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qms commented on the word microseism
The old man was shriveled and wizened,
The lassie however was lithesome.
I’ve heard it reported
The ways she contorted
Brought on a discreet microseism.
July 17, 2018
ruzuzu commented on the word beet
"To make better; improve; alleviate or relieve (hunger, thirst, grief, the needs of a person, etc.)."
-- from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
July 16, 2018
ruzuzu commented on the word tanuki
Consider yourself added to my calendar.
July 16, 2018
qms commented on the word tanuki
Thanks, zuzu. Can we make this a regular date?
July 16, 2018
TankHughes commented on the word sphericon
https://youtu.be/wb29-ULRBaE
"A device for generating a meandering motion."
July 16, 2018
ruzuzu commented on the word Fermatian inference
See comment on mathematical induction.
July 16, 2018
ruzuzu commented on the word mathematical induction
When I talk with folks who've studied mathematics, they like to tell me how helpful induction is--but I've been confused, because it sounds much more like they're using deduction. Instead I've learned that they're actually talking about mathematical induction.
I'll just leave this here for the next time I need to remember which is which:
"For the history of the name "mathematical induction", see
•Florian Cajori, Origin of the Name "Mathematical Induction" (1918):
The process of reasoning called "mathematical induction" has had several independent origins. It has been traced back to the Swiss Jakob (James) Bernoulli |Opera, Tomus I, Genevae, MDCCXLIV, p. 282, reprinted from Acta eruditorum, Lips., 1686, p. 360. See also Jakob Bernoulli's Ars conjectandi, 1713, p. 95|, the Frenchmen B.Pascal |OEuvres completes de Blaise Pascal, Vol. 3, Paris, 1866, p. 248| and P.Fermat |Charles S Peirce in the Century Dictionary, Art."Induction," and in the Monist, Vol. 2, 1892, pp. 539, 545; Peirce called mathematical induction the "Fermatian inference"|, and the Italian F.Maurolycus |G.Vacca, Bulletin Am. Math. Soc., Vol. 16, 1909, pp. 70-73|."
-- https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/1080417/why-is-mathematical-induction-called-mathematical
July 16, 2018
ruzuzu commented on the list this-word-is-more-than-one-word
I adore this list!
July 16, 2018
ruzuzu commented on the word tanuki
You've outdone yourself once again, qms!
July 16, 2018
bilby commented on the word ux
No ux given.
July 16, 2018
qms commented on the word tanuki
In appearance it’s comically kookie -
Both mutt and raccoon - a tanuki!
A gigantic scrotum
Is his magic totem.
That’s fable but still pretty spooky.
July 16, 2018
fbharjo commented on the word honeycombed waffles
chasms galore
July 15, 2018
alexz commented on the word greige
Free range definition from the Guardian.
"And then there’s its cousin, greige, which you can make by mixing together two other things: monotony and despair. All of these related shades spell out a disappointment in all the world’s flowers. They look like preened and perfected sick. And it is my belief that the palace has used the beige to take confident, opinionated, personality-owning Meghan away from us and turn her into a royal bot, like they always do."
July 15, 2018
alexz commented on the word bollux
spotted this as an alternative to bollocks
July 15, 2018
alexz commented on the word ux
If i had a wife, I wouldn't call er an ux
July 15, 2018
qms commented on the word manway
I’d rather be elsewhere than stay
In caverns where nightmares can prey.
It’s foolish, not brave
To enter a cave
Unless you’ve been shown a manway.
July 15, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word sprog
This was the name of Mad Max's kid? Not very imaginative...
July 14, 2018
oroboros commented on the word sesses
Taxes or levies; plural of cess according to NPR's Says You!.
July 14, 2018
qms commented on the word multure
The tasks to support agriculture
Include an unglamorous dull chore,
As most men will find
That milling’s a grind,
Relieved by receipt of the multure.
July 14, 2018
bilby commented on the word splogs
Splog me till it hurts, VM.
July 14, 2018
bilby commented on the word SP
Back in the days when off track bookmakers were illegal in Australia, an SP bookie or often just SP was a bookmaker who would take bets and then pay them out (if necessary) at the starting price, ie. the odds that were offered by on-track bookmakers at the time the event started. SP bookies were relatively common as police had better things to do than hunt down the weedy guy in the corner of the pub with a big satchel full of money. Larger operations were known to have people peering over the racecourse fence with binoculars to read the odds boards in the betting ring and these numbers would get phoned in to the SP...to the nearest payphone of course! Those were the days.
July 14, 2018
bilby commented on the word lair
Also the adjective lairy.
July 13, 2018
vendingmachine commented on the word splogs
Spam weblogs that steal content from other sites in order to appear legitimate. Also known as an adfarm.
July 13, 2018
vendingmachine commented on the word fist-law
Good old fist-law, the code of brute force. See also club-law.
July 13, 2018
qms commented on the word barege
Isadora, oldtimers allege,
Would dance in a cloud of Arpège,
Adorned all the while
With only a smile
And diaphanous wisps of barege.
July 13, 2018
TankHughes commented on the word washbear
This is a translation of raccoon in several languages.
I like it because someone suggested to me that it might be a cutthroat compound.
Tragically, it's not the case. It's a bear-type animal known for washing its food (see sad video of raccoon waashing cotton candy and having it disappear :( ).
I wish. I WISH. it were an animal who washed bears, but it's not. Only then would it be a cutthroat construction.
July 12, 2018
ruzuzu commented on the word heptadecagon
"As 17 is a Fermat prime, the regular heptadecagon is a constructible polygon (that is, one that can be constructed using a compass and unmarked straightedge): this was shown by Carl Friedrich Gauss in 1796 at the age of 19."
-- https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Heptadecagon&oldid=837458759
July 12, 2018
ramsler commented on the word blazar
When a black hole generates a brilliant jet of radiation, and that jet is aimed directly at Earth, scientists call the galaxy a “blazar.” -- July 12, 2018 Washington Post
July 12, 2018
ramsler commented on the word TRAIL
TRAIL—or, tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand—is an antitumor agent identified in mammals that can induce cell death in a variety of cancer cells and yet leaves healthy cells relatively unscathed. - From: Traitorous Tumor Cells Kill Their Own Kind: Researchers plan to turn cancer cells into defectors, engineering them to kill the tumors from whence they came, and have tested the approach in mice. - Jul 11, 2018
Ruth Williams The Scientist
July 12, 2018
etoya27 commented on the word peremptorily
At the front door of the palace, he said peremptorily to a uniformed attendant in a black jacket with golden epaulets, “Artur, show this cit the Catherine Room.
July 12, 2018
qms commented on the word tarriance
Your status you may well enhance
By carefully casual dalliance.
The rich and the great
Are stylishly late,
And greater the longer the tarriance.
July 13, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word lair
Australian slang: a flashily dressed young man of brash and vulgar behaviour, to dress up in flashy clothes, to renovate or dress up something in bad taste
July 12, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word unus mundus
Latin for "one world", is the concept of an underlying unified reality from which everything emerges and to which everything returns.
July 12, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word doline
A sinkhole, also known as a cenote, sink, sink-hole, swallet, swallow hole, or doline (the different terms for sinkholes are often used interchangeably), is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer.
July 11, 2018
qms commented on the word pugging
The Word of the Day definitions for “pugging” omit one that I find intriguing. Both GNU and the CDC suggest “thieving” as a synonym. Although its normal use is as an adjective it works just fine as a noun.
Whenever not smugly flag hugging
He’s giving the gov’mint a mugging.
He’s snug with rich thugs
Who buzz thick like bugs
Engorged with the glut of their pugging.
July 11, 2018
qms commented on the word pugging
The job of enclosing and snugging
Needs patience for doing the pugging,
A good eye and feel
To make clay congeal
And strength for the tedious lugging.
July 11, 2018
qms commented on the word nahual
If you should be born a narwhal
And find it won’t suit you at all,
Apply to a shaman
To make you a cayman
Or other exotic nahual.
July 10, 2018
qms commented on the word aversation
The landscape’s a bleak desolation,
Too grim to bear long contemplation.
A guy could do worse
Than write silly verse
While giving the news aversation.
July 9, 2018
alexz commented on the word novichok
in 2018 news, it's a nerve agent which has historically been associated with Russia.
July 9, 2018
fbharjo commented on the word still dancing still
hummingbirds!!!
July 9, 2018
alexz commented on the word Spotified
Spotted a case of this becoming a generic term. " The future will be Spotified"
July 8, 2018
alexz commented on the word hypolith
Spotted this tweeted by a science radio show.
July 8, 2018
mollusque commented on the word muddening
...geologists have long noted that early sediment deposits became muddier at some point and suggested a connection with plants.... But no one had pinpointed when that muddening happened.
--Carolyn Gramling, 2018, Science News 193(6): 9
July 8, 2018
qms commented on the word synteny
I sought the report and I’ve read it -
Our genes are now subject to edit.
Disrupting concinnity
And delicate synteny
Might serve as a reason to dread it.
July 8, 2018
Erinlander commented on the word water-fly
All of you are missing the true meaning of waterfly as used in Hamlet.
When Hamlet asks, "Doest know this waterfly?" Horatio replies, "No, my Lord."
Hamlet then says, "The better grace is thine, for to know him is a sin." He was using the word "know" in the Biblical sense as in "Adam knew his wife, she conceived and bare Cain."
Waterfly in this context meant homosexual, not a flittering nuscience.
July 8, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word amelanistic
is a pigmentation abnormality characterized by the lack of pigments called melanins, commonly associated with a genetic loss of tyrosinase function. Amelanism can affect fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals including humans.
July 7, 2018
qms commented on the word trommel
In heartwarming tableaux of old
The prospector pans for his gold;
The motorized trommel
Is now what is normal,
A scene that leaves dreaming hearts cold.
July 7, 2018
vendingmachine commented on the word bilby
Among the list of Random Adoptions on Wordnik:
bilby was adopted by Royal Secret Society of Bilbies
July 7, 2018
vendingmachine commented on the word 12 o'clock flasher
A person who is unwilling or unable to learn how to use all but the most basic functions of the electronic appliances he or she possesses.
July 7, 2018
vendingmachine commented on the word 90-minute bigot
Scottish. A football fan, esp of Rangers FC or Celtic FC, who exhibits religious bigotry at matches but does not consider him- or herself to be bigoted outside a football context.
July 7, 2018
vendingmachine commented on the word zeuglodont
Any of a group of extinct carnivorous whales known as Phocodontia or Zeuglodonta.
July 7, 2018
vendingmachine commented on the word zeroth
Denoting a term in a series that precedes the term otherwise regarded as the first term.
July 7, 2018
vendingmachine commented on the word zex
A tool for cutting roof slate.
July 7, 2018
vendingmachine commented on the word cock-a-leekie soup
Scottish. A soup made from a fowl boiled with leeks.
July 7, 2018
vendingmachine commented on the word scolopendrine
Pertaining to any centipede of the family Scolopendridae, including some large and poisonous species.
July 7, 2018
vendingmachine commented on the word smaragdine
Any green gemstone, such as the emerald.
July 7, 2018
vendingmachine commented on the word sourdeline
A type of bagpipe.
July 7, 2018
vendingmachine commented on the word tragelaphine
Of or relating to a tragelaph.
July 7, 2018
vendingmachine commented on the word vincristine
An alkaloid, C46H56N4O10·H2SO4, obtained from the leaves of a periwinkle (Vinca rosea) and used as a drug in the treatment of leukemia.
July 7, 2018
vendingmachine commented on the word vomerine
Pertaining to the thin flat bone forming part of the separation between the nasal passages in mammals.
July 7, 2018
vendingmachine commented on the word zibeline
A soft lustrous wool fabric with mohair, alpaca, or camel's hair.
July 7, 2018
vendingmachine commented on the word zygaenine
pertaining to a family of moths (Zygaenidae) including the foresters, burnet moths, and related moths most of which are bright-colored and day-flying.
July 7, 2018
vendingmachine commented on the word aedine
relating to mosquitoes of the genus Aedes
July 7, 2018
vendingmachine commented on the list animal-ine
Another great -ine list!
July 7, 2018
vendingmachine commented on the list animal-ines-cheat-sheet
crotaline: having a rattle or pertaining to a rattlesnake
July 7, 2018
vendingmachine commented on the list animal-ines-cheat-sheet
I intended to start a list like this one, but after finding your impressive and thorough list, I figured: why bother? Love it. I've added it to my list of favorite lists.
July 7, 2018
bilby commented on the word EZ PZ
But it's written ee-zed pea-zed :-/
July 7, 2018
bilby commented on the word the wrong type of snow
This is fabulous.
July 7, 2018
alexz commented on the word grep
Spotted the etymology in a youtube video - 8 minute mark.
G is for Global
re is for Regular Expression
P is what their tools tended to end in. https://youtu.be/NTfOnGZUZDk?t=8m1s
July 7, 2018
badolf11 commented on the user badolf11
July 6, 2018
qms commented on the word quincuncial
Milady likes tea that’s served punctual
With certain wee treats that are munchable.
All implements furnished
Are brilliant and burnished,
Laid out in a pattern quincuncial.
July 6, 2018
alexz commented on the word ez pz
Easy peasy
July 6, 2018
alexz commented on the word EZ PZ
easy peasy
July 6, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word the wrong type of snow
"The wrong type of snow" or "the wrong kind of snow" is a phrase coined by the British media in 1991 after severe weather caused disruption to many of British Rail's services. A British Rail press release implied that management and its engineering staff were unaware of different types of snow. Henceforth in the United Kingdom, the phrase became a byword for euphemistic and pointless excuses.1
July 6, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word neckverse
a verse usually consisting of the first lines of a Latin version of the 51st psalm formerly set before an accused person claiming benefit of clergy so that the person might vindicate his claim by an intelligent reading aloud of the verse before examiners.
July 6, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word hematine
(also magnetic hematite, hemalyke or hemalike) is an artificial magnetic material. Hematine is widely used in jewelry.
July 6, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word lightning flower
Lichtenberg figures appearing on people are sometimes called lightning flowers, and they are thought to be caused by the rupture of capillaries under the skin due to the passage of the lightning current or the shock wave from the lightning discharge as it flashes over the skin
July 6, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word slipface
the lee side of a dune where the slope approximates the angle of rest of loose sand that is generally about 33 degrees.
July 6, 2018
TankHughes commented on the word cum gutters
This really makes my iliac furrow.
July 6, 2018
TankHughes commented on the word roadhead
The literature examples on this page seem to be about the equivalent of a trailhead and the tweets are about blowjobs in a car (moving or not moving). I don't see examples of either on road head with a space.
July 6, 2018
bilby commented on the list cult-leader-charisma
Promising list!
July 6, 2018
bilby commented on the word dead man's foot
July 6, 2018
alexz commented on the word insurancitis
Spotted this word again in 2018.
It appears to have some sticking power in the language.
July 6, 2018
Gammerstang commented on the word salitter
“Salitter seems only to have occurred, used in this way, in the writings of Jakob Boehme, a 17th century German Christian mystic. Here is enough of what he says about it, to begin to understand the exquisite choice made by McCarthy in using the word: ‘What is in Paradise is made of the celestial Salitter… it is clear, resplendent … The forces of the celestial Salitter give rise to celestial fruits flowers, and vegetation.’ Salitter, as used by Boehme, as used by McCarthy, is the essence of God.”
July 6, 2018
tanous commented on the word texdance
The distance between ones car and the one in front of them that a driver believes is safe for texting.
July 5, 2018
qms commented on the word absolutism
It could be a slavish faux Putinism
Or native enjoyment of brutalism,
Or weak leader’s dread
Of being gainsaid
That fosters his crude absolutism.
July 5, 2018
bilby commented on the word nematode smackdown
See micronoodle.
July 5, 2018
mollusque commented on the word micronoodle
It's hard to imagine nematodes fighting at all. There's little, if any, weaponry visible on the see-through micronoodle body of the species called Steinernema longicaudum.
--Susan Milius, 2018, Science News 193(8): 37
July 4, 2018
scarequotes commented on the word cagency
https://www.adweek.com/agencyspy/introducing-your-new-least-favorite-buzzword-cagency/144287
According to Campaign’s Gideon Spanier, Accenture Interactive managing director of Europe, Africa and Latin America Anatoly Roytman took the opportunity to reveal that his network is developing a new offering: the “cagency.”
The concept is a consulting firm combined with a creative shop, which is also known as any ad agency worth a damn.
July 4, 2018
scarequotes commented on the word freckling
http://www.businessinsider.com/freckling-is-the-latest-dating-trend-and-youre-not-going-to-like-it-2018-7
This summer, there's a new addition to the ever-growing lexicon of dating lingo: "freckling."
Basically, freckling is another term for what most would describe as a summer fling: love that lasts only a summer. Like freckles, these sorts of lovers appear for the summer, only to disappear again as the days get colder.
July 4, 2018
devmaster commented on the user devmaster
https://discoverdevices.com/navdy-vs-exploride/
https://discoverdevices.com/samsung-powerbot-vs-roomba/
https://discoverdevices.com/hp-elite-x3-android-version-best-android-version-hp-smartphone/
https://discoverdevices.com/silent-quietest-treadmills/
July 4, 2018
qms commented on the word patriotical
The gestures are false but methodical:
Flag hugging is crudely symbolical;
His staging quite brims
With anthems and hymns
And all of it mock patriotical.
July 4, 2018
pashapush commented on the user pashapush
select
July 4, 2018
scarequotes commented on the word rinsta
https://mic.com/articles/175936/the-secret-instagram-accounts-teens-use-to-share-their-realest-most-intimate-moments#.IAUuhhm1N
Unlike a teen's "real instagram" or "rinsta," where their image is carefully curated for public consumption, finsta is intimate and messy and, according to every teen we spoke to, way more authentic than their main profile.
July 4, 2018
ruzuzu commented on the word vortex
Ha! The first time I read that, I thought it said "vicious."
July 3, 2018
qms commented on the word autarchy
Good people be silent and hark ye!
Believe not the goblin’s malarkey!
He’ll wheedle and flatter
But words do not matter.
He means to construct an autarchy.
July 3, 2018
qms commented on the word vortex
Many years ago I saw a notice of a talk to be given at MIT: “Viscous Vortices on the Vertical Verges of Variable Velocity Vessels.” I did not attend but I have wondered since if the speaker had anything substantive to say on the subject or just could not resist alliteration.
July 3, 2018
ruzuzu commented on the word vortex
From the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English:
"A supposed collection of particles of very subtile matter, endowed with a rapid rotary motion around an axis which was also the axis of a sun or a planet. Descartes attempted to account for the formation of the universe, and the movements of the bodies composing it, by a theory of vortices."
And from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia:
"In the Cartesian philosophy, a collection of material particles, forming a fluid or ether, endowed with a rapid rotatory motion about an axis, and filling all space, by which Descartes accounted for the motions of the universe. This theory attracted much attention at one time, but is now entirely discredited."
July 2, 2018
ruzuzu commented on the word sycee
I'll second both previous comments.
July 2, 2018
ruzuzu commented on the word groupoid
See citation on magma.
July 2, 2018