growlery means A place to retreat to, alone, when ill-humoured. It carries an Arena rating of 1748, earned across 11 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, growlery ranks #18 of 17,140 for Most Whimsical Words, #665 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #779 of 17,163 for Funniest Words, #1,416 of 17,142 for Most Ingenious Words.
Why “growlery” is a great word
A private room or den to which one retreats alone when ill-humored, to sulk or be peevish. From the English word 'growl' (to utter a deep guttural sound of anger) + the suffix '-ery' (denoting a place associated with an action or quality). First attested in 1830; popularized by Charles Dickens in 'Bleak House' (1853). Unlike a boudoir, a lady's chamber of leisure, or a sanctuary, a sacred refuge from threat, the growlery is a secular retreat for a singular, peevish state. It is the leather chair that has absorbed decades of grievances, the door that shuts with a particular weight, the gloom of a study where the curtains are drawn against the afternoon—a tacit acknowledgment that sometimes the kindest act is to withdraw one's company from the world.
Etymology
From growl + -ery.
noun
- A place to retreat to, alone, when ill-humoured.e.g.“"Sit down, my dear," said Mr. Jarndyce. "This, you must know, is the Growlery. When I am out of humour, I come and growl here."” — 1853, Charles Dickens, Bleak House:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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