impavid
adj. fearless
There was a young fellow named Weir
Who hadn’t an atom of fear;
He indulged a desire
To touch a live wire,
(‘Most any old line will do here!)
— Anonymous, quoted in Carolyn Wells’ Book of American Limericks, 1925
Search Results for: in a word
In a Word
oblivescence
n. the process of forgetting
In a Word
fress
v. to eat often or in large quantities
In a Word
pentheraphobia
n. fear of one’s mother-in-law
Above: “My Wife and My Mother-in-Law,” from Puck, November 1915.
Asked what was the maximum punishment for bigamy, Lord Russell of Killowen said, “Two mothers-in-law.”
In a Word
satanophany
n. a visible manifestation of Satan
Potassium chlorate brings out the worst in gummy bears.
In their 1996 manual Chemical Curiosities, H.W. Roesky and K. Möckel introduce this demonstration with an invocation from the Talmud: “He who ponders long over four things were better never to have been born: that which is above, that which is below, that which came before, and that which comes hereafter.”
(Please don’t try this yourself.)
In a Word
perpension
n. careful consideration
In a Word
accubation
n. the act or posture of reclining on a couch
In a Word
scrannel
adj. unmelodious
In a Word
felicificability
n. capacity for happiness
In a Word
nescience
n. ignorance; lack of knowledge
agnoiology
n. the study of ignorance
In 1927, Hungarian physiologist Albert Szent-Györgyi isolated a substance in lemons and oranges that seemed to prevent scurvy.
He couldn’t identify it chemically, so he called it “ignose,” meaning “I do not know.”
When the editors of the Biochemical Journal asked for a different name, Szent-Györgyi suggested “godnose.” Finally they settled on “hexuronic acid.”
It turned out to be vitamin C.