galericulate
adj. covered by a hat
See whelve.
Search Results for: in a word
In a Word
nod-crafty
adj. nodding to give an air of wisdom
In a Word
smellfeast
n. “one who is quick at finding and frequenting good tables”; a parasite
In a Word
happify
v. to make happy
In a Word
procellous
adj. stormy
naufragous
adj. causing shipwreck
In a Word
remugient
adj. bellowing again
In a Word
vespertilionize
v. to turn into a bat
In a Word
curtain-lecture
n. a reproof given by a wife to her husband in bed
That’s from Samuel Johnson’s 1755 Dictionary of the English Language, which is more colorful than one might suppose. It also defines cough as “a convulsion of the lungs, vellicated by some sharp serosity” and lexicographer as “a writer of dictionaries, a harmless drudge, that busies himself in tracing the original and detailing the signification of words.”
In a Word
acephalist
n. one who acknowledges no superior
“In America everybody is of the opinion that he has no social superiors, since all men are equal, but he does not admit that he has no social inferiors, for, from the time of Jefferson onward, the doctrine that all men are equal applies only upwards, not downwards.” — Bertrand Russell
In a Word
geloscopy
n. the divination of one’s character by the manner of his laughter