• New alphaDictionary Eponyms • | ||
Word | Meaning | Eponym |
basque | A woman's tight-fitting bodice that extends below the waistline. | The Basque people living in the Pyrenees in France and Spain, whose women wear such a bodice. |
béchemel | Thick white sauce made of milk infused with herbs. | Louis de Béchamel, marquis de Nointel (1630-1703), a French financier. |
blucher | A type of shoe whose laces tie over the tongue from two flaps, worn for dancing and yachting. | Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher (1742-1819), German prince and general. |
bogart | (1) To force, coerce, intimidate. (2) To hog, take more than one's share. | Humphrey Bogart (1899-1957), US movie actor known for his tough guy roles. |
Boolean | Related to a system of symbolic logic based on operators like and, or, not. | George Boole (1815-1864), a British mathematician and philosopher. |
burberry | A waterprooff laminated cotton raincoat. | Thomas Burberry of London, who founded Burberry, Ltd. in 1856 and went on to create gabardine and the original trenchcoat. |
borrelia | A bacterium that causes relapsing fever. | Amédée Borrel (1867-1936), French bacteriologist. |
bourbon | An American whiskey distilled from a corn, malt, and rye mash. | After Bourbon County in northeast Kentucky. |
lucullan | Luxurious, opulent, extravagant | Lucius Licinius Lucullus (118-56 BC), Roman general and consul known more for the luxury of his retirement than his service. |
Mickey-Mouse | Easy, simple, unimportant. | Mickey Mouse, a cartoon character created by Walt Disney in 1928. |
milquetoast | A meek, timid, unassertive man. | Caspar Milquetoast, a comic-strip character created by Harold Tucker Webster (1885-1952). |
peavy | A lumberman's pike with a spike and pivoting hooked arm at the end. | Joseph Peavey, an American blacksmith who died in 1873. |
rambo | A violent, vengeful, and agressive person. | John Rambo, the hero of David Morrell's violence-ridden novel First Blood (1972) and a series of movies starring Sylvester Stallone. |
sad sack | An awkward, dull, and foolish person. | A cartoon character created in 1942 by George Baker (1915-1975). |
shylock | A loan shark, someone who lends money at a usurious interest rate. | This word was originally the name of a ruthless money lender in Shakespeare's drama The Merchant of Venice. |
Sisyphean | Endlessly laborious and futile. | Sisyphus, a Corinthian king who offended Zeus and was punished by having to push a stone to the top of a hill in Hades. However, as the stone approaced the top, it rolled back down and Sisyphus had to start all over again. |
Click here for the alphaDictionary Eponym Glossary. |
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