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NEMOPHILIST

PRONUNCIATION: (ni/nuh-MOF-uh-list)

MEANING: noun: One who loves forests.

ETYMOLOGY: From Greek nemos (grove, woods) + -philist (lover). Earliest documented use: 1860.
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NEOPHILIST - one who loves new things

ANEMOPHILIST - one who loves the wind

BEMOPHILIST - one who loves aliens, preferably with exophthalmia

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SPINDRIFT

PRONUNCIATION: (SPIN-drift)

MEANING: noun: Spray of water, snow, sand, etc., blown by the wind.

ETYMOLOGY: From Scots speendrift, from speen (to run before the wind) + drift, from Old English drifan (to drive). Earliest documented use: 1611.
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SPANDRIFT - a suspension bridge moving slowly downstream

SPIN-DRAFT - rotating so fast it makes a breeze

SPINE-RIFT - spina bifida

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MONONYMOUS

PRONUNCIATION: (muh-NON-uh-muhs)

MEANING: adjective: Having or known by a name consisting of only one word.

ETYMOLOGY: From Greek mono- (one) + -nym (name). Earliest documented use: 1852.
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NONONYMOUS - don't tell anyone your name

MON ONLY MOUS - seulement Michel pour moi!

MY NO-N.Y. MOUS - Mickey will never play on Broadway
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NOCTIVAGANT

PRONUNCIATION: (nok-TIV-uh-guhnt)

MEANING: noun: One who wanders in the night.
adjective: Wandering in the night.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin nox (night) + vagus (wandering). Earliest documented use: 1614.
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NOT-I-VAGANT - an arrested hobo who denies the charge

NO-CUTIVAGANT - a sports contract with guaranteed continued employment for the same club

NOCIVAGANT - wandering in the night doing harm

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BETWEENITY

PRONUNCIATION: (bi-TWEE-ni-tee)

MEANING: noun: The state of lying in the interval separating two conditions, qualities, extremes, etc.

ETYMOLOGY: From Old English betweonum (between), from be- (by) + tweon (two each). Earliest documented use: 1760.
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BETEENITY - what you be after you be 12 (compare BETWENITY: after you be 19)

BESTWEENITY - when there isn't a better weenit anywhere

BET WE ENTITY - wager with a visiting extraterrestrial

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ANASTROPHE

PRONUNCIATION:m (uh-NAS-truh-fee)

MEANING: noun: The inversion of the usual order of words.

ETYMOLOGY: From ana- (back) + strophe (turning). Earliest documented use: 2011.
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AN A.S.T. ROPE - long chain of linked-together liver enzymes

AN ATROPHE - a withering-away from disuse

ANA'S TROPHY - prize for the best literary collection (or, the best visiting teacher in Siam, if you must)

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AUXESIS

PRONUNCIATION: (og-ZEE-sis, ok-SEE-)

MEANING: noun:
1. An overstatement or hyperbole, especially when arranged in a sequence of increasing intensity.
2. Growth resulting from the increase in the size of a cell (as opposed to from cell division, which is known as merisis).

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin auxesis, from Greek auxesis (growth), from auxein (to increase or grow). Earliest documented use: 1577.
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UXESIS - an arranged marriage, in which the wife grows on you

AUXISIS - a subsidiary Egyptian goddess

FAUXESIS - it only looks like it's growing

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APOTHEGM

PRONUNCIATION: (AP-uh-them)

MEANING: noun: A terse, witty, instructive saying.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin apothegma/apophthegma, from Greek apophthegma (apothegm), from apophthengesthai (to speak plainly), from apo- (off, away) + phthengesthai (to speak). Earliest documented use: 1570.

NOTES: You might expect an apothecary to dispense nuggets of wisdom but you’d be disappointed: that word is from Greek apotheka (storehouse). Back then an apothecary was a storeowner who sold all kinds of stuff: spices, candy, preserves, even pills and potions. According to the OED, “in 1617 the Apothecaries’ Company of London was separated from the Grocers’.” If you walk into a pharmacy these days, drugs are only a small part of the store... [W]e are back to the old days.
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A POT HEM - the bottom edge of the sewn cover for a cooking utensil

A.P.O THE GYM - address for mail sent to the Army exercise facility

A POSH, E.G. M. - flamboyant and rich head of M.I.6 (the British foreign intelligence service), for example

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ANACRONYM

PRONUNCIATION: (an-AK-ruh-nim)

MEANING: noun: An acronym or abbreviation whose expansion is not widely known.

ETYMOLOGY: Either a blend of anachronism + acronym, or from an- (not) + acronym. The word acronym is from Greek acro- (height, tip) + -nym (word, name). Earliest documented use: 1963.
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ANACHRONYM - lack of temporal appropriateness of a thing with its literary or artistic setting, like Fred Flintstone watching a television program

AN ACRE O' NYM - 44,600 sq ft of New York NL baseball team

AN ACRO-GYM - a place for exercising the arms and hands and legs and feet

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MERISMUS

PRONUNCIATION: (muh-RIZ-muhs)

MEANING: noun: Describing the whole of something by specifying its two extremes, such as contrasting or complementary parts.

ETYMOLOGY: From Greek merismos (division), from merizein (to divide). Earliest documented use: 1589.
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MERIT MUS - you deserve a mouse

MERISMUT - a sex comedy

MER-IS-US - buy your French ocean, cheap

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