In 1511, leaders in Mecca believed coffee stimulated radical thinking and outlawed the drink. In 1524, the leaders overturned that order, and people could drink coffee again.
SPECTER
ghost, shade, spook, wraith, specter, spectre
(noun) a mental representation of some haunting experience; “he looked like he had seen a ghost”; “it aroused specters from his past”
apparition, phantom, phantasm, phantasma, fantasm, specter, spectre
(noun) a ghostly appearing figure; “we were unprepared for the apparition that confronted us”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
specter (plural specters) (American spelling)
A ghostly apparition, a phantom.
(figuratively) A threatening mental image.
• Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto
Synonyms
• See also ghost
Anagrams
• Sceptre, recepts, respect, scepter, sceptre, spectre
Source: Wiktionary
Spec"ter, Spec"tre, n. Etym: [F. spectre, fr. L. spectrum an appearance, image, specter, fr. specere to look. See Spy, and cf. Spectrum.]
1. Something preternaturally visible; an apparition; a ghost; a phantom. The ghosts of traitors from the bridge descend, With bold fanatic specters to rejoice. Dryden.
2. (Zoöl.) (a) The tarsius. (b) A stick insect. Specter bat (Zoöl.), any phyllostome bat.
– Specter candle (Zoöl.), a belemnite.
– Specter shrimp (Zoöl.), a skeleton shrimp. See under Skeleton.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
12 June 2025
RAREFACTION
(noun) a decrease in the density of something; “a sound wave causes periodic rarefactions in its medium”
Coffee Trivia
