MAGADIZING

Nah, this isn't about making America great again though if we were to implement the singing of octaves again (I have no clue what that is) it just might do the trick that auto tune can't.

MAGADIZING

A term sometimes used for the "most primitive type of polyphony," i. e., singing in octaves. The term is derived from magadis, an ancient Greek harp in which each string was doubled by one giving the higher octave.



from The Harvard Brief Dictionary of Music by Willi Apel and Ralph T. Daniel

LOGOMACHY

Note: As a general rule I still don't think that this book is particularly witty.

LOGOMACHY

n.  A war in which the weapons are words and the wounds punctures in the swim-bladder of self-esteem—a kind of contest in which, the vanquished being unconscious of defeat, the victor is denied the reward of success.



from The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce

LA SAUCE

LA SAUCE

torrential rain



from Merde Et!: The Real French You Were Never Taught at School by Genevieve Edis

ROSTENEARS

ROSTENEARS

Fresh corn suitable for roasting or boiling. "Go over to the cornfield and pick me a dozen nice rostenears."



from How To Speak Southern by Steve Mitchell

SMELLSMOCK

Since this book has a bad habit of intertwining two lost words into one definition, and then moving in that direction for a page or so, I'll give half a definition to avoid the circle of pain of inserting 12 words into a one-word slot.

Paggling means bulging or hangly down loosely.

SMELLSMOCK

A smellsmock is a licentious man, perhaps a former priest, with roving eyes, who often has a paggling stomach.



from Poplollies and Bellibones: A Celebration of Lost Words by Susan Kelz Sperling,

CAVIL

Listen, if you're going to use a word like "cavil" in a sentence don't mash it up with clunky common language. At least insert "punctuality" for "lateness" and "acceded" for "gave in" and "squared her account" for "paid the bill".

CAVIL

(KAV-ihl), verb

To find fault in trivial matters or raise petty objections. As a noun, cavil can mean a trivial objection.

Susan cavilled for some time about the lateness of the milk delivery, but since it was only a matter of minutes, she eventually gave in and paid the bill.



from The Words You Should Know by David Olsen

'ODSBODIKINS!

I've not a clue what the hell the explication after the definition means but it's interesting enough, no? Actually, now I see and I don't like the succinct nature of the phrasing. It's almost quick speak.

'ODSBODIKINS! 

an oath and an exclamation. "By God's (little) bodies!" This is an oath sworn on the Communion wafers, thus the plural. [British, 1800s]



from Slang and Euphemism by Richard A. Spears

NAKHES

NAKHES

(Yiddish) A mixture of pleasure and pride, particularly the kind that a parent receives from a child.

[noun]

When your daughter spends all morning cutting and pasting and drawing and then proudly presents you with a valentine, the feeling that wells up inside is the emotion that Jews describe as nakhes (NOKH-ess, with the KH pronounced in the Hebrew manner, in the back of the throat). It is a special kind of pleasure, a feeling of love infused with sensations of pride and joy. It is something one receives, as in: "May you get only nakhes from your son!" A secondary and far less emotionally powerful meaning is a general feeling of gratification one receives from creating something that turns out well: "I got a lot of nakhes from working in my garden, especially at harvest time" or "I got nakhes from building that chair."



from They Have A Word For It by Howard Rheingold

CLUCKY

More proof that the Brits are daffy c**ts and the Aussies a tad less so, though both are daft examples of latter humanity in the endtimes. Our own staid example proves that our staying power has long subsided as well.
 
CLUCKY

Pregnant. In Australia this euphemism comparing a pregnant woman to a brooding hen has been used by women since 1941. Our American equivalent is ON THE NEST. A more jocular British variant style alludes to pregnancy as THE RESULT OF A LARK IN THE PARK AFTER DARK (pub slang, ca. 1930)



from The Wordsworth Book of Euphemism by Judith S. Neaman & Carole G. Silver

SIC ITUR AD ASTRA

SIC ITUR AD ASTRA

seek IH-tuur ahd AH-strah

this is the path to immortality

Literally, "thus one goes to the stars."



from Amo, Amas, Amat and More by Eugene Ehrlich

GALLIMAUFRY

Forgive my thoughtlessness over not posting one day. It's not that I forgot but I was cleaning up a cemetery, getting in my 10k steps and uncovering a tombstone mystery whereby a surname was changed and the subject hung himself in an apple tree over a slander charge. I had good reasons and not enough hours.

GALLIMAUFRY

(a hodgepodge, jumble, hash). "Her life is a gallimaufry of Vitton, Gucci, Pucci, and Sears."



from The Phrase-Dropper's Handbook by John T. Beaudouin and Everett Mattlin

SANGFROID

SANGFROID

  n  Literally "cold blood" in French, sangfroid in English means great calmness under strain, self-possession, almost cold-blooded refusal to act emotionally: <When the theater caught fire, his sangroid was unbelievable.>



from The Grand Panjandrum by J. N. Hook

POOR MAN'S MANURE

This sounds like today's forecast in Detroit! Egads!

POOR MAN'S MANURE 

An early spring snowfall of an inch or two that melts gradually when the sun comes out, giving all its moisture to the top soil. This is thought to be more beneficial to the land than an ordinary rain, which may run off quickly, eroding the field and leaving only part of its moisture for the ground. this notion that spring snow is a boon to the man who cannot afford extra loads of "dressing" is an example of Yankee optimism.



from the Yankee Dictionary by Charles F. Haywood

ECDYSIAST

Since I have no organization skills I literally open the book when fishing for an entry and whatever word I see first usually goes into the post at hand. In this instance I opened to the quiz portion of the book where one attempts to recall a previously discussed entry. Luckily, there is an index or I would have saddled the reader with an obvious multiple choice quiz that basically answered itself. Nonetheless, here's the word:

ECDYSIAST

(ek diz'ē ast") One who rhythmically disrobes; stripteaser



from The Grandiloquent Dictionary: A Guide to Astounding Your Friends with Exotic, Curious, and Recherché Words by Russell Rocke

TOMECIDE

While I had high expectations for this book it is a little disappointing in that the words are generally pertaining to certain -ides or -isms, etc. Which are somewhat boring but in this instance it's a great word. I guess that you just have to pick and choose carefully.

TOMECIDE

To destroy books (especially as in book-burning)



from The Insomniac's Dictionary: The Last Word on the Odd Word by Paul Hellweg

IMPECUNIOUS

IMPECUNIOUS

To be in a state of poverty. From Eng. in, and Lat. pacco, to sin, poverty being the greatest of all sins.



from The Foolish Dictionary by Gideon Wurdz

HUGGER-MUGGER

HUGGER-MUGGER

Disorder. Confusion. [And so in Hamlet, though the form appears earlier with many variants, among them XV hoder moder, which is traceable to a dead end (prob. < old dialect) in ME *hoder, huddle heap; *mokere, a store of goods ("makings"? "made things"?), hence, "disorderly heap of stuff," and when applied to a person, "clumsy, disorderly lout."]

from A Browser's Dictionary by John Ciardi

CONTRETEMPS

CONTRETEMPS

(disagreement)

This obviously French word (literally 'against the time') was originally used as a fencing term in the seventeenth century, to denote an untimely thrust, one made at the wrong moment. From this, the word came to acquire its present sense of 'disagreement', basically implying that at the right time, there could have been agreement. This sense arose in the nineteenth century.



from Dunces, Gourmands & Petticoats by Adrian Room

HOGMANAY

HOGMANAY

(hǒg'mə-nā) n. New Year's Eve in Scotland, when children cadge treats from neighbors.



from Mrs. Byrne's Dictionary of Unusual Obscure and Preposterous Words by Josefa Heifetz Byrne

SCHMATTE

SCHMATTE

(SCHMAT tə) n (Variations: schmattah or schmatteh or shmatte or shmotte) A shabby or unstylish garment: a tired old school schmattah--Xaviera Hollander [fr Yiddish shmatte, literally "rag"]



from American Slang by Robert L. Chapman

HOYDEN

HOYDEN

A bold girl, a saucy one, a HUSSY, another example of the conversion of a masculine word with a bad meaning into a feminine term (see also HARLOT and GIRL in this connection). The earliest examples of hoyden in writing come from the sixteenth century. The word referred then to a rude or ignorant fellow, a boor or bumpkin, e.g., "I'le make every hoydon bestowe a faringe on his dore, his wall, his windowe" (OED, 1597). Before the end of the next century, the word was being applied to rude, ill-bred, and noisy girls and women. It probably comes from the theory squares with the word's early application to rustics. The term might also be connected, however, with hoit, an old word meaning "to romp inelegantly" (OED), as bold and saucy girls are wont to do. "HOYDON. A romping girl" (Captain Francis Grose, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 1796). See also HEATHEN and HOITY-TOITY.



from Wicked Words by Hugh Rawson

LAGNIAPPE

This book goes a little wonky by citing examples of the use of the chosen word before the definition itself. Which is contrary to what most dictionaries do but that's what we're dealing with in this instance.

LAGNIAPPE

One of the Philadelphia players castigated the manager for benching Luzinski, Garry Maddox and Bob Boone late in the season. As lagniappe, he called thee Philadelphia fans "the worst in baseball."

lagniappe--something extra, something for good measure. Pronounced lan-yap. This word was born in the United States among the Creole population of Louisiana. Its original meaning is seen in this sentence written by a traveler in 1893 in Harper's Magazine:

"Take that for a lagniappe," says a storekeeper in New Orleans as he folds a pretty calendar into the bundle of stationery you have purchased.



from I Always Look Up The Word Egregious by Maxwell Nurnberg

TWYCHILD

The entries in this book are generally quite long, a page or two, so I am partial to the shorter ones due to my own laziness. But this word is both interesting and relatively brief in definition.

TWYCHILD

An elderly man or woman, undoubtedly inspired by Shakespeare's description of the "seven ages" of man from As You Like It. After reflecting upon old age, the bard concluded:

Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness, and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

Twychild meant literally "twice a child," from twy, "twice," and was pronounced "twichel" for verbal economy. John Davies wrote of this stage of life considered to herald the beginning of the end, in his 1612 Muse's Sacrifice: "Man growne twy-childe is at door of death." Later in the seventeenth century, English poet John Milton, inspired by Shakespeare's comments regarding age, concluded in his masterpiece Paradise Regained, "The child is father of the man."



from Forgotten English by Jeffrey Kacirk