Pugnastics
noun. Boxing or fighting. (OED says “Pugilistic Performances.” They they go trying to sound all smart-like.) I soon found my sisters, who were taken into a house during my pugnastics. … Continue Reading ⇒
onwords
Pettifogulizer
noun. A quibbler, One who makes trivial criticisms. He is indeed..the prince of Pettifogulisers. The Common Reader: 2nd Series, Virginia Woolf (1932) I like the sound of this word. I … Continue Reading ⇒
Loaflet
noun. A small loaf. Crisp home-made loaflets. Beauchamp’s career, George Meredith (1876) The best thing since sliced bread: smaller sliced bread! It’s like regular bread, but cuter. Just saying a “loaf” … Continue Reading ⇒
Illogician
noun. An illogical reasoner. Opposite of a logician. The baffled illogician, persecuted in one position, flees into another. Obiter dicta, Augustine Birrell (1884) Also known as: a politician. The fanciful … Continue Reading ⇒
Flavouriferous
adj. Bearing flavor, fragrant. With flavouriferous sweets shall chace away The pestilential fumes of vulgar cits. Canongate Playhouse, Robert Fergusson (1774) And if you’re of the American persuasion, you’d likely … Continue Reading ⇒
Nebulochaotic
adj. Hazily confused. The altogether nebulochaotic condition of her mind. Mary Marston, George Macdonald (1881) I don’t think the OED definition above does justice to the potential of this word. … Continue Reading ⇒
Fluck Contest
verb? noun? Nothing in the OED. The definition is unknown… let’s make one up! Not a sound to break the silence save the plunge of a porpoise or the fluck … Continue Reading ⇒
Emicatious
adj. Shiny or Glittery Wood..Smooth, emicatious, free from knot or joint. The Vestriad, Hans Busk (1819) Are you easily distracted by emicatious objects? I sure am. Why, there’s one right over … Continue Reading ⇒
Callipygian
adj. Of, pertaining to, or having shapely buttocks. /ˌkæləˈpɪdʒiən/ Callipygæ and women largely composed behinde. Pseudodoxia epidemica, Sir Thomas Brown (1646) Because a shapely posterior deserves a word just as … Continue Reading ⇒
Caligulism
noun. A mad extravagance such as Caligula comitted. Alas! it would be endless to tell you all his Caligulisms. Letters to Sir Horace Mann, Horace Walpole (1745) Caligula was a … Continue Reading ⇒