The Cyberiad: Fables for the Cybernetic Age Glossary

The Cyberiad: Fables for the Cybernetic Age Glossary

nepenthe

A drug providing relief from emotional pain such as grief or sorrow.

nocturnal

Only coming out or occuring after dark.

skulk

To move in a furtive fashion as if trying to avoid detection or suspicion.

liquidation

Selling off of the parts of a whole either in an attempt to avoid closure or as part of the process of going out of business.

transformer

Appliance which reduces or increases the voltage of alternating current of electricity.

imperious

An attitude of arrogant superiority; haughty and dictatorial.

obstinate

Inflexible and stubbornly unyielding.

maniacal

Acting in way that could be intrepreted as evidence of a serious mental condition, but is probably just a case of overexcitement.

shellacking

An embarrassing and humiliating defeat; getting creamed; taken to the

pang

A sharp, piercing emotional pain stimulated by the longing for someone who doesn't long for you.

mischief

Roguish and slightly puckish misbehavior.

cannonade

A barrage or bombardment of artillery.

deviation

A divergence or aberration from the norm.

pomade

A scented oil applied to hair to keep it slicked back.

apparatus

A machine or part of a machine that fulfills a specific purpose.

robophile

Someone obsessed with or sexually attracted to robots and androids.

proboscidian

Pertaining to the order mammalian order Proboscidea, characterized by the shared anatomical feature of having a trunk.

rubicund

Having a ruddy complexion.

concupiscence

The quality of possessing an unusually strong sexual urge.

cybernetics

The study of automatic control systems and the processes of communication in machines and organic beings.

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