Wordsmith.org: the magic of words

Wordsmith Talk

About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us  

Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Page 6 of 26 1 2 4 5 6 7 8 25 26
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

FAUSTIAN

PRONUNCIATION: (FOU-stee-uhn)

MEANING: adjective: Surrendering one’s integrity for something, such as power, money, fame, etc.

ETYMOLOGY: After the legend of Faust who sold his soul to the devil. Earliest documented use: 1876.

NOTES: The legend of Faust is based upon a real person, Johann Georg Faust (c. 1480-1540), a magician, astrologer, and alchemist. The story has been tackled countless times, from Christopher Marlow in his play Doctor Faustus and Goethe in his play Faust to The Simpsons episode “Bart Sells His Soul”.
_______________________________

FAUSCIAN - expert in his field of viral diseases, and implacably devoted to the Scientific Method

FAULTIAN - blame John of Scotland

FRAUSTIAN - wife of Herr Stian

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

TURVEYDROPIAN

PRONUNCIATION: (tuhr-vee-DROH-pee-uhn)

MEANING: adjective: Overly concerned with one’s appearance, demeanor, etc.

ETYMOLOGY: After Mr. Turveydrop, a character overly concerned with deportment, in Charles Dickens’s Bleak House, 1852. Earliest documented use: 1876.

NOTES: Mr. Turveydrop is a dance studio owner. He’s a conceited humbug, consumed with his deportment. As Dickens describes him:
He was a fat old gentleman with a false complexion, false teeth, false whiskers, and a wig. He had a fur collar.

Turveydrop laments: England -- alas, my country! -- has degenerated very much, and is degenerating every day. She has not many gentlemen left.
___________________________

SURVEYDROPIAN - like a poll that deliberately leaves out important variables

TURVEYEDROPIAN - like the treatment for keratoconjunctivitis sicca marketed by the TURV company

CURVEYDROPIAN - falling when released, but somehow not straight down

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

GALLIONIC

PRONUNCIATION: (gal-ee-AHN-ik)

MEANING: adjective: Indifferent or uncaring.

ETYMOLOGY: After Gallio, a Roman senator, who refused to take action in a dispute. Earliest documented use: 1920.
____________________________________________

ALLIONIC - none of it polar

GALLEONIC - shipshape and majestic

GALL-IRONIC - combining sarcasm with chutzpah

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

DUNCE

PRONUNCIATION: (duhns)

MEANING: noun: A person regarded as dim-witted or foolish.

ETYMOLOGY: After theologian John Duns Scotus (c. 1265/66-1308). Earliest documented use: 1530.

NOTES: John Duns Scotus was a Catholic priest and Franciscan friar (literally, brother, from French frère: brother) in the 13th century. In his time he was known as a sophisticated thinker and philosopher and given the name “the Subtle Doctor”. Protestantism came along in 1517. As these things go, they now considered his followers, known as Dunses or Dunsmen, as hair-splitting and resistant to new learning. The word was later respelled as dunce, and took on the meaning as someone incapable of learning. The word also gave rise to a dunce cap, the conical hat, formerly used to punish schoolchildren.
________________________

DUNCEE - Scottish city, just up a grade from Dundee

DUNYE - what I'll do if ye owe me money and ye don't pay

MUNCE - city in Indana

Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,971
Likes: 3
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,971
Likes: 3
We have a high school here: Scotus central.


----please, draw me a sheep----
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

VANDALIZE

PRONUNCIATION: (VAN-duh-lyz)

MEANING: verb tr.: To willfully damage another’s property.

ETYMOLOGY: After Vandals, a Germanic tribe who overran Gaul, Spain, and northern Africa, and in 455 CE sacked Rome. Earliest documented use: 1800.
_______________________________

VAN-DYALIZE - to treat for severe kidney disease in a mobile vehicle

VINDALIZE - to marinate (usually meat) in spices, vinegar and garlic

VANDA-LIKE - harpsichord music played in the manner of Frau Landovska

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

GLOSSOPHOBIA

PRONUNCIATION: (glas-uh-FOH-bee-uh)

MEANING: noun: The fear of public speaking.

ETYMOLOGY: From Greek glosso- (tongue, language) + -phobia (fear). Earliest documented use: 1964.
_________________________________________

GLISSOPHOBIA - fear of sliding

GLOSSOPHORIA - delight in gleaming

FLOSSOPHOBIA - fear of being scolded for not following the dental hygienist's instructions

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

AGATHOKAKOLOGICAL

PRONUNCIATION: (ag-uh-thuh-kak-uh-LAHJ-uh-kuhl)

MEANING: adjective: Made up of both good and evil.

ETYMOLOGY: From Greek agathos (good) + kakos (bad). Ultimately from the Indo-European root kakka-/kaka- (to defecate), which also gave us poppycock, kakistocracy, cacophony, cacology, and cacography. Earliest documented use: 1834.
_______________________________

AGNATHOKAKOLOGICAL - congenitally lacking a jaw, and yet bad-mouthing everything

AGATH-OAKOLOGICAL - Growing Acorns for Fun and Profit

AGATHO-KOKO-LOGICAL - full of corroborative detail, intended to give artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

PENSUM

PRONUNCIATION: (PEN-suhm)

MEANING: noun: A task given, especially as a punishment.

ETYMOLOGY: In the beginning, a pensum was the amount of wool to be spun. Eventually, the word became generic and came to refer to a piece of work or task. Later, it morphed into another specialized form: a task given as a school punishment. The word is from pendere (to hang, weigh), ultimately from the Indo-European root (s)pen- (to draw, to stretch, to spin), which also gave us pendulum, spider, pound, pansy, pendant, ponder, appendix, penthouse, depend, spontaneous, vilipend, filipendulous, perpend, equipoise, pendulous, and pensive. Earliest documented use: 1667.
___________________________________

PERSUM - how you pay an accountant on piecework

OPENSUM - a sub-total

WENSUM - and you lose some

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

PERLAGE

PRONUNCIATION: (PUHR-lizh/lazh)

MEANING: noun: The assemblage of bubbles, in a glass of champagne, for example.

ETYMOLOGY: From French perlage, from perle (pearl). Earliest documented use: 1983.
_______________________________

PER PAGE - how you pay a typist

PERIL AGE - a time filled with danger

PER LAGER - how the pub charges

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

SIALOQUENT

PRONUNCIATION: (sy-AHL-uh-kwuhnt)

MEANING: adjective: Spraying saliva when speaking.

ETYMOLOGY: From Greek sialon (spit, saliva) + Latin loqui (to speak). Earliest documented use: 1656.
____________________________________

DIALOQUENT - holding both sides of a conversation with yourself

SIALOQUEST - seeking saliva. As Randy Claggett said, "Mouth! Be Moist!" (see SPACE, by James MIchener)

SÍ! AMO QUENT! - "Yes, I love Quentin," said the Señorita

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

MERCHANT PRINCE

PRONUNCIATION: (muhr-chunt PRINS)

MEANING: noun: A merchant or businessman with sufficient wealth to wield political power.

ETYMOLOGY: Alluding to someone who has acquired great wealth and behaves like a prince. From merchant, from Latin mercari (to trade), from merx (goods) and prince, from primus (prime) + capere (to seize). Earliest documented use: 1760.
____________________________________

MERCHANT PRANCE - store-owner does capers after closing wonderful deal

MERE CHANT PRINCE - Gregory is the King; his son hasn't nearly the resonance

ME CHANT "PRINCE !" - 'cuz that's how he was formerly known

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

JOURNEYMAN

PRONUNCIATION: (JUHR-nee-muhn)

MEANING: noun: A worker, athlete, performer, etc. who is competent and reliable, but undistinguished.

ETYMOLOGY: From Old French jornee (a day’s work or travel), from Latin diurnum (day), from dies (day). Ultimately from the Indo-European root dyeu- (to shine), which also gave us adjourn, diary, diet, circadian, journal, journey, quotidian, sojourn, diva, divine, Jupiter, Jove, July, Zeus, jovial, deify, and Sanskrit deva (god). Earliest documented use: 1463.
__________________________________

TOURNEYMAN - a skilled player who participates only in high-level competition

JOURNEY PAN - thumbs-down review of a tour

JOURNEYMOAN - declaration of seasickness while on a cruise

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

GOLD-DIGGER

OLD-di-guhr)

MEANING: noun: One who forms a romantic relationship with a rich person for money.

ETYMOLOGY: From the metaphorical use of the term for someone who digs for gold. Earliest documented use: 1826 in a literal sense, 1911 in a figurative sense.
________________________________

GOLD-DAGGER - King Midas' preferred weapon (of necessity)

GOLD-JIGGER - extremely classy and expensive whiskey

GOLF-DIGGER - a duffer who strews divots left and right

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

ROUGHHOUSE

PRONUNCIATION: (RUF-haus)

MEANING: verb tr.: To handle roughly, but in a playful manner.
verb intr.: To engage in boisterous play.
noun: Boisterous play.

ETYMOLOGY: Originally, a rough house was the place where a brawl occurred. Over time, the term softened into a synonym for horseplay and became a verb as well. Earliest documented use: 1882.
_________________________

TROUGHHOUSE - the enclosure that protects the common water and feed supply

ROUGH TO USE - not easy to employ

POUGH HOUSE - the first building erected in Poughkeepsie, New York

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

BODY BLOW

PRONUNCIATION: (BOD-ee bloh)

MEANING: noun: A severe setback or disappointment.

ETYMOLOGY: The term is from boxing, referring to a blow to the torso which can be incapacitating due to its proximity to internal organs. Earliest documented use: 1789.
____________________________________

BODY BLOG - Charles Atlas' publicity channel, 75 years later

CODY BLOW - another name for Hurricane Buffalo Bill

BO DYE/BLOW - Ms Derek's standing order at the hairdresser's

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

QUEENBOROUGH MAYOR

PRONUNCIATION: (KWEEN-buh-roh may-uhr)

MEANING: noun: A position involving pomp and show, but no real power or authority.

ETYMOLOGY: After Simon the tanner who becomes the mayor of Queenborough in Thomas Middleton’s 1620 play Hengist, King of Kent, or The Mayor of Quinborough. Queenborough is a small town in Kent, UK. Earliest documented use: 1668.
_________________________________

QUEUE'N'BOROUGH MAYOR - informal chief of that funny pub

QUEEN BE ROUGH MAYOR - Freddy Mercury is a harsh governor

QUEENBOROUGH PAYOR - trying to pay the toll on the 59th Street bridge

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

BORSTAL

PRONUNCIATION: (BOHR-stuhl)

MEANING: noun: A reformatory for young offenders.

ETYMOLOGY: After Borstal, a village in Kent, UK, where such an institution was first set up. Earliest documented use: 1907.
___________________________________________

FORSTAL - 1. to anticipate, so as to preclude; 2. a US aircraft carrier

BARSTAL - where cowboys' horses gather for a drink

BURST AL - why aluminum pipes never made any headway with plumbers

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

POPLARISM

PRONUNCIATION: (POP-luh-riz-uhm)

MEANING: noun: The policy of giving generous compensation, benefits, unemployment relief, etc.

ETYMOLOGY: After Poplar, a district in London, where in 1921 the mayor, George Lansbury, and the council decided to use the tax money to provide relief to the poor instead of sending it to London. The mayor and councilors were imprisoned for contempt of court and the incident is known as the Poplar Rates Rebellion. Rate is the British term for property tax. Earliest documented use: 1922.
_________________________________

POLARISM - the doctrine that the Earth is flat, with its center at the North Pole

P.O. PLANISM - a conspiracy spread only by mouth, to avoid leaving a paper trail

POPLEARISM - clearing your Eustachian tubes while in your private jet

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
SHREWSBURY CLOCK


PRONUNCIATION: (SHROZ/SHROOZ-bree/ber-ee/buh-ree klok)

MEANING: noun: Something precise or exact.

ETYMOLOGY: After Shrewsbury, a town in west UK. Earliest documented use: 1598.

NOTES: In Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1 John Falstaff claims that he and Hotspur “fought a long hour by Shrewsbury clock” in the Battle of Shrewsbury. The term Shrewsbury clock here refers to a public clock as most people didn’t have clocks at the time. The idiom by a Shrewsbury clock has come to imply exactly or precisely, sometimes with a hint of exaggeration or irony.
_______________________________

SHREWSBURY CLICK - welcoming the sunrise with an unusual single brief high-frequency cricket-like chirr, characteristic of a clock found in west UK.

SHREWSBURY COCK - a unique weathervane atop the clock tower in Shrewsbury, known for the atypical noise it makes at dawn welcoming the sunrise with an unusual single etc. (see SHREWSBURY CLICK above)

SHREWSBURN CLOCK - device for timing the roasting of unwelcome small voracious burrowing rodents

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

SCARBOROUGH WARNING

PRONUNCIATION: (SKAR-buh-ruh war-ning)

MEANING: noun: A very short notice or no notice.

ETYMOLOGY: After Scarborough, a town on the northeast coast of the UK. It’s unclear how Scarborough became associated with this idea though one conjecture is about robbers being given summary punishment. Earliest documented use: 1546.
________________________________________

SCARBOROUGH EARNING - the profits from selling parsley, sage and rosemary

What's that you say? What about... I'm sorry, but it's late, and we've run out of...

SEAR BOROUGH WARNING - Don't play with those matches, kids, you'll burn down half the city!

SCARBOROUGH WARMING - As I was saying...

SCARBO ROUGE WARNING - Watch out for old Scarbo, with the red beard; he's.a mean one


Peter, Paul, and Mary really put the place on the map, didn't they! :-)

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

LILLIPUT

PRONUNCIATION: (LI-li-puht/poot)

MEANING: adjective: Tiny.
noun: Someone or something very small.

ETYMOLOGY: After Lilliput, an island nation in Jonathan Swift’s satirical novel Gulliver’s Travels (1726). Earliest documented use: 1867.

NOTES: In his travels, Gulliver lands in Lilliput where people are only six inches tall. He may appear to be a giant to them, but it’s all relative. Soon he’d visit a land where he himself appears as a lilliput to them. The word is also used in the form: lilliputian.
______________________________

LILLIPUP - a young Lillus; extremely cute, and they make great pets

MILLIPUT - a bad golf stroke on the green; it sends the ball only 1/1000th of the way to the cup

LILLIPOT - what you cook your Liliaceae in

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

LAPUTAN

PRONUNCIATION: (luh-PYOOT-n)

MEANING: adjective: Absurdly fanciful or impractical.

ETYMOLOGY: After Laputa, a floating island in Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels (1726). Earliest documented use: 1866.

NOTES: In the book, a resident of the floating island is called a Laputian; however, in the English language we use the word Laputan. Laputians/Laputans are described as people who are scientists and philosophers, lost in the arts of music, mathematics, technology, and astronomy. Practical matters do not concern them much. “Their houses are very ill built, the walls bevil [sloping], without one right angle in any apartment.”

That said, in that work of fiction, Laputans/Laputians discover two moons of the planet Mars, more than 150 years before the actual discovery by the real-life astronomer Asaph Hall. In Swift’s honor, Mars’s moon Deimos has a crater named Swift and the moon Phobos has geographical features named after places in Gulliver’s Travels: Laputa Regio and Lagado Planitia.

Here’s to Laputans and their “impractical” pursuits!
_____________________________

LA PUTIN - First Lady of Russia

LARUTAN - runner-up in the Name-That-Patent-Medicine contest. "Provides peristaltic stimulation," said the promoters, naturally.

LAPUTA - (Don't ask me. This is a family website.)

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

STRULDBRUG

PRONUNCIATION: (STRUHLD-bruhg)

MEANING: noun: Someone very old and decrepit.

ETYMOLOGY: After struldbrugs, the name for people in Gulliver’s Travels who grow old and decrepit, but never die. Earliest documented use: 1773.

NOTES: In Gulliver’s Travels, struldbrugs is the name given to a small group of immortal people who live in the kingdom of Luggnagg. They continue to grow old and at the age of eighty they are regarded as legally dead, though they continue living on a small pension from the state.
_____________________________________

STRULD BUG - all the VW Beetles of that model were made in the factory in Struld

STRUL - DO RUG! - instructions to Strul, my housekeeping robot

STAR ULDBRUG - the most gifted and popular Uldbrug

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

YAHOO

PRONUNCIATION:
(noun: YAH-hoo, interjection: ya-HOO)

MEANING:
noun: A person who is boorish, loud, disruptive, etc.
interjection: Expressing excitement, delight, or triumph.

ETYMOLOGY:
For noun: After Yahoos, a race of brutish creatures in Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. Earliest documented use: 1751.
For interjection: Apparently of echoic origin. Earliest documented use: 1976.
_____________________________________

YUHOO - a call to attract someone's attention

YAPOO - French baby-talk meaning "No More!" (short for il n'y a plus)

YAHOOK - what ya throw at yahoop when yalayup isn't working

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

BROBDINGNAG

PRONUNCIATION: (BROB-ding-nag)

MEANING: noun: Something very large.
adjective: Huge.

ETYMOLOGY: After Brobdingnag, a region where everything is enormous, in Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. Earliest documented use: 1731.

NOTES: For scale, people in Brobdingnag are about 60 feet tall. In the English language the form Brobdingnagian is also used. According to Gulliver, the place should have been spelled as Brobdingrag. Also, as per the map included in the book, Brobdingnag/Brobdingrag is located off the coast of British Columbia, Canada. Not sure why large mythical creatures are placed in this part of the world. Also see, Bigfoot.
____________________________

BROODING NAG - not only moody but also a persistent pest

BROBDING "NAY" - a resounding negative from the village of Brobd

BOBDING NAG - At the Camptown Races, I'll bet my money on her; somebody bet on the bay

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

AUTOKINESY

PRONUNCIATION: (au-toh-KIN-uh-see)

MEANING: noun: Self-propelled or self-directed motion or energy.

ETYMOLOGY: From Greek auto- (self) + kinein (to move). Earliest documented use: 1678.
____________________________________________

AUTO KINE-STY - mobile pig housing

AUTOKINESS - be considerate of your vehicle

Au TO KLINE, SY - give the first-place medal to Patsy, Seymour

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

HYPOGEUSIA

PRONUNCIATION: (hy-puh-GOO/GYOO-zee/zhee-uh, -zhuh)

MEANING: noun: A diminished sense of taste.

ETYMOLOGY: From Greek hypo- (under) + -geusia (taste). Earliest documented use: 1888.

NOTES: A complete lack of taste is ageusia (feel free to use the word metaphorically). And an extremely keen sense of taste is oxygeusia, from Greek oxy- (keen or sharp). How does the word oxygen fit in here? In 1778, Lavoisier named a newly discovered gas oxygen (literally, sharp giving) because he mistakenly believed that it was part of all acids. He was guillotined, not for the misnaming, but for the charge of adulterating France’s tobacco with water. He was exonerated posthumously
____________________________________________

HYPOGNUSIA - nothing ("There's nothing, son, under the gnu...")

HYPO G.E. USA - an injection needle made by the General Electric Company in the United States

HYPNOGEUSIA - You say your tastebuds fell asleep, eh? Could be a symptom of COVID-19 infection!

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

SANGUINOLENCY

PRONUNCIATION: (sang-GWIN-uh-len-see)

MEANING: noun: Addiction to bloodshed.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin sanguis (blood). Earliest documented use: 1664.
_________________________________

PANGUINOLENCY - addiction to flightless birds

SANGRINOLENCY - addiction to vocalizing musically, with happiness on your face

SAN QUINOLENCY - patron saint of poufy underthings that fluff up skirts


Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 2,453
Likes: 9
Pooh-Bah
Pooh-Bah
Offline
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 2,453
Likes: 9
HYPOCRISY

Meaning: A pretence of virtue.

HYPOCRACY - weak government

HYPOCHRISTY - let's not talk so much about Jesus

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Like ‘em!

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

COEQUALITY

PRONUNCIATION: (koh-ee-KWAH-li-tee)

MEANING: noun: The state of being equal with one another, as in rank, power, value, etc.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin co- (with) + aequus (level, equal). Earliest documented use: 1583.
__________________________________

C.O.QUALITY - Just how good is your Commanding Officer, anyway?

COQUALITY - the essence of Roosterness (even without the French wine)

COP QUALITY - a laudable goal for the Blue Lives Matter movement

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

ENUNCIATORY

PRONUNCIATION: (ee-NUHN-see-uh-toh-ree)

MEANING: adjective: Announcing; declaring; pronouncing.

ETYMOLOGY:From Latin ex- (out) + nuntiare (to announce). Ultimately from the Indo-European root neu- (to shout), which also gave us announce, denounce, pronounce, renounce, and pronunciamento. Earliest documented use: 1693.
_____________________________

NUNCIATORY - serving as spokesperson or ambassador to a foreign country, as from the Pope

DENUNCIATORY - attempted shaming

ENUNCLATORY - removing my mother's brother from the Family Tree

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

COVENTRY

PRONUNCIATION: (KUV-uhn-tree)

MEANING: noun: A state of ostracism.

ETYMOLOGY: After Coventry, a city in central England. It’s unclear how Coventry developed this sense. One conjecture is that Royalist prisoners were sent there during the English Civil War. Earliest documented use: 1691. Also see stellenbosch.
___________________________

COW ENTRY - Elsie's front door

COME'N'TRY - a carnival midway barker's spiel

COVEN CRY - witches sound the alarm

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

ROMAN MATRON

PRONUNCIATION: (ROH-muhn may-truhn)

MEANINGnoun: A woman having a dignified bearing.

ETYMOLOGY: From the ideal of a married woman in ancient Rome. From Latin matrona (a married woman), from mater (mother). Earliest documented use: 1596.
__________________________________________________

NOMAN MATRON - Penelope (wife of Odysseus, who called himself "Noman" when he struck the blow that blinded the Cyclops)

ROMAN MACRON - makes a Roman vowel long

ROMAN MAîTRON - chief of waiters in the Colosseum

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

CANTERBURY TALE

PRONUNCIATION: (KAN-tuhr-ber-ee tayl)

MEANING:m. mnoun: A story that is long, tedious, or absurdly implausible.

ETYMOLOGY: After The Canterbury Tales c. 1400 by Geoffrey Chaucer. It’s a collection of 24 stories told in verse by a group of pilgrims as they travel from London to Canterbury. Earliest documented use: 1575.
____________________________________

CANTERBURY TALC - a soft stone that was avoided in building the cathedral

CANTER BURN TALE - the story behind why the horse pulled up lame after using the wrong gait

CANTOR BURY TALE - the lost twenty-fifth chapter of Chaucer's magnum opus, about the interment of the church's vocalist; later suppressed by ecclesiastical authorities

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

TROJAN HORSE

PRONUNCIATION: (TRO-juhn hors)

MEANING: noun: Something or someone placed in order to subvert from within.

ETYMOLOGY: In the legendary Trojan War, the Greeks left a large hollow wooden horse at the gates of the city of Troy. The Trojans took it inside. Greek soldiers hidden in the horse came out at night and opened the gates of the city, allowing the Greek army to enter and conquer the Trojans. Earliest documented use: 1574. In computing, a Trojan horse is a program that, while seemingly useful, steals passwords or does other damage to computers.
______________________________________

TROJAN HOARSE - King Priam has been shouting from the parapets much too much

TROJAN GORSE - a kind of prickly shrub found around Troy in the old days

TROJAN HOUSE - storage place for prophylactics

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

KENTISH COUSINS

PRONUNCIATION: (KEN-tish kuh-zuhns)

MEANING: noun: Distant relatives.

ETYMOLOGY: After Kent, a county in England. Since most of the county is bounded by the sea and the river Thames, its citizens were not as mobile and intermarriages were common. Earliest documented use: 1796.
_____________________________

KENTISH COSINS - in another identity Superman was a trigonometry teacher

PENTISH COUSINS - very VERY distant relatives, like fifth cousins

KENNISH COUSINS - others in the Jeopardy champion's family had keen memories for all sorts of trivia

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

PLOTZ

PRONUNCIATION: (plots)

MEANING: verb intr.: To faint, collapse, explode, or flop down, as from excitement, frustration, surprise, exhaustion, etc.

ETYMOLOGY: From Yiddish platsn (to burst), from German platzen (to burst). Earliest documented use: 1920.
____________________________________________

PILOTZ - people who control sea- and air-craft

POT-Z - a game city kids play on the sidewalk, similar to Hop-Scotch

SLOT Z - where you insert Tab Y

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,062
Likes: 2

FRUM

PRONUNCIATION: (froom) [short oo, as in book]

MEANING: adjective: Religious; observant of religious laws.

ETYMOLOGY: From Yiddish frum, from Middle High German vrum (pious). Modern German fromm (pious). Earliest documented use: 1889.
_________________________________________

FLUM - a purple stoned fruit, from which is brewed Slivovitz

FFUM - a very loud expletive, uttered when a Giant smells blood...

FRUG - what a dancing tadpole grows up to be

Page 6 of 26 1 2 4 5 6 7 8 25 26

Moderated by  Jackie 

Link Copied to Clipboard
Disclaimer: Wordsmith.org is not responsible for views expressed on this site. Use of this forum is at your own risk and liability - you agree to hold Wordsmith.org and its associates harmless as a condition of using it.

Home | Today's Word | Yesterday's Word | Subscribe | FAQ | Archives | Search | Feedback
Wordsmith Talk | Wordsmith Chat

© 1994-2025 Wordsmith

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 8.0.0