Word: second fiddle Part of Speech: noun 1. A fiddle part in harmony to the first fiddle. Example: The second fiddle on that tune is almost as hard as the first fiddle. 2. The person playing second fiddle. Example: I've been second fiddle in that orchestra for ten years now. 3. A sidekick or subordinate, or the role of such a person. Labels: idiomatic Example: I'm tired of being your second fiddle! Example: Listen, buttercup, you're damned good in bed. They don't come any better, but I'm really not interested in playing second fiddle to your camera or your young lovers.
Word: fiddle Part of Speech: verb Etymology: From Middle English fithele, from Old English *fiþele, from Proto-West Germanic *fiþulā, from Proto-Germanic *fiþulǭ (“fiddle”), of uncertain etymology. Some contest that the Germanic terms are borrowed variations of Late Latin vitula (see viola); others contest that the word has a separate origin within Germanic languages, and still others believe that the Late Latin term for the stringed instrument is a borrowing from Germanic as a change of Latin t to Germanic þ is highly improbable, yet Germanic þ to Latin t is well documented (see troop, trousers, Teobaldo, etc.). Cognate with Old High German fidula (German Fiedel), Middle Dutch vedele (Dutch vedel, veel), Old Norse fiðla (Icelandic fiðla, Danish fiddel, Norwegian fela, Swedish fela). The change from /ðl/ to /dl/ in modern English is regular; compare Bedlam, staddle, swaddle (in brothel, it was prevented; see that entry for discussion). Pronunciation: /ˈfɪd(ə)l/, /ˈfɪdl̩/, [ˈfɪɾl̩] 1. To play the fiddle or violin, particularly in a folk or country style. Labels: intransitive Example: to fiddle while Rome burns Example: Themistocles […] said he could not fiddle, but yet he could make a small town a great city. 2. To fraudulently manipulate (records, accounts, etc.) in order to cheat or swindle. Labels: informal, transitive Example: Fred was sacked when the auditors caught him fiddling the books. 3. To fidget or play; to fuss; to idly amuse oneself, to act aimlessly, idly, or frivolously, particularly out of nervousness or restlessness; see also fiddle with. Labels: intransitive Example: Sit up straight and stop fiddling! Example: Loke you fydell nat with your handes whan your maister speketh to you. 4. Synonym of tinker (“to make small adjustments or improvements”); see also fiddle with. Labels: informal, intransitive Example: I don't exactly know how to fix this lawnmower; I'm really just fiddling. 5. To do odd jobs for money. Labels: UK, intransitive, obsolete, slang Example: A cake-seller told me that a little while before I saw him a lad of twelve or so had consumed a shilling’s worth of cakes and pastry, as he had got a shilling by “fiddling;” not, be it understood, by the exercise of any musical skill, for “fiddling,” among the initiated, means the holding of horses, or the performing of any odd jobs.
Word: fiddle Part of Speech: intj Etymology: From Middle English fithele, from Old English *fiþele, from Proto-West Germanic *fiþulā, from Proto-Germanic *fiþulǭ (“fiddle”), of uncertain etymology. Some contest that the Germanic terms are borrowed variations of Late Latin vitula (see viola); others contest that the word has a separate origin within Germanic languages, and still others believe that the Late Latin term for the stringed instrument is a borrowing from Germanic as a change of Latin t to Germanic þ is highly improbable, yet Germanic þ to Latin t is well documented (see troop, trousers, Teobaldo, etc.). Cognate with Old High German fidula (German Fiedel), Middle Dutch vedele (Dutch vedel, veel), Old Norse fiðla (Icelandic fiðla, Danish fiddel, Norwegian fela, Swedish fela). The change from /ðl/ to /dl/ in modern English is regular; compare Bedlam, staddle, swaddle (in brothel, it was prevented; see that entry for discussion). Pronunciation: /ˈfɪd(ə)l/, /ˈfɪdl̩/, [ˈfɪɾl̩] 1. Synonym of fiddlesticks or euphemism for fuck. Example: Oh, fiddle. I left my whip in the stable.
Word: first fiddle Part of Speech: noun 1. The fiddle part generally carrying the melody. Example: O'Neil played a lively first fiddle. 2. The player of the first fiddle part. Example: O'Neil had been first fiddle in the band for years. 3. One who takes a leading part in anything.
Word: lead fiddle Part of Speech: noun 1. Synonym of first fiddle. Labels: uncommon
Word: fiddler Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English fithelere, from Old English fiþelere, from *fiþele. By surface analysis, fiddl(e) + -er. * (capstan-house): So called because the fiddle would sometimes be played to cheer the sailors working there. Pronunciation: /ˈfɪdələ(ɹ)/, /ˈfɪdlə(ɹ)/ 1. One who plays the fiddle. 2. One who fiddles; a cheat. Example: We were the self-controlled, cautious, nifty merchants, decorous fiddlers of accounts, hoarders of wealth, excellent bribers, family and community creatures governed by manners. 3. One who fiddles or tweaks. Example: The community of radio amateurs—trespassing fiddlers on the cutting edge of technological possibilities—prefigured the geek community that was to inhabit Silicon Valley 50 years later. 4. A burrowing crab of the genus Gelasimus, of many species. The male has one claw very much enlarged, and often holds it in a position similar to that in which a musician holds a fiddle. 5. The common European sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos); so called because it habitually wags its tail up and down resembling the back and forth movement of a fiddler. 6. A large species of cicada, Macrotristria angularis, of eastern Australia; cherry nose. 7. A coin of little value: a sixpence or a farthing. Labels: UK, obsolete, slang 8. The capstan-house on a steamer. Labels: slang Example: Whereupon you shake hands with him […] and make room for him by your side in the "Fiddler," when the pleasant time of night is come, and the stewardess is tucking up the ladies, and putting oranges and other goodies under their pillows, and the menfolk assemble in the capstan house to smoke their last cigar.
Word: pay the fiddler Part of Speech: verb 1. To face the consequences of one's actions. Labels: idiomatic Example: The three-day party had been a lot of fun, but now it was time to pay the fiddler. 2. To contribute in order to participate. Labels: idiomatic Example: If you want to dance, you’ve got to pay the fiddler
Word: svelte Part of Speech: adj Etymology: Borrowed from French svelte, from Italian svelto (“stretched out”), past participle of svellere (“to pluck out, root out”), from Vulgar Latin *exvellere, from ex + vellere (“to pluck, stretch”). Pronunciation: /ˈsvɛlt/, /ˈsfɛlt/ 1. Attractively thin; gracefully slender. Example: Psychoanalytic theory[…]seemed to promise to introduce a certain becoming amplitude into discussions of what different people are like — only to turn, in its streamlined trajectory across so many institutional boundaries, into the sveltest of metatheoretical disciplines, sleeked down to such elegant operational entities as the mother, the father, the preoedipal, the oedipal, the other or Other. Example: Clearly the producers of “The Producers” were so little inclined to tinker with a winning formula that they chose not to excise a few lines of dialogue to accommodate the svelter physique of their new leading man, preposterous though it is that anyone in a fit of pique would deride a fellow as “once-husky.” 2. Refined, delicate. Example: Peering down from the cockpit at grazing elephant, you have the feeling that what you are beholding is wonderful, but not authentic. It is not only incongruous in the sense that animals simply are not as big as trees, but also in the sense that the twentieth century, tidy and svelte with stainless steel as it is, would not possibly permit such prehistoric monsters to wander in its garden. Example: At 61, Bryant looks good – smart and svelte in an electric blue suit, youthful, a full head of hair except for a white scar at the back that looks like a side door into his brain.
Word: hen's teeth Part of Speech: noun 1. plural of hen's tooth Labels: form-of, plural
Word: A-sharp major Part of Speech: noun Pronunciation: /ˈeɪ ʃɑːp ˈmeɪ.dʒə/, /ˈeɪ ʃɑɹp ˈmeɪ.dʒɚ/ 1. The theoretical major key with A-sharp as its tonic and the notes A#, B#, C𝄪, D#, E#, F𝄪, and G𝄪. Labels: uncountable Example: {\key ais\major ais' bis' cisis dis eis fisis gisis ais} 2. The major chord with a root of A-sharp. Labels: uncountable Example: 1
Word: treacher Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English trecher, from Old French trecheor (modern tricheur), from trechier, tricher (“to cheat, trick”). Compare English trick. Pronunciation: /ˈtɹɛt͡ʃəɹ/ 1. A traitor or deceiver. Labels: archaic Example: “Fruits and treachers,” he said. “Nothin' in there but treachers and fruits. I see 'em goin' in and out all day, in their tammyshanters and their fur-covered shoes. Fruits and treachers, the place is full of 'em.”
Word: A major Part of Speech: noun Pronunciation: /ˈeɪ ˈmeɪ.dʒə(ɹ)/ 1. The major key with A as its tonic, with the notes A, B, C♯, D, E, F♯, and G♯, the key signature of which has three sharps. Labels: uncountable Example: {\key a \major a' b' cis d e fis gis a2} 2. The major chord with a root of A. Labels: uncountable Example: 1
Word: A-flat major Part of Speech: noun Pronunciation: /ˈeɪ flæt ˈmeɪ.dʒə(ɹ)/ 1. The major key with A-flat as its tonic, with the notes A♭, B♭, C, D♭, E♭, F, and G, the key signature of which has four flats. Labels: uncountable Example: {\key aes \major aes' bes' c des es f g aes2} 2. The major chord with a root of A-flat. Labels: uncountable Example: 1
Word: phonetic Part of Speech: adj Etymology: Borrowed from Latin phōnēticus, from Ancient Greek φωνητῐκός (phōnētĭkós). By surface analysis, phone + -etic. Pronunciation: /fəˈnɛt.ɪk/, [fəˈnɛɾ.ɪk], [fəˈneɾ.ɪk] 1. Relating to the sounds of spoken language. Labels: not-comparable 2. Relating to phones (as opposed to phonemes). Labels: not-comparable 3. Relating to the spoken rather than written form of a word or name, as opposed to orthographic. Labels: not-comparable Example: All unfamiliar names have been transcribed in phonetic spelling.
Word: phonetic Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Borrowed from Latin phōnēticus, from Ancient Greek φωνητῐκός (phōnētĭkós). By surface analysis, phone + -etic. Pronunciation: /fəˈnɛt.ɪk/, [fəˈnɛɾ.ɪk], [fəˈneɾ.ɪk] 1. In such writing systems as the Chinese writing system, the portion of a phono-semantic character that provides an indication of its pronunciation; contrasted with semantic (which is usually the radical). Example: I suspect that 田 dien is the original character and true phonetic of the whole group. Example: In the first case the character is pronounced identically, even as to tone, as the phonetic.
Word: B-flat major Part of Speech: noun Pronunciation: /ˈbiː flæt ˈmeɪ.dʒə(ɹ)/ 1. The major key with B-flat as its tonic, with the notes B♭, C, D, E♭, F, G, and A, the key signature of which has two flats. Labels: uncountable Example: {\key bes \major bes c' d' es' f' g' a' bes'2} 2. The major chord with a root of B-flat. Labels: uncountable Example: 1
Word: lepper Part of Speech: noun 1. A horse that jumps well. Example: He's the king of all the leppers that was ever seen to lep, A five-foot fence -- he'd clear it in a hop! 2. A type of Texas Longhorn, a subgroup of Butler cattle.
Word: lepper Part of Speech: noun 1. Misspelling of leper. Labels: alt-of, misspelling
Word: schlepper Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From schlep + -er. 1. A servant who carries things; a porter. Example: Tell the schlepper to take it up to your hotel room.
Word: schlepper Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Borrowed from Yiddish שלעפּער (shleper). 1. One who wanders aimlessly. Labels: derogatory Example: I can't interest the little schlepper in doing his homework. 2. Any manual laborer, or other lowly employee. Labels: derogatory Example: He's just a schlepper!