Collective Nouns

I'm really enjoying stumbing across words and collective nouns on the internet and thought I'd share some more! These ones are from here. Enjoy :)

Number 1 of 60 of the world's happiest facts

1. A group of flamingos is called a flamboyance.

List found here!

I've been reeeeeeaaaaaading: http://blog.art21.org/2013/01/28/careful-not-to-touch/

docent

noun

1. (in certain US and European universities and colleges) a member of the teaching staff immediately below professorial rank.

2. a person who acts as a guide, typically on a voluntary basis, in a museum, art gallery, or zoo.

Origin: late 19th century: via German from Latin docent 'teaching', from docere 'teach'

somatic

adjective

relating to the body, especially as distinct from the mind

Biology relating to the soma.

Origin: late 18th century: from Greek sōmatikos, from sōma 'body'

somnambulism

noun

[mass noun]

sleepwalking

somnambulant adj; somnambulantly adv; somnambulist n; somnambulistic adj; somnambulistically adv

Origin: late 18th century: from French somnambulisme, from Latin somnus 'sleep' + ambulare 'to walk'

Reading about the war

strafe

verb

[with object]

attack repeatedly with bombs or machine-gun fire from low-flying aircraft.

noun

an attack from low-flying aircraft.

Origin: early 20th century: humorous adaptation of the German First World War catchphrase Gott strafr England 'may God punish England'

Someone give me a job already please

Taken from Mentalfloss

7 Common Words With Little-Known Relatives

Arika Okrent

When some words have hit the big time, they've left clunky related words behind.

1. EXHAUST/INHAUST

While "exhaust," from the Latin for "draw out of," was first attested in 1540 and went on to a great career in the English vocabulary, "inhaust," with the meaning "draw into," was attested in 1547 (something about a "flye inhausted into a mannes throte sodenly") but soon became obsolete.

 2. OMNISCIENT/NESCIENT

You know about "omniscient," which comes from the Latin for "all knowing," but did you know there was a counterpart meaning "not knowing"? You can now consider yourself more-scient!

 3. RESUSCITATE/EXSUSCITATE

"Exsuscitate" was around in the 1500s, as was "resuscitate," but where "resuscitate" was for the act of bringing someone back from the dead, "exsuscitate" was for the less impressive act of rousing or waking someone up from sleep. It didn't stick, and it doesn't look likely to be resuscitated.

 4. PRELIMINARY/POSTLIMINARY

"Postliminary" has a technical use in international law, where it refers to the "right of postliminy" (stuff taken in war gets returned), but it's also been used sporadically since the early 19th century as the opposite of "preliminary."

5. INCANTATION/EXCANTATION

If your incantation turns out to be a magic spell that somehow gets you in a jam, it might be good to be able to perform an excantation to get yourself out of it. Too bad the word, attested in 1580, is now obsolete.

6. INCRIMINATION/CONCRIMINATION

It wouldn't be fun to be the subject of an incrimination, but it might be a little more fun to be part of a concrimination with your friends, meaning "a joint accusation." The word shows up in a 1656 dictionary, but we have no evidence that anyone ever used it.

7. INAUGURATE/EXAUGURATE

Back in 1600 the word "inaugurate" was used to describe a ceremonial act of consecration or induction into office, but there was also the word "exaugurate" meaning, according to the OED, "To cancel the inauguration of; to unhallow, make profane."

Read the full text here: http://mentalfloss.com/article/48593/7-common-words-little-known-relatives#ixzz2JJOeFD1l 
--brought to you by mental_floss! 

These words are all courtesy of Word Dynamo  

bezoar

noun

1. a small stony concretion which may be found in the stomachs of certain animals, especially ruminants, and which was once used as an antidote for various ailments.

2. a wild goat with flat scimitar-shaped horns, found from Greece to Pakistan. The ancestor of the domestic goat, it was the best-known source of bezoars.

Origin: late 15th century (in the general sense 'stone of concretion'): from French bezoard, based on Arabic bāzahr,bādizahr, from Persian pādzahr 'antidote'.

flibbertigibbet

noun

a frivolous, flighty, or excessively talkative person.

Origin: late Middle English: probably imitative of idle chatter.

gobo

noun

1. a dark plate or screen to shield a lens from light.

a) theatre a partial screen used in front of a spotlight to project a shape

b) a shield used to mask a microphone from extraneous noise.

Origin: 1930s, perhaps of go between.

ort

noun

(usually orts) archaic or dialect

a scrap or remainder of food from a meal.

Origin: late Middle English: from Middle Low German orte 'food remains', originally a compound of which the second element is related to 'eat'.

quincunx

noun (quincunxes)

1. an arrangement of five objects with four at the corners of a square or rectangle and the fifth at its centre, used for the five on a dice or playing card, and in planting trees.

2. [mass noun] Astrology an aspect of 150°, equivalent to five zodiacal signs.

Origin: mid 17th century: from Latin, literally 'five twelfths', from quinique 'five' + uncia 'twelfth'.

slumgullion

noun

cheap or insubstantial stew.

Origin: late 19th century: probably an invented word.