On Words And Upwards – Page 4

Cepivorous

adj. Onion-eater. The ogre was cepivorous. McNunter the Ogre Hunter, Nom D. Plume (2009) I couldn’t find a real citation. I didn’t look to hard either. If you use this … Continue Reading ⇒

adj. Fatty; causing fatness. The pinguiferous slice from the salted swine. Tait’s Magazine (1855) If you had told me before that McDonald’s food was pinguiferous, I totally would’ve avoided it. … Continue Reading ⇒

Thesmophilist

noun. One who loves law. His Bishop [Bp. Wren], that great Thesmophilist. A discourse of proper sacrifice, Sir Edward Dering (1644) Who among you loves law? Or any laws in particular? … Continue Reading ⇒

Circumfloribus

adj. Flowery and long-winded. Much circumfloribus stuff was talked of on the Court side. Autobiography, Mary Granville (1739) The OED lists this word in particular as a “humorous nonce-word.” The … Continue Reading ⇒

Arithmocracy

noun. A form of government in which the power is vested in the simply numerical majority. A ‘democracy’ of mere numbers is no democracy, but a mere brute ‘arithmocracy.’ Alton … Continue Reading ⇒

Ovoblastic

adj. Of or relating to an egg cell. Mr Dixon,..took on to ask of Mr Mulligan himself whether his incipient ventripotence,..betokened an ovoblastic gestation in the prostatic utricle. Ulysses, James … Continue Reading ⇒

Storyful

adj. Rich in story. This is..Some lone land of genii days, Storyful and golden! Poems, The Lovely Land, James Clarence Mangan (1846) I’m flabbergasted that this word hasn’t had more of … Continue Reading ⇒

Tutrix

noun. A Female tutor. A pratling Nurse is a better Tutrix to her foster-child. Didascalocophus, George Dalgarno (1680) I speculate that after the word dominatrix became popular in people’s vocabulary, the … Continue Reading ⇒

Thanatorium

noun. A place where people are held before being killed. The violent jerks from excess to excess of the patients at Dr Sacks’s pseudonymous New York hospital — ‘not a sanatorium but … Continue Reading ⇒

Quizzacious

adj. Mockingful, satiricalish. I made a little quizzacious attack upon the bishop. Works a 1832, Jeremy Bentham (1843) I made the definition more betterful by adding coolish suffixesises. Doesn’t it … Continue Reading ⇒