Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The warmness of the sun in winter.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun obsolete The warmth of the Sun in winter.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From the Latin aprīcitās, noun of quality from aprīcus ("warmed by the sun").

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Examples

  • Thanks to the magic of the Oxford English Dictionary and people who write about dictionaries I know that I am experiencing apricity this morning.

    Archive 2008-12-01 Gordie 2008

  • Thanks to the magic of the Oxford English Dictionary and people who write about dictionaries I know that I am experiencing apricity this morning.

    Unbepissed In Apricity Gordie 2008

  • He has returned from his adventure in the far reaches of the English language with a rich harvest of obscure and forgotten words to share: indispensable gems such as "deipnophobia" (fear of dinner parties) or "apricity" (the warmth of the sun in winter).

    Unexplained Mysteries 2008

Comments

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  • The warmth felt by winter sun

    October 8, 2008

  • the warmth of the sun during winter

    March 21, 2011

  • I'm glad the sun feels warmth--maybe it should try to concentrate on that feeling the next time it's tempted to flare up at us.

    March 22, 2011

  • what does that mean?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

    December 19, 2011

  • 'early blooming warmth' as in apricot blossoms.

    December 20, 2011

  • Thanks, fbharjo. You reminded me that in the city of Geneva, Switzerland, there's an official chestnut tree that is known as the herald of the spring.

    December 20, 2011

  • The fact that all of the examples, and even the Tweets®, merely cite this word and do not use it make me wonder if it is in fact a word that people say (or more likely, write). This seems more like a museum piece than an "actual word".

    December 21, 2011

  • Sounds like it was in that book by that guy who read the entire OED.

    Here. This might help:

    http://nancyfriedman.typepad.com/away_with_words/2008/12/word-of-the-week-apricity.html

    December 22, 2011

  • Thanks, ru! But Nancy's citation there simply confirms my point. Ammon Shea (the guy who read the OED), writes about the word: "The OED does not give any citation for its use except for Henry Cockeram's 1623 English Dictionarie." This is a white elephant of a word, a verbal knick-knack: it sits on the shelf and people say, "Oh, how pretty!" but nobody really knows what to do with it except display it as a pretty word. And when you do try to use it (right now, a certain @impropaganda has Tweeted®, "Hope the weather holds for some beautiful southern apricity!") you end up sounding precious, arch, or pompous.

    December 22, 2011

  • Looks like there are two choices, then. Either it gets the wordie treatment, or you create a new list with more precious, arch, or pompous words for our enjoyment. :-)

    December 22, 2011

  • Perhaps apricity could go on a list of forgotten linguistic pseudogenes.

    "The word "theatrophone" is a forgotten linguistic pseudogene, and the word "minidisc" is becoming one" --from the Wordnik examples for theatrophone.

    December 22, 2011

  • *claps hands*

    Yay! Okay, so is hernesheir going to create a forgotten linguistic pseudogenes list for us?

    December 22, 2011

  • I feel sad when I see "museum pieces" like this word which would be gorgeous words if anyone actually used them. I feel that we ought to smash the glass of the museum display case, snatch the word, and absquatulate with it, then slowly introduce it into the wild and work to establish a breeding population.

    January 8, 2012

  • Some call the coinage meretricious
    But sound and image are sure delicious:
    When the sun hanging low
    Melts slowly the snow
    The afternoon is apriciticious.

    October 24, 2014

  • hypernyms: warmth, sunlight, sunshine etc.

    December 10, 2017