http://members.tripod.com/martinetc/id108.htm

Some authors just like to make up words because their native language is lacking in a word with just the right nuance. It looks like this guy did that a lot.

I finished Kavalier & Clay about a month ago, after soooo many people telling me how great it was. The first third or so I thought was really slow, but I ended up loving it. There were a lot of pretty tough words in it, which made me feel terrible because I’ve always prided myself on my vocabulary.

It’s pronounced “pull-it-sir”...

Re omniveillant….Chabon fully expected us to refer to our brains to come up with the correct definition. Look up omni, which means all; universally, veil means to cover or conceal,and the suffix ant means being in a specific action or performing a specific action…and you get “the act of covering everything over”. When you can’t find the definition, just break the word into smaller root words and voila! you can decipher the word without needing a definition.

I appreciate Mr. Chabon’s confidence in his reader’s reasoning skills. I find it refreshing that a contemporary author refuses to dumb down his writing. I kept a huge dictionary next to me at all times when reading this book, and I am sure I gained a larger vocubabulary through reading Kavalier and Clay.

Re Dictionary.com, frankly I think it pales to Merriam-Webster’s site. I feel merriam-webster.com is a better choice, especially with regard to academic writing, ie school teaching. I use the Merriam-Webster Collegiate unabridged bricktionary to search for more obscure words.