With Webb’s “Weird Words” now in its 11th month — and rapidly approaching one whole year of linguistic gobbledygook — your local word-Smith herewith presents 11 more unusual terms:
Armigerous (ar-MIDGE-er-us, adj.) – Merriam-Webster defines this simply as “bearing heraldic arms” — which is actually not that simple … unless you know that “heraldic” (i.e., heraldry) refers to an old-fashioned coat of arms.
And just in case that still doesn’t help: A “coat of arms” was a distinct design of shapes, symbols, colors and sometimes drawings used to represent and identify family groups — especially in the era of knighthood. It was most often seen on shields or flags and is no longer common — though it does become a complex and amusing plot-device in Huckleberry Finn, where Tom and Huck try to design one for the runaway slave Jim.
Google “coat of arms” if you want to see examples.
Bollix (BALL-icks, verb) – To bungle something; screw it up badly — often used with up: “You sure bollixed up that tax form, bro.”
Also spelled bolix or bollox, it has a somewhat crude etymology that you can look up (or guess!) for yourself. The broadly inclusive Collins English Dictionary lists the alternate spellings bollocks and ballocks, also indicating that it can be used as an interjection of annoyance. (Or, if you’re the Sex Pistols, part of the title for a famous punk record.)
Bottomry (BOT-um-ree, noun) – From Collins: a contract whereby the owner of a ship borrows money to enable his vessel to complete a given voyage, pledging the ship as security. It is related to our word bottom — in the sense of the boat’s hull.
Dottle (DOT-ul, noun) – Also spelled dottel, it’s “the plug of half-smoked tobacco in the bottom of a pipe after smoking” (Dictionary.com).
Farkleberry (FAR-kul-bear-ee, noun) – A shrub or small tree of the Southern U.S., bearing a black berry with many seeds (Random House College Dictionary).
Mephitis (meh-FIE-tiss, noun) – An offensive smell or stench; or, a poisonous or foul-smelling gas emitted from the earth (American Heritage). The adjective mephitic is pronounced meh-FIT-ik.
Pish tosh (PISH tosh, noun) – While the generally generous Dictionary.com does not have this, several other lexicons do. It means “rubbish,” “bunk” or “nonsense.” Wikipedia has the wonderful British synonym tommyrot. Can be spelled pish posh, or (per Merriam-Webster) even just … pish.
Quodlibet (KWAD-lib-et, noun) – “A subtle or elaborate argument or point of debate, usually on a theological or scholastic subject” (Webster’s New Universal Unabridged).
Aging Boomers might recall this word (with slightly altered spelling) from a transitional tune on the Grateful Dead’s 1968 album Anthem of the Sun. Part of the oft-played suite usually called “The Other One,” “Quadlibet for Tenderfeet” connects “Cryptical Envelopment” with “The Faster We Go, the Rounder We Get.”
And you thought “Moby Grape” was a weird, Woodstock-era name!
Rubricate (ROOB-ruh-kate, verb) – Related to ruby, this means “to mark, color, or illuminate (a book, etc.) with red; to write or print in red letters” (Webster’s New World College Dictionary).
Scumble (SKUM-bull, verb) – “To apply opaque or semi-opaque colours very thinly over other colours, to modify the effect” (Chambers’s Twentieth Century Dictionary).
Ultracrepidate (ull-truh-KREP-uh-date, verb) – You can tell I’m trying to spread the wealth around among my 67 different dictionaries — but I had to revert to Collins for this one, since few others have it: “to go beyond one’s scope or province, esp. to criticize beyond one’s sphere of knowledge.”
I guess trying to avoid this is one reason I keep buying more dictionaries.
As if I needed an excuse.
