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

arbiter elegantiae

AR-buh-tur e-la-gan-SHEE-uh

noun

an accepted authority on social behavior and matters of taste

1896Henryk SienkiewiczQuo Vadis: A Narrative of the Time of NeroThe women of Rome admired not only his pliant mind and his taste, which gained for him the title Arbiter Elegantiae, but also his body.1934E. E. Doc SmithTriplanetaryHe was therefore some little distance behind the other gladiators when Petronius rushed up to him and seized him by the arm. White and trembling, the noble was not now the exquisite Arbiter Elegantiae; nor the imperturbable Augustian.

Labels: E. E. Doc Smith, Henryk Sienkiewicz

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Entry By: CJ Cooney
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rara avis

RAER-uh AY-vis

noun

a rare thing; a rare person

1917John GalsworthyBeyondThe soft air, the mellowness of this gay place, much music, a sense of being a rara avis among people who, by their heavier type, enhanced her own, had produced in her a kind of intoxication, making her what the baroness called 'un peu folle.'1983E. E. Doc SmithSubspace EncounterBun the Barmaid, and a truly rara avis of the ilk.' Deston laughed and led a round of applause.1999Alan Dean FosterPhylogenesisConfronted by the rara avis of actual, genuine emotion, he had no idea how to respond, did not know what to say.

Labels: Alan Dean Foster, E. E. Doc Smith, John Galsworthy

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Entry By: CJ Cooney
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