“That’s enough to begin with,”
Humpty Dumpty interrupted: “there are plenty of hard
words there. “Brillig’ means four o’clock in the afternoon – the time when you begin
broiling things for
dinner.”
“That’ll do very well,” said
Alice: “and ‘
slithy’?”
“Well, ‘slithy’ means ‘
lithe and
slimy.’ ‘Lithe’ is the same as ‘
active.’ You see it’s like
portmanteau – there are two
meanings packed up into one word.”
“I see it now,” Alice remarked thoughtfully: “and what are ‘
toves’?”
“Well, ‘toves’ are something like
badgers – they’re something like
lizards – and they’re something like
corkscrews.”
“They must be very
curious creatures.”
“They are that,” said Humpty Dumpty: “also they make their
nests under
sundials – also they live on
cheese.”
Lewis Carroll,
Through the Looking Glass