English edit

Etymology edit

Coined by British malacologist John W. Taylor ca. 1900, from γύψος (gúpsos, lime) +‎ βέλος (bélos, dart).

Noun edit

gypsobelum

  1. A love dart
    • 2015 October 9, Emily Eakin, “Bonnie Jo Campbell’s ‘Mothers, Tell Your Daughters’”, in New York Times[1]:
      On the one hand, there’s the slug, who comes equipped with a gypsobelum, or “love dart,” that it fires, like a “hormone-slick porcupine quill to subdue the object of its desire.”