A.F.
Annum Ford, the year of our Ford. A dating term which plays on the modern system of naming years after the birth of Christ, by replacing A.D. with A.F.
Alpha
The highest caste in society
Asafetida
A gummy resin with an obnoxious odor
Beta
The second highest caste group. They are allowed to interact with Alphas, but not lower castes such as Epsilons or Gammas.
Bokanovsky Group
A group of identical twins created by dividing a single egg many times. This process is only used on Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons.
Boskage
A mass of trees or shrubs; a thicket
Bottling
The embryos and babies are grown in bottles for nine months rather than in a womb.
Caste System
The society exists as a five-tiered caste system consisting of Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons. Alpha caste members are the ruling elite, with each respective caste becoming progressively less intelligent and smaller in stature.
Centrifugal Bumble-puppy
A game in which children fling a ball onto a platform. The ball then rolls down the interior and lands on a rotating disk that flings the ball in a random direction, at which point the ball must be caught.
Corporeal
Relating to the body
D.H.C. for Central London
The Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning, the man who leads the students on a tour in the first few chapters
Decanting Room
The room in which the babies are removed from the bottles
Deltas
A mid-level caste of society. They are mostly factory workers and laborers.
Economic Collapse
Part of the period following the Nine Years' War is called the Economic Collapse.
Ectogenesis
Growing something outside of the body rather than inside; in this case growing embryos in bottles rather than in a mother's womb
Epsilons
The lowest caste of the Utopian society. They are malformed and quite stupid.
Fretsawyer
Someone who creates ornamental works
Freud
Society believes that Ford and Freud are the same man, but that Freud is the name Ford used when writing about psychology. In reality Freud is considered the father of modern psychoanalysis.
Gamete
A cell that fuses with another cell during fertilization
Gammas
A low caste in society. They are mostly laborers and menial workers.
Hypnopaedia
Sleep learning, which is part of the conditioning process. Huxley pretends that it was discovered that people could learn ethics while sleeping, and it is used extensively to help teach lessons that ensure social stability.
Malthusian Belt
Thomas Malthus is famous for showing that the world population grows more rapidly than the supply of food. Huxley uses the word to mean a contraceptive, hence limiting the growth in population.
Neo-Pavlovian Conditioning
Pavlov showed that animals can be trained to do something through a system of rewards and punishments. This process is used on all babies to condition them to like or dislike certain objects. It is one of the main conditioning techniques which helps ensure social stability.
Nine Years' War
A war which led to almost total destruction. After a severe economic crisis the world submitted to the World Controllers, who took over and redefined the social order.
Obstacle Golf
One of the adult games
Orgy-porgy
A Solidarity Service hymn and dance which is used to signify the coming together of many people into a unified oneness. It is used during Bernard's Solidarity Service and later when the Savage confronts the crowd.
Phosphorous Recovery
The cremation factories are able to recover 99% of the phosphorous contained in each body, so that it can be reused as a raw material or in fertilizer.
pneumatic
Containing air; Huxley uses the term to mean buxom.
Podsnap's Technique
A way of ripening all the eggs of the ovary at once so that thousands of siblings can be made within a two year period.
Pregnancy Substitute
An intravenous injection that tricks the body into thinking it is pregnant and that balances the hormones
Red Rocket
The transatlantic jetliner
Reimann-surface tennis
An adult game
Savage Reservation
One of the only places left on earth where people remain in a state of nature. The Savages were not considered worth civilizing and were therefore placed in a fenced-off area which contained some of the worst land.
Sibilant
Hissing
Simian
Of, or relating to, apes
Solidarity Service
A ceremony that replaces religion with strong sexual elements
Soma
A narcotic used to create pleasant sensations without any after-effects. The word is actually taken from a drug that exists in India.
Viviparous
Bringing forth live young rather than eggs
