# What is the last word that came up in reading that you had to look up? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 28, 2008, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-last-word-that-came-up-in-reading-that-you-had-to-look-up/465517 "2008-09-28T01:01:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-last-word-that-came-up-in-reading-that-you-had-to-look-up/465517/21 "2008-09-28T21:07:16Z")
havering - a Scots dialect word meaning ‘hesitating’. I could infer it from the context, but I just wanted to check. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-last-word-that-came-up-in-reading-that-you-had-to-look-up/465517/22 "2008-09-28T21:09:45Z")
> [@Student\_Driver](#): > > Gruesome. > > Normally, I’d know what the word means, but in reading stuff for a philosophy class, it was obvious that the usual meaning wasn’t what was being used. So, I went a-Googlin’. It turned out to refer to a problem in inductive inference, wherein the color “grue” is used to describe items which are green before a given time, but will be blue after a certain time. Lemme see if I can emulate an old green monochrome monitor here … OH NO! YOU HAVE WANDERED INTO THE SLAVERING FANGS OF A LURKING GRUE! ]? ([sorry](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nigRT2KmCE)) Erm, anyway … I’m pretty good at figuring out unfamiliar words based on the context in which they’re used, so I don’t recall the last time I looked up a word I came across while reading. But nerdcore rapper MC Frontalot manages to come up with some really obscure words in his lyrics, and I’ve had to look up a few of them. The most recent was the word “acaudate”, which means “lacking a tail”. ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-last-word-that-came-up-in-reading-that-you-had-to-look-up/465517/23 "2008-09-28T21:18:24Z")
Caliginous, in a Barbara Hambly book. But then, I can always count on her to throw in a particularly crunchy word. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-last-word-that-came-up-in-reading-that-you-had-to-look-up/465517/24 "2008-09-28T23:19:44Z")
[badonkadonk](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=badonkadonk) [alternative meanings of kidney](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/kidney) > [@](#): > > 1. constitution or temperament: He was a quiet child, of a different kidney from his boisterous brothers. > 2. kind, sort, or class: He is only at ease with men of his own kidney [trousseau](http://www.thefreedictionary.com/wedding+chest) [Teratorns](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teratorn) ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-last-word-that-came-up-in-reading-that-you-had-to-look-up/465517/25 "2008-09-28T23:22:26Z")
Why are so many people posting words and not defining them…that’s just MEAN. \<\_\< ---
**Author:** ![Linty\_Fresh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Linty\_Fresh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linty_Fresh)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-last-word-that-came-up-in-reading-that-you-had-to-look-up/465517/26 "2008-09-29T00:05:17Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > Why are so many people posting words and not defining them…that’s just MEAN. \<\_\< Hell, I’m just happy I took my GRE’s the week before. Otherwise, I’d be scrambling like mad copying and pasting this shit into my huge-assed Wordpad file and numbering them to memorize later (but _I’m_ not a geek :smack: :smack: :smack: ) ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-last-word-that-came-up-in-reading-that-you-had-to-look-up/465517/27 "2008-09-29T00:39:07Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > I don’t recall which word it was, but it was in Donaldson’s **Fatal Revenant**. > > I always need a dictionary nearby when reading Donaldson. Check this out [The Well-Tempered Plot Device: Nick Lowe](http://news.ansible.co.uk/plotdev.html) "The rules are simple. Each player takes a different volume of The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, and at the word “go” all open their books at random and start leafing through, scanning the pages. The winner is the first player to find the word “clench”. It’s a fast, exciting game – sixty seconds is unusually drawn-out – and can be varied, if players get too good, with other favourite Donaldson words like wince, flinch, gag, rasp, exigency, mendacity, articulate, macerate, mien, limn, vertigo, cynosure… It’s a great way to get thrown out of bookshops. Good racing! " ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-last-word-that-came-up-in-reading-that-you-had-to-look-up/465517/28 "2008-09-29T00:50:33Z")
xanthic An elementary student armed with a thesaurus picked this synonym for yellowish. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-last-word-that-came-up-in-reading-that-you-had-to-look-up/465517/29 "2008-09-29T00:51:11Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Check this out [The Well-Tempered Plot Device: Nick Lowe](http://news.ansible.co.uk/plotdev.html) > > "The rules are simple. Each player takes a different volume of The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, and at the word “go” all open their books at random and start leafing through, scanning the pages. The winner is the first player to find the word “clench”. It’s a fast, exciting game – sixty seconds is unusually drawn-out – and can be varied, if players get too good, with other favourite Donaldson words like wince, flinch, gag, rasp, exigency, mendacity, articulate, macerate, mien, limn, vertigo, cynosure… It’s a great way to get thrown out of bookshops. Good racing! > " And oh yeah, the last word I had to look up was “louche” [louche - Wiktionary, the free dictionary](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/louche) ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-last-word-that-came-up-in-reading-that-you-had-to-look-up/465517/30 "2008-09-30T17:22:36Z")
“Even her slightly hooked nose had become less accipitrine than columbaceous.” - _The Poison Oracle_ by Peter Dickinson. I knew ‘accipitrine’ meant ‘hawk-like’, but had to hunt around for ‘columbaceous’. It turns out to mean ‘pigeon-like’. ---
**Author:** ![A\_shameful\_cracka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@A\_shameful\_cracka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_shameful_cracka)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-last-word-that-came-up-in-reading-that-you-had-to-look-up/465517/31 "2008-09-30T17:25:42Z")
“pusillanimous” - I had heard the word before and from context had a definition in my head “like a pussy”, finally looked it up and found I was pretty much right. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-last-word-that-came-up-in-reading-that-you-had-to-look-up/465517/32 "2008-09-30T17:32:08Z")
Soteriology. I was reading a theological essay. [QUOTE=Webster’s online] study of the divine accomplishment of the salvation of humanity; specif., in Christian theology, study of this as effected through Jesus Christ [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-last-word-that-came-up-in-reading-that-you-had-to-look-up/465517/33 "2008-10-01T19:24:11Z")
> [@Jodi](#): > > Re-reading _Master and Commander_ for like the third time, just today I cam across **otiose** and had to look it up. [Otiose!](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/otiose) > > I guess I must have glossed over it the first couple of times I read the book. **Otiose** would be an excellent name for a boat. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-last-word-that-came-up-in-reading-that-you-had-to-look-up/465517/34 "2008-10-01T19:37:06Z")
[Cromulent](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cromulent), which is my new favoritist word. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-last-word-that-came-up-in-reading-that-you-had-to-look-up/465517/35 "2008-10-01T19:51:49Z")
“Provenience” in a Preston-Child novel. I thought they’d misspelled “provenance.” Nope. Provenience is indeed a word, and it means pretty much the same as provenance (which I only know from watching those adorable Keno twins on _Antiques Roadshow_). I kept a dictionary at hand when reading _The Name of the Rose_, but I don’t recall any of the words I looked up. Probably two or three on every page. ---
**Author:** ![graememorrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/graememorrison/32/2287_2.png) [@graememorrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/graememorrison)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-last-word-that-came-up-in-reading-that-you-had-to-look-up/465517/36 "2008-10-01T19:53:16Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > havering - a Scots dialect word meaning ‘hesitating’. I could infer it from the context, but I just wanted to check. Not to quibble with wherever you got this definition, but from a quick poll of five or six people who all haver on a daily basis, i would say it meant ‘talking shite’ rather than hesitating. Although i suppose it could have come from there back in the day. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-last-word-that-came-up-in-reading-that-you-had-to-look-up/465517/37 "2008-10-01T19:59:46Z")
> [@](#): > > Re-reading Master and Commander for like the third time, just today I cam across otiose and had to look it up. Otiose! You know what’s fun? That comes from the same Latin root as “Negotiate”. Literally, negotiating is what you’re doing when you’re not relaxing. ---
**Author:** ![Dublin11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Dublin11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dublin11)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-last-word-that-came-up-in-reading-that-you-had-to-look-up/465517/38 "2008-10-01T22:25:38Z")
> [@graememorrison](#): > > Not to quibble with wherever you got this definition, but from a quick poll of five or six people who all haver on a daily basis, i would say it meant ‘talking shite’ rather than hesitating. Although i suppose it could have come from there back in the day. That’s what The Proclaimers would have us believe, certainly. And I yield to no man in my appreciation of those two! I had to look up restaurateur the other day, because I was a bit befuddled that it didn’t have an n in it. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-last-word-that-came-up-in-reading-that-you-had-to-look-up/465517/39 "2008-10-02T00:13:19Z")
> [@Dublin11](#): > > I had to look up restaurateur the other day, because I was a bit befuddled that it didn’t have an n in it. I always found that strange as well, until I considered the French origins of the word “restaurant”. Literally it means “place of restoring”, i.e. you’re weak with hunger, and the food and drink restores you. The guy who runs the place is the “restorer”. (In fact, I just put “restaurateur” into my translation software, and it returned “restorer”.) It illustrates the difference between the French approach and, say, the American approach. The French see the restaurateur’s job as being taking care of the customers, while we Americans see the restaurateur’s job as being running the restaurant. Effectively the same thing, but subtly different in priorities. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-last-word-that-came-up-in-reading-that-you-had-to-look-up/465517/40 "2008-10-02T03:29:59Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > You know what’s fun? That comes from the same Latin root as “Negotiate”. Literally, negotiating is what you’re doing when you’re not relaxing. My personal favorite along those lines is “tavern” and “tabernacle” coming from the same Latin root: _taberna_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-last-word-that-came-up-in-reading-that-you-had-to-look-up/465517.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-last-word-that-came-up-in-reading-that-you-had-to-look-up/465517.md?page=3)