Entry: ectoplasm (n.)
In context: "...Enfield's Finest had come and peered around and drawn a chalk ectoplasm around Clipperton's sprawled form..."
Definition: The OED isn't so helpful here:
1. (See quot.)
1883 J. E. Ady in Knowl. 15 June 355/2 Its [Amœba's] jelly-like body becomes faintly parcelled out into an outer firm (ectoplasm) and an inner soft (endoplasm) layer.
The etymology does help, though:
Etymology: Greek πλάσμα something moulded or formed.
And a more common usage of the term, I think, is:
2. A viscous substance which is supposed to emanate from the body of a spiritualistic medium, and to develop into a human form or face.
Other:
SNOOT score: 1
Page: 433
Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Definitive Jest is a vocabulary-building and SNOOT-approved word-of-the-day blog centered around David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest.
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