Listen to this episode at theallusionist.org/randomlyselectedwords
This is the Allusionist, in which I, Helen Zaltzman, have been learning about and talking about language for ten years. A full ten years since this show launched, with two episodes, about bras and puns… So much has happened in podland over the ten years. There was a boom! Shows getting bought for tens of millions of dollars! (But not this one.) Then after the boom, the bust: companies and shows perished - but not this one. Still hoofing along.
To celebrate this decadeversary, I am…taking a break. The show will be back in early May 2025 with new episodes - also if there are any topics from the past episodes that you’d like me to revisit, let me know. I’ve got some exciting updates already bubbling away.
Also during the break, there will be an Allusionist piece called Souvenirs broadcasting on BBC Radio 4 sometime in March. And there will be the return of my other podcast Answer Me This, with new episodes the last Thursday of each month; and things will be keeping lively in the Allusioverse throughout the break, with fortnightly relaxing livestreams with me and my dictionaries, including this weekend, open to all at youtube.com/allusionistshow.
But with paying members of the Allusioverse, we’re watching the new season of Great Pottery Throwdown together, and soon Cold Comfort Farm. And we socialise in the Allusioverse Discord community where members are designing their own heraldic coats of arms, they’re learning weaving, they’re sharing podcast and TV and book recommendations, and supporting one another through this existence. Join us via theallusionist.org/donate. And if you just want to sign up on a free account, you will get very occasional email updates from me about what is happening with the show. So if you want to be reminded in May that this show still exists, that’s another option.
Today’s episode is in the Tranquillusionist style, to give your brain a break while I say words that are not too consequential over a soothing backing track. And this time, the words are all the randomly selected words from the dictionary from every episode of the show, in reverse chronological order. If you’ve never made it to the end of the show, you’ve missed all the randomly selected words from the dictionary; but here they are, united. As always there’s a transcript of the episode at theallusionist.org and if you’re curious about any of the spellings, head over there.
Let’s get on with all the randomly selected words from the dictionary today.
bine, noun: a long, flexible stem of a climbing plant, especially the hop.
yarborough, noun: (in bridge or whist) a hand with no card above a nine.
nomological, adjective: relating to or denoting natural laws which are neither logically necessary nor theoretically explicable, but just are so.
grampus, noun: 1. a killer whale or other cetacean of the dolphin family. 2. British, dated: someone or something breathing loudly and heavily.
jobbery, noun: the practice of using a public office or position of trust for one's own gain or advantage.
opsimath, noun: poetic/literary: a person who begins to learn or study only late in life.
ventifact, noun, geology: a stone shaped by the erosive action of wind-blown sand.
dewclaw, noun: a rudimentary inner toe present in some dogs; a false hoof on an animal such as a deer, which is formed by its rudimentary side toes.
scute, noun, zoology: a thickened horny or bony plate on a turtle's shell or on the back of a crocodile, stegosaurus, etc.
detritivore, noun, zoology: an animal which feeds on dead organic material, especially plant detritus.
univocal, adjective, philosophy and linguistics: having only one possible meaning; unambiguous.
anserine, adjective: of or like a goose.
famulus, noun, historical: an assistant or servant, especially one working for a magician or scholar.
marcescent, adjective, botany: (of leaves or fronds) withering but remaining attached to the stem.
timocracy, noun, chiefly philosophy: 1. a form of government in which possession of property is required in order to hold office. 2. a form of government in which rulers are motivated by ambition or love of honour.
lunula, noun, 1. the white area at the base of a fingernail; 2. a crescent shaped Bronze Age ornament.
edaphic, adjective: ecology of, produced by, or influenced by the soil.
regulus, noun, chemistry, archaic: a metallic form of a substance, obtained by smelting or reduction.
haecceity, noun, philosophy: 1. the quality of a thing that makes it unique or describable as this (one). 2. individuality.
whim-wham, noun, archaic: 1. a quaint and decorative object; a trinket. 2. a whim.
blunge, verb: mix (clay or other materials) with water in a revolving apparatus, for use in ceramics.
pavage, noun, historical: a tax or toll to cover the paving of streets.
cachalot, noun: another term for sperm whale.
yaw, verb (of a moving ship or aircraft): twist or oscillate about a vertical axis. Noun: twisting or oscillation of a moving ship or aircraft about a vertical axis.
obelize, verb: mark (a spurious or doubtful word or passage) with an obelus.
kenning, noun: a compound expression in Old English and Old Norse poetry with metaphorical meaning, e.g. oar-steed = ship.
nival, adjective: of or relating to regions of perpetual snow.
spifflicate, verb, informal/humorous: destroy or defeat utterly.
geniculate, geniculated, adjective: bent like a knee; jointed; knotted; verb transitive: geniculate, to form joints in; noun: geniculation.
veridical, adjective: truth-telling; coinciding with fact; (of a dream or vision) corresponding exactly with what has happened or with what happens later; seemingly true to fact.
jetton, noun: a counter or token used as a gambling chip or to operate slot machines.
apport, noun: an object produced supposedly by occult means at a seance.
muid, noun: an old French measure for capacity; a hogshead, a dry measure for corn etc. South Africa: a sack of three bushels.
tret, noun, historical: an allowance of extra weight made to purchasers of certain goods to compensate for waste during transportation.
figurant, noun: a supernumerary actor who has little or nothing to say.
urinant, adjective, heraldry: diving, head down. Noun: urinator, a diver.
ruelle, noun: the space between a bed and the wall; a bed-chamber where aristocratic French women held receptions in the 17th and 18th century; a morning reception; in France, a narrow lane.
bum-bailiff, noun, historical, derogatory: a bailiff who collected debts or arrested debtors.
locorestive, (Lamb) adjective: staying in one place. Humorously modelled on locomotive, from Latin restare, to stay still.
zonda, noun: a hot dusty north wind in Argentina.
embrave, verb transitive: to make showy, to decorate (Spenser); to inspire with bravery.
quadrivium, noun: a medieval university course comprising arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. Origin: Latin, literally “the place where four roads meet.”
Like ‘trivia’, the place where three roads meet.
dittography, noun: unintentional repetition of words or letters by a scribe or printer in copying a manuscript.
washin, noun, aeronautics: an increase in the angle of incidence of an aeroplane wing towards the tip.
hyperbaton, noun, rhetoric: an inversion of the normal order of words, especially for emphasis, as in, “This I must see.”
celsitude, noun: loftiness.
prosopopoeia, noun: a figure of speech in which an abstract thing is personified or an imagined or absent person is represented as speaking.
kype, noun: a hook formed on the lower jaw of adult male salmon and trout during the breeding season.
spitchcock, noun: an eel that has been split and grilled or fried. Verb: (to spitchcock) prepare (an eel or other fish) this way.
immanent, adjective: existing or operating within; (of God) permanently pervading the universe. Often contrasted with ‘transcendent’.
yips, plural noun, informal: extreme nervousness causing a golfer to miss easy putts.
grilse, noun: a salmon that has returned to fresh water after a single winter at sea.
meatus, noun, anatomy: the opening of a passage or canal.
theurgy, noun: 1. The operation or effect of a supernatural or divine agency in human affairs. 2. A system of white magic practised by the early Neoplatonists.
autotelic, adjective: (of an activity or creative work) having an end or purpose in itself.
fleer, verb, poetic/literary: laugh impudently or jeeringly. Noun, archaic: an impudent or jeering look or speech.
nuncupative, adjective, law (of a will or testament): declared orally, especially by a mortally wounded soldier or sailer.
rale, noun (usually rales), medicine: an abnormal rattling sound heard when examining unhealthy lungs with a stethoscope.
ultradian, adjective, physiology: recurring more than once a day (but less than once an hour). Compare with ‘infradian’.
bunt, 1. noun: the baggy centre of a fishing net or a sail.
2. noun: a disease of wheat caused by a smut fungus, the spores of which smell of rotten fish.
3. Verb, 1: baseball (of a batter) gently tap (a pitched ball) so that it does not roll beyond the infield.
2. Butt with the head or horns. Noun, baseball: an act of bunting a ball.
exciton, noun, physics: a mobile concentration of energy in a crystal formed by an excited electron and an associated hole.
The romance!
lactometer, noun: an instrument for measuring the density of milk.
nootropic, adjective: denoting drugs used to enhance memory or other cognitive functions.
deltiologist, noun: a person who collects postcards as a hobby.
jouk, verb, Scottish or Northen English: turn or bend quickly to avoid something.
comedo, noun: technical term for ‘blackhead’. Origin 19th century from Latin, literally ‘glutton’ (a former name for parasitic worms, the term now refers to the matter squeezed from a blackhead).
obelus, noun:
- Ah, the thing for doing the obelizing we heard about earlier -
a symbol †
- like a vertically elongated cross -
used as a reference mark in printed matter, or to indicate that a person is deceased. 2. A mark (- or ÷) used in ancient manuscripts to mark a word or passage as spurious or doubtful.
popple, chiefly archaic, verb: (of water) flow in a tumbling or rippling way. Noun: a rolling or rippling of water.
hippuric, adjective: denoting an acid, first obtained from the urine of horses, occurring in the urine of many animals, particularly in that of herbivores and rarely in that of human beings.
karoshi, noun (Japanese): death caused by overwork.
gastrolith, noun: 1. Zoology: a small stone swallowed by a bird, reptile or fish to aid digestion in the gizzard. 2. Medicine: a hard concretion in the stomach.
tribometer, noun: an instrument for measuring friction in sliding.
anaclitic, adjective, psychoanalysis: relating to or characterised by a strong emotional dependence on another or others. Origin 1920s: from Greek anaklitos ‘for reclining’.
fartlek, noun, athletics: a system of training for distance runners in which the terrain and pace are continually varied. Origin 1940s, from Swedish: ‘fart’ meaning speed + ‘lek’ meaning play.
saros, noun, astronomy: a period of about 18 years between repetitions of solar and lunar eclipses.
exuviae, plural noun, also treated as singular; zoology: the cast or sloughed skin of an animal, especially of an insect larva.
wabbit: adjective, Scottish: exhausted or slightly unwell.
intrigant, noun: a person who plots something illicit or harmful.
metachrosis, noun, zoology: the ability of some animals, eg chameleons, to change colour.
borborygmus, noun, technical: a rumbling noise made by fluid or gas in the intestines.
vatic, adjective, poetic/literary: predicting what will happen in the future.
libration, noun, astronomy: an apparent or real oscillation of the moon, by which parts near the edge of the disc that are often not visible from the earth sometimes come into view.
rhyton, noun: an ancient Greek drinking container in the form of an animal’s head or a horn, with the drinking hole at the lower or pointed end.
noria, noun, a device for raising water from a stream, consisting of a chain of buckets revolving round a wheel driven by the current.
patulous, adjective, rare: spreading wide, like the branches of a tree.
yarak, noun, (of a trained hawk): fit and in proper condition for hunting.
haplology, noun: the omission of one occurrence of a sound or syllable which is repeated within a word (eg. in February pronounced ‘/’fɛbri/’).
drabble, verb, archaic: make wet and dirty in muddy water.
oneiromancy, noun: the interpretation of dreams in order to foretell the future.
skimmington, noun, historical: a procession intended to ridicule and make an example of a nagging wife or an unfaithful husband.
gloze, verb, archaic: 1. make excuses for; 2. use ingratiating or fawning language; 3. make a comment or comments.
catoptric, adjective, physics: of or relating to a mirror or reflection.
urticate, verb: sting or prickle like a burn from a nettle.
quire, noun: 1. Four sheets of paper or parchment folded to form eight leaves, as in medieval manuscripts. 2. Any collection of leaves one within another in a manuscript or book. 3. 25 (formerly 24) sheets of paper; one twentieth of a ream.
malversation, noun, formal: 1. corrupt behaviour in a position of trust; 2. corrupt administration (of public money etc).
fictile, adjective: made of clay by a potter; of or relating to pottery.
auscultation, noun: the action of listening to sounds from the heart, lungs, or other organs with a stethoscope.
estovers, plural noun, chiefly historical: the right to take wood for fuel, repairs, or other necessary purpose from land which one doesn’t own, especially land of which one is the tenant or lessee.
ichor, noun: 1. Greek mythology: the fluid said to flow like blood in the veins of the gods. 2. Archaic: a watery fetid discharge from a wound.
very different fluids!
velleity, noun, formal: a wish or inclination not strong enough to lead to action.
jouissance, noun, French, formal: pleasure.
rantipole, archaic noun: a foolish, reckless person.
theriac, noun: antidote to venomous bites etc.
nacelle, noun: 1. The outer casing on an aircraft engine; 2. chiefly historical: the car on an airship.
gyrus, noun: a ridge or fold on the cerebral surface in the brain.
tatpurusha, noun: a class of compound words in which the first element modifies the second by standing to it in various types of relationship, eg possession, as in goatskin, location, as in fieldmouse, as the object of an action, as in guitar-player, and as agent, as in man-made; a compound of this class.
latration, noun (usually facetious): barking.
muricate, adjective: rough or warty with short sharp points.
decoct, verb: to prepare by boiling; to extract the substance by boiling; to boil; to devise.
wasm, noun: an outmoded policy, belief, theory, doctrine or enthusiasm, an ism of the past.
omnicompetent, adjective: able to deal with all matters or solve all problems.
bricole, noun: a medieval catapult for hurling stones; the rebound of a ball from the wall of a real tennis court; a similar stroke in billiards; a rebound.
keraunograph, noun: an instrument for recording distant thunderstorms.
utricle, noun: a little bag, bladder or cell (biology); a bladder-like envelope of some fruits (botany); a chamber in the inner ear (zoology).
purfle, verb transitive: to ornament the edge of, eg with embroidery or inlay. Noun, purfling: a decorative border, especially around the edges of a violin.
halteres, noun, entomology: the rudimentary hind-wings of flies, used to maintain balance in flight.
scytale, noun: a Spartan secret writing on a strip wound around a stick, unreadable without a stick of the same thickness.
embouchure, noun: 1. Music: the way in which a player applies the mouth and tongue in playing a brass or wind instrument. 2. Archaic: the mouth of a river.
almacantar, noun, astronomy: a circle of altitude, parallel to the horizon; an instrument for determining a star’s passage across an almacantar.
ostrakon, noun: a potsherd or tile, especially one used in ostracism in Greece or for writing on in ancient Egypt.
cancrine, adjective: crab-wise; (of verses etc) reading both ways, palindromic.
thridace, noun: inspissated lettuce juice used eg as a sedative.
floruit, noun: a period during which a person flourished, was most active, produced most works, etc.
liripipe or liripoop, noun: the long tail of a graduate’s hood; a part or lesson committed to memory; a silly person.
Those are three quite different meanings!
hesternal, adjective: of yesterday.
quillet, noun: a subtlety in argument; a quibble.
wayzgoose, noun: a printers’ annual dinner or picnic.
kalpa, noun: (in Hindu and Buddhist tradition) the period between the creation and end of the world, reckoned as 4,320 million years, and considered as the day of Brahma.
xoanon, noun: (in ancient Greece) a primitive wooden image of a deity.
inselberg, noun, geology: an isolated hill rising abruptly from a plane.
gynarchy, noun: rule by women or a woman.
plantigrade, adjective: (of a mammal) walking on the soles of the feet, like a human or bear.
rangle, noun, rare: gravel given to a hawk to improve its digestion.
braccate, adjective: having feathered legs or feet.
I failed to notice from one episode to another that there’s this bird connection.
jougs, noun: a hinged iron collar chained to a wall or post, used in medieval Scotland as a punishment.
ylem, noun (astronomy, in the Big Bang Theory): the primordial matter of the universe originally conceived as composed of neutrons at high temperature and density.
nyctophobia, noun: extreme or irrational fear of the night or of darkness.
midinette, noun: a seamstress in a Paris fashion house. Origin: French, from midi ‘midday’ + dinette ‘light dinner’, because only a short break was taken for lunch.
eudaemonic, adjective: conducive to happiness.
pudeur, noun: a sense of shame or embarrassment, especially with regards to matters of a sexual or personal nature.
dromos, noun: an avenue or passage leading into an Ancient Greek temple or tomb.
vigesimal, adjective: relating to or based on the number twenty.
howbeit, adverb, archaic: nevertheless.
ubac, noun, geography: a mountain slope which receives little sunshine.
ambivert, noun: a person who has a balance of extrovert and introvert features in their personality.
satyagraha, noun: passive political resistance, especially as advocated by Mahatma Ghandi against British rule in India.
frisket, noun: (in painting or crafts) an adhesive substance or stencil used to cover areas of a surface on which paint is not wanted.
zoolatry, noun, rare: the worship of animals.
omophagy, noun: the eating of raw food, especially raw meat.
trudgen, noun, a swimming stroke like the crawl with a scissor movement of the legs.
drabble, verb: make wet and dirty in muddy water.
We’ve had ‘drabble’ twice! Helen! That’s a spreadsheet fail!
logomachy, noun: an argument about words.
Can you imagine such a thing!
ubiety, noun; poetic/literary: the condition of being in a definite place.
fogou, noun, archaeology: a form of artificial underground passage or chamber found in Cornwall.
naiant, adjective, heraldry: (of a fish or marine creature) swimming horizontally.
xerophyte, noun, botany: a plant which needs very little water.
jink, 1. verb: change direction suddenly and nimbly; 2. noun: a sudden quick change of direction.
caponier, noun: a covered passage across a ditch round a fort.
quinella, noun: a bet predicting the first two places in a race, but not necessarily in the right order.
yean, verb, archaic: (of a sheep or goat) give birth to (a lamb or kid).
byblow, noun, dated: a man’s illegitimate child.
proem, noun, formal: a preface or preamble to a book or speech.
kriegspiel, noun: 1. A war game in which blocks representing armies are moved around on maps; 2. A form of chess with an umpire, in which each player has only limited information about the opponent’s moves.
remuage, noun: the periodic turning or shaking of bottled wine, especially champagne, to move sediment towards the cork.
halation, noun: the spreading of light to form a fog round the edges of a bright image in a photograph or on a television screen.
aglet, noun: a metal or plastic tube fixed tightly round each end of a shoelace.
tritagonist, noun, the person who is third in importance after the protagonist and deuteragonist, in an ancient Greek drama.
debridement, noun, medicine: the removal of damaged tissue or foreign objects from a wound.
hutment, noun, military: an encampment of huts.
nuchal, adjective, anatomy: of or relating to the nape of the neck.
zeugma, noun: a figure of speech in which a word applies to two others in different senses (eg “John and his driving licence expired last week”).
Wait, what? That seems glib - John’s dead? There’s got to be a better example of zeugma than that.
cachinnate, verb, poetic/literary: to laugh loudly.
levant, verb, British, archaic: abscond leaving unpaid debts.
vibrissae, plural noun, zoology: long stiff hairs growing around the mouth or elsewhere on the face of many mammals; whiskers.
moniliform, adjective, zoology and botany: resembling a string of beads.
jugulate, verb, archaic: kill by cutting the throat.
usufruct, noun, Roman law: the right to enjoy the use of another's property short of the destruction or waste of its substance.
stramineous, adjective: strawy; light, worthless; straw-coloured.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen or heard ‘strawy’ before, the adjective for being straw-like.
comity, noun: 1. An association of nations for their mutual benefit. 2. Formal: courtesy and considerate behaviour towards others.
galactagogue, noun, medicine: a food or drug that promotes the flow of a mother’s milk.
pronk, verb, of an antelope: leap in the air with an arched back and stiff legs.
xeric, adjective, ecology: containing little moisture; very dry.
frowst, noun: a warm stuffy atmosphere in a room. Verb: lounge about in such an atmosphere.
misprision, noun: the deliberate concealment of one’s knowledge of a crime.
rowel, noun: a spiked revolving disc at the end of a spur.
linstock, noun: a long pole used to hold a match to fire a cannon.
yarak, noun (of a trained hawk) -
Again?? Helen!! There’re so many words in the dictionary; ‘yarak’ made it in twice??
quadrumanous, adjective, zoology, dated: (of primates) having all four feet modified as hands, i.e. having opposable digits.
flockmaster, noun: a sheep farmer.
spavin, noun: a disorder of a horse’s hock.
extraposition, noun, grammar: the placing of a word or group of words outside or at the end of a clause, while retaining the sense, eg ‘it’s no use crying over spilt milk’.
illywhacker, noun, Australian, informal: a small-time confidence trickster.
afferent, physiology, adjective: relating to or denoting the conduction of nerve impulses or blood inwards or towards something. The opposite of efferent.
kobold, noun (in Germanic mythology): a spirit who haunts houses or lives underground.
horst, noun, geology: a raised elongated block of the earth’s crust lying between two faults.
Welsh onion, noun, an Asian onion that forms clusters of slender bulbs which resemble spring onions.
occiput, noun, anatomy: the back of the head.
jacquerie, noun: a communal uprising or revolt.
decrepitate, verb, technical (of a solid): disintegrate audibly when heated.
poetaster, noun: one who writes inferior poetry.
gleet, noun: a watery discharge from the urethra caused by gonorrheal infection.
toxophilite, noun: a student or lover of archery; adjective, of or relating to archers and archery.
imagineer, noun: a person who devises a highly imaginative concept or technology, especially the attractions in Walt Disney theme parks.
emolument, noun: a salary, fee or benefit from employment or office.
virga, plural virgae, meteorology: a mass of streaks of rain appearing to hang under a cloud and evaporating before reaching the ground.
kloof, noun, South African: a wooded ravine or valley.
congeries, noun: a disorderly collection.
extrados, noun: the upper or outer curve of an arch. Often contrasted with intrados.
pismire, noun: ant. From the Middle English ‘piss’ (alluding to the smell of an anthill) - and obscure ‘mire’, meaning ant.
nombril, noun, heraldic: the point halfway between fess point and the base of the shield.
waterbrash, noun: a sudden flow of saliva associated with indigestion.
osculum, noun: a large aperture in a sponge through which water is expelled.
caprine, adjective: related to or resembling a goat or goats.
skelf, noun, Scottish: 1. a splinter or sliver; 2. informal: an annoying person.
maskinonge, noun: another term for ‘muskellunge;. Muskellunge, noun: a large pike that only occurs in the Great Lakes region of North America.
bavardage, noun, rare: idle gossip.
limnology, noun: the study of lakes and other bodies of fresh water.
And finally, way back from episode 1:
gralloch, noun: the entrails of a dead deer. Verb: disembowel (a deer that has been shot).
Those were your randomly selected words from the dictionary from the last decade.
Try using these in a very long email today.
I’m already making this Tranquillusionist out of date, because here’s your latest randomly selected word from the dictionary today…
yarak, noun - just kidding, just kidding. Your randomly selected word from the dictionary today is…
pricket, noun: 1. a male fallow deer in its second year, with straight, unbranched horns. 2. historical: a spike for holding a candle.
Try using ‘pricket’ in an email today.
This episode was produced by me, Helen Zaltzman, on the unceded ancestral and traditional territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, with original music by the singer and composer Martin Austwick of palebirdmusic.com.
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