DIGITAL REMOVALIST - person hired to cull any content from a person’s social media posts that may harm their reputation [Neologism] Job applicants would be wise to seek the services of a digital removalist.

VERECUND – modest; bashful; extremely shy [From Latin verēcundus diffident, from verērī to fear] The hospital interne was verecund to a point of introvert.

TAONGA - cultural treasure, either tangible or intagible [From te reo Maori, translating as treasure] Taonga may apply to anything a people prize, be that ideas, resources, crafts or sacred objects. 

KWASHIORKOR [kwash-ee-OR-kah] - acute malnutrition of infants and young children, especially soon after weaning [From a native Ghana word] A life-or-death matter, kwashiorkor arises from a dietary deficiency of protein.

SCHLEIFER [SHLY-fur] - ten-pin bowling strike where every pin seems to fall down singly in a sequence [Sporting slang from German, literally 'grinder' or 'cutter'] Nerve-racking to watch, a schliefer encapsulates domino theory in action.

FANUM TAX - (slang, humorous) a portion of food taken from a friend's plate without asking first. [Named after Bronx-born YouTuber Roberto 'Fanum' Gonzalez who popularised the prank on Kai Cenat's Twitch platform.] French fries or potato wedges are the common costs of Fanum tax.

PALAPA -  a basic shack, or open-sided shelter, with a thatched roof made of dried palm leaves.  [perh. ‹ MexSp: a kind of palm tree] Integral to most beachside cantinas of Mexico is the adjacent relief of a palapa.

COLEXIFY - to ascribe multiple meaning to the same word [From Latin co- (joint) plus, Greek, lexikon, dictionary] Rather than coin new words, we often colexify common words - like set or run - with yet another sense.

GOTTLE O' GEER - any ventriloquy utterance compromised in clarity, owing to the suppression of labial consonants [Mimicry of the notoriously difficult 'bottle of beer'] Glinky Gill is the gottle o' geer version of Blinky Bill. 

MEEPLE - human-shaped figurine (or figurines) used in a board-game. [Blend of 'my people', attributed to American Alison Hansel, a keen player of Carcassonne, in 2000.] Game theorists quibble whether bishop chesspieces qualify as meeple.

CARIOCA - Rio resident; samba variant; sideways dance step where one leg crosses the other. [Literally 'white house' in Tupi, a native language of Brazil.] The carioca equivalent can be seen in equestrian events. 

POMMER'S LAW - a rule stating, 'A person's mind can be changed by reading info online, whereby the nature of this change will be from having no opinion to having a wrong opinion.' [Named after Wiki contributor, Rob Pommer in early 2007] Public health policies can be hampered by volatile lobby groups, swung via Pommer's Law

FESTUCINE [fair-STOO-sign] - straw-coloured; greenish-yellow [From Latin festula  - stalk or straw, the same origin of fescue, a teacher's pointer.] Sauvignon blanc is festucine.

DUMARESQ - mechanical device gauging the speed of an enemy ship,  or missile. [Named after its inventor RN Lieutenant John Dumaresq who applied a set of sliding and rotating bars to emulate the motion of two ships.] The dumaresq was used during both World Wars as a complement to the Vickers range clock.

KHEDDA (or khedah or keddah) - an enclosure into which wild elephants are driven to be captured; an elephant trap [From Hindi] The khedda is the sheep pen of the savannah.

ACT BLUR - feign ignorance [From Singlish - or Singapore English] Different from the general blur of New Year's Eve, to act blur is to pretend oblivion about a divisive or shaming topic. 

SUPEREROGATE - to go beyond what was asked; to do or pay more than needed. [From Latin super-, above, plus ērogāre - to pay out, from rogāre, to ask.] A salute to all parents who supererogate during Christmas, as they vie to maintain family budgets and harmony. 

ELECTUARY - a balm or medicine originally made to be licked by the patient, but now any tablet sweetened for easier intake. [From Greek ekleikhein to lick out,  via leikhein to lick] A strep-throat lollipop is your quintessential electuary.

POZIDRIV - upgraded version of the Phillips'  head screwdriver, where the screw's  starlike indentation allows for greater torque and security. [Trademark] Tradies know that PZ on the spec sheet stands for Pozidriv screws.

CODON -  a sequence of three adjacent bases on a DNA strand; a trumpet's flaring mouth; a hand-bell used to summon monks [Code-on for meaning 1; and codon - mediaeval Latin  for handbell - for meanings 2 & 3] Monastery crypts may hold the codon of the original codon-ringer. 

ALGOSPEAK - coded language - where sex is seggs, say - used on social media in order to sidestep moderation systems [Short for algorithm-speak]. Suicide in algospeak is unalive - as a verb - to keep platform alerts quiet. 

SPHEXISH [SFEX-ish] - wasp-like; fixed in one's behaviour. [From Greek sphex, sand wasp. Coined in 1982 by US scientist and literary scholar, observing the robot-like determinism of the solitary digger wasp.] Those held hostage by their own instincts are deemed to be sphexish.

BARANI - an aerial front flip followed by a half-twist, or 180-degree turn; also called a BARANI FLIP. [Named after Italian acrobat, Alfonso Barani who performed the trick in 1881.] The barani is a dazzling staple of circus, snowboarding and trampoline routines. 

TRUNNION - a cannon's mounting, allowing the weapon to pivot or adjust its elevation. [From Old French, trognon - or trunk, stump.] Without its trunnion, a cannon would only serve if the target matched the muzzle's direction and angle.

SPREZZATURA - the art of doing a difficult task with effortless grace. [Italian for 'nonchalance', a quality popularised in the 1520s by diplomat, Baldassare Castiglione, seen here in Raphael's portrait.] More recently, sprezzatura has been aligned with the carefree flow of masterful artwork.

FILEMOT [FILL-eh-mo] - dull or yellowish brown [Anglicised version of French feuillemorte - a dead leaf] Autumn is a hymn to the filemot spectrum.

CANARY TRAP - ruse designed to expose an informer, whereby suspected leaks are supplied differing information [Popularised by Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan novels - also called the barium meal test.] Language use as much as particular data are integral to the canary trap. 

PATAGIUM - translucent membrane extending between a bat's or sugar gliders forelimbs to create the mammal's wing [From Latin: the edging of a woman's tunic.] The fruit bat would go 'splat' without its trusty patagium.

CACAFUEGO [kar-kar-FWAY-go] - braggart; volatile person prone to outburst [From Spanish, literally one who shits fire, from cagar to defecate + fuego fire.] Gordon Ramsay in the Hell's Kitchen series is a classic cacafuego. 

YEALM - to prepare straw for thatching; a straw bundle ready for the cottage roof [Old English - also yelm - via gelm, or handful.] Thatchers must tamp each yealm tightly to keep a cottage rainproof.