The Words of the Week - Dec. 22
Dictionary lookups from the calendar, the holidays, and NFT theft
‘Top-tier’
Top-tier was higher than usual in lookups last week, after a much-viewed tweet made reference to NFT apes of this variety.
A massive theft appears to be happening right now --- all these NFTs have been stolen from wallets... some of the absolute top tier apes. pic.twitter.com/fHPqTT8Vqg
— Stats (@punk9059) December 16, 2023
We define top-tier as “of the highest level or rank with regard to quality, reputation, or importance,” and the word is generally hyphenated. Our data show that in current use top-tier most often modifies words such as candidates, universities, and schools; in all our citational records there are no instances of it having been applied to apes.
‘Insurrection’ & ‘Disqualify’
Insurrection and disqualify spiked together, after the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Donald Trump was ineligible to run again for president.
Trump disqualified for insurrection? Under 14th Amendment, it’s happened before.
— (headline) The Washington Post, 20 Dec. 2023
The most relevant sense of disqualify is “to make ineligible for a prize or for further competition because of violations of the rules”; other meanings include “to deprive of a power, right, or privilege” and “to deprive of the required qualities, properties, or conditions.”
Insurrection has a legal definition of “the act or an instance of revolting especially violently against civil or political authority or against an established government.” The word may also be applied to the crime of inciting or engaging in such revolt. Insurrection came to English from the Latin word insurgere, meaning "to rise against.”
‘Xmas’
Xmas is also experiencing a wave of popularity, as we get closer and closer to Christmas.
Family Behind 'Xmas Jammies' Celebrates 10th Anniversary of Viral Hit and Shares How It Changed Their Lives
— (headline) People, 18 Dec. 2023
The word Xmas is simply defined as “Christmas,” although we include a note that it is now used chiefly for brevity in advertisements, headlines, and similar settings. The shorter word is occasionally thought of as an attempt to secularize Christmas, as it appears to remove the word Christ. However, in this case X functions as a symbol for Christ, from the Greek letter chi. We offer two pronunciations for Xmas: both Xmas and Christmas are acceptable.
‘Solstice’
Solstice somewhat predictably spiked in lookups, an event that happens at least twice every year.
Winter solstice 2023 is here, bringing the longest night of the year to Northern Hemisphere
— (headline) Space.com, 21 Dec. 2023
We define solstice as “one of the two times during the year when the sun is farthest north or south of the equator.” In the Northern Hemisphere, the winter solstice usually occurs on December 21 or 22, and the summer solstice on June 20 or 21. In the Southern Hemisphere, where the seasons are reversed, the solstices are exactly the opposite. The word comes from the Latin solstitium, which is from sol (“sun”) and -stit- (“standing”).
Words Worth Knowing: ‘Apricitie’
The word worth knowing we have for you this week is apricitie, defined by Henry Cockeram in his 1623 English Dictionarie as “The warmenes of the Sunne in winter.” The shortest day of the year has just passed us by, and thus for the next few months there will be an increasing amount of wintertime sun, and we hope that it serves to give you warmth.
