Category: dictionary

McMansion

I’ve heard about these things.

McMansion
noun
Mc· Man· sion mək-ˈman(t)-shən
A very large house built in usually a suburban neighborhood or development
especially : one regarded critically as oversized and ostentatious
“12900 Aden Rd is a 6,476 square foot house on a 10 acre lot with 4 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms.. Based on Redfin’s Nokesville data, we estimate the home’s value is $1,303,606.”

 

 

basswood

What does the tree say? The OED notes of psithurism, “Obsolete. Forms: α. psithurisma. β. psithurism. This word belongs in Frequency Band 1.
Band 1 contains extremely rare words unlikely ever to appear in modern text. These may be obscure technical terms or terms restricted to occasional historical use, e.g. abaptiston, abaxile, grithbreach, gurhofite, zarnich, zeagonite.

a rustling or whispering sound, such as leaves in the wind; susurration: “Standing in the glade I heard a quiet psithurism, just straddling the line between music and noise.”

Abscission

sycamore leaf frost
A plant will abscise a part either to discard a member that is no longer necessary, such as a leaf during autumn, or a flower following fertilisation, or for the purposes of reproduction. Most deciduous plants drop their leaves by abscission before winter, whereas evergreen plants continuously abscise their leaves. Another form of abscission is fruit drop, when a plant abscises fruit while still immature, in order to conserve resources needed to bring the remaining fruit to maturity. If a leaf is damaged, a plant may also abscise it to conserve water or photosynthetic efficiency, depending on the ‘costs’ to the plant as a whole. The abscission layer is a greenish-grayish color.–Wikipedia

Boisterous

dogs at play
rough and noisy; noisily jolly or rowdy; clamorous; unrestrained:
Carl, Helen and Ermine visited last night. Tilly had nine brothers, no sisters. They taught her ferocious display? Tilly shows off for visitors. (two seconds later Tilly was flat on her back)