Word of the day

Tribology (noun)

1. (physics, engineering) The science and technology of friction, lubrication, and wear.

Pis-Aller (French, noun)
From pis (“worse”) and aller (“to go”).
IPA(key): /pi.z‿a.le/

1. make-do, a less than optimal solution, workaround, stopgap.
2. plan B; last resort.
3. worst case scenario.

Mac tíre (Irish, noun)
From Old Irish macc tíre, corresponding to mac (“son”) +‎ tíre (genitive of tír (“land”)).
IPA(key): /ˌmˠak ˈtʲiːɾʲə/

1. Wolf (literally: son of the land).

MacGuffin (noun)

1. A plot element or other device used to catch the viewers' attention and maintain suspense, especially when the device has little to do with the storyline.

Sprezzatura (noun)
IPA(key): /spret.t͡saˈtu.ra/
From sprezzare (“to despise”) +‎ -tura. In the sense of nonchalance used by Baldassare Castiglione in Il Cortegiano, published in 1528.

1. Nonchalance, ability to perform a difficult task so gracefully that it appears effortless.

Cauldron (noun)

1. A large bowl-shaped pot used for boiling over an open flame.

Jacquerie (noun)

1. A peasants' revolt.

Nocturne (noun)

1. A work of art relating or dedicated to the night.
2. (music) A dreamlike or pensive composition, usually for the piano.

Dyodyo (Sranan Tongo, noun)
IPA(key): /d͡ʒo.d͡ʒo/, /ɟo.ɟo/

1. Soul, guardian spirit; in the Afro-Surinamese Winti belief system, a male or female spiritual entity linked to the birthplace of an individual who, together with a counterpart of the opposite sex, acts as guardian of this or several individuals.

staunch (adj)

1. Not permitting water or some other liquid to escape or penetrate; watertight.
    a. (by extension) Impermeable to air or other gases; airtight.
2. Strongly built; also, in good or strong condition.
3. (figuratively)
    a. Staying true to one's aims or principles; firm, resolute, unswerving.
    b. Dependable, loyal, reliable, trustworthy.
      i. (chiefly hunting) Of a hunting dog: that can be depended on to pick up the scent of, or to mark, game.
    c. (obsolete) Cautious, restrained.

tinge (verb)

1. (transitive) To add a small amount of colour; to tint; (by extension) to add a small amount of some other thing.
2. (transitive, figuratively) To affect or alter slightly, particularly due to the actual or metaphorical influence of some element or thing.
3. (intransitive) To change slightly in shade due to the addition of colour; (by extension) to change slightly in quality due to the addition of some other thing.

consonant (adj)

1. Characterized by harmony or agreement.

dawdle (verb)

1. (transitive) Chiefly followed by away: to spend (time) without haste or purpose.
2. (intransitive)
a. To spend time idly and unfruitfully; to waste time.
b. To move or walk lackadaisically.

Dawdle (noun)

1. An act of spending time idly and unfruitfully; a dawdling.
2. An act of moving or walking lackadaisically, a dawdling; a leisurely or slow walk or other journey.
3. Synonym of dawdler (“a person who dawdles or idles”)

Wheelie (noun)

1. (informal) An action or stunt where a bicycle, motorcycle, or other vehicle is ridden for a short period while it is standing only on its rear wheel or wheels.
2. (informal, chiefly Australia) A wheelchair user.
3. A fictional character from the Transformers series.
   a. 1986 — Wheelie, a young Autobot who turns into a car. He has a distinctive style of speech, in which he rhymes his sentences while speaking in a high pitched voice appearing in Generation I.
   b. 2003 — Wheelie, the Japanese Legends of the Microns name of the Mini-Con High Wire from Armada.
   c. 2009 — Wheelie, the Decepticon turned Autobot who turns into the blue toy truck and appeared in the 2009 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and 2011 Transformers: Dark of the Moon.
   d. 2009 — Wheelie, the barbarian who loves kicking ass, who hails from Shattered Glass.
   e. 2010 — Wheelie, the Autobot kid who, you see, is from the Animated continuity family.
   f. 2014 — Wheelie, the Autobird from Angry Birds Transformers.
   g. 2015 — Wheelie, the Urban Protection Team Mini-Con from the Unicron Trilogy who is separate from High Wire.
   h. 2017 — Wheelie, the Autobot from the Aligned continuity family.

Threnody (noun)

1. A song or poem of lamentation or mourning for a dead person; a dirge, an elegy
2. A fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character has appeared in the X-Men & X-Man series. Mutant ability to sense the dead or dying and absorb the necro-energy, then use that to release a concussive blast or Zombie creation. First appearance: X-Men vol. 2 #27 (December, 1993).

haywire (adj)

1. Behaving erratically or in an uncontrollable manner, especially of a machine or mechanical process.

Haywire (noun)

1. Haywire is an Autobot-aligned Nebulan Targetmaster that transforms into an electro-laser cannon from the Generation 1 continuity family, binary bonded with his partner Blurr.
2. Haywire is a Mini-Con from the Generation 1 continuity family in the Transformers: Heavy Metal location-based augmented reality mobile game developed by Niantic.

Schism (noun)

1. A split or separation within a group or organization, typically caused by discord.
2. A formal division or split within a religious body.
3. A 2011 crossover comic book storyline published by Marvel Comics (featuring the X-Men, Hellfire Club; Quentin Quire; Sentinel) consisting of a five-issue miniseries written by Jason Aaron and illustrated by Carlos Pacheco, Frank Cho, Daniel Acuña, Alan Davis and Adam Kubert.
4. A member of the Imperial Guard in the Marvel Comics Universe (Earth 616) whose abilities allow Schism to split into two equal bodies. First appearance New X-Men #124 (March, 2002) when they were tricked into attacking Earth and the X-Men on behalf of Cassandra Nova.
5. A 1999 Transformers Botcon prose story published by 3H Enterprises written by Simon Furman.
6. A Decepticon from the Transformers Online 2012 MMORPG portion of the Aligned continuity family.

Vector (noun)

1. (mathematics): A directed quantity, with both magnitude and direction.
2. A chosen course or direction for motion, as of an aircraft.
3. (medicine): A carrier of a disease-causing agent.
4. A supervillain from Marvel comics. A member of the U-Foes, a gang of criminals who act a bit like an evil-version of the Fantastic Four, as well as a member of the Thunderbolts. First appearance Incredible Hulk #254 (September, 1980).

Switchback (noun; often attributively or figuratively)

1. (rail transport)
       a. A railway track on a steep slope in a zigzag formation, in which a train travels in a reverse direction at each switch.
       b. A railway track on which there are steep ascents and descents, a train moving partially or fully by the force of gravity using the momentum generated when descending to travel up an ascending part of the track; especially (Britain, dated), such a track built for fun rides at an amusement park; a type of rollercoaster.
2. (by extension)
       a. (aviation) A flight path consisting of a series of steep ascents and descents, generally flown as a stunt.
       b. (chiefly Britain, road transport) A path or road having a series of steep ascents and descents.
       c. (chiefly Canada, US, road transport) A sharp bend in a path or road which causes a traveller to almost reverse their direction of travel, especially one of a series of such bends on an incline; a hairpin bend; also a path or road having such a series of bends.
3. The name of one of two characters publish by Marvel Comics
        a. A Detroit native, Switchback was one of many refugees who escaped from Apocalypse's rule to Avalon (Earth 295). Mutant ability to manipulate the last ten seconds of her personal timeline: she can replace herself with a younger version while retaining the memories of her older self. First appearance X-Calibre #1 (January, 1995)
        b. A former member of Weapon X (Earth 616), where he earned his codename, Switchback was an expert survivalist and an apocalypticist. Iron Man (Vol. 6) #21 (July, 2022)

switchback (verb)

1. (intransitive) To take a zigzag course or path.

Pain (French, noun)
IPA(key): /pɛ̃/
From Old French pain, from Latin pānis, pānem, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂- (“to feed, to graze”).

1. Bread; piece of bread
2. Food
3. Bread-and-butter needs, basic sustenance; breadwinner
4. (informal) punch (a hit with the fist)
5. A block (of ice, of salt, of soap …) with the shape and size of bread
6. (slang) (music) mistake during a performance (false note, forgot an intro, wrong solo, …)

Pain (noun)

1. (countable and uncountable) An ache or bodily suffering, or an instance of this; an unpleasant sensation, resulting from a derangement of functions, disease, or injury by violence; hurt.
2. (uncountable) The condition or fact of suffering or anguish especially mental, as opposed to pleasure; torment; distress.
3. (countable, from pain in the neck) An annoying person or thing.
4. (uncountable, dated) Suffering inflicted as punishment or penalty.
5. (chiefly in the plural) Labour; effort; great care or trouble taken in doing something.
6. A fictional character in the manga and anime series Naruto created by Masashi Kishimoto. Pain [Nagato Uzumaki] is the figurehead leader of the Akatsuki who wishes to capture the tailed beasts sealed into various people around the shinobi world.

badger (verb)

1. To pester; to annoy persistently.
2. (British, informal) To pass gas; to fart.

Badger (noun)

1. A native or resident of the American state of Wisconsin.
2. A village in Shropshire, England.
3. A town in Newfoundland, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
4. A habitational surname from Old English.
5. A child member of the St John Ambulance medical volunteering organization.
6. Any mammal of three subfamilies, which belong to the family Mustelidae: Melinae (Eurasian badgers), Mellivorinae (ratel or honey badger), and Taxideinae (American badger).
7. (in the plural, obsolete, cant) A crew of desperate villains who robbed near rivers, into which they threw the bodies of those they murdered.
8. A fictional character, a superhero in American comic books publisher by the short-lived Capital Comics company and then First Comics. He was created by writer Mike Baron in 1983 and published through the early 1990s in a titular series that ended when First Comics also ceased all publications. First appearance, Badger #1 (July 1983).

Foundry (noun)

1. A facility that melts metals in special furnaces and pours the molten metal into molds to make products. Foundries are usually specified according to the type of metal dealt with: iron foundry, brass foundry, etc.
2. The act, process, or art of casting metals; founding.
3. A plant that produces chips out of semiconductors in the microelectronics industry.

léir (adjective)
IPA(key): /l͈ʲeːrʲ/
From Proto-Celtic *lēris (“diligent, assiduous”).


1. Assiduous, earnest, careful, zealous.
2. (later) visible, perceptible.

high jinks (noun, plural only)

1. (Scotland, games, historical) An old Scottish parlour game in which people were chosen, usually by throwing dice, to perform some humorous act or drink a large amount of an alcoholic beverage, with a forfeit if they were unable to do so.
2. (by extension)
       a. Boisterous activity or behavior; lively fun.
       b. Tricky or waggish behavior; mischief.

Corsair (noun)

1. A pirate along the Barbary coast.
2. A fast pirate ship or privateer.
3. A fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is depicted as a star-faring hero who leads the Starjammers, and the father of X-Men Cyclops and Havok, and (ex) Shi'ar Emperor Vulcan. First appearance: The Uncanny X-Men #104 (Apr. 1977).