Skip to main content

Lorelili's definitions

sappho

An ancient Greek poet.

Little is known of her life and what litle information we do have comes from her poetry, which consists of one complete poem, several long fragmants, and countless smaller pieces.

Reportedly bisexual and had relationships with men and women throughout her life. But women were clearly her main objects of affection; From her, we get the word "sapphic", and the word "lesbian" derives from the Isle of Lesbos, where she spent most of her life.
"For that girl, that lovely maiden; the clinging
of her dress makes you shake when you see it,
And I laugh for joy." -Sappho.

"On the throne of many hues, Immortal Aphrodite,
child of Zeus, weaving wiles--I beg you
not to subdue my spirit, Queen,
with pain or sorrow

but come--if ever before
having heard my voice from far away
you listened, and leaving your father's
golden home you came

in your chariot yoked with swift, lovely
sparrows bringing you over the dark earth
thick-feathered wings swirling down
from the sky through mid-air

arriving quickly--you, Blessed One,
with a smile on your unaging face
asking again what have I suffered
and why am I calling again

and in my wild heart what did I most wish
to happen to me: "Again whom must I persuade
back into the harness of your love?
Sappho, who wrongs you?

For if she flees, soon she'll pursue,
she doesn't accept gifts, but she'll give,
if not now loving, soon she'll love
even against her will."

Come to me now again, release me from
this pain, everything my spirit longs
to have fulfilled, fulfill, and you
be my ally -Sappho.
by Lorelili March 21, 2005
mugGet the sappho mug.

virgin

Someone who doesn't give a fuck.

Thought to be an endangered species, with fewer and fewer of them in high school and even middle school with each passing set of students.
"Thomas Jefferson, a Virgin, and Benjamin Franklin were two singers of the Declaration of Independence."

"I remember a girl named Virginia. We called her 'Virgin', for short, but not for long."

"Virgin + Mother = Virgin Mother = Oxymoron."
by Lorelili January 16, 2006
mugGet the virgin mug.

depraved

Bad, immoral, corrupt, perverse, vile, degenerate, degraded, evil, dissolute, shameful, disgraceful, vicious, deviant, errant. A reprobate.
Michele Bachmann and Marcus Bachmann are stridently outrageous in their condemnation of homosexuality, but they run a close second behind the even more depraved Fred Phelps.
by Lorelili August 22, 2011
mugGet the depraved mug.

bard

From the Gaelic "bàrd". A poet, musician, and entertainer. Also called a "minstrel" in some circles. Known through Latin as a "troubadour".
Strumming his lute, the bard sang of a tragic hero's love for a fair maiden, inciting fawning from the ladies of the court.
by Lorelili April 1, 2005
mugGet the bard mug.

strumpet

Another word for a prostitute. Not to be confused with a musical instrument or snack that is served with tea.
It's tea and crumpets, not tea and strumpets.

-You play the trumpet, not the strumpet!
-But the strumpet is well-skilled on the skin flute.
by Lorelili December 30, 2006
mugGet the strumpet mug.

Soprano

The highest womyn's singing voice, usually limited to wymyn and children.

Plays the heroine in opera and musicals...
Ranging from sweet, innocent ingenues to long-suffering, victimized womyn and a few villains or semi-villains.
Sopranos... from sassy but likeable soubrettes to high, fluteish, coloraturas to sweet, virginal lyric sopranos to strong, tragic spinto and dramatic sopranos... to steely, powerful, DRAMATIC Wagner roles.
by Lorelili August 26, 2005
mugGet the Soprano mug.

jack the ripper

The nickname given to an unknown serial killer who killed five women in the Whitechapel section of the East End of London from August 31 to November 9, 1888. The killer was given this nickname because a knife was used to cut the victims throats and mutilate their abdomens. To this day, nobody knows the identity of the killer, since nobody saw or heard anything suspicious.

By today's standards, the Ripper murders would barely make headlines; a faceless lust killer murdering five streetwalkers in a huge slum that's already swarming with criminals and lowlifes. 55% of children were dead before age five; outhouses, clogged sewers, slaughterhouses, and horse-drawn buggies ensured that the filth and stench; overcrowding in crumbling buildings and low job prospects ensured that whole families were homeless; drinking and fights were rampant, and many people were missing teeth or had black eyes. Many women were forced to sell themselves as a sure way of supporting themselves and feeding their children, even if it meant going off to secluded nooks with six or seven strange (and potentially dangerous) men each day.

Contrary to the popular (romanticized) image of a black-caped figure in a top-hat, the victims were last seen with very nondescript, working-class men; the Ripper would most certainly have been caught had he worn the cape and top-hat.

There have been many theories as to who did this and there have been numerous urban legends (even the Royal Family was not spared the rumors), although most of these stories are certainly false.
While Jack the Ripper has gone down in history as the star of history's great whodunnit, few people remember the victims:

-Mary Ann "Polly" Nichols, found at 3:45 AM, August 31, 1888, age 43. Mother of five, three of whom were grown at the time. Separated from her husband, whom she left because of his affair during her fifth pregancy, Polly became caught in the downward spiral of drinking and prostitution. Polly was a homeless alcoholic during her last days and was last seen trying to secure money to pay for a bed at her lodging house.

-Annie Chapman, found at 6 AM, September 8, 1888, age 47. Mother of three, one of whom was born crippled, another dead at the age of twelve in 1882. Annie and her husband, while originally lower middle-class, took to drinking from the stresses around their children and separated after falling into poverty. His death in 1886 was a death-blow to her will to live. By her death, Annie was malnourished, homeless, and suffering from tuberculosis and syphillis.

-Elizabeth "Long Liz" Stride, found at 1 AM, September 30, 1888, age 45. She had separated from a husband in 1881 and had a troubled common-law marriage with a dock worker at her death.

-Catherine "Kate" Eddowes, found at 1:45 AM, September 30, 1888, age 46. Mother of three grown children. Separated from her first common-law husband, she was living quite happily with her second, going from doss house to doss house. An intelligent, bubbly woman, her last night was spent sleeping off the drink in a local jail until the police released her at 1 AM.

-Mary Jane Kelly, aka "Ginger" or "Fair Emma", found at 10:45 AM, Novemeber 9, 1888, age 25. The youngest victim and the only victim to be killed indoors, she had a ground-floor flat and allowed her homeless friends to spend the night there, although she and her boyfriend had recently broken up for just that reason. Originally worked in a high-class brothel in the West End of London, but somehow fell to the slums of the East End.
by Lorelili May 5, 2009
mugGet the jack the ripper mug.

Share this definition

Sign in to vote

We'll email you a link to sign in instantly.

Or

Check your email

We sent a link to

Open your email