The Death of Fissiparous and Other Words: A Dictionary of Words & Phrases on the Verge of Extinction

nubiferous

noo-BIF-er-uhs

adjective

producing clouds

1930S. S. Van DineThe Scarab Murder CaseMy mind is...shot with mist and mizzle, with vapor and haze and steam; it is cirrous and nubiferous, cumulous and vaporous…1951A. E. Van VogtVoyage of the Space BeagleAnd its world was a narrow swamp, a gray, nubiferous environment, where it lived its contented, active, idyllic, almost mindless existence.

Labels: A. E. Van Vogt, S. S. Van Dine

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Entry By: CJ Cooney
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panoply

PAN-uh-plee

noun

the display of fanfare; pageantry; an array of weapons

1881Aeschylus The Seven Against ThebesAnd seven high chieftains of war, with spear and with panoply bold, | Are set, by the law of the lot, to storm the seven gates of our hold!1943A. E. Van VogtThe Witch...there under the night sky with its shifting panoply of clouds.1997S. M. StirlingIsland in the Sea of TimeThe elaborate panoplies of the warriors burned like tinder, tall plumes of flame replacing the feathers of their headdresses.

Labels: A. E. Van Vogt, Aeschylus, S. M. Stirling

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Entry By: CJ Cooney
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tintinnabulation

tin-tuh-na-byuh-LAY-shuhn

noun

the sound of bells

1894Robert BarrIn the Midst of AlarmsThe whole scene brought back to Yates the days of his youth, especially when Macdonald, putting the finishing strokes to his shoe, let his hammer periodically tinkle with musical clangor on the anvil, ringing forth a tintinnabulation that chimed melodiously on the ear—a sort of anvil-chorus accompaniment to his mechanical skill. He was a real sleight-of-hand man, and the anvil was his orchestra.1903William Cowper BrannBrann the IconoclastBurton reverts from time to time to this terrifying tintinnabulation, but he blends it with the suggested glamour of evening, until the terror merges into tenderness. 1947A. E. Van VogtThe BarbarianCzinczar. The name had a sinister rhythm to it, a ring of leashed violence, a harsh, metallic tintinnabulation.

Labels: A. E. Van Vogt, Robert Barr, William Cowper Brann

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Entry By: CJ Cooney
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