A small collection of interesting words in the English language.

apostasy

Abandonment of, desertion of, rejection of, renunciation of, or departure from what one has voluntarily professed, one's religious faith, a political party, one's principles, or a cause.

[Middle English apostasie, from Old French, from Late Latin apostasia (defection), from Late Greek apostasiā, from Greek apostasis, (revolt), from aphistanai, aposta- (to revolt) : apo-, apo- + histanai (to stand, place).]

bling bling
Showy jewelry. Materialistic material goods. The word was coined by New Orleans rap family Cash Money Millionaires in the late 1990s and started gaining national awareness with a song titled "Bling Bling" by Cash Money artist BG.
cramble
To hobble, to walk ill as if there were corns on the feet.
demimonde
\dem-ee-mond\ noun.
A class of women that are on the edge of the socially acceptable because of reputation and behavior. Often professional vamps. A demimondaine (\dem-ee-mond-dayn\ noun) is a member of that class.
diapason
The tonal range of a musical instrument or voice.
dinkum wowser

A party pooper. Australian English.

engrish
'Engrish is a slang term which refers to an English language phrase that arose through poor translation of another language (usually Japanese) into English, or sometimes, poor translation of English into another language followed by good translation back into English. This used to be a frequent occurrence with product manuals, which might say something like "to make speed up find up out document", but it's less frequent today. Another source of poor translation is an unchecked machine-produced translation, such as that from the Babelfish service." '

A famous example is: "All your base are belong to us".
eunoia
"Beautiful thinking". A medical term for a normal mental state. Also the shortest English word that contains all the vowels.
fie
An expression of disgust or disapproval.
flamfoo
A gaudily dressed woman whose chief pleasure is derived from dressing up.
glox
The sound of liquid when shaken.
indolence
inclination to laziness. Sloth.
indolent

(1) A: causing little or no pain. B: slow to develop or heal.

(2) A: averse to activity, effort, or movement; habitually lazy. B: conducing to or encouraging laziness. C: exhibiting indolence.

libertine
One without restraints, esp. moral or religious restraints. A freethinker.
Lothario

A man who seduces women. A womanizer.

[After the character in The Fair Penitent, a play by Nicholas Rowe.]

massage the numbers

Fiddle with the numbers. The tweaking of statistics as referred to by Mark Twain's categories of lies: lies, damn lies, and statistics.
[Accounting.]

minaret

A tall slender tower of a mosque having one or more balconies from which the summons to prayer are cried by the muezzin.
[From Turkish minare from Arabic manarah (lighthouse).]

motive, means, and opportunity
Required to solve a murder mystery. Literary.
porcine

Of, relating to, or suggesting swine.

quanked
Overpowered by fatigue.
salty dog
An old naval term referring to lifetime sailors who live to find easy women. This is a term similar to "sea dog" which refers to a seasoned seaman.
scruple

(1) An ethical consideration that may cause one to hesitate.

(2) A unit of measurement used by apothecaries. It is equivalent to 20 grains or about 1.3 grams.

[From Old French scrupule, from Latin scrupulus (small sharp stone, uneasiness), from scrupus (sharp stone).]

sesquipedalian

\SES-kwi-puh-DALE-yun\ adjective

(1) Having many syllables; long.

(2) Using long words.

thrunched
Very angry, displeased.
utopia

An ideal society.

Utopia has an interesting antonym of "dystopia," a wrong society, a "bad place", derived from the Greek dys ("abnormal" or "defective").

[The word is said to have been coined by Thomas Moore (1478-1535) when he published his work entitled Utopia in 1516. It should be noted that More had intended the word to refer to a non-existing place, a "nowhere", derived from the Greek ou (not) and topos (place). However the word has entered the English language as referring to an ideal society, a  "good place", derived from the Greek eu (good).]

zeitgeist
The spirit of the time; the taste and outlook characteristic of a period or generation. The general intellectual and moral state or temper characteristic of any period of time.

2007-10-23 03:31:36Z