[ahrk-tuh-fahyl]
noun
a person who is very fond of and is usually a collector of teddy bears.
Arctophiles and children should make time for Teddy Melrose, the teddy bear museum, tea room and workshop …
—Juliet Clough, Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio), 30 June 1996
from Greek arktos bear + -phile (denoting fondness for a specified thing.)
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Collins English Dictionary
noun
Archaic. a week.
It had taken them only a sennight to travel from Sentarshadeen … into the heart of the lost Lands to face the power of Shadow Mountain.
Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory,To Light a Candle, 2004
She that I spake of, our great captain’s captain, / Left in the conduct of the boldIago, / Whose footing here anticipates our thoughts / A sennight ‘s speed.
William Shakespeare, Othello, 1622
The archaic English noun sennight means literally “seven nights,” i.e. a week.
The Old English form was seofan nihta.
Middle English had many forms,including soveniht, sevenight, seven nyght, sennyght.
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[skroo-tey-ter]
noun
A person whose official duty it is to examine or investigate something.
As usual in such cases, ‘Scrutator‘ proceeded to make short work of him.
John Nevil Maskelyne
Alice M. Hayes
1570–80; < Latin scrūtātor searcher, examiner, equivalent to scrūtā(rī) to examine (see scrutiny) + -tor -tor
noun
A small stream or creek; small often dry tributary stream in southern Africa
The descent to the spruit, which is often a short, steep pitch and is then called a donga, needs careful driving, and the ascent up the opposite bank is for a heavy waggon a matter of great difficulty.
Impressions of South Africa
By the side of every “spruit” or brook one sees clumps of tall arum lilies filling every little water-washed hollow in the brook, and the ferns which make each ditch and water-course green and plumy have a separate shady beauty of their own.
Lippincott’s Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 17, No. 100, April, 1876
The lack of health facilities presented an immediate risk to life, as did the possibility of contracting water-borne diseases from the spruit that flowed through the property.
ANC Daily News Briefing
From Dutch spruit. Cognate with English sprite, sprout.
Wordnik.com
Noun
A list of people who have died, especially in the recent past or during a specific period.
An obituary.
The first half begins with a necrology and calendar for the nuns, prioresses, and confessors of Maria Magdalena, as well as the General Masters of the Order based upon the Humbert prototype. –Sensual Encounters: Monastic Women and Spirituality in Medieval Germany
Oh, and if I can include one other figure in this necrology, it was reported from London that the world’s oldest man, Henry Allingham, the last surviving World War I veteran, died at the very ripe age of 113. –Every Death Diminishes Me
This prompted Ted, who’s made necrology a specialty, to note that two prominent same-day deaths are rare. –David Finkle: The Breakfast Club Takes on Jackson, Fawcett, Sanford, Mrs. Madoff
New Latin necrologium, from necr- + -logium (as in Medieval Latin eulogium eulogy)
First Known Use: 1799
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He saw the true gold into which the beggarly matter of existence may be transmuted by spagyric art; a succession of delicious moments, all the rare flavours of life concentrated, purged of their lees, and preserved in a beautiful vessel.
Arthur Machen, The Hill of Dreams, 1907
I fear that many a practitioner of the spagyric art has perished handling it without due respect.
The rare adjective spagyric comes from New Latin spagiricus “alchemical; alchemy; an alchemist” and was first used and probably coined by the Swiss physician and alchemist Paracelsus (c1493–1541). There is no trustworthy etymology for the word. Spagyric entered English in the late 16th century.
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pan-tuh-fuh l, pan-tof-uh l, –toh-fuh l, –too-]
noun
a slipper
a cork-soled pattern covering the forepart of the foot, worn in the 16th century.
… your art / Can blind a jealous husband, and, disguised / Like a milliner or shoemaker, convey / A letter in a pantofle or glove, / Without suspicion, nay at his table …
“I’ve lost a pantofle!” he whispered desperately.
Pantofle “indoor shoe, slipper” comes from Middle French pantoufle, pantophle (and other spellings). The word occurs in other Romance languages, e.g., Occitan and Italian have pantofla (and other spellings), and Spanish has pantufla. Catalan changed the position of the l in original pantofla to plantofa under the influence of planta “sole (of the foot)”; compare English plantar (wart). Further etymology of pantofle is speculative. Pantofle entered English in the late 15th century.
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Noun
The love of enclosed, tight places.
For me, there is a strong connection, between this kind of claustrophilia, a love of curiosity cabinets and the concept of horror as applied to Victorian design.
Snug as a Bug in a Beautiful Box
That you would group these people along with the Austrians as part of the “free market crowd” only exposes your suffocating intellectual claustrophilia.
Matthew Yglesias » Macro Rap
With little doors you can close if you want to be really snug (there’s a thin line between claustrophilia and claustrophobia, though).
Snug as a Bug in a Beautiful Box
Sources said the MI6 agent was a fan of claustrophilia – in which people get sexual pleasure from confined spaces.
NEWS.com.au | Top Stories
The word ‘claustrophilia’ comes from the Latin word ‘claustrum’ (“a shut in place”) + ‘-philia’.
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-noun
abnormal, persistent, irrational fear of failure.
This is the last word that someone with kakorrhaphiophobia would want to encounter in a spelling bee.
The origin of the word kako is Greek (meaning bad) and phobia is Greek (meaning fear).
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variants: or pishoge \pə̇ˈshōg\ or pishrogue \(ˈ)pi¦shrōg\
Magic, witchcraft; a spell, especially one designed to cause or cure illnesses to man or beast, or to increase or decrease the quantities of farm products such as butter or milk.
Witchcraft; incantation; charm.
I reached for it and rubbed it—even though I knew the talk of fairies was a lot of pishogue.
Secret of the Night Ponies
“Even though it’s pishogue, it won’t hurt to be cautious,” I agreed.
Secret of the Night Ponies
And when they were brought out to be burned the woman said, “Bring me out a bit of flax and I’ll show you a pishogue.”
Visions and Beliefs in the West of Ireland, Second Series Lady Gregory
The word ‘pishogue’ comes from the Irish ‘piseogm,’ witchcraft.
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