Agree to differ. If two people agree to disagree, they “resolve” a conflict (usually a debate) by accepting that they have different opinions and deciding not to discuss it any longer.
“Aumann’s agreement theorem, informally stated, says that two people acting rationally (in a certain precise sense) and with common knowledge of each other’s beliefs cannot agree to disagree.”
The person who someone loves the most and is very proud of; something highly cherished.
Miss Glossop’s young brother, Oswald, is by way of being the apple of his sister’s eye.
(formal) The quality or state of working very hard and taking great care that everything is done as well as it can be.
Perhaps we are not keeping our eye on the ball with sufficient assiduity, sir.
(informal) An individual with a PhD in… z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z.
“It’s not easy to become a blah-blah-ologist. It takes years of whatever, a summer of something-or-other, more than one yadda-yadda, and a daily regimen of frequent foozie-whatsits.” —Mark Peters
“Take your blah-blah to the blah-blah-ologist.”
(from Latin “in good faith,” usually before noun) Authentic, genuine; sincere, honest; legally valid; without deception or fraud.
We neither lose nor gain anything by adding the requirement that, for any object X, the identity mapping 1 : X → X is a bona fide mapping in our set theory, so for convenience let us do that.
[formal] (Esp of weather) mild, temperate, pleasant.
“What sort of a day is it, Jeeves?”
“Extremely clement, sir. With the promise of further fine weather to come.”
The word’s opposite, ‘inclement’, is more regularly used:
“We have been tossing nearly all day upon a rough, inclement ocean.”
(formal) An enormous and devastating fire; the blazing or burning of a large extent or mass of combustible matter, e.g. of a forest, a city, et cetera; inferno. ‘Conflagration’ and ‘blaze’ emphasise rapidness and intenseness of burning, with ‘conflagration’ being an intensification of ‘blaze’ (which itself is of higher intensity than ‘fire’).“Oh, not the fire alarm thing again, Jeeves.”
“Yes, sir. As l see it, sir, the occupants of the house would suppose that a conflagration had broken out.”
A thin clear soup made with the juices of meat or vegetable stock to extract their nutritive properties, served hot or jelled.
“What are you giving us for dinner tonight?”
“Consommé, sir. A cutlet and a savoury. And some lemon squash iced.”
(usually passive) To reserve or set aside for a particular purpose.
Your employer, fired by the fact that Aunt Agatha has me earmarked for Honoria, unless I can lay her off onto someone else, has come up with a foolproof solution to the problem.
To inflame with love; captivate.
Thank you, sir. And, er… Mr Little is enamoured of her, sir?
[Esp BrE, AmE envision, formal] To imagine or form a mental picture, especially of a future possibility.
“Bertie was so sweet, Mrs Gregson, and so funny!”
“I find it difficult to envisage.”
(rare) Roguishness, frolicsomeness.
It is that very quality of espièglerie which debars Miss Wickham from being a matrimonial prospect for a gentleman of your description.
(of an action, not usually before noun) Characterised by a necessity for a particular purpose; temporarily advantageous, as distinguished from the just or right. Refers strongly to narrow self-interest; the expediency of a thing is a matter of discretion and calculation, and therefore not evidently necessary.
“l think if we were to leave the metropolis for a while it might be expedient, sir.”
(very formal) To strike out, obliterate, rub off, blot out, or mark for deletion (as a word, line, sentence, or a memory). Letters are blotted out, so that they cannot be seen again; they’re expunged, so as to signify that they cannot stand for anything. ‘Expunge’ and ‘obliterate’ refer to forceful and total removal by whatever means, whether by design or not.
“Never mind the poet Burns, Jeeves.”
“No, sir.”
“Expunge the poet Burns from your mind.”
“I have already done so, sir.”
(formal) That which constitutes no necessary or natural part of anything; proceeding from without; irrelevant. The word is considerably general in its implications, but may suggest a difference in kind (‘hard-core facts’ vs. ‘extraneous interpretation’).The inessential element referred to may, if not excluded, be either harmless or detrimental (‘extraneous poisons’, ‘ext. odours’).Omitting the extraneous matter and concentrating on essentials, sir, Mr Gorringe wishes to borrow £1,000 from you.
Any aspect of something that must be acknowledged or regarded as unalterable.The enormous complexity to set theory is one of the great facts of life of mathematics.
Also, “facts of life” (plural): the facts concerning reproduction and birth.
Some people bring up their children in ignorance of the facts of life.
Serve the purpose usually satisfactorily in a particular situation.
“How would you… ever support a wife, Mr Wooster?”
“Well, it depends on whose wife it was. A bit of gentle pressure beneath the left elbow when crossing a busy street normally fills the bill!”
[BrE] A sports match that has been scheduled for a particular date and at a particular place.
“The fact is the Glossops are being a little troublesome. Sir Roderick particularly so. Wants to scratch the fixture.”
“Well, perhaps he is right.”
Also, something that is permanently fixed (esp. of equipment). The price of the house includes fixtures and fittings.
A mediæval glove, as of flexible fabric, leather, chain mail or plate armour, worn by a knight in armour to protect the hand. In present use, it’s mostly used as part of several idiomatic expressions: to throw down the gauntlet, to pick/take up the gauntlet, to run the gauntlet. The word in the phrase ‘run the gauntlet’ (face one’s punishment) is a corruption of ‘gantlope’; whereas in the former two phrases it comes from the Old French word ‘gantelet’, “glove”.Ok, the gauntlet has been thrown?
[BrE, old-fashioned, informal] An interested glance, especially a flirtatious one, in a way that makes it obvious that one anticipates a romantic relationship or coitus with the person whom they give the glad eye. That expression per se is unlikely to insult anyone in any situation.
“How could he lose, Jeeves? That fellow who won, Charlie Bembo, was old enough to give Bingo’s grandmother the glad eye.”
To be able to influence sb because they trust you.
l have the ear of Oofy Prosser and he has the ear of the nominations committee.
(used to show disapproval) Having an inflexible or ultraconservative character, rather than accepting new ways of thinking.
Jeeves doesn’t like them, but he’s notoriously hidebound over leg-wear.
(formal) Something that is difficult to be exactly measured, judged, calculated or estimated.
It’s just my opinion, sir, but, your plan has too many imponderables.
[BrE, old-fashioned] Looking or feeling very strong and healthy.
When they invented the phrase ‘rude health’, they didn’t know it would get as rude as my father.
(informal, old-fashioned, humorous) Without any clothes on, nude; in the buff, in the raw, peeled, stark naked, naked as a jaybird, in one’s birthday suit. Typical usage: to be in the altogether, to get into the altogether, to sleep in the altogether.“She showered, used my hair dryer, finger-combed her hair, found a lipstick and some eye stuff in her bag, which she applied in front of my dresser mirror while standing in the altogether.”
(formal, literary) Strictly speaking, a person intoxicated by the action of alcoholic beverages at the moment of being described. As ‘dipsomaniac’, it’s a technical term to designate an excessive drinker, but ‘alcoholic’ has so widely displaced those words that both terms now seem archaic. ‘Dipsomaniac’, once the word for a chronic drink addict, now might be primarily humorous.“My only daughter, for whom l had dreamed of a wonderful golden future, is going to marry an inebriated newt fancier.”
(disapproving) To establish yourself in the favour or good graces of others, especially sb who will be useful to you.
The child took a fancy to the animal, sir. In order to ingratiate herself to the boy’s father, she presented it to him.
A figure of speech used in reference to an individual who can do many things, but is not an expert in any of them.
“Thus Jack-of-all-trades hath distinctly shown
The twelve Apostles on a cherry-stone;
Thus faction’s à la mode in treason’s fashion,
Now we have heresy by complication.”
[Sl., obs.] A rehabilitation centre or mental hospital.
Suffice to say that five out of the last seven chairmen have had to spend time in the jim-jam clinic after periods in office.
(BrE) to make something more plausible by adding details to it, to provide an interesting accompaniment for something.
“The occurrence, if I may take the liberty of saying so, sir, may lend colour to the view which I put forward yesterday, that Miss Wickham, though in many respects a charming young lady,”
“Say no more, Jeeves. Love is dead.”
[old-fashioned, sl.] Money.
Money, Bertie! Moolah, spondulicks!
[old-fashioned, informal] A ninny or simpleton. The words ‘ninny’ and ‘nincompoop’ have been in the English language for centuries, but are not clearly distinguished from one another. Possibly the former word suggests more of silliness and may be useful in reference to women; the latter word suggests more of obtuseness, dullness, and has particular relevance to describing a foolish man.“Do you know where my husband is?”
“He was here at dinner.”
“I know he was here at dinner, you nincompoop!”
[BrE, old-fashioned, informal] All right, ‘O.K.’
I thought everything was ooja-cum-spiff.
(formal, very strong) Conveying or expressing severe criticism, as language or a speaker; bringing disgrace. It refers to something that not only merits disapproval, but looked on with disdain or scorn. There is often an implication of general rather than merely personal censure involved in anything opprobrious.
“l was pursuing him this morning with a view to fetching him a clip on the side of the head.”
“Great Scott, Jeeves! You?”
“The lad made an opprobrious remark about my appearance.”
(adjective, technical) Characterised by pleonasm; using more words than are necessary; superfluous, tautological, redundant. The word can pertain to excessive wordage that results from tautological or surplus expressions or a specific redundant example, and less often to an author or articulator; yet it is more general in referring to a whole style that is wordy or riddled with extraneous expressions, especially when the style is intricate or pompous.Mind you, this definition isn’t pleonastic.
(AmE: baby carriage; BrE old-fashioned: perambulator) A vehicle with four wheels in which a baby can lie down.
“The OED has push bicycle and push cycle as well as push bike, which they label as 'informal.' Myself, I've only heard push bike, but push bicycle is around on the web, as well as push tricycle and push unicycle. Of course, BrE has another push-vehicle, the push-chair, known in AmE as a stroller. Related is the pram, short for perambulator, known in AmE as a baby carriage.”
A difficult or problematic situation about which one doesn’t know what to do. The word originally had no unfavourable connotation, but in modern parlance, when applied to circumstances, it expresses a temporary embarrassed situation conceivably but not necessarily occasioned by an act of one’s own.
“The trouble is, the poor sap can’t bring himself to pop the question.”
“A common enough predicament, sir.”
(formal) Nearness of blood, in place, in time, or closeness in nature. Syn: 1. (blood) kinship, consanguinity, cognation 2. (space) appropinquity, contiguity, nearness, vicinity, proximity, adjacency. 3. (nature) similarity, affinity.
“l stake everything on propinquity, Jeeves. At the moment, Gussie is a mere jelly when in the presence, but ask yourself how he’ll feel in a week, after he and she have been taking sausages out of the same dish day after day at the breakfast sideboard.”
An individual’s ability to peruse textual material, quantified by analysing it in comparison with the average ability of juvenile people at a particular stage of maturation.
“I did overestimate the reading age of Fark commenters.”
In other words, a person’s ability to read, measured by comparing it with the average ability of children of a specific age.
(formal) To say or plead in protest or opposition.
I shall have to go and remonstrate with her.
[Chiefly BrE, old-fashioned] Odd, strange, idiosyncratic.
Yes, that may sound a bit rummy, but there is someone here who is frightfully in love with you, and… and so forth.
Also, a card game or (sl.) a drunkard.
To walk with a leisurely and careless gait; to stroll, to amble. The word indicates idle, planless going, and may intensify indecisiveness or simply the enjoying of walking. Like ‘amble’, ‘saunter’ refers to an even movement, but emphasises buoyancy of mood as well. One would hardly saunter whilst concerned with unpleasant thoughts, which—combined with the suggestion of a uniform movement—distinguishes the word from ‘stroll’.“Care for a saunter, Angela, old girl?”
“Love to, Bertie, darling.”
(usually before noun, of a person or animal) Trained, having a lot of experience of doing something.“I was young then and not as seasoned as I am now, so I didn’t just tell him that if he thought that then he was an idiot (and an asshole for issuing a challenge, saying, in effect, prove to me that you’re competent) and walk away in search of someone more interesting and pleasant to talk to.” — Arnold Zwicky, http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2772
Also, (of food) with salt, pepper, etc.
Any brisk conflict, contest or encounter, especially between two small bodies of troops (e.g. detached portions of opposing armies); a short argument. The word suggests a quickly organized or localized thrust against the enemy or a trivial, perhaps accidental, two-sided clash between comparable forces.
“l mean, with one’s parents, after a few preliminary skirmishes over sago pudding and stewed rhubarb, one settles down to a sort of amicable, if humdrum relationship.”
[BrE informal] Describes an unusually splendid meal.
That’s not to mention wine tastings, trips to the vineyard and the slap-up dinners at the Château Plonk.
[BrE informal, obs] (Of persons) First-rate, fine.
I’m a little sweet on her maid, slap-up creature, I can tell you.
[esp humorous] (with/by sb/sth) having suddenly started to love sb/sth very much.
You see, my friend Bingo Little is… well, more than a little smitten with the daughter of the house.
[BrE, old-fashioned, informal] A small amount of a strong alcoholic drink.
I was hoping to get a snifter before lunch.
(formal) An informal name or title. Syn: nickname.
“Barmy Fotheringay Phipps?”
“l believe that is the sobriquet, sir, yes.”
(formal, literary) A temporary stay at a place that is not your home; to remain or reside for a brief period of time; to abide, to dwell. The duration of stay implied in these synonymous words is marked by an unambiguous gradation: ‘sojourn’s of longer continuance than ‘abide’, ‘dwell’ comprehends the idea of perpetuity of residence.“So you see l can’t be the chap, if any, who stole Angela from you in Cannes.”
“Cos your affections were engaged elsewhere?”
“During that sojourn.”
“Oh, l see.”
(from Italian, formal) In a subdued or low voice, quietly, privately (of speech).
If we write our number as 1729 we are, sotto voce, offering a preferred way of “computing it” (add one thousand to seven hundreds to two tens to nine).
(slang, offensive, rare) A vehicle (usually a minibus) used to transport grotesquely awkward people (spaz) to their destination.
“I stopped complaining about this because a) the admin obviously doesn’t care either and b) it just creates another spazwagon vehicle for the pro-trolls on these boards to ride on.”
[Esp NAmE, old-fashioned, informal] Very neat, attractive, fashionable.
What a spiffy apartment, Bertie.
[old-fashioned, sl.] Money.
Money, Bertie! Moolah, spondulicks!
To speak haltingly, with spasmodic repetitions either because of accidental shyness (anxiety, uncertainty or any excess of emotion) or more commonly because of a physical detect in the organs of utterance. With regards to the degree of the action, ‘stutter’ is a stronger word than ‘stammer’: he who stammers brings forth unintelligible sounds, he who stutters remains speechless for some time.“ … and there was that same, dumb, yearning look in your eyes. Now you stammer out these halting words.”
(Esp of a colour, light or feeling) To spread all over or through sb/sth in the manner of fluid or light.
A dark hue has suffused his cheek and he attempted to kick a passing cat.
Devoid of verbal redundancy, smoothly elegant, and pithy; especially in reference to language. The word goes back to a Latin adjective meaning ‘polished’, ‘wiped’, ‘rubbed down’, implying economy of expression as well as elegance. In current use, it emphasises extreme compactness, a strict sticking to the point, and concentrated force.“l shall be very terse about Tuppy, giving it, as my opinion, that in all the essentials, he is more akin to a warthog, than an ex-member of a fine old school.”
To pinch an inch of fat (using your forefinger and thumb) at the side of your body at waist level. Used as a test to measure whether an individual has excess body fat.
One also hears people saying, typically while pinching more than an inch, “I'm getting a belly”.
(verb, figurative) To tolerate something. I am nabbbing this word merely because of the following quotation.
“Finally, a couple of people just couldn’t stomach the following admittedly rather complex sentence of mine.” —Geoffrey K. Pullum, http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1319
[BrE, old-fashioned, informal] To slowly walk or drive, to wander casually or aimlessly. To tootle off: to go, to depart in a leisurely way.
“Well, um… I’d better be tootling off, then.”
Also, to toot, to blow a musical instrument; to write feeble verbiage of more sound than sense.
(formal) To emit watery vapour; to leak out; to happen. Since the mid-18th century, ‘transpire’ has been used in the sense “leak out, become publicly known,” but although widely used in this sense, ‘transpire' tends to sound stilted and pompous. This usage is considered erroneous by many people.… most people before Cantor would’ve expected that a theoretical account of sets would encompass everything that there was to say about those objects. As we all know, nothing of the sort has transpired.
Turn/twist the knife (in the wound); rub salt into someone's wound. To be more unpleasant than necessary; to increase someone’s distress or embarrassment, e.g. by making constant reminders of the circumstances that caused it.
Then to twist the knife, she added, “he was religious, after all.”
(esp. literary) Having or possessing courage; brave. It is applied to persons and actions that exhibit the kind of resolute courage or fortitude associated with knighthood, heroes or heroines. It may suggest bravery shown in a worthy cause, against impossible odds, or with commendable consequences.
“Well, Jeeves, what do you think?”
“Well, if l might paraphrase the poet, sir, l think we should be valiant but not too adventurous.”
(nonce word) A portmanteau word coined by yours truly to describe a pair of a word and its definition on Nabbber.
Each of my last five wordefinitions on Nabbber is exactly 500-character-long. I am thinking of renaming myself from Heimðallr to Mr. 500 Characters.