intimation, tiff, ejaculation

Pepys, as Tomalin points out, was hardly the first person to write a diary, but most earlier diaries were written for a specific purpose -- usually religious (as an aid to spiritual bookkeeping) or to record travel and sightseeing.

It's not really clear what prompted Pepys to begin his diary, unless it was just a vague intimation that he was living on the eve of great events, but the diary quickly became its own purpose and justification.

Definition

prompt, plunge, flagging

intimate (SUGGEST) Show phonetics
verb [T] FORMAL
to make clear what you think or want without stating it directly:
[+ (that)] She has intimated that she will resign if she loses the vote.

intimation Show phonetics
noun [C] FORMAL
His suicide attempt was the first intimation that he was seriously depressed.



Pepys kept track of everything: his assignations, his finances, his business deals, his conversations with the king (and erotic dreams about the queen), his hangovers, his bowel movements and ejaculations, his fears and hopes and imaginings, his frequent tiffs with his wife.

Definition

eroticism

tiff Show phonetics
noun [C] INFORMAL
a slight argument:
Have you two had a lovers' tiff?

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ejaculate (SPERM) Show phonetics
verb [I or T]
of a man or male animal, to produce a sudden flow of sperm from the penis or similar reproductive part

ejaculation Show phonetics
noun [C or U]