Dictionary of the Strange, Epic, and Beautiful: The Big Book of Cool Words

Dictionary of the Strange, Epic, and Beautiful is a compilation of three previous dictionaries:

Dictionary of the Strange, Curious, and Lovely ;

Epic English Words ; and

Dictionary of the Rare, Creative, and Beautiful

Part dictionary and part carefully curated encyclopedia, this book offers a window into the breadth and depth of human experience and imagination, showcasing words with unique histories and meaning, or beauty of sound or appearance; other words are esoteric and deep – or strange and fascinating.

Some categories of words, names, and terms are:

Placenames ( Pillars of Hercules, Arabia Felix, Doon Edin, Mare Tenebrosum & Riphean Mountains );

Z oology ( quill pig , pink fairy armadillo & frantling );

Astronomy ( Eddington luminosity , Venusian , Silurian hypothesis , Jovian trojans & Kreutz sungrazers );

Geopolitics ( Perfidious Albion & Baltoscandia );

History ( Sahelian kingdoms, sunlit uplands & Groom of the Stool );

Geometry ( Penrose stairs & Villarceau circles );

Anatomy ( brain sand & frenulum );

Archeology ( Oldenburg Horn & Nebra sky disc ).

Plus nautical , poetic , and literary terms like:

brave west winds & naufragous ; person from Porlock & the cavalier poets ; the Lost Generation & Erewhonian .

Also select slang words, such as: tactical chunder , snoutfair , molly wop , ghostshipping & grundle .

And interesting phrases like: bring owls to Athens ; et in Arcadia ego ; happy as a box of birds; dolce far niente ; and up the wooden hills to Bedfordshire .