marmoreal
Carved like a gargoyle visage in the side of the wall, massive, marmoreal, except that a great rumbling low breath escaped from between its lips[....] --On, by Adam Roberts,...
tourbillon
[...] he was scarred, the skin twisted and pulled as if in fright. Or caught in a powerful wind; although [...] there was a dead, waxy gleam to the...
mile
Somehow it never occurred to me before (unless I've forgotten) to wonder about the etymology of the word "mile." In Adam Roberts's novel On, there's a moment when a character...
numeeja
[...] and remember the heady days when numeeja was all the rage. --Boo.com dusts down website for June relaunch, The Register, 24 January 2006 Never heard the term before....
shufti
A "shufti" is apparently a look at something, or a look around, as in "let's have a quick shufti at the specs" (from the Register, which uses the term regularly)....
cingulate gyrus
...we found increased activation in brain regions [including...] posterior cingulate gyrus activation in post-therapy response to forgivability judgments. [...] Empathic and forgivability judgments activate specific regions of the human...
dashpot
Dashpots are mechanical piston/cylinder devices used to control velocity, dampen vibration, or absorb end of stroke shock. Generically, they are devices that dissipate energy as heat by forcing a...
unitary executive
I ran across the phrase "unitary executive" in a transcript of a speech by Senator Edward Kennedy. Wikipedia says that the unitary executive theory "contends that [...] all of the...
zugzwang
In chess, zugzwang (German for "compulsion to move" [...]) occurs when one player is put at a disadvantage because he or she has to make a move--the player would...
tempura
Flemish artists used mixed tempura and oil painting during the 1400s[....] --Oil paint entry in Wikipedia, until 16 January 2006 I corrected this in the entry, of course, but...