The Oxford Dictionary of New Words

Shot in super-slick black and white, with a half-hour colour 'behind the scenes' documentary, this is actually quite a funky lil' package. And a deffo must for all Jan fans.

P.S. Dec. 1989, p. 27

deforestation

(Environment) see desertification

dehire (People and Society) see deselect

deleverage

(Business World) see leverage

democratization, demokratizatsiya (Politics) see decommunize

deniability

noun (Politics)

Ability to deny something; especially, in the context of US politics, the extent to which a person in high office is able to deny knowledge of something which is relevant to a political scandal.

Etymology: Formed by adding the noun suffix -ability to deny, giving a noun counterpart for the adjective deniable.

History and Usage: Deniability is one of those potential words which the building blocks of affixation would make it possible to form at any time, and in fact it was first used in its more general sense at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The special political sense, though, dates from the political scandals of the late twentieth century in the US--first the Watergate scandal of 1972-4, and later the Iran-contra affair of 1986 (see contra). This special sense seems to have originated in CIA jargon, where it was sometimes used in the phrase plausible deniability. It was popularized at the time of the

Watergate scandal by an article by Shana Alexander in Newsweek in 1973, entitled 'The Need (Not) To Know'; and indeed the whole point of this concept is the perceived need to protect the

President (or another high official) from knowledge of some shady activity, so that he will be able to tell any ensuing inquiry that he knew nothing about it.

The concept of 'plausible deniability' was devised by the late CIA director, Mr William Casey, by having Israeli arms brokers as middlemen.

Daily Telegraph 11 July 1987, p. 6

I made a very definite decision not to ask the President so that I could insulate him from the decision and provide some future deniability...The buck stops here with me.

John Poindexter quoted in Time 27 July 1987, p. 24

The government is rendering itself less competent, preparing a more thoroughgoing deniability.

Marilynne Robinson Mother Country (1989), p. 182

Denver boot, shoe

(Lifestyle and Leisure) see wheel clamp

desaparecido

noun (Politics) (People and Society)

Any of the many people who disappeared in Argentina during the period of military rule there between 1976 and 1983; by extension, anyone who has disappeared in South or Central America under a totalitarian regime.

Etymology: A direct borrowing from Spanish desaparecido 'disappeared', the past participle of the verb desaparecer 'to disappear'.

History and Usage: The plight of the desaparecidos, also called in English the disappeared or disappeared ones, was much discussed in the newspapers in the US and the UK from about the late seventies. Many were never seen again after being arrested by the army or police, and can only be presumed killed in detention; many others were children who were taken away from

their arrested parents and placed with other families without any consent. Since the end of the military regime, the desaparecidos have remained in the news from time to time, and some of those formerly in detention have reappeared. The effort continues to trace as many of the displaced children as possible and return them to their real families. Recently the word has been extended in use to anyone who has suffered a similar fate in Spanish America.

People whose children or husbands or wives were desaparecidos--'disappeared ones'--would go to Cardinal Arns, and the Cardinal would stop whatever he was doing and drive to the prisons, the police, the Second Army headquarters.

New Yorker 2 Mar. 1987, p. 62

The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo are assembling a genetic databank on grandparents whose grandchildren are still missing, and on children who suspect that they are desaparecidos but whose grandparents have yet to be identified.

Nature 18 June 1987, p. 553

deselect verb (Politics)

Of a local constituency party in the UK: to reject (an established candidate, especially a sitting Member of Parliament) as its constituency candidate for an election.

Etymology: Formed by adding the prefix de- (indicating reversal) to the verb select. This kind of formation with deis characteristic of euphemistic verbs like deselect--compare dehire for 'sack' in the US (where deselect has also been used as a euphemism for 'dismiss').

History and Usage: The verb has been used in this sense in British politics since the very end of the seventies, when the Labour Party's reselection procedure made deselection a real danger for a number of Labour MPs. The practice was particularly common during the middle years of the eighties, and the word came to be used in other contexts (such as local government) at

that time.

Mr Woodall, MP for 12 years..., launched a bitter attack on his opponents in the NUM and local party who, he said, had 'connived' to deselect him.

Daily Telegraph 24 Feb. 1986, p. 24

Echoes of a more turbulent past also emerged from the NEC's monthly meeting in the long-running dispute over Frank Field's deselection as Birkenhead's sitting MP.

Guardian 28 June 1990, p. 20

desertification

noun (Environment)

The changing of fertile land into desert or arid waste, especially as a long-term result of human activity. Also sometimes known as desertization.

Etymology: Formed by adding the process suffix -ification to desert.

History and Usage: The process of desertification was recognized as a world environmental problem as long ago as the mid seventies, but it was not until the late eighties that the

word became widely known as a result of the green movement and increased awareness of environmental issues generally. The problem is exacerbated by destruction of forests

(deforestation), erosion of the topsoil, and global warming (which involves formerly fertile areas in drought). As the process takes place, the affected land is first termed arid, then desertified.

Some 6.9 million sq. km. of Africa...were under direct threat of desertification in 1985, according to UN estimates.

The Annual Register 1985 (1986), p. 395

The very processes of extracting Third World resources result in environmental disasters--deforestation,

massive soil-erosion and desertification.

New Internationalist May 1987, p. 13

designer adjective (Lifestyle and Leisure)

Originally, of clothes and other fashion items: bearing the name or label of a famous designer, and therefore (by implication) expensive or prestigious. Later extended to describe anything fashionable among yuppies and the smart set generally; also applied to anything that can be designed individually for or by a particular user.

Etymology: An attributive use of the noun designer which has become so common in recent years that it is now regarded by many as an adjective.

History and Usage: This use of designer began with the designer scarf (also known as a signature scarf) back in the mid sixties, but did not really take off in the language until the late

seventies. Then denim jeans were elevated from simple workaday clothing to high fashion by the addition of the designer label

on the pocket, which made them designer jeans and therefore comparatively expensive. The trend spread to other areas of fashion (notably designer knitwear) in the early eighties; by the middle of the decade the word had become one of the advertising industry's favourites, and anything associated with the smart and wealthy class targeted by these advertisers could have the designer tag applied to it ironically (for example, overpriced sparkling mineral water served by trendy wine bars

came to be called designer water). A distinct branch of meaning started to develop in the second half of the eighties, perhaps under the influence of the same advertisers and fashion writers. Whereas before this, designer items had to be created by a designer (or at least bear the name of a designer: the name was often licensed out on goods which the designer had never seen), the emphasis was now on designing for the individual customer, and in some cases the consumers were even encouraged to do the designing themselves. This was the era of such things as designer stubble (a carefully nurtured unshaven look) and designer food (inspired by the chef-artists of nouvelle

cuisine). The concept has been used outside the world of 'lifestyle' and fashion as well, for example in popular

made-to-measure kicks, the designer drug was also designed to keep one step ahead of anti-drugs laws.

History and Usage: Designer drugs were being made privately as early as 1976; the first designer 'look-alikes' of heroin

appeared on the streets in the late seventies under the names China White and new heroin. The term itself was coined several years later when Professor Henderson of the University of California at Davis investigated the large number of deaths and

Parkinsonian symptoms among users of China White in California. Despite attempts to limit them by legislation, designer drugs mimicking prohibited amphetamines enjoyed an explosion in the late eighties, as drug users looked for ways of avoiding heroin

use with its associated Aids risk. With the new legislation came a development in the sense of the term: any recreational drug which deliberately altered the structure of an existing drug could be called a designer drug, as could a drug used by a sports competitor hoping to avoid falling foul of random tests.

The legality of the designer drugs is only one of the

many powerful economic incentives working to make them the future drugs of abuse.

Science Mar. 1985, p. 62

Some of these people obviously also use cocaine, marijuana and some exotic designer drugs.

New York Times 23 Sept. 1989, p. 23

desk organizer

(Lifestyle and Leisure) see organizer

desk-top noun and adjective Also written desktop (Science and Technology)

noun: A personal computer which fits on the top surface of a desk (short for desk-top computer). Also, a representation of a desk-top on a VDU screen.

adjective: Using a desk-top computer system to produce printed documents to a publishable standard of typesetting, layout, etc.; especially in the phrase desk-top publishing (abbreviation DTP).

desirable residence; an expensive house, usually in a 'sought-after' neighbourhood.

Etymology: Formed by abbreviating desirable and residence to their first three letters.

History and Usage: Des res belongs originally to the highly abbreviated and euphemistic language of estate agents' newspaper advertisements, where the clich‚ has been in use for some years. During the mid eighties, though, it moved into a more general colloquial idiom, often used rather ironically. Des res is sometimes used as an adjective--again, often ironically.

The days of the 'des res' that clearly isn't are set to end for estate agents.

The Times 20 Apr. 1990, p. 2

WDS make many practical suggestions as to how women's toilets could be improved; if all were adopted, they'd become highly des res.

Guardian 11 July 1990, p. 17

For those for whom the genuine article is not beyond reach, the Georgian country house (right) is one typical English version of the des res.

Independent 22 Dec. 1990, p. 33

device noun (War and Weaponry)

Euphemistically, a bomb.

Etymology: Formed by shortening the earlier euphemism explosive device.

History and Usage: The word was used as long ago as the late fifties in nuclear device, a euphemism for atom bomb, but this term was rarely shortened to device alone. In the age of international terrorism, the euphemism was taken up in police jargon, at first often in the longer form explosive device or incendiary device, and widely used in press releases describing