(n.) an academic discipline based around finding out what happened back in the past

and, the even more difficult bit, finding out what really happened in the past

(also: disco)

(also: techno)
(also: punk)

(also: 80s hair)
https://www.allure.com/gallery/80s-hairstyles-trends
(also: roller skates)
(also: scratch and sniff stickers)
http://www.liketotally80s.com/2008/08/scratch-sniff-stickers/

https://mentalitch.com/top-political-events-of-the-80s/
(also: war on drugs) (at its height)
https://drugpolicy.org/issues/brief-history-drug-war
https://slimemoldtimemold.com/2021/04/19/higher-than-the-shoulders-of-giants-or-a-scientists-history-of-drugs/

(also: hiv/ aids crisis)
https://www.history.com/topics/1980s/hiv-aids-crisis-timeline
(also: Tiananmen Square Massacre)
(also: cults)
https://www.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.html?appid=7b33d5df643842a8875ff9f675ce6ae2
https://medium.com/s/how-to-cult/by-the-decade-notorious-20th-century-american-cults-d62939b065e5

n. Authors of other dictionaries.

When you can afford to give your dog the backyard it deserves.

(n.) a european nation that's doing very well since the divorce from slovakia

home to prague, the spookiest european capital, as well as... presumably other things

An instrument used by the Caucasian to enhance his beauty, by the Mongolian to make a guy of himself and by the Afro-American to affirm his worth.
(also: racism)
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)

they're pretty much all like this

(n.) a nation in the north of the Asian continent, primarily known for having such abundant reserves of human suffering that it became their primary export

A republican form of government deriving its powers from the conceit of the governed — in thinking they govern.
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)

(n.) a successor to the augurs of ancient rome who would attempt to predict weather trends by reading animal viscera, albeit the augurs were more often accurate

A land rich in history and crabs. It is named after the originally governor's wife, Mary of the Land.

(also: Baltimore)

(n.) red pulsing thing in the chests of most animals, which keeps the blood flowing to the important bits. one of the more vocal organs, which strongly complains in times of great emotional turmoil or physical exercise

a voluntary legal agreement between a company and an unsuspecting customer

informal term for ladypox

one possible means by which the universe may have come into existence, which has eclipsed the "laid by a giant space chicken" hypothesis

succinctly put, this theory proposes that the universe originally existed in an infinitesimal, incomprehensibly small state, then exploded outward and has continued to grow and spread continually ever since, ably accounting for the blueshift of cosmic background radiation

the puzzle of how the universe can expand, implying the existence of an outward territory which is not part of it (despite it supposedly containing everything) is one of those cranium-confounders for big shot physicists to solve.

the ancient chinese art of mystical housekeeping

(1831-1879) Scottish physicist. Maxwell made a significant contribution to understanding electromagnetism
(also: 100 most influential people in the world)
(also: james clerk maxwell quotes)

(noun):
A mythological figure in spandex, armed with superpowers and a wardrobe that defies practicality. They battle villains, save the day, and occasionally face existential crises about their secret identities.

(also: superhero)
(also: american art of saving the day)

v. (from videogames) to take a lot of damage from the enemy team and dole it back out
n. to be the one who does so

Space is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly hugely mindbogglingly big it is. I mean you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space

If you hold a lungful of air you can survive in the total vacuum of space for about thirty seconds. However, what with space being the mindboggling size it is, the chances of getting picked up by another ship within those thirty seconds are two to the power of two hundred and seventy-six thousand seven hundred and nine to one against.

(also: infinity)