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What interesting and obscure words can you contribute?

wilkie2006

For anyone who loves words, I think that you'll agree that any "Word of the Day"-type facilities consistently disappoint. Instead of presenting unusual and evocative terminology, these programmes tend to email you everyday words like: benevolent, fusion, typical, manipulate... etc.

As an antidote to this banality, let's share the unusual and evocative words we've encountered.

There are a few rules:
- Words should be English.
- Avoid really archaic words. Although I'm not suggesting that terms should always be practical, it's good to learn something one can use.
- Words shouldn't be too everyday. It's already easy to find these elsewhere.
- Let's not be too pedantic: Just write the word, whether it's a verb etc and its meaning.

Okay, I'll start:

Elucubration (noun): Studying or writing by candlelight

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P. Breathnach

Bannasidhe wrote: »

Your trebuchet got stuck in the postern rendering it useless.

I'm forever getting it snagged in the portcullis.

OwaynOTT

That snagging can be seen through the machicolations of the parapet.

Bannasidhe

OwaynOTT wrote: »

That snagging can be seen through the machicolations of the parapet.

There is quite a good view from the Bartizan as well - that trebuchet is stuck fast.

[Deleted User]

Pusillanimous - showing a lack of courage

(heard it in the simpsons!)

P. Breathnach

riffmongous wrote: »

Pusillanimous - showing a lack of courage...

There has been no lack of courage in this thread, and to suggest that there has been is temerarious.

OwaynOTT

Bannasidhe wrote: »

There is quite a good view from the Bartizan as well - that trebuchet is stuck fast.

The crenels offer a good place to view the trebuchet's current predicament.

MyKeyG

- Avoid really archaic words. Although I'm not suggesting that terms should always be practical, it's good to learn something one can use.

Good to know everyone is following the rules:rolleyes:

OwaynOTT

MyKeyG wrote: »

Good to know everyone is following the rules:rolleyes:

Ah now your being all persnickety.

Cavehill Red

To Scomber: to narrowly avoid stepping in ****, usually that of a fox. Etym. from scomb, meaning fox excrement, which may be cognate with our modern scum.

This was a good thing to do, since if you stepped in fox****, that could put the hounds off the chase during the hunt.

A few pals of mine use this word extensively in the wider sense of avoiding ending up in the (metaphorical) ****.

Edit: Oh, ffs! The puritan server is trying to censor the word s-h-i-t.

Bannasidhe

OwaynOTT wrote: »

Ah now your being all persnickety.

In fairness, it was perspicacious of him to notice.

slowburner

While I'm in the 'A' section of the big, big book (Vol.I), here are two relatively silly ones:

Argle - to dispute or bandy words about.
P.Breathnach had an argle with Bannasidhe (or vice versa), for example.
This is the root word of the misrepresented 'argie-bargie'. It should actually be 'argle-bargle'.

And who would have thought this correct?

Argufy - To prove something by argument.
'I argufied the point and I won.'

Oops, reading the definition more carefully, I notice that it is attributed to the illiterate :eek:.
But this reminds me of someone I once heard in the south-east who wrote: 'I asked him to "rightify" the situation'.
This probably needs no translation.

franc 91

rectifier

OwaynOTT

Masticate- to chew

tac foley

Runcible spoon - a large serving spoon with holes to allow liquid to drain from it.

tac

Bannasidhe

tac foley wrote: »

Runcible spoon - a large serving spoon with holes to allow liquid to drain from it.

tac

I have one of those but never knew it's name. I shall enjoy saying 'pass the runcible spoon please.'

OwaynOTT

diphthong - an unsegmentable, gliding speech sound, held to be a single sound and identified by its apparent beginning and ending sound, as the oi sound of toy or boil.

Make sure to diphthongize spoon to it full effect.

paddyandy

Bertification .It's not a lie but it is'nt the truth either .

tac foley

Plinth.

It just sounds so odd, as though it is a word spoken by an unfortunate person with two different forms of speech difficulty.

'Plinth of Waleth'.....

tac

franc 91

That reminds me of an Eng. Lit. lesson we had at school, when we had to define - empathy - someone immediately came up with the answer - it's a thigarette, Bro.

slowburner

.......or the two Oxford freshmen making small talk about which courses they were going to do.
'Ethics?'
'No, Suthex, actually.'

slowburner

Schadenfreude (n).
A great and truly useful word.
Not just for its meaning of the human capacity for taking pleasure in the misfortune of others, but also for demonstrating how English quite happily borrows words from other languages.

franc 91

I hate to tell you this, but at Oxford they're called freshers (you'll find freshmen on the other side of the pond) no offence intended, your honour.

slowburner

None taken, my lord.

ChippingSodbury

Conniption: A fit of rage or hysterics: "he almost had a conniption when he saw I put three words in the 'Word for the day' thread"

The only two words I ever knew the meaning of while playing Balderdash:
Dibble: a stick for making a hole to plant a seed or plant
Googol: 10 to the power of 100 (used to be the largest number with a name but that's now even smaller than our National Debt)

slowburner

Bannasidhe

well. That was all jolly indecorous now wasn't it. I'm quite discombobulated by this sudden onset of infantile badinage.

:pac:

slowburner

You thought it was infantile.
I thought it was antediluvian.

franc 91

Ah that reminds me of me ould auntie Deluvian - it's been a long while since I last saw her.

tac foley

Philtrum - the 'groove' between the lower part of the nose that runs down to the upper lip.

Diastoma - a noticeable gap between the front teeth - allegedly possessed by the very musical.

tac

tac foley

Trug - a traditional wooden basket used in gardening.

tac