A pointed example of usage in the sense of "solitary":
"In much the same way good sullen reading is rare in a house, unless one is blessed with an impregnable and sound-proof room of one's own: interruptions, restless unnecessary movements, doors opening and closing, apologies, even whisperings, God forbid, and meal-times."
—Patrick O'Brian, The Yellow Admiral (New York: W. W. Norton, 1996), p. 42.
Used by Roger Ebert in his 2011 memoir, Life Itself, in a way I can't find a good definition for: "…Aleister Crowley…was a flywheel but surely wrote one of the best Edwardian autobiographies…" (204).
Shockingly misprinted as carparthins (sic) in Edgar Vincent, _Nelson: Love and Fame_ (Yale, 2004), p. 19 — shocking because the point of the paragraph and sentence is precisely about the nature of technical terms in square-rigged sailing, and one would think a copyeditor might pay particular attention (and because the error isn't itself a known word).
Stated as an apparently real word of prodigious length in Tove Jansson, _Moominpappa's Memoirs_, trans. Thomas Warburton (New York: Farar Strauss Giroux, 1994), 86.
This must mean something like, "of or related to wisdom." In addition to the examples provided by Wordnik, compare Andy Letcher, _Shroom_ (2007), 99: "Doubtless this sophianic justification in which Gordon Wasson defended himself as a pure inquirer after knowledge was heartfelt, but in several ways his behaviour failed to live up to this noble image of himself as dispassionate observer."
Wikipedia has historical information about the development of the game that yields a provisional etymology: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimate_(sport)
Comments by jboyd
jboyd commented on the word saunter
Thoreau has a spurious but appealing etymology as he opens his essay, “Walking” (1862).
October 24, 2020
jboyd commented on the word stoup
Wodehouse, ‘Heavy Weather,’ Collector’s Wodehouse, 287.
October 11, 2020
jboyd commented on the word gravamen
Wodehouse, ‘Summer Lightning’ (Everyman/Overlook), 234.
September 7, 2020
jboyd commented on the word sterile
The positive connotation related to “clean” is apparently late—but powerful enough to make this word appear to fork into opposites.
April 10, 2020
jboyd commented on the word portent
This word is the title of an 1866 Herman Melville poem about John Brown.
March 29, 2020
jboyd commented on the word predate
Beware the ambiguity between the more common and the science-ese senses.
July 20, 2019
jboyd commented on the word contrabandier
Noun meaning a person or vessel involved in the smuggling of contraband. Occurs repeatedly in the 1898 novel ‘Moonfleet’ by J. Meade Falkner.
March 2, 2019
jboyd commented on the word rate
"Origin unknown" (according to the OED) only for the verb in sense "to scold."
June 15, 2018
jboyd commented on the word soidisant
See "soi-disant": https://www.wordnik.com/words/soi-disant
February 28, 2016
jboyd commented on the word sullen
A pointed example of usage in the sense of "solitary":
—Patrick O'Brian, The Yellow Admiral (New York: W. W. Norton, 1996), p. 42.
July 29, 2012
jboyd commented on the word labefactation
Used by Samuel Johnson of Gay' "Beggar's Opera," according to James Boswell's "Life of Samuel Johnson."
February 20, 2012
jboyd commented on the word flywheel
Used by Roger Ebert in his 2011 memoir, Life Itself, in a way I can't find a good definition for: "…Aleister Crowley…was a flywheel but surely wrote one of the best Edwardian autobiographies…" (204).
December 10, 2011
jboyd commented on the word independentia
Used as a nonsense psychiatric term by Tove Jansson in _Moomin_, vol. 5 (Drawn &Quarterly), 78.
November 27, 2011
jboyd commented on the word graf
A short-hand term used among journalists and editors.
October 19, 2011
jboyd commented on the word Mameluke
In Tove Jansson's classic _Finn Family Moomintroll_ (English translation 1950), "Mameluke" is used for the name of a monstrous fish.
August 21, 2011
jboyd commented on the word catharpin
Shockingly misprinted as carparthins (sic) in Edgar Vincent, _Nelson: Love and Fame_ (Yale, 2004), p. 19 — shocking because the point of the paragraph and sentence is precisely about the nature of technical terms in square-rigged sailing, and one would think a copyeditor might pay particular attention (and because the error isn't itself a known word).
December 27, 2010
jboyd commented on the word acushla
Used in Patrick O'Brian, "The Ionian Mission" (1981), 14.
December 26, 2010
jboyd commented on the word kalospinterochromatokrene
Stated as an apparently real word of prodigious length in Tove Jansson, _Moominpappa's Memoirs_, trans. Thomas Warburton (New York: Farar Strauss Giroux, 1994), 86.
November 30, 2010
jboyd commented on the word orifice
Used as a technical term for the opening through which spun yarn passes onto a spinning wheel. See also orifice hook.
November 20, 2010
jboyd commented on the word nostepinde
See nostepinne.
November 20, 2010
jboyd commented on the word niddle-noddle
See niddy-noddy for a textile hand tool that may provide the derivation of this word?
November 20, 2010
jboyd commented on the word knitty knotty
See niddy-noddy.
November 20, 2010
jboyd commented on the word niddy noddy
See niddy-noddy for the main entry.
November 20, 2010
jboyd commented on the word sophianic
This must mean something like, "of or related to wisdom." In addition to the examples provided by Wordnik, compare Andy Letcher, _Shroom_ (2007), 99: "Doubtless this sophianic justification in which Gordon Wasson defended himself as a pure inquirer after knowledge was heartfelt, but in several ways his behaviour failed to live up to this noble image of himself as dispassionate observer."
April 19, 2010
jboyd commented on the word Epris
From chap. 15, "The Metropolitan Touch," in _The Inimitable Jeeves_, by P. G. Wodehouse: "Mr. Little is very _e'pris_, sir."
February 17, 2010
jboyd commented on the word ultimate frisbee
Wikipedia has historical information about the development of the game that yields a provisional etymology: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimate_(sport)
February 11, 2010
jboyd commented on the word Primogeniture
Inheritance or other privilege or position by virtue of being the firstborn
April 1, 2009