As I read or listen to lectures and podcasts, I write down every word encountered that I am unfamiliar with. I look them up, and record the definitions. These are fun to share. I used to share them on facebook, but I have been boycotting facebook for over two years due to their policies of censorship, cancellation, bogus “fact checking”, and their other dirty tricks.
Here are some words:
lickometer - laboratory instrument to quantify licking, e.g. in rats when studying appetite.
dyspnea - difficulty breathing.
parenchyma - functional tissue of an organ as distinguished from the connective and supporting tissue.
demurrage - the detention of a ship by the freighter beyond the time allowed for loading, unloading, or sailing, or a charge for detaining a ship, freight car, or truck.
despatch - if less time is required than the laytime allowed, charter party may require the shipowner to pay despatch for time saved.
laytime - the amount of time allowed in a voyage charter for the loading and unloading of cargo.
defilade - a military unit or position is "in defilade" if it uses natural or artificial obstacles to shield or conceal itself.
enfilade - a formation or position is "in enfilade" if enemy weapon fire can be directed along its longest axis.
speleotheom - structure formed in a cave by the deposition of minerals from water, e.g. a stalactite or stalagmite.
FOD - foreign object debris. contamination.
OSIn - Open Source Intelligence.
graphyne - allotrope of carbon: one-atom-thick planar sheets of sp and sp2-bonded carbon atoms arranged in crystal lattice.
furin - protease enzyme in humans and other animals.
ependyma - thin membrane of glial cells lining the ventricles of the brain and the central canal of the spinal cord.
Nephilim - mysterious beings or people in the Hebrew Bible who are large and strong.
squib - small firework that hisses before exploding, short news item or piece of satirical writing, small slight or weak person especially a child.
hygrometer - instrument for measuring the humidity of the air or a gas.
psychrometer - wet-bulb plus dry-bulb thermometers, the difference in readings used to determine atmospheric humidity.
dewcell - instrument used for determining the dew point, consisting of a heating element surrounded by a solution of lithium chloride.
frigorific - mixture of two or more phases that reaches an equilibrium temperature independent of the starting temperatures or quantities.
endophora - relationships among words having the same reference within a text; anaphora and cataphora.
anaphora - use of an anaphor.
anaphor - word or phrase that refers to an earlier word or phrase (e.g. “my cousin said she was coming”).
cataphora - use of a cataphor.
cataphor - word or phrase that refers to a later word or phrase (e.g., “he may be 37, but Jeff behaves like a teenager”).
exophor - word in a text or utterance referring to something external to the text or utterance.
diectic (or indexical) - relating to a word or expression whose meaning is dependent on context (e.g. here, you, that one there, or next Tuesday).
metalepsis - figure of speech in which a word or a phrase from figurative speech is used in a new context.
polysemy - coexistence of many possible meanings for a word or phrase.
toponym - place name, especially one derived from a topographical feature.
frippery - ostentation, showiness, unnecessary ornamentation.
cambial - cellular plant tissue from which phloem, xylem, or cork grows.
eggcorn - alteration of a phrase through the mishearing or reinterpretation of one or more of its elements. e.g. “old-timers disease”.
mondegreen - a mishearing or misinterpretation of a phrase in a way that gives it a new meaning.
antonomasia - substitution of an epithet or title for a proper name (e.g., the Bard for Shakespeare).
transfection - introducing naked or purified nucleic acid sequences into eukaryotic cells.
strabismus - condition in which the eyes do not properly align (converge).
nystagmus - involuntary eye movement.
malapert - rude, disrespectful.
anserine - relating to or resembling a goose. Or methyl-carnosine found in bird muscle.
radiosonde - electronic device to measure meteorological variables in the atmosphere.
godman - incarnation of a god in human form.
olefin - a.k.a. alkene - any hydrocarbon with ≥1 double bonds.
faineant - idle or ineffective.
ambit - area or range that someone (or something) controls or affects.
athermat - lens that compensates for focus shift due to temperature.
cambro - insulated container for keeping food or drink hot.
footgun - (slang) a “gun” designed for shooting oneself in the foot.
edgelord - one who tries to appear edgy by being risqué or offensive.
inure - to accustom to accept something undesirable.
cenotaph - monument to someone buried elsewhere, particularly if they died in a war.
atavistic - recurrence or reversion to a past style, manner, outlook, approach, activity, or biological form.
sitrep - short for situation report. first used in World War II.
exigible - (of a tax, duty, or other payment) able to be charged or levied.
mesenchyme - loosely organized embryonic tissue which develops into connective and skeletal tissues, including blood and lymph.
distaff - female side of a family.
saphenous - relating to or denoting either of the two large superficial veins in the leg.
eudaemonic - conducive to happiness.
presbytery - body of church elders and ministers. House of a Roman Catholic parish priest. Eastern part of a church chancel - the sanctuary.
pretextual - constituting a pretext; dubious or spurious.
telluric - of the earth as a planet.
diagenesis - the physical and chemical changes occurring during the conversion of sediment to sedimentary rock.
syntrophy - phenomenon of one species living off the metabolic products of another species.
sychrophile - extremophilic organisms capable of growth and reproduction in low temperatures
anammox - abbreviation for anaerobic ammonium oxidation - a globally important microbial process of the nitrogen cycle.