Tuesday 27 October 2026
Ab Vrbe Condita 2779
10/25/2026
Shirty (adjective)
Irritable, ill-tempered. This derives from the idea that someone ready to quarrel is disheveled and has his or her shirt pulled out.
Shirty (adjective)
Irritable, ill-tempered. This derives from the idea that someone ready to quarrel is disheveled and has his or her shirt pulled out.
Recent entries
Touch word to see definition.
10/18/2026: Emmetropia (noun) Perfect distance vision, neither myopia (near-sightedness) nor hyperopia (far-sightness)
10/11/2026: Spanghew (verb) To cause a toad or frog to fly through the air
10/04/2026: Phillumeny (noun) The hobby of collecting matchbooks, matchboxes, and other related items
09/27/2026: Dextrosinistral (adjective) Right-to-left. The written forms of Arabic, Hebrew, Syriac, Maldivian, and certain west African Mande languages, for example, are dextrosinistral.
09/20/2026: Deliquesce (verb) For a solid, to liquify gradually by absorbing moisture from the air
09/13/2026: Illinium (noun) Based on experimental data later found to have been erroneous, a name honoring the University of Illinois proposed for the element now known as promethium. Two other preliminary names for it were florentium and cyclonium.
09/06/2026: Quaquaversal (adjective) Turning or dipping in any or every direction
08/30/2026: Frugivory (noun) The symbiotic relationship between fruit-eating birds and the fruiting plant itself whereby its seeds get dispersed
08/23/2026: Dephlogisticate (verb) To render something fireproof
08/16/2026: Parnel (noun) A priest’s mistress
08/09/2026: Fluviatile (adjective) Living in rivers
08/02/2026: Atopognosia (noun) The inability to tell where something is touching you
07/26/2026: Assoil (verb) To absolve, to pronounce Not Guilty
07/19/2026: Corncrake (noun) An elusive, omnivorous, chestnut-colored bird of the family Rallidae (rails) that ranges through Eurasia and winters in Africa
07/12/2026: Agonic (noun) The imaginary line, roughly longitudinal, where magnetic and true north lie in exactly the same direction. It wanders unpredictably, typically about 10 miles per year.
07/05/2026: Penniform (adjective) Feather-shaped
06/28/2026: Nixie (noun) A letter or package that’s undeliverable due to a faulty address. Or, a female water spirit. Or, one of those old-fashioned numeric displays consisting of a neon-filled glass tube and multiple cathodes.
06/21/2026: Grimthorpe (verb) To alter or remodel a building without taking its history and character into account. Named for Edmund Beckett, 1st Baron Grimthorpe, QC (1816–1905).
06/14/2026: Ulotrichous (adjective) Having tightly curled or “peppercorn” hair
06/07/2026: Distichiasis (noun) The condition, caused by a genetic mutation, of having double rows of eyelashes. One of its better known sufferers was actress Elizabeth Taylor.
Touch word to see definition.
10/18/2026: Emmetropia (noun) Perfect distance vision, neither myopia (near-sightedness) nor hyperopia (far-sightness)
10/11/2026: Spanghew (verb) To cause a toad or frog to fly through the air
10/04/2026: Phillumeny (noun) The hobby of collecting matchbooks, matchboxes, and other related items
09/27/2026: Dextrosinistral (adjective) Right-to-left. The written forms of Arabic, Hebrew, Syriac, Maldivian, and certain west African Mande languages, for example, are dextrosinistral.
09/20/2026: Deliquesce (verb) For a solid, to liquify gradually by absorbing moisture from the air
09/13/2026: Illinium (noun) Based on experimental data later found to have been erroneous, a name honoring the University of Illinois proposed for the element now known as promethium. Two other preliminary names for it were florentium and cyclonium.
09/06/2026: Quaquaversal (adjective) Turning or dipping in any or every direction
08/30/2026: Frugivory (noun) The symbiotic relationship between fruit-eating birds and the fruiting plant itself whereby its seeds get dispersed
08/23/2026: Dephlogisticate (verb) To render something fireproof
08/16/2026: Parnel (noun) A priest’s mistress
08/09/2026: Fluviatile (adjective) Living in rivers
08/02/2026: Atopognosia (noun) The inability to tell where something is touching you
07/26/2026: Assoil (verb) To absolve, to pronounce Not Guilty
07/19/2026: Corncrake (noun) An elusive, omnivorous, chestnut-colored bird of the family Rallidae (rails) that ranges through Eurasia and winters in Africa
07/12/2026: Agonic (noun) The imaginary line, roughly longitudinal, where magnetic and true north lie in exactly the same direction. It wanders unpredictably, typically about 10 miles per year.
07/05/2026: Penniform (adjective) Feather-shaped
06/28/2026: Nixie (noun) A letter or package that’s undeliverable due to a faulty address. Or, a female water spirit. Or, one of those old-fashioned numeric displays consisting of a neon-filled glass tube and multiple cathodes.
06/21/2026: Grimthorpe (verb) To alter or remodel a building without taking its history and character into account. Named for Edmund Beckett, 1st Baron Grimthorpe, QC (1816–1905).
06/14/2026: Ulotrichous (adjective) Having tightly curled or “peppercorn” hair
06/07/2026: Distichiasis (noun) The condition, caused by a genetic mutation, of having double rows of eyelashes. One of its better known sufferers was actress Elizabeth Taylor.
