faille n. A silk fabric with a very light, untwilled cord and no gloss. Originates from the 16th century (denoting a kind of hood or veil worn by women): from Old French. The current sense dates from the mid 19th century; excellent drape often appearing in wedding gowns. Historically popular during the 1940s and 1950s for gowns and dresses. This fabric is often durable and quite rugged; resistant to stains and tearing.
fairycups n. A fungus, Peziza coccinea, which is bright red in color and shaped like a cup. Bisporella citrina, commonly known as yellow fairy cups or lemon discos, is a species of fungus in the family Helotiaceae. The fungus produces tiny yellow cups up to 3 mm (0.12 in) in diameter, often without stalks, that fruit in groups or dense clusters on decaying deciduous wood that has lost its bark. Species: B. citrina, Family: Helotiaceae, Genus: Bisporella
fallow a. 1. Pale red or pale yellow, 2. Unseeded, not tilled; left to rest; often used figuratively; as her mind lay fallow. n. Land that has lain a year or more untilled or unseeded; the act or method in agriculture, of plowing or tilled land without sowing it for a season. Green fallow; in England, land rendered mellow and clean from weeds by means of some green crop, as turnips or potatoes.
Fata Morgana 1. A name given to a very striking optical illusion, a kind of mirage, which has been principally remarked in the Straight of Messina, between the coasts of Sicily and Calabria; the term first entered English usage in 1818. The images of men, houses, towers, palaces, columns, trees, etc., are occasionally seen from the coast, sometimes in the water, and sometimes in the air, or at the surface of the water. 2. The Italian name for Morgan le Fay (meaning "Morgan the Fairy"), a sorceress of medieval legends —was sometimes said to live below the sea in a crystal palace that could also rise above the surface. The Fata Morgana effect was so named for the superstitious belief among sailors that the sorceress created illusory visions to lure men into a false port and to their death. 3. A film by Werner Herzog, 1971, 76 minutes. 4. A play, Fata Morgana: (Mirage) a Comedy in Three Acts, by Ernest Vajda, translated by James L. A. Burrell, Philip Moeller; Doubleday, 1924. DIGITAL VERSION AVAILABLE HERE
fillaria n. A genus of nematoid worms, belonging to the class Scolecida, including the guinea-worm.
fissirostres n.pl. An artificial group of passerine birds distinguished by having the bill very wide, the gape being extended beneath the eyes, culmen short and curved to the top, and feet weak. It includes the swallows, goatsuckers, swifts, martins, etc.
gauche a. 1. Left-handed; hence, crooked; clumsy’ awkward. 2. In mathematics, skew; (a) of double curvature; not in a single plane; twisted; (b) deviating from perfect symmetry by the regular reversal of certain parts.
grinnellia n. In botany, a genus of beautiful seaweeds, of which the Grinnellia americana of the Atlantic coast of the United States is the only species. Its membranaceous fronds are rosy-red.
hälp v. Obsolete past tense of help.
hallux n. (pl. -uces) Hind toe of birds. The first digit faces backward while the other three digits point forwards. This type of foot can be found on most birds that regularly perch. This unique foot can be found on woodpeckers, owls, most parrots, and other birds. It is the second most common toe arrangement, and is homologous to the human big toe. The average bird foot has four toes (the condition called anisodactyly), and typically the first big toe (the hallux) is turned backward, while the other three toes face forward.
hygrophanous adj. Referring to the color change of mushroom tissue (especially the pileus surface) as it loses or absorbs water, which causes the pileipellis to become more transparent when wet and opaque when dry. Genera that are characterized by hygrophanous species include Tubaria conspersa, Agrocybe, Psathyrella, Psilocybe, Panaeolus, and Galerina.
hypercathexis n. Desire amounting to mania for an object; an excessive concentration of mental energy on an object or person. Freud employed the term "hypercathexis" to designate an additional charge of instinctual energy cathecting any already cathected psychical element. The word's primary application was in the description of the economy of consciousness, but it also served in connection with the regulation of the flow of psychic energy and the constitution of the preconscious realm.
The term was first used by Freud in the "Project for a Scientific Psychology" (1950c [1895]), where it referred to a mobile cathexis of the ego specific to consciousness, necessary to the mechanism of attention, and consisting in a supplementary cathexis of neurones already cathected by perception. In Freud's account consciousness affected indications of quality. It arose from the excitation, during perception, of particular neurones belonging to the system W. Attention first addressed the indications of quality transmitted by these already cathected neurones, and then, via a facilitated pathway, focused on the perceptions themselves, which were thus hypercathected. "By this means [the ego] is led to cathect precisely the right perceptions or their environment" (p. 362). The ego was hence able to distinguish cathexes of real perceptions from cathexes of wishes, and the reality principle could be established.
According to Freud, the regulation of cathexes within the psychical apparatus remained unconscious, and was effected automatically in accordance with the pleasure/unpleasure principle. In The Interpretation of Dreams (1900a), he pointed out that this initial mechanism was fine-tuned by virtue of a cathexis of attention, described as a "hypercathexis set up . . . by the regulating influence of the sense organ of the Cs. " (p. 617), which at times could even work counter to the primary mechanism by cathecting elements that were a source of unpleasure and that would otherwise succumb to repression. (referenced from encyclopedia.com)
involucral bracts n. A leaflike or scalelike plant part, usually small, showy, or brightly colored and located just below a flower, flower stalk, or an inflorescence. Bracts (hypsophylls ) are special leaves at whose axils the flowers are borne. They are not always present and, if a bract is found, the flower is called bracteate while, if it is absent as in the families Cruciferae and Boraginaceae, the flower is ebracteate. Bracts may drop off early (deciduous) or they may be persistent. When bracts are present, they serve for the protection of flower buds in the young stage. Morphologically, a bract may be formed by the entire phyllopodium or a part of it. Some shoots show transitional forms between normal leaves and bracts . Additional bract-like small and thin structures are sometimes borne on the peduncle or the pedicel between the flower and the bract. These are called bracteoles and are of the nature of prophylls.
jacana (Parra sinensis) n. Any one of several grallatorial birds, as Parra jacana, characterized by spurred wings, long legs, and elongated, claw-like spreading toes -by means of which they are able to walk upon the floating vegetation (aquatic plants) in shallow lakes. The Parra sinensis originates out of Brazil. Female jacanas weigh 60 percent more than males and can lay many successive "clutches" of eggs in a single breeding season. Once their eggs are on the ground, the females are gone, leaving the males to incubate the eggs and take care of the newborn young. Males have special wing adaptations that allow them to carry two chicks beneath each of their wings. The aggressive females, meanwhile, are busy gathering harems of as many as five males, mating promiscuously and defending territory against other females. Common names: Jacanidae, lily-trotter, lotus bird.
jimsonweed n. Known to have narcotic powers; boiled with hog’s grease, Jimsonweed makes a healing unguent for burns; a trumpet-shaped flower, either white or blue, bears a prickly fruit. 'Datura, is from its ancient Hindu name, Dhatura. In the Orient it was said that goats who had eaten the plant would manifest strange behaviors and try to walk on their hind feet like men’ [Durant, Mary, 1976]. ‘It brings on the sleep of death as quietly as fatigue does the ordinary sleep, without the least struggle or motion’ [ Jefferson, Thomas, 1813].
lingua franca n. Any language used as a means of communication among speakers of other languages.
liparian n. & adj. (pertaining to a) sea-snail.
lory n. Small Australasian parrot with brilliantly colored plumage, and a tongue bordered with a brushlike fringe for feeding on pollen and nectar; high-energy bird often referred to as a lorikeet which makes for an enjoyable companion for ornithologists or the common wo/man. Part of more than 130 species and subspecies in the subfamily Loriinae. 10 to 12 inches in length, and found in large flocks. They roost in trees at night numbering in the hundreds and thousands. They reach sexual maturity at about 2 years of age, and generally rear two babies per clutch, as opposed to many other parrots this size, which may have six or more chicks at a time. Lories bathe exuberantly and often —be prepared to invest in a shower perch, a mister, and a shallow bath for the cage. Known fact by those who own a lory, is the Rainbow’s penchant for napping upside-down on its back.
lupine n. Of hundreds of varieties which belong to the legume family; the seeds have been a delicacy in the Mediterranean over the centuries. It was named after the wolf—lupus, in Latin; by its own choice, the lupine thrives in very poor soil. In the ancient days the concepts of cause and effect were reversed, and it was believed that this plant destroyed the soil, that it wolfed the nourishment out of the earth.
lycoperdon n. Genus of the puffball fungus containing up to 50 different species, commonly seen in the woodlands of North America during the summer and autumn seasons; has spot-like scars on the surface and is edible only when young. Division Basidiomycota: a typically filamentous fungi composed of hyphae. Most species reproduce sexually with a club-shaped spore-bearing organ (basidium) that usually produces four sexual spores (basidiospores)., species L. perlatum. Stump puffballs (Lycoperdon pyriforme), are a ubiquitous fungus that grows on dead wood. When rain hits the fruiting structures, spores are released in a cloud.
metempsychosis n. The transmigration of the soul at time of death; reincarnation; the soul of a human being or of an animal into a new body of the same or a different species.
mock turtle n. 1. A fictional character devised by Lewis Carroll from his popular 1865 book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. With the shell and flippers of a turtle and the head of a calf, Mock Turtle, according to the Queen of Hearts, was "the thing Mock Turtle Soup [was] made from." 2. A soup that was created in the mid-18th century as a cheaper imitation of turtle soup. It often used brains and organ meats such as calf's head to duplicate the texture and flavor of turtle meat. The dish was served at Lincoln's first inauguration. Evidently, many of the founding fathers, e.g., George Washington, Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton, etc., enjoyed turtle soup.
monitions of approach Unaccountable ideas of an impending meeting with someone. A man is seen in the street, is recognised as an old friend, the next minute the mistake is perceived, yet the very man comes into view a moment or two after in flesh and blood. This occurence is fairly common. But monitions often appear in more complicated forms. They may be auditive, of a sudden voice may be heard, announcing the arrival of someone; they may come in dreams, and in the waking state, they may take the form of actual sight of a phantom of the coming man. The spiritualist contention is that in such cases the double of the coming man was unconsciously projected. In many cases this may be the right explanation, in many others it is deficient. The elucidation of the mystery waits for future research.
mute n. 1. The dung of birds [v.t. to eject the contents of the bowels; to void.] 2. A person who cannot speak, or who remains silent. 3. In law, a person who, upon arraignment, remains silent when she/he ought to answer or plead. 4. Also, a spectator. 5. Formerly, a person employed by undertakers to stand before the door of a house in which there was a corpse, or to lead funeral processions. 6. In music, a little utensil of wood, brass, or other substance, used on different musical instruments to deaden or soften the sound. For the violin, and similar instruments, it consists of a clip which is fitted over the bridge; in the cornet and other metal wind instruments, it consists of a pad which is inserted in the bell. 7. In phonetics, (a) a silent letter; one that represents no sound; (b) a close articulation; an explosive utterance.
