Lap Year

several people racing bicycles uphill in a forest

Lap Year

n.
the age at which you become older than your parents were when you were born, which signals that your stage of the race has already begun, having spent years coasting in their slipstream as they tackled the mountain stages of life, leaving you strong, energetic, and deeply mortified by their loud yellow jerseys.

From lap, one full circuit around a course + gap year, a regenerative break between adjacent stages of life. In the Tour de France, the cyclist with the lowest time receives a ceremonial yellow jersey and the right to start the next stage.

Enterhood

adults with stern expressions holding a child

Pithered

stacks of papers and folders piled high on a table

Echthesia

blurry image of two clocks

Lisolia

a bookcase containing objects

Tirosy

a close-up of a young child's face

Alpha Exposure

a close-up of a baby with diffusion filter

Ecury

a close-up of cave drawings and symbols

Yeorie

a woman with tendrils of smoke moving across her face

Énouement

a hand opening a curtain

Epistrix

several doors standing in a dark room

Appriesse

a blurry image of a person looking at mounted images

Daguerreologue

Daguer-reologue

a man sitting in blurred silhouette at a desk

Emorries

a magnifying glass over photos and books

Archimony

a person looking at broken furniture

Blinkback

a wall full of pictures and objects

Walloway

water faucet that seems to emanate from the ground

Zysia

a kite soaring above an empty landscape

Anticious

a group of men in hats looking at elevated signage

Galagog

a person alone in a snowy desolate landscape

Dorgone

Cover image for the Dorgone word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

The Unsharp Mask

a mirror with a reflection of a person

Ludiosis

Cover image for the Ludiosis word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Chrysalism

Cover image for the Chrysalism word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

1202

Cover image for the 1202 word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Ironsick

a group of random devices

Plata Rasa

Cover image for the Plata Rasa word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Starlorn

snow flakes in the dark