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

effluvium

e-FLOO-vee-uhm

noun

a terrible smell; a bad influence; a noxious vapor

1967J. G. BallardThe Cloud-Sculptors of Coral DShe glanced at the dark cloud boiling over the mesa like the effluvium of some black-hearted volcano.1989Martin CaidinPrison ShipYtram had little experience with alien life forms and the strange, pungent, and often wildly sharp odors, smells, gases, and effluvium their bodies cast off with alarming pressure and quantity.1994David GutersonSnow Falling On CedarsThe gutters filled with rust-colored pine needles and the pungent effluvium of alder leaves…

Labels: David Guterson, J. G. Ballard, Martin Caidin

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Entry By: CJ Cooney
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halcyon

HAL-see-uhn

adjective

peaceful; prosperous

1900Theodore DreiserSister CarrieIn the view of a certain stratum of society, Carrie was comfortably established—in the eyes of the starveling, beaten by every wind and gusty sheet of rain, she was safe in a halcyon harbour.1988J. G. BallardRunning Wild..a sycophantic newspaper editor nostalgic for the halcyon days of the l980s…1999James PattersonPop! Goes the Weasel...I had once confronted a homicidal twelve-year-old during the halcyon days of the Jack and Jill killers…

Labels: J. G. Ballard, James Patterson, Theodore Dreiser

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Entry By: CJ Cooney
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