Mikhail Epstein's definitions
to be ahead in a certain skill or profession, to be on a cutting edge and take all the risks of being the first and leading the others
by Mikhail Epstein November 6, 2003
Get the ride the edge mug.foodnik n food + suffix nik Ð someone for whom food and eating are main joys of living and are full of sacral significance.
He invites me to cook together a dinner, but I will hardly meet his expectations. He is a real foodnik.
by Mikhail Epstein November 6, 2003
Get the foodnik mug.defriend smbd v , transitive de + friend; cf. befriend - to break off friendly relations (with smbd).
He defriended me a year after we met, with no reason or explanation. He just stopped calling, period.
I want to defriend you. Ð What's wrong? - I need something more than friendship from you. I need love.
I want to defriend you. Ð What's wrong? - I need something more than friendship from you. I need love.
by Mikhail Epstein November 2, 2003
Get the defriend mug.enjoice smbd into v prefix en + joy; cf. rejoice - using false joy to talk someone into sharing an undesirable task; to entrap somebody by the appearance of joy, to deceive or trick into difficulty.
The prefix en-, like in engage, entrap, embrace, engulf, encircle, envelop, enclose, adds to the base the meaning "surrounding something or somebody or placing it within something."
The prefix en-, like in engage, entrap, embrace, engulf, encircle, envelop, enclose, adds to the base the meaning "surrounding something or somebody or placing it within something."
He looked extremely happy with his winning ticket, and he enjoyced me into entering these sweepstakes, which I would never have done otherwise.
The government tries to enjoice us into global expansion by claiming dubious victories, clearly in violation of international law.
The government tries to enjoice us into global expansion by claiming dubious victories, clearly in violation of international law.
by Mikhail Epstein November 2, 2003
Get the enjoice mug.amort n. (Lat. amor, love + Lat. mort, death)
the double instinct of love and death; the ambivalent combination of Eros and Thanatos or the transformation of one into another; a cruel and (self)destructive passion that leads to the ruin of the loved or the lover.
the double instinct of love and death; the ambivalent combination of Eros and Thanatos or the transformation of one into another; a cruel and (self)destructive passion that leads to the ruin of the loved or the lover.
Amort is the most common theme of European literature, from Tristan and Isolde to The Ballad of Reading Gaol:
And all men kill the thing they love,
By all let this be heard,
Some do it with a bitter look,
Some with a flattering word,
The coward does it with a kiss,
The brave man with a sword!
And all men kill the thing they love,
By all let this be heard,
Some do it with a bitter look,
Some with a flattering word,
The coward does it with a kiss,
The brave man with a sword!
by Mikhail Epstein November 15, 2003
Get the amort (amor + mort) mug.infinition (definition + infinitity) Ð an infinite process of defining something that cannot be fully or precisely defined; an endless list of possible definitions.
Certain fluid concepts in their emergent state are subject to in-finition--infinite dispersal of their meaning--rather than to definition. To infine is to suggest the infinity of possible definitions of a certain term or concept and therefore to problematize its meaning and the possibility or the benefit of defining it. If definition circumscribes a specific conceptual area, then infinition releases the concept from restricting demarcations and places it in an indeterminate zone.
by Mikhail Epstein November 6, 2003
Get the infinition mug.transvert n Lat. trans, across, over + vertere, to turn; cf. intravert, extravert - a psychological type that alternates between introversion and extraversion and combines features of both types.
I don't know who I am, an extravert or an introvert? Or am I a transvert? If so, then the entire classification crumbles.
His life moves from one extreme to another, from complete self-absorption to wild partying at random places with random people. He is a typical transvert.
His life moves from one extreme to another, from complete self-absorption to wild partying at random places with random people. He is a typical transvert.
by Mikhail Epstein November 2, 2003
Get the transvert mug.