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

a dictionary of words and phrases on the verge of extinction — updated daily — for the word obsessed!

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the death of fissiparous and other words

A dictionary in progress by CJ Cooney.

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I'm CJ Cooney, a writer on communication, ideas, culture and history. This blog is a chronicle of my adventures in lexicography.

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Visit me at cjcooney.org.

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If reading were a sin, the average person today would be a saint. And this dictionary in progress would be blasphemy. More...

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perihelion
galère

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REFERENCEER
REF-ren-sear. Noun. 1. Anyone who enjoys reading or browsing dictionaries, thesauri, encyclopedias, and other sundry reference materials. 2. A publisher of reference material. 3. CJ's book blog adventure.

perihelion

PAER-uh-hee-lee-uhn

noun

a planet's orbital position at which point it is nearest to the sun

1909Garrett P. ServissCuriosities of the SkyThen the facts were made plain that comets are subject to the law of gravitation equally with the planets; that there are many which regularly return to the neighborhood of the sun (perihelion)… 1951Arthur C. ClarkeThe Sands of MarsHe finally gave up halfway through the book after coming across a page where the only sentence was 'Substituting for the value of perihelion distance from Equation 15.3, we obtain ...' All else was mathematics.1989Martin AmisLondon Fields...perihelion (when the earth is at its shortest distance from the sun)…

Labels: Arthur C. Clarke, Garrett P. Serviss, Martin Amis

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Entry By: CJ Cooney
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galère

ga-LUR

noun

an unsavory group of individuals; a group of similar individuals

1931Hugh WalpoleAbove the Dark TumultBut, mystery of mysteries, what had Osmund to do in this galère? Osmund, the aristocrat, to be mixed in this degraded crowd, and involved in a burglary as common and vulgar as any in the cheapest novelette!1968John Le CarreA Small Town In GermanyIn six months he's changed the whole galère.1986Martin AmisThe Moronic Inferno & Other Visits to AmericaIn such a galère, literary comrades are doing pretty well if they are merely 'ghastly'…

Labels: Hugh Walpole, John Le Carre, Martin Amis

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Entry By: CJ Cooney
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