Thursday, April 5, 2012

Strange and funny English words part III



Agastopia
Admiration of a particular part of a woman's body.

Anencephalous
Characterized by partial or total absence of a brain

Batrachomyomachy
The battle between the frogs and mice; a Greek parody on the Iliad, of uncertain authorship.

Bibble
A pebble.
One of those little stones that gets trapped in your shoe when you are walking.

Borborygm
A rumbling or gurgling noise produced by wind in the bowels.

Catercornered
Diagonal.
In a diagonal position.

Crudivore
An eater of raw food

Depone
To give testimony by affidavit or deposition.
Swear: make a deposition; declare under oath.

Doodle sack
A bagpipe. 

Erinaceous
Of, pertaining to, or resembling a hedgehog.

Fard
To paint the face with cosmetics.
To gloss over.

Finnimbrun
A trifle, trinket or knick-knack.

Gabelle
The gabelle was a very unpopular tax on salt in France before 1790. 

Gaberlunzie
A wandering beggar.

Gardyloo!
Used by servants in medieval Scotland to warn passers-by of waste about to be thrown from a window into the street below.

Gastromancy
A form of divination involving listening to stomach sounds.
A form of divination by gazing into a crystal ball or a glass full of water.

Gobemouche
Literally, a fly swallower; hence, once who keeps his mouth open.
A boor; a silly and credulous person.
A highly gullible person.

Gongoozle
To leisurely watch the passage of boats, from the bank of a canal, lock or bridge.
To observe things idly.

Halfpace
A raised floor or dais or a platform or footpace at the top of steps, as for a throne or an altar.
A landing of a staircase like a broad step between two half flights.

Impignorate
To impignorate or pignorate means to put up as security or to pawn.

Inaniloquent
Given to talking inanely.
Loquacious.
Garrulous.

Jentacular
Of or pertaining to a breakfast taken early in the morning, or immediately on getting up.

Kakorrhaphiophobia
The fear of failure or defeat.

Lagopodous
In zoology, hare-footed
Having the feet densely furry or feathery, as a lemming or a ptarmigan.

Lamprophony
Loudness and clarity of enunciation.

Limerance
An involuntary cognitive and emotional state of being infatuated or obsessed with another person.

Macrosmatic
Having the sense or organs of smell highly developed 

Mesonoxian
Pertaining to the hour of midnight.
Of or related to midnight.

Nihilarian
One who subscribes to nihilism.
Of or pertaining to nihilism.

Nudiustertian
Of or pertaining to the day before yesterday.

Oocephalus
An individual characterized by an egg-shaped head.
A skull shape disorder.

Pandiculation
Yawning and stretching, as when first waking up.

Pauciloquent
Using few words when speaking.
Brief in speech.

Phenakism
Deception.
Trickery.

Pulveratricious
Nesting on the ground.
Covered with dust.

Ranivorous
Pertaining to creatures that eat frogs.
(Ranivore) frog-eating.

Rastaquouere
A social upstart, especially from a Mediterranean or Latin American country.
A smooth untrustworthy foreigner.

Selcouth
Strange, unusual, rare.
Marvellous, wondrous.

Sialoquent
Spitting while speaking.

Slangwhanger
One who verbally attacks others; normally a politician or editor.

Smellfungus
An excessively fault-finding person.
A perpetual pessimist

Snickersnee
Knife fight: fighting with knives.
A knife resembling a sword.

Snollygoster
A shrewd person not guided by principles, especially a politician.

Turdiform
Of, relating to or resembling a thrush, or any other bird of the family Turdidae.

Tyrotoxism
Tyrotoxism is the poisoning of one with cheese or any other milk product. 

Ulotrichous
Having woolly, curly or crispy hair.

Xertz
To gulp down quickly and greedily.

Zabernism
Abusive misuse of military authority.
Bullying.

Zoanthropy
The delusion that you have assumed the form of an animal.

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