nandhakumarms/qualc-wiktionary-en huggingface dataset:
Word: backstretch Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From back + stretch. Pronunciation: /ˈbækstɹɛt͡ʃ/ 1. Synonym of back straight (“straight part of a racetrack, running track, etc., opposite the finishing line”). Example: At the time appointed to start [2 1 2 P.M.], the horses made their appearance on the track, and were soon after called up by the judges for the race. They were startd at six minutes before three o'clock, the pacer having the pole, and leading round the first turn. On the backstretch he waited for the trotter, and let him take sides with him, it being apparent at this early stage that [George] Spicer did not intend to go any faster than the trotter would make him, at the same time keeping the trotter on the ouside all the way round, thereby making him go a greater distance in the race. Example: This was a day almost fifty years since the time I was supposed to run in the 4 by 100-meter Olympic relay. I was standing on the track in the imposing, empty Olympic Stadium in Berlin. […] I walked down into the well of the vast, brooding stadium, and then along the backstretch of the red clay running oval. 2. An area next to a racetrack used to stable the racehorses and house employees. Example: Dominic Gatto liked to have someone at the track to represent him when one of his horses raced at Arlington Park or Belmont or Prescott Downs. Someone to relay a word to the jockey, keep a sharp eye on the trainer, distribute tips to the backstretch workers who were made to understand that Mr Dominic appreciated their services. Example: When I was a kid here, growing up in the Palouse River, we never met people from other cultures or countries. There on the racetracks and backstretches in England I met people from all over the world. Everyone came together to own the horses, to work the horses and to watch them race. 3. The middle part of an event. Labels: figuratively Example: In some respects, it might be too faithful to the genre it savages; as in many real rom-coms, the energy flags during the plot’s backstretch, and audiences may share the drifting interest of Kyle (Bill Hader) and Karen (Ellie Kemper), who come to regret ever asking Joel and Molly to chronicle their meet-cute. Example: I'd decrypted his puzzle easily enough. He'd left it in Zykovski six-gen, a function he knew I could deconstruct, and the pages of slipbeacon data that unfolded had led me here: an abandoned energy plant on another mined-out rock somewhere in the cold backstretches of Imperial space. 4. An exercise that stretches the muscles of the back. Example: I went over to the other bed and lay down. My knees were hanging over the side of the bed, providing me with a fairly decent back stretch. With my eyes closed, I could hear sleep calling. Example: The upper backstretches require that you stand in position with your feet at a slight distance apart 'than shoulder-width, while the knees are bent slightly.' Intertwine the fingers and then 'push your hands as far away from' the chest area 'as feasible.' 5. The laying of a supply line from the region of the fire backwards toward the water source.
Word: backstretch Part of Speech: verb Etymology: From back + stretch. Pronunciation: /ˈbækstɹɛt͡ʃ/ 1. To lay a supply line from the region of the fire backwards toward the water source.
Word: ballsy Part of Speech: adj Etymology: Etymology tree English balls Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Germanic *-gaz Proto-West Germanic *-g Old English -iġ Middle English -y English -y English ballsy From balls (“courage”) + -y. Pronunciation: /ˈbɔlzi/ 1. Tough and courageous; having balls. Labels: colloquial, vulgar Example: On a movie like this, I don’t mind doing [the scene] as written, but I do do a lot of improv. I’m sort of a rapid-fire ballsy talker, and so I bring that to the character whenever it’s appropriate to the scene. That never makes it in.
Word: bait-and-switch Part of Speech: adj 1. Relating to use of bait and switch (offering one attractive exchange initially, but not honoring the offer) in business, politics, and elsewhere. Labels: not-comparable Example: Despite Healy's argument that the Liberty Fund would go to worthwhile causes, many felt the Red Cross had deliberately misled donors by using September 11th in a bait-and-switch ploy. Example: The FTC commissioner, Rohit Chopra, called AT&T’s actions a “massive fraud”. “AT&T’s bait-and-switch scam is a good window into the many harms that result from dominant companies operating without the discipline of meaningful competition,” Chopra said in a statement.
Word: bait-and-switch Part of Speech: verb 1. To exploit using bait and switch. Labels: transitive Example: Perhaps the most baffling and frustrating feature of the mortgage mess is that, to my knowledge, the House Financial Services Committee never held public hearings in which bait-and-switched homeowners testified as to how their mortgage payments doubled in just a few years[…] Example: To my surprise, even shock, both of them spent the entire trip sputtering and whining—about being bait-and-switched when their employee-ownership shares of United Airlines had been evaporated by its recent bankruptcy, […]
Word: baldfaced Part of Speech: adj Etymology: From bald + faced. 1. Alternative form of bald-faced. Labels: alt-of, alternative Example: For example, the organization has groundlessly denounced Elon Musk, a powerful libertarian voice, as an antisemite in a baldfaced effort to drain his social network, X, of advertising revenue. Yet, when now-Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) came to the defense of his uncle for antisemitic remarks he made in the ’90s, the organization refused to condemn him.
Word: so and so Part of Speech: noun 1. Alternative spelling of so-and-so. Labels: alt-of, alternative
Word: bandbox Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From band + box. 1. A box of lightweight construction (e.g. cardboard, thin wood) for carrying hats or other apparel items. Example: There is a dangerous freshness in the hues / Of the new bonnets which that day produces / Bright from the bandbox, be they greens or blues; / The aspect of a new pelisse conduces / To gazings which the gazer often rues. Example: On the evening of Easter Sunday the gypsies of Southern Europe take a wooden vessel like a band-box, which rests cradle-wise on two cross pieces of wood. 2. A small baseball park conducive to scoring home runs.
Word: bandmaster Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From band + master. 1. The conductor of a musical ensemble, especially a brass or military band.
Word: bandolier Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From earlier form bandollier, from Middle French bandoulliere, from Catalan bandolera, feminine derivative of bandoler (“member of a band of men”), from Catalan bàndol (“band, faction, party”), from Old Spanish bando. Pronunciation: /ˌbændəˈlɪɹ/, /ˌbændəˈlɪə/ 1. An ammunition belt, worn over the shoulder, having loops or pockets for cartridges. Example: The vivid, untrammeled life appealed to him[…]; but he was wise and knew that once peace was established there would be no room in Cuba for the Sin Verguenza. “None better to face peril or adversity with, but a change is coming, and one cannot always wear the bandolier,” he said. Example: We had each bandoliers of cartridges.
Word: bandsman Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰendʰ-der. Proto-Germanic *bandiz Old English bend Middle English band English band English -s- English -man English bandsman From band + -s- + -man. 1. A player in a musical band, especially a military or brass band. Example: If the reader finds a certain monotony in the words chosen by the translator I hope he will realize that the bandsman has to operate within the limits of his instrument. Example: It was military bandsmen, their uniform coats unbuttoned, who supplied the merry tune, from a clarinet, a tuba, a fife. 2. A labourer (loader) working with a band of men. Labels: historical
Word: bankable Part of Speech: adj Etymology: Etymology tree English bank Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr Proto-Indo-European *-dʰlom Proto-Indo-European *-dʰlis Proto-Italic *-ðlis Latin -bilis Latin -ābilis Old French -ablebor. Middle English -able English -able English bankable From bank + -able. Pronunciation: /ˈbæŋkəbəl/ 1. Acceptable to a bank. Example: a bankable check 2. Certain to bring profit and success, especially in the entertainment industry. Example: a bankable film star Example: The literary life evidently suits [Laura] Conrad, who for five years has lived in a fabulous truth-illusion netherworld as MTV’s most bankable reality-and-tabloid personality. 3. Reliable.
Word: bankbook Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg-der. Proto-Germanic *bankiz Proto-West Germanic *banki Lombardic bankbor. Italian bancabor. Middle French banqueder. English bank English book English bankbook From bank + book. Pronunciation: /ˈbæŋkˌbʊk/ 1. wealth Example: Her folks, they said, our lives together Sure was gonna be rough They never did like Mama's homemade dress Papa's bankbook wasn't big enough.
Word: bantamweight Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From bantam + weight. Pronunciation: /ˈbæntəmˌweɪt/ 1. A weight class in boxing and other sports, intermediate between flyweight and featherweight. In boxing it ranges from 112 to 118 pounds (51 to 54 kg). Labels: uncountable 2. A boxer or other competitor of this weight. Labels: countable
Word: barberry Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English berberie, from Medieval Latin berberis (on which see Arabic بَرْبَارِيس (barbārīs)), influenced by berie (“berry”). Doublet of berberis and related to Berber. Pronunciation: /ˈbɑɹbɛɹi/ 1. Any of the thorny shrubs of genus Berberis, which bear yellow flowers and red or blue-black berries. Example: BOlvs in Engliſh is called a morſell. It is a medicine laxatiue, in forme & faſhion it is meanely whole, & it is ſwallowed by litle gobbets. […] ℞. medulla caſiæ fiſtulæ newly drawen. ℥. j. or ʒ. x. the graines (that is the kernelles) of barbaries. ℈. ß. and with ſugar roſet [sugar compounded with rose petals] make a bole. 2. The edible fruit of these shrubs.
Word: barhop Part of Speech: verb Etymology: From bar (“drinking establishment”) + hop (“move rapidly between locations”). 1. To drink at a number of bars during a single day or evening. Labels: idiomatic, informal Example: If you came in thinking masculinity was inherently hostile to women, you were very likely to pick up hostility from this professor—not because it was there, but because the guylike behaviors of liking sports, barhopping, watching action movies, talking about cars, and such were all deeply ingrained in him […]
Word: barbarize Part of Speech: verb Pronunciation: /ˈbɑː(ɹ)bəɹaɪz/ 1. To cause to become savage or uncultured. Labels: transitive 2. To become savage or uncultured. Labels: intransitive Example: The Roman empire was barbarizing rapidly from the time of Trajan. 3. To adopt a foreign or barbarous mode of speech. Labels: intransitive Example: The ill habit […] of wretched barbarizing against the Latin and Greek idiom, with their untutored Anglicisms.
Word: barroom Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From bar + room. 1. A room where alcoholic drinks are served over a counter. Labels: Canada, US Example: Sporting a woolly cardigan with four buttons on top of an Oxford smock without a collar, our man has a faintly folksy look about him, calling to mind a zingaro or a gypsy, a carny or a Mongol, but also (switching to a wholly distinct mythology and iconography) a hippy strumming his guitar in a barroom in Haight-Ashbury or at Big Sur or in Katmandu.
Word: baronage Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English barnage, from Old French (and Anglo-Norman) barnage, from baron + -age, with the loss of a syllable. Pronunciation: /ˈbæɹənɪd͡ʒ/ 1. barons or nobles collectively Example: the baronage of the kingdom 2. an annotated list of barons or peers 3. barony, the dignity or rank of a baron Labels: obsolete 4. barony, the land which gives title to a baron Labels: obsolete
Word: baronetcy Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From baronet + -cy. 1. The rank of a baronet.
Word: baronial Part of Speech: adj Pronunciation: /bəˈɹəʊnɪəɫ/ 1. Belonging or relating to a baron or barons. 2. Suitable for a baron. 3. Impressive in appearance; stately; imposing
Word: basketwork Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Celtic *baskis Proto-Brythonicder. Late Latin bascauda Anglo-Norman bascatbor. Middle English basket English basket English -work English basketwork From basket + -work. 1. Material woven in the style of a basket. Labels: uncountable, usually Example: 1671, John Burbury, A Relation of the Journey of the Right Honourable My Lord Henry Howard from London to Vienna, and thence to Constantinople, London: T. Collins et al., p. 172, The Village Walls resemble those in Hungary, but are something worse, being only long Stakes thrust into the Ground, and crossed through like Basket-work, and so dawbed all over on both sides with Mud and Dirt. Example: [T]he smoke, having no means to escape but through a hole in the roof, eddied round the rafters of the cottage, and hung in sable folds at the height of about five feet from the floor. The space beneath was kept pretty clear, by innumerable currents of air which rushed towards the fire from the broken pannel of basket-work which served as a door, [...] 2. The craft of making such material. Labels: uncountable, usually Example: In one of his letters to Mrs [Madge] Kendal, Joseph [Merrick] mentioned that he hoped one day to be able to learn basket work. She promptly arranged for an instructor to teach him the craft.
Word: basswood Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From bass (“fibrous inner bark”) + wood. Pronunciation: /ˈbæswʊd/ 1. Any of several trees of the genus Tilia; the lindens, especially Tilia americana, the American basswood. Labels: US
Word: bathhouse Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Inherited from Middle English bathhous, bathous, from Old English bæþhūs (“bathhouse”), equivalent to bath + house. Cognate with Dutch badhuis (“bathhouse”), German Badehaus (“bathhouse”), German Low German Baadhuus, Boodhuus (“bathhouse”), Danish badehus (“bathhouse”), Norwegian Bokmål badehus (“bathhouse”), Norwegian Nynorsk badehus (“bathhouse”), Swedish badhus (“bathhouse”). Pronunciation: /ˈbæθˌhaʊs/ 1. A building with baths for communal use. Example: […] a plethora of taverns, victuals, brew houses, hostelries, bathhouses, brothels, bearbaiting and bullbaiting arenas jostled for space with shops of stockfishmongers, garlicmongers, and bakemongers. Example: The landslide hit Xiangning county in Shanxi province early Friday evening, provincial authorities said. Two residential buildings, home to a total of 14 households, and a public bathhouse collapsed under the weight of the falling earth. 2. A building where swimmers can change clothes. 3. A business with bath-like facilities, which chiefly serves as a place for sexual encounters, especially among men.
Word: battledore Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English batildore, batylledore, batildure, batyldoure, batyndore, probably as a blend of Middle English betel (“bat, club”) and Old Occitan batedor (“beater, bat”). Pronunciation: /ˈbæ.təl.dɔː/, /ˈbæ.tɫ̩.dɔː/, /ˈbæ.tɫ̩.dɔɹ/ 1. A game played with a shuttlecock and rackets (properly battledore and shuttlecock); a forerunner of badminton. 2. The racket used in this game. Example: Seven or eight of them, standing in a circle, were engaged in a game of shittlecock. They had in their hands no battledores. They did not employ the hand or arm, any way, in striking it. But, after taking a short race, and springing from the floor, they met the descending shittlecock with the sole of the foot, and drove it up again, with force, high into the air. Example: There were nights when it seemed to me that our position could be stormed by twenty Boy Scouts armed with airguns, or twenty Girl Guides armed with battledores, for that matter. 3. A child's hornbook for learning the alphabet. Labels: obsolete Example: You will also pardon the errors of the Work, for you know I was not bred to letters; but, that the battledore, at an age not exceeding six, was the last book I used at school. 4. A wooden paddle-shaped bat or beetle used to wash clothes by beating, stirring, or smoothing them. Labels: historical Example: There is a large basin near the fountain, where numbers of women may be seen every day, kneeling at the edge of the water, and beating the clothes with heavy pieces of wood in the shape of battledores. Example: The laundry process of the time [1665] consisted of boiling textiles with lye or soap and then beating them with a battledore, a rustic version of a cricket bat.
Word: battlefront Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From battle + front. 1. The region or line along which opposing armies engage in combat. 2. The area in which opponents or opposing ideas meet.
Word: clothier Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English clothyer, an alteration of earlier clother, clothere (“a maker or seller of cloth”); equivalent to cloth + -ier. Pronunciation: /ˈkloʊðiə(ɹ)/ 1. A person who makes or sells cloth or clothing. Example: ‘I think she should come out of black. Let me help dress her. I know the Italian clothiers.’
Word: bayberry Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *bazją Proto-West Germanic *baʀi Old English berġe? Old English beġerclip.? Old English *beġ Latin bācader. Old French baieder. Middle English baye English bay Middle English berye English berry English bayberry From bay + berry. 1. The fruit of the wax myrtle shrub; or the plant itself (Morella cerifera), with aromatic, leathery leaves and waxy berries. Labels: Canada, US Example: It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn. 2. The fruit of the wax myrtle shrub; or the plant itself (Morella cerifera), with aromatic, leathery leaves and waxy berries. Labels: Canada, US Example: The two North American genera are Myrica (bayberry) and Comptonia (sweet-fern). 3. The fruit of the bay laurel (Laurus nobilis). Example: [T]heir shape was much like a Figg, but very much smaller, some being about the bigness of a Bay-berry, others, and the biggest, of a Hazel-Nut. 4. West Indian bay tree (Pimenta racemosa), a tropical American shrub with aromatic leaves that are used in the preparation of bay rum.
Word: wax myrtle Part of Speech: noun 1. An evergreen bayberry, especially Morella cerifera (syn. Myrica cerifera) of the southern U.S., the wax covering its nutlets being used for making scented candles.
Word: beachwear Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg-der. Proto-Germanic *bakiz Proto-West Germanic *baki Old English bæċ Middle English bache English beach Proto-Indo-European *wes- Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti Proto-Indo-European *woséyeti Proto-Germanic *wazjaną Proto-West Germanic *waʀjan Old English werian Middle English weren English wear English -wear English beachwear From beach + -wear. 1. Clothing suitable for wearing on the beach, though not necessarily for swimming in. Labels: uncountable
Word: beading Part of Speech: verb Pronunciation: /ˈbiːdɪŋ/ 1. present participle and gerund of bead Labels: form-of, gerund, participle, present
Word: beading Part of Speech: noun Pronunciation: /ˈbiːdɪŋ/ 1. A decorative, ornamental molding often used to conceal a joint. Labels: countable, uncountable 2. beadwork Labels: countable, uncountable 3. The beads or bead-forming quality of certain liquors. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: the beading of a brand of whisky 4. A Samburu ceremony in which a father gives a necklace to his daughter. Labels: countable, uncountable
Word: beady Part of Speech: adj Etymology: Etymology tree English bead Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Germanic *-gaz Proto-West Germanic *-g Old English -iġ Middle English -y English -y English beady From bead + -y. Pronunciation: /ˈbiː.di/, /ˈbi.di/ 1. Resembling beads; small, round, and gleaming. Example: seeing Mrs. Bute's beady eyes Example: I shivered in every limb, and a cold beady dew sprang out on my temples as I stood with eyes riveted on the spectral figure before me. 2. Bright and penetrating. (of eyes or a look) Example: Cracked eggs, dead birds, scream as they fight for life / I can feel death, can see its beady eyes 3. Covered or ornamented with, or as if with, beads. 4. Characterized by beads. Example: beady liquor
Word: beanstalk Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From bean + stalk. 1. The stem of a bean plant, proverbially fast-growing and tall. 2. A tall, slim person. Labels: broadly, colloquial, figuratively 3. A space elevator. Example: If we don't build a Beanstalk, somebody else will—and once one is working, the number of rocket launches will drop to zero. That's the source of more than half our income. Example: I have never liked riding the Beanstalk. My distaste was full-blown even before the disaster to the Quito Skyhook. A cable that goes up into the sky with nothing to hold it up smells too much of magic.
Word: bearish Part of Speech: adj Etymology: Etymology tree English bear Proto-Indo-European *-iskos Proto-Germanic *-iskaz Proto-West Germanic *-isk Old English -isċ Middle English -ish English -ish English bearish From bear + -ish. 1. Resembling or likened to a bear, typically in being rough, surly, or clumsy. 2. Characterized by or expecting falling prices. Example: At the start of the year, Bridgewater turned bearish on U.S. bonds and built up a short position. 3. Pessimistic about the future. Labels: broadly Example: The Germans were downcast because of Eastern Europe and Helmut Schmidt's decline, the Arabs were depressed because of oil and Iraq, the French were bearish because of their government; only the British seemed a little upbeat, but that was before the Falkland Islands incident.
Word: beat-up Part of Speech: adj Etymology: Deverbal from beat up. 1. Worn out by overuse; in a state of disrepair Labels: informal
Word: beat-up Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Deverbal from beat up. 1. An artificially or disingenuously manufactured outcry, usually in the media. Labels: Australia, New-Zealand Example: 2009, Natasha Robinson, 'James Packer book outrage a beat-up, says Paul Barry', The Australian, Business section “It has been suggested that this is a vicious book, a poisonous book, that it's a disgrace to have written it,” Mr Barry said at today's book launch. “That's a total beat-up." Example: 2009, Michael Cook, 'Is Britain’s stem cell crisis a beat-up?', BioEdge Few areas of science journalism are more susceptible to frothy beat-ups than stem cell research.
Word: beautician Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Blend of beauty + technician, originally coined in Cleveland, Ohio, c. 1920s. Pronunciation: /bjuːˈtɪ(t)ʃən/ 1. Someone who does hair styling, manicures, and other beauty treatments. Example: Near-synonyms: hairstylist, hairdresser Example: He was struck by the number of barbers’ saloons and ‘beauticians’.
Word: gynoid Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From gyno- + android. Pronunciation: /ˈɡaɪˌnɔɪd/ 1. An android (humanoid robot) in female form. Example: She was obviously a skillful surgeon. She expertly cleaned and sterilized the gaping holes in the gynoid’s chest and back. Example: Purchased as sex toys, the gynoids are programmed to love and sexually serve male humans; the aberrant violence of one particular model, called "Hadaly," is a mystery to the company that manufactures them. They should not be able to kill humans, nor should they have any desire to commit suicide, since they should have no real sense of self.⁴⁴ Batõ and his new partner, Togusa (who was Kusanagi's partner in the previous film), spend the rest of the film trying to discover how the gynoids have acquired their faulty programming—is it the work of a terrorist hacker, for example, targeting prominent men?
Word: gynoid Part of Speech: adj Pronunciation: /ˈɡaɪˌnɔɪd/ 1. Gynaecoid. Labels: not-comparable Example: a gynoid fat distribution 2. Of, pertaining to or following the distribution pattern of the type of body fat, more prevalent in women, that forms around the hips, breasts and thighs and is relatively rich in the long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids which are important in the development of foetuses. Labels: not-comparable Example: The work intensity and duration was identical in android and gynoid obese women in this study, making it unlikely that energy expenditure in the training program was different in these two groups. Example: 2008, Sharon Plowman, Denise Smith, Exercise Physiology for Health, Fitness, and Performance, Benjamin Cummings, Wolters Kluwer, 2nd Edition, page 219, Alpha-receptors predominate in the lower body and are thus more abundant in the gynoid pattern.
Word: becloud Part of Speech: verb Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁ep-der. Proto-Indo-European *h₁épsder. Proto-Indo-European *h₁epider. Proto-Indo-European *h₁pi Proto-Germanic *bider. Proto-Germanic *bi- Proto-West Germanic *bi- Old English be- Middle English bi- English be- English cloud English becloud From be- + cloud. Pronunciation: /bɪˈklaʊd/ 1. To cause to become obscure or muddled. Labels: transitive Example: […] Intemperance and Superfluity beclouds the Mind, dulls the edge of the Apprehension, and brings upon it an unmanly Languor, bearing down all the noble Faculties of the Soul into Ignorance and Stupidity […] Example: […] conscience was not to be perverted by the sophistry which had beclouded my reason. 2. To cover or surround with clouds. Labels: passive, transitive, usually Example: And then while you're a cooking, they say, / Such a fogo beclouds all the room, / That the girls have to group out the way, / In search of the tongs or the broom. Example: Day light began to forsake the red-room; it was past four o’clock, and the beclouded afternoon was tending to drear twilight. 3. To cast in a negative light, cast a pall over, darken. Labels: figuratively, transitive Example: What Fury has possest thee? What strange fit Usurps thy patience, and beclouds thy brow? Example: 1856, Abraham Lincoln, speech given on 19 May, 1856 in Speeches and Letters of Abraham Lincoln, London: J.M. Dent, 1907, p. 46, We live in the midst of alarms; anxiety beclouds the future; we expect some new disaster with each newspaper we read.
Word: bedpost Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From bed + post. 1. Any of the four upright supports of a bedstead.
Word: roundhouse Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From round + house, a calque of Dutch rondhuis (“guardhouse”). First attested in the Mid-15th c. Pronunciation: /ˈɹaʊndˌhaʊs/ 1. A circular prison, especially a small local lockup or station house. Example: [T]he gentlemen in the coffee room insisted upon the watch being called, or a constable. With considerable difficulty the two heroes were carried off to the round-house, and there lodged for the night. 2. A traditional circular dwelling elevated on stilts with a conical roof found in part of Southeast Asia. Example: All the time six or eight large Chinese gongs were being beaten by the vigorous arms of as many young men, producing such a deafening discord that I was glad to escape to the round house, where I slept very comfortably with half a dozen smoke-dried human skulls suspended over my head. 3. A prehistoric dwelling typical of northwest Europe in the Iron Age and Bronze Age. Example: A central stone slab cist containing the burial was surrounded by a circles of stones placed on edge, probably to represent the round house in which the deceased had lived. 4. The uppermost room or cabin of any note upon the stern of a ship. Labels: historical 5. A privy near the bow of a vessel, especially as reserved for officers. Labels: historical 6. A circular building in which locomotives are housed, sometimes with a turntable. Example: Crewe North Motive Power Depot is to be modernised completely. This includes the provision of a new coaling plant, ash handling plant, and two new locomotive sheds of the latest roundhouse type, each with 32 roads radiating from a 70-ft. dia. turntable. Example: Archaeologists working on HS2 in Birmingham have uncovered the remains of what is believed to be the world's oldest railway roundhouse at Curzon Street station. 7. A punch or kick delivered with an exaggerated sweeping movement. Labels: US 8. In the game of pinochle, a meld consisting of a queen and king in each of the four suits.
Word: roundhouse Part of Speech: verb Etymology: From round + house, a calque of Dutch rondhuis (“guardhouse”). First attested in the Mid-15th c. Pronunciation: /ˈɹaʊndˌhaʊs/ 1. To punch or kick with an exaggerated sweeping movement. Labels: transitive Example: We focused on the nerve-agent feint, and got roundhoused by the insurgent hook. Example: I'm on my feet and my fist is roundhousing and I feel flesh. I hit again, and teeth crack under my fist. I hear voices and they're shouting and a light burns into my face.
Word: roundish Part of Speech: adj Etymology: Etymology tree English round Proto-Indo-European *-iskos Proto-Germanic *-iskaz Proto-West Germanic *-isk Old English -isċ Middle English -ish English -ish English roundish From round + -ish. 1. Somewhat round. Example: Leaflets 9-11, roundish, of a firm texture, the lowest pair smaller than the rest, glaucous. Example: A doorknob of whatever roundish shape is effectively a continuum of levers, with the axis of the latching mechanism—known as the spindle—being the fulcrum about which the turning takes place.
Word: roundly Part of Speech: adv Etymology: From Middle English roundly, roundely, roundliche, equivalent to round + -ly. 1. Circularly. 2. Utterly or thoroughly. Example: Mr. Cooke at once began a tirade against the residents of Asquith for permitting a sandy and generally disgraceful condition of the roads. So roundly did he vituperate the inn management in particular, and with such a loud flow of words, that I trembled lest he should be heard on the veranda. Example: When, over in the east, General Valentine Baker led his force of four thousand irregulars against Osman Digna, he was roundly thrashed. 3. Boldly; openly. Example: Moko, a name given by sportsmen to pheasants killed by mistake during September, before the pheasant-shooting comes in. They pull out their tails, and roundly assert that they are no pheasants at all, but mokos. 4. Briskly. 5. Generally.
Word: roundness Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English roundnesse, equivalent to round + -ness. 1. The quality or degree of being round. Labels: uncountable, usually 2. The quality or degree of being round. Labels: uncountable, usually Example: I gazed at her arm. Where was its wonderful roundness and beauty? It was getting thin and angular.
Word: round-shouldered Part of Speech: adj 1. Having a rounded upper back, and shoulders that bend forward.
Word: roundtable Part of Speech: noun 1. Alternative form of round table. Labels: alt-of, alternative
Word: round table Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English rounde table, ronde tabell, equivalent to round + table. Pronunciation: /ˈɹaʊn(d).teɪbl̩/ 1. A conference at which participants of similar status discuss and exchange views. 2. A television show segment in which pundits or reporters discuss current events. 3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see round, table.
Word: vesania Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Learned borrowing from Latin vēsānia, derived from vēsānus (“mad, insane”). 1. Madness, insanity, mental derangement. Labels: uncountable Example: 2003: Overall, Cullen defined insanity (‘vesania’) as a nervous disorder. — Roy Porter, Flesh in the Age of Reason (Penguin 2004, p. 311) Example: 1894: American Journal of Insanity (Baltimore, MD), Jul. 1894: It is a morbid condition, consisting of exacerbations of pruriginous sensations in the hairy parts of the body, accompanied by a vesania, that leads the subjects to try to get relief by pulling out the hairs...
Word: round-trip Part of Speech: noun 1. Alternative spelling of round trip. Labels: alt-of, alternative
Word: round-trip Part of Speech: verb 1. Alternative spelling of roundtrip. Labels: alt-of, alternative
Word: rowdiness Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Etymology tree English rowdy Proto-Germanic *-inōną Proto-Indo-European *-dyé- Proto-Germanic *-atjaną Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Germanic *-þuz Proto-Germanic *-assuz Proto-Germanic *-inassuz Proto-West Germanic *-nassī Old English -nes Middle English -nesse English -ness English rowdiness From rowdy + -ness. 1. The state of being rowdy. Labels: uncountable, usually Example: Spectator rowdiness and movement during matches is considered part of the “modern era of tennis” and good for the game, attracting nonfans interested in the spectacle.
Word: rowdyism Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Etymology tree English rowdy Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íďďō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *-mós Ancient Greek -μός (-mós) Ancient Greek -ισμός (-ismós)der. English -ism English rowdyism From rowdy + -ism. 1. The state of being rowdy. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: Ayah stops to one side and I dive into the tangle of limbs yelling for all I’m worth, contributing my mite of rowdyism to the general row.
Word: helminth Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Ancient Greek ἕλμινς (hélmins, “intestinal worm”). Pronunciation: /ˈhɛl.mɪnθ/ 1. A parasitic worm; a fluke, tapeworm, or nematode.
Word: linear equations Part of Speech: noun 1. plural of linear equation Labels: form-of, plural
Word: linear equation Part of Speech: noun 1. A polynomial equation of the first degree (such as x = 2y - 7)
Word: modi operandi Part of Speech: noun 1. plural of modus operandi Labels: form-of, plural
Word: suppressant Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From suppress + -ant. Pronunciation: /səˈpɹɛs.ənt/, [səˈpɹɛs.ənt] ~ [səˈpɹɛs.n̩t] 1. A substance that suppresses.
Word: suppressor Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From suppress + -or. 1. A device which suppresses something, especially an electronic or mechanical device. 2. A device which suppresses something, especially an electronic or mechanical device. Example: Silencers, also called suppressors, are tube-shaped devices that, when screwed into the muzzle of a gun, slow the decompression of gases that propel a bullet forward, thus reducing the “pop” sound of gunfire. […] “I don’t think in real life, in practical applications, that there is that great of a tactical advantage to use a suppressor, especially for something like a mass shooting,” Gutowski said. 3. A person who suppresses others, a tyrant. 4. A gene that suppresses the effect of another through epistasis.
Word: surrealistically Part of Speech: adv Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *úp Proto-Indo-European *-er Proto-Indo-European *upér Proto-Italic *super Latin super Latin super- Old French sur- French sur- Proto-Indo-European *(H)reh₁-der. Proto-Indo-European *(H)reh₁ís Proto-Italic *reis Classical Latin rēs Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-der.? Proto-Italic *-ālis Latin -ālis Late Latin reālisder. Old French reel Middle French real French réel Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íďďō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *-mós Ancient Greek -μός (-mós) Ancient Greek -ῐσμός (-ĭsmós)der. Latin -ismusbor. French -isme French réalisme French surréalismebor. English surrealismbf. English surreal ▲ Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Hellenic *-tās Ancient Greek -τής (-tḗs) Ancient Greek -ῐστής (-ĭstḗs)bor. Latin -istader. Old French -istebor. Middle English -ist English -ist Proto-Indo-European *-ikos Proto-Italic *-ikos Latin -icuslbor. Old French -iquebor. Middle English -ik English -ic English -istic English surrealistic ▲ Latin -ālisbor. Old French -albor. ▲ Latin -ālis Old French -elbor. ▲ Latin -ālisbor. Middle English -al Proto-Indo-European *leyg-der. Proto-Germanic *līkąder. Proto-Germanic *-līkaz Proto-Germanic *-ê Proto-Germanic *-līkê Proto-West Germanic *-līkē Old English -līċe Middle English -ly Middle English -ally English -ally English surrealistically From surrealistic + -ally. 1. In a surreal manner. Example: The artist painted the flowers surrealistically.
Word: suppressible Part of Speech: adj Etymology: Etymology tree English suppress 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 suppressible From suppress + -ible. 1. Capable of being suppressed. Example: The urge to clear my throat was suppressible, but the urge to sneeze wasn't, and so I made a large noise in the middle of the solo.
Word: surliness Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Etymology tree English surly Proto-Germanic *-inōną Proto-Indo-European *-dyé- Proto-Germanic *-atjaną Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Germanic *-þuz Proto-Germanic *-assuz Proto-Germanic *-inassuz Proto-West Germanic *-nassī Old English -nes Middle English -nesse English -ness English surliness From surly + -ness. 1. The property of being surly. Labels: uncountable, usually Example: There has been an escalation of police harassment in the gay community: five brutal busts at the Crystal Hotel; the closing of sex clubs without notice; beatings of women outside Amelia's Bar in January and surliness and assaults against lesbians by off duty officers at Peg's Club later.
Word: sureness Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English surenes; equivalent to sure + -ness. Pronunciation: /ˈʃʊənəs/, /ˈʃɔːnəs/, /ˈʃʊɹnəs/, /ˈʃoːnəs/, /ˈʃoːnɘs/ 1. The property of being sure, certainty. Labels: uncountable Example: His sureness was born of having looked it up in a reputable reference book. 2. The property of being sure, deft, confident of ability. Labels: uncountable Example: The surgeon's sureness was the result of long study in school and long practice in the operating room, never did he hesitate and never was there a mis-move. 3. The result or product of being sure. Labels: countable, rare
Word: dandelion clock Part of Speech: noun 1. A single stem of a dandelion in its post-flowering state with the downy covering of its head intact. Labels: UK Example: Dandelion clocks! -- Pray what are they? ... by far the best clock is made by blowing the downy seed of the dandelion.
Word: surgically Part of Speech: adv Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰes- Proto-Indo-European *-ōr Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰésōr Proto-Hellenic *kʰéhər Ancient Greek χείρ (kheír) Proto-Indo-European *werǵ- Proto-Indo-European *-om Proto-Indo-European *wérǵom Proto-Hellenic *wérgon Ancient Greek ἔργον (érgon) Ancient Greek -ουργός (-ourgós) Ancient Greek χειρουργός (kheirourgós) Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Hellenic *-kos Ancient Greek -κός (-kós) Ancient Greek -ικός (-ikós) Ancient Greek χειρουργῐκός (kheirourgĭkós)bor. Late Latin chīrurgicus Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-der.? Proto-Italic *-ālis Latin -ālis Medieval Latin cirurgicālisder. Middle French cirurgicalbor. Middle English cirurgicalder. English surgical Proto-Indo-European *leyg-der. Proto-Germanic *līkąder. Proto-Germanic *-līkaz Proto-Germanic *-ê Proto-Germanic *-līkê Proto-West Germanic *-līkē Old English -līċe Middle English -ly English -ly English surgically From surgical + -ly. 1. Relating to surgery; by means of surgery. Labels: not-comparable Example: His cancer was treated surgically instead of with drugs or radiation. Example: When HBO airs “Behind the Candelabra” on May 26, the world will get to see Matt Damon play Liberace’s drug-addled, surgically enhanced lover – a role about as far from Jason Bourne as it gets.
Word: music to someone's ears Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From music (“any interesting or pleasing sounds”). Pronunciation: /ˈmjuːzɪk tə ˌsʌmwʌnz ˈɪəz/, /ˈmjuzɪk tə ˌsʌmwʌnz ˈɪɚz/ 1. A spoken expression or a sound which is pleasing; specifically, some good news, or welcome information or remarks. Labels: idiomatic, uncountable Example: […] Sweete Princesse of my life (said he) what Trophees, what Triumph, what Monuments, what Historis may ever make my fame yeeld so sweete a Musicke to my eares, […] Example: The time vvas once, vvhen thou vn-vrg'd vvouldſt vovv, / That neuer vvords vvere muſicke to thine eare, / That neuer obiect pleaſing in thine eye, / That neuer touch vvell vvelcome to thy hand, / That neuer meat ſvveet-ſauour'd in thy taſte, / Vnleſſe I ſpake, or look'd, or touch'd, or caru'd to thee.
Word: drayman Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Etymology tree English dray Proto-Indo-European *mon- Proto-Germanic *mann- Proto-West Germanic *mann Old English mann Middle English man Middle English -man English -man English drayman From dray + -man. 1. A man who drives drays. Labels: obsolete 2. A deliveryman for a brewery. Example: I likewiſe delivered up my Watch, which the Emperor was very curious to ſee, and commanded two of his talleſt Yeomen of the Guards to bear it on a Pole upon their Shoulders, as Dray-Men in England do a Barrel of Ale.
Word: sublimity Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English sublimite, sublimitee, from Middle French sublimité and/or Latin sublīmitās. By surface analysis, sublime + -ity. 1. The quality or state of being sublime. Labels: uncountable Example: The frantic father struts the stage, / And swells with true sublimity of rage / Against his son, who leads a wanton life, / And scorns the offer of a dowried wife. 2. Something sublime. Labels: countable
Word: pommeled Part of Speech: verb 1. simple past and past participle of pommel Labels: form-of, participle, past
Word: pommeled Part of Speech: adj 1. Having a pommel. Labels: in-compounds, not-comparable, often Example: The early unadorned variety of ring-pommeled swords that dated to the fourth century and before has come to light in Paekche, but archaeologists have usually uncovered that type from Kaya and Silla.
Word: unpalatable Part of Speech: adj Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Germanic *un- Proto-West Germanic *un- Old English un- Middle English un- English un- Proto-Indo-European *pleth₂-? Proto-Indo-European *pel-? Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂-osder. Latin palātumder. Old French palatbor. Middle English palate English palate Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr Proto-Indo-European *-dʰlom Proto-Indo-European *-dʰlis Proto-Italic *-ðlis Latin -bilis Latin -ābilis Old French -ablebor. Middle English -able English -able English palatable English unpalatable From un- + palatable. 1. Unpleasant to the taste. Example: In one corner of the room there was a huge hearth, over which hung a stock-pot, with a not altogether unpalatable odour of hot soup emanating therefrom. Example: She did not mean to pamper herself any longer, to go without food because her surroundings made it unpalatable. 2. Unpleasant or disagreeable. Labels: broadly, figuratively Example: But enough of this. Homely truth is unpalatable. Example: "This is very perplexing," said Duke Deodonato, and he knit his brows; for as he gazed upon the beauty of the damsel, it seemed to him a thing unnatural, undesirable, unpalatable, unpleasant, and unendurable, that she should wed Dr. Fusbius.
Word: unpalatable Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Germanic *un- Proto-West Germanic *un- Old English un- Middle English un- English un- Proto-Indo-European *pleth₂-? Proto-Indo-European *pel-? Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂-osder. Latin palātumder. Old French palatbor. Middle English palate English palate Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr Proto-Indo-European *-dʰlom Proto-Indo-European *-dʰlis Proto-Italic *-ðlis Latin -bilis Latin -ābilis Old French -ablebor. Middle English -able English -able English palatable English unpalatable From un- + palatable. 1. Anything distasteful. Example: In the severer cases of hookworm the patient sometimes has an appetite for soil, paper, hair, clay, chalk, starch, and other unpalatables. Example: His wife, a small woman who walked always on high heels, borrowed Gerhardie's primus stove several times a day to cook her husband gargantuan meals of cockles, mussels, snails, and other such unpalatables.
Word: chevrotain Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Borrowed from French chevrotain, chevrotin (“ruminant of the family Tragulidae”), the diminutive of Old French chevrot (“young goat, kid”), itself a diminutive of chievre (“goat”) (modern French chèvre (“she-goat”)) + -ot (diminutive suffix). Chievre is derived from Latin capra (“she-goat”), from caper (“billy goat, he-goat”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kápros (“billy goat, he-goat”)) + -a (suffix forming feminine counterparts of masculine nouns). Pronunciation: /ˈʃɛvɹə(ʊ)teɪn/, /ˈʃɛvɹəˌteɪn/ 1. Any of several small hornless ruminants of the family Tragulidae, native to tropical rainforests of South and Southeast Asia, and Central and West Africa. Example: To this vve may add the Chevrotin, or little Guinea Deer, vvhich is the leaſt of all cloven-footed quadrupeds, and perhaps the moſt beautiful; its legs, at the ſmalleſt part, are not much thicker than the ſhank of a tobacco-pipe; it is about ſeven inches high, and about tvvelve from the point of the noſe to the inſertion of the tail.
Word: rice queen Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From rice with the (somewhat derogatory) sense of "Asian man," combined with queen to imply "homosexual attraction to...". Compare bean queen for derivation; one was probably formed by analogy with the other. 1. A non-Asian man who is mostly attracted to East Asian men. Labels: derogatory, slang Example: 1984, Herbert Gold, Mister White Eyes: A Novel, Arbor House, →ISBN, page 204, These were nostalgic gray wolves in this place, or maybe they were the ones who spent the money and brought in the chickens. A rice queen with a Japanese boy (maybe Chinese). Example: 1995, unnamed interview subject, quoted in Laurence Wai-Teng Leong and Gerard Sullivan, Gays and Lesbians in Asia and the Pacific: Social and Human Services, Haworth Press, →ISBN, page 101, If a man like myself in his 40s goes into a gay bar in Australia, no heads are going to turn. There are a few young Asian men and a lot of rice queens. In Thailand the position is reversed and the Caucasian man can choose.
Word: gabbiness Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Etymology tree English gabby Proto-Germanic *-inōną Proto-Indo-European *-dyé- Proto-Germanic *-atjaną Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Germanic *-þuz Proto-Germanic *-assuz Proto-Germanic *-inassuz Proto-West Germanic *-nassī Old English -nes Middle English -nesse English -ness English gabbiness From gabby + -ness. 1. The quality of being gabby. Labels: uncountable
Word: gabled Part of Speech: adj Etymology: From gable + -ed. 1. Having one or more gables. Labels: not-comparable
Word: gainful Part of Speech: adj Etymology: From gain (“against, contrary”) + -ful. 1. Contrary. 2. Disposed to taking advantage of. 3. Troublesome; fractious; hard to handle.
Word: gainful Part of Speech: adj Etymology: From gain (“profit, foredeal”) + -ful. 1. Providing gain; profitable. Example: How can we find gainful employment with dignity for the uneducated?
Word: gainfully Part of Speech: adv Etymology: Etymology tree English gainful Middle English -ly English -ly English gainfully From gainful + -ly. 1. In a gainful manner; profitably.
Word: gainsaid Part of Speech: verb 1. simple past and past participle of gainsay Labels: form-of, participle, past
Word: galleria Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Borrowed from Italian galleria. Doublet of gallery. 1. An indoor area, or covered courtyard, containing shops.
Word: anvil cloud Part of Speech: noun 1. A tall thundercloud (cumulonimbus) whose top has reached the tropopause and become flat, creating a characteristic shape likened to an anvil.
Word: misconstrued Part of Speech: adj 1. Interpreted erroneously, understood incorrectly; misunderstood.
Word: misconstrued Part of Speech: verb 1. simple past and past participle of misconstrue Labels: form-of, participle, past