expergefacient, expergefaction, expergefactor – A synonym for awakening is expergefacient; expergefaction is waking up and an alarm clock is an expergefactor. More…
dysania – The state of having a hard time waking up and getting out of bed in the morning. More…
experrection – Waking up or awakening. More…
hypnagogic jerks, hypnopompic jerks – Hypnagogic jerks are the spasms that happen right when you fall asleep; hypnopompic jerks happen right when you are waking up. More…
rebus – A puzzle in which one must decode a message consisting of pictures representing syllables and words. More…
puzzle – Comes from Old French opposaile, “thing set before one,” “bewildering thing”; as a verb, it first meant “be beset by difficulties.” More…
cabobble – To mystify, puzzle, or confuse. More…
word search – A puzzle consisting of letters arranged in a grid which contains a number of hidden words written in various directions. More…
enatation – Escape by swimming. More…
butterfly stroke – In swimming, the stroke in which both arms are raised out of the water and lifted forward together. More…
shoal – A synonym for “school,” referring to a large number of fish swimming together. More…
supernatant – Means “swimming on the surface.” More…
droid – A robot in science fiction, it is a shortening of android. More…
death ray – Was a staple of (pulp) science fiction in the mid-20th century. More…
time warp – A concept that arose in the 1950s and originally applied to science fiction. More…
warp speed – Alludes to the use in science fiction, especially the speed used for interstellar travel in the science fiction television series Star Trek. More…
emancipate – Means “to free from legal, political, social control or restraint by others,” and “to free from bondage.” The word’s Latin elements are manus, “hand,” and capere, “to take,” and first meant “to release or set free.” More…
assassin – Thought by some to derive from an Arabic word meaning “hashish user,” as members of an Islamic sect in various countries during the time of the Crusades (13th century) ate hashish to intoxicate themselves before setting out to assasinate enemy leaders. More…
patriot – Greek pater, “father,” led to Latin patriota, “fellow countryman,” which was the original meaning of patriot when it came into English in the late 1500s. More…
country, nation – Both came into English c. 1330 and tend to be used interchangeably. Country comes from Latin contrata (terra), “the landscape in front of one, the landscape lying opposite to the view.” Nation is from Latin nation-/natio, “race, class of person.” More…
recognition mark – A distinctive one that makes an animal or bird easy to recognize by others of the same species. More…
cognizance – Latin gnoscene, “know,” begat cognoscere, “get to know; recognize,” and it moved through French connoissance to English to become cognizance. More…
sentence sense – The ability to recognize a grammatically complete sentence. More…
appreciate, recognize, understand – The use of “appreciate” should involve valuing something or understanding it sympathetically; when there is no value or sympathy, use “recognize” or “understand”; appreciate first meant “set at a price; appraised.” More…
nauscopy – The ability to sight land or ships at a distance. More…
spring a leak – First referred to ships, describing the way the timbers sprang out of position and let in water. More…
square meal – May derive from the square platters used for serving meals on ships. More…
longshoremen – When sailors passed goods from the ships to men along the shore, those men came to be called longshoremen. More…
subaudition – The act of understanding something that is implied but not overtly expressed; the act of reading between the lines or otherwise understanding a message that is implicit. More…
tacenda, tacit – Tacenda are things not to be mentioned or made public—things better left unsaid; tacit means “unspoken, silent” or “implied, inferred.” More…
ptarmic – Describing a substance that starts a sneezing bout. More…
early adopter – A person who starts using a technology or product as soon as it becomes available. More…
prolepsis – Anticipation before something starts is prolepsis. More…
start from scratch – Comes from giving handicaps to some competitors in racing; a contestant who starts from scratch (a line scratched in the turf or gravel) is the one who has no special advantage. More…