Tag: Word of the Week

Word of the Week

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Boojum (n)

from the OED:

“[Invented by ‘Lewis Carroll’ (C. L. Dodgson) in The Hunting of the Snark (1876).]

An imaginary animal, a particularly dangerous kind of ‘snark’.

 

1904 B. VON HUTTEN Pam III. vi. 146 We shall see a good deal of each other. I am a boojum, and I know. 1922 Edin. Rev. Oct. 241 Both these beautiful abstractions are in reality boojums. 1925 Blackw. Mag. Mar. 345/1 A solitary Boojum-like person. 1950 AUDEN Enchafèd Flood (1951) i. 42 The dreadful Boojum of Nothingness.”

Famous boojums include:

 

—The Basilisk

—Cerberus

— The Manticore

—Smaug

—Gamera

manticore.jpg

Word of the Week

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bird-man, birdman

From the OED:

“1. A man concerned with birds; an ornithologist.

1697 Lond. Gaz. No. 3269/4 At Black Joe’s, the German Bird-man..canary-birds. 1729 M. BROWNE Pisc. Eclog. VIII. (1773) 119 The Fisher on the green-sea-deep, And Birdsman in the osier copse. 1796 MORSE Amer. Geog. II. 17 The birdmen or climbers..bringing away the birds and their eggs. 1844 C. WATERTON Ess. Nat. Hist. (ed. 3) p. lxviii, These birdmen outwardly had the appearance of Italian banditti, but it was all outside and nothing more. 1969 Observer 16 Feb. 7/5 The Smithsonian staff itself is..envious of the birdmen for getting so much money. Those involved in the ornithological expedition have had to receive military clearance.

    2. An aviator, airman. colloq.

1909 Daily Chron. 27 Oct. 4/4, I shall say: ‘I saw the first bird-men in England, my dears.’ 1917 ‘CONTACT’ Airman’s Outings 244 Even intrepid birdmen (war correspondentese for flying officers) tire of trying to be offensive on a patrol. 1957 J. BRAINE Room at Top iv. 44 You were both intrepid birdmen, weren’t you?”

Famous bird-men include:

—Audubon

—The Birdman of Alcatraz

—Tony Hawk

—Howard Hughes

—Icarus and Daedalus

—Amelia Eirehart

—Hawkman

—Harvey Birdman

Word of the Week

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Gnoff

From the OED:

“Obs.

A churl, boor, lout.

c1386 CHAUCER Miller’s T. 2 A riche gnof, that gestes heeld to bord, And of his craft he was a Carpenter. 1566 DRANT Horace, Sat. I. i. Aib, The chubbyshe gnof that toyles and moyles and delueth in the downe. 1567 TURBERV. Epit., etc. 4 If Vulcan durst presume That was a Gnuffe to see..Dame Venus to assaile. 1575 A. NEVILLE De furor. Norf. 141 The cuntry gnooffes, Hob, Dick, & Hick, with clubs, and clouted shoon [so a1627 in Hayward Edw. VI, 76 (but spelt knuffes)]. 1581 J. STUDLEY Seneca’s Hercules {Oe}tæus 198 The covetous charle, the greedy gnoffe in deede..In plenty pines the wreatch. 1610 HEALEY St. Aug. Citie of God XIV. iv. 501 The Pagans wisdome and vertues were scorned of the ritch gnoffes [L. crassis diuitibus] that held shades for substances, and vertues for meere vanities.”

Famous gnoffs include:

—Falstaff

—Walter Sobchak

—The Thing

Word of the Week

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Thaumaturge

From the OED:

“A worker of marvels or miracles; a wonder-worker.

1715 M. DAVIES Athen. Brit. I. 125 Petavius..attainted..Origen’s wonder-working Scholar Gregory the Thaumaturg, with Præarianisme. 1760 WESLEY Jrnl. 20 Dec., You throw out a hard word,..Thaumaturg. 1826 SOUTHEY Vind. Eccl. Angl. 479 The Thaumaturge..knelt before the Image to intercede for them. 1860 Sat. Rev. X. 269/2 The half-maudlin, half-cheating thaumaturg. 1881 Athenæum 12 Mar. 363/2 Pious mythologists have made out that she [St. Frideswide] was a thaumaturge of the first order.”

Famous thaumaturges (alternate orthographies: thaumaturgist, thaumaturgus) include:

— Aleister Crowley

— Anne Sullivan

— David Copperfield (the magician, not the book)

— Dr. Strange

— Albus Dumbledore

— Jesus Christ