Verboticisms

Created by: artr

Pronunciation: santəwāk

Sentence: Twas the night before Christmas and Julie is completely Santawake. Every sound she hears, from squeaks of an old house to her cat knocking ornaments off the tree, make her think that Santa has arrived. What’s worse is that she jumps every time she hears something waking her husband.

Etymology: Santa (an imaginary figure said to bring presents for children on Christmas) + awake (sleeping)

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Created by: OZZIEBOB

Pronunciation: nokso-mat-uh-PEE-uh

Sentence: "What was that? A loose floor board? Is someone's downstairs? Did I lock the back door? Is there someone on the stairs?" With every strange sound my fear grows. My mind exaggerates the dangers of the noises of the night; I hear dust bouncing on the carpet, and spiders weaving cable-sized webs. Elephant-eared, heart-racing, and stock still, I lie awake in fear of who and what is lurking. Out of the silence, my already fragile peace of mind is further shaken by the creaking groans of the aging house's arthritic joints. Slowly, quietness returns; my eyes close; suddenly my tranquility is broken by Roxie, "Here's your tea and toast, love." Relieved to awake alive, I chat along. " Helluva noise in the street, last night." "Oh, was there!" she replies, "I slept like a babe; didn't hear a thing. Must have been your noxomatopoeia, again".

Etymology: Blend of L. NOCT, NOX: night & ONOMATOPOEIA: formation of a word, such as clink, creak, ping by imitation of a sound made by or associated with its referent.

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COMMENTS:

nice formation - Jabberwocky, 2008-05-12: 13:53:00

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Created by: Tigger

Pronunciation: /din-SOM-nee-uh/

Sentence: Lying in bed and staring toward the ceiling, Michelle sighed again, kept awake by the dinsomnia that had plagued her every night this week. There were the 'creekity-creeks' that Jack had explained were just the roof beams contracting in the cooler evenings, the 'tick, tick, tick, hiss' of the hot water pipes, the faint 'thump, thump, thump' of the refrigerator in the kitchen, and the 'drip, drip' of the leaky bathroom faucet. But what on earth was that 'clankety, clank' noise that sounded like it was coming from the attic? It didn't fit in with the familiar nighttime rhythm, and Michelle winced every time she heard it.

Etymology: Din - sound with clamor or persistent repetition (from Old English, dyne "loud noise") + Insomnia - an inability to sleep; chronic sleeplessness (Latin, insomnia "want of sleep" from in- "not" + somnus "sleep")

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COMMENTS:

Great minds think alike...? Or is it fools seldom differ???? - Nosila, 2008-05-12: 02:13:00

So the saying goes, but to our mutual credit, I'd like to think that I'm a unique sort of fool. You decide. - Tigger, 2008-05-12: 02:37:00

had to give you a vote each in the interests of fairness. - galwaywegian, 2008-05-12: 12:00:00

Too kind, galwaywegian, thanks! - Nosila, 2008-05-12: 19:26:00

Clever blend! - OZZIEBOB, 2008-05-13: 07:26:00

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Created by: Moonstar

Pronunciation: Image-ounds

Sentence: Vicky lie awake, staring up[ at the ceiling, eyes wide. Her breathing quickend as even more imagounds entered the room. There was a small thump, a squeak, a creak, a skitter. What was that!? Could it be....Yes, yes it was! The sound of a heartbeat, a HUMAN heartbeat! She sat up straight in bed, her hand on the knife she had kept stored beneath her pillow, ready to strike-but there was no one there.

Etymology: Imagined, as in the act of imagining, + Sounds, as in noises.

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COMMENTS:

Poe-etic tense to it! - Nosila, 2010-07-13: 23:59:00

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Created by: arrrteest

Pronunciation: creek - eez

Sentence: The house was speaking its creepy creakease with all its settling and contracting in the night. Wide-eyed and drowsily alert maggie lie in bed imagining ghosts and gobblins milling about.

Etymology: creak, sound of a rusty gate or noisy floorboards + ese, of a language

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Created by: Mustang

Pronunciation: nok-tern-em-eh-NAY-shuns

Sentence: The nocturnemanations that continuously emitted from the walls, the outdoors, the attic and unseen places kept Gladys on edge thru the night and made sleep impossible

Etymology: Blend of nocturnal (during the night) and emanations (. Something that issues from a source; an emission)

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Created by: youmustvotenato

Pronunciation: heff-a-bump

Sentence: I could hear the heffabumps made by the heffalumps, shuffling in my closet.

Etymology: heffalump, a mystical creature. Bump, a sound usually made in the night.

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Created by: Nosila

Pronunciation: nok turn als

Sentence: When Velma went to bed that night, she awoke later to strange noises. At about three a.m. she could hear the knockturnals very clearly. Although scared, she finally got up and crept towards the sound. That's when she discovered that her cat, Tomahawk, had learned how to rap on the back door to get back in, rather than trying to squeeze his massive body through the cat flap. Oh well, she thought it was better than him learning how to use the doorbell...

Etymology: Knock (make light, repeated taps on a surface) & Nocturnal (at night)

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Created by: Mustang

Pronunciation: nock - tern - em - uh - NAY - shuns

Sentence: The nocturnemanations that continuously emitted from the walls, the outdoors, the attic and unseen places kept Gladys on edge thru the night and made sleep impossible.

Etymology: Blend of nocturnal and emanations.

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COMMENTS:

a bit of a tongue twister but nice blend - Jabberwocky, 2008-05-12: 13:55:00

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Created by: ErWenn

Pronunciation: /ˈnaɪtˌbʌmps/

Sentence: We decided that the poltergeist haunting our house must be either blind or clumsy when the nightbumps started sounding more like night-bump-ow-crash-$#!+s.

Etymology: from "things that go bump in the night"

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