Wednesday, 23 January 2013

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.



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