Words for today

pruriginous


ad. F. prurigineux (1495 in Godef. Compl.), ad. late L. pr{umac}r{imac}gin{omac}s-us adj., f. pr{umac}r{imac}go, -inem: see next and -OUS.]

1. Affected by or liable to prurigo or itching; pertaining to or of the nature of prurigo.
1656 BLOUNT Glossogr., Pruriginous, full of the itch. 1705 GREENHILL Embalming 164 Their Blood becoming Pruriginous..wou'd..produce Mange, Scabs and Leprosies. 1742 C. OWEN Serpents II. 151 Its Bite..produces..pruriginous Pain in the Flesh. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 814 A general eruption which was in parts very pruriginous.

{dag}2. Characterized by mental itching, curiosity, or uneasiness; irritable, excitable, fretful. Obs.
1609 BP. W. BARLOW Answ. Nameless Cath. 99 [He] hath not yet purged the pruriginous humor of his scoffing braine. 1678 R. L'ESTRANGE Seneca's Mor. II. ix. (1696) 198 In these [brooding or morose] Dispositions there is a kind of pruriginous Phancy that makes some People take delight in Labour, and Uneasiness.

{dag}3. As a term of abuse; cf. MANGY a. 3. Obs.
1712 [OLDISWORTH] Odes Horace III. 17/2 Heinsius unfortunately fell into that Prurigenous blunder, by having too much regard for Julius Scaliger. 1825 HOGG in Blackw. Mag. XVII. 113 If thou'rt a Cotquean by my soul, I'll split thy pruriginous nowl.

 

travesty

[Originally a. F. travesti, fem. travestie, pa. pple. of (se) travestir (Montaigne a1592), ‘to disguise him, or take on another man's habit’ (Cotgr.), ad. It. travestire to disguise (Florio), f. tra- = TRANS- + It., L. vestre to clothe. The adoption from It. in 16th c. accounts for the retention of s in Fr., as opposed to vêtir, revêtir. Made known in England in the title of Scarron's Le Virgile Travesty en vers burlesques (= Vergil travestied in burlesque verses), 1648, whence occasionally in other connexions, and at length as a n., used first in Scarron's sense, and later in the etymological one.]

A. ppl. a.

1. Dressed so as to be made ridiculous; burlesqued. (Const. as pa. pple.) Obs. or only as F.

c1662 DAVENANT Play House to Let I. i, What think you Of Romances travesti..Burlesque and Travesti? These are hard words, And may be French, but not Law-French. 1664 COTTON (title) Scarronides: or, Virgile Travestie. A Mock-Poem. Being the First Book of Virgils Æneis in English, Burlésque. 1672 J. PHILLIPS (title) Maronides, or Virgil Travestie: Being a New Paraphrase upon the Fifth Book of Virgils Æneids in Burlesque Verse. 1673 O. WALKER Educ. II. iii. 245 Virgil we have seen publickly, and even the holy Writings we heard to have been, travesty. a1774 TUCKER Lt. Nat. (1834) II. 130 One may laugh heartily at Virgil travestie, without either despising Cotton, or abating one's admiration of Virgil.
B. n.

1. A literary composition which aims at exciting laughter by burlesque and ludicrous treatment of a serious work; literary composition of this kind; hence, a grotesque or debased imitation or likeness; a caricature.

1674 BUTLER Hud. I. III. Annot. 196 This Vickars..translated Virgils Æneides into as horrible Travesty in earnest, as the French Scaroon did in Burlesque. 1751 WARBURTON Note Pope's Dunc. II. 268 Accusing him..on a mere report from Edm. Curl, that he was Author of a Travestie on the first Psalm. 1789 BELSHAM Ess. II. xxxvi. 300 It..has sometimes the effect of a ludicrous travesti of the Odyssey. 1846 WRIGHT Ess. Mid. Ages I. v. 178 Those romances were but barbarous travesties of the original stories. 1871 FARRAR Witn. Hist. ii. 73 The vulgar travesty of a miracle alleged to have been wrought by a coarse soldier.
2. a. Chiefly Theatr. In etymological sense: An alteration of dress or appearance; a disguise. spec. (dressing in) the attire of the opposite sex. Freq. (en) travesti.
The phr. en travesti(e), which is not recorded in Fr., represents a misinterpretation of the F. pa. pple. as a n.

1732 SIR C. WOGAN Let. to Swift 27 Feb., My design was to have travelled..incognito... But all my art and travestie was vain. 1823 BYRON Juan V. lxxiv, ‘At least’, said Juan, ‘sure I may inquire The cause of this odd travesty?’ 1850 THACKERAY Pendennis II. x. 102 He went into the pit, and saw..that eminent buffo actor, Tom Horseman, dressed as a woman. Horseman's travestie seemed to him a horrid and hideous degradation. 1957 G. B. L. WILSON Dict. Ballet 212 Petipa, Marie S... Her husband created for her a dance, The Little Moujik, in which she appeared en travesti. 1959 Times 3 Nov. 15/5 Defrance's troupe leaders and the girls in travesti receiving their last-minute counsels remain unaffectedly convincing. 1975 New Yorker 12 May 131/1 Nero, Otho, Tamerlane, and Julius Caesar will still have to be played by women en travesti or by countertenors. 1980 Daily Tel. 15 Dec. 10/1 Shapely young women have been showing off their legs en travesti since they were allowed on the English stage.
b. Comb. travesty role, a role designed to be played by a performer of the sex opposite to that of the character represented.

1958 Listener 5 June 955/3 Michel Sénéchal handled the travesti role of Platée with tact and sang the difficult music in an accomplished style. 1978 Times 23 Aug. 11/4 At the Coliseum Dennis Wicks makes the most of his travesty role.

 

sanguine


[a. F. sanguin (fem. sanguine), ad. L. sanguineus: see SANGUINEOUS. Cf. Sp. sanguino.]

A. adj.

1. a. Blood-red. Also sanguine red (sometimes hyphened), {dag}red sanguine, {dag}brown sanguine. Now only literary.
1382 WYCLIF Ecclus. xlv. 12 With..blyu vyolet silc, and sanguyn silc [Vulg. hyacintho et purpura]. c1386 CHAUCER Knt.'s T. 1310 His colour was sangwyn. 1398 TREVISA Barth. De P.R. R. XIX. xxiv. (1495) 877 Sinopis is a red colour and is callyd Rubrica for it is nexte to redde sangweyne. 1399 in Hampole's Wks. (1896) II. 449 A longe sangwyn gowne furryd with Calabir. 1444 Test. Ebor. (Surtees) II. 106, ij girdils ye tone redde and tother sangvyn. c1470 HENRY Wallace IX. 1932 His colour was sangweyn. 1494 Somerset Med. Wills (1901) 323 A sangewyn kyrtyll and a smoke. 1513 DOUGLAS Æneis VII. ii. 4 Within hir rosy cartis cleirlie schane Aurora vestit into broun sanguane. 1526 Grete Herball xxviii. (1529) Bvb, It is an vnpure thynge and hath a sanguyne coloure. 1601 HOLLAND Pliny II. 625 Interlaced..with certain knots, both white and also of a sanguine red. 1637 MILTON Lycidas 106 Like to that sanguine flower inscrib'd with woe. 1650 BULWER Anthropomet. 153 In Persia the womens pale colour is made sanguine by adulterate complexion. 1666 DRYDEN Ann. Mirab. clii, Her flag aloft, spread ruffling to the wind, And sanguine streamers seem the flood to fire. a1668 R. LASSELS Voy. Italy (1698) I. 112 The vault is painted with a deep sanguin red. 1757 GRAY Bard 185 Yon sanguine cloud, Rais'd by thy breath. 1784 COWPER Task VI. 158 The lilac, various in array, now white, Now sanguine. 1820 SHELLEY Cloud 31 The sanguine sunrise, with his meteor eyes, And his burning plumes outspread. 1864 LOWELL Fireside Trav. 26 In an obscure corner grew the sanguine beet. 1885 G. MEREDITH Diana iii, The beautiful virgin devoted to the sanguine coat.

b. Nat. Hist. Chiefly in names of animals and plants, usually as transl. of mod.L. sanguineus in specific names.
1783 LATHAM Gen. Synopsis Birds IV. 657 Sanguine Turtle. 1809 SHAW Gen. Zool. VII. II. 487 Sanguine Paradise-bird, Paradisea sanguinea. 1816 KIRBY & SP. Entomol. xvii. (1818) II. 82 The sanguine ants at length rush upon the negroes. 1839 LINDLEY Introd. Bot. III. (ed. 3) 480 Sanguine; dull red, passing into brownish black. 1865 GOSSE Land & Sea 261, I may compare the Sanguine Sponge to an uneven, rather than a hilly country.

2. a. Of or pertaining to blood; consisting of or containing blood. Now rare.
1447 O. BOKENHAM Seyntys (Roxb.) 259 Dyssentyrye..Wych..Sendyth owte sangweyn agestyoun. 1584 COGAN Haven Health cxl. 125 The tongue is of a spungie and sanguine substance. 1656 BLOUNT Glossogr., Sanguin flesh..is that which is engendred of blood; of which sort is the flesh compounded in the Muscles, the Heart [etc.]. 1706 E. WARD Wooden World Diss. (1708) 60 The Barber, that has stept from the demolishing of Beards, to the Practice of more sanguine Operations. 1716 M. DAVIES Athen. Brit. III. Diss. Physick 4 Without any Pretensions to that Sanguine Discovery [of circulation of blood], or knowing any thing considerable of it, much less of his Teaching it to Dr. Harvey. 1769 E. BANCROFT Guiana 300 That this Poison may duely operate, it is necessary that it should be externally admitted into the sanguine vessels. 1800 tr. Lagrange's Chem. II. 368 The colouring part seems to be richer in the sanguine principle. 1812 [see FRUSTUM 2]. 1860 RUSKIN Mod. Paint. V. VII. iv. § 17. 146 It was..to serpents, that the Greeks likened the dissolving of the Medusa cloud in blood. Of that sanguine rain..I cannot yet speak. 1873 H. E. H. KING Disciples, Giov. Nicotera (1877) 307 One sanguine sacramental cup.

b. Causing or delighting in bloodshed; bloody, sanguinary. Now poet. or rhetorical.
1705 HICKERINGILL Priest-cr. I. (1721) 19 The Inquisition, the Hangman, the Dragoons, and the Jaylors, are the Holy Pillars of their Sanguine Priest-craft. 1727 A. HAMILTON New Acc. E. Ind. II. xlii. 115 Ordered both their Heads to be struck off, which ended their Disputes effectually..but Governor Sowdon was sent for to Fort St. George, and another sent in his Place less sanguin. 1736 LD. J. HERVEY Mem. Geo. II (1847) I. 346 The long and sanguine war that soon followed. 1817 SHELLEY Rev. Islam I. xxxi, And Fear, the demon pale, his sanguine shrine forsook. 1872 BLACKIE Lays Highl. 85 The fiends in hell delight to view The sanguine slaughter done. 1884 SYMONDS Shaks. Predec. ix. 331 The craziest career which ever closed a brilliant dynasty in sanguine gloom.

3. a. In mediæval and later physiology: Belonging to that one of the four ‘complexions’ (see COMPLEXION n. 1) which was supposed to be characterized by the predominance of the blood over the other three humours, and indicated by a ruddy countenance and a courageous, hopeful, and amorous disposition.
In the strict use as connected with the doctrine of the four ‘complexions’, the word is now only Hist.; but the modern writers (chiefly phrenologists) who have attempted a classification of ‘temperaments’ usually retain it as one of their descriptive terms.
c1386 CHAUCER Prol. 333 Of his complexioun he was sangwyn. 1398 TREVISA Barth. De P.R. XVII. cxxxi. (1495) 689 The vse of pepyr is not prouffitable to Sangueyne men. c1430 LYDG. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 196 The sangueyn man of blood hath hardynesse, Wrouhte to be lovyng, large of his dispence. 1538 STARKEY England I. ii. 58 The iiij [sc. complexions]..sanguyn, melancolyk, phlegmatyk, and coleryke. a1548 HALL Chron. Edw. IV 192b, A prince of haut corage, young lusty and sanguyne of complexion. 1587 GREENE 2nd Pt. Tritameron Wks. (Grosart) III. 144 The Saturnine temperature is necessarie to dry vp the superfluities of the sanguine constitution. 1707 FLOYER Physic. Pulse-Watch 309 A fat sanguine Woman. 1727-41 CHAMBERS Cycl. s.v., Sanguine constitutions require a frequent use of phlebotomy. Sanguine people are usually observed to be brisk, bold, daring, and even presumptuous. 1781 J. MOORE View Soc. It. (1790) II. lxii. 228 [A disease] more apt to seize people of a sanguine constitution than others. 1843 R. J. GRAVES Syst. Clin. Med. xxvii. 346 Persons of a sanguine temperament are in general the most susceptible. 1855 BROWNING An Epist. 109 The man{em}it is one Lazarus a Jew, Sanguine, proportioned. 1874 CARPENTER Ment. Phys. I. ii. §88 (1879) 98 Small brains and great activity, betoken what are known as the sanguine and nervous temperaments.

b. Astrol. Of signs, etc.: Favourable to the sanguine complexion.
1647 LILLY Chr. Astr. vi. 48 [The First Quadrant is] called the Orientall, Vernall, Masculine, Sanguine, Infant quarter.

c. With reference to ‘complexion’ in the modern sense (see COMPLEXION n. 4): Red in the face. Cf. sense 1.
1684 Lond. gas. No. 1982/4 He is very tall, having curled brown Hair, or sanguine Complexion. 1839 DE QUINCEY Recoll. Lakes Wks. 1862 II. 138 A sanguine complexion had, of late years, usurped upon the original bronze-tint.

4. a. Of persons or their dispositions: Having the mental attributes characteristic of the sanguine complexion (see sense 3 above); chiefly, disposed to hopefulness or confidence of success.
1509 HAWES Past. Pleas. xvi. (Percy Soc.) 73 For sanguyne youth it is al contrary. 1599 B. JONSON Cynthia's Rev. II. iii, He is neither too fantastickally Melancholy; too slowly Phlegmatick, too lightly Sanguine. 1700 DRYDEN Fables Pref. *B, Our two Great Poets, being so different in their Tempers, one Cholerick and Sanguin, the other Phlegmatick and Melancholick. 1841 BREWSTER Mart. Sci. II. iv. (1856) 147 He was of sanguine temperament. 1855 PRESCOTT Philip II, I. I. vii. 97 Philip was not of that sanguine temper which overlooks..the obstacles in its way. 1882 C. PEBODY Eng. Journalism xix. 144 It was published..under difficulties which would..have killed any man of less sanguine temperament.

b. Of persons and expectations, etc.: Hopeful or confident with reference to some particular issue.
1673 Lady's Call. Pref. (1684) 4 When the most sanguine of his Disciples had denied, yea forswore, and all had forsaken him. 1712 LADY M. W. MONTAGU Let. to Mr. W. Montagu 9 Dec., Sanguine groundless hopes, and..lively vanity..make all the happiness of life. 1735-6 T. SHERIDAN in Swift's Lett. (1768) IV. 151 Do not think me sanguine in this; for more unlikely and less reasonable favours have been granted. 1785 BURKE Sp. Nabob of Arcot's Debts Wks. IV. 242 In the fond imaginations of a sanguine avarice. 1836 W. IRVING Astoria III. ix. 139 He now looked forward with sanguine hope to the accomplishment of all his plans. 1863 M. E. BRADDON J. Marchmont iii, It's kind of you to look at it in this sanguine way, Arundel. 1876 A. J. EVANS Through Bosnia ix. 417 And yet how fascinating is Ragusa still! It far surpassed our most sanguine expectations.

5. Comb., parasynthetic and adverbial, as sanguine-coloured, -complexioned, -flowered, -streaming, -valiant adjs.; sanguine-bilious a., partly sanguine and partly bilious; sanguine-heart a., nonce-wd., crimson at the heart; sanguine-nervous a., partly sanguine and partly nervous; {dag}sanguine-rod, the wild cornel or dogwood; sanguine root = BLOOD-ROOT; {dag}sanguine stone (see quot. 1727-41); also ellipt. as n.
1843 R. J. GRAVES Syst. Clin. Med. xxxi. 424 Jane McKernan, aged 28{em}*sanguine bilious. 1552 Inv. Ch. of Surrey (1869) 31 A *sangwyne coloured coope of Sattyn. 1888 STEVENSON Black Arrow 24 Wrapped warmly in a sanguine~coloured cloak. 1692 Lond. gas. No. 2773/4 Round Shoulder'd and *sanguine Complexion'd. 1922 JOYCE Ulysses 44 His fustian shirt, *sanguine~flowered, trembles its Spanish tassels at his secrets. 1840 BROWNING Sordello III. 356 Where in maple-chamber glooms, Crowned with what *sanguine-heart pomegranate blooms, Advanced it ever? 1842 A. COMBE Physiol. Digestion (ed. 4) 277 A mixture of the sanguine and nervous, the *sanguine-nervous. 1601 HOLLAND Pliny II. 189 The plant called the *Sanguin-Rod. 1578 LYTE Dodoens I. xxxiii. 48 The sixth [kind of Geranium] is called..*Sanguine roote, or Bloud roote. 1486 Bk. St. Albans, Her. a iii, The .v. stone is calde a Loys, a *sanquine stone or sinamer hit is calde in armys. Ibid., Aloys is calde sinamer or sanquine in armys. 1727-41 CHAMBERS Cycl., Sanguine stone, lapis Sanguinalis, a kind of Jasper, brought from New-Spain. 1799 H. GURNEY Cupid & Psyche xiii. (1800) 35 And *sanguine-streaming fires arise Meteorous from the trembling ground. 1837 CARLYLE Fr. Rev. I. III. iii. 101 Audacity and hope alternate in him with misgivings; though the *sanguine-valiant side carries it.

B. n.

{dag}1. A cloth of blood-red colour, also a piece of this.
1319 in Riley Mem. Lond. (1868) 131 [Also two] sanguynes [in grain, value 15 pounds]. c1386 CHAUCER Prol. 439 In sangwyn and in pers he clad was al. 1411 in Somerset Med. Wills (1901) 51 [To the aforesaid Alice two] Kirtells, [one of] Sangwyn.

2. {dag}a. A blood-red colour. Obs.
a1500 E.E. Misc. (Warton Club) 90 Thanne {ygh}our flote is made fore {ygh}our sangweyns, and also for {ygh}our viollettes saddere thanne {ygh}our morreys. 1543 GRAFTON Contn. Harding (1812) 592 Grained clothe of sondrie coloures, as scarlettes, crimosins, sanguines. a1568 R. ASCHAM Scholem. II. (Arb.) 114 This face [in a picture] had bene more cumlie, if that hie redde in the cheeke, were somwhat more pure sanguin than it is. 1590 SPENSER F.Q. II. i. 39 From which forth gusht a stream of gore blood thick,..And into a deep sanguine dide the grassy grownd. 1594 NASHE Unfort. Trav. Wks. (Grosart) V. 68 They..had all the coate coulours of sanguin, purple, crimson, copper, carnation that were to be had in their countenaunces. 1612 PEACHAM Gentl. Exerc. I. xxiii. (1634) 80 With which water you may Diaper and Dammaske upon all other blewes, and sanguines to make them shew more faire and beautifull.

b. Her. (See quots.)
1562 LEIGH Armorie 21 The last of all collours, of Armory, which is called Murrey. This is blazed Sanguine, and is a princely colour. 1610 J. GUILLIM Heraldry I. iii. 11 The last of the seuen mixed colors we doe commonly call Murrey, but in Blazon, Sanguine. 1704 J. HARRIS Lex. Techn. I, Sanguine, the Heralds term for the Colour usually called Murry, being made of Lake with a little Spanish Brown. 1868 CUSSANS Her. iii. 51 Sanguine [is represented] by diagonal lines intersecting each other.

{dag}3. The sanguine ‘complexion’ or temperament.
1530 PALSGR. 265/1 Sanguyn a complexion, sanguin. 1594 LADY RUSSELL in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. I. III. 40 Your Lordships so honorable most kynde..visitacion, as turned melancoly into a sanguin. 1656 H. MORE Enthus. Tri. (1712) 25 That it is the Reign of Sanguine, not the rule of the Spirit, is discoverable both from the Complexion of the Head of this Sect, as also from the general disposition of his followers. 1718 HICKES & NELSON J. Kettlewell I. ii. 15 His temper was a Mixture of Sanguine and Choler.

4. Art. A crayon coloured red with iron oxide; a drawing executed with red chalks.
1854 FAIRHOLT Dict. Terms Art, Sanguine, a deep blood colour, prepared from oxide of iron. 1882 HAMERTON Graphic Arts 115 When an artist uses red chalk or sanguine he does not intend to produce a very powerful effect. Ibid., Examples of fine sanguines are..extremely frequent in every large collection of drawings by the old masters. 1886 Academy 21 Aug. 127/2 An interesting Greuze sketch in sanguine.

 

fuliginous

1. Pertaining to, consisting of, containing, or resembling soot; sooty.
1621 BURTON Anat. Mel. I. ii. II. v, It offends commonly if it be to..fuligenous, cloudy, blustering, or a tempestuous Aire. 1638 WILKINS New World I. (1684) 73 This Fuliginus matter, which did thus obscure the Sun, must needs be very near his Body. 1646 SIR T. BROWNE Pseud. Ep. VI. xii. 334 A sootish and fuliginous matter proceeding from the sulphur of bodies torrified. 1684 EVELYN Diary 24 Jan., London..was so filled with the fuliginous steam of the sea-coal, that hardly could one see across the streets. 1731 HALES Stat. Ess. I. 260 In great cities where the air is full of fuliginous vapours. 1822 LAMB Elia Ser. I. Praise of Chimneysweepers, The fuliginous concretions, which are sometimes found (in dissections) to adhere to the roof of the mouth in these unfledged practitioners. 1842 DE QUINCEY Pagan Oracles Wks. VIII. 222 A huge octagon lamp, that apparently never had been cleaned from smoke and fuliginous tarnish.
fig. c1645 HOWELL Lett. (1650) II. 107 Prayer compar'd with praise, is but a fuliginous smoak issuing from the sense of sin. 1761 STERNE Tr. Shandy III. xix, His ideas..all obfuscated and darkened over with fuliginous matter! 1845 CARLYLE Cromwell (1871) IV. 3 A very fuliginous set of doctrines. 1860 TROLLOPE Castle Richmond II. 80 The debate went on..with many sparks..of eager benevolence, and some few passing clouds of fuliginous self-interest.

b. Covered or blackened with soot. Chiefly in humorously bombastic use.
a1763 [see FULIGINOUSLY]. 1843 CARLYLE Past & Pr. III. xv, To that dingy fuliginous Operative, emerging from his soot-mill. 1865 Dublin Univ. Mag. II. 32 A fuliginous suburb of factories. a1876 M. COLLINS Pen Sketches (1879) I. 59 The pleasant gardens..are a delight and a luxury to the Londoner escaped from some close fuliginous domicile. 1884 Pall Mall G. 16 Oct. 1/1 All the world is peering down the fuliginous chimney.

{dag}2. In old physiology applied to certain thick ‘vapours’ or ‘exhalations’ said to be formed by organic combustion, and noxious to the head and vital parts. Obs.
1574 NEWTON Health Mag. 53 Those apples..repel and drive away all fuliginous moyste vapours which trouble the harte and strike up into the head. 1621 BURTON Anat. Mel. II. v. I. iv, It is not amiss to bore the scull with an instrument to let out the fuliginous vapours. 1664 POWER Exp. Philos. I. 57 The grosser Steams that continually perspire out of our own Bodies..are the fuliginous Eructations of that internal fire, that constantly burns within us. 1725 BRADLEY Fam. Dict. s.v. Bath, It will be attended with these two Advantages, viz. the Dissipation of the fuliginous Excrements, and drawing out the superfluous Humours.

3. (Chiefly Nat. Hist.) Soot-coloured, dusky.
[1688 R. HOLME Armoury II. 290 The upper part of the Body is brown, or Fulgineous (sic).] 1822-34 Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) I. 339 A morbid deep-coloured bile, fulvous, greenish, or fuliginous. 1826 KIRBY & SP. Entomol. IV. 282 Fuliginous, the opaque black of soot. 1869 O. W. HOLMES Cinders from Ashes in Old Vol. Life (1891) 247 An older and much bigger boy, or youth, with a fuliginous complexion. 1874 COUES Birds N.W. 642 Entire plumage deep sooty or fuliginous blackish.

Hence fu{sm}liginously adv., fu{sm}liginousness.
1576 NEWTON Lemnie's Complex. (1633) 222 When this sinke of Melancholy is once exhausted, and all fuliginousnesse banished. 1652 FRENCH Yorksh. Spa ii. 27 According to the fuliginousness of vapours more or less recoiling, the fire is more or less choaked. a1763 SHENSTONE Wks. (1764) I. 114 To rear some breathless vapid flow'rs Or shrubs fuliginously grim. 1837 CARLYLE Fr. Rev. II. II. iii, Military France is everywhere full of sour inflammatory humour, which exhales itself fuliginously, this way or that.

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renminbi

a. The name of the currency introduced in China in 1948. b. Occas. used for yuan, the basic unit of this currency.
1957 Encycl. Brit. V. 546 B/1 In 1953 the official currency was the jenminpi or People's bank note on the mainland. 1971 [see JIAO]. 1973 Times 21 Mar. (China Trade Suppl.) p. iii/6 The basic unit of renminbi{em}which is abbreviated to RMB{em}is the yuan. 1974 China Reconstructs July 14/3 The Chinese currency, the Renminbi, is stable. 1975 Ann. Reg. 1974 320 More than 60 countries were already using the Chinese renminpi as the trading currency with China. 1979 Fortune 21 May 110/2 Its young tellers..eagerly explain to a visitor the tax advantages of converting his money into Chinese renminbi and keeping it in Peking.

 

Gray or Grey

Forms: {alpha}. 1 gr{aeacu}{asg}, 3-4 grai, 4-6 graye, (6 graie, Sc. gra), 4- gray. {beta}. 1 gré{asg}, gréi{asg}, gréi, 3 grei, 3-4 greye, 4 grey{ygh}e, 4- grey. [OE. gr{aeacu}{asg} = OFris. grê, MDu. grau, gra (Du. grauw), OHG. grâo, pl. grâwe (MHG. grâo, mod.G. grau), ON. grá-r (Sw. grå, Da. graa), repr. two OTeut. types *gr{aecirc}go- and gr{aecirc}wo-:{em}pre-Teut. *ghr{emac}gwho- (or *ghr{emac}gh-wo-, the suffix -wo- being frequent in colour-adjs.), with variable accent. Outside Teut. no affinities have been found; the word has no connexion with OHG. grîs (Ger. greis), whence F. gris.
Each of the current spellings has some analogical support. The only mod.Eng. words repr. OE. words ending in -{aeacu}{asg} are key (which is irrelevant on account of its pronunciation), whey, and clay. If we further take into consideration the words repr. OE. words in -{aeacu}{asg}e, viz. blay or bley, fey, wey, we have three (or four) instances of ey and only two (or one) of ay. On the other hand, this advantage in favour of grey is counterbalanced by the facts that clay is the only word of the five which is in very general use, and that grey is phonetically ambiguous, while gray is not. With regard to the question of usage, an inquiry by Dr. Murray in Nov. 1893 elicited a large number of replies, from which it appeared that in Great Britain the form grey is the more frequent in use, notwithstanding the authority of Johnson and later Eng. lexicographers, who have all given the preference to gray. In answer to questions as to their practice, the printers of The Times stated that they always used the form gray; Messrs. Spottiswoode and Messrs. Clowes always used grey; other eminent printing firms had no fixed rule. Many correspondents said that they used the two forms with a difference of meaning or application: the distinction most generally recognized being that grey denotes a more delicate or a lighter tint than gray. Others considered the difference to be that gray is a ‘warmer’ colour, or that it has a mixture of red or brown (cf. also the quot. under 1c below). In the twentieth century, grey has become the established spelling in the U.K., whilst gray is standard in the United States. There seems to be nearly absolute unanimity as to the spelling of ‘The Scots Greys’, ‘a pair of greys’. As the word is both etymologically and phonetically one, it is undesirable to treat its graphic forms as differing in signification.]

 

xenophobia

A deep antipathy to foreigners.
1909 Athenæum 13 Mar. 325/3 Those whose sense of justice..is not impaired by prejudice or ‘xenophoby’. 1919 Nation 20 Dec. 800/1 We are often told in criticism of the Nationalist movements in Egypt, Turkey, Persia, and China that legitimate agitation for self-government and democratic institutions is marred by xenophobia. 1934 R. MACAULAY Going Abroad xxix. 249 Violent and inhospitable outbursts of xenophoby have..characterised them [sc. the Basques] from their first appearance in history. 1936 E. WAUGH Waugh in Abyssinia i. 34 The zenophobia of the people was an insuperable barrier to all free co-operation. 1940 E. POUND Cantos lvi. 67 Showed no zenophobia. 1963 Economist 1 June 908/1 The mild xenophobia..which informed such Punch lines as ‘'e's a stranger: 'eave 'arf a brick at 'im’. 1971 H. MACMILLAN Riding Storm ii. 49 This kind of isolationism or economic nationalism, amounting to xenophobia, seized all nations, great and small, from time to time. 1976 N. ROBERTS Face of France iv. 49 Eight per cent of France's total working population is immigrant... Here were all the conditions needed for the release of latent xenophobia.

Hence xeno{sm}phobic a., pertaining to or exhibiting xenophobia; xeno{sm}phobically adv.; also {sm}xenophobe, a xenophobic person; also as adj.
1912 Nation 11 May 214/1 The popular attitude with regard to external politics is one of crude and xenophobic Imperialism. 1922 Mail 24 May 327/1 The Afghans are said to be suspicious of foreigners, even to be xenophobes. 1937 D. B. WYNDHAM LEWIS in L. Russell Press Gang! 245 Grey, scrawny, xenophobe, oinophil NY chilled-steel tycoon. 1951 H. ARENDT Burden of our Time I. i. 3 The identification of antisemitism with rampant nationalism and its xenophobic outbursts. 1956 P. JENNINGS Model Oddlies 34 The kind of London pub which..has a more closely-knit, xenophobe clientèle than the remotest village hostelry. 1977 T. HEALD Just Desserts vii. 146 It wasn't that he was..a xenophobe..but the foreignness was obtrusive. 1978 Listener 8 June 724/2 Xenophobically named after the old Roman province, the Dacia is, in fact, a licence-built French Renault. 1980 Times Lit. Suppl. 22 Aug. 937/5 At that moment [sc. the start of a major war], for discreditable xenophobic reasons, Haldane's reputation as a War Minister sank to its nadir, but from 1918 onwards it has always been high. 1983 P. LIVELY Perfect Happiness vi. 72 A stubborn and unfashionably xenophobic refusal to attempt foreign languages. 1983 N. FREELING Back of North Wind 77 ‘Another bloody foreigner! I hate a lot of foreigners,’ said Castang xenophobically.

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tokamak

One kind of toroidal apparatus for producing controlled fusion reactions in a hot plasma, distinguished by the fact that the controlling magnetic field is the sum of a toroidal field due to external windings and a poloidal field due to an induced longitudinal current in the plasma.

1969 Nature 1 Nov. 488/1 Measurements have been made of the electron temperature and density of the plasma in the toroidal discharge apparatus Tokamak T3..at the Kurchatov Institute. 1972 Sci. Amer. July 73/3 The first large Tokamak machine put into operation in the U.S. resulted from a conversion of the Model C stellarator in the Princeton University Plasma Physics Laboratory. 1980 Ann. Rep. 1979/80 (U.K. Atomic Energy Authority) 31/1 In tokamaks, plasma is heated and confined by an electric current induced by transformer action, while a strong external field stabilizes the plasma. 1981 [see STELLARATOR]. 1984 N.Y. Times Bk. Rev. 1 Apr. 23/2 In the race to achieve commercial success, Princeton's tokamak (the original Russian acronym for a toroidal magnetic chamber) is pitted against..laser technology.

 

fulsome

1. Characterized by abundance, possessing or affording copious supply; abundant, plentiful, full.

c1250 Gen. & Ex. 2153 e .vii. fulsum eres faren. ?a1412 LYDG. Lyfe our Ladye (Caxton) Av, For alwey God gaf hyr to her presence So fulsom lyght of heuenly influence. Ibid. Bvb, Like as a fulsum welle Shedyth his stremys in to the ryuere. c1440 Secrees 723 At Ellyconys welle This philisoffre by fulsom habundance Drank grettest plente. 1481 EARL OF WORCESTER Tulle on Friendsh. Bviib, Though he..were sette in moost folsom plente. c1510 BARCLAY Mirr. Gd. Manners (1570) Ciijb, Folowe fulsome fieldes habundaunt of frument. 1515 Egloges IV. (1570) Ciija, Suche fulsome pasture made him a double chin. 1571 GOLDING Calvin on Ps. lxxiii. 26 Much more fulsome is Davids confession [orig. Longè plenior est Dauidis confessio]. 1583 Calvin on Deut. xcii. 571 Likewise of their first fruites instede of making good fulsome sheaues and bundels vnto God, they gelded them, and made them verie thinne and lanke. [1868 HELPS Realmah II. xi. 80 My complaint of the world..is thisthat there is too much of everything..and so I could go on enumerating..all the things which are too full in this fulsome world. I use fulsome in the original sense.]
b. Growing abundantly, rank in growth. Obs.

1633 Costlie Whore IV. i. in Bullen O. Pl. IV, Plucke up the fulsome thistle in the prime.
2. Of the body, etc.: Full and plump, fat, well-grown; in a bad sense, over-grown. Obs.

1340-70 Alex. & Dind. 497 Wi e siht clene We ben as fulsom i-founde as ou we fed were. c1400 Destr. Troy 3068 With a necke..Nawer fulsom, ne fat, but fetis & round. 1565 GOLDING Ovid's Met. VII. (1567) 85a, His leane, pale, hore, and withered corse grew fulsome, faire, and fresh. 1593 RICH Greene's Newes Giijb, A chuffe-headed Cardinall with a paire of fulsome cheekes. 1628 WITHER Brit. Rememb. VI. 637 For either arme in such a mould is cast As makes it full as fulsome as their waste. 1664 H. MORE Myst. Iniq. 238 A fulsome and over-grown and unwholesome Flesh. 1678 OTWAY Friendship in F. II. i, 'Tis such a fulsom overgrown Rogue!
b. Overfed, surfeited. Also fig. Obs.

1642 ROGERS Naaman 24 Lazy, Laodicean temper of a fulsome, carelesse, surfeted spirit. Ibid. 346 Doth he not deserve at our hands more then a faint fulsome grant with Martha, thou canst doe all things. 1805 A. SCOTT Poems 40 (Jam.) Nor fall their [? read they] victims to a fulsome rift.
c. App. used for: Lustful, ‘rank’. Obs.

1596 SHAKES. Merch. V. I. iii. 87 The fulsome Ewes. [Cf. rancke in line 81.]
3. Of food: Satiating, ‘filling’, tending to cloy or surfeit; also, coarse, gross, unsuited to a dainty palate. Obs.

c1410 LOVE Bonavent. Mirr. lxiii, It shulde so soone be fulsome and not comfortable deynte. 1555 W. WATREMAN Fardle Facions I. vi. 94 This kinde of meate onely, serueth them all their life tyme..and neuer waxeth fulsome vnto theim. 1577 HARRISON England II. vi. (1877) I. 160 Our ale..is more thicke, fulsome and of no continuance. 1594 CAREW Huarte's Exam. Wits xii (1596) 198 Though the same were a meat of such delicacie and pleasing rellish, yet in the end, the people of Israell found it fulsome. 1614 BP. HALL Recoll. Treat. 488 A little honie is sweet; much, fulsome. 1655 MOUFET & BENNET Health's Improv. (1746) 229 A gross and fulsome Nourishment, unless they meet with a strong and good Stomach. a1668 DAVENANT News fr. Plym. (1673) 3 Their gross feedings On fulsome Butter, Essex Cheese. 1735 POPE Donne Sat. II. 118 Carthusian fasts, and fulsome Bacchanals. 1742 YOUNG Nt. Th. VII. 263 Why starv'd, on earth, our angel-appetites; While brutal are indulg'd their fulsome fill? 1770 WILKES Let. 29 July in Corr. (1805) IV. 76, I dined with the lord-mayor..We had two turtles, and a fulsome great dinner.
b. Having a sickly or sickening taste; tending to cause nausea. Obs.

1601 HOLLAND Pliny I. 434 The oile..is very fulsome and naught to be eaten. 1614 BP. HALL Recoll. Treat. 248 The very sight of that cup, wherein such a fulsome potion was brought him, turnes his stomacke. 1694 WESTMACOTT Script. Herb. 6 The common Anise-Seed-Water..is the most fulsom and insalubrious of Strong-waters. 1743 Lond. & Country Brew. II. (ed. 2) 107 A certain sour, fulsome Quality that the former Wort left behind.
c. fig. Cloying, satiating,wearisome from excess or repetition. (Cf. sense 7.) Obs.

1531 ELYOT Gov. I. xxi, Lest in repetyng a thinge so frequent and commune, my boke shulde be..fastidious or fulsome to the reders. 1601 SHAKES. Twel. N. V. i. 112 If it be ought to the old tune, my Lord, It is as fat and fulsome to mine eare As howling after Musicke. 1605 CAMDEN Rem. (1637) 43 The Spanish majesticall, but fulsome, running too much on the O. 1633 ROGERS Treat. Sacram. I. 163 Who then wonders if the Supper of Christ..be as a fulsome thing unto you? 1694 ADDISON Eng. Greatest Poets Misc. Wks. 1726 I. 36 The long-spun allegories fulsom grow, While the dull moral lyes too plain below. 1709 STEELE Tatler No. 70 4 As too little Action is cold, so too much is fulsome.
4. Offensive to the sense of smell: a. Strong-smelling, of strong, rank, or overpowering odour. b. Foul-smelling, stinking. Obs.

1583 STANYHURST Æneis II. (Arb.) 66 Eech path was fulsoom with sent of sulphurus orpyn. 1606 Sir G. Goosecappe I. ii. in Bullen O. Pl. III. 14 Heres such a fulsome Aire comes into this Chamber. 1626 BACON Sylva §507 They are commonly of rank and fulsome smell; as May-Flowers and White Lillies. 1683 TRYON Way to Health 119 That is the reason why fryed, baked and stewed Food does send forth a stronger and fulsomer scent than other Preparations. 1725 BRADLEY Fam. Dict. s.v. Malt, The Kiln ought to have convenient Windows, that your gross Steams, fulsom Damps, and stupifying Vapours may pass freely away.
5. Offensive to the senses generally; physically disgusting, foul, or loathsome. Obs.

?1507 Communyc. (W. de W.) Aij, Man is but fulsome erthe and claye. 1579 LYLY Euphues (Arb.) 130 Whereby they noted the great dislyking they had of their fulsome feedinge. 1595 SHAKES. John III. iv. 32, I will..stop this gap of breath with fulsome dust. 1621 BURTON Anat. Mel. I. ii. I. ii. (1651) 53 She vomited some 24 pounds of fulsome stuffe of all colours. Ibid. II. ii. I. i. 232 Calis..would use no Vulgar water; but she died..of so fulsome a disease that no water could wash her clean. 1627 DRAYTON Agincourt etc. 199 A thousand silken Puppets should haue died, And in their fulsome Coffins putrified, Ere [etc.]. 1642 DAVENANT Unfort. Lovers iv, Who once departed, know this fulsome world So much unfit to mingle with their pure Refined ayre, that they will returne. 1720 T. BOSTON Hum. Nat. in Fourfold St. (1797) 152 They cleave fondly to these fulsome breasts. [1849 Tait's Mag. XVI. 120/2 Hundreds of dogs..are annually committed to the abysses of these foulsome waters.]
6. Offensive to normal tastes or sensibilities; exciting aversion or repugnance; disgusting, repulsive, odious. ? Obs. exc. as in sense 7.

c1375 Sc. Leg. Saints, Julian 496 Of his wykytnes at fulsume til al gud-men wes. ?a1400 Morte Arth. 1061 There thow lygges, ffor the fulsomeste freke that fourmede was euere! 1532 MORE Confut. Tindale Wks. 713/2 Tindall..with hys fulsome feeling fayth. 1579 TOMSON Calvin's Serm. Tim. 464/2 It is a foule and fulsome thing, whiche shee must leaue off. 1611 COTGR. s.v. Robin, A filthie knaue with a fulsome queane. 1635 QUARLES Embl. III. ii. (1718) 133 Seest thou this fulsom ideot? c1645 HOWELL Lett. (1650) I. 188 A phlegmatic dull wife is fulsome and fastidious. 1680 OTWAY Orphan I. i. (1691) 3 Now half the Youth of Europe are in Arms, How fulsome must it be to stay behind, And dye of rank diseases here at home? 1684 SIR C. SCROPE Misc. Poems 112 Let not his fulsome armes embrace your waste. 1702 POPE Wife of Bath 173 Fulsom love for gain we can endure. 1780 COWPER Progr. Err. 291 And lest the fulsome artifice should fail, Themselves will hide its coarseness with a veil. 1819 W. TENNANT Papistry Storm'd (1827) 29 Have at a fousome kirk, and batter Her lustfu' banes untill they clatter! 1826 SCOTT Woodst. iii, In a booth at the fulsome fair.
b. Morally foul, filthy, obscene. Obs.

1604 SHAKES. Oth. IV. i. 37 Lye with her: that's fullsome. 1630 DRYDEN Pref. to Ovid's Epist. (1683) Aiijb, A certain Epigram, which is ascrib'd to him [the emperour]..is more fulsome than any passage I have met with in our Poet. 1682 SHADWELL Medal 3 Thy Mirth by foolish Bawdry is exprest; And so debauch'd, so fulsome, and so odd. 1719 D'URFEY Pills (1872) I. 327 And earn a hated living in an odious Fulsome way. 1726 AMHERST Terræ Fil. xxvi. 144 What followed was too fulsome for the eyes of my chaste readers.
7. Of language, style, behaviour, etc.: Offensive to good taste; esp. offending from excess or want of measure or from being ‘over-done’. Now chiefly used in reference to gross or excessive flattery, over-demonstrative affection, or the like.

1663 BP. PATRICK Parab. Pilgr. 201, I never heard anything so fulsome from the mouth of man; and found my self..impatient of such silly stuff. 1692 BENTLEY Boyle Lect. vi. 189 They were puffed up with the fulsome Flatteries of their Philosophers and Sophists. 1702 ROWE Tamerl. III. i. 1081 Bear back thy fulsom Greeting to thy Master. 1762 GOLDSM. Cit. W. xviii, Concealed disgust under the appearance of fulsome endearment. 1782 J. WARTON Ess. Pope II. xii. 338 This fawning and fulsome court-historian. 1784 COWPER Task VI. 289 The fulsome cant And pedantry that coxcombs learn with ease. 1802 M. EDGEWORTH Moral T. (1816) I. 226 The fulsome strains of courtly adulation. 1873 SYMONDS Grk. Poets vi. 169 Pindar was never fulsome in his panegyric. 1874 HELPS Soc. Press. xiii. 778 This fulsome publicity I have described.
b. quasi-n.

1742 H. WALPOLE Lett. H. Mann (1834) I. xxiv. 104 Some choice letters from Queen Anne, little inferior in the fulsome to those from King James to..Buckingham.

 

sardonic

[a. F. sardonique (16th c.) = Sp. sardónico, Pg., It. sardonico, as if ad. L. *sardonicus, an alteration (by substitution of suffix: see -IC) of sardonius: see SARDONIAN.
Hobbes's form sardanique is assimilated to Gr. {sigma}{alpha}{rho}{delta}{gaacu}{nu}{iota}{omicron}{fsigma}: see prec.]

a. Of laughter, a smile: Bitter, scornful, mocking. Hence of a person, personal attribute, etc.: Characterized by or exhibiting bitterness, scorn or mockery.
1638 SIR T. HERBERT Trav. (ed. 2) 190 He..gives a Sardonick smile to think how blest hee was in this attonement. 1675 HOBBES Odyssey xx. 276 Then smil'd Ulysses a Sardanique smile. 1713 STEELE Guard. No. 29 {page}10 The Horse-Laugh, or the Sardonic, is made use of with great Success in all kinds of Disputation. 1766 GOLDSM. Vic. W. xx, Our cousin received the proposal with a true sardonic grin. 1826 SCOTT Woodst. iv, The knight meanwhile darted a sardonic look..on his nephew. 1830 CARLYLE Misc. (1857) II. 140 His countenance, strangely twisted into Sardonic wrinkles. 1833 I. TAYLOR Fanat. v. 119 The sardonic historian, whose rule it is to exhibit human nature always as an object of mockery. 1866 HOWELLS Venet. Life v. 68 The favourite drama of the Burattini appears to be a sardonic farce, in which the chief character..deludes other..puppets into trusting him, and then beats them. 1872 DARWIN Emotions x. 251 We see a trace of this same expression [the sneer] in what is called a derisive or sardonic smile. 1878 BAYNE Purit. Rev. ii. 27 He would have found exercise for dramatic sympathy and sardonic humour.

b. Path. (See quot. 1897.)
1822-29 Good's Study Med. (ed. 3) IV. 374 The nostrils are drawn upward, and the cheeks backward toward the ears; so that the whole countenance assumes the air of a cynic spasm or sardonic grin. 1897 Syd. Soc. Lex., Risus sardonicus, sardonic grin. The involuntary, convulsive drawing down of the angles of the month in Tetanus. Ibid., Sardonic laugh. See Risus sardonicus.

c. Comb., as sardonic-looking adj.
1921 D. H. LAWRENCE Tortoises 29 She is..A little sardonic-looking, as if domesticity had driven her to it.

Hence sar{sm}donicism, the quality or state of being sardonic; an instance of this; a sardonic remark.
1928 Daily Express 6 Jan. 8/3 The old Spartan régime has gone, but there is a relentlessness about the public school system that engenders secret terrors at every turn. It may be the fear of ridicule, or the sardonicisms of a satiric master, or one of a dozen things. 1930 W. DE LA MARE On Edge 197 A corrosive sardonicism had come into her voice. 1940 W. FAULKNER Hamlet II. i. 100 He would speculate now and then with cold sardonicism. 1964 Listener 29 Oct. 667/2 Because familiarity with the role has made Sean Connery feel able to play Bond more relaxedly, an agreeable sardonicism has been added to the earlier deliberately overdone Superman masculinity.

 

atrocity

[(? a. F. atrocité,) ad. L. atr{omac}cit{amac}tem, n. of quality f. atrox fierce, cruel.]

1. Savage enormity, horrible or heinous wickedness.
1534 MORE On the Passion Wks. 1294/2 For the atrocyte of the story..almost euerye childe hathe heard. a1674 CLARENDON (J.) They desired justice might be done upon offenders, as the atrocity of their crimes deserved. 1863 GARDINER Hist. Eng. I. 253 If the atrocity of their design was hidden from their eyes.

2. Fierceness, sternness, implacability. arch.
1635 NAUNTON Fragm. Reg. 183 The atrocity of her father's nature. 1865 BARING-GOULD Werewolves v. 54 They besiege it with atrocity, striving to break in the doors.

3. An atrocious deed; an act of extreme cruelty and heinousness.
1793 T. JEFFERSON Writ. (1859) IV. 14 To defend themselves from the atrocities of a vastly more numerous and powerful people. 1880 MCCARTHY Own Times, The deeds which have ever since been known as ‘the Bulgarian atrocities.’ 1915 Sphere 22 May 197 The British report on German atrocities in Belgium. 1918 W. OWEN Let. 25 Oct. (1967) 589, I have found in all these villages no evidence of German atrocities. The girls here were treated with perfect respect.

4. colloq. with no moral reference: A very bad blunder, violation of taste or good manners, etc.
1878 Hatton Corr. Pref. 4 Their diction and their spelling, and the fearful atrocities committed in the latter.

5. attrib. and Comb., as atrocity-monger (so -mongering vbl. n. and ppl. a.), atrocity propaganda, story.
1896 Westm. gas. 18 Feb. 1/2 The massacres were a tale, either grossly exaggerated or altogether invented by atrocity-mongering journals. 1897 Ibid. 28 Aug. 2/3 We should be very cautious about accepting these atrocity stories. 1899 Ibid. 18 Oct. 3/3 In the words of General Colley, is not all this atrocity-mongering calculated to ‘make our soldiers either cowards or butchers’? 1905 A. BENNETT Tales of Five Towns I. 94 You see roundabouts, swings,..atrocity booths, quack dentists. 1914 E. A. POWELL Fighting in Flanders v. 129 Let them hear our side of this atrocity business. 1930 G. B. SHAW What I really wrote about War p. ix, The atrocity mongers who are using Belgium as a stick to beat Germany. 1937 KOESTLER Spanish Testament iv. 84 We know how much harm the preposterous atrocity propaganda engaged in by both sides caused during the Great War.

 

tostito


1. tostito


Closeted homosexual.

The guy's clearly a Tostito, if you know what I mean...
by Hail_Catapault Aug 8, 2003


2. tostito



A tortilla chip manufactured by Frito Lay. Comes in Bite Size, Crispy Rounds, Scoops, Restaurant Style, Hint of Lime, Santa Fe, and Gold.

Don't forget to pick up the tostitos for the superbowl.

[From urbandictionary.com]

 

parthenocarpy

[< German Parthenocarpie (F. Noll 1902, in Sitzungsber. d. Niederrheinischen Ges. f. Natur- u. Heilkunde 160) < partheno- PARTHENO- + ancient Greek {kappa}{alpha}{rho}{pi}{goacu}{fsigma} fruit (see CARPO-2) + German -ie -Y3.]

The development of a (usually seedless) fruit without prior fertilization or pollination.
1906 Science 15 Nov. 620/1 Under the caption General Questions are taken up sexual affinity,..parthenocarpy, apogamy, [etc.]. 1924 M. SKENE Biol. Flowering Plants v. 406 An embryo may develop without fertilisation having occurred. Corresponding to this parthenogenesis we have parthenocarpy, where a fruit is produced without any seeds. 1949 Endeavour 8 191/1 Even in plants which normally produce seeded fruits, parthenocarpy may occur spasmodically. 2002 Sci. Amer. Jan. 94/2 Triploid watermelons cannot produce functional seed, but they do develop good fruit through parthenocarpy.

 

panspermia


[< post-classical Latin panspermia mixture of (generative) seeds (c1200 in a British source; cf. also panspermium primary (generative) matter, c1100), or its etymon ancient Greek {pi}{alpha}{nu}{sigma}{pi}{epsilon}{rho}{mu}{giacu}{alpha} mixture of all seeds, (in the doctrine of Anaxagoras) the mixture of all elements present in all matter < Hellenistic Greek {pi}{gaacu}{nu}{sigma}{pi}{epsilon}{rho}{mu}{omicron}{fsigma} composed of all sorts of seeds (although this is first recorded later; < ancient Greek {pi}{alpha}{nu}- PAN- + {sigma}{pi}{geacu}{rho}{mu}{alpha} seed: see SPERM n.) + -{giacu}{alpha} -IA1. Cf. PANSPERMY n.
Cf. also the use of the Greek word in English contexts, with the sense ‘universal source or cause’:
1657 J. TRAPP Psalms in Annot. on Old & New Test. 660 Originall sin, that peccatum peccans..that {pi}{alpha}{nu}{sigma}{pi}{epsilon}{rho}{mu}{iota}{alpha}. 1661 R. BOYLE Sceptical Chymist in Wks. (1999) II. 257, I chose Spring-water rather than Rain-water, because the latter is more discernibly a kinde of {pi}{alpha}{nu}{sigma}{pi}{epsilon}{rho}{mu}{giacu}{alpha}.]

Originally (now hist.): the theory that there are everywhere minute germs which develop on finding a favourable environment. Now usually: the theory that microorganisms, spores, or chemical precursors of life are present in space and able to initiate life on reaching a suitable environment (spec. the earth).
1842 R. DUNGLISON Med. Lexicon (ed. 3), Panspermia, the theory of Dissemination of Germs, according to which, ova, or germs, are disseminated all over space, undergoing development under favourable circumstances. 1893 New Sydenham Soc. Lexicon, Panspermia, the physiological system according to which there are germs disseminated through all space which develop when they encounter a suitable soil. 1908 H. BORNS tr. S. Arrhenius Worlds in Making viii. 217 The so-called theory of panspermia really shows a way. According to this theory life-giving seeds are drifting about in space. They encounter the planets, and fill their surfaces with life as soon as the necessary conditions for the existence of organic beings are established. 1938 S. MORGULIS tr. A. I. Oparin Origin of Life ii. 39 At the beginning of the twentieth century the idea of the transfer of genus from one celestial body to another was again revived in the form of the so-called theory of panspermia [Ger. Panspermie], originated by the great Swedish physical chemist S. Arrhenius. 1975 Times Lit. Suppl. 25 July 846/3 The possibility of panspermia{em}the idea, recently revived by Leslie Orgel and Nobel laureate Francis Crick, that life did not originate on earth at all, but arrived here from elsewhere in the universe. 1995 Times 29 May 14/8 Panspermia, the view that the seed of life is diffused throughout the universe, has been favoured by a minority of thinkers since the Greek Anaxagoras in the 5th century BC. 2001 Fortean Times Jan. 8/2 The news..has revived interest in panspermia, the notion that bacterial spores can float through space and, in the unlikely event that conditions are right, ‘seed’ where they land.

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Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia


Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia is a fear which originates in the belief that the Biblical verse, Revelation 13:18, indicates that the number 666 is linked to Satan or the Anti-Christ. Outside the Christian faith, the phobia has been further popularized as a leitmotif in various horror films.

Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobes avoid things related to the number 666, such as a building in which the number is prominently displayed. Rarer is trying to avoid the number as it relates to other numbers. For example, the fraction two-thirds has a repeating decimal of .666. (Note that in base 12, two-thirds is 0.8, and 0.666 is the fraction 6/11.) A severe hexakosioihexekontahexaphobic may avoid this as well as 5/3, 8/3, 11/3, etc. People with this phobia consider it bad luck to get 3 sixes in a hand of poker, even though this is usually quite a good hand.

It is important to note the fear is largely an artifact of folk Christianity. In contrast, the majority of Christian intellectuals and mainstream theologians believe that the number was simply a reference to a Roman emperor who persecuted Christians. The Caesar generally deemed to fit that role is Domitian, although some prefer the better-known, but less likely Nero. Either way, these thinkers postulate that Christians used the number as a code to reference his name or that Caesar himself may have favored that number for numerological reasons. In some numerologies, a triple six could symbolize a trinity of unfaithfulness, bitterness, and vengeance, while in others it could as easily symbolize harmony, beauty, and charm.

Prominent hexakosioihexekontahexaphobes include the late Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan. In 1989, when they moved to the former president's final home in the Bel-Air section of Los Angeles, they had the address of 666 St. Cloud Road changed to 668. The late Johnny Carson was probably not hexakosioihexekontahexaphobic because this address had earlier been his home.

On June 6 2006 (06/06/2006 in the Gregorian Calendar), the evangelical Ambassadors Ministries from Holland held a 24 hour prayer vigil to ward off 'evil spirits.' The prayer marathon began in Jerusalem [1].

However among some religious sects especially those who believe that Satan has a higher status than God, it is believed as a good and holy sign.

 

Brobdingnagian

The name given by Swift in Gulliver's Travels to an imaginary country where everything was on a gigantic scale. Hence used attrib. as: Of, or pertaining to, that country; of huge dimensions; immense; gigantic.
(Swift subsequently wrote a mock letter from ‘Captain Gulliver’ to his cousin Sympson (purporting to be dated 27 April 1727, but first published in Dublin ed. 1735), complaining that Brobdingnag had been erroneously printed for Brobdingrag; but this was only a feint to mystify the public by a pretended solicitude for minute accuracy. The early editions have all Brobdingnag. See CRAIK Life of Swift (1882) 535-7.)

1731 POPE Mor. Ess. iv. 104 Such a draught As brings all Brobdignag before your thought. 1814 SOUTHEY in Q. Rev. XI. 65 The houses..have the appearance of Brobdignag beehives. 1840 CARLYLE Heroes I. 56 Huge untutored Brobdignag genius.
Hence Brobdingnagian (brbdnægn), a. and n. Also -dignagian, -naggian. (a) adj. = BROBDINGNAG; (B) n. An inhabitant of Brobdingnag, a giant, a person of huge size.

1728 MORGAN Algiers II. v. 319 Brobdingnaggian Leagues would scarce suffice. 1797 GODWIN Enquirer I. vii. 61 The final triumph of my Brobdingnagian persecutor. 1870 DISRAELI Lothair lxxxi. 428 A bran-new brobdignagian hotel. 1881 GRANT ALLEN Evolutionist at large i, Known to our Brobdingnagian intelligence as grains of sand.
1729 T. COOKE Tales, Prop. &c. 119 In Wit we Brobdignaggians are. 1835 T. HOOK G. Gurney II. v. (L.) ‘Sally!’ screamed the Brobdingnagian..‘a gentleman wants a bed!’

 

lame

A material consisting of silk or other yarns interwoven with metallic threads.
1922 Daily Mail 16 Dec. 15/3 Fur panels trim evening gowns of lamé. 1930 Times 13 Mar. 11/6 The collection included some beautiful Court gowns, one in pink marquisette embroidered in silk for a débutante had a silver lamé train. 1950 P. BOTTOME Under Skin xii. 106 The Paris doll, splendid in turquoise-blue taffeta under a golden lamé coatee, was poised within reach of Henriette's hand. 1968 J. IRONSIDE Fashion Alphabet 235 Synthetic metal yarns are now used in lamés. 1973 Fortnum & Mason Christmas Catal. 41/1 Gold..light-weight lamé jersey turban. Also available in silver. £27.50.

 

prurient

1. That itches physically, itching. rare.
1639 [‘I find the word in use in 1639, but in a passage not worth citing’ (Todd 1818)]. 1648 HERRICK Hesper., To Detractor, Some numbers prurient are, and some of these Are wanton with their itch; scratch, and 'twil please. 1832 TENNYSON Pal. Art 201 In filthy sloughs they [swine] roll a prurient skin, They graze and wallow.

2. fig. Having an itching desire or curiosity, or an uneasy or morbid craving. rare.
1653 GAUDEN Hierasp. Pref. 14 Politick affectations of piety, which grow as scurfe or scabs, over those prurient novelties of opinion. 1664 H. MORE Myst. Iniq. II. I. ii. §1. 212 Upon which fiery and prurient itch after the knowledge of Futurities Providence has cast this bridle. 1850 KINGSLEY Alt. Locke xiv, The reading public..in its usual prurient longing after anything like personal gossip. 1859 TENNYSON Vivien 485.

3. Given to the indulgence of lewd ideas; impure-minded; characterized by lasciviousness of thought or mind. Also absol. or as n.
1746 SMOLLETT Reproof 176 Debauch'd from sense, let doubtful meanings run, The vague conundrum, and the prurient pun. 1774 WARTON Hist. Eng. Poetry lxv. (1840) III. 451 Marston..gratifies the depravations of a prurient curiosity. 1836 Johnsoniana I. 37 Solitude is the surest nurse of all prurient passions. 1874 L. STEPHEN Hours in Library (1892) II. vi. 202 His morality is..far superior to the prurient sentimentalism of Sterne. 1911 G. B. SHAW Blanco Posnet 334 The farcical comedy which has scandalized the critics in London..is played to the respectable dress circle of Northampton with these same jests slurred over so as to be imperceptible by even the most prurient spectator. 1969 Punch 29 Jan. 159/1 We've had the prudes and the prurients, the ‘Love-Outs’ and the love-ins, sex without marriage and marriage without sex. 1974 C. RICKS Keats & Embarrassment i. 15 The prurient is characterized by a particular attitude..of cherishing, fondling or slyly watching.

4. Unduly forward or excessive in growth.
1822-34 Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) I. 60 The teeth [are sometimes]..buried..by a prurient growth of the substance of their own gums. 1844 N. PATERSON Manse Gard. II. 192 By pinching off the prurient bud, good keeping bulbs may be secured. 1850 R. SIMPSON Mem. Worth v. 71 To prune the prurient branches of some promising fir.

5. Bot. Applied to plants which cause an itching or slightly stinging sensation. rare.
1858 in MAYNE Expos. Lex. 1887 Nicholson's Dict. Gard., Prurient, stinging; causing an itching sensation. 1895 Syd. Soc. Lex., Prurient, see Pruriens. Pruriens,..applied to certain plants or parts of plants furnished with hairs, because these are readily driven into the skin and then detached, causing considerable itching.

6. Comb., as prurient-minded adj.
1899 KIPLING Stalky iii. 91 But about those three [boys]. Are they so prurient-minded?

 

1. closet case

b. Secret, covert, used esp. with reference to homosexuality; closet queen, a secret male homosexual.
1967 W. CHURCHILL Homosexual Behavior among Males ix. 184 The ‘closet queen’ or so-called latent homosexual becomes a menace..to the entire community. 1972 Sat. Rev. (U.S.) 12 Feb. 24/3 Today's homosexual can be open (‘come out’) or covert (‘closet’). 1977 WARREN & PONSE in Douglas & Johnson Existential Sociol. 304 A closet queen for the overt community is one who will not admit gayness to straight audiences; for the secret community, it refers to one who will not affiliate with the gay community for fear of stigmatization. 1978 J. GORES Gone (1979) xiii. 79 ‘You boys don't look the [homosexual] type.’ ‘Closet,’ explained O'B. 1984 Mail on Sunday (Colour Suppl.) 2 Dec. 28/2 His colleagues' retort is that Jimmy is a closet queen because he doesn't live with a woman. 1985 Sunday Tel. 26 May 17/1 His defection [to Rome] is a blow because he was not a closet Papist intoxicated by bells and fancy vestments.

DRAFT ADDITIONS MARCH 2006

closet, n.

* closet case n. slang (orig. U.S.) (a) an unattractive or embarrassing person, a social outcast; (B) a homosexual who conceals or denies his or her sexuality (cf. sense 11b).
1946 Washington Post 7 Oct. 5/2 Unattractive girls are ‘strictly *closet cases’, meaning they should be in the closet when men are around. 1966 Oshkosh (Wisconsin) Daily Northwestern 24 Sept. 22/2 Presidential nominee Barry Goldwater is being treated by Republicans as a campaign closet case this time around. 1969 S. HARRIS Puritan Jungle x. 191 They're what we call ‘closet cases’, hiding and scared to death of exposure. 2003 Out Feb. 14/1 Out 's getting less willing to shower accolades on closet cases who emerge seconds before tabloids push them out.

[From the Oxford English Dictionary]

2. fascist

One of a body of Italian nationalists, which was organized in 1919 to oppose communism in Italy, and, as the partito nazionale fascista, under the leadership of Benito Mussolini (1883-1945), controlled that country from 1922 to 1943; also transf. applied to the members of similar organizations in other countries. Also, a person having Fascist sympathies or convictions; (loosely) a person of right-wing authoritarian views. Hence as adj., of, pertaining to, or characteristic of Fascism or Fascists.
1921 Times 1 Jan. 9/6 The Fascisti are certainly paying back..the Socialists in matters of violence. 1921 Glasgow Herald 30 Mar. 9 A party of Fascisti from Perugia visiting Citta di Castello burned the Labour Bureau. 1921 Public Opinion 20 May 464/1 For the moment the Fascisti are acting as a sort of Government bodyguard for the elections and Fascist candidates find a place..on the Government lists. 1922 Daily Mail 17 Nov. 7 Signor Mussolini, the Fascist leader, to-day made his first speech in the Chamber. 1923 [see BLACKSHIRT]. 1928 Outlook 26 May 645/2 Indeed, I cannot help wondering whether the suggestion does not originally emanate from the British Fascists. 1929 H. S. WALPOLE Hans Frost ii. 146 At Venice..a Fascist official at the railway station had been abominably vulgar. 1931 J. S. HUXLEY What dare I Think? vii. 231 The Fascist dictatorship. 1936 M. PLOWMAN Faith called Pacifism 74 Fascists in all countries are obliged openly to acknowledge their reliance upon war as a means of policy. 1936 S.P.E. Tract XLVI. 204 Does not their enthusiasm [for the study of stylistic perfection], when compared with other forms of fascist and fanatical activities, seem almost innocuous? 1938 Ann. Reg. 1937 320 The foreign policy of Fascist Italy. 1940 AUDEN in I Believe 30, I cannot see how a Socialist country could tolerate the existence of a Fascist party any more than a Fascist country could tolerate the existence of a Socialist party. 1940 N. MITFORD Pigeon Pie iii. 39 Luke was an awful old fascist. 1960 S. M. LIPSET Political Man v. 133 Fascist ideology, though antiliberal in its glorification of the state, has been similar to liberalism in its opposition to big business, trade-unions, and the socialist state. 1961 H. THOMAS Spanish Civil War viii. 70 José Antonio Primo de Rivera..gradually emerged as the Leader of all the Spanish Young Fascists. Ibid. 71 The Socialists..were described by [Communist] party jargon as ‘social fascists’. 1963 Times 27 Mar. 10/2 As the main body of demonstrators began to move away,..screams of ‘Fascist pigs’ and ‘Gestapoism’ continued. 1969 Times 17 Nov. 10/4 Taunts of ‘Sieg Heil’, ‘Fascists’, and the occasional smoke bomb from youthful demonstrators were bound to invite trouble. 1971 E. Afr. Jrnl. Mar. 28/1 The international fascist alliance had already found ‘an adventure’. 1971 Tablet 26 June 616/2 In remoter mountain villages there are still a few..slogans which..survived..the collapse of Fascist rule.

Hence {smm}fasci{sm}zation, {smm}fascisti{sm}zation, the action or process of making Fascist. Also {sm}fascistize v. trans.
1925 Glasgow Herald 20 May 10 The complete ‘fascistisation’ of Italy. 1937 A. HUXLEY Ends & Means v. 36 Belief in our ideal postulates has acted as a brake on fascization. 1940 Ann. Reg. 1939 196 This Charter [the Fascist School Charter] has for its object to ‘fascistise’ entirely the three classes of instruction. To ‘fascistise’..is ‘to give the school a social and political content’ of a certain type. 1955 H. HODGKINSON Doubletalk 50 This is part of the process of ‘fascistisation’ or move from bourgeois democracy to full fascism. 1965 L. VENNEWITZ tr. Nolte's Three Faces Fascism I. i. 7 Mussolini's theory of the imminent fascistization of the world undoubtedly seems prejudiced and vague.

DRAFT ADDITIONS MARCH 2006

Fascist, n. and adj.

* depreciative. In extended use (with preceding modifying word): a person who advocates a particular viewpoint or practice in a manner perceived as intolerant or authoritarian. Cf. FASCISM n., health fascist n. at HEALTH n.
Recorded earliest in body fascist n. at BODY n.
1978 Business Week (Nexis) 22 May 10 Psychotherapy-as-recreation..has contributed in no small way to the kindred plagues of jogging and vegetarianism that are now so thoroughly disrupting wholesome social intercourse across our land. An acquaintance aptly dismisses such folk as ‘body fascists’. 1987 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) (Nexis) 10 Sept., Members of the NCC have been dubbed ‘green fascists’. 1997 Canad. Lawyer Jan. 46/2 It'll be fun to see what happens when the tobacco fascists run headlong into the human rights fascists. 1999 Independent 24 Mar. II. 1/2 Now a half-naked male swigging Diet Coke and being ogled by stenographers in horn-rim specs is just as likely to upset gender fascists.

 

sado-masochism

The co-existence of sadism and masochism in one individual; the need both to inflict and to suffer pain or to assert power over another and to be submissive combined as one psychic condition evidenced in sexual relationships (freq. in a fantasied manner) or socially, as an outlet for aggressive or destructive impulses. Also transf. and fig.
1935 L. BRINK tr. Stekel's Sadism & Masochism I. p. v, I do not claim that I have solved the perplexing problem of sadomasochism. 1937 M. HIRSCHFELD Sexual Anomalies xvi. 302 Thus it is quite correct to speak of sado~masochism and, quite logically, many sadists are, simultaneously, also masochists. 1959 Listener 16 Apr. 683/3 The sado-masochism of the Christian ascetic tradition. 1963 A. HERON Towards Quaker View of Sex 67 Clinical instances of sado-masochism are not sufficiently numerous to constitute a threat to society. 1975 T. ALLBEURY Special Collection xvii. 114 I've been covering a vice-ring..in Mayfair... It specializes in sado-masochism..every thing from thumb-screws to a crucifix. 1977 Early Music July 415/3 The Art of Fugue is invariably presented in ‘complete’ performances which strike one rather as exercises in musical sado-masochism.

Hence {smm}sado-{sm}masochist, one afflicted with the condition of sado-masochism; also attrib. or as adj.; {smm}sado-maso{sm}chistic a.
1935 L. BRINK tr. Stekel's Sadism & Masochism I. p. v, The literature concerning sadomasochistic disorders is extraordinarily abundant. Ibid. iv. 60 All sadomasochists are affect-hungry individuals. 1942 Observer 15 Nov. 3/6 Sado-masochistic fusions of instinct are an all-important factor in the unconscious development of character. 1951 M. MCLUHAN Mech. Bride (1967) 10/1 This sado-masochist mechanism of punch and get punched will be found everywhere. 1963 Jrnl. Amer. Psychoanal. Assoc. XII. 306 Abraham stressed the importance of the sadomasochistic elements in his patient. 1977 Gay News 24 Mar. 3/2 Study and encounter groups for sadomasochists, transvestites and Jewish homosexuals are the latest projects of Pastor Douce. 1980 Times Lit. Suppl. 25 Apr. 459/4 His [sc. Somerset Maugham's] relationship with Haxton, the only person with whom he established intimacy, was sado-masochistic.