As a sometime desert /treeless plain dweller, I’d appreciate terms that denote treeless open plains or desert lovers. In my case rolling hills and bluffs with cliffs, folds, glens, valleys, burrens, rills, mesas, ravines, hummocky terrain, hanging valleys and bergschrunds are my preference.
Ken Kesey, author of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, in his childrens’ book “Little Tricker the Squirrel meets Big Double the Bear”. Viking Penguin, 1990. Illus. Barry Moser.
It was a bear, a grizzerly bear, so big and hairy and horrible it looked like the two biggest baddest bears in the Ozarks had teamed up to make one.
Writing for Vox in 2018, Emily VanDerWerff came up with a nice, pithy term for the “near-religious zealotry” that some fans exhibit: “fandamentalism.” According to her, the term applies to fans who “aren’t just looking for meaning in the work itself, but for the work to impart meaning” to their own lives.” Chrissy Stroop, “Stop Trying to Save Jesus: Fanamentalism Reinforces the Problem of Christian Supremacism”. Religiondispatches.org, Jan 29, 2021.
“The great summit of declinism, according to Adam Gopnick, “was established in 1918, in the book that gave decline its good name in publishing: the German historian Oswald Spengler’s best-selling, thousand-page work 'The Decline of the West.'”
A very fine-grained limestone resulting from the precipitation of carbonate minerals. Minimal bioturbation of the accumulating sediments favors exquisite preservation/fossilization of the remains of any organisms therein enclosed. As a German noun, capitalization of the initial "p" wouldn't be frowned upon by me.
"A river rising in the Wrangell Mountains of southern Alaska and flowing about 483 km (300 mi) southward through the Chugach Mountains to the Gulf of Alaska."
I could have sworn it was the Irrawady. Thanks, computers.
I had hoped to preserve a few gullet-words in oil, wrapping them up in very clean straw (as we do with snow and ice); but Pantagruel would not allow it, saying that it was madness to pickle something that was never lacking and always to hand as are gullet-words amongst all good and merry Pantagruelists.
Chapter 56 of Gargantua and Pantagruel by Rabelais describes frozen words that may be warmed in the hands and then heard. Among these were so-called gullet-words such as hing, hisse, brededing, brededac, frr, frrr, bou, ong, ououououong, Gog, magog, "and who knows what other barbarous words".
"There must have been a tower here from a very early period if this was the bell that summoned the folk-mote. --Arthur Dimmock, 1900. The Cathedral Church of Saint Paul. G. Bell and Sons, p.52.
An acre of land bequeathed to the bell-ringers of Harlington, Middlesex, to perpetually provide for them a leg of pork in payment for the ringing of the bells on November 5th. Remember remember the 5th of November? Yes, ringing the bells to mark the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot in 1605.
The churchwarden's accounts at S. Margaret's, Westminster contain this entry:
1605. Pd the ringers for ringing at the time when the Parliament House should have been blown up ..0 10 0
Guapo was busy plucking his macaws, but at the word tapir he sprang to his feet, making the feathers fly in all directions.
--Captain Mayne Reid, The Forest Exiles; or, The Perils of a Peruvian Family amid the Wilds of the Amazon, New Edition. p.145. New York. Thomas R. Knox & Co., 1854.
I get the sense of jiggly + bubbly. Clement Clark Moore's poem "A visit from St. Nicholas" describes the right jolly old elf's stomach as "shook when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly". That is, jubbly.
A swollen, rising, restive sea was called a jubble.
"The sea at this place is seldom calm, even when the winds are still. What is technically called a 'jubble' rises perpetually upon the rocks, and renders it unsafe for very small craft to anchor within their shadow." -- The Literary Souvenir; or, Cabinet of Poetry and Romance, ed. by Alaric Alexander Watts p.80. 1831.
"..although it blew what the sailors call, with the expressive coarseness of their phraseology, a snoring breeze, and the tide, already beginning to flow, rose, on meeting the opposite wind, in a rough, cross jubble'.“ ibid, p.95.
The young man in the balcony of a theatre who displays a gorgeous waistcoat for the benefit of the fair owners of opera glasses, has very probably no socks in his wardrobe, for the hosier is another of the genus of weevils that nibble at the purse. --Balzac, Le PèreGoriot, 1835.
In Homer's craft Jack Milton thrives; Eschylus' pen Will Shakespeare drives; Wee Pope, the knurlin, 'till him rives Horatian fame; In thy sweet sang Barbauld, survives Even Sappho's flame.
Wiktionary provides this definition, but the same is also found in older printed sources as well. See for example the discussion under the entry for 'gloit' in Jamieson's <i>Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language</i>.
A dwarf. A Scottish term, perhaps a borrowing from a Germanic source. See discussion in Jamieson's An Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language, 1808.
The bombard-man carried a very large drinking vessel, pehaps leathern, termed a bombard after the name of a cannon, to distribute liquor among a crowd of people. All hail the bombard-man!
My source for gogmagogical is Nares, Robert, A glossary; or collection of words, phrases, names and allusions to customs, proverbs, etc., which have been thought to require illustration in the works of English authors, particularly of Shakespeare, and his contemporaries, New Edition, Vol I, p. 376. London. John Russel Smith. 1859.
See also: Hyamson, Albert Montefiore, A Dictionary of English Phrases London and New York. 1922. p. 162.
Muret, Eduard, Encyclopædic English-German and German-English Dictionary, 1900, p. 982.
The entry for "Giants of Guildhall" in Nares' dictionary cited above informs us that the two enormous statues in the Guildhall of London were named Gogmagog and Corinaeus. The entry contains lines from a British broadside printed in 1660 that mention these two mythical giants.
"And thus attended by his direful dog, The gyant was (God bless us) Gogmagog.
Glasgow magistrate: A herring, after the practice of sending specimen herrings to the Baillie of Glasgow. - Hyamson's "Dictionionary of English Phrases".
...the grain payment made to the Kulkurnee is termed Mushaira. -Mountstuart Elphinstone, Report on the Territories Conquered from the Paishwa, Submitted to the Supreme Government of British India, Appendix,, p. xxii. 1821.
Coined by the 8th Duke of Argyll, referring to British nervousness at the Russian occupation of Merv in Central Asia around 1883, and its threat to the Indian Empire.
I maintained a fruit fly colony for biology labs long ago. We used sugar and bread yeast dampened with a bit of water in the traps to catch those that escaped into the classrooms and building wing in which the labs were held.
The Grable test, part of Operation Upshot-Knothole, occurred on May 25, 1953 at Frenchman Flat in the Nevada Test site. A 15-kt atomic shell was successfully fired 7 miles by the M65 Atomic Cannon "Atomic Annie". This cannon is displayed at the US Army Military Museum at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
A group of Scottish writers who depicted life in the Scottish lowlands in a sentimental and romantic fashion. Characters in their works commonly spoke in Scottish dialect. J.M. Barrie, author of Peter Pan, is included in this group, and is perhaps the most august writer amang them a'.
Happy Birthday, Noah Webster! --October 16, 1758 – May 28, 1843-- Read the Widipedia entry for this iconic American lexicographer, spelling reformer, writer, publisher here.
Today (10/3/13) is Natl Poetry Day in the UK. What are your favorite poems? Among mine, William Butler Yeats' The Wild Swans at Coole, and A.E. Housman's Loveliest of trees, the cherry now</i>".
The Worshipful Company of Cordwainers is one of London's livery companies, around since 1272. You can follow them on Twitter @Cordwainers. Cordovan, the fine leather from Córdoba in Andalusia, cordwain from cordovan. Fine leathery livery.
What the Obama administration is portraying as a "shutdown" of the federal government -- complete with signs posted at the entrances to government buildings, parks and monuments -- is turning out to be more of a "slimdown," - FOX News
An offal dish from the cuisine of northern Portugal described as "a steaming black mash that involves the heart, lungs, liver and throat lining of a pig stewed in the animal's blood".
"An even more disturbing spectre called the shug monkey, which is described by witnesses as an unholy combination of mastiff and great ape is also seen on occasion..."
US Infantryman slang for the metal clip designed to hold two 30-round rifle/machine gun magazines together. The formal military name for this article was "Holder, Magazine T3-A1".
@lydunka - my feeling is that the well was nearly dry, so the water level in the well was very low. More rope required to reach the water, and more time and effort required to hoist the bucket.
Comments by hernesheir
hernesheir commented on the word shinrin-yoku
I’ll say again, we nemophilists are everywhere.
As a sometime desert /treeless plain dweller, I’d appreciate terms that denote treeless open plains or desert lovers. In my case rolling hills and bluffs with cliffs, folds, glens, valleys, burrens, rills, mesas, ravines, hummocky terrain, hanging valleys and bergschrunds are my preference.
April 28, 2024
hernesheir commented on the word grizzerly
My lists are so old that I’m new here.
April 28, 2024
hernesheir commented on the word grizzerly
Ken Kesey, author of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, in his childrens’ book “Little Tricker the Squirrel meets Big Double the Bear”. Viking Penguin, 1990. Illus. Barry Moser.
It was a bear, a grizzerly bear, so big and hairy and horrible it looked like the two biggest baddest bears in the Ozarks had teamed up to make one.
April 28, 2024
hernesheir commented on the word Fandamentalism
Writing for Vox in 2018, Emily VanDerWerff came up with a nice, pithy term for the “near-religious zealotry” that some fans exhibit: “fandamentalism.” According to her, the term applies to fans who “aren’t just looking for meaning in the work itself, but for the work to impart meaning” to their own lives.” Chrissy Stroop, “Stop Trying to Save Jesus: Fanamentalism Reinforces the Problem of Christian Supremacism”. Religiondispatches.org, Jan 29, 2021.
September 5, 2022
hernesheir commented on the word colorway
The term palette springs to mind.
October 11, 2019
hernesheir commented on the word cowboy shot
Thank you! I’m humbled
May 11, 2019
hernesheir commented on the word finger-fluting
Archeology: -Drawings made with the fingers of shapes, or objects made in soft sediments in caves or clay objescts.
October 30, 2017
hernesheir commented on the word ruby-topaz
The hummingbird images associated with this descriptive bird adjective are worth the time to see them.
June 17, 2017
hernesheir commented on the word declinist candidate
“The great summit of declinism, according to Adam Gopnick, “was established in 1918, in the book that gave decline its good name in publishing: the German historian Oswald Spengler’s best-selling, thousand-page work 'The Decline of the West.'”
June 15, 2017
hernesheir commented on the word declinist candidate
A candidate for political or other office who promotes or appears to espouse declinism.
Cf. and search declinist and summit of declinism.
June 15, 2017
hernesheir commented on the word gardevine
A wine bottle.
June 11, 2017
hernesheir commented on the word quantum tunnelling
Wish this technology could identify and repair the broken sprinkler system in my yard.
June 10, 2017
hernesheir commented on the word shinrin-yoku
We nemophilists are everywhere.
June 10, 2017
hernesheir commented on the word struthonian
Like an ostrich. struthonianism
June 10, 2017
hernesheir commented on the word Xanthostigma xanthostigma
Yay!
June 10, 2017
hernesheir commented on the word hard seltzer
Don't overlook hard switchel, switchy, haymaker's punch.
June 2, 2017
hernesheir commented on the word neo-sticklerism
Used by US Senator Al Franken in a vanityfair.com interview published on May 31, 2017.
"I am hoping for the pendulum to swing back, and that we have an age of neo-sticklerism where everyone is a stickler for the truth."
June 2, 2017
hernesheir commented on the word avolatte
I'll stick to raw oysters on the half-shell from Appalachicola Bay or Cedar Key (FL,USA), with a squeeze of lemon and a schpritz of Tobasco Sauce.
May 26, 2017
hernesheir commented on the word depuration
Wonderful, qms.
May 26, 2017
hernesheir commented on the word conker
See conkers.
May 24, 2017
hernesheir commented on the word plattenkalk
Hello all, just chalking up a brief visit to Wordnik.
May 24, 2017
hernesheir commented on the word plattenkalk
A very fine-grained limestone resulting from the precipitation of carbonate minerals. Minimal bioturbation of the accumulating sediments favors exquisite preservation/fossilization of the remains of any organisms therein enclosed. As a German noun, capitalization of the initial "p" wouldn't be frowned upon by me.
May 24, 2017
hernesheir commented on the word Marcella
Another term for the coin/currency collectors.
March 11, 2016
hernesheir commented on the word blare
One for the coin/currency collectors.
March 11, 2016
hernesheir commented on the word matryomin
A theramin inside a matryoshka doll. Query YouTube for a listen to this instrumental oddity.
March 11, 2016
hernesheir commented on the word footle
Oh, hello everybody.
March 11, 2016
hernesheir commented on the word clownstick
Good one, Bilby Longears!
November 5, 2015
hernesheir commented on the word Crack-Nut Sunday
Last Sunday before Michaelmas. Parishoners took nuts to church and cracked them during the service.
September 27, 2015
hernesheir commented on the word becker
The king of sea breams has a name.
September 27, 2015
hernesheir commented on the word irrating
"A river rising in the Wrangell Mountains of southern Alaska and flowing about 483 km (300 mi) southward through the Chugach Mountains to the Gulf of Alaska."
I could have sworn it was the Irrawady. Thanks, computers.
October 19, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word golden arrow clip
The golden arrow clip replaced the ball clip on Parker Jotter pens in 1958.
October 12, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word Quink
Portmanteau of "quick" and "ink". Trade name of a quick-drying ink introduced by the Parker company in 1931.
October 12, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word hydraulic pen
One of George Stafford Parker's versions of the writing pen.
October 12, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word paragrandine
All hail.
October 12, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word elaine
Oleic acid. See elaidic.
October 12, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word Napier's bones
Also called Napier's rods
October 12, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word follow-the-sun
or for some, follow-the-moon.
October 12, 2014
hernesheir commented on the list bell-call
Nice, fbharjo!
October 10, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word earcup
What earbuds grow into.
October 10, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word wensum
Antecedent of meander, also named for the path of a river.
October 10, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word gullet-words
I had hoped to preserve a few gullet-words in oil, wrapping them up in very clean straw (as we do with snow and ice); but Pantagruel would not allow it, saying that it was madness to pickle something that was never lacking and always to hand as are gullet-words amongst all good and merry Pantagruelists.
Chapter 56 of Gargantua and Pantagruel by Rabelais describes frozen words that may be warmed in the hands and then heard. Among these were so-called gullet-words such as hing, hisse, brededing, brededac, frr, frrr, bou, ong, ououououong, Gog, magog, "and who knows what other barbarous words".
October 3, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word Finn et al 2009 Curr Biol
Just think what one could one could pull off with some tazers and cans of pepper spray.
October 3, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word gleaning bell
A bell that signalled when gleaning could begin or must terminate.
September 26, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word mote bell
meeting bell
September 26, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word mote bell
A bell peal to call people to a meeting place.
"There must have been a tower here from a very early period if this was the bell that summoned the folk-mote. --Arthur Dimmock, 1900. The Cathedral Church of Saint Paul. G. Bell and Sons, p.52.
September 26, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word mind-day peal
A pealing of bells to commemorate the anniversary of someone's death. See mind-day.
September 26, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word tantony
St. Anthony, patron saint of swineherds.
Cf. tanthony; tantony pig; tantony crutch, tantony bell.
September 26, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word Pork-acre
An acre of land bequeathed to the bell-ringers of Harlington, Middlesex, to perpetually provide for them a leg of pork in payment for the ringing of the bells on November 5th. Remember remember the 5th of November? Yes, ringing the bells to mark the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot in 1605.
The churchwarden's accounts at S. Margaret's, Westminster contain this entry:
1605. Pd the ringers for ringing at the time when the Parliament House should have been blown up ..0 10 0
September 26, 2014
hernesheir commented on the list bell-call
Besides specific bell-calls, I have added a few bell terms heretofore not listed on Wordnik, such as sound-bow, clocarium, and bellfounder.
September 26, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word tree-calf
Dutifully yoinked and stuffed into the loculamentum I call The Bindery.
September 25, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word busy
Guapo was busy plucking his macaws, but at the word tapir he sprang to his feet, making the feathers fly in all directions.
--Captain Mayne Reid, The Forest Exiles; or, The Perils of a Peruvian Family amid the Wilds of the Amazon, New Edition. p.145. New York. Thomas R. Knox & Co., 1854.
September 25, 2014
hernesheir commented on the list leaves
Your lovely comment leaves me very appreciative, ruzuzu. Thanks.
September 25, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word jubble
I get the sense of jiggly + bubbly. Clement Clark Moore's poem "A visit from St. Nicholas" describes the right jolly old elf's stomach as "shook when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly". That is, jubbly.
A swollen, rising, restive sea was called a jubble.
"The sea at this place is seldom calm, even when the winds are still. What is technically called a 'jubble' rises perpetually upon the rocks, and renders it unsafe for very small craft to anchor within their shadow." -- The Literary Souvenir; or, Cabinet of Poetry and Romance, ed. by Alaric Alexander Watts p.80. 1831.
"..although it blew what the sailors call, with the expressive coarseness of their phraseology, a snoring breeze, and the tide, already beginning to flow, rose, on meeting the opposite wind, in a rough, cross jubble'.“ ibid, p.95.
September 20, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word vast majority
vast majority >51% to political hacks and commentators.
September 19, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word gasworks
I can't read or hear spoken the word gasworks without musing on these lines from the song Dirty Old Town, as covered by The Pogues.
I met my love by the gasworks wall
Dreamed a dream by the old canal
Kissed a girl by the factory wall
Dirty old town
Dirty old town
September 19, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word Daddy-O
Frederick IX 1899-1972. King of Denmark (1947-1972) who signed a constitutional amendment allowing the succession of a woman to the throne.
Way to go, Daddy-O!
September 14, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word camber
Great one, qms. Evokes a scene in the 1937 film Captains Courageous, which I recently watched again.
September 13, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word chasse-maree
It's a boat, for you listers of a nautical bent.
September 13, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word derne
A nice Anglo-Saxon word.
September 13, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word pigeon-livered
But I am pigeon-livered, and lack gall
To make oppression bitter
--Shakespeare, Hamlet, II. ii.
September 13, 2014
hernesheir commented on the user juanitadavis
How are the SPAM handles after using 2?
September 13, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word dead vast
In the dead vast and middle of the night. --Shakespeare, Hamlet I. ii. 198.
September 12, 2014
hernesheir commented on the user Garciap
You say sliming, I say spamming.
September 12, 2014
hernesheir commented on the list put-a-sock-in-it
The young man in the balcony of a theatre who displays a gorgeous waistcoat for the benefit of the fair owners of opera glasses, has very probably no socks in his wardrobe, for the hosier is another of the genus of weevils that nibble at the purse. --Balzac, Le Père Goriot, 1835.
September 12, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word dayclean
A Gullah synonym of dawn; day-break.
September 11, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word unicyclists
The provided Wordnik and Twitter examples make me smile. I especially like the tweet that gives us "a singularity of unicyclists".
September 11, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word fulminatrix
Interesting, though neither shocking nor electrifying (see example).
September 11, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word rigadoon
shellack
shellacking
September 10, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word clumpet
A broody hen. Prince Edward Island.
September 10, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word rigadoon
skelp
September 10, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word gixxer
Gas-X®
http://ow.ly/BhIbU
September 9, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word horse-pile
A dripping heap of salted fish, you say? I say you need your eyes checked.
September 6, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word waterhorse
This I would never have guessed.
September 6, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word latruncular
Thanks for this word, markusloke!
September 4, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word lilliputian
There are some eponym lists, but don't let that stop you from making your own! You might search a few obvious eponyms to identify other lists.
September 3, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word hobleshew
A confused noise; an uproar.
September 3, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word hoe-mother
The basking shark has here (Orkney) got the name of hoe-mother or homer, that is, the mother of the dog-fish.
--George Barry, 1805. The History of the Orkney Islands, p. 296.
hoemother
September 2, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word daft days
An old British term for the celebrations and excesses around the Christmas Season. Cf. Hogmanay, Fête des Fous.
daft-days
September 2, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word hog-score
A sort of distance line drawn across a curling rink.
Or up the rink like Jehu roar,
In time o' need;
But now he lags on Death's hog-score
Tam Samson's dead!
Robert Burns, Tam Samson's Elegy.
September 2, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word knurlin
In Homer's craft Jack Milton thrives;
Eschylus' pen Will Shakespeare drives;
Wee Pope, the knurlin, 'till him rives
Horatian fame;
In thy sweet sang Barbauld, survives
Even Sappho's flame.
Robert Burns, Poem on Pastoral Poetry
September 2, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word in the glonders
In a state of ill-humor.
September 2, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word brogue
To fish for eels by disturbing the waters.
Wiktionary provides this definition, but the same is also found in older printed sources as well. See for example the discussion under the entry for 'gloit' in Jamieson's <i>Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language</i>.
September 2, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word elfmill
That too bilby!
September 2, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word elfmill
The sounds of wood-worms laboring within the timbers of an old house.
September 1, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word dreech
dree
September 1, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word droich
A dwarf. A Scottish term, perhaps a borrowing from a Germanic source. See discussion in Jamieson's An Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language, 1808.
September 1, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word drap-de-berry
A fine woolen fabric that was manufactured in Berry, France.
"Fools never wear out, they are such drap-de-berry things." --Wm. Congreve, The Way of the World, III. X.
September 1, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word conder
Let me know if you spot any fish.
August 31, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word flutterlustation
The flip-side is "utter frustration".
August 31, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word son net
A neat, clear, brisk little sound.
August 30, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word polypragmon
Here's a word.
August 30, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word ceramite
"potter's earth, that is." - Third Book of Pantagruel, Ch. 5.
August 30, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word purpureal
Thine is the tranquil hour, purpureal Eve!
--Wm. Wordsworth, Composed upon an Evening of Extraordinary Splendour and Beauty.
August 30, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word panterer
A source of the Anglo-Scottish occupational surname Panter, which also means "pantry keeper".
August 29, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word strown
Not a flower, not a flower sweet,
On my black coffin let there be strown.
-Shakespeare, Twelfth Night II. iv.
August 29, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word insufferably twee
Source: bit.ly/1oAWhaC
August 27, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word stellerine
Alas the poor stellerine,
A creature you'll ne'er meet.
Half mammal, half submarine,
And very good to eat.
August 26, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word cark
There's a joy without canker or cark,
There's a pleasure eternally new,
'Tis to gloat on the glaze and the mark
Of china that's ancient and blue.
-Andrew Lang, Ballade of Blue China
August 26, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word quarrelet
Some ask'd how pearls did grow, and where?
Then spoke I to my girl,
To part her lips, and shew'd them there
The quarelets of pearl.
- Robert Herrick (1591-1674); Hesperides. A Country Life. The Rock of Rubies, and the Quarry of Pearls.
August 25, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word ratoon
Very nicely phrased, qms.
August 25, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word Babbabian
A not-infrequent erroneous OCR (Optical Character Reader) scan of "Barbarian" noticed over at Google Books.
August 25, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word self-report personality inventory
Due by Wednesday next, Wordniks.
August 25, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word Banburismus
An enigmatic word, courtesy of Alan Turing.
August 25, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word now-and-now
Once and again.
August 24, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word nocent
The docent was a nocent.
August 24, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word nigmenog
Don't forget ninny-hammer and ninny-whoop.
August 24, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word sackbuttist
Or do they prefer being called sackbutters?
August 24, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word bourgeoisification
Here's a mouthful. embourgeoisement
August 24, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word bombard-man
The bombard-man carried a very large drinking vessel, pehaps leathern, termed a bombard after the name of a cannon, to distribute liquor among a crowd of people. All hail the bombard-man!
August 23, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word fustilarian
Cf. fustilugs.
August 23, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word newdicle
Something new, a novelty.
This obsolete term ought to find new commerce as a lexicographical novelty.
August 22, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word neddyish
Silly; foolish. See neddy.
August 22, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word galley-foist
One for the boat-listers.
August 22, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word nayward
Pairs well with wayward.
August 22, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word fantastico
The pox of such antic, lisping, fantasticoes; these new tuners of accents.
Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, II. iv.
August 22, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word hebdomadary
'HEBDOMADARY . . . well, you're a boss word' I said.
'Before you're very much older, I'll have you in type as long as yourself'
-Robert Louis Stevenson, The Wrecker, ch. 7.
August 22, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word misdeem
That beauty is not, as fond men misdeem,
An outward show of things, that only seem.
from Edmund Spenser, An Hymn in Honor of Beauty.
August 22, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word endocarp
Very witty, qms.
August 22, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word gastrimargism
gastrimargia
August 22, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word belly-cheer
Cf. gastrimargism
August 22, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word outwept
The first citation provided in the examples, from Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem Adonis, is to me, the best use of the word outwept, ever.
August 22, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word megiowler
A type of large moth. (Cornwall)
August 22, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word dislimn
That which is now a horse, even with a thought
The rack dislimns, and makes it indistinct,
As water is in water.
Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, xii. 9.
August 22, 2014
hernesheir commented on the list ignis-fatuus
Meg-with-the-wad - H.G. Bohn. 1857. Dictionary of Obsolete and Provincial English, Vol 1., p. 667.
August 22, 2014
hernesheir commented on the list hunting-the-wild-boar
Dzik
August 22, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word garled
Said of animals that are streaked or spotted.
What? Yon garled kine
Upon the hill
Are not my beasts to sell.
No, they belong to Master Brill
The beast down in the dell.
August 21, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word jupon
See gepon.
August 21, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word gepon
A pourpoint; doublet.
H.G. Bohn, 1857. Dictionary of Obsolete and Provincial English, 1:504.
August 21, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word gogmagogical
The sense of the word is giant or tremendous.
My source for gogmagogical is Nares, Robert, A glossary; or collection of words, phrases, names and allusions to customs, proverbs, etc., which have been thought to require illustration in the works of English authors, particularly of Shakespeare, and his contemporaries, New Edition, Vol I, p. 376. London. John Russel Smith. 1859.
See also:
Hyamson, Albert Montefiore, A Dictionary of English Phrases London and New York. 1922. p. 162.
Muret, Eduard, Encyclopædic English-German and German-English Dictionary, 1900, p. 982.
The entry for "Giants of Guildhall" in Nares' dictionary cited above informs us that the two enormous statues in the Guildhall of London were named Gogmagog and Corinaeus. The entry contains lines from a British broadside printed in 1660 that mention these two mythical giants.
"And thus attended by his direful dog, The gyant was (God bless us) Gogmagog.
These sources are available in Google Books.
August 21, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word garvie
Sprats so named from Inch Garvie in the Firth of Forth where they were caught.
August 21, 2014
hernesheir commented on the list herring
Glasgow magistrate: A herring, after the practice of sending specimen herrings to the Baillie of Glasgow. - Hyamson's "Dictionionary of English Phrases".
August 21, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word girdlestead
The waist.
August 21, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word gogmagogical
Be it to all men by these presents knowne,
That lately to the world was plainely showne
In a huge volume gogmagoticall.
- Taylor's Workes, 1630
August 21, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word mushaira
...the grain payment made to the Kulkurnee is termed Mushaira.
-Mountstuart Elphinstone, Report on the Territories Conquered from the Paishwa, Submitted to the Supreme Government of British India, Appendix,, p. xxii. 1821.
August 20, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word mervousness
Coined by the 8th Duke of Argyll, referring to British nervousness at the Russian occupation of Merv in Central Asia around 1883, and its threat to the Indian Empire.
August 20, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word discandy
The hearts
That spaniel'd me at heels, to whom I gave
Their wishes, do discandy, melt their sweets
On blossoming Caesar.
Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, III., x., 33.
August 20, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word beef-witted
Mongrel beef-witted Lord. - Troilus and Cressida, II., i., 14
August 20, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word redleg
It's a bird, or another bird. Or another.
August 12, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word whort
One for the berry-pickers.
August 8, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word soldado
It's a fish.
August 8, 2014
hernesheir commented on the list undersea-astronomy
I added sunfish. Thanks qms.
August 8, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word superdialect
"Computational Linguistics of Twitter Reaveals the Existence of Global Superdialects".
Emerging Technology from the arXiv, August 7, 2014.
See also this abstract:
arxiv.org/abs/1407.7094 - "Crowdsourcing Dialect Characterization through Twitter"
August 7, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word toilet-to-tap
Bottoms up!
August 7, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word gadjo
This term is my one-word autoethnography.
August 7, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word nainsook
"eye candy"
August 5, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word adorabubble
Oh dear.
August 4, 2014
hernesheir commented on the list undersea-astronomy
Thanks ruzuzu!
August 4, 2014
hernesheir commented on the list agentive-exocentric--v-n-n-compounds
My list of compound derogative terms, Gapeseeds and Muckworms, contains many others.
March 6, 2014
hernesheir commented on the list agentive-exocentric--v-n-n-compounds
List the obscure ones too Tank!
March 6, 2014
hernesheir commented on the list agentive-exocentric--v-n-n-compounds
cutpurse
March 6, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word thieves' vinegar
Added. Thanks ry!
March 5, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word sea-pudding
'You must have invited a lot of people up here for sea-pudding, I should think.' --from the Wordnik Examples.
March 5, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word Kaputnik
See also Examples for Dudnik and Flopnik.
February 15, 2014
hernesheir commented on the list feathers--1
I read the lovely natural history book entitled Hope is the Thing with Feathers. And a book called Hope Floats.
February 14, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word abraisive
abrasive is the correct spelling.
February 14, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word orgenic
Used as an adjective to describe mountain building processes such as folding and faulting of Earth's lithosphere. See orogeny.
February 2, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word lazaretto
Nice one, qms.
January 31, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word paysagiste
See paysagist.
January 30, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word Elvis taxon
Coined by my former colleague Diane Erwin and her coathor in a 1993 paper in the journal Palaios. Nice contrast with Lazarus taxon, deinonychus.
January 30, 2014
hernesheir commented on the list remarkable-wikipedia-categories
List of ghost towns in South Dakota.
January 30, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word Habsburg jaw
Also known as Habsburg lip; Austrian lip. A form of mandibular prognathism caused, in the case of the Habsburg family, by royal inbreeding.
January 29, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word numbery
Melodious, in both meaning and sound.
January 23, 2014
hernesheir commented on the user castigliad
SPAM
January 22, 2014
hernesheir commented on the list adverbs--24
barely
January 15, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word speech banana
I maintained a fruit fly colony for biology labs long ago. We used sugar and bread yeast dampened with a bit of water in the traps to catch those that escaped into the classrooms and building wing in which the labs were held.
January 15, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word speech banana
I alerted ruzuzu. This term would fit right in with those on her "This List is Bananas!"
January 14, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word astrovisualization
Carter Emmart is the Director of Astrovisualization at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
January 13, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word maud
I prefer a plaidie.
January 9, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word plugola
OED
cf. payola, shinola, crapola, but not Crayola.
January 9, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word "dag nabbit"
Let's all have the hecko discussion again. It's high time.
January 8, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word bovaristic
*yoinked* - to my list "Artfully
Eponymous Adjectives". Thanks leaden!
January 6, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word campaign
An open field; a large, open plain without considerable hills. -from the definitions.
January 2, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word turcopolier
turcopole
December 21, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word rareripe
I'm an adjective you don't meet every day. ratheripe, rathripe.
December 19, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word biostimulant
Coined because fertilizer was never one of their spelling words at school?
December 19, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word top-buggy
Belongs on that list you made when you found the word barouche.
December 16, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word azulene
This term belongs on a blue list.
December 16, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word ticky-ticky
It's a fish.
December 16, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word IBU
International Bitnerness Unit
December 14, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word srirachapocalypse
A Sriracha bidet.
December 14, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word bolivar
It's a cake.
December 14, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word greenfish
Also known as bluefish and coalfish.
December 14, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word news
an apocalypse of news
a thundersnow of news
an avalanche of news; news avalanche
a flood (tsunami) (stormsurge) ( jökulhlaup) of news
a landslide of news, news landslide
a shattering of news
a taphocoenose of news
December 14, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word Grable test
The Grable test, part of Operation Upshot-Knothole, occurred on May 25, 1953 at Frenchman Flat in the Nevada Test site. A 15-kt atomic shell was successfully fired 7 miles by the M65 Atomic Cannon "Atomic Annie". This cannon is displayed at the US Army Military Museum at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
December 14, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word Three Sisters
Three prominent ridges of the Bidean nam Bian mountain complex that extend north into Glen Coe, Scotland.
December 14, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word disaccustom
I'm a word you don't meet every day.
December 13, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word sidestream
A particular class of smoke, rich in chemicals but poor in flavor.
December 13, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word handjar
It's a sword, not a monkey puzzle.
December 13, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word acroterium
acroterion, acroter
December 12, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word kailyard school
A group of Scottish writers who depicted life in the Scottish lowlands in a sentimental and romantic fashion. Characters in their works commonly spoke in Scottish dialect. J.M. Barrie, author of Peter Pan, is included in this group, and is perhaps the most august writer amang them a'.
December 12, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word mummering
Interesting twist on an ancient English custom.
Old French momeur from momer, to wear a mask.
December 12, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word myotic
Causing contraction of the pupil of the eye.
December 12, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word blay
What a bleak fish.
December 11, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word lysyl
An uncommon palindrome and anagram of slyly.
Adjectival referent to lysine.
December 10, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word Cadmean letters
See definition under Cadmean.
December 10, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word break leather
To unholster a handgun.
December 10, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word tumbaga
An alloy of gold, copper and silver.
December 9, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word teggs
See teg.
December 9, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word uptalk
Think Valley Girl talk, the dialect linguists call Southern California English.
December 6, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word Nipple Lake
Lake in Kane County Utah. Nearby is a peak named Mollie's Nipple, one of several buttes, peaks, knolls and hills so named in Utah.
December 5, 2013
hernesheir commented on the list human-geography
Thanks fbharjo. Feel free to add more. I'm opening the list to all.
December 5, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word Friend
A town in Nebraska.
December 5, 2013
hernesheir commented on the list human-geography
Thanks ruzuzu!
December 5, 2013
hernesheir commented on the list food-and-wine-pairing
Love it! Swiss Chardonay jumps to mind.
December 5, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word radiant orchid
Pantone's purply-pink color of the year for 2014, opposite on the colorwheel from 2013's emerald.
December 5, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word Hermit
Island in Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire.
December 5, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word Grenadier
An island in the St. Lawrence River once known for its eel fishery.
December 5, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word Elbow Cay
A six-mile long cay in the Abacos Islands, Bahamas. Nice visuals.
December 5, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word Dowager Island
Located in the north coast region of British Columbia.
December 5, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word Brother Island
An island in the Niagara River near the Horseshoe Falls.
December 5, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word Bishop Rock
The smallest island in the world with a building on it (a lighthouse), according to the Guiness Book of World Records. It's a Rock.
December 5, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word Grand Mentor
An island in the lagoon of the Aldabra Atoll.
December 4, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word pillyshee
A pulley. Also pullishee, pullisee.
December 4, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word pullisee
See pillyshee.
December 4, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word searse
A sieve; tamin, temse.
December 4, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word suicide caucus
Google fight, 10/18/2013 results:
suicide caucus 396,000 vs. surrender caucus 62,900.
October 18, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word Noah Webster
Happy Birthday, Noah Webster! --October 16, 1758 – May 28, 1843--
Read the Widipedia entry for this iconic American lexicographer, spelling reformer, writer, publisher here.
October 16, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word poetry
Today (10/3/13) is Natl Poetry Day in the UK. What are your favorite poems? Among mine, William Butler Yeats' The Wild Swans at Coole, and A.E. Housman's Loveliest of trees, the cherry now</i>".
October 3, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word unstuffed
"I tried using the leg skins unstuffed, but that looked rubbish too." - from the provided examples.
October 3, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word cordwainer
The Worshipful Company of Cordwainers is one of London's livery companies, around since 1272. You can follow them on Twitter @Cordwainers. Cordovan, the fine leather from Córdoba in Andalusia, cordwain from cordovan. Fine leathery livery.
October 3, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word autotomic
Thanks Ruzuzu for sharing this word that went straight to my list of adjectival arcana.
October 3, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word gobemouche
"There Was Once an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" - Cumulative verse employing a dose of situational irony, written by one Rose Bonne.
October 3, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word shutdown
Hey, slow down. Slim down. Then shut down.
What the Obama administration is portraying as a "shutdown" of the federal government -- complete with signs posted at the entrances to government buildings, parks and monuments -- is turning out to be more of a "slimdown," - FOX News
"It’s time for President Obama and Senator Reid to actually come to the negotiating table and put an end to their government slowdown." US Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann
October 1, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word plum tuckered out
plumb
September 17, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word stint
It's a bird.
September 17, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word Lincrusta
Wall treatments have come a long way since Lincrusta. And so have marketing departments.
September 6, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word papas de sarrabulho
An offal dish from the cuisine of northern Portugal described as "a steaming black mash that involves the heart, lungs, liver and throat lining of a pig stewed in the animal's blood".
September 6, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word bread and butter policies
There is precious little jam these days.
September 6, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word shug monkey
See http://www.sott.net/article/180600-England-Return-of-the-Shug-Monkey.
"An even more disturbing spectre called the shug monkey, which is described by witnesses as an unholy combination of mastiff and great ape is also seen on occasion..."
September 6, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word downregulate
Quite the opposite of upregulate.
September 6, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word jezail
A scrimmage in a Border Station
A canter down some dark defile
Two thousand pounds of education
Drops to a ten-rupee jezail. -- from Kipling's poem Arithmetic on the Frontier
September 3, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word ribauldequin
Also rabauld, ribault, ribaudkin, infernal machine or organ gun.
September 3, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word jungle clip
US Infantryman slang for the metal clip designed to hold two 30-round rifle/machine gun magazines together. The formal military name for this article was "Holder, Magazine T3-A1".
September 3, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word Parkerize
See examples at parkerize.
September 3, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word cuneator
So who's minding the mint? Some ex-checker or something?
March 24, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word 500 Server Error
Lot's of this going around today.
March 23, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word hugger-mugger
Same context: A once-famous fun-filled foot-long interspecies.
March 23, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word aulin
It's a bird.
March 23, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word dartcapitation
Funny, my nephews launched a fusillade of whistling Nerf darts at me today.
March 23, 2013
hernesheir commented on the list four-consecutive-consonant-strings
*stpr - postprocedural
March 22, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word duffer
For ruzuzu's cattle list:
n. A cow that does not produce milk.
n. Australia, dated; A cattle thief; one who alters the brands of cattle.
March 22, 2013
hernesheir commented on the list one-person-s-holiday-is-another-s
Happy National Bubble Week! 3/20-3/26, 2013.
Who else can blow bubbles off the tip of their tongue?
March 20, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word cainito
star-apple
March 19, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word thugs-in-uniform
Who knew? I wonder whether a mismatch between term and definition is at work here.
March 18, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word undern-song
Time to wake up, tra-la-la.
March 18, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word kissar
Zing went the strings, reestee.
March 18, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word pianata
A peñita might perhaps look like the smaller of those rocky milestones that crop out along some or another songline, bilby.
March 18, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word yarsagumbu
It's not a clam. See also the example sentence at Yarsagumbu. YouTube has some great examples worth perusing.
March 17, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word well
@lydunka - my feeling is that the well was nearly dry, so the water level in the well was very low. More rope required to reach the water, and more time and effort required to hoist the bucket.
March 17, 2013
hernesheir commented on the word pianata
A piñata shaped like a street-piano.
March 17, 2013
Show 200 more comments...