What word have you looked up in a dictionary lately

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I love Cambridge's online dictionary. Anyway, they have a new look now. I noticed their "Top 20" for the first time today.

There is even a word that I have looked up lately on the list, that is ubiquitous. Nice to know that my ignorance is not unique!

― toraneko, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

its odd to see 9/11s influence.

― anthony, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Did you notice number 20?

Nick and I get the Big Dic off the shelf quite a lot to check on the meaning of words, but I can't remember the last one we searched for. We also use the Big Atlas quite a lot. It is fun. We are boffs.

― Madchen, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

i looked up "set" as in badger's set, cuz i tht it perhaps ought to be spelled w. two ts...

― mark s, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

the last word we looked up was favourite, to try and end a silly drunken arguement

― chris, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

'serendipity'

― DG, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

the last word I looked up was "gauzy". This annoying woman at work was trying to tell me I couldn't use gauzy to describe a piece of clothing as it meant surgical wrapping. Bee-yotch.

― Samantha, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I spell checked 'proselytising' earlier on - does that count?

― Madchen, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Consignee

― Nicole, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Actually, I did look up terrorism too.

I also looked it up in Encarta. I love the way, in this article they managed to totally forget that the UK (and therefore the IRA) even exist! How can you discuss terrorism without mentioning the IRA? It's almost like discussing the spread of the English language without acknowledging the British Empire.

― toraneko, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Ballocks, cuz I thought Katie had made it up.

― Richard Tunnicliffe, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The addition of Jonathon Green's Dictionary of Slang to our reference section has rapidly boosted our dictionary usage (though previous use of Concise OED was still high due to belief that it doubles up as a half decent encyclopaedia if you are willing to read round the edges). Last think I looked up was Nick - since he was round and you have to look up peoples names in them (Emma = Haemmoroids!). Nick has like a whole page to himself.

I think the kids on the sofa then looked up much ruder things.

― Pete, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I reckon spell checking counts - that's what I'm usually doing when I go to the Cambridge one. I so often spell the word wrong though and have to resort to www.dictionary.com (which gives possible options for misspelt words) and suffer Merriam Webster's heathen spelling.

― toraneko, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Pete, that dictionary of slang is grate, I wuv it.

― chris, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Dictionary.com's word of the day is Ken.

Are they running out or something?

― Pete, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

If they're up to Ken, I'd say they're half way through. Plenty to go, don't worry.

― Madchen, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

ACRONYM. It's not an acronym itself, is it? It wasn't in our dictionnaire. Don't understand...

Tangent: what's legionnaires disease and do any of you have OR have had it?! Maybe I should look that one up next.

― Sarah, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Have to use a Dutch-English dictionary almost daily just to get-by.

― stevo, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Legionaire's disease is a respiratory disorder often caught from dodgy air conditioning in old peoples homes.

― Pete, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Thank you Pete, now can you tell me why acronym is not in our dictionary?

NB it's a bit of an old dictionary and was usually used as a place to put speakers but STILL.

― Sarah, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Legionnaires' disease: bacterial disease similar to pneumonia. Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease: degenration of the upper end of the thighbone in young boys, which prevents the bone growing up properly and can result in a permanent limp.

Hi Sarah.

I've got loads of dictionaries, me. Including a medical one.

― Peter Miller, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Consummate. I thought I might be using the word out of context, but it turned out to be spot on.

― Trevor, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

boomshanka - it's not in mine though. For real.

― Geoff, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I love my Law Dictionary, all those obsolete Latin phrases that are virtually impossible to slip into general conversation.

Apparently I'm a nullius filius.

― Trevor, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Hi PJ, long time, no dictionary talk!

SADLY I don't have ANY dictionnaires with me in London altho at home I won a French dictionary for being um, good at French - surely meaning that I am the LAST person who NEEDS the damn thing? Ho hum.

Trevor my favourite thing in law EVER is judicial precedent for sheer fact that during my friends Law A-level I seemed to have immense issues in pronouncing it, and when I mastered it we had become bestest friends. I also like TORTS because they make me think of a nice bakers shop. I do not know anything else about the LAW apart from breaking it ho ho.

― Sarah, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Pete we were not deliberately looking up rude words but every single word in the English language seems to be slang for either penis or vagina. And we looked up 'offer someone out' as that bloke on Pop Idols was offering Pete Waterman out and Mr Posh did not understand this common language and needed help.

In the real grown up dictionary we looked up hypothecate to see if it was a real word, which it is, only it does not mean the same as hypothesise.

― Emma, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I looked up Baiao becuase its a song I am trying to get by Astrud Gilberto from her very rare CD " Now".

― Mike Hanle y, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Pulchritudinous

― Will McKenzie, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I just looked up "Samaritan" to triple-check the spelling for work because it is going on a cover and one can never be too careful about that sort of thing, and determine whether I should capatalize it or not. As I was referring to George Weah and not a Samarite, I did not.

― scott p., Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

That guy on Pop Idols was very funny. Not as funny as the people who burst into tears though.

― Ronan, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I haven't owned a dictionary since I was 8 (I'm not proud of this, it was arrogance and is now laziness). The last thing I consciously looked up was "Blimey!" in Pete's dictionary of slang (see above). I think I also looked up "slapper" at the same time but my memories are hazy.

― Tom, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"Farrago."

Because I used it in conversation and suspected afterwards that I had mispronounced it, which I had, badly. ("FARE-a-goh," emphasis on the first syllable, instead of the proper "fuh-RAH-goh.") I am an ass and shall stick with "imbroglio" in the future.

― Martin Swope, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Polemic.

― turner, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Ojime. It's an acceptable Scrabble word, but doesn't appear in the pathetic pamphlet masquerading as a concise dictionary that I have. It's some sort of carved bead used as a clasp, apparently.

― Michael Jones, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Tchotchke.

― Brian MacDonald, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"avuncular", after Tom used it a couple days ago.

― Mitch Lastnamewithheld, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I am subscribed to the Dictionary mailing list. Each they send me a word that I will never be able to use. My ken has expanded, sadly it is futile.

― nathalie (nathalie), Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

A bit surprised no one picked up on this yet: word #6 in that top 20 is DICTIONARY!! Why!? Are ppl just looking it up as a gag to get it IN the list, or are collins sneakily advertising, or is it conceptual yet borgesian or wtf?

― mark s, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I just looked up Coprophilia, thanks for that Tom I really wanted to know that.

― Billy Dods, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

yesterday I looked up "sybaritic". I need to look up words quite frequently.

― elizabeth anne marjorie, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Highlight any word on this page then click here.

― Kodanshi, Wednesday, 10 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Checking the exact meaning of Bohemian (re: Dandy Warhols). Wasn't in my crappy little kiddie school pocket dictionary, but then it was free.

― Graham, Wednesday, 10 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I look up weltschmertz about once a year, because I always think of it when I hear schadenfreude, and I can never remember what it means. The last things I looked up were phonics and phonetics because a language student I know said they were the same thing, and I thought she was wrong. Turns out it depends what dictionary you use.

― Sam, Wednesday, 10 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

hey, as i was getting ready to go out this morning i looked up "derange" and found that my made-up etylmology for it meaning disturbed or unruffled was infact TRUE. and then i looked up "herm" cos it came up in a biog. of Aubrey Beardsley that i'm reading.

and as i was lacing up my KICK ASS vegan boots (20 eyeholes... mmmm) i thought "ooh i'll start and ILE thread for the last word people looked up in the dictionary" and LO AND BEHOLD here it is!! that's, like, spooky man.

― katie, Wednesday, 10 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I looked up 'puce' last night because I was sure it was lurid pink rather than dark purpley brown as it said on 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire'. It's funny - someone in a book I read thought it was yellow and her illegally adopted son put her right. But I'm sure he didn't say it was dark purpley brown. Why is puce so confusing?

― Nick, Wednesday, 10 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I am currently looking up HERPETOLOGY, a main interest of Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate.

― Sarah, Wednesday, 10 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

My Theory: Puce sounds like puke so people just think of it as being the same colour as their last puke, which was probably the colour of whatever they were drinking at the time.

For me puce is lurid reddish pink because on NYE99 I was drinking vodka & raspberry and red wine and eating red capsicum and beetroot.

― toraneko, Wednesday, 10 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The word is not in the dictionary. But Google sez: here = links to all known sites on the web that deal with the scientific discipline of herpetology (the study of reptiles and amphibians). The amount of Herpeological information on the web is growing astronomically.

Google in better than dictionary shocker?!

― Sarah, Wednesday, 10 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I know what 'herpetology' means cos I have read the Reptile Room by Lemony Snicket.

― Madchen, Wednesday, 10 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

puce = first word mark "old pedant" s ever corrected his elders'n'betters in re VIZ:

Babysittah: "It's over there, by the pink balloon."
mark s (five): "What pink balloon? Surely you don't mean that puce balloon?"
babysittah: *seizes and makes liberal use of handy shillalegh*

But no, all she did was report incident to ma and da. I am sorry to say that my parents were amused by and frankly encouraged this kind of behaviour.

― mark s, Wednesday, 10 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

So really, you corrected 'pink', not 'puce'. Where are you finding dark purpley brown balloons, anyway?

Incidentally, your post gave me my first dose of deja vu in yonks.

― Nick, Wednesday, 10 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

A friend once sent me a copy of the highly entertaining dictionary of Aussie slang.

Last word I looked up was myrmidon. Already I've forgotten what it means.

― Kim, Wednesday, 10 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"Surely you dont mean that puce balloon?" I am laughing out loud.

― rainy, Thursday, 11 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

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