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Seldom-Used Words

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Staying with the same source of seldom-used words;

ameliorate - vt to make better or more tolerable ~ vi: to grow better
 
A somewhat cynical definition of a seldm used word:

Epic

"The word Epic, of course, is what s cholars call a soap opera that was written a long time ago, which gives it the patina of respectibility."

-- Eric Flint in the forward to Grantville Gazette IV
 
Thanks for the tip, Harold. Now, I will consider myself a writer of epics or an Epic Writer! LOL

prescient - vt from prescience noun foreknowledge of events; specifically: omniscience with regard to the future
 
Tio_Narratore said:
You don't see this one very often at all...

scapulimancy noun. Foretelling by interpreting the cracks and scorch marks on a heated mammalian shoulder blade. Ox scapulae were used in Shang China, and may have contributed to the development of ideographic writing. The Naskapi used beaver shoulder blades in an effort to find food sources when the caribou didn't show up on the usual migratory paths. Many cultures have made use of the practice.
Click to expand...

Man, I've never seen it! Color me impressed.
 
Just for Tio.

Scapulet a leaf like appendage of the manubrium of certain Cnidaria :)
 
Because it is Easter and I wish you all a very Happy one, indeed;

scapular - noun 1.a. a long wide band of cloth with an opening for the head worn front and back over the shoulders as part of a monastic habit b. a a pair of small cloth squares joined by shoulder straps and worn under the clothing on the breast and back as a sacramental and often also as a badge of a third order or confraternity 2.a SCAPULA b. a scapular feather
 
I just want to state that this was the first Easter that I did not indulge in a single bite of Easter candy and, therefore, do not have a sugar hangover today!

Back to Mark Twain's Other Woman;

rapprochement - noun establishment or state of cordial relations
 
Welcome, Fierywhore.

happenstance - noun a circumstance regarded as due to chance

happenchance - noun happenstance
 
Good day, everyone. Here is today's entry from the same source;

ebullience - noun the quality of lively or enthusiastic expression of thoughts or feelings; EXUBERANCE
 
This word needs to come back. The closest word we currently use often is zombie.

dreg - a warrior back from the dead, a risen spirit
 
Dreg is not in my dictionary with that meaning, but only the other one referring to the least desirable part of a drink, Xelebes. Where did you find your definition? Just curious, here.

This next word was also not in my dictionary, so I searched the net for answers;

nymphet - noun a young girl who is sexually precocious and desirable
(meaning: a young nymph): diminutive of nymph]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003
 
Let's not forget that delightful, but little-noted disease...

nympholepsy noun. 1. a demoniac enthusiasm afflicting someone bewitched by a nymph; 2. a frenzy of emotion.
 
Yes, Tio, I did note that one as well as nymphomaniac, but stayed with nymphet, which was not there for some reason, considering the age of the source it was taken from, a hundred years ago.

parsimonious - adj excessively frugal; NIGGARDLY
 
AllardChardon said:
Dreg is not in my dictionary with that meaning, but only the other one referring to the least desirable part of a drink, Xelebes. Where did you find your definition? Just curious, here.

This next word was also not in my dictionary, so I searched the net for answers;

nymphet - noun a young girl who is sexually precocious and desirable
(meaning: a young nymph): diminutive of nymph]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003
Click to expand...
It's a kenning from the Exeter Book of Puzzles, No. 51. Technically it is the second preterite of dree or dreigh, or it means the suffered.

Dreag unstille

winnende wiga  /    se him wegas tæcneþ

ofer fæted gold  /    feower eallum.
Click to expand...
 
Just a thought, but the two may have slightly different etymologies. Dregs may come via dreck, or dirt, residue, etc. while Xelebes dreg [no plural /s/] may derive from the same roots as drear, that is, old Germanic words referring to the fallen or to drop. I expect that, pushing things back a bit, both meanings ultimately have a common antecedant.
 
Dreg (floaties) comes from Old Norse (dregg = sediment.)

Dree (Dreogan) is the base word for many Old English words. Dright (People, Citizen population), Drighten (leaders of the population, Lords), Dreg (the Suffered). Probably shared the same root as Draw, Drag, and Draft (Pre-Germanic: *draghanan - to carry.)

Edited - Drear does not share the same root. Comes from the notion of "dripping blood."
 
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Tio_Narratore said:
Let's not forget that delightful, but little-noted disease...

nympholepsy noun. 1. a demoniac enthusiasm afflicting someone bewitched by a nymph; 2. a frenzy of emotion.
Click to expand...

Going to have to exercise a little muscle with that word. Thankee.
 
CharleyH, it may not be the most interesting thread on Lit, but it is one of the most consistent. Don't you have a favorite a seldom-used word to share?

tantamount - adj equivalent in value, significance, or effect
 
jamp - informal, Chiefly Southern Scots preterite (past tense) of jump.
 
Allard, given the type of books you write I thought you might see the irony in this word: Agelast - A person who never laughs.

Funny, I thought those of us who laugh the most would "age last".
 
Thank you, Quinn, that is a good word to know.

acrimonious - adj caustic, biting, or rancorous, especially in feeling, language or manner
 
Here is a fun one:
colposinquanonia - Estimating a woman's beauty based on her chest.
 
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