Wonderful Words Weekly

(On the World Wide Web)

WW04

01/18/26 - 01/24/26
Adianoetan.WW04-01
  1. (Rhetoric) An expression that, in addition to an obvious meaning, carries a second, subtle meaning (often at variance with the ostensible meaning).From the Silva Rhetoricae (rhetoric.byu.edu)
    Pork industry reps like to say that the omnipresent stench on the North Carolina coastal plain is the ‘smell of money’ [...] But only the poor are blessed with a beachside view of the waste lagoons and forced to breath the ‘smell of money’ every day, while the pork-pandering politicians and slaughterhouse executives live well beyond the veil of mist. And yet the phrase is nonetheless something of an adianoeta, carrying an ironic truth that swims in the subtleties beneath the surface. In fact, it would be difficult to find a more literal metaphor. —Phil Neil, Hellworld, pg. 10
Authalic Spheren.WW04-02
  1. A sphere with the same surface area as a referenced oblate ellipsoid.
  2. (Cartography) A spherical model of the Earth with the same surface area as the more accurate oblate ellipsoidal model of the Earth. The reference ellipsoid used by the Global Positioning System is defined by the WGS 84 standard; its authalic sphere has a radius of 6,378km.Arthur Robinson, et al., Elements of Cartography, 6th ed, pg. 43-44
Cat-headn.[C11]WW04-03
  1. (Nautical) A beam projecting from each bow of a ship, and having a pulley at its outer end. It is used as a support for the anchor after it has been lifted from the water.
Cat-holen.[W13]WW04-04
  1. (Nautical) A small hole on the side of a ship through which hawsers may be passed; also known as a hawsehole.
  2. (Nautical) To come in at the cat-hole; To come in at the hawehole: To enter the naval service in the lowest grade; to rise from the ranks or attain a position through experience.Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, 1894, pg. 1351
    Without communicating the opinion, of course, the American could not but impute at least part of the detentions both to clumsy seamanship and faulty navigation. Eyeing Don Benito’s small, yellow hands, he easily inferred that the young captain had not got into command at the hawse-hole but the cabin-window, and if so, why wonder at incompetence, in youth, sickness, and aristocracy united? —Herman Melville, Benito Cereno
Coppice1n.[W13]WW04-05
  1. A grove of small growth; a thicket of brushwood; a wood cut at certain times, typically for fuel.
Coppice2v.[W13]WW04-06
  1. trans. To cause to grow in the form of a coppice; to cut back (as young timber) so as to produce shoots from stools or roots.
Hawsern.[OED1]WW04-07
  1. (Nautical) A large rope or small cable, in size midway between a cable and a tow-line, between five and ten inches inches in circumference; used in warping and mooring.
Oakumn.[C11]WW04-08
  1. The coarse part separated from hemp or flax in heckling.
  2. (Nautical) Old ropes untwisted and plucked into loose fibers; used for caulking the seams of ships, stopping leaks, etc.
Roodn.[OED1]WW04-09
  1. A cross, as an instrument of execution.
  2. The cross upon which Christ suffered; the cross a symbol of Christianity.
  3. (Architecture) A large crucifix, set above the entrance to a chancel, depicting Christ’s crucifixion. In medieval European churches, the rood was often suspended above a rood-screen, an ornate partition of wood or stone separating the nave from the choir.Curl, The Oxford Dictionary of Architecture, third edition, 2015.
  4. A rod or pole used as an instrument of measure. Typically of 6 to 8 yards.
  5. A measure of land typically containing 40 square poles, but varying locally.
Superlationn.[W13]WW04-10
  1. The exaltation of anything beyond truth or propriety.
Surtoutn.[W13]WW04-11
  1. A man’s coat to be worn over his other garments; an overcoat, especially when long and, and fitting closely like a body coat.
TransomWebster's 1913 includes an alternative spelling, "transsummer," which isn't included in the OED or Century Dictionary. I think it's a misspelling of "transomer," which is included in the other dictionaries. I can't find anything online referencing "transsummer" other than references to Webster's 1913. So, it looks like it's either a mistake or a mountweazel, a purposfully incorrect word only included in a dictionary to catch cases of lazy copyright infringement. Either way, I think transsummer is charming: it's like if White Boy Summer came to realize certain things about itself.n.[C11]WW04-12
  1. (Architecture) A horizontal bar of timber or stone separating the lights of a window; the component orthogonal to the mullion, frequently found in Elizabethan and Jacobean houses; or, the cross-bar separating a door from the fanlight above it.Curl, The Oxford Dictionary of Architecture, third edition, 2015.
  2. A slat or horizontal support of a bed frame.
  3. (Nautical) One of the transverse beams or timbers fixed across the stern-post of a ship, giving shape to the stern structure.
  4. One of two beams of wood or metal secured horizontally to the side frame of a railway car-truck.
  5. A piece of wood or iron joining the cheeks of gun-carriages.
Wimple1n.[OED1]WW04-13
  1. A garment of linen or silk worn by women, so folded to envelop the head, chin, sides of the face, and neck: now retained in the dress of nuns.
  2. A flag, streamer.
  3. A fold or wrinkle; a turn, winding, or twist; a ripple or rippling in a stream.
  4. A crafty turn or twist; a wile.
Wimple2v.[OED1]WW04-14
  1. Trans. To envelope in a wimple.
  2. Fig. To veil, cover.
  3. Fig. transf. To enfold, enwrap, wrap up.
  4. Pass. Intr. To fall in folds.
  5. Pass. To be stretched like a wimple or veil.
  6. Pass. Of a stream: to meander, twist and turn; also, to ripple.
  7. To move shiftily or unsteadily.