One-Letter Words, a Dictionary (20 page)
Read One-Letter Words, a Dictionary Online
Authors: Craig Conley
Tags: #Social Science, #Popular Culture, #Reference, #General
43.
n.
The archetype of a mad scientist.
Dr. X will build a creature.—The Rocky Horror
Picture Show
44.
n.
A person named X.
At one time, they must have all been little pink babies, cute and gurgly, but that was as hard for me to imagine as X being a hippie.
—Deborah Ellis,
Looking for X
SCIENTIFIC MATTERS
45.
n.
A viral encephalitis of man first detected in Australia.
Also called x-disease.
46.
n.
(biology)
Hybrid, or offspring of mixed origin.
47.
n.
In horse breeding, foaled by.
48.
n.
Symbol meaning “experimental.”
49.
n.
Chemical group.
50.
n.
A female sex chromosome.
The X chromosome is one of the two types of human sex chromosomes. The other is called the Y chromosome. If two X chromosomes are present, the person is a female. If an X and a Y chromosome are present, the person is a male.—World Book
51.
n.
Power of magnification:
10x
means
magnified ten times.
52.
n.
A unit of radioactive wavelength.
53.
n.
A latent virus.
54.
n.
A halogen molecule group.
Alkyl groups are often represented by the letter R, just as halogens are often represented by the letter X.
—Frank Pellegrini,
Organic Chemistry I
55.
n.
(electronics)
Reactance.
Reactance in general is symbolized by the capital letter X.
—Stan Gibilisco,
Teach Yourself Electricity and Electronics
MATHEMATICS
56.
n.
The Roman numeral 10.
57.
n.
The twenty-fourth in a series.
58.
n.
Abscissa, an x coordinate.
Conventionally, the abscissa axis is labeled with the letter x and the ordinate axis with the letter y.
—Julio Sanchez,
DirectX 3D Graphics Programming Bible
59.
n.
In the Cartesian coordinate system, the width axis of a three-dimensional space.
It is common to label the axis representing the width of a three-dimensional space with the letter X, the height axis with the letter Y, and the depth axis with the letter Z.
—Isaac Victor Kerlow,
The Art of
3-D Computer Animation and Effects, Third Edition
60.
n.
The multiplication operator,
read “times,” as in 7 × 6 = 42.
X was used by William Oughtred (1574–1660) in the
Clavis Mathematicae
(
Key to Mathematics
), composed about 1628 and published in London in 1631.
—Jeff Miller, “Earliest Uses of Various Mathematical Symbols”
61.
prep.
By.
2' × 2' reads
two feet by two.
62.
n.
Vector product.
X for vector product was used in 1902 in J. W. Gibbs’s
Vector Analysis
by E. B. Wilson.
—Jeff Miller, “Earliest Uses of Various Mathematical Symbols”
63.
n.
An unknown quantity.
The predominant use of the letter x to represent an unknown value came about in an interesting way.
During the printing of
La Géométrie
[1637] and its appendix,
Discours de la Méthode,
which introduced coordinate geometry, the printer reached a dilemma. While the text was being typeset, the printer began to run short of the last letters of the alphabet. He asked Descartes if it mattered whether x, y, or z was used in each of the book’s many equations. Descartes replied that it made no difference which of the three letters was used to designate an unknown quantity. The printer selected x for most of the unknowns, since the letters y and z are used in the French language more frequently than is x.
—Art Johnson, quoted in Jeff Miller, “Earliest Uses of Various Mathematical Symbols”
FOREIGN MEANINGS
64.
n.
(French)
Math.
“To be strong in X” or “to have a head for X” means “to be good in math.”
65.
n.
(French)
The Polytechnic School in Paris:
l’X.
66.
n.
(French)
“Knock-kneed,”
as in
Jambes en X.
MISCELLANEOUS
67.
n.
The unknown; the unknowable.
But when one realizes that x also stands in for all that lies beyond the threshold of what is knowable, a pattern begins to emerge.
—Marina Roy,
Sign After the X
68.
n.
The soul or substance of the universe.
[The creator] expressed him upon the Universe in the figure of the letter X.
—Plato,
Timaeus
69.
n.
Any spoken sound represented by
X.
The sound vibration of the consonant X means
“power, empowered.”
—Joseph E. Rael,
Tracks of
Dancing Light: A Native American Approach to
Understanding Your Name
70.
n.
The twenty-fourth letter of the alphabet.
The Romans…may be presumed to have borrowed
West Greek’s X partly because it was there.
—Alexander Humez,
A B C Et Cetera
71.
n.
A warning sign or threat,
as concerning livestock grazing rights.
Expecting to find teeth and claw marks [on the dead calf], instead he found a bullet hole in the calf’s back, the letter X carved on its side.
—Luanne Rice,
Dream Country
72.
n.
A shadow of things to come.
May not this letter be a type or sign prepared and designed by God to prefigure some future thing or event, or to be, as St. Paul says, “a shadow of things to come?”—The Ancient Ones of the Earth: Being the History of the Primitive Alphabet
73.
n.
A target.
There was a big letter X marking the spot
[for a parachute jump]. It was made from two lengths of shiny red material, weighted down with stones…. [A young man] nodded and beamed smiles at the crowd, who watched in silence as he made his way towards the X, planting the chair down firmly in its center.
—Ian Rankin,
Resurrection Men: An Inspector
Rebus Novel
74.
n.
The twenty-fourth section in a piece of music.
FACTS AND FIGURES
75.
Besides being the most versatile one-letter word,
X
is the most printed. From ballots to personal letters to maps to school exams, it seems that
X
can’t mark enough spots. And since
X
represents more verbs than any other one-letter word, its active life is appropriate.
76.
A king’s X is “a ‘safe’ sign used in children’s games.
Forming an X with your fingers means that you can’t be caught. The phrase is supposed to have come from ‘King’s excuse.’”—Dr. John Burkardt
Y IN PRINT AND PROVERB
1. (in literature)
In Bertolt Brecht’s
Private Life of the
Master Race,
Y is a German physicist (patterned after Einstein) who fears discovery by the Nazis.
2. (in literature)
The title of a 2000 film written and directed by Zoe Margolis.
The film’s description states: “A cross between
Don’t Look Now
and
Pulp
Fiction,
with a twist of film noir,
Y
unfolds through two parallel narratives and follows a man fated to have premonitions of his own death without realizing it, until it is too late.”
3. (in literature)
As the equivalent to the word I:
“He is, as I see it and in my opinion, Amiable, Benevolent, Courteous, Dignified, Enamored, Firm, Gallant,
Honorable, Illustrious, Loyal, Manly, Noble, Openhearted, Pleasing, Quick-witted, Rich, the Ss that everybody knows, and then Truthful, Valiant, X isn’t included because it’s a harsh letter, Y is the same as I, and Z is Zealous in protecting your honor.”
—Miguel de Cervantes,
Don Quixote
4. (in literature)
“Y is a tree, a fork, the confluence of two rivers, a stemmed glass, a man with arms upstretched.”
—Victor Hugo, quoted in
ABZ
by Mel Gooding
5. (in print)
The word
why.
Referring to a brand of potato chips named “X” (after Malcolm X),
Entertainment Weekly
magazine asked, “Y?”
6.
n.
A written representation of the letter.
My own [handwritten] y wouldn’t have the guts to tie itself to the P like that.
—Peter Esterhazy,
Celestial Harmonies: A Novel
Twenty-seven years had passed between the two inscriptions, but Grandmother’s penmanship had not faltered, it was just as sweeping and light
handed. The only difference was in the two y’s. The top one, the younger, you might say, was more sophisticated…the leg of the y plunges under in a curve, leaning slightly to the right…then after a quick loop it pucks up speed, it sweeps back almost to the base of the h, then turns back around.
—Peter Esterhazy,
Celestial Harmonies: A Novel
7.
n.
A device, such as a printer’s type, for reproducing the letter.
8. (in film)
Mind-altering radiation in the 2001 film
The Caveman’s Valentine.
[T]he solution makes perfect sense to a man who is wracked by “brain typhoons” caused by yellow
“Y-beams” and green “Z-beams” emanating from the spires of the Chrysler Building. Somewhere inside that landmark, a mysterious evil mastermind named Cornelius Gould Stuyvesant tracks and torments our hapless hero.
—CrankyCritic.com
BY LAND, SEA, AND AIR
9.
n.
A principal railroad track and two diverging branches arranged like the letter Y.
With a cross track connecting the diverging branches, it is used in reversing engines or trains.
10.
n.
Something Y-shaped.
The cyntetokerus is a smallish horse cum deer with a horn on either temple and a long Y-shaped prong at the end of its nose.
—Haruki Murakami,
Hardboiled
Wonderland and the End of the World[E]ach new moment of life would resemble the letter
Y, with the upper branches of the letter representing the two routes or paths available to the individual at the new moment. This moment itself would occur
at the point at which the three branches of the letter meet.
—Milton R. Cudney,
Self-Defeating Behaviors:
Free Yourself from the Habits, Compulsions, Feelings, and Attitudes That Hold You Back
11.
n.
A type of highway intersection.
The road ended to the north in a Y.
—George Chesbro,
The Language of Cannibals
12.
n.
An antisubmarine gun having two barrels that form a fork to permit the simultaneous firing of
depth charges on each side of the ship.
The
Icarus
had been searching, making question marks on the sea, but now she was lined up for her second attack. Jester gave the command and a “V” pattern, one charge from the rack and two from the Y-gun, splashed into the water.
—Homer Hickam,
Torpedo
Junction: U-Boat War Off America’s East Coast, 1942
13.
n.
A forked support for a telescope.
PEOPLE, PLACES, THINGS
14.
contraction
(informal)
You.
Y’ can’t argue about that.
—Haruki Murakami,
Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World
15.
n.
Something arbitrarily designated Y (e.g., a person, place, or other thing).
16.
n.
The twenty-fifth in a series.
17.
n.
The second in order or class when X is made the first.
18.
n.
An unknown thing; a person of unknown identity.
She is nervous…. Suspects X, fears Y.
—William H. Gass,
The Tunnel
19.
n.
A kind of silver moth.
20.
n.
A kind of gapeworm.
21.
n.
Shortened form of Y.M.C.A.
“Aren’t you going to the Y?”
—Flannery O’Connor, “Everything That Rises Must Converge”
22.
n.
In the Cartesian coordinate system,
the height axis of a three-dimensional space.
It is common to label the axis representing the width of a three-dimensional space with the letter X, the height axis with the letter Y, and the depth axis with the letter Z.
—Isaac Victor Kerlow,
The Art of
3-D Computer Animation and Effects, Third Edition
23.
n.
Medieval Roman numeral for 150.
24.
n.
With a line above it,
a Roman numeral for 150,000.
25.
n.
A symbol of communism.
[I]t is the symbols of Communism that return to attack and kill Benny, and in the last lines of [Venedikt Erofeev’s] novel [
Moscow Circles
], it is the red letter “Y” that spreads before Benny’s eyes as he dies. Throughout the novel, it is this letter that has symbolized Benny’s participation in the symbolic order, as it is the only letter his baby son knows.
—Avril Tonkin, “Moscow Circles”
SCIENTIFIC MATTERS
26.
n.
(chemistry)
The symbol for the element yttrium in the periodic table.
27.
n.
(electronics)
Admittance.
28.
n.
(biology)
Tyrosine,
an amino acid.
29.
n.
(biology)
A male sex chromosome.
The Y chromosome is one of the two chromosomes that determine sex; the other is called the X chromosome. The Y chromosome appears only in males; it is associated with the development of male sex characteristics, such as the testes. During fertilization of the ovum, if a Y chromosome is paired with an X chromosome, the fetus will develop into a male. If two X chromosomes are paired, the fetus will develop into a female. The Y chromosome is so-called because its shape is markedly different from the other 45 chromosomes, which all resemble the X chromosome.
—World Book
MISCELLANEOUS
30.
n.
Any spoken sound represented by the letter.
The sound vibration of the consonant Y means
“awareness.”
—Joseph E. Rael,
Tracks of Dancing
Light: A Native American Approach to Understanding Your Name
31.
n.
The twenty-fifth letter of the alphabet.
Y’s career as a member of the Roman alphabet has been more checkered than that of any other letter.
—Alexander Humez,
A B C Et Cetera
32.
n.
The twenty-fifth section in a piece of music.
33.
n.
A word designated Y.
If you find yourself in X situation, try using Y word.
—Kate Deimling, in a Verbatim journal review of the book
They Have a Word for It
34.
n.
A golf swing position involving an “arm-shoulder triangle.”
As you grip the club directly out in front of the body, the arm-shoulder triangle might be accurately described as a lowercase letter y. The left arm and club shaft form the straight-line side of the y, while the right arm approaches the left arm and club shaft at an angle.
—Michael McTeigue,
The Keys to the Effortless Golf Swing:
Curing Your Hit Impulse in Seven Simple Lessons
35.
n.
Y connection:
an electrical junction device in which one wire carrying an incoming signal is split so that the signal continues down two outgoing wires.
36.
n.
Y front:
a style of men’s jockey briefs with overlapping flaps in the front.
The first ever Y-front commercial aired in America was on
The Tonight Show
in 1958. Host Jack Paar found the pants so hilarious that his laughter strung a Y-front endorsement out for two minutes instead of the allowed 30 seconds. The next day they sold out across the country.
—Ryan Parry, “A Brief History of Y-fronts,”
The Daily Mirror,
August 16, 2004
37.
n.
Y junction:
an intersection of three roads.
They came to a Y-junction. She looked both ways.
To the right was a long straight passageway, going into darkness. It probably led to the laboratory, she thought. To the left was a much shorter section of tunnel, with stairs at the end. She went left.
—Michael Crichton,
The Lost World
38.
n.
Y level:
a surveyor’s telescope whose supports are Y-shaped.
39.
n.
Y ligament:
a ligament with two branches extending from the spine to the femur; the iliofem-oral ligament.
40.
n.
Y point:
the neutral point on a three-phase electrical circuit.
41.
n.
Y tile:
a Y-shaped drainage or gutter tile.
42.
n.
Y track:
a railroad switch.
[T]he track workers have come across all manner of humanity in the subway over the years. Like the homeless man who liked to sit at the Y in the tracks, in a lawn chair, with a battery-powered light, reading
The Wall Street Journal.—Randy Kennedy,
Subwayland: Adventures in the World Beneath
New York
43.
n.
Y-Tube:
a radiant hot-water heating system consisting of aluminum tubes with three fins, which maximize surface area for heat dissipation. The three fins form a Y-shaped cross-section.