Reading the dictionary front to back! It’s something I’ve always wanted to try. We start another new letter this week, and things get devilish.

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There’s almost a half a page of words with the cyber prefix. The most interesting is cybernetic, defined as “the science of communication and control theory that is concerned especially with the comparative study of automatic control systems.” That seems a lot more than just a sci-fi cyborg. But, weirdly, the dictionary has no entry for “cyborg.”

And we’re into the letter D! The first proper word in this section is dab, defined as either “a gentle touch or stroke” or “a sudden blow or thrust.” Seems like two opposites to me. This is followed by dabble, which is “to wet by splashing” or “to work or involve oneself without serious effort.”

Is there a dictionary writer with a gambling problem? Because daily double is defined as “a system of betting on races in which the bettor must pick the winners of two stipulated races in order to win.” I assume the rest of us know it from Jeopardy.

Date has several definitions, the most amusing of which is “a social engagement between two persons that often has a romantic character.” We should bring back the phrase “of romantic character.”   

Dead doesn’t just mean lifeless or unresponsive, it can also mean “lacking in elasticity,” “unerring,” “exact,” or “complete.”

Date plus dead equals Dear John, defined as “a letter (as to a soldier) in which a woman breaks off a marital or romantic relationship.” Is that really a thing mostly for soldiers?

There are nine different definitions for degree, as you can imagine. The most unusual one is where the dictionary gets all math-y again, “a unit of measure for angles that is equal to an angle with its vortex at the center of a circle and its sides cutting off 1/360 of the circumference.” With the typeface in the dictionary already being very small, they made that 1/360 fraction really, really tiny to get it to fit.

What’s the difference between demon and daemon? According to the dictionary, there isn’t one. They’re both “evil spirit” or “an attendant power or spirit.” That latter definition helps explain Lyra Belacqua and Pantalaimon.

Then we get all criminal with designer drug, “a synthetic version of a synthetic drug that has been chemically altered to avoid its prohibition.” That’s probably as specific as the dictionary’s lawyers let them get.

To detest is to “loathe, hate,” but it also means “to curse while calling a deity to witness.” Can we get some epic fantasy tale where that happens?

Along that same line is devil, defined as “the personal supreme spirit of evil.” That’s totally metal. And this is another of those definitions that has a bunch of business about the origins of the word, stating it comes from Old English and other languages meaning “slanderer” and “to throw across.” Across what? The lake of fire?

Next: What a doll!

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