woodedarea

A region of "grey space" in a city or suburb, such as a green belt or vacant lot, that often contains trees and some wildlife.

watery meat

Bodily effluvia eaten for protein. See also, fluid meat.

transparent billboard

This is both the name of a condition and a position that is created by the presence of the condition. As populations become accustomed to tuning out broadcast advertising, signs, and billboards it created a background state called the transparent billboard. "I was able to follow him because I stood in the transparent billboard."

the loud chair and the morbid seat

{No one knows what this means. They won’t tell me.}

slohmud

The trend of disorganization, carpet lethargy, and entropy to increase and inefficiencies to increase in tribes, organizations, and gatherings of people.

sadness muscle

The ability of a person to withstand depression or depressing situations.

rice despondency

A depression brought about by a lack of protein. Rice despondence is often seen among vegans, and has also been implicated in the collapse of several societies such as the Myan, Rapa Nui, and Viking colony in Newfoundland. Extreme rice despondence is often marked by cannibalism.

parallax swamp

A property that degrades information, memories, or records by shifting and losing small portions of the whole data-set. Unlike bit rot, for instance, parallax swamp can appear in a collection of books during a move where a box, for instance, is lost, books are lent to friends who do not return them, books are left in cubicles, and gradually the coherence of the collection is lost.

overpass static

An unforeseen interruption in a conversation or event, and the ability of the conversation or event to continue with persistent disruption.

mobile drain

A problem that can apply to many situations or geographies.

lust cul-de-sac

A relationship filled with sexual tension but without the actual intention of either partner to act.

highway latency

The time lost due to traffic and unpredictable variables.

euphoria bus

Getting taken for a ride without having to move a muscle.

drizzle urgency

The situation must be dealt with, but because it will only cause mild discomfort before it becomes serious it can be tolerated for many years. For instance, "He broke is tooth in 2001. Alarmed he was going to fix it but was frightened by the cost. He found he could live with the mild pain and settled into drizzle urgency."

desperation coffee

Coffee made from a substance that is not actually coffee, or a substance that contains some associative connection to coffee, such as drinking cola because "it has caffeine." In the American Civil War, for instance, coffee was made from chick pea and various chemicals because of a shortage of actual coffee beans.

definitive egg

An aphoristic statement that cannot be refuted, generally a tautology, such as "It is what it is," or “Alls well that ends well.”

depression backpack

1. A hiking rucksack, typically with a frame, that contains all of a person's possessions.
2. A state of carrying your troubles with you and consider them at all times.

creek frequency

The identifiable sound of a body of water.

cottonwoodquiet

A stillness where it is nearly silent, except the sound of pipes and leaves in the trees can be heard.

carpet lethargy

The tendency of rooms to become cluttered and for the clutter to gain a sense of permanence for the room’s occupants.

bonsialmed

A lasting sadness brought on by small, perfect things.

authority pit

A negative feedback loop where an authority figure, such as the police, enforce their authority, and enforcing their authority causes disorder, which in turn causes an increase in authority-enforcement, etc. Prohibition in the United States is a classic example where the illegality of beer, wine, and spirits increased the incentive (and therefore) availability of beer, wine, and spirits, thereby increasing the number of criminals. Typical figures of subjugation in an authority pit become scofflaws.

anxiety truck

Sense that there is a large, uncontrolled motor idling in your intestines.

jittshow

Hangover that cannot be corrected with a cold shower, drinking water, and taking aspirin. The term can also be used for any state where the individual feels nausea and exhaustion but cannot sleep because they are too nauseous and exhausted.

How to Create a Made Up Word (From Wikihow)

This link contains directions to create a word using phonemes, for instance, they use the word "quiz" in the intro.

How to Create a Made Up Word at WikiHow

How to Make up a Word (Recipe 1)

1. Create a list 30 concrete nouns, that is words such as tree, pick-up, carton.
2. And then create a list of 20 abstract nouns such as liberty, sadness, etc.
3. Create a list of 10 adverbs (ly) words.
4. Combine an abstract noun or adverb with a concrete noun as randomly as possible. You can drop the “ly” on the adverbs. You should end up with a list of 30 random concepts, such as a liberty tree, a sadness pick-up, a quick carton, etc. You will most likely find that you will need to fuss a bit with each of these word combinations to make them work. For instance you may need to flip the word order.
5. Pick seven (or more) of these terms and write their definitions.
6. The definition can be along the lines of an explanation for a friend rather than something you’d find in the dictionary. Feel free to use examples or tease out nuances in the concepts. These concepts are only constrained by your ability to explain them, and you should not be concerned with their real-world sense or probability. Do not worry about if they belong to a narrative.
7. In revising this list think about what a world where you list might make sense. What values are suggested in this world? What kind of people (real or imaginary) might have cause to invent or use words like this? Revise your piece to suggest these things if they seem relevant.

About The Cryptolex

The Cryptolex posts new definitions for new and old words, daily. It is inspired by the fantasy or off dictionaries of Ben Marcus (The Age of Wire & String), Ruth Krauss (A Hole is To Dig), Lewis Carroll, and Jorge Luis Borges. Where Borges might write a story proposing a new dictionary of things that exist but have not been defined, Marcus and Krauss began to work on them. Kraus defines, a party: "A party is to say how-do-you-do and shake hands." A dictionary matches definitions with short sounds and organizes them alphabetically, usually.

If you are interested:

• Add or vote for dictionaries or books that feature made up words / definitions at Goodreads: The Cryptolex List.
• Send a definition list to me at matt(dot)briggs(at)gmail.com.