a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.
a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.
the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.
an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance.
1650s, formed in Eng. from obsolete abysm "bottomless gulf, greatest depths" (c.1300), from O.Fr. abisme (Mod.Fr. abîme), from V.L. *abyssimus (source of Sp., Port. abismo), superl. of L. abyssus or on analogy of Gk.-derived words in -ismus; see abyss. Weakened sense