To alter or remodel a building without taking its history and character into account. Named for Edmund Beckett, 1st Baron Grimthorpe, QC (1816–1905).
Recent entries Touch word to see definition.
08/11/2019:
Ulotrichous
(adjective) Having tightly curled or “peppercorn” hair.
08/04/2019:
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.
07/28/2019:
Absquatulate
(verb) To slip out without being seen.
07/21/2019:
Semiotician
(noun) An expert at reading signs, symbols, gestures, and other visual cues.
07/14/2019:
Jyngine
(adjective) Wryneck-like. A wryneck is either of two species of European woodpeckers that can whip their heads around almost 180 degrees, which, combined with hissing, serves as a threat display.
07/07/2019:
Idiolect
(noun) The individualistic traits of a person’s speech. A further subdivision of dialect.
06/30/2019:
Hapax legomenon
(noun) The bane of dictionary authors, a word within a particular language that occurrs only once in the written record.
06/23/2019:
Mesonoxian
(adjective) Pertaining to midnight.
06/16/2019:
Morepork
(noun) An owl, Ninox novaeseelandiae, found in Australia and New Zealand.
06/09/2019:
Retromingent
(adjective) Cowardly (literally, “urinating backward”).
06/02/2019:
Chrysopoeia
(verb) The act of transmuting base substances into gold.
05/26/2019:
Zero Stroke
(noun) A mental disorder occurring during times of economic hyperinflation in which the sufferer obsessively writes row upon row of zeros. The term was coined by German physicians observing this phenomenon during the Weimar Republic period.
05/19/2019:
Naufragous
(adjective) Shipwreck-causing.
05/12/2019:
Deasil
(adverb or adjective) Clockwise. As a verb, it means to move clockwise.
05/05/2019:
Widdershins
(adverb or adjective) Counterclockwise.
04/28/2019:
Snup
(verb) To underpay for something extremely valuable, taking advantage of a seller’s ignorance.
04/21/2019:
Cerberus
(noun) A hypervigilant custodian, such as an office receptionist who makes people wait interminably and hardly lets anybody in, regardles of their import.
04/14/2019:
Euterpean
(adjective) Pertaining to music.
04/07/2019:
Ucalegon
(noun) A neighbor whose house is on fire.
03/31/2019:
Rubricate
(verb) To mark in red, perhaps by using a rubric (classically, a piece of red chalk).
