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.

Keir

a snowy landscape with trees and a fence

Xeno

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

Galagog

a person alone in a snowy desolate landscape

Apolytus

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

Vaucasy

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

Lyssamania

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