Word of the day

Tribology (noun)

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

Orography (noun)

1. The scientific study of mountains, or the mountainous features of a given region.

enshrine (verb)

1. (transitive) To enclose (a sacred relic etc.) in a shrine or chest.
2. (transitive) To preserve or cherish (something) as though in a shrine; to preserve or contain, especially with some reverence.

feint (verb)

1. (transitive, boxing, fencing)
       a. To direct (a blow, thrust, or other offensive movement resembling an attack) on some part of the body, intended to distract from a real attack on another part.
       b. (rare) To direct a feint or mock attack against (someone).
2. (intransitive, boxing, fencing, also often military) To make a feint or mock attack.

Feint (noun)

1. (often military) A movement made to confuse an opponent; a dummy.
2. (boxing, fencing) A blow, thrust, or other offensive movement resembling an attack on some part of the body, intended to distract from a real attack on another part.
3. (figuratively) Something feigned; a false or pretend appearance; a pretence or stratagem.

feint (adj)

1. (boxing, fencing, also often military) Of an attack or offensive movement: directed toward a different part from the intended strike.
2. (obsolete) Feigned, counterfeit, fake.

Dephlogisticated air (noun)

1. (chemistry, historical) Oxygen gas, as originally thought to be air deprived of phlogiston (“the hypothetical fiery principle formerly assumed to be a necessary constituent of combustible bodies and to be given up by them in burning”).

Gelotology (noun)

1. (psychology, physiology) The study of humor and laughter, and its effects on the body.

Oumuamua (noun)
Etymology: ʻou (“reach out for”) +‎ mua (“first; in advance of”), doubled for emphasis.

1. Hawaiian term for scout
2. An interstellar object detected passing through the Solar System. Formally designated 1I/2017 U1, it was discovered by Robert Weryk using the Pan-STARRS telescope at Haleakalā Observatory, Hawaii, on 19 October 2017.

Narwhal (noun)

1. An Arctic cetacean, about twenty feet long; the male has a single twisted, pointed canine tooth or tusk projecting forward like a horn.

Parataxis (noun)

1. Speech or writing in which clauses or phrases are placed together without being separated by conjunctions, for example "I came; I saw; I conquered".
2. The juxtaposition of two images or fragments, usually starkly dissimilar, without a clear connection.

intersperse (verb)

1. To mix two things irregularly, placing things of one kind among things of other. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
2. (transitive) To scatter or insert something into or among other things.
3. (transitive) To diversify by placing or inserting other things among something.

Circuitry (noun)

1. (countable) A specific system of electrical circuits in a particular device; (uncountable) the design of such a system.
2. (uncountable) Electrical (or, by extension, other) circuits considered as a group.
3. (uncountable, figuratively) The brain's neural network.

Astronomical (adj)

1. Of or relating to astronomy.
2. Very large; of vast measure.

Dead Tree Edition (noun)

1. (idiomatic, pejorative, humorous) Paper version of a publication that can be found online.

Conlanger (noun)

1. Someone who creates constructed languages (conlangs).

anosmic (adj)

1. (medicine) Having anosmia; lacking a sense of smell.
2. (zoology) Lacking olfactory organs; anosmatic.

Ylem (noun)

1. (astronomy, cosmology, physics, now chiefly historical) In the Big Bang theory, the hot and dense plasma which made up the cosmos at the time of recombination in an early stage of its expansion and cooling, when the first atoms formed and photons decoupled. The ylem is regarded as the source of the cosmic microwave background.

singe (verb)

1. Burn superficially or lightly.
2. Become superficially burned.

Singe (noun)

1. A slight burn.

Foible (noun)

1. (chiefly in the plural) A quirk, idiosyncrasy, or mannerism; an unusual habit that is slightly strange or silly.
2. A weakness or failing of character.
3. (fencing) Part of a sword between the middle and the point, weaker than the forte.

Interstice (noun)

1. A small opening or space between objects, especially adjacent objects or objects set closely together, as between cords in a rope or components of a multiconductor electrical cable or between atoms in a crystal.
2. (figuratively) A fragment of space.
3. An interval of time required by the Roman Catholic Church between the attainment of different degrees of an order.
       a. By extension, a small interval of time free to be spent on activities other than one's primary goal.

Magnality (noun)

1. (dated) A great or wonderful thing; a marvel.

Chasma (noun)

1. (astronomy, geology) A long, narrow, steep-sided depression on a planet (often other than Earth), a moon, or another body in the Solar System.
2. (astronomy, obsolete, rare) An aurora.
3. Obsolete form of chasm.

interstellar (adj)

1. Between the stars.
2. Among the stars.

caliginous (adj)

1. (archaic or literary) Dark, obscure; murky.

Unreliable narrator (noun)

1. (literary theory) A narrating character or storyteller in a literary or other artistic work (such as a film, novel, play, or song) who provides conflicting, inaccurate, misleading, or otherwise questionable information to the audience or reader.

Fortitude (noun)

1. The strength of mind that enables someone to encounter danger or bear pain or adversity with courage.

Googolplex (noun)

1. (cardinal number) The number 10 10 100 or 10 googol , ten to the to the power of a googol.
2. (figuratively) An unimaginably large number.
3. (US, real estate, nonstandard, rare) An infinitesimally small portion of land, defined for legal purposes.