mountweazel

[ mount-wee-zuhl ]

noun

1. a decoy entry in a reference work, such as a dictionary or encyclopedia, secretly planted among the genuine entries to catch other publishers in the act of copying content.

Word History and Origins

Origin of mountweazel¹

First recorded in 1975–80; from a fictitious entry in the fourth edition of the New Columbia Encyclopedia, Lillian Virginia Mountweazel, who supposedly died on assignment while covering an explosion for the fictitious Combustibles magazine

Example Sentences

She thought it was Karen Tweedy-Holmes — who, she informed me, was also the creator of Lillian Virginia Mountweazel.

From Washington Post

Turning from fountain design to photography in 1963, Mountweazel produced her celebrated portraits of the South Sierra Miwok in 1964.

From Washington Post

As it turned out, Ms. Mountweazel was also introduced to the world in the NCE.

From Washington Post

“As the one on Ms. Mountweazel shows, the writers and editors on the fourth edition were a literate and somewhat fun bunch,” he said, “but perhaps a little too bored with the faux Civil War generals that I was told once provided protection against cribbing.”

From Washington Post

However, no one had ever informed him that the glitch was a mountweazel.

From Washington Post