Site Glossary: P to T

A to E

F to J

K to O

U to Z

Pall: / noun; A cloth covering a coffin.
Pallbearer: / noun; A person who carries a coffin during a funeral.
Pallet: / noun; A straw mattress or a portable platform for moving goods.
Paprika hendl: / noun (German/Hungarian); A traditional Hungarian chicken stew braised in a thick sauce of onion and paprika. Often accompanied by various side-dishes.
Paroxysms: / noun (plural); A sudden fit of emotion, disease or activity.
Patois: / noun (French); A regional dialect, often the product of a Creole language.
Penitent: / adjective / noun; Sorrow for a wrongdoing.
Perambulator: / noun; A baby carriage.
Phantasmagoria: / noun; A strange and unsettling sequence of images, like those seen in a dream.
Phlegmatic: / adjective; A calm disposition.
Phosphorescent: / adjective; Luminous; glowing in the dark.
Physiognomy: / noun; A person's facial features or the pseudoscience of judging character from faces.
Plaintively: / adverb; To do something in a sad, yet gentle manner.
Plethoric: / adjective; An excessive amount or a red face due to an alleged excess of blood.
Pokol: / noun (Hungarian); Hell.
Postillion: / noun; A person riding the leading horse of a carriage team.
Premonition: / noun; A strong feeling that something is about to happen.
Prepossessing: / adjective; An appealing appearance.
Presbytery: / noun; The residence of a Roman Catholic priest.
Presage: / noun; An omen.
Prodigious: / adjective; Notably large in size or prestige.
Profligate: / adjective; Excessively extravagant, often to a wasteful degree.
Promontory: / noun; A high point of land that juts into the sea.
Propinquity: / noun; The state of being close to someone or something. Similar to the word Proximity.
Prow: / noun; The pointed front of a ship.
Pseudonym: / noun; A fictitious name, especially used by an author.
Psychic Vampire: / noun; A metaphorical term to describe an overbearing, demanding person that induces a feeling of drain or fatigue in other people. Can also refer to a literal Psychic Vampire, which feeds on energy as opposed to blood.
Pulpit: / noun; A raised platform from which a preacher delivers a sermon.
Reredos: / noun; An ornamental screen behind a church altar.
Repose: / noun; A state of rest or tranquility.
Respite: / noun; A period of rest from fatigue, injury or demanding tasks.
Reticule: / noun; A woman's small handbag, typically with a drawstring.
Reverie: / noun; A state of pleasant daydreaming.
Rickshaw: / noun; A light two-wheeled passenger vehicle pulled by one person.
Riderless Horse: / noun; A horse led by a pallbearer during funeral processions, fitted with a pair of boots that face backwards.
Rubicund: / adjective; A ruddy but healthy complexion.
Rugae: / noun (plural); The anatomical term for a living being's stomach lining.
Sadgrl Layout: / noun; A static website generator created by the eponymous Sadgrl. Its ease of use made it especially popular with less experienced coders, most prominently on Neocities.
Safe-word: / noun; An agreed-upon word used to signal the pausing or stopping of an activity, primarily to ensure safety.
Sanctity: / noun; The state of being sacred.
Sanguine: / adjective; Relating to blood, ruddy in appearance or optimistic.
Saturnine: / adjective; A gloomy temperament.
Schloss: / noun (German); The German word for a residential castle or palace. Variations include a Wasserschloss (water castle), Stadtschloss (city palace), and Jagdschloss (hunting lodge).
Semblance: / noun; The outward appearance of a thing.
Sepulchre: / noun; A tomb, especially one cut in rock or built of stone.
Shorthand: / noun; A rapid method of writing using abbreviations and symbols.
Smattering: / noun; A small amount, often of knowledge.
Snarl Words: / noun (plural); Words designed to override counterarguments and provoke strong emotional responses. A snarl word is a type of ad hominem fallacy: an attack on a person's character rather than on their argument. An example is "Puritan," in reference to Protestant Puritans and their strict religious practices. By labelling their opponent as a "Puritan," the speaker casts them as censorious, prudish, and potentially religiously motivated. The term was first published by S.I. Hayakawa in 1949.
Sojourning: / verb (present participle); To stay in a place temporarily.
Solicitor: / noun; A British lawyer.
Somnambulistic: / adjective; Relating to sleepwalking.
Soughing: / verb (present participle); Making a moaning, whistling, or rushing sound (as wind).
Soutane: / noun (French); A cassock worn by Roman Catholic priests.
Spiritism: / noun; The belief in communication with the dead.
Squaw: / noun (archaic slur); An archaic slur for an Indigenous North American woman.
Starboard: / noun; The right side of a ship when facing forward.
Static Website: / noun; A website comprised of HTML, CSS, and uncomplicated JavaScript. A website stops being static when it uses anything beyond these three, such as backends or databases.
Stewardship: / noun; The job of caring for a thing given to you.
Sybaritic: / adjective; Relating to luxury and sensual pleasure.
Sylvan: / adjective; Consisting of or having association with woodlands.
Tantric Vampire: / noun; A vampire that feeds on sexual or life-force energy as opposed to blood.
Temerity: / noun; Excessive confidence.
Tempus Fugit: / phrase (Latin); Latin for "time flies."
Thought-terminating clichés: / noun (plural); Fallacious phrases designed to discourage critical thinking or end conversations. These "thought-stoppers" use appeals to emotion, loaded questions, minimisation, tu quoques, and other deceptive tactics to do so. An example is "Let people enjoy things." By saying "Let people enjoy things," the speaker casts their adversary as a habitual contrarian rather than a thoughtful observer. This phrase is fallacious because it uses a Strawman Argument, misrepresenting the other party's argument to make it easier to attack. The term "Strawman" refers to a literal straw figure, and like its corporeal counterpart, it lacks a solid body. The term was first coined by Robert Jay Lifton in 1961.
Three Living and Three Dead: / noun; A medieval motif depicting living people confronted by corpses.
Threnody: / noun; A song, hymn, or poem of mourning.
Tomb Effigy: / noun; A sculpture of a person placed atop a tomb.
Transcendentalism: / noun; A 19th-century philosophy emphasising intuition and spirituality.