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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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xanthous ZAN-thos adjective yellowish; yellow-brown; yellow-red 1856Sir Richard Francis BurtonPersonal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & MeccahThe xanthous complexion is rare, though not unknown in cities, but the leucous does not exist.1890Ignatius DonnellyCaesar's ColumnShe evidently belonged to the great race of Nilsson and Lind. Her hair, a mass of rebellious, short curls, was of the peculiar shade of light yellow common among that people; it looked as if the xanthous locks of the old Gauls, as described by Cæsar, had been faded out, in the long nights and the ice and snow of the Northland, to this paler hue.1927S. S. Van DineThe Canary Murder CaseTherefore, when I saw this photograph of the xanthous Alys half hidden under the litter of papers on the escritoire…1995Greg CostikyanOne Quest, Hold the DragonsI suppose you're all pining for that xanthous beauty yourselves…Labels: Greg Costikyan, Ignatius Donnelly, S. S. Van Dine, Sir Richard Francis Burton
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Entry By: CJ Cooney
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gemütlich guh-MYOOT-lik adjective pleasant; easy going 1929Sinclair LewisDodsworthOur European women are very gemutlich, they are easy to be with, they wait on us…1934S. S. Van DineThe Casino Murder Case'Quayle, d' ye see, was a classmate of Bloodgood's. Two aspirin' young chemists. Very good friends. Everything gemütlich.'1988Ed McBainThe House That Jack BuiltNever beautiful, but perhaps pretty in a gemutlich sort of way.1994Caleb CarrThe AlienistPapa Brübacher, a truly gemütlich restaurateur who was always glad to see a regular customer…Labels: Caleb Carr, Ed McBain, S. S. Van Dine, Sinclair Lewis
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kyphosis kai-FO-suhs noun humpback; abnormal curvature of the spine 1929S. S. Van DineThe Bishop Murder Case'I am told,' Vance continued, 'that Mrs. Drukker regards herself as responsible for her son's kyphosis; but it is my understanding that such malformations as his do not ordinarily result from mere physical injuries.'Labels: S. S. Van Dine
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syncretistic sing-kruh-TIS-tik adjective the fusion of disparate beliefs into one new belief; to combine disparate things 1915Sir Rabindranath TagoreSongs of KabirIn fifteenth-century Benares the syncretistic tendencies of Bhakti religion had reached full development.1933S. S. Van DineThe Dragon Murder CaseVahagn, the most popular of all the Armenian deities, was known far and wide as the 'dragon-reaper,' and in later syncretistic times he was identified with Heracles.1961Robert A. HeinleinStranger In A Strange LandThat might be where Mike picked it up, since all the forms he uses are openly syncretistic, especially that Earth-Mother ritual.2002Zoë BrânEnduring CubaSantería, 'the worship of saints', a Cuban syncretisation of Spanish Catholicism and Yoruba religion, is a merging of tradition and magic.Labels: Robert A. Heinlein, S. S. Van Dine, Sir Rabindranath Tagore, Zoë Brân
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Entry By: CJ Cooney
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