Gua sha

Gua sha (Chinese: 刮痧; pinyin: guā shā), literally "to scrape away fever" in Chinese (more loosely, "to scrape away disease by allowing the disease to escape as sandy-looking objects through the skin"), is a form of folk medicine. Sometimes referred to as "spooning" or "coining" by English speakers, it has also been given the descriptive French name, "tribo-effleurage".

Hungarumlaut

The double acute accent ( ˝ ) is a diacritic mark of the Latin script. It is used primarily in written Hungarian, and consequently is sometimes referred to as Hungarumlaut, a portmanteau of Hungarian umlaut. The signs formed with diacritic marks are letters in their own right in the Hungarian alphabet (for instance, they are separate letters for the purpose of collation).

moliminous

moliminous (not comparable)

1. (now rare, archaic) Momentous, weighty.
2. (now rare, archaic) Laborious, involving or exerting great effort; arduous.

poculation

poculation

Poculation is the drinking of alcoholic beverages. Imbibing.

Ecofascism

Ecofascism, can be used in two different ways:

1. The term is used as a pejorative by political conservatives, centrists, and leftists to discredit deep ecology, mainstream environmentalism, radical environmentalism and other ecological positions.
2. As a self label used somewhat less commonly by various white nationalist and third positionist groups who incorporate environmentalist positions into their ideology.

Deep ecology

Deep ecology is a contemporary ecological philosophy distinguished by its advocacy of the inherent worth of living beings regardless of their instrumental utility to human needs. Deep ecology argues that the natural world is a subtle balance of complex inter-relationships in which the existence of organisms are dependent on the existence of others within ecosystems. Human interference with or destruction of the natural world poses a threat therefore not only to humans but to all organisms constituting the natural order.

Biocentrism

Biocentrism (Greek: βίος, bio, "life"; and κέντρον, kentron, "center"), in a political and ecological sense, is an ethical point of view which extends inherent value to non-human species, ecosystems, and processes in nature - regardless of their sentience. It stands in contrast to anthropocentrism which centers on the value of humans.

4X

4X games are a genre of strategy video game in which players control an empire and "explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate". The term was first coined by Alan Emrich in his September 1993 preview of Master of Orion for Computer Gaming World. Since then, others have adopted the term to describe games of similar scope and design.

4X games are noted for their deep, complex gameplay. Emphasis is placed upon economic and technological development, as well as a range of non-military routes to supremacy. Games can take a long time to complete since the amount of micromanagement needed to sustain an empire scales as the empire grows. 4X games are sometimes criticized for becoming tedious for these reasons, and several games have attempted to address these concerns by limiting micromanagement with varying degrees of success.

The earliest 4X games borrowed ideas from board games and 1970s text-based computer games. The first 4X games were turn-based, but real-time 4X games are not uncommon. Many 4X games were published in the mid-1990s, but were later outsold by other types of strategy games. Sid Meier's Civilization is an important example from this formative era, and popularized the level of detail that later became a staple of the genre. In the new millennium, several 4X releases have become critically and commercially successful.

susurrus

susurrus (plural susurruses)

(literary) A whispering or rustling sound; a murmur.

Onomatopoeic; from Latin susurrus (“a humming, whispering”); likely from an older echoic word.

trotline

A trotline is a heavy fishing line with baited hooks attached at intervals by means of branch lines called snoods. A snood is a short length of line which is attached to the main line using a clip or swivel, with the hook at the other end. A trotline can be set so it covers the width of a channel, river, or stream with baited hooks and can be left unattended. There are many ways to set a trotline, with most methods involving weights to hold the cord below the surface of the water. They are used for catching crabs or fish (particularly catfish). Trotlines should be used with caution as they are illegal in many states.

corf

A corf (pl. corves) or corve (pl. corves) is a basket of net, chicken wire or similar materials, used to contain live fish or crustaceans (such as crayfish) underwater, at docks or in fishing boats. Corfs were used formerly to keep captured or grown fish live and fresh for consumption. Today, corfs used this purpose have commonly been replaced by refrigeration and freezing.

The word in mining also meant a small wagon for carrying coal, ore, etc., or a wicker basket formerly used for this purpose.

shandy

A shandy, or shandygaff, is beer mixed with citrus-flavored soda, carbonated lemonade, ginger beer, ginger ale, or cider. The proportions of the two ingredients are adjusted to taste, normally half-and-half. There are also non-alcoholic shandies known as "rock shandies".

A shandy containing beer and cider is called a Snakebite.

In some parts of the United Kingdom, the word "shandy" is also used colloquially as a euphemism for "alcoholic drink". To say that someone "had a few shandies" does not necessarily mean that he drank shandies exclusively, or at all. Rather, it is implied that he drank a large quantity of alcohol.

Spasticity

Spasticity is a feature of altered skeletal muscle performance in muscle tone involving hypertonia; it is also referred to as an unusual "tightness", stiffness, and/or "pull" of muscles. The word spasm comes from the Greek word, σπασμός (spasmos), meaning to pull or drag.

Clinically spasticity is defined as velocity dependent resistance to stretch, where a lack of inhibition results in excessive contraction of the muscles, ultimately leading to hyperflexia (overly flexed joints). It mostly occurs in disorders of the central nervous system (CNS) impacting the upper motor neuron in the form of a lesion, such as spastic diplegia, but it can also present in various types of multiple sclerosis, where it occurs as a symptom of the progressively-worsening attacks on myelin sheaths and is thus unrelated to the types of spasticity present in neuromuscular cerebral palsy rooted spasticity disorders.

pteridophyte

The pteridophytes are vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that produce neither flowers nor seeds, and are hence called vascular cryptogams. Instead, they reproduce and disperse only via spores. Pteridophytes include horsetails, ferns, club mosses, and quillworts. They are used for medicinal purposes, as soil -binders, and are frequently planted as ornamentals.

Quipus

Quipus (or khipus), sometimes called talking knots, were recording devices historically used in the region of Andean South America. A quipu usually consisted of colored, spun, and plied thread or strings from llama or alpaca hair. It could also be made of cotton cords. The cords contained numeric and other values encoded by knots in a base ten positional system. Quipus might have just a few or up to 2,000 cords.

Dhow

Dhow (Arabic داو dāw) is the generic name of a number of traditional sailing vessels with one or more masts with lateen sails used in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean region. Historians are divided as to whether the dhow was invented by Arabs. Typically sporting long thin hulls, dhows are trading vessels primarily used to carry heavy items, like fruit, fresh water or merchandise, along the coasts of the Arabian Peninsula, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and East Africa. Larger dhows have crews of approximately thirty, smaller ones typically around twelve.

gyve

gyve (plural gyves)

A shackle or fetter, especially for the leg.

bailiwick

A bailiwick is usually the area of jurisdiction of a bailiff, and may also apply to a territory in which the sheriff's functions were exercised by a privately appointed bailiff under a royal or imperial writ. The word is now more generally used in a metaphorical sense, to indicate a sphere of authority, experience, activity, study or interest. A bailiwick (German: “Ballei”) was also the territorial division of the Teutonic Order. Here, various “Komtur(en)” formed a Ballei province.

The term survives in administrative usage in the British Crown dependencies of the Channel Islands, which for administrative purposes are grouped into the two bailiwicks of Jersey (comprising the island of Jersey and uninhabited islets such as the Minquiers and Écréhous) and Guernsey (comprising the islands of Guernsey, Sark, Alderney, Brecqhou, Herm, Jethou and Lihou). Each Channel Island bailiwick is headed by a Bailiff.

Coloratura

Coloratura has several meanings. The word is originally from Italian, literally meaning "coloring", and derives from the Latin word colorare ("to color"). When used in English, the term specifically refers to elaborate melody, particularly in vocal music and especially in operatic singing of the 18th and 19th centuries, with runs, trills, wide leaps, or similar virtuoso-like material. It is also now widely used to refer to passages of such music, operatic roles in which such music plays a prominent part, and singers of these roles. (See also bel canto.)

contrition

contrition

1. The state of being contrite; sincere penitence or remorse.
2. The act of grinding or rubbing to powder; attrition; friction; rubbing.

Fleurdelisé

The flag of Quebec, called the Fleurdelisé, was adopted for the province by the government of Quebec, during the administration of Maurice Duplessis. It was the first provincial flag officially adopted in Canada, first shown on January 21, 1948, at the Parliament Building of the National Assembly in Quebec City. Quebec's Flag Day—January 21—commemorates its adoption each year, though for some time it was celebrated in May. At least one parade marked the flag's 60th anniversary in January 2008.

Argyria

Argyria (from Greek: ἄργυρος argyros silver + -ia) is a condition caused by improper exposure to chemical forms of the element silver, silver dust, or silver compounds. The most dramatic symptom of argyria is that the skin becomes blue or bluish-grey colored. Argyria may be found as generalized argyria or local argyria. Argyrosis is the corresponding condition related to the eye.

dux

dux (plural duxes or duces)

1. (UK) The top academic student in a school, or in a year of school; the top student in a specified academic discipline.
2. (historical) A high-ranking commander in the Roman army, responsible for more than one legion.

Usufruct

Usufruct is a right of enjoyment enabling a holder to derive profit or benefit from property that either is titled to another person or which is held in common ownership, as long as the property is not damaged or destroyed. In many usufructory property systems, such as the traditional ejido system in Mexico, individuals or groups may only acquire the usufruct of the property, not legal title.

frontispiece

In architecture, a frontispiece is the combination of elements that frame and decorate the main, or front, door to a building. The term is especially used when the main entrance is the chief face of the building rather than being kept behind columns or a portico. Early German churches often employed frontispieces to hide the aisles and nave. In Kentucky, the frontispieces of Georgian buildings characteristically feature a lunette above the door and colonettes on either side. In Chiapas, frontispieces are typically elongated.

frontispiece

A frontispiece in books generally refers to a decorative illustration facing a book's title page, being the verso opposite the recto title page.

The word originates from the French word frontispice, which was originally an architectural term referring to the decorative facade of a building. In the 1600s, the French term came to refer to the title pages in books, which were often decorated at the time with intricate engravings that borrowed stylistic elements from architecture, such as columns and pediments. Over the course of the 16th century, the title pages of books came to be accompanied by illustrations on their reverse page and the term took on the meaning it retains today as early as 1682. By then, the English spelling had also morphed from frontispice to frontispiece.

pannier

pannier (plural panniers)

1. A large basket or bag fastened, usually in pairs, to the back of a bicycle or pack animal, or carried in pairs over the shoulders.
2. A decorative basket for the display of flowers or fruits.

From French panier, from Latin pānārium (“a bread basket”), from pānis (“bread”).

andiron

An andiron (older form anderne; med. Lat. andena, anderia) is a horizontal iron bar upon which logs are laid for burning in an open fireplace. They are usually used in pairs to build up a firedog, sometimes called a dog or dog-iron. In older eras (e.g. sixteenth to eighteenth century AD) andirons were also used as a rest for a roasting spit or sometimes had a cup shaped top to hold porridge. The earliest andirons were forged from wrought iron.

fireback

A fireplace fireback is a piece of heavy cast iron, sized in proportion to the fireplace and the fire, which is placed against the back wall of the fireplace.

naff

naff

British slang, today meaning uncool, tacky, unfashionable, worthless... or as a softer expletive, in places where one might use "fuck" as in "naff off", "naff all", "naffing about".

Integument

"Integument", as a word, derives from the Latin "integumentum", which literally means "a covering". In transferred or figurative senses, it could mean a cloak or a disguise. In English "integument" is a fairly modern word, its origin having been traced back to the early seventeenth century. It can mean a material or layer with which anything is enclosed, clothed, or covered in the sense of "clad" or "coated", as with a skin or husk.

As a general term in biology the word "integument" refers most commonly to the natural covering of an organism or an organ, such as its skin, husk, shell, or rind.

In botany the senses are similar to those in zoology, referring to the covering of an organ, but when the context indicates nothing to the contrary, the word commonly refers to an envelope of one or more cell layers covering the ovule, leaving only a pore, the micropyle, through which the pollen tube can enter. It also can refer to the testa, or seed coat.

The integument of an organ in zoology typically would comprise membranes of connective tissue such as those around a kidney or liver. In referring to the integument of an animal, the usual sense is its skin and its derivatives: the integumentary system, where "integumentary" is a simile for "cutaneous".