esculent
"Esculent" is apparently a synonym for "edible." It's been appearing in print since 1626, but I only just encountered it for the first time in Wikipedia....
Archive for New-to-me Words
snib
To "snib" a door is to fasten or bar it. Just came across it in a submission; turns out to have been used by J. M. Barrie and Arthur Conan Doyle,...
organ of benevolence
I've never previously read A Christmas Carol. Happened across it in an iPhone edition recently, discovered that it's quite short (about 30,000 words—I had always assumed it was hundreds of...
go down a storm
Hadn't encountered this idiom before; apparently it means about the same thing as "go over well." (And not at all the same thing as "go down the storm drain.") I...
maieusiophilia
No word has any right to that many vowels. It means pregnancy fetishism....
fimbriation
You know how the Union Jack has those thin white borders on either side of each of the red stripes? Turns out there's a word for that: fimbriation, adding thin...
Deets
Three times in the past two or three days, I've heard people say "deets" for "details." And what they tell you three times is true, so I guess it must...
kuzbu
According to Wikipedia, "kuzbu" is "an Akkadian word which means 'seductive allure' or 'sexual appeal.'" Or, in the vernacular, "hotness." As in, "Whoa, his entire body is adorned with kuzbu."...
energumen
An "energumen" turns out to be a person possessed by an evil spirit, or someone who acts like they're possessed, or a fanatic. I'm now surprised that I haven't seen...
obnubilate
Thanks to Naomi B for my favorite word of the week. It means to becloud or obscure something. Example: "It is the pity of the world, Dr. McAdam, to see...