Thursday, 27 February 2003

vocabulary

From Word-a-Day, an online subscription service:

agelast: someone who never laughs

edited to add,
sciolist (SAI-uh-list) noun: One who engages in pretentious display of superficial knowledge. Huh.

anopsia: absence of sight, due to a missing eye or other structural problem.

From Forgotten English, a page-a-day calendar my sister gave me for Christmas:

anteloquy: a preface, or the first...turn in speaking; also, a term which stage-players use, by them called their cue.

cunnythumb: in grasping, having the thumb aligned with, rather, than opposed to, the fingers.

volentine: birds, fouls [sic?]; alterations of Old French volatile, perhaps influenced by volant...capable of rapid motion or action.