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DEFINITION: n. The slow but steady rise of murmurs, coughs or harrumphs in audience. May indicate dissatisfaction, or the presence of a lethally infectious virus. v. To clear one's throat
Verboticisms
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Crowndswell
Created by: petaj
Pronunciation: rhymes with groundswell
Sentence: A few sneezes and coughs soon escalated into a riotous crowndswell of snorts, hiccups, gagging, hacking and spluttering that forced the thespians to don surgical masks.
Etymology: groundswell (movement by the general population) + crowd (the audience in this case) + swell (grow, rise)
Hackle
Created by: NohWoman
Pronunciation: hackle
Sentence: At first there was just a lone hackler in the audience, but like a virus, the hackle spread across the crowd into a symphony of hackling.
Etymology: hack: a short, rasping dry cough + heckle: to harass a public speaker or performer. Works well as a verb and in noun form "hackler", as in the producer of a hackle.
Ahemaflem
Created by: abrakadeborah
Pronunciation: A-hem-a-flem
Sentence: Mr. Swiner Imbecile hacked and coughed and sneezed as he spread his germs wherever he pleased. The crowd took cover with such ahemaflem furor! They all cheered when Mr. Imbecile was finally asked to leave...by the Antibacterial Police.
Etymology: Ahem; A throat-clearing sound; often read as ə-ˈhem\ Flem;Slang for Phlegm (pronounced /ˈflɛm/) is a sticky fluid secreted by the mucous membranes of humans and other animals. Ewwww!
Muttremor
Created by: ErWenn
Pronunciation: /ˌmʌtˈtɹmɚ/
Sentence: The comedian estimated that the muttremor rated about a 6 on the Rancor scale, meaning that a riot wasn't yet likely, but that he should probably tread carefully and avoid any racial slurs.
Etymology: From mutter + tremor
Bewailance
Created by: BMott
Pronunciation: Bee - wale - uns
Sentence: The bewailance started softly but reached a crescendo as the crowd realized their favorite performer was too drunk to sing.
Etymology: Bewail -- Performance
Cruckus
Created by: ekath
Pronunciation: cruck-us
Sentence: And suddenly, a cruckus arose amoung the crowd.
Etymology: from cough + ruckus
Heckspectorate
Created by: Nosila
Pronunciation: hek spek tor ayt
Sentence: By the 12th act of the one man autobiographical play, the audience was starting to heckspectorate a lot. The haughty performer was convinced that a nasty virus was circulating throughout the theatre...he just did not realize that it was he who was making them all sick.
Etymology: Heckle (to try and embarrass someone speaking or performing by making noises, or wisecracks) & Expectorate (discharge (phlegm or sputum) from the lungs and out of the mouth)
Tuberculapplause
Created by: lauramy
Pronunciation: too-burr-cule-uh-plawz
Sentence: I caught a serious case of tuberculapplause during Swan Lake.
Etymology: tuberculosis + applause
Coughlingo
Created by: toadstool57
Pronunciation: coff-ling-go
Sentence: David used his large vocabulary of coughlingo, consisting of cough muffled obsenities, to express his thoughts on the opera Jill insisted he attend.
Etymology: cough/lingo, as in language
Comments:
Today's definition was suggested by galwaywegian.
Thank you galwaywegian! ~ James
Today's definition was suggested by galwaywegian.
Thank you galwaywegian! ~ James
Today's definition was suggested by galwaywegian.
Thank you galwaywegian! ~ James
Today's definition was suggested by galwaywegian. Thank you galwaywegian. ~ James