libation

orikami
(n.) a drink (often alcoholic) poured out as an offering -- ideally, onto the soil but a vessel works for the act, too. it can be offered to a god, an ancestor, or simply a deceased loved one. it can be offered in special ceremony or in daily life.
the Japanese will often have a small household table/ shrine with a photo of their passed one(s) and put out a meal and drink for them.

(also: offering)

(also: brimming)

bourgeois

trustycoffeemug
describing the middle class who ascended to prominence and superceded the landed aristocracy in the seventeenth century. they successfully embarrassed their social betters by proving there was a path to success beyond an inborn divine mandate, while selling out the lower class by perpetuating the cycle of labor exploitation.

also their taste in decor leans incontestably toward the brummagem.

gumshoe

trustycoffeemug
an antiquated slang term for a plainclothes detective. the name probably originates from the popular image of them sneaking about as if wearing gumshoes- that is, galoshes, rubberized boots worn in mud or other messy conditions, in which one would feel compelled to walk more gingerly.

there is no known tendency for detectives or people in galoshes to get gum on a shoe. it could happen, sure, but still.

zigzag

the devils dictionary
To move forward uncertainly, from side to side, as one carrying the white man's burden. (From zed, z, and jag, an Icelandic word of unknown meaning.)
He zedjagged so uncomen wyde
Thet non coude pas on eyder syde;
So, to com saufly thruh, I been
Constreynet for to doodge betwene.
—Munwele

(also: The Devil's Dictionary)

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