“ad fontes!”
to undertake a dangerous or hazardous operation or activity—UK, 1867, as ‘to tickle the dragon’s nose’—‘to tickle the dragon’s tail’ was used of a nuclear experiment at Los Alamos during WWII
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various meanings, in particular: something with a larger capacity than its outward appearance suggests—UK, 1968—the name, in TV series Doctor Who, of a time machine outwardly resembling a police telephone box, yet inwardly much larger
Read Moreforms nouns with the sense ‘genetically modified ——’; also, occasionally, with the sense ‘—— relating to genetic modification’—first used in 1992 by Paul Lewis to form ‘Frankenfood’—from ‘Frankenstein’, the title character of Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel
Read Moregenetically modified food—but had been used earlier by members of Weight Watchers in the sense of food one is addicted to—in reference to ‘Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus’ (1818), by Mary Shelley
Read Morea factor speculatively included in a hypothesis or calculation, especially to account for some unquantified but significant phenomenon or to ensure a desired result—USA, 1947
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a vehicle which travels on a cushion of air—UK, 1958, apparently coined by engineer Christopher Sydney Cockerell—also, USA, 1958, in the sense of “a flying car”
Read MoreUSA, 1982—a catchy song or melody that keeps repeating in one’s mind, especially to the point of irritation—loan translation from German ‘Ohrwurm’—original meaning (1598): an earwig
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a phenomenon in which the sun rises or sets in alignment with the streets that run east to west on the street grid of Manhattan, a borough of New York City—from ‘Manhattan’ and ‘-henge’, in ‘Stonehenge’, the name of a megalithic monument in England—coined by U.S. astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson
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American English—a surge of extremely cold air which causes rapid falls in temperature and severe wintry weather in central and eastern areas of the United States and Canada—after ‘Trans-Siberian Express’, the name of a railway running from Moscow to Vladivostok on the Sea of Japan
Read MoreUK—‘the Beast from the East’ (2011): polar continental air mass, which brings wintry conditions—‘the Pest from the West’ (2012): mild air from the Atlantic, which brings strong winds and heavy rainfalls
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word histories 