neurospast means A puppet; a marionette. It carries an Arena rating of 1471, earned across 43 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, neurospast ranks #1,271 of 17,140 for Most Whimsical Words, #1,338 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #1,663 of 17,142 for Most Ingenious Words, #2,336 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words.
Why “neurospast” is a great word
NEUROSPAST — [Noun] A puppet or marionette, specifically one whose limbs are moved by the pulling of strings or wires. From Latin neurospaston, from Ancient Greek νευρόσπαστον (neurospaston), from νεῦρον (neuron, "sinew, cord, string") + σπάω (spaō, "to draw, pull"). Unlike an automaton—which implies a self-winding, internal clockwork heart—or a dummy, which suggests a mute, static prop, a neurospast is defined by its explicit, visible subjugation. It is the faint rasp of linen cords against a wooden crossbar, the sudden, perfect jerk of a wrist at the tug of a hidden thread, and the surrendering weight of a carved head lifted from its trunk—a portrait of agency that is always borrowed, and every graceful dance a kind of elegant bondage.
Etymology
From Latin neurospaston, from Ancient Greek.
noun
- A puppet; a marionettee.g.“That outward form is but a neurospast; The soul it is that on her subtile ray” — 1642, Henry More, Psychathanasia:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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