Words and phrases that sound gross but aren't

Brown Creeper
A small, thin, nearly camouflaged bird with white belly, long stiff tail, and thin curved bill. Obvious white line above dark eye.

Birds of Wisconsin: A Field Guide, By Stan Tekiela


Canonical Erection
The rite by which the house of a religious order is sanctified and officially recognized by the [Catholic] Church.

Still Catholic After All These Years, by Mary Jane Frances, et al.


Cockhorse
1. orig. Apparently a nursery term, applied to anything a child rides astride upon, as a stick with a horse's head, a hobby-horse, any one's leg or knee. Hence ride on a (or a-) cockhorse.


Cock-loft
A small upper loft; a small apartment under the very ridge of the roof to which the access is usually by a ladder; ‘the room over the garret’ (J.).


Cockmaster
One who rears game-cocks


Cockwater
1. An obsolete medical preparation: see quot.

2. ‘A stream of water brought in a trough, through a long pole, in order to wash out the sand of the tin-ore into the launder, while it is bruising in the coffer of a stamping mill’ (Chambers Cycl. Supp. 1753).
Cockqueanan var. of CUCKQUEAN. Obs. .



Dickcissel
Main Entry: dick·cis·sel
Pronunciation: dik-'si-s&l, 'dik-"
Function: noun
Etymology: imitative
: a common migratory black-throated finch (Spiza americana) of the central U.S.


Dick test
Main Entry: Dick test
Pronunciation: 'dik-
Function: noun
Etymology: George F. Dick and Gladys H. Dick
: a test to determine susceptibility or immunity to scarlet fever by an injection of scarlet fever toxin


Faggot-vote
A vote manufactured for party purposes, by the transfer to persons, not otherwise legally qualified, of sufficient property to qualify them as electors.

Oxofrd English Dictionary


Fagnet
Some kind of net for fishing.

Oxford English Dictionary


Fagottist
A performer on the bassoon, bassoonist.

Oxford English Dictionary


Figwort
Main Entry: fig·wort
Pronunciation: 'fig-"w&rt, -"wort
Function: noun
: any of a genus (Scrophularia) of chiefly herbaceous plants of the snapdragon family with leaves having no stipules, an irregular bilabiate corolla, and a 2-celled ovary.


Fornical
Pertaining to the fornix (an anatomical arch or fold, esp. an arched formation of the brain)

Oxford English Dictionary


Fucus
Main Entry: fu·cus
Pronunciation: 'fyü-k&s
Function: noun
Etymology: Latin, seaweed, archil, dye obtained from archil, from Greek phykos
1 obsolete : a face paint
2 [New Latin, genus name, from Latin] : any of a genus (Fucus) of cartilaginous brown algae used in the kelp industry; broadly : any of various brown algae


Futtock
Main Entry: fut·tock
Pronunciation: 'f&-t&k
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English votek, futtek
: one of the curved timbers scarfed together to form the lower part of the compound rib of a ship


Gay Deceiver
Bust pads, usually of foam rubber, inserted into a bra to give a fuller appearance.

Fairchild's Dictionary of Fashion


Gayhole,-holer
obs. ff. JAIL, JAILER.


Hoar-frost
: a covering of minute ice crystals on a cold surface; also : ice particles formed from a gas

Oxford English Dictionary


Hoary
Main Entry: hoary
Pronunciation: 'hOr-E, 'hor-
Function: adjective
Inflected Form(s): hoar·i·er; -est
1 : gray or white with or as if with age
2 : extremely old : ANCIENT
- hoar·i·ness noun


Phagomania
Rarely used term for a morbid desire to eat.

On-line Medical Dictonary


Shittim
1. (More fully shittim wood.) The wood of the shittah-tree, acacia wood.
Sometimes erroneously used for SHITTAH tree.

Shitticism
A scatological figure of speech


Shuttlecock
Main Entry: 1shut·tle·cock
Pronunciation: 'sh&-t&l-"käk
Function: noun
: a lightweight conical object with a rounded often rubber-covered nose that is used in badminton


Titi

An evergreen shrub or tree


Tit-warbler
A bird of the subfamily Parinae (Swainson)

Oxford English Dictionary



Trophoblast
Main Entry: tro·pho·blast
Pronunciation: 'trO-f&-"blast
Function: noun
Etymology: International Scientific Vocabulary
: a thin layer of ectoderm that forms the wall of many mammalian blastulas and functions in the nutrition and implantation of the embryo
- tro·pho·blas·tic


Ulva
A seaweed of the genus Ulva, which includes sea lettuce, U. lactuca

Oxford English Dictionary


Vagile
Of an organism or group of organisms: having the ability to disperse or be dispersed in a given environment. Hence vagility (also fig.).


Vagine

A scabbard (Cockeram, 1623).
Vaginula


A little sheath or vagina; esp. in Bot. the capsule or theca enclosing the base of the seta in certain mosses.


White-Breasted Nuthatch
Slate gray bird with white belly and black cap and neck. Long thin bill slightly upturned. Chestnut colored under tail.

Birds of Wisconsin: A Field Guide, By Stan Tekiela


Windfucker
1.) Name for the kestrel [species of Hawk].
2.) fig. as a term of opprobrium.

Oxford English Dictionary


Woodcock
Main Entry: wood·cock
Pronunciation: 'wud-"käk
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural woodcocks
1 or plural woodcock : a widespread Old World woodland bird (Scolopax rusticola) that is related to the sandpipers and snipes; also : a smaller related game bird (Scolopax minor syn. Philohela minor) of eastern No. America
2 [from the ease with which the woodcock is snared] archaic : SIMPLETON