The street lights were fuzzy from the fine rain that was falling. As I made my way home, I felt very old, but when I looked at the tip of my nose I could see fine misty beads, but looking cross-eyed made me dizzy so I quit.
Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, 1960.
cross-eyed adjective
having one or both eyes looking inwards towards the nose:
I’m going cross-eyed, working on those hand-written texts all day. [OALD]
In discussing science we also need to define its scope, as well as the methods and views (concepts) involved in its pursuit. It is also useful to think about what science is not, although this can sometimes become controversial. Significant and important studies such as those concerned with the field of sociology, politics, or economics increasingly use methods that previously were associated only with the physical and biological sciences or mathematics. However, I believe these are not in a strict sense “hard sciences.” The name “science” these days is also frequently hyphenated to varied other fields (from animal- science to culinary science to exercise science, etc.). Such studies indeed may use some of the methods of science, but they hardly fall under the scope of science. There is a Dutch proverb that says “Everything has its science, with the exception of catching fleas: This is an art.” It may overstate the point, but sometimes to make a point it is necessary to overstate it.
George A. Olah, A Life of Magic Chemistry : Autobiographical Reflections of a Nobel Prize Winner, Wiley-Interscience, 2001, pp.4-5.
hyphenate tr.v.
To divide or connect (syllables, word elements, or names) with a hyphen. [AHD4]
hyphenate transitive verb
to connect (as two words) or divide (as a word at the end of a line of print) with a hyphen [MWCD]
hyphenate verb
to join two words together using a hyphen; to divide a word between two lines of text using a hyphen:
Is your name hyphenated? [OALD]
A down-to-earth, painless example of the Doppler shift principle is when you stand on a sidewalk and a police car speeds by in hot pursuit of a stolen motorcycle. The pitch of the police siren increases as the car approaches you and then drops sharply as it moves away.
Joel McNamara, GPS For Dummies, Wiley, 2004, p.50.
down-to-earth adjective
(approving) sensible and practical, in a way that is helpful and friendly:
She was friendly and down-to-earth and quickly put me at my ease. [OALD]
down-to-earth adj
practical and direct in a sensible honest way:
Fran’s a very friendly, down-to-earth person. [LDCE]
It was an eventuality he had prepared for; but again, with his rough-and-ready tools, the chances of success were far less than with the kind of instruments he was accustomed to having at his disposal. Certainly, his magnetic picklock was not an impressive-looking piece of equipment, having been jury-rigged with electrical tape and epoxy. He had removed the core of the solenoid and replaced it with a steel rod. At the other end of the rod, he had attached a thin rectangle of steel, which he had cut from a tin of butter cookies using heavy-duty scissors. The electronic part ー a random noise generator ー was a simple circuit of transistors he had extracted from a Radio Shack cell phone. Once he connected a pair of AA batteries to the apparatus, a quickly oscillating magnetic field was created: it was designed to pulse at the sensors until they were activated.
Robert Ludlum, The Janson Directive, 2002.
jury-rigged adj chiefly nautical
set up in a makeshift manner, usually as a result of the loss of regular gear [CED]
It was an eventuality he had prepared for; but again, with his rough-and-ready tools, the chances of success were far less than with the kind of instruments he was accustomed to having at his disposal. Certainly, his magnetic picklock was not an impressive-looking piece of equipment, having been jury-rigged with electrical tape and epoxy. He had removed the core of the solenoid and replaced it with a steel rod. At the other end of the rod, he had attached a thin rectangle of steel, which he had cut from a tin of butter cookies using heavy-duty scissors. The electronic part ー a random noise generator ー was a simple circuit of transistors he had extracted from a Radio Shack cell phone. Once he connected a pair of AA batteries to the apparatus, a quickly oscillating magnetic field was created: it was designed to pulse at the sensors until they were activated.
Robert Ludlum, The Janson Directive, 2002.
rough-and-ready adj
1) crude, unpolished, or hastily prepared, but sufficient for the purpose
2) (of a person) without formality or refinement; rudely vigorous [CED]
rough-and-ready adj.
Rough or crude but effective for a purpose or use. [AHD4]
Sipperly laughed wheezily, then he saw that Janson was serious. An avaricious look crept over his fleshy features. “Well, joking aside, I’m really very fond of that dog,” he recovered. “He’s truly one-of-a-kind. Excellent guard dog … “
Robert Ludlum, The Janson Directive, 2002.
one-of-a-kind adjective [before noun]
used to describe a product or service that is the only one of its type, or that is very unusual:
The one-of-a-kind pieces are due to go to auction later this month. [Cambridge Business English Dictionary]
Alice-in-Wonderland adj
fantastic; irrational
Etymology: C20 alluding to the absurdities of Wonderland in Lewis Carroll’s book [CED]
Alice-in-Wonderland adj.
Illusory; unreal: One wonders if historians… are caught up in an Alice-in-Wonderland world of their own making (Zara Steiner). [AHD4]
‘But of course,’ she said, ‘it’s very unexpected for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, but the gospel is simply a catalogue of unexpected things. It’s not to be expected that an ox and an ass should worship at the crib. Animals are always doing the oddest things in the lives of the saints. It’s all part of the poetry, the Alice-in-Wonderland side, of religion.’
Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead Revisited, 1945
Pavhari Baba was born near Varanasi of brahmin parents. In his youth he had mastered many branches of Hindu philosophy. Later he renounced the world, led an austere life, practised the disciplines of Yoga and Vedanta, and travelled over the whole of India. At last he settled in Ghazipur, where he built an underground hermitage on the bank of the Ganga and spent most of his time in meditation. He lived on practically nothing and so was given by the people the sobriquet of the ‘air-eating holy man’; all were impressed by his humility and spirit of service. Once he was bitten by a cobra and said while suffering terrible pain, ‘Oh, he was a messenger from my Beloved!’ Another day, a dog ran off with his bread and he followed, praying humbly, ‘Please wait, my Lord; let me butter the bread for you.’ Often he would give away his meagre food to beggars or wandering monks, and starve.
Swami Nikhilananda, Swami Vivekananda: A Biography, Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center of New York, 1953. [PDF]