Pam Webb

a writer's journey as a reader

Archive for the tag “OED”

08 Apr 2026
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Word Nerd: Guilty of Definitions


There are novels that are infused with such a delightful new-to-me words that I end up frequently interrupting my reading to look up the definitions. I am guilty of word collecting. I cannot do the Linus quirk of skipping over words I am unfamiliar with upon discovery.

Some authors like Mcall-Smith of The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency are quite adept at inserting the occasional stumper. It’s par for the course to come across a rich lexicon when reading classic novels such as Jane Eyre (I kept entire page dedicated to collecting her vocabulary).

Collecting words is what makes a Word Nerds heart go skippety skip and so it sheer delight to discover Susie Dent’s Guilty by Definition. The setting is a renowned dictionary establishment in Oxford (yes, it does ring a bell). It isn’t long before this band of erudite editors start sleuthing. Amateur detectives are not unique. What makes Dent’s book standout is her ability to surreptitiously weave in weighty words and archaic delights not only as chapter headers but within the text. They impressively serve as foreshadowing while providing a witty lexicon lesson.

Here are a few textual examples I jotted down while reading:

  • falsedict: an untrue utterance 
  • mountweazel: fictitious entry in a dictionary 
  • vellichor: the musty smell of old books 
  • apricity: the warmth of sun on a winter’s day
  • respair: recovering from despair 
  • kything: the recognition of old friends in a crowd 
  • bellywengins: a small beer
  • dallop: the missed patch of ground by the plow
  • rackups: consequences of ill-doing
  • sonder: the realization other people have rich and complicated lives we will never know
  • susurrus: low soft whispering or low rustling 
  • mubble-fubbles: eve of something unpleasant dose of the blues
  • tidsoptomist: a time optimist
  • finifugal: not wanting the story to end; stalling the ending; drawing it out

Aren’t they delightful?

Words by Definition absolutely created a feeling of finifugal. Fortunately, the dictionary detectives are rumored to appear in a sequel.

Can’t wait. My Word Nerd heart awaits in anticipation.

Posted in reflections and tagged , , , , , , , ,
07 Jul 2025
4 Comments

Word Nerds: A Little Word with Big Meaning


Quick quiz:

Which three letter word sports the current title of having the most definitions?

A. lie

B. set

C. run

Lie?

Sorry—only two : to tell something that is untrue or to assume a horizontal position.

I’m not lying about not taking word knowledge lying down

Set?

Previously the champ, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED—THE leading dictionary) tagged it with 200 meanings, starting with the expected “put or lay something down” and then running on for another 32 pages with various meaning. Speaking of run—

Run?

Congratulations on this pick as the OED folk have determined that this little word carries a whopping 645 definitions. Impressive, right?

Here’s a sample (taken from RD.com)

When you run a fever, for example, those three letters have a very different meaning than when you run a bath to treat it, or when your bathwater subsequently runs over and drenches your cotton bath runner, forcing you to run out to the store and buy a new one. There, you run up a bill of $85 because besides a rug and some cold medicine, you also need some thread to fix the run in your stockings and some tissue for your runny nose and a carton of milk because you’ve run through your supply at home, and all this makes dread run through your soul because your value-club membership runs out at the end of the month and you’ve already run over your budget on last week’s grocery run when you ran over a nail in the parking lot and now your car won’t even run properly because whatever idiot runs that Walmart apparently lets his custodial staff run amok and you know you’re letting your inner monologue run on and on but, gosh—you’d do things differently if you ran the world. (And breathe). Maybe you should run for office.

And I have run the course on this post. Until next time.

Running out of what else to add to this post
Posted in education, humor, reflections, teaching, Words and tagged , ,

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