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Eponyms 483 words

Names of people (real or fictional) that have become words.

http://users.tinyonline.co.uk/gswithenbank/eponyms.htm

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  1. bunsen burner
    a gas burner used in laboratories; has an air valve to regulate the mixture of gas and air
  2. Moonie
    an often derogatory term for a member of the Unification Church
  3. mesmerise
    attract strongly, as if with a magnet
  4. Dewar flask
    vacuum flask that holds liquid air or helium for scientific experiments
  5. bacitracin
    a polypeptide antibiotic of known chemical structure effective against several types of Gram-positive organisms; usually applied locally
  6. Bessemer process
    an industrial process for making steel using a Bessemer converter to blast air through molten iron and thus burning the excess carbon and impurities; the first successful method of making steel in quantity at low cost
  7. guillotine
    instrument of execution that consists of a weighted blade between two vertical poles; used for beheading people
  8. marcel
    a hairdo characterized by deep regular waves that are made by a heated curling iron
  9. buddleia
    tropical shrub having clusters of white or violet or yellow flowers
  10. ohm
    a unit of electrical resistance equal to the resistance between two points on a conductor when a potential difference of one volt between them produces a current of one ampere
  11. Petri dish
    a shallow dish used to culture bacteria
  12. Maginot Line
    a fortification built before World War II to protect France's eastern border; initially considered to be impregnable, it was easily overrun by the German army in 1940
  13. Bakelite
    a thermosetting plastic used as electric insulators and for making plastic ware and telephone receivers etc.
  14. pantaloon
    trousers worn in former times
  15. galvanise
    stimulate (muscles) by administering a shock
  16. cereal
    grass whose starchy grains are used as food: wheat; rice; rye; oats; maize; buckwheat; millet
  17. Aaron's rod
    tall-stalked very woolly mullein with densely packed yellow flowers; ancient Greeks and Romans dipped the stalks in tallow for funeral torches
  18. Beaufort scale
    a scale from 0 to 12 for the force of the wind
  19. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
    rare (usually fatal) brain disease (usually in middle age) caused by an unidentified slow virus; characterized by progressive dementia and gradual loss of muscle control
  20. frangipani
    any of various tropical American deciduous shrubs or trees of the genus Plumeria having milky sap and showy fragrant funnel-shaped variously colored flowers
  21. lobelia
    any plant or flower of the genus Lobelia
  22. maverick
    someone who exhibits great independence in thought and action
  23. Nissen hut
    a prefabricated hut of corrugated iron having a semicircular cross section
  24. Huntington's chorea
    hereditary disease; develops in adulthood and ends in dementia
  25. hygiene
    a condition promoting sanitary practices
  26. Benedictine
    of or relating to Saint Benedict or his works
  27. bigot
    a prejudiced person who is intolerant of any opinions differing from his own
  28. plimsoll
    a light gym shoe with a rubber sole and a canvas top
  29. Tuesday
    the third day of the week; the second working day
  30. mansard roof
    a hip roof having two slopes on each side
  31. bloomers
    underpants worn by women
  32. sideburn
    facial hair that has grown down the side of a man's face in front of the ears (especially when the rest of the beard is shaved off)
  33. gray
    of an achromatic color of any lightness intermediate between the extremes of white and black
  34. Richter scale
    a logarithmic scale of 1 to 10 formerly used to express the magnitude of an earthquake on the basis of the size of seismograph oscillations
  35. fuchsia
    any of various tropical shrubs widely cultivated for their showy drooping purplish or reddish or white flowers; Central and South America and New Zealand and Tahiti
  36. charlotte russe
    lady fingers enclosing Bavarian cream
  37. roentgen
    a unit of radiation exposure; the dose of ionizing radiation that will produce 1 electrostatic unit of electricity in 1 cc of dry air
  38. Oscar
    an annual award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for achievements in motion picture production and performance
  39. marigold
    any of various tropical American plants of the genus Tagetes widely cultivated for their showy yellow or orange flowers
  40. Gay-Lussac's law
    (physics) the density of an ideal gas at constant pressure varies inversely with the temperature
  41. grog
    rum cut with water
  42. Congorism
  43. Chippendale
    a British cabinetmaker remembered for his graceful designs (especially of chairs) which influenced his contemporaries (1718-1779)
  44. golliwog
    a grotesque black doll
  45. Salk vaccine
    a poliovirus vaccine consisting of inactivated polio virus that is injected subcutaneously to provide immunity to poliomyelitis
  46. atlas
    a collection of maps in book form
  47. Braille
    French educator who lost his sight at the age of three and who invented a system of writing and printing for sightless people (1809-1852)
  48. Fosbury flop
    jumping over the bar backwards and head first
  49. Salisbury steak
    ground beef patty usually with a sauce
  50. Faraday
    the English physicist and chemist who discovered electromagnetic induction (1791-1867)
  51. magnolia
    any shrub or tree of the genus Magnolia; valued for their longevity and exquisite fragrant blooms
  52. spoonerism
    transposition of initial consonants in a pair of words
  53. Rorschach test
    a projective tests using bilaterally symmetrical inkblots; subjects state what they see in the inkblot
  54. Cassandra
    (Greek mythology) a prophetess in Troy during the Trojan War whose predictions were true but were never believed
  55. tarmac
    a paved surface having compressed layers of broken rocks held together with tar
  56. diddle
    manipulate manually or in one's mind or imagination
  57. Gilbertian
    of or pertaining to or characteristic of the style of William S. Gilbert
  58. sandwich
    two (or more) slices of bread with a filling between them
  59. Dewey decimal system
    a system used by libraries to classify nonfictional publications into subject categories; the subject is indicated by a three-digit numeral and further specification is given by numerals following a decimal point; publications are shelved by number
  60. Plinian eruption
    a volcanic eruption in which a stream of gas and ash is violently ejected to a height of several miles
  61. Eustachian tube
    either of the paired tubes connecting the middle ears to the nasopharynx; equalizes air pressure on the two sides of the eardrum
  62. forsythia
    any of various early blooming oleaceous shrubs of the genus Forsythia; native to eastern Asia and southern Europe but widely cultivated for their branches of bright yellow bell-shaped flowers
  63. Soubise
    veloute sauce with sauteed chopped onions and whipping cream
  64. jumbo
    of great mass; huge and bulky
  65. euphuism
    any artificially elegant style of language
  66. Addison's disease
    a glandular disorder caused by failure of function of the cortex of the adrenal gland and marked by anemia and prostration with brownish skin
  67. hooligan
    a cruel and brutal fellow
  68. Jekyll and Hyde
    someone with two personalities - one good and one evil
  69. mentor
    a wise and trusted guide and advisor
  70. bunkum
    unacceptable behavior (especially ludicrously false statements)
  71. quixotic
    not sensible about practical matters; idealistic and unrealistic
  72. Chateaubriand
    French statesman and writer; considered a precursor of the romantic movement in France (1768-1848)
  73. derringer
    a pocket pistol of large caliber with a short barrel
  74. blurb
    a promotional statement (as found on the dust jackets of books)
  75. gerrymander
    divide unfairly and to one's advantage; of voting districts
  76. Dantean
    of or relating to Dante Alighieri or his writings
  77. Graafian follicle
    a vascular body in a mammalian ovary enclosing a developing egg
  78. Crohn's disease
    a serious chronic and progressive inflammation of the ileum producing frequent bouts of diarrhea with abdominal pain and nausea and fever and weight loss
  79. nemesis
    something causing misery or death
  80. catherine wheel
    a circular firework that spins round and round emitting colored fire
  81. Pyrrhic victory
    a victory that is won by incurring terrible losses
  82. flora
    all the plant life in a particular region or period
  83. Geiger counter
    counter tube that detects ionizing radiations
  84. martin
    any of various swallows with squarish or slightly forked tail and long pointed wings; migrate around Martinmas
  85. orrery
    planetarium consisting of an apparatus that illustrates the relative positions and motions of bodies in the solar system by rotation and revolution of balls moved by wheelwork; sometimes incorporated in a clock
  86. banting
    wild ox of the Malay Archipelago
  87. vulcanise
    undergo vulcanization
  88. curie
    a unit of radioactivity equal to the amount of a radioactive isotope that decays at the rate of 37,000,000,000 disintegrations per second
  89. Hadrian's Wall
    an ancient Roman wall built by Hadrian in the 2nd century; marked the northern boundary of the Roman Empire in Britain
  90. bowdlerise
    edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate
  91. tesla
    a unit of magnetic flux density equal to one weber per square meter
  92. peach melba
    ice cream and peaches with a liqueur
  93. Graves' disease
    exophthalmos occurring in association with goiter; hyperthyroidism with protrusion of the eyeballs
  94. hansom cab
    a two-wheeled horse-drawn covered carriage with the driver's seat above and behind the passengers
  95. Leninism
    the political and economic theories of Lenin which provided the guiding doctrine of the Soviet Union; the modification of Marxism by Lenin stressed that imperialism is the highest form of capitalism (which shifts the struggle from developed to underdeveloped countries)
  96. Eschscholtzia
    showy herbs of western North America
  97. Calvinism
    the theological system of John Calvin and his followers emphasizing omnipotence of God and salvation by grace alone
  98. malpighian corpuscle
    the capsule that contains Bowman's capsule and a glomerulus at the expanded end of a nephron
  99. Becquerel
    French physicist who discovered that rays emitted by uranium salts affect photographic plates (1852-1908)
  100. simony
    traffic in ecclesiastical offices or preferments
  101. Rankine scale
    a scale of absolute temperature in Fahrenheit degrees; the freezing point of water is 491.69 degrees and the boiling point of water is 671.69 degrees
  102. eggs Benedict
    toasted English muffin topped with ham and a poached egg (or an oyster) and hollandaise sauce
  103. Esperanto
    an artificial language based as far as possible on words common to all the European languages
  104. onanism
    manual stimulation of the genital organs (of yourself or another) for sexual pleasure
  105. Heimlich maneuver
    an emergency procedure to help someone who is choking because food is lodged in the trachea
  106. maxwell
    a cgs unit of magnetic flux equal to the flux perpendicular to an area of 1 square centimeter in a magnetic field of 1 gauss
  107. doily
    a small round piece of linen placed under a dish or bowl
  108. timothy
    grass with long cylindrical spikes grown in northern United States and Europe for hay
  109. juggernaut
    a massive inexorable force that seems to crush everything in its way
  110. Mohs scale
    a scale of hardness of solids; talc is 0 and diamond is 10; ordering is determined by which substance can scratch another substance
  111. Pavlovian
    of or relating to Ivan Pavlov or his experiments
  112. dahlia
    any of several plants of or developed from the species Dahlia pinnata having tuberous roots and showy rayed variously colored flower heads; native to the mountains of Mexico and Central America and Colombia
  113. Euphorbia
    type genus of the Euphorbiaceae: very large genus of diverse plants all having milky juice
  114. Gothic
    of or relating to the Goths
  115. saxhorn
    any of a family of brass wind instruments that resemble a bugle with valves
  116. wendy house
    plaything consisting of a small model of a house that children can play inside of
  117. bunk
    beds built one above the other
  118. Alexandrine
    (prosody) a line of verse that has six iambic feet
  119. Shavian
    of or relating to George Bernard Shaw or his works
  120. gilbert
    a unit of magnetomotive force equal to 0.7958 ampere-turns
  121. May
    the month following April and preceding June
  122. zinnia
    any of various plants of the genus Zinnia cultivated for their variously and brightly colored flower heads
  123. mint
    any member of the mint family of plants
  124. gal
    alliterative term for girl (or woman)
  125. Falkland Islands
    a group of over 100 islands in the southern Atlantic off the coast of Argentina; a British Crown Colony
  126. begonia
    any of numerous plants of the genus Begonia grown for their attractive glossy asymmetrical leaves and colorful flowers in usually terminal cymes or racemes
  127. Georgian
    of or relating to the Hanoverian kings of England
  128. quisling
    someone who collaborates with an enemy occupying force
  129. erotic
    an erotic person
  130. macadam
    a paved surface having compressed layers of broken rocks held together with tar
  131. Pre-Raphaelite
    of or relating to or characteristic of the Pre-Raphaelites
  132. Bolivia
    a landlocked republic in central South America; Simon Bolivar founded Bolivia in 1825 after winning independence from Spain
  133. Pandora's box
    (Greek mythology) a box that Zeus gave to Pandora with instructions that she not open it; she gave in to her curiosity and opened it; all the miseries and evils flew out to afflict mankind
  134. Parkinson's law
    C. Northcote Parkinson's cynical observation that work will expand so as to fill the time available for its completion
  135. Teddy boy
    a tough youth of 1950's and 1960's wearing Edwardian style clothes
  136. sadism
    sexual pleasure obtained by inflicting harm (physical or psychological) on others
  137. Maoism
    a form of communism developed in China by Mao Zedong
  138. Baffin Island
    the 5th largest island and the largest island of Arctic Canada; lies between Greenland and Hudson Bay
  139. lesbian
    of or relating to or characterized by homosexual relations between woman
  140. Friday
    the sixth day of the week; the fifth working day
  141. greengage
    sweet green or greenish-yellow variety of plum
  142. Electra complex
    a complex of females; sexual attraction to the father
  143. Bowie knife
    a stout hunting knife with a single edge
  144. cravat
    neckwear worn in a slipknot with long ends overlapping vertically in front
  145. nobelium
    a radioactive transuranic element synthesized by bombarding curium with carbon ions; 7 isotopes are known
  146. gun
    a weapon that discharges a missile at high velocity (especially from a metal tube or barrel)
  147. coulomb
    a unit of electrical charge equal to the amount of charge transferred by a current of 1 ampere in 1 second
  148. Fresnel
    French physicist who invented polarized light and invented the Fresnel lens (1788-1827)
  149. Rayleigh
    English physicist who studied the density of gases and discovered argon; made important contributions to acoustic theory (1842-1919)
  150. jackanapes
    someone who is unimportant but cheeky and presumptuous
  151. Svengali
    someone (usually maleficent) who tries to persuade or force another person to do his bidding
  152. Molotov cocktail
    a crude incendiary bomb made of a bottle filled with flammable liquid and fitted with a rag wick
  153. henry
    a unit of inductance in which an induced electromotive force of one volt is produced when the current is varied at the rate of one ampere per second
  154. guy
    an informal term for a youth or man
  155. Mennonite
    a member of an Anabaptist movement in Holland noted for its simplicity of life
  156. Doberman pinscher
    medium large breed of dog of German origin with a glossy black and tan coat; used as a watchdog
  157. Reaumur scale
    a temperature scale on which water freezes at 0 degrees and boils at 80 degrees
  158. Gregorian calendar
    the solar calendar now in general use, introduced by Gregory XIII in 1582 to correct an error in the Julian calendar by suppressing 10 days, making Oct 5 be called Oct 15, and providing that only centenary years divisible by 400 should be leap years; it was adopted by Great Britain and the American colonies in 1752
  159. blimp
    a small nonrigid airship used for observation or as a barrage balloon
  160. Wednesday
    the fourth day of the week; the third working day
  161. poise
    hold or carry in equilibrium
  162. weber
    a unit of magnetic flux equal to 100,000,000 maxwells
  163. August
    the month following July and preceding September
  164. freesia
    any of several plants of the genus Freesia valued for their one-sided clusters of usually fragrant yellow or white or pink tubular flowers
  165. Fahrenheit
    of or relating to a temperature scale proposed by the inventor of the mercury thermometer
  166. Sverdrup
    Norwegian explorer who led expeditions into the Arctic (1855-1930)
  167. oersted
    the magnetic field strength 1 cm from a unit magnetic pole
  168. daguerreotype
    a photograph made by an early photographic process; the image was produced on a silver plate sensitized to iodine and developed in mercury vapor
  169. stentorian
    used of the voice
  170. cinchona
    any of several trees of the genus Cinchona
  171. lambert
    a cgs unit of illumination equal to the brightness of a perfectly diffusing surface that emits or reflects one lumen per square centimeter
  172. Mauser
    German arms manufacturer and inventor of a repeating rifle and pistol (1838-1914)
  173. decibel
    a logarithmic unit of sound intensity; 10 times the logarithm of the ratio of the sound intensity to some reference intensity
  174. Socratic method
    a method of teaching by question and answer; used by Socrates to elicit truths from his students
  175. pinchbeck
    an alloy of copper and zinc that is used in cheap jewelry to imitate gold
  176. bobby
    an informal term for a British policeman
  177. negus
    wine and hot water with sugar and lemon juice and nutmeg
  178. cattleya
    any orchid of the genus Cattleya characterized by a three-lobed lip enclosing the column; among the most popular and most extravagantly beautiful orchids known
  179. siemens
    a unit of conductance equal to the reciprocal of an ohm
  180. Uzi
    a type of submachine gun that is designed and manufactured in Israel
  181. Mickey Finn
    slang term for knockout drops
  182. Hobson's choice
    the choice of taking what is offered or nothing at all
  183. Binet-Simon Scale
    the first intelligence test
  184. March
    the month following February and preceding April
  185. gadolinium
    a ductile silvery-white ductile ferromagnetic trivalent metallic element of the rare earth group
  186. saxophone
    a single-reed woodwind with a conical bore
  187. hector
    be bossy towards
  188. paean
    (ancient Greece) a hymn of praise (especially one sung in ancient Greece to invoke or thank a deity)
  189. cardigan
    knitted jacket that is fastened up the front with buttons or a zipper
  190. Linnaean
    of or relating to Linnaeus or to the system of taxonomic classification that Linnaeus proposed
  191. Spencer
    English philosopher and sociologist who applied the theory of natural selection to human societies (1820-1903)
  192. bacchanalia
    a wild gathering involving excessive drinking and promiscuity
  193. thespian
    a theatrical performer
  194. stonewall
    engage in delaying tactics or refuse to cooperate
  195. Dioscorea
    yams
  196. gentian
    any of various plants of the family Gentianaceae especially the genera Gentiana and Gentianella and Gentianopsis
  197. Trotskyism
    the form of communism advocated by Leon Trotsky; calls for immediate worldwide revolution by the proletariat
  198. raglan
    a garment (coat or sweater) that has raglan sleeves
  199. nebuchadnezzar
    a very large wine bottle holding the equivalent of 20 normal bottles of wine; used especially for display
  200. Watt
    Scottish engineer and inventor whose improvements in the steam engine led to its wide use in industry (1736-1819)
  201. Wassermann test
    a blood test to detect syphilis; a complement fixation test is used to detect antibodies to the syphilis organism treponema; a positive reaction indicates the presence of antibodies and therefore syphilis infection
  202. Heaviside layer
    a region of the ionosphere (from 50 to 90 miles up) that reflects radio waves of medium length
  203. Parkinson's disease
    a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system characterized by tremor and impaired muscular coordination
  204. Cushing's disease
    a glandular disorder caused by excessive ACTH resulting in greater than normal functioning of the adrenal gland; characterized by obesity
  205. Plimsoll line
    waterlines to show the level the water should reach when the ship is properly loaded
  206. fermi
    a metric unit of length equal to one quadrillionth of a meter
  207. biotite
    dark brown to black mica found in igneous and metamorphic rock
  208. joule
    a unit of electrical energy equal to the work done when a current of one ampere passes through a resistance of one ohm for one second
  209. U
    the 21st letter of the Roman alphabet
  210. burke
    get rid of, silence, or suppress
  211. Euclidean geometry
    (mathematics) geometry based on Euclid's axioms
  212. silhouette
    a drawing of the outline of an object; filled in with some uniform color
  213. Charles's law
    (physics) the density of an ideal gas at constant pressure varies inversely with the temperature
  214. hyacinth
    any of numerous bulbous perennial herbs
  215. Judas
    (New Testament) the Apostle who betrayed Jesus to his enemies for 30 pieces of silver
  216. Boolean logic
    a system of symbolic logic devised by George Boole; used in computers
  217. fermium
    a radioactive transuranic metallic element produced by bombarding plutonium with neutrons
  218. Grimm's law
    a sound law relating German consonants and consonants in other Indo-European languages
  219. brougham
    light carriage; pulled by a single horse
  220. dolomite
    a kind of sedimentary rock resembling marble or limestone but rich in magnesium carbonate
  221. Rudbeckia
    North American perennial herbs with showy cone-shaped flower heads
  222. January
    the first month of the year; begins 10 days after the winter solstice
  223. Cyrillic
    an alphabet derived from the Greek alphabet and used for writing Slavic languages (Russian, Bulgarian, Serbian, Ukrainian, and some other Slavic languages)
  224. Amish
    an American follower of the Mennonite religion
  225. Dionysian
    of or relating to or worshipping Dionysus
  226. Brix scale
    a system for measuring the concentration of sugar solutions
  227. doggerel
    a comic verse of irregular measure
  228. derby
    a felt hat that is round and hard with a narrow brim
  229. Wagnerian
    of or relating to Richard Wagner or his music
  230. lynch
    kill without legal sanction
  231. malapropism
    the unintentional misuse of a word by confusion with one that sounds similar
  232. slave
    a person who is owned by someone
  233. quassia
    handsome South American shrub or small tree having bright scarlet flowers and yielding a valuable fine-grained yellowish wood; yields the bitter drug quassia from its wood and bark
  234. Thatcherism
    (England) the political policy of Margaret Thatcher
  235. beef Stroganoff
    sauteed strips of beef and mushrooms in sour cream sauce served with noodles
  236. cotangent
    ratio of the adjacent to the opposite side of a right-angled triangle
  237. Fibonacci number
    a number in the Fibonacci sequence
  238. praline
    cookie-sized candy made of brown sugar and butter and pecans
  239. teddy bear
    plaything consisting of a child's toy bear (usually plush and stuffed with soft materials)
  240. nicotine
    an alkaloid poison that occurs in tobacco; used in medicine and as an insecticide
  241. Appleton layer
    the highest region of the ionosphere (from 90 to 600 miles up) which contains the highest concentration of free electrons and is most useful for long-range radio transmission
  242. Rabelaisian
    of or relating to or characteristic of Francois Rabelais or his works
  243. Broca's aphasia
    aphasia in which expression by speech or writing is severely impaired
  244. sabin
    a unit of acoustic absorption equivalent to the absorption by a square foot of a surface that absorbs all incident sound
  245. Beau Brummell
    English dandy who was a fashion leader during the Regency (1778-1840)
  246. Shakespearean
    of or relating to William Shakespeare or his works
  247. palladium
    a silver-white metallic element of the platinum group that resembles platinum; occurs in some copper and nickel ores; does not tarnish at ordinary temperatures and is used (alloyed with gold) in jewelry
  248. spaniel
    any of several breeds of small to medium-sized gun dogs with a long silky coat and long frilled ears
  249. gamp
    colloquial terms for an umbrella
  250. lobster Newburg
    lobster in Newburg sauce served on buttered toast or rice
  251. Kafkaesque
    relating to or in the manner of Franz Kafka or his writings
  252. Bailey bridge
    a temporary bridge designed for rapid construction
  253. torr
    a unit of pressure equal to 0.001316 atmosphere; named after Torricelli
  254. lucullan
    characterized by extravagance and profusion
  255. Oedipus complex
    a complex of males; desire to possess the mother sexually and to exclude the father; said to be a source of personality disorders if unresolved
  256. georgette
    a thin silk dress material
  257. Napoleonic
    of or relating to or like Napoleon Bonaparte
  258. Spode
    a brand of fine English porcelain
  259. guillemot
    small black or brown speckled auks of northern seas
  260. Daltonism
    dichromacy characterized by a lowered sensitivity to green light resulting in an inability to distinguish green and purplish-red
  261. newton
    a unit of force equal to the force that imparts an acceleration of 1 m/sec/sec to a mass of 1 kilogram; equal to 100,000 dynes
  262. knickerbockers
    trousers ending above the knee
  263. asphalt
    a dark bituminous substance found in natural beds and as residue from petroleum distillation; consists mainly of hydrocarbons
  264. Boyle's law
    the pressure of an ideal gas at constant temperature varies inversely with the volume
  265. jeremiad
    a long and mournful complaint
  266. Stalinism
    a form of government in which the ruler is an absolute dictator (not restricted by a constitution or laws or opposition etc.)
  267. jovial
    full of or showing high-spirited merriment
  268. Svedberg
    Swedish theologian (1688-1772)
  269. tam-o'-shanter
    a woolen cap of Scottish origin
  270. caesarean section
    the delivery of a fetus by surgical incision through the abdominal wall and uterus (from the belief that Julius Caesar was born that way)
  271. Marxism
    the economic and political theories of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels that hold that human actions and institutions are economically determined and that class struggle is needed to create historical change and that capitalism will ultimately be superseded by communism
  272. abelia
    any of various deciduous or evergreen ornamental shrubs of the genus Abelia having opposite simple leaves and cymes of small white or pink or purplish flowers; Asia and Mexico
  273. Luddite
    any opponent of technological progress
  274. groggy
    stunned or confused and slow to react (as from blows or drunkenness or exhaustion)
  275. Mendel's law
    (genetics) one of two principles of heredity formulated by Gregor Mendel on the basis of his experiments with plants; the principles were limited and modified by subsequent genetic research
  276. pasteurise
    heat food in order to kill harmful microorganisms
  277. Mount Everest
    a mountain in the central Himalayas on the border of Tibet and Nepal; the highest mountain peak in the world (29,028 feet high)
  278. Casanova
    an Italian adventurer who wrote vivid accounts of his sexual encounters (1725-1798)
  279. rodomontade
    vain and empty boasting
  280. Darwinian
    an advocate of Darwinism
  281. bechamel sauce
    milk thickened with a butter and flour roux
  282. Gladstone bag
    a large travelling bag made of stiff leather
  283. Doppler effect
    change in the apparent frequency of a wave as observer and source move toward or away from each other
  284. Celsius
    Swedish astronomer who devised the centigrade thermometer (1701-1744)
  285. Saturday
    the seventh and last day of the week; observed as the Sabbath by Jews and some Christians
  286. Morse code
    a telegraph code in which letters and numbers are represented by strings of dots and dashes (short and long signals)
  287. gardenia
    any of various shrubs and small trees of the genus Gardenia having large fragrant white or yellow flowers
  288. Machiavellian
    of or relating to Machiavelli or the principles of conduct he recommended
  289. python
    large Old World boas
  290. nosey-parker
    a person who meddles in the affairs of others
  291. filbert
    small nut-bearing tree much grown in Europe
  292. Baedeker
    German publisher of a series of travel guidebooks (1801-1859)
  293. Levi's
    a popular brand of jeans
  294. Confucianism
    the teachings of Confucius emphasizing love for humanity; high value given to learning and to devotion to family (including ancestors); peace; justice; influenced the traditional culture of China
  295. bel
  296. Stetson
    a hat made of felt with a creased crown
  297. Dalton's law
    (chemistry) law stating that when two elements can combine to form more than one compound the amounts of one of them that combines with a fixed amount of the other will exhibit a simple multiple relation
  298. valentine
    a sweetheart chosen to receive a greeting on Saint Valentine's Day
  299. namby-pamby
    weak in willpower, courage or vitality
  300. gadolinite
    a mineral that is a source of rare earths; consists of silicates of iron and beryllium and cerium and yttrium and erbium
  301. martinet
    someone who demands exact conformity to rules and forms
  302. hypnosis
    a state that resembles sleep but that is induced by suggestion
  303. peony
    any of numerous plants widely cultivated for their showy single or double red or pink or white flowers
  304. Washington
    1st President of the United States; commander-in-chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolution (1732-1799)
  305. Malthusian
    of or relating to Thomas Malthus or to Malthusianism
  306. Titian
    old master of the Venetian school (1490-1576)
  307. sousaphone
    the lowest brass wind instrument
  308. graham cracker
    semisweet whole-wheat cracker
  309. Jacquard loom
    a loom with an attachment for forming openings for the passage of the shuttle between the warp threads; used in weaving figured fabrics
  310. bog spavin
    spavin caused by collection of fluids
  311. Wedgwood
    English potter (1730-1795)
  312. gauss
    a unit of magnetic flux density equal to 1 maxwell per square centimeter
  313. Victorian
    a person who lived during the reign of Victoria
  314. Bignonia
    one species: cross vine
  315. Bougainvillaea
    ornamental tropical woody vines
  316. mogul
    a very wealthy or powerful businessman
  317. Talbot
    English inventor and pioneer in photography who published the first book illustrated with photographs (1800-1877)
  318. vernier
    a small movable scale that slides along a main scale; the small scale is calibrated to indicate fractional divisions of the main scale
  319. zany
    a buffoon in one of the old comedies; imitates others for ludicrous effect
  320. Montezuma's revenge
    diarrhea contracted in Mexico or Central America
  321. macadamia nut
    small Australian tree with racemes of pink flowers; widely cultivated (especially in Hawaii) for its sweet edible nuts
  322. Erlang
    a unit of traffic intensity in a telephone system
  323. farad
    the capacitance of a capacitor that has an equal and opposite charge of 1 coulomb on each plate and a voltage difference of 1 volt between the plates
  324. samarskite
    a complex black mineral occurring in pegmatites
  325. Ockham's Razor
    the principle that entities should not be multiplied needlessly; the simplest of two competing theories is to be preferred
  326. Comstockery
    censorship because of perceived obscenity or immorality
  327. langley
    unit of solar radiation
  328. sequoia
    either of two huge coniferous California trees that reach a height of 300 feet; sometimes placed in the Taxodiaceae
  329. camellia
    any of several shrubs or small evergreen trees having solitary white or pink or reddish flowers
  330. Wellington boot
    (19th century) a man's high tasseled boot
  331. Hansard
    the official published verbatim report of the proceedings of a parliamentary body; originally of the British Parliament
  332. banksia
    any shrub or tree of the genus Banksia having alternate leathery leaves apetalous yellow flowers often in showy heads and conelike fruit with winged seeds
  333. Baffin Bay
    a body of water between Greenland and northeastern Canada; connected with the Arctic Ocean to the north and with the Atlantic Ocean (via the Labrador Sea) to the south; icebound in winter
  334. Davis Cup
    cup awarded for the annual international team tennis competition
  335. dunce
    a stupid person; these words are used to express a low opinion of someone's intelligence
  336. Bloody Mary
    daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon who was Queen of England from 1553 to 1558; she was the wife of Philip II of Spain and when she restored Roman Catholicism to England many Protestants were burned at the stake as heretics (1516-1558)
  337. braggadocio
    vain and empty boasting
  338. hermetic
    completely sealed; completely airtight
  339. clerihew
    a witty satiric verse containing two rhymed couplets and mentioning a famous person
  340. Georgia
    a state in southeastern United States; one of the Confederate states during the American Civil War
  341. ampere
    the basic unit of electric current adopted under the Systeme International d'Unites
  342. Freudian slip
    a slip-up that (according to Sigmund Freud) results from the operation of unconscious wishes or conflicts and can reveal unconscious processes in normal healthy individuals
  343. Ferris wheel
    a vertical rotating mechanism consisting of a large wheel with suspended seats that remain upright as the wheel rotates; provides a ride at an amusement park
  344. protean
    taking on different forms
  345. deutzia
    any of various shrubs of the genus Deutzia having usually toothed opposite leaves and shredding bark and white or pink flowers in loose terminal clusters
  346. Planck's constant
    the constant of proportionality relating the energy of a photon to its frequency; approximately 6.626 x 10^-34 joule-second
  347. Van Allen belt
    a belt of charged particles (resulting from cosmic rays) above the Earth trapped by the Earth's magnetic field
  348. ammonia
    a pungent gas compounded of nitrogen and hydrogen (NH3)
  349. Elizabethan
    of or relating to Elizabeth I of England or to the age in which she ruled as queen
  350. cannibal
    a person who eats human flesh
  351. rhesus monkey
    of southern Asia; used in medical research
  352. Gatling gun
    an early form of machine gun having several barrels that fire in sequence as they are rotated
  353. Davy lamp
    an oil lamp that will not ignite flammable gases (methane)
  354. leotard
    a tight-fitting garment of stretchy material that covers the body from the shoulders to the thighs (and may have long sleeves or legs reaching down to the ankles); worn by ballet dancers and acrobats for practice or performance
  355. cicerone
    a guide who conducts and informs sightseers
  356. diesel
    an internal-combustion engine that burns heavy oil
  357. platonic
    free from physical desire
  358. Eiffel Tower
    a wrought iron tower 300 meters high that was constructed in Paris in 1889; for many years it was the tallest man-made structure
  359. mackintosh
    a waterproof raincoat made of rubberized fabric
  360. panic
    an overwhelming feeling of fear and anxiety
  361. masochism
    sexual pleasure obtained from receiving punishment (physical or psychological)
  362. Palladian
    referring to or relating to or having the style of architecture created by Andrea Palladio
  363. Klein bottle
    a closed surface with only one side; formed by passing one end of a tube through the side of the tube and joining it with the other end
  364. hermaphrodite
    one having both male and female sexual characteristics and organs; at birth an unambiguous assignment of male or female cannot be made
  365. Pullman
    luxurious passenger car; for day or night travel
  366. molly
    popular aquarium fish
  367. Downing Street
    the British government
  368. havelock
    a cloth covering for a service cap with a flap extending over the back of the neck to protect the neck from direct rays of the sun
  369. Zoroastrianism
    system of religion founded in Persia in the 6th century BC by Zoroaster; set forth in the Zend-Avesta; based on concept of struggle between light (good) and dark (evil)
  370. pompadour
    a hair style in which the front hair is swept up from the forehead
  371. Gunter's chain
    a unit of length (22 yards)
  372. Tradescantia
    spiderworts
  373. pander
    arrange for sexual partners for others
  374. Erastianism
    the doctrine that the state is supreme over the church in ecclesiastical matters
  375. Lamaze method
    a method that prepares a mother for natural childbirth; the pregnant woman (in classes and at home) practices (usually with the help of a coach) and learns about the physiology of childbirth and techniques of relaxation, concentration, and breathing
  376. Gregorian chant
    a liturgical chant of the Roman Catholic Church
  377. Mae West
    United States film actress (1892-1980)
  378. Wankel engine
    a rotary engine that is a four-stroke internal-combustion engine without reciprocating parts
  379. Pap test
    a method of examining stained cells in a cervical smear for early diagnosis of uterine cancer
  380. Rickettsia
  381. poinsettia
    tropical American plant having poisonous milk and showy tapering usually scarlet petallike leaves surrounding small yellow flowers
  382. Tommy gun
    a .45-caliber submachine gun
  383. baud
    (computer science) a data transmission rate (bits/second) for modems
  384. tantalise
    harass with persistent criticism or carping
  385. mausoleum
    a large burial chamber, usually above ground
  386. arachnid
    air-breathing arthropods characterized by simple eyes and four pairs of legs
  387. chauvinism
    fanatical patriotism
  388. Alzheimer's disease
    a progressive form of presenile dementia that is similar to senile dementia except that it usually starts in the 40s or 50s; first symptoms are impaired memory which is followed by impaired thought and speech and finally complete helplessness
  389. Dandie Dinmont terrier
    a breed of small terrier with long wiry coat and drooping ears
  390. vandal
    someone who willfully destroys or defaces property
  391. Mercator projection
    a map projection of the earth onto a cylinder; areas appear greater the farther they are from the equator
  392. shrapnel
    shell containing lead pellets that explodes in flight
  393. Gresham's Law
    (economics) the principle that when two kinds of money having the same denominational value are in circulation the intrinsically more valuable money will be hoarded and the money of lower intrinsic value will circulate more freely until the intrinsically more valuable money is driven out of circulation; bad money drives out good; credited to Sir Thomas Gresham
  394. tontine
    an annuity scheme wherein participants share certain benefits and on the death of any participant his benefits are redistributed among the remaining participants; can run for a fixed period of time or until the death of all but one participant
  395. Sam Browne belt
    leather belt supported by a strap over the right shoulder
  396. Black Maria
    a form of whist in which players avoid winning tricks containing hearts or the queen of spades
  397. Julian calendar
    the solar calendar introduced in Rome in 46 b.c. by Julius Caesar and slightly modified by Augustus, establishing the 12-month year of 365 days with each 4th year having 366 days and the months having 31 or 30 days except for February
  398. eminence grise
    (French) a person who exercises power or influence in certain areas without holding an official position
  399. churrigueresque
    having elaborate symmetrical ornamentation
  400. jorum
    a large drinking bowl
  401. July
    the month following June and preceding August
  402. salmonella
    rod-shaped Gram-negative enterobacteria; cause typhoid fever and food poisoning; can be used as a bioweapon
  403. volcano
    a fissure in the earth's crust (or in the surface of some other planet) through which molten lava and gases erupt
  404. Gordon setter
    a Scottish breed with a black-and-tan coat
  405. narcissism
    an exceptional interest in and admiration for yourself
  406. Orangeman
    a member of a society founded in Ireland in 1795 to uphold Protestantism and the British sovereign
  407. Orwellian
    of or relating to the works of George Orwell (especially his picture of a future totalitarian state)
  408. Jezebel
    wife of Ahab who was king of Israel; according to the Old Testament she was a cruel immoral queen who fostered the worship of Baal and tried to kill Elijah and other prophets of Israel (9th century BC)
  409. einsteinium
    a radioactive transuranic element produced by bombarding plutonium with neutrons
  410. savarin
    a sponge cake baked in a ring mold
  411. klieg light
    carbon arc lamp that emits an intense light used in producing films
  412. Jacuzzi
  413. Maxim gun
    an obsolete water-cooled machine gun having a single barrel
  414. Elgin Marbles
    a collection of classical Greek marble sculptures and fragments of architecture created by Phidias; chiefly from the Parthenon in Athens
  415. bartlett pear
    juicy yellow pear
  416. douglas fir
    tall evergreen timber tree of western North America having resinous wood and short needles
  417. venereal
    of or relating to the external sex organs
  418. rutherford
    a unit strength of a radioactive source equal to one million disintegrations per second
  419. wisteria
    any flowering vine of the genus Wisteria
  420. ottoman
    a low seat or a stool to rest the feet of a seated person
  421. America
    North America and South America and Central America
  422. mendelevium
    a radioactive transuranic element synthesized by bombarding einsteinium with alpha particles (Md is the current symbol for mendelevium but Mv was formerly the symbol)
  423. einsteinium
    a radioactive transuranic element produced by bombarding plutonium with neutrons
  424. Melba toast
    very thin crisp brown toast
  425. boysenberry
    cultivated hybrid bramble of California having large dark wine-red fruit with a flavor resembling raspberries
  426. Mercalli scale
    a scale formerly used to describe the magnitude of an earthquake; an earthquake detected only by seismographs is a I and an earthquake that destroys all buildings is a XII
  427. volt
    a unit of potential equal to the potential difference between two points on a conductor carrying a current of 1 ampere when the power dissipated between the two points is 1 watt; equivalent to the potential difference across a resistance of 1 ohm when 1 ampere of current flows through it
  428. guppy
    small freshwater fish of South America and the West Indies; often kept in aquariums
  429. Fallopian tube
    either of a pair of tubes conducting the egg from the ovary to the uterus
  430. angstrom
    a metric unit of length equal to one ten billionth of a meter (or 0.0001 micron); used to specify wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation
  431. calamine
    a white mineral; a common ore of zinc
  432. morphine
    an alkaloid narcotic drug extracted from opium; a powerful, habit-forming narcotic used to relieve pain
  433. cretin
    a person of subnormal intelligence
  434. Nobel prize
    an annual award for outstanding contributions to chemistry or physics or physiology and medicine or literature or economics or peace
  435. Down's syndrome
    a congenital disorder caused by having an extra 21st chromosome; results in a flat face and short stature and mental retardation
  436. derrick
    a simple crane having lifting tackle slung from a boom
  437. clarence
    a closed carriage with four wheels and seats for four passengers
  438. Pennsylvania
    a Mid-Atlantic state; one of the original 13 colonies
  439. maudlin
    effusively or insincerely emotional
  440. algorithm
    a precise rule (or set of rules) specifying how to solve some problem
  441. Hertz
    German physicist who was the first to produce electromagnetic waves artificially (1857-1894)
  442. Venn diagram
    a diagram that uses circles to represent mathematical or logical sets pictorially inside a rectangle (the universal set); elements that are common to more than one set are represented by intersections of the circles
  443. boffin
    (British slang) a scientist or technician engaged in military research
  444. Draconian
    of or relating to Draco or his harsh code of laws
  445. herculean
    extremely difficult; requiring the strength of a Hercules
  446. Caesar salad
    typically having fried croutons and dressing made with a raw egg
  447. pascal
    a unit of pressure equal to one newton per square meter
  448. Mach number
    the ratio of the speed of a moving body to the speed of sound
  449. syphilis
    a common venereal disease caused by the treponema pallidum spirochete; symptoms change through progressive stages; can be congenital (transmitted through the placenta)
  450. Mobius strip
    a continuous closed surface with only one side; formed from a rectangular strip by rotating one end 180 degrees and joining it with the other end
  451. Galilean
    of or relating to Galileo or his works
  452. aphrodisiac
    a drug or other agent that stimulates sexual desire
  453. Dickensian
    of or like the novels of Charles Dickens (especially with regard to poor social and economic conditions)
  454. lawrencium
    a radioactive transuranic element synthesized from californium
  455. tawdry
    tastelessly showy
  456. rydberg
    a wave number characteristic of the wave spectrum of each element
  457. Hippocratic oath
    an oath taken by physicians to observe medical ethics deriving from Hippocrates
  458. loganberry
    red-fruited bramble native from Oregon to Baja California
  459. jeroboam
    a large wine bottle (holds 4/5 of a gallon)
  460. Petrarchan sonnet
    a sonnet consisting of an octave with the rhyme pattern abbaabba, followed by a sestet with the rhyme pattern cdecde or cdcdcd
  461. Rastafarian
    (Ethiopia) adherents of an African religion that regards Ras Tafari as divine
  462. Rh factor
    a blood group antigen possessed by Rh-positive people; if an Rh-negative person receives a blood transfusion from an Rh-positive person it can result in hemolysis and anemia
  463. trilby
    a hat made of felt with a creased crown
  464. Zeppelin
    German inventor who designed and built the first rigid motorized dirigible (1838-1917)
  465. Hoover
    31st President of the United States; in 1929 the stock market crashed and the economy collapsed and Hoover was defeated for reelection by Franklin Roosevelt (1874-1964)
  466. kelvin
    the basic unit of thermodynamic temperature adopted under the Systeme International d'Unites
  467. marmalade
    a preserve made of the pulp and rind of citrus fruits
  468. Ho Chi Minh City
    a city in South Vietnam; formerly (as Saigon) it was the capital of French Indochina
  469. Hodgkin's disease
    a malignant disorder in which there is progressive (but painless) enlargement of lymph tissue followed by enlargement of the spleen and liver
  470. Sabin vaccine
    an oral vaccine (containing live but weakened poliovirus) that is given to provide immunity to poliomyelitis
  471. Jonah
    (Old Testament) Jonah did not wish to become a prophet so God caused a great storm to throw him overboard from a ship; he was saved by being swallowed by a whale that vomited him out onto dry land
  472. busby
    tall hat; worn by some British soldiers on ceremonial occasions
  473. Tasmania
    an island off the southeastern coast of Australia
  474. ritzy
    luxuriously elegant
  475. boycott
    a group's refusal to have commercial dealings with some organization in protest against its policies
  476. gargantuan
    of great mass; huge and bulky
  477. Wesleyan
    of or pertaining to or characteristic of the branch of Protestantism adhering to the views of Wesley
  478. Thursday
    the fifth day of the week; the fourth working day
  479. Biro
    a pen that has a small metal ball as the point of transfer of ink to paper
  480. alexandrite
    a green variety of chrysoberyl used as a gemstone
  481. cordoba
    the basic unit of money in Nicaragua; equal to 100 centavos
  482. Napier's bones
    a set of graduated rods formerly used to do multiplication and division by a method invented by John Napier
  483. stoic
    seeming unaffected by pleasure or pain; impassive