Vibraslap

vi·bra·slap

A vibraslap is a percussion instrument consisting of a piece of stiff wire (bent in a handle-like shape) connecting a wood ball to a block of wood with metal "teeth" inside. When the percussionist holds the handle in one hand and strikes the ball (usually against the palm of their other hand), the metal teeth vibrate against the wood block, causing a distinctive rattling sound. The instrument is the modern descendant of the jawbone.

Milquetoast

milque·toast (mĭlk´tōst)
n.

One who has a meek, timid, unassertive nature.


[After Caspar Milquetoast, a comic-strip character created by Harold Tucker Webster (1885-1952).]

milquetoasty adj.

Word History: An indication of the effect on the English language of popular culture is the adoption of names from the comic strips as English words. Casper Milquetoast, created by Harold Webster in 1924, was a timid and retiring man named for a timid food. The first instance of milquetoast as a common noun is found in the mid-1930s. Milquetoast thus joins the ranks of other such words, including sad sack, from a blundering army private invented by George Baker in 1942, and Wimpy, from J. Wellington Wimpy in the Popeye comic strip, which became a trade name for a hamburger. If we look to a related form of popular culture, the animated cartoon, we must of course acknowledge Mickey Mouse, which has become a slang term for something that is easy, insignificant, small-time, worthless, or petty.

Sesquipedalian

ses·qui·pe·da·lian (sĕs'kwĭ-pĭ-dāl´yən)
n.
A long word.

adj.
1. Given to the use of long words.
2. Long and ponderous; polysyllabic.

Quotidian

quo·tid·i·an (kwō-tĭd'ē-ən)
adj.

1. Everyday; commonplace: “There's nothing quite like a real... train conductor to add color to a quotidian commute” (Anita Diamant).
2. Recurring daily. Used especially of attacks of malaria.


[Middle English cotidien, from Old French, from Latin quōtīdiānus, from quōtīdiē, each day : quot, how many, as many as; see kwo- in Indo-European Roots + diē, ablative of diēs, day

Slattern

slat·tern (slă'tәrn)
n.
An untidy, dirty woman.

[Perhaps from dialectal slattering, slovenly, present participle of dialectal slatter, to slop.]

Vituperative

vi·tu·per·a·tive (vī-tōō'pәr-ә-tĭv)

adj.

Using, containing, or marked by harshly abusive censure.

Sorites

so·ri·tes (sә-rī'têz, sô-), n. [L., from Gr. swrei`ths (sc.
syllogismo`s), properly, heaped up (hence, a heap of
syllogisms), fr. swro`s a heap.] (Logic)
An abridged form of stating of syllogisms in a series of
propositions so arranged that the predicate of each one that
precedes forms the subject of each one that follows, and the
conclusion unites the subject of the first proposition with
the predicate of the last proposition, as in following
example;
[1913 Webster]

The soul is a thinking agent;
A thinking agent can not be severed into parts;
That which can not be severed can not be destroyed;
Therefore the soul can not be destroyed.
[1913 Webster]

For example, if one argues that a given number of grains of sand does not make a heap and that an additional grain does not either, then to conclude that no additional amount of sand will make a heap is to construct a sorites argument.

Salmagundi

sal·ma·gun·di (săl'mə-gŭn'dē)
n.
1. A salad dish of chopped meats, cubed poultry or fish, eggs, onions, anchovies, and other ingredients.
2. Any mixture or miscellany.

[1665-75; < MF salmingondin (later salmigondis), compound based on salemine salted food and condir to season]

Spoonerism

spoon·er·ism (spōō'nә-rĭz'әm)
n.
The transposition of initial or other sounds of words, as in a blushing crow for a crushing blow.

[1895-1900; after W. A. Spooner (1844-1930), English clergyman noted for such slips]

Mondegreen

mon·de·green (mŏn'dә-grēn, môn-)
n.
A word or phrase resulting from a misinterpretation of a word or phrase that has been heard.

[1954; coined by British author S. Wright fr. the line laid him on the green, intepreted as the line Lady Mondegreen, in a Scottish ballad.]

Metooism

me-too·ism (mē'tōō'iz-әm)
n.
1. The adopting of policies or practices similar or identical to those of a peer or competitor.
2. The making of a product, offering of a service, etc., that duplicates one that has become successful.

[1945-50, Amer.]

Rapprochement

rap·proche·ment (rä'prôsh-mäN)
n.

1. A reestablishing of cordial relations, as between two countries.
2. The state of reconciliation or of cordial relations.

[French, from rapprocher, to bring together : re-, re- + approcher, to approach (from Old French aprochier.]

Katabasis

ka·tab·a·sis (kә-tab'ә-sis) n.
A retreat, esp. a military retreat, as that of the Greeks after their defeat at Cunaxa.

Anabasis

a·nab·a·sis (ә-năb'ә-sĭs)

1. An advance; an expedition.
2. A large-scale military advance, specifically the Greek mercenary expedition across Asia Minor in 401 B.C. led by Cyrus the Younger of Persia, as described by Xenophon. It was unsuccessful, and the Greeks, led by Xenophon, retreated to the Black Sea.

Dehiscence

de·his·cence (dĭ-hĭs'əns)
n.
The splitting open of a part along its seam or abutting edges, as a fruit, capsule, or wound.

[1825-30; < NL]

Kumquat

kum·quat also cum·quat (kŭm´kwŏt)
n.

1. Any of several trees or shrubs of the genus Fortunella, having small, edible, orangelike fruit.
2. The fruit of these plants, having an acid pulp and a thin, edible rind. It is the smallest of the citrus fruits.

[1865-7; < dial. Chin. (Guangdong) gāmgwāt gold citrus fruit, akin to Chin jīnjú]

Fornax

For·nax (fôr´năks)
n.

A constellation in the Southern Hemisphere near Sculptor and Eridanus.


[Latin fornāx, furnace, oven.]