Get The Newest Slang đ„ Sign Up Now
noun
a person whose dead body has been preserved by the technique of cryonics.
The rare noun cryonaut derives clearly and simply from the Greek nouns krĂœos âicy coldâ and naĂștÄs âsailor.â KrĂœos comes from the Proto-Indo-European root kreus-, krus- âto freeze, form a crust,â from which Greek also derives krĂœstallos âiceâ (English crystal). Krus- is also the source of Latin crusta âa hard covering, scab, crust.â NaĂștÄs is a derivative of the noun naĂ»s âship,â from the same Proto-Indo-European source as Latin nÄvis âship,â nauta âsailor,â and nÄvigÄre âtravel by ship.â Cryonaut entered English in the 20th century.
… cryonics … has now been around for 60 years, since the death of retired psychology professor James H. Bedford. Alcor, the company that still has his body in a frozen chamber, calls him the first âcryonaut.â
For the moment, preservation is a pricey proposition, largely because each “cryonaut” must set aside enough capital to pay for maintenance indefinitely out of interest alone.
any of various stones or fossils formerly thought to be fallen thunderbolts.
Thunderstone in the sense âthunderboltâ dates from the end of the 16th century; the sense âstone or fossilâ dates from the late 17th century.
Palta might not be hidden from the sky; thus the sacred thunder-stone of Terminus at Rome stood under a hole in the roof of Jupiter’s temple …
In Germany until the early 20th century people believed in the magic properties of the devil’s fingers, known also as catstones, thunderstones, wombstones or even candles of the dead. According to ancient lore these strange stones are falling from the sky and witches can use them to cause thunderstorms.
a language and word lover.
Linguist has existed in English since the 16th century. It means âone who is adept at learning and using foreign languages; one who is a student of language or linguistics; a translator or interpreter.â Linguaphile has a somewhat different meaning: âone who loves words or languages.â The originally Greek suffix -phile (âlover ofâ) is completely naturalized in English. Lingua in Latin means âtongue, languageâ; its Old Latin form was dingua, from Proto-Indo-European dáčghwÄ, which is also the source of Germanic (English) tongue, and of Celtic (Old Irish) teng, Baltic inĆŸĆ©-, and Slavic (Polish) jÄzyk (with Baltic and Slavic loss of initial d-; Ä represents a nasalized vowel). Linguaphile entered English in the late 20th century.
The collection has so many good passages â whole paragraphs that move into pages with never a misstep â that any linguaphile could spend a great afternoon in a little spasm of dazzle.
In the story âEntourage,â a linguaphile travels to Poland, Denmark, Germany, Turkey, and more, collecting suitcases full of books in their original languages.
a casual, amateurish chess player.
Patzer was first recorded in 1955â60. It is probably from German Patzer âbungler,â equivalent to patz(en) âto bungleâ (compare Austrian dialect Patzen âstain, blot,â patzen âto make a stainâ).
Anatoly Karpov, the champion before Kasparov, once said the only difference between a prodigy and a patzer was how far into the future a player could look.
You’re a patzer. Look that up in your dictionary.
polished metal parts, as on a ship or automobile.
Brightwork is an Americanism dating back to 1835â45.
One other mode of passing time while in port was cleaning and polishing your bright-work; for it must be known that, in men-of-war, every sailor has some brass or steel of one kind or other to keep in high order …
Under the unblinking gaze of the sun, windshields blazed and brightwork gleamed.
a back door or gate.
English postern comes from Old French posterne, originally âa concealed exit from a fort, a sally port,â later âa small door, a back door.â Posterne is an alteration of Old French posterle âa back door, back way,” from Late Latin posterula âa small back door or gate; back way, byway,â a diminutive noun formed from the adjective posterus â(coming or being) after or in the futureâ and -ula, the feminine form of the common diminutive noun suffix -ulus. The -n- in posterne is likely due to the influence of the Old French adjectives interne (from Latin internus) and externe (from Latin externus). Postern entered English in the early 14th century.
It was the second gate, a postern in the north wall, that accounted for the most noticeable change.
A practicable postern was ajar on the yellow wood of the studded gates.
Chiefly Scot., Irish. a professional storyteller of family genealogy, history, and legend.
There are several English spellings, e.g., shanachie, seannachie, for the exotic Irish and Scottish noun meaning âstoryteller, oral historian, genealogist.â The word in Scots Gaelic is seanachaidh (seanachaidhe in Irish) meaning âhistorian, antiquarian, chronicler,â from sen âold, ancientâ and cĆ«is âmatter, affair.â Sen is from Proto-Indo-European sen(o)- âold,â most obvious in Latin senex âold man,â senÄtus âsenate,â and senectĆ«s âold age.â Senos appears in Greek in the noun hĂ©nos âyear,â and the adjective hĂ©nos âlast yearâsâ; and in Baltic (Lithuanian) as sáșœnas âold,â and sáșœnis âold man.â Sennachie entered English in the 16th century.
… I do not think he could falsify a folk-tale if he tried. At the most he would change it as a few years’ passing from sennachie to sennachie must do perforce.
My schoolfellows like my stories well enough-better at least, on most occasions, than they did the lessons of the master; but, beyond the common ground of enjoyment which these ex-tempore compositions furnished to both the “sennachie” and his auditors, our tracts of amusement lay widely apart.