Dictionary Highlights: Day 14

Aruru - the Akkadian goddess personifying earth, who assisted Marduk in the creation of human beings: the counterpart of the Sumerian Ki.

Asarah Betevet - a Jewish fast day observed on the 10th day of the month of Tevet in memory of the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem in 586 b.c. by the Babylonians under King Nebuchadnezzar.

Asat - (in Vedic mythology) the realm of nonexistence, populated by demons.

How is there a realm of nonexistance?

ascender -

1.	a person or thing that ascends or causes ascension.

2.	Printing. a. the part of a lowercase letter, as b, d, f, h, that rises above x-height. b. a letter rising above x-height, as b, d, f, h, etc.

Aschheim-Zondek test - a test used to detect whether a woman is pregnant by noting the effect on the ovaries of an immature mouse or rabbit injected with her urine.

Did a frat house come up with this test?

ashcake - cornbread baked in hot ashes.

Two more words I didn't expect to see together

Assidean - a member of a sect, characterized by its religious zeal and piety, that flourished in the 2nd century b.c. during the time of the Maccabees and vigorously resisted the Hellenization of Jewish culture and religion.

Dictionary Highlights: Day 13

argy bargy - (British) a vigorous discussion or dispute.

I wonder if this word can be used as an adjective as well

aria -

1.	an air or melody.

2.	an elaborate melody sung solo with accompaniment, as in an opera or oratorio.

aria de mezzo carattere

Arkansas toothpick - a bowie knife or similar sharp knifelike implement.

I'm going to ask for an Arkansas toothpick the next time I visit a restaurant

armamentarium -

1.	the aggregate of equipment, methods, and techniques available to one for carrying out one's duties: The stethoscope is still an essential part of the physician's armamentarium.

2.	a fruitful source of devices or materials available or used for an undertaking: The new arts center is an armamentarium for creative activity.

Armenian - a native of Armenia.

Arminian - Of or relating to the theology of Jacobus Arminius and his followers, who rejected the Calvinist doctrines of predestination and election and who believed that human free will is compatible with God's sovereignty.

Let's not confuse the two

arrack - any of various spirituous liquors distilled in the East Indies and other parts of the East and Middle East from the fermented sap of toddy palms, or from fermented molasses, rice, or other materials.

arrah - (Irish interjection, used as an expression of surprise or excitement.)

arrogance of power - presumption on the part of a nation that its power gives it the right to intervene in the affairs of less powerful nations.

Umm...let's just move on to the next word

Articles of War - the body of laws and legal procedures of the U.S. Army and Air Force, replaced in 1951 by the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

Euphemizing in full swing

art rock - a type of rock music, often with poetic lyrics, characterized by sophisticated harmonic, dynamic, and technical complexity based on forms derived from classical music and requiring performers of considerable training and skill.

Two more words I never thought I would see together

Dictionary Highlights: Day 12

aqueous humor - the limpid watery fluid that fills the space between the cornea and the crystalline lens in the eye.

I thought Spongebob Squarepants would fit this term well.

Aragon -
1. Louis, French novelist, poet, and journalist
2. a region in NE Spain: formerly a kingdom; later a province.

It may not have been a ripoff of the name of Aragorn after all

arba kanfoth - a rectangular piece of cloth with fringes at the four corners and a hole in the center for the head, worn under the clothes by Orthodox Jewish males, also called tallith katan.

Arba kanfoth means four corners

Arcadia -

1.	a mountainous region of ancient Greece, traditionally known for the contented pastoral innocence of its people.

2.	any real or imaginary place offering peace and simplicity.

3.	a city in SW California, E of Los Angeles. 45,994.

I wonder if we'll find Rozarria in the dictionary as well

archon - a higher magistrate in ancient Athens.

For Aiur...

Arcturus - a first-magnitude star in the constellation Boötes.

And its planet, Korhal.

argal - therefore: used facetiously to indicate that the reasoning that had gone before or the conclusion that follows is specious or absurd.

No one knows what this word means. Argal, it won't work to well in mocking someone.

argentine - pertaining to or resembling silver.

So that's how Argentina got its name

Dictionary Highlights: Day 11

anyon - an elementary particle or particle-like excitation having properties intermediate between those of bosons and fermions.

And I thought it was a catch-all phrase referring to any particle ending with -on

aperitive - an appetite stimulant.

APC - Pharmacology. aspirin, phenacetin, and caffeine: a compound formerly used in headache and cold remedies.

The all-purpose cure, as is its secondary definition.

apophasis - denial of one's intention to speak of a subject that is at the same time named or insinuated, as “I shall not mention Caesar's avarice, nor his cunning, nor his morality.”

I won't mention how much it annoys me when people use this

apiary - a place in which a colony or colonies of bees are kept, as a stand or shed for beehives or a bee house containing a number of beehives.

appel - In fencing,
1. a tap or stamp of the foot, formerly serving as a warning of one's intent to attack, but now also used as a feint.
2. a sharp stroke with the blade used for the purpose of procuring an opening.

apple bee - a social gathering at which apples are prepared for drying.

I wish the restaurant chain would take notice and fulfill its namesake!

apples - in Australian slang, well or fine; under control.

An expression we all should use more often

Dictionary Highlights: Day 10

anthropophagite - an eater of human flesh; cannibal.

Your mom's an anthropophagite

anticlastic - In mathematics, of a surface, having principal curvatures of opposite sign at a given point.

antidisestablishmentarianism - opposition to the withdrawal of state support or recognition from an established church, esp. the Anglican Church in 19th-century England.

And now you know what it means

antiestablishmentarianism - a policy or attitude that views a nation's power structure as corrupt, repressive, exploitive, etc

No relation to antidisestablishmentarianism

Antilles - a chain of islands in the West Indies, divided into two parts, the one including Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico (Greater Antilles), the other including a large arch of smaller islands to the SE and S (Lesser Antilles or Caribees).

And the great wedge in the middle.

antinomian - a person who maintains that Christians are freed from the moral law by virtue of grace as set forth in the gospel.

The lawless gospel of the wild, wild west

Dictionary Highlights: Day 9

angry young man -

1.	one of a group of British writers of the late 1950s and the 1960s whose works reflect strong dissatisfaction with, frustration by, and rebellion against tradition and society.

2.	any author writing in this manner.

The next time someone calls me an angry young man, I will take it as a testament to my expert penmanship.

aniconism -

1.	opposition to the use of idols or images.

2.	the worship of objects symbolic of but not depicting a deity.

Somehow, these two definitions seem contradictory

animal faith - nonrational belief in the existence of a fully knowable world outside the mind.

Non-rational?

animality -

1.	the state of being an animal.

2.	the animal nature or instincts of human beings.

And also one of the sweetest finishing moves in Mortal Kombat!

animal magnetism - the power to attract others through one's physical presence, bearing, energy, etc.

And I think it's a spell in Dungeons & Dragons

animé - any of various resins or copals, especially that from Hymenaea courbaril, a tree of tropical Ameria, used in making varnish, scenting pastilles, etc.

And apparently used in making Japanese cartoons, too.

Anschauung - direct or immediate intuition or perception of sense data with little or no rational interpretation.

And now you have a fancy word for non-propositional knowledge.

Antaeus - in Classical Mythology, an African giant who was invincible when in contact with the earth but was lifted into the air by Hercules and crushed.

It was at this point that I realized that Marvel Comics has been ripping off classical mythology for years.

Dictionary Highlights: Day 8

amy - slang for a vial of amyl nitrate.

"Hey Amy. Will you hand me an amy?"

anaptotic - (of languages) tending to become uninflected, in accordance with a theory that languages evolve from uninflected to inflected and back.

I never knew that the study of the evolution of the inflection of languages was such serious business.

anatta - In Buddhism, the doctrine asserting the nonexistence of a personal and immortal soul. Sanskrit,anatman.

I always wondered how Buddhist outreach works. "Hey you! Yeah, you over there! Do you realize that you don't exist?"

ane - (pronounced like "ain't") Scottish for "one"

anes - Scottish for "once"

This must be hard for a Scottsman to express how he once tried on a pair of Hanes. I guess that's why there are kilts.

angel shark - any shark of the genus Squatina, found in warm and temperate shore waters, having a depressed, flat body and large, winglike pectoral fins.

Two words I never expected to see juxtaposed. Seems like an oxymoron