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AMATORCULIST

PRONUNCIATION: (uh-ma-TOR-kyuh-list)

MEANING: noun: A pretend or insignificant lover.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin amatorculus (a little lover), diminutive of amator (lover), from amor (love). Earliest documented use: 1731.
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AMAT OCULIST - he loves his eye doctor

AMA TORCH LIST - the Spirit of Medicine lives, and these people have agreed to help carry it

A MOTOR C.U. LIST - the Consumers' Union's annual issue of Consumer Reports, devoted exclusively to automobiles

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ABNEGATION

PRONUNCIATION: (ab-ni-GAY-shuhn)

MEANING: noun: Self-denial.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin abnegation, from ab- (away, off) + negare (to deny), from nec (not). Earliest documented use: 1398.
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AB-NEG ACTION - having the rarest of blood types

ABS-NEGATION - abdominal obesity

GABNEGATION - squelching of rumors

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TRUMPED-UP

PRONUNCIATION: (trumpt-up)

MEANING: adjective: Faked or fraudulent.

ETYMOLOGY: A corruption of the word triumph, from Old French triumphe, from Latin triumphus (triumph), from Greek thriambos (hymn to Dionysus). Also see, trumpery. Earliest documented use: 1728.
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TRUMPED-UMP - "After review, the ruling on the field is reversed."

RUMPED-UP - skunk's position just prior to spraying

THUMPED-UP - my pillow is now ready for my nap

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STORMY PETREL

PRONUNCIATION: (STOR-mee PE-truhl)

MEANING: noun:
1. One who brings trouble or whose appearance is a sign of coming trouble.
2. Any of various small sea birds of the family Hydrobatidae having dark feathers and lighter underparts, also known as Mother Carey’s Chicken.

ETYMOLOGY: The birds got the name storm petrel or stormy petrel because old-time sailors believed their appearance foreshadowed a storm. It’s not certain why the bird is named petrel. One unsubstantiated theory is that it is named after St. Peter who walked on water in the Gospel of Matthew. The petrel’s habit of flying low over water with legs extended gives the appearance that it’s walking on the water. Earliest documented use: 1776.
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STORE MY PETREL - I'm going on vacation - can you keep my bird for a while?

STORMY PETROL - wild oscillations in the price of fuel

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MELANCHOLIA

PRONUNCIATION: (mel-uhn-KOH-lee-uh)

MEANING: noun: A feeling of deep sadness; depression.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin melancholia, from Greek melancholia (the condition of having an excess of black bile), from melan- (black) + chole (bile). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ghel- (to shine), which is also the source of words such as yellow, gold, glimmer, gloaming, glimpse, glass, arsenic, and cholera. Earliest documented use: 1398.

NOTES: In earlier times it was believed that four humors controlled human behavior and an imbalance resulted in disease. According to this thinking, an excess of black bile secreted by the spleen resulted in melancholia or ill humor.
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MELANCHOVIA - pizza made with honey and small salt-water fishlets

MELANCHORIA - a bad place to moor your boat

ME AN CHOLIO - down by the schoolyard, according to Paul Simon

MEL AND CHOLIA - a new Goth singing group

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PENSIVE

PRONUNCIATION: (PEN-siv)

MEANING: adjective: Sadly thoughtful; wistful.

ETYMOLOGY: From Old French pensif (pensive), from penser (to think), from Latin pensare (ponder), frequentative of pendere (to weigh). Ultimately from the Indo-European root (s)pen- (to draw, to spin), which also gave us pendulum, spider, pound, pansy, pendant, ponder, appendix, penthouse, depend, spontaneous, vilipend, pendulous, ponderous, filipendulous, equipoise, prepend, and perpend. Earliest documented use: 1393.
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PENSAVE - a 529 plan headquartered in Pittsburgh (see also PENGIVE)

SPENSIVE - costly (see also XPENSIVE)

PEN,SIRE - what the King uses to sign his edicts

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HUCKSTER

PRONUNCIATION: (HUHK-stuhr)

MEANING: noun: One who sells things of questionable value in an aggressive or dishonest manner.
verb tr.: To sell something of questionable value aggressively or dishonestly.
verb intr.: To haggle.

ETYMOLOGY: From Middle Dutch word hokester (peddler), from hoeken (to peddle). Earliest documented use: 1200s.
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HUCKSTEE - the victim

HUNKSTER - one sharp dude

SHUCKSTER - diffident hillbilly

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METAGROBOLIZE

PRONUNCIATION: (me-tuh-GRAHB-uh-lyz)

MEANING: verb tr.: To puzzle or to mystify.

ETYMOLOGY: From Middle French matagraboliser. Earliest documented use: 1635.
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PETAGROBOLIZE - to turn into 10^15 Groboli

ME TAG ROBOT IZE - I shall label the visual sensors used by Asimov's Daneel Olivaw

META-GLOBOLIZE - add to a spherical molecule (e.g. a buckyball) two radicals separated by 120 degrees (compare ortho- and para-globolize)

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QUAQUAVERSAL

PRONUNCIATION: (kwah-kwuh-VUR-sal)

MEANING: adjective: Sloping downward from a center in all directions.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin quaquaversus, from quaqua (in all directions), from qua (in what direction) + versus (towards), from vertere (to turn). Earliest documented use: 1691.
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QUAQUAHERSAL - practice for the stage production of Make Way For Ducklings

QUADQUAVERSAL - the joint between the driveshaft and the axle on a 4x4 vehicle

QUAQUAMERSAL - a preservative for vaccines made in duck eggs

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WHIGMALEERY

PRONUNCIATION: (hwig-muh-LIR-ee)

MEANING: noun:
1. A whim.
2. A fanciful contrivance.

ETYMOLOGY: It’s a Scots term, but we know little about it beyond that. Earliest documented use: 1730.
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SHIGMALEERY - a drunk describing his distrust for sums (or standard deviations)

WHIGMALEVERY - a mechanical voting machine with a bias for Liberalism

WHIGGALEERY - worried about a shimmy

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