Posts made by Julian

A cuckquean is a woman whose partner, typically her husband or boyfriend, engages in sexual activities with other people, with her knowledge and sometimes, her participation or approval. This term is derived from the word cuckold, which refers to a husband whose wife is unfaithful. In the context of a cuckquean, the woman takes on a submissive or humiliated role, and may find pleasure in the act from a psychological or sexual standpoint.

Vitiation refers to the action of spoiling, impairing, corrupting or making something ineffective, typically in the context of legal contracts or agreements. A contract, for instance, can be vitiated if there was a mistake, misrepresentation or fraud involved in its formation, rendering it invalid or unenforceable. In broader terms, vitiation can also refer to the process of corruption or degradation.

annual weedy herb with ephemeral yellow purple-eyed flowers; Old World tropics; naturalized as a weed in North America

Have it off is a colloquial phrase that is often associated with sexual activity or intercourse. It is not typically used in formal conversation due to its casual and informal nature. Please note that it is also a regional idiom, more commonly used in British English.

attire worn for sport or for casual wear

a convulsive motion, twitch, or spasm; a spasmodic effort

pleasantly new or different

To achieve through contrivance or cajolery.

Carpodacus is a genus of birds in the finch family. These birds differentiate themselves by their colorful plumage. The genus includes species such as the Purple Finch, Cassins Finch, and House Finch, which are generally found in North America and Eurasia.

miss a step and fall or nearly fall

In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a sound recording in a different song or piece.
Originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically manipulated tape loops or vinyl records on a phonograph by the late 1960s, the use of tape loop sampling influenced the development of minimalist music and the production of psychedelic rock and jazz fusion.
However, hip hop music was the first popular music genre based around the art of sampling - being born from 1970s DJs who experimented with manipulating vinyl on two turntables. The use of sampling in popular music spread with the rise of electronic music and disco in the mid-1970s to early 1980s, the development of electronic dance music and industrial music in the 1980s, and the worldwide influence of hip hop since the 1980s on genres ranging from contemporary RB to indie rock. Sampling is now most often done with a sampler, originally a piece of hardware, but today, more commonly a computer program. However, vinyl emulation software may also be used, and turntablists continue to sample using traditional methods. The inclusion of sampling tools in modern digital production methods increasingly introduced sampling into many genres of popular music, as well as genres predating the invention of sampling, such as classical music, jazz and various forms of traditional music.

The term redistribution is used in Australia to mean a redrawing of electoral boundaries. It is equivalent to the term redistricting in the United States.
In the House of Representatives each State and Territory is divided into electoral divisions. The number of these divisions is determined by population. To ensure equal representation, the boundaries of these divisions have to be redrawn or redistributed periodically. A redistribution of the geographic boundaries of these divisions takes place at least once every seven years to make sure that there is, as near as practicable, the same number of electors in each division within a State/Territory.
In deciding where the boundaries should be drawn, many factors are taken into consideration by the AEC.
A redistribution is necessary in three circumstances: when the number of parliamentary representatives to which a State or Territory is entitled has changed; the number of electors in more than one third of the divisions in a State or one of the divisions in the ACT or Northern Territory deviates from the average divisional enrolment by over 10% for a period of more than two months; or a period of 7 years has elapsed since the previous redistribution. However, a redistribution is postponed if it would begin within one year of the expiration of the House of Representatives to help prevent a general election from occurring during a redistribution.

Steerage is a term for the lowest category of passenger accommodation in a ship. In the nineteenth and early twentieth century considerable numbers of persons travelled from their homeland to seek a new life elsewhere, in many cases North America and Australia. Many of those people were destitute in their homeland and had the minimum of resources to procure transportation. The term later widened to imply the lowest category of accommodation on a passenger vessel.

A federal subject of Russia located in the Northern Caucasus mountains.

decumbent blue-flowered European perennial thought to possess healing properties; naturalized throughout North America

To snatch up generally refers to quickly grabbing or taking something with eagerness or haste. In a broader sense, it may also refer to buying or acquiring something readily or immediately, particularly if it is in high demand or limited supply.

to destroy the life of by beating, or by weapons of any kind; to slay by a blow; to kill; as, to smite one with the sword, or with an arrow or other instrument

Through and through describes a situation where an object, real or imaginary, passes completely through another object, also real or imaginary. The phrase has several common uses:

(British slang) a scientist or technician engaged in military research

affect suddenly with deep feeling