Adjective
1: exceedingly harmful [syn: baneful, deadly, pestilent]
“When he lashed out at the pernicious attacks upon his character, their lies became truth .”
2: working or spreading in a hidden and usually injurious way
“Cancer is a pernicious disease.”
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noun: a female fool
Hmmm … the word originated around 1540. I find it interesting that there is a separate word to denote a female fool from a fool, which assuredly would be male (since the role of court jester, or a fool, was usually filled by a man), but it is not. Further, why use a five syllable word in the place of three syllables? Posterity? Snobbery?
While looking the etymology of a fool, it revealed the Feast of Fools to be a burlesque festival celebrated by some churches. Of course, one has to wonder considering the burlesque means, since in this day it has connotations to a strip show (either that or my mind is in the gutter). But burlesque actually means to ridicule or make a parody of.
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Lawyer: n. One skilled in circumvention of the law.
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Verb:
1: demand as being one’s due or property; assert one’s right or title to
syn: claim, lay claim
ant: forego, forfeit, forgo, give up, throw overboard, waive
2: make undue claims to having
syn: assign
3: seize and take control without authority and possibly with force; take as one’s right or possession; “He assumed to himself the right to fill all positions in the town”; “he usurped my rights”; “She seized control of the throne after her husband died”
syn: assume, usurp, seize, take over
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noun: inversion in the second of two parallel phrases
If e’er to bless thy sons
My voice or hands deny,
These hands let useful skill forsake,
This voice in silence die. –Dwight. [Emphasis added]
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n 1: literally, the contemplation of one’s navel, which is an idiom usually meaning complacent self-absorption
syn:navel-gazing
I bet you weren’t expecting that one. Is someone who practices omphaloskepsis an omphaloskeptic?
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adjective
1: confidently optimistic and cheerful
2: inclined to a healthy reddish color often associated with outdoor life; “a ruddy complexion”; “Santa’s rubicund cheeks”; “a fresh and sanguine complexion”
syn: rubicund, ruddy, florid
noun
a blood-red color
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pastiche: n
1: a musical composition consisting of a series of songs or other musical pieces from various sources [syn: medley, potpourri]
2: a work of art that imitates the style of some previous work
This reminds me of an anonumous quote, “Stealing from one is plagarism, stealing from many is research.” While taking college classes there was a strong emphasis on making sure to cite the source of your information. I came to believe that almost nothing original is being created, but what was being created was original to me. Discovery
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n 1: an almost pleasurable sensation of fright
syn: shiver, chill, quiver, shudder, thrill, tingle
I get frissons when I play Ravenloft or Call of Cthulhu.
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n : a defamatory or abusive word or phrase; descriptive word or phrase
Came across this one in the Enchanted World’s Fall of Camelot.
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corbain 