# Word or Words of the Day and Discussion



## PrincessFiona60

repechage:
(sports) A heat (as in rowing or fencing) in which the best competitors
who have lost in a previous round compete for a place or places yet left
in the next round.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/repechage>


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## CWS4322

é·pée also *e·pee* (
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





-p
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	







, 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




p
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	







) 

*1. *A fencing sword with a bowl-shaped guard and a long, narrow, fluted blade that has no cutting edge and tapers to a blunted point.

*2. *The art or sport of fencing with this sword.

[French, from Old French espee, from Latin spatha, _broad double-edged sword_; see *spathe*.]


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## PrincessFiona60

erratic:
(geology) A rock moved from one location to another, usually by a
glacier.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/erratic>

I love erratics...they are a most fascinating subject.  Maybe I should have studied geology.


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## CWS4322

anion . (physics). The positive electrode of an electrolyctic cell, discharge tube, valve, or rectifier.


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## PrincessFiona60

CWS4322 said:


> anion . (physics). The positive electrode of an electrolyctic cell, discharge tube, valve, or rectifier.




Anion vs Cation - Difference and Comparison | Diffen


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## Cooking Goddess

PrincessFiona60 said:


> erratic:
> (geology) A rock moved from one location to another, usually by a
> glacier.
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/erratic>....



I'm more familiar with this meaning:

a : characterized by *lack of consistency*, regularity, or uniformity <erratic dieting> *<keeps erratic hours>*


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## PrincessFiona60

teenybopper:
A person, especially a female, in her early teens who follows popular
clothing fashions, music trends, and the like.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/teenybopper>


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## PrincessFiona60

avail:
1. (transitive, often reflexive) To turn to the advantage of.
2. (transitive) To be of service to.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/avail>


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## PrincessFiona60

nowise:
(In) no way, (in) no manner, definitely not.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nowise>


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## CWS4322

gabelle 

A tax on salt levied in pre-Revolutionary France.

Etymology:

Middle English gabel, from Old French, from Old Italian gabella, from Arabic qabāla, _tribute_, from qabila, _to receive_.

To learn more about this unpopular tax:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabelle

http://www.salt.org.il/legabelle.html

For those who read French:

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabelle_du_sel


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## PrincessFiona60

CWS4322 said:


> gabelle
> 
> http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabelle_du_sel



That was a fun read, thanks CWS!


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## Cooking Goddess

CWS4322 said:


> gabelle
> 
> A tax on salt levied in pre-Revolutionary France.
> 
> Etymology:
> 
> Middle English gabel, from Old French, from Old Italian gabella, from Arabic qabāla, _tribute_, from qabila, _to receive_.
> 
> To learn more about this *unpopular tax*:
> 
> Gabelle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia...



CW, I don't know about you, but I've never met a "popular tax".  BTW, it was an interesting read.  Thanks.


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## PrincessFiona60

remuneration:
1. Something given in exchange for goods or services rendered.
2. A payment for work done; wages, salary, emolument.
3. A recompense for a loss; compensation.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/remuneration>


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## PrincessFiona60

social contract:
(philosophy, politics) An implicit agreement or contract among members
of a society that dictates things such as submission of individuals to
rule of law and acceptable conduct.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/social_contract>


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## PrincessFiona60

clemency:
1. The gentle or kind exercise of power; leniency, mercy; compassion in
judging or punishing.
2. (now rare) Mildness of weather.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/clemency>


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## PrincessFiona60

transhumance:
The moving of cattle or other grazing animals to new pastures, often
quite distant, according to the change in season.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/transhumance>


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## CWS4322

*re·pu·di·ate*

  [ri-pyoo-dee-eyt]  Show IPA  
verb (used with object), re·pu·di·at·ed, re·pu·di·at·ing.  1. to reject as having no authority or binding force: to repudiate a claim.  
2. to cast off or disown: to repudiate a son.  
3. to reject with disapproval or condemnation: to repudiate a new doctrine. 
4. to reject with denial: to repudiate a charge as untrue.  
5. to refuse to acknowledge and pay (a debt), as a state, municipality, etc.


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## Cooking Goddess

*plethora*

pleth·o·ra  [pleth-er-uh]

noun

1. overabundance; excess: a plethora of advice and a paucity of assistance.
2. Pathology Archaic. a morbid condition due to excess of red corpuscles in the blood or increase in the quantity of blood.

Origin:   1535–45;  < Neo-Latin  < Greek plēthṓra  fullness


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## PrincessFiona60

accismus:
(rhetoric) Feigning disinterest in something while actually desiring it.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/accismus>


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## Aunt Bea

I learned a new word today from   CWS4322 in the pork chop thread!

abattoir
ab·at·toir  
A slaughterhouse. 

A few more words like that and I might pay $12.00 for a pork chop!
What a great word, abattoir, abattoir, abattoir!!!


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## GotGarlic

PrincessFiona60 said:


> accismus:
> (rhetoric) Feigning disinterest in something while actually desiring it.
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/accismus>



I didn't know there was a word for that! Cool


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## CWS4322

ke·loid   (also cheloid) 
/ˈkē loid'/



 A red, raised formation of fibrous scar tissue caused by excessive tissue repair in response to trauma or surgical incision.
[French kéloïde : Greek kh
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





l
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




, _claw_ + French -oïde, _resembling_ (from Greek -oeid
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




s; see * -oid*).]
*ke·loid
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




al* (-loid
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




l)_ adj._


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## CWS4322

Aunt Bea said:


> I learned a new word today from   CWS4322 in the pork chop thread!
> 
> abattoir
> ab·at·toir
> A slaughterhouse.
> 
> A few more words like that and I might pay $12.00 for a pork chop!
> What a great word, abattoir, abattoir, abattoir!!!


Sounds so much nicer than a slaughterhouse...


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## GotGarlic

Salumi - the Italian word for a variety of cured meats, like the French word charcuterie.


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## GotGarlic

CWS4322 said:


> Sounds so much nicer than a slaughterhouse...



Kinda like boudoir...


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## CWS4322

GotGarlic said:


> Kinda like boudoir...


The animals might prefer a boudoir over an abattoir...


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## PrincessFiona60

sheeple:
(derogatory slang) People who unquestioningly accept as true whatever
their political leaders say or who adopt popular opinion as their own
without scrutiny.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sheeple>


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## PrincessFiona60

malleate:
To beat into shape with a hammer.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/malleate>


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## CWS4322

aeolist 

1. (obs) (rare) A pompous person who pretends to have inspiration or spiritual insight.

(Jonathan Swift is credited with first using this term in English literature in 1704 in _Tale of a Tub: _"The learned Aeolists maintain the original cause of all things to be wind.").

The irony is that an _aeolist_ pretends to have inspiration. If one researches the etymology of inspiration > Old French inspiracion "inhaling, breathing in; inspiration,"> Late Latin inspirationem noun of action from past participle stem of Latin inspirare "inspire, inflame, blow into." Therefore, an _aeolist_ really is full of wind.

I did a search on the 'Net for Aeolist, and there are actually companies that have chosen that for their names...Not sure that is such a great brand name...And, s/one used it on FB as his/her screen name (now, that might tell you that person tends to go on and on and might not be s/one to "friend"). I love researching obsolete words or words that have undergone a shift in definition from the time they entered the English language (handsome and handy).


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## PrincessFiona60

provident:
With care and consideration for the future; foresightly.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/provident>


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## CWS4322

*ob·fus·cate  *

/ˈäbfəˌskāt/
Verb


Render obscure, unclear, or unintelligible.
Bewilder (someone).


Synonyms
darken - obscure - confuse - cloud - dim - becloud


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## Addie

I love this thread. Having taken Latin in HS, I can see the origin of some of the words. Who needs Readers Digest?


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## PrincessFiona60

draculin:
(organic chemistry) A glycoprotein with anticoagulant properties, found
in the saliva of vampire bats.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/draculin>


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## Addie

PrincessFiona60 said:


> draculin:
> (organic chemistry) A glycoprotein with anticoagulant properties, found
> in the saliva of vampire bats.
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/draculin>



Now that's a word I needed to know.


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## taxlady

PrincessFiona60 said:


> draculin:
> (organic chemistry) A glycoprotein with anticoagulant properties, found
> in the saliva of vampire bats.
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/draculin>


Someone had fun naming that.


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## PrincessFiona60

Addie said:


> Now that's a word I needed to know.



I thought it was interesting!  There is actually an enzyme with the name Dracula...cool for Vampire hunters


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## Dawgluver

PrincessFiona60 said:


> I thought it was interesting!  There is actually an enzyme with the name Dracula...cool for Vampire hunters



I love it!


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## Addie

PrincessFiona60 said:


> I thought it was interesting!  There is actually an enzyme with the name Dracula...cool for Vampire hunters



When you first look at the word, you just know it has to do with Dracula. *Dacrulin* 

I love this thread. Learning a lot. Now if I can just find a time to use some of these words. Although *Plethora* is a favorite of mine to use. I just have to get to a cocktail party so I can throw some of them around.


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## PrincessFiona60

paradigm shift:
A radical change in thinking from an accepted point of view to a new
one, necessitated when new scientific discoveries produce anomalies in
the current paradigm.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/paradigm_shift>

If you have a paradigm, you have 20 cents...


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## Zhizara

inveterate - definition of inveterate by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.

I am an inveterate list maker.


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## CWS4322

salary 

/ˈsalərē/


A fixed regular payment, typically paid on a monthly or biweekly basis  but often expressed as an annual sum, made by an employer to an employee.

Etymology: From the French *salarie* from the Latin *salarium* (salary, stipend, originally soldier’s allowance for the purchase of salt) from *sal* (salt), which comes from the Greek *als* (salt; Gr: _άλς_).

Words from the same root: salt, salad, salami

Bet you didn't know salary was coined because wages were paid to allow soldiers to purchase salt...


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## PrincessFiona60

CWS4322 said:


> salary
> 
> /ˈsalərē/
> 
> 
> A fixed regular payment, typically paid on a monthly or biweekly basis  but often expressed as an annual sum, made by an employer to an employee.
> 
> Etymology: From the French *salarie* from the Latin *salarium* (salary, stipend, originally soldier’s allowance for the purchase of salt) from *sal* (salt), which comes from the Greek *als* (salt; Gr: _άλς_).
> 
> Words from the same root: salt, salad, salami
> 
> *Bet you didn't know salary was coined because wages were paid to allow soldiers to purchase salt*...



Bet you I did... Salt: A World History: Mark Kurlansky: 9780142001615: Amazon.com: Books one of my favorite books.


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## taxlady

PrincessFiona60 said:


> Bet you I did... Salt: A World History: Mark Kurlansky: 9780142001615: Amazon.com: Books one of my favorite books.


Yeah, I knew it too.


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## PrincessFiona60

anglicism:
A word or other feature originating in the English language that has
been borrowed by another language.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/anglicism>


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## CWS4322

loanword 

A word imported into one language from another language. Also called a _borrowed word_.

loanword - definition and examples of loan words in English

Loanword - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## PrincessFiona60

battle of the sexes:
(game theory) A situation in which two people want to do different
things, but do them together.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/battle_of_the_sexes>


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## GotGarlic

PrincessFiona60 said:


> Bet you I did... Salt: A World History: Mark Kurlansky: 9780142001615: Amazon.com: Books one of my favorite books.



Me, too. 
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B003XVYZ8Q/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1377693478&sr=8-2&pi=SL75


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## PrincessFiona60

skyclad:
(Wicca) Naked outdoors.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/skyclad>


Now that is the reason I would like a piece of property where I can't see my neighbors.


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## Cooking Goddess

But what if they could see YOU?


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## taxlady

Cooking Goddess said:


> But what if they could see YOU?


I was thinking something along those lines.


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## PrincessFiona60

Cooking Goddess said:


> But what if they could see YOU?



It would scare them to death...


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## CWS4322

Since I love the letter q, let's go with words that start with "q". (Can you tell I used to love to play Scrabble?)

quire 

/kwī(ə)r/




One-twentieth of a ream  of paper; a collection of twenty-four or twenty-five sheets of paper of  the same size and quality, unfolded or having a single fold.  
(_bookbinding_) A set of leaves which are stitchedhttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/stitch together, originally a set of four pieces of paper (eight leaves, sixteen pages). This is most often a single signature (i.e., group of four), but may be several nested signatures.
A book, poem, or pamphlet.
(archiac) a choir.
The architectural part of a church in which the choir resides, between the nave and the sanctuary.
Etymology: 1175–1225; Middle English  quayer  < Middle French  quaier  < Vulgar Latin  *quaternum  set of four sheets, derivative of Latin  quarternī four each 


 verb 

(bookbinding) To prepare quires by stitching together leaves of paper. 
 _
third-person singular simple present_ quires*http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/quires#English*, _present participle_ quiring*http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/quiring#English*, _simple past and past participle_ quired)

intransitive: To sing in a choir.

Tomorrow's word: qat.


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## PrincessFiona60

leech:
1. (transitive) To apply a leech medicinally, so that it sucks blood from
the patient.
2. (transitive) To drain (resources) without giving back.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/leech>


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## Cooking Goddess

in·du·bi·ta·ble  [in-doo-bi-tuh-buhl, -dyoo-]
adjective
that cannot be doubted; patently evident or certain; unquestionable.
Origin: 1615–25;  < Latin indubitābilis.  See in-3 , dubitable

And then there is the variation:

indubitably  (ɪnˈdjuːbɪtəblɪ) 
 — adv
without doubt; certainly

Back in the deep folds of my memory is the sound of some cartoon character saying "indubitably".  Snagglepuss?  Yogi Bear?  Anyone here able to help me out?


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## Hoot

Cooking Goddess said:


> Back in the deep folds of my memory is the sound of some cartoon character saying "indubitably".  Snagglepuss?  Yogi Bear?  Anyone here able to help me out?


That would be Mac and Tosh....The Goofy Gophers from Warner Bros.


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## PrincessFiona60

kore:
An Ancient Greek statue of a woman, portrayed standing, usually clothed,
painted in bright colours and having an elaborate hairstyle.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kore>


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## Cooking Goddess

Hoot said:


> That would be Mac and Tosh....The Goofy Gophers from Warner Bros.



Watched a video on Youtube and didn't remember ever seeing them before. Hmm..


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## CWS4322

One of my favorite scrabble words because you don't need a "u" to use the "q".

qat

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/qat#Browserskæt kɑːt]_n_ (Law / Recreational Drugs) (Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Plants) a variant spelling of khat

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged  © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003

kat or khat  (kɑt)  

_n. _ * 1. * the leaves of a SW Asian and African shrub, _Catha edulis,_ of the staff-tree family: chewed as a stimulant or made into a tea. 
* 2. * the shrub itself. 
 [1855–60; < Arabic _qāt_]

Tomorrow's "q" word: quipper

The DH and I play "words that start with q" when we are on road trips.


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## PrincessFiona60

diaperhood:
(informal) The period of time for which one wears a diaper as a child;
babyhood.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/diaperhood>

Some of these wikiwords are silly, but I'm sticking with them...


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## CWS4322

quod 

 /kwɒd/

informal: prison (British slang, outdated)

Late 17th century.


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## Cooking Goddess

PrincessFiona60 said:


> diaperhood:
> (informal) The period of time for which one wears a diaper *as a child*;
> babyhood.
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/diaperhood>
> 
> Some of these wikiwords are silly, but I'm sticking with them...



Would it also apply to those late in life with *ahem* "issues"?  I sure as heck see enough ads for those things on TV.


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## PrincessFiona60

Cooking Goddess said:


> Would it also apply to those late in life with *ahem* "issues"?  I sure as heck see enough ads for those things on TV.



As in...We enter our second diaperhood, some want to know at what age this happens and all I can say is, "It Depends...."


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## CWS4322

quaff (v)

/kwäf, kwaf/

1. To drink something quickly or thirstily.
2.to drink a beverage, especially an intoxicating one, copiously and with hearty enjoyment.

(noun)
3. an act or instance of quaffing.
4. a beverage quaffed.

Etymology: For quach, fr. Gael. & Ir. cuach, a drinking cup; cf. L. caucus, a drinking vessel. Cf. Quaigh
Possibly 16th Century: perhaps of imitative origin; compare Middle Low German _quassen_ to eat or drink excessively.


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## taxlady

PrincessFiona60 said:


> As in...We enter our second diaperhood, some want to know at what age this happens and all I can say is, "It Depends...."


 good thing I did not have a mouthful of coffee when I read that.


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## taxlady

onomatopoeia

from onomatopoeia - Wiktionary

*Noun*

*onomatopoeia* (_countable and uncountable;_ _plural_ *onomatopoeias* _or_ *onomatopoeiae*)


(uncountable) The property of a word of sounding like what it represents.  [quotations ▼]
(countable) A word that sounds like what it represents, such as "gurgle" or "hiss".
(uncountable, rhetoric) The use of language whose sound imitates that which it names.
I think my all time favourite onomatopoetic word is a word I heard on a vacation in Israel. It's the Ivrit (modern Hebrew) word for fly (the insect). It's pronounced "zvuv". I Googled and found the Hebrew spelling:
זְבוּב


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## Cooking Goddess

PrincessFiona60 said:


> As in...We enter our second diaperhood, some want to know at what age this happens and all I can say is, "It Depends...."



Catchy!  Were you in advertising in an earlier life? 

Just so long as it isn't "catching".  After all, you do work with the elderly...


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## PrincessFiona60

Cooking Goddess said:


> Catchy!  Were you in advertising in an earlier life?
> 
> Just so long as it isn't "catching".  After all, you do work with the elderly...



Nurses are given a 10 gallon bladder with their diploma...


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## PrincessFiona60

chirality:
The phenomenon, in chemistry, physics and mathematics, in which an
object differs from its mirror image.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/chirality>


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## Cooking Goddess

doyenne
noun [C usually singular]       /dɔɪˈen/ /dwaɪˈen/

Definition
› the oldest, most experienced, and often most respected woman involved in a particular type of work.

********************************

I don't know about the "respected" part, but I certainly am the doyenne of goofing off.


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## CWS4322

*queen·fish 
*

  queenfish 

[kween-fish]   
  plural queen·fish·es ( especially collectively ) queen·fish. 

A silvery and bluish drum, Seriphus politus, inhabiting shallow waters along the coast of California. 



Etymology:
 1880–85,  Americanism; queen + fish


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## PrincessFiona60

snood:
1. A small hairnet or cap worn by women to keep their hair in place.
2. The flap of red skin on the beak of a male turkey.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/snood>


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## PrincessFiona60

canard:
A false or misleading report or story, especially if deliberately so.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/canard>


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## PrincessFiona60

munificent:
Very liberal in giving or bestowing; lavish; as a munificent benefactor.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/munificent>


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## Claire

Oh, good grief.  Does anyone know how I can print this entire line?  I have a blind friend who is very interested in etymology (as I am) and finding new words is one way we entertain ourselves when I spend time with her.  

Another is words we just like the sound.


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## Addie

Claire said:


> Oh, good grief.  Does anyone know how I can print this entire line?  I have a blind friend who is very interested in etymology (as I am) and finding new words is one way we entertain ourselves when I spend time with her.
> 
> Another is words we just like the sound.



Copy and paste onto a blank word document. Then print out.


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## PrincessFiona60

Claire,

you can subscribe to the wiki word of the day: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:Word_of_the_day

To have the current WOTD delivered fresh to your electronic mailbox daily, subscribe to daily-article-l


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## Claire

My two favorite words just for the sound are actually French (I note that is mentioned earlier).  Parapluie and pomplemousse (probably both misspelled), umbrella and grapefruit.  I just like the way they sound.  My blind friend and I can spend hours discussing what language a word is derived from (OK, bad grammar).


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## Dawgluver

Claire said:


> My two favorite words just for the sound are actually French (I note that is mentioned earlier).  Parapluie and pomplemousse (probably both misspelled), umbrella and grapefruit.  I just like the way they sound.  My blind friend and I can spend hours discussing what language a word is derived from (OK, bad grammar).



I remember them both from French class, love the sound of parapluie!


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## taxlady

Go up to the blue line just below the first "Post Reply" button. Click "Thread Tools", then click, "Show Printable Version". The control P to print it.


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## tinlizzie

PrincessFiona60 said:


> canard:
> A false or misleading report or story, especially if deliberately so.
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/canard>



Does it walk like a duck and talk like a duck?  (Canard is French for duck, is it not?)


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## taxlady

tinlizzie said:


> Does it walk like a duck and talk like a duck?  (Canard is French for duck, is it not?)


Yes it is.


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## CWS4322

quetzal 

/ket säl*′/*


 a crested trogon bird (_Pharomachrus mocinno_) of Central America, usually brilliant green above and red below, with long, streaming tail feathers in the male
 _pl._ quetzales  the basic monetary unit of Guatemala
             Origin:             AmSp < Nahuatl _quetzaltototl_ < _quetzalli,_ tail feather + _tototls_, bird


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## PrincessFiona60

iatrogenesis:
(medicine) Any adverse effect (or complication) resulting from medical
treatment.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/iatrogenesis>


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## PrincessFiona60

unstinted:
Not constrained, not restrained, or not confined.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/unstinted>


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## CWS4322

quipu (n.)


/kē*′*po̵̅o̅, kwip*′*o̵̅o̅/

A device consisting of an arrangement of cords  variously colored and knotted, used by the ancient Peruvians to keep  accounts, record events, etc.

             Origin:             AmSp _quipo_ < Quechua _khípu_ (also sp. _quipu_), knot


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## PrincessFiona60

maybe the origin of tying string on your finger as a memory aid...


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## PrincessFiona60

zealous:
Full of zeal; ardent, fervent; exhibiting enthusiasm or strong passion.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/zealous>


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## PrincessFiona60

variadic:
(Computing, mathematics, linguistics) Taking a variable number of
arguments; especially, taking arbitrarily many arguments.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/variadic>


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## CWS4322

quadrivial (adj)

      

/kwo-driv-ee-uh
	

	
	
		
		

		
			








l/  

1.having four ways or roads meeting in a point. 
2. (of ways or roads) leading in four directions. 
3. of or pertaining to the quadrivium. 


*
Etymology:*

 1375–1425;  late Middle English  < Medieval Latin  quadriviālis, equivalent to Late Latin quadrivi ( um ) quadrivium + -ālis -al


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## PrincessFiona60

in memoriam:
In memory (of); as a memorial.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/in_memoriam>


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## PrincessFiona60

vocable:
1. A word or utterance, especially with reference to its form rather than
its meaning.
2. A syllable or sound without specific meaning, used together with or in
place of actual words in a song.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vocable>


----------



## Cooking Goddess

#2 ~ That would be like scat singing, right PF?  Ella Fitzgerald always did that right..


----------



## PrincessFiona60

Cooking Goddess said:


> #2 ~ That would be like scat singing, right PF?  Ella Fitzgerald always did that right..



Yes, that it would be!  Thanks, I was trying to think of something for my brain to connect the word to.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

gooseberry:
1. A fruit closely related to the currant.
2. Any of several other unrelated fruits, such as the Chinese gooseberry
(kiwifruit) or the Indian gooseberry (amla).
3. (British, informal) An unwanted additional person: Robert and Susan were
so in love that nobody could go near them without feeling like a
gooseberry.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gooseberry>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

torrefy:
To subject to intense heat.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/torrefy>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

rally cap:
(US, baseball) A baseball cap worn inside-out and backwards, or in
another unconventional manner, by players or fans, as a talisman in
order to will a team into a come-from-behind rally late in the game.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rally_cap>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

munificence:
The quality of being munificent; generosity.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/munificence>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

rapine:
The seizure of someone's property by force; plunder.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rapine>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

chirality:
The phenomenon, in chemistry, physics and mathematics, of objects being
unidentical mirror images of each other, like a person's left and right
hands.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/chirality>


----------



## GotGarlic

stereotype

To believe unfairly that all people or things with a particular characteristic are the same.


----------



## GotGarlic

prejudice

An unfair feeling of dislike for a person or group because of race, sex, religion, etc.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

jump down someone's throat:
To criticise with excessive and unexpected harshness.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/jump_down_someone%27s_throat>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

anthelmintic:
A drug for the treatment of intestinal worm infestation.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/anthelmintic>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

analemma:
An egg-shaped or figure-eight curve that results when the Sun's position
in the sky is plotted out over the year.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/analemma>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

heretofore:
Prior to now, until now, up to the present time.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/heretofore>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

lampoon:
To satirize or poke fun at.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lampoon>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

exanimate:
1. Lifeless, not or no longer living.
2. Spiritless, dispirited.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/exanimate>

"e's an ex-parrot!"


----------



## PrincessFiona60

hallux:
The big toe.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hallux>


----------



## CWS4322

With a new batch of chicks hatched, we were trying to figure out how to sex day-olds. I learned a new definition for eminence in the process (and will never be able to hear "His Eminence" ever again without thinking of how to tell a rooster from a hen...).

em•i•nence  (ˈɛm ə nəns)

 n.
    1.  high station, rank, or repute.
    2.  a high elevation; hill or height.
    3.  (cap.) a title of honor, applied to cardinals (usu. prec. by His or Your).
    4.  an anatomical projection, esp. on a bone.
[1375–1425; late Middle English < Anglo-French < Latin]


----------



## Mad Cook

Steve Kroll said:


> Interestingly enough, _miel_ is also the French word for honey.
> 
> I took five years of French in school. Then I went to Paris and realized I must have learned some other language, because what they spoke in Paris bore no relation to the French I was taught.


Out in the "sticks" most French people are very kind to you when you try your best to speak French but in Paris I've found some (but not all) people can be a bit sniffy about their language. Not just with the English either. 

On the other hand, I was sitting in a café one day when a cat wandered in and made a bee-line for me. I was making a fuss of it when the waiter came to take my order. We had a short conversation in French about the cat and he went off to get my order. When he came back he asked if I was Belgian and when I said I was English he looked astounded and said "But you can't be. The English don't speak French". I was quite flattered as my French is fairly basic despite 7 years and "A" level French at school.


----------



## Addie

Mad Cook said:


> Out in the "sticks" most French people are very kind to you when you try your best to speak French but in Paris I've found some (but not all) people can be a bit sniffy about their language. Not just with the English either.
> 
> On the other hand, I was sitting in a café one day when a cat wandered in and made a bee-line for me. I was making a fuss of it when the waiter came to take my order. We had a short conversation in French about the cat and he went off to get my order. When he came back he asked if I was Belgian and when I said I was English he looked astounded and said "But you can't be. The English don't speak French". I was quite flattered as my French is fairly basic despite 7 years and "A" level French at school.



My sister took French in school also. But she was lucky in that she had a teacher from France. So she spoke Parisian French and her husband spoke Canuck French. Neither one could understand the other. And the arguments always started as to who spoke the right French.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

CWS4322 said:


> With a new batch of chicks hatched, we were trying to figure out how to sex day-olds. I learned a new definition for eminence in the process *(and will never be able to hear "His Eminence" ever again without thinking of how to tell a rooster from a hen...).*
> 
> em•i•nence  (ˈɛm ə nəns)
> 
> n.
> 1.  high station, rank, or repute.
> 2.  a high elevation; hill or height.
> 3.  (cap.) a title of honor, applied to cardinals (usu. prec. by His or Your).
> 4.  an anatomical projection, esp. on a bone.
> [1375–1425; late Middle English < Anglo-French < Latin]


----------



## taxlady

Addie said:


> My sister took French in school also. But she was lucky in that she had a teacher from France. So she spoke Parisian French and her husband spoke Canuck French. Neither one could understand the other. And the arguments always started as to who spoke the right French.


The first time I went to Paris, I had 5 years of French, first with a teacher from Paris and then with a teacher who had lived in Paris. But, my French was so un-fluent, that the French were kind to me. They seemed to appreciate that I made the effort. The second time I went to Paris, my French was much better and the Parisians were mostly awful to me about my French. 

And now I speak Québecois (Canuck French) with a bit of Danish and Parisian accent thrown in. 

When I spent a few hours at the airport outside Paris in 2011, I got no attitude about my French, a few funny looks, but no attitude. Just as well. I would have said something snarky if I had gotten attitude.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

I know enough French to get in trouble and still not be able to find the bathroom.


----------



## CWS4322

I studied French in university (4 years--Parisian) then went to Quebec City for French immersion and realized that at best I could comment on mundane things. After 8 months in Quebec City, I could speak it fairly well (albeit with a Germanic accent--but that is also true when I speak Swedish) but then went to NB where the French is Acadian. I can still read it and speak it, but am hopeless at writing in French.


----------



## CWS4322

PrincessFiona60 said:


>


I had to share


----------



## PrincessFiona60

Now I won't be able to think of His Eminence without a grin.


----------



## taxlady

PrincessFiona60 said:


> Now I won't be able to think of His Eminence without a grin.


That's why she told you.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

She's a brat!!!  And so are you...it's why I love both of you!


----------



## PrincessFiona60

meadery:
A place where mead is made.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/meadery>


----------



## taxlady

PrincessFiona60 said:


> meadery:
> A place where mead is made.
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/meadery>


Now there's a word I needed. I want a house with space for a meadery.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

taxlady said:


> Now there's a word I needed. I want a house with space for a meadery.




I was quite enchanted with that idea, too!  There is a meadery up the valley, excellent wares.  I have two bottles of their product on hand.


----------



## GotGarlic

PrincessFiona60 said:


> I was quite enchanted with that idea, too!  There is a meadery up the valley, excellent wares.  I have two bottles of their product on hand.



I had honey mead at a medieval dinner in Ireland and they had honey liqueur in the room of Dromoland Castle where we spent the night once. Very yummy


----------



## PrincessFiona60

I guess I just have one bottle of Dark Mead left...it's been there for a year.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

abnegate:
1. To deny oneself (something), to renounce or give up (a right, power,
claim, privilege or convenience).
2. To deny, to reject (something, for example a truth or a commonly-held
belief).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/abnegate>


----------



## CWS4322

nunnery 

/ˈnən(ə)rē/


1. A building in which nuns live as a community; a convent.
2. A brothel.  

Origin: 1225–75; Middle English nonnerie. 

Etymology: Since the Elizabethan era, nun has been slang for a prostitute (ref.  William Faulkner "Requiem for a Nun"), and a nunnery referred to a brothel.

Was Shakespeare being ironic in Hamlet Act 3 when Hamlet tells Ophelia to put herself away so that she may never breed sinners like Hamlet?

"Get thee to a nunn'ry, why woulds't thou be a breeder of 
sinners?"


----------



## PrincessFiona60

Kinda changes that whole monologue from Hamlet...very interesting.  Thanks!


----------



## CWS4322

PrincessFiona60 said:


> Kinda changes that whole monologue from Hamlet...very interesting.  Thanks!


Shakespearean scholars have debated this for years. There are those who sit on the fence, and those who claim that there is no subsequent evidence in Hamlet that that was Shakespeare's intention and others who raise the point that he was known for his double entendres and it might well have been a double ententre. I am inclined to think that perhaps he was using it tongue-in-cheek. This is one of the reasons I hated studying literature--the attempt to decipher what was going on in the author's head when he/she wrote something...most writers write without giving a lot o thought as to how what they have written might be interpreted by literature scholars in the future.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

I dislike dissecting and speculating about what the author meant.  I know what I read and understand, what it means to me.  I either enjoy the story or I don't, that is my take away, if it gives me insight, then that is dessert from the author.

Frank Herbert's, _White Plague, _excellent story, great description of a dystopian future...my favorite thing about the book?  It taught me about recombinant DNA.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

cutify:
1. (from the Latin word for skin, "cutis") To form skin, as, the wound area
was left to cutify.
2. (from "cute" + "-ify", perhaps modeled on "beautify") To make cute, as,
she cutified her room.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cutify>


----------



## Cooking Goddess

PrincessFiona60 said:


> I dislike dissecting and speculating about what the author meant.  I know what I read and understand, what it means to me.  I either enjoy the story or I don't, that is my take away, if it gives me insight, then that is dessert from the author....


Himself used to listen to books on tape/disc when he would drive to and from work.  I never liked a book on tape for a reason similar to why you don't like dissecting author's meaning.  The person reading the story, even if it is the author themselves, never sounds like I hear the voices in my head.  Yup, I hear voices in my head!   But ONLY when I'm reading books.  For now...


----------



## PrincessFiona60

splurge:
1. To gush, to flow or move in a rush.
2. To spend (usually money) lavishly or extravagantly.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/splurge>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

unitive:
Causing or characterized by unity or union.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/unitive>


----------



## CWS4322

tare (noun)

\ˈter\

1_._ the seed of a vetch  *2.* any of several vetches (especially _Vicia sativa_ and _V. hirsuta_)


*3.* a weed of grain fields especially of Biblical times that is usually held to be the darnel 

_4. plural_ *:*  an undesirable element 


Etymology: Middle English; probably akin to Middle Dutch _tarwe_ wheatFirst Known Use: 14th century



2 tare (noun)




1. a deduction from the gross weight of a substance and its container made in allowance for the weight of the container; _also_ *:*  the weight of the container 

2. counterweight.



Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Old Italian _tara,_ from Arabic _ṭarḥa,_ literally, that which is removed. First Known Use: 15th century


----------



## PrincessFiona60

catloaf:
The loaflike form of a domestic cat sitting with paws tucked underneath
the body.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/catloaf>


----------



## Cooking Goddess

Seriously?  There IS a term for that?   Never heard of that one but, oddly enough, when LittleBit sits like that we call it her "Kittyloaf" pose!


----------



## PrincessFiona60

amber:
1. Translucent fossilized tree resin, generally yellow or orange but
sometimes blue, often used as jewelry.
2. (in British English) The middle light in a set of three traffic lights,
between the red and the green lights.
3. (in biology, biochemistry and genetics) The RNA codon UAG, which stops
the third stage of protein production, translation.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/amber>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

Cooking Goddess said:


> Seriously?  There IS a term for that?   Never heard of that one but, oddly enough, when LittleBit sits like that we call it her "Kittyloaf" pose!



There is a LOLCat pic of a cat sitting like that titled simply "Loafing" and another with a cat in a loaf pan titled "Learning to Loaf".


----------



## taxlady

PrincessFiona60 said:


> amber:
> 1. Translucent fossilized tree resin, generally yellow or orange but
> sometimes blue, often used as jewelry.
> *2. (in British English) The middle light in a set of three traffic lights,
> between the red and the green lights.*
> 3. (in biology, biochemistry and genetics) The RNA codon UAG, which stops
> the third stage of protein production, translation.
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/amber>


Yankees don't call that amber, sometimes? In Canada we call it amber or yellow.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

taxlady said:


> Yankees don't call that amber, sometimes? In Canada we call it amber or yellow.



Yellow...


----------



## GotGarlic

taxlady said:


> Yankees don't call that amber, sometimes? In Canada we call it amber or yellow.



We call the traffic light yellow, but the tree resin amber.


----------



## Somebunny

taxlady said:


> Yankees don't call that amber, sometimes? In Canada we call it amber or yellow.



Yankee here, calling it "Amber" lol!  Must admit sometimes I say yellow.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

wizened:
Withered; lean and wrinkled by shrinkage as from age or illness.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wizened>


----------



## Cooking Goddess

PrincessFiona60 said:


> amber:
> 1. Translucent fossilized tree resin, generally yellow or orange but
> sometimes blue, often used as jewelry....



The national gem of Poland.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

croggy:
A ride on the handlebars or crossbar of a bicycle.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/croggy>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

choreography:
1. The art of creating, arranging and recording the dance movements of a
ballet, etc.
2. The representation of these movements by a series of symbols.
3. The notation used to construct this record.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/choreography>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

understudy:
1. To study or know a role, so as to be able to replace its normal
performer if required.
2. To act as an understudy (to, for someone).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/understudy>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

microcosm:
1. A smaller system which is representative of or analogous to a larger
one.
2. A small natural ecosystem; an artificial ecosystem set up as an
experimental model.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/microcosm>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

iatrogenic:
(of a medical condition) Induced by the words or actions of the
physician.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/iatrogenic>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

allomother:
A human or other animal that provides some maternal care for the young
born by another.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/allomother>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

sparge:
1. To sprinkle or spray
2. To introduce bubbles into a liquid.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sparge>


----------



## tinlizzie

And a tip of the hat to the other DC:  Washington, D.C.

Bloviation -- a style of empty, pompous political speech...  United States President Warren G. Harding described it as "the art of speaking for as long as the occasion warrants, and saying nothing".  from Wikipedia


----------



## PrincessFiona60

sine qua non:
An essential or indispensable element, condition, or ingredient.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sine_qua_non>


----------



## cave76

Idiopathic -----is an adjective used primarily in medicine meaning arising spontaneously or from an obscure or unknown cause.

When the doctor has been particularly er, um unhelpful------ it's changed to Idiotpathic.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

stipulate:
(botany; not comparable) Having stipules; that is, having outgrowths
borne on either side of the base of the leafstalk.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/stipulate>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

I've known people (a sister comes to mind) who encompass all of these traits:

insensate:
1. Having no sensation or consciousness; unconscious; inanimate.
2. Senseless; foolish; irrational.
3. Unfeeling, heartless, cruel, insensitive.
4. (medicine, physiology) Not responsive to sensory stimuli.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/insensate>


----------



## Dawgluver

PrincessFiona60 said:


> I've known people (a sister comes to mind) who encompass all of these traits:
> 
> insensate:
> 1. Having no sensation or consciousness; unconscious; inanimate.
> 2. Senseless; foolish; irrational.
> 3. Unfeeling, heartless, cruel, insensitive.
> 4. (medicine, physiology) Not responsive to sensory stimuli.
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/insensate>



A perfect description of my sister too, as well as a couple of supervisors.....


----------



## PrincessFiona60

Dawgluver said:


> A perfect description of my sister too, as well as a couple of supervisors.....



Does everyone have a sister like this???  If she wasn't my sister I would have nothing to do with her.


----------



## Addie

PrincessFiona60 said:


> allomother:
> A human or other animal that provides some maternal care for the young
> born by another.
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/allomother>



If that includes wet nursing, then that would be me. I wet nursed twins since I was the only one on the maternity floor that was nursing. Enough milk for three babies. When I went home, I would pump, and send it to the hospital by cab three times a day. The hospital paid for the cab and a small amount to me for the milk. 

The mother didn't know she was expecting twins. They were boys. The hospital wanted to baptize them immediately and wanted to know what their names would be. I suggested Pete and Repeat. She had a fit of laughing and couldn't come up with any names except those two. It stuck in her head. I was just trying to help!  (The twins died at three weeks.)


----------



## Addie

PrincessFiona60 said:


> Does everyone have a sister like this???  If she wasn't my sister I would have nothing to do with her.



Not me. My sister felt like she always had to tell me how to live my life. I just ignored her.


----------



## Dawgluver

PrincessFiona60 said:


> Does everyone have a sister like this???  If she wasn't my sister I would have nothing to do with her.



Ya know, I actually know many people who have sisters they get along with, and actually like.  The one upside to being parentless now is I don't have to deal with mine anymore.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

Dawgluver said:


> Ya know, I actually know many people who have sisters they get along with, and actually like.  The one upside to being parentless now is I don't have to deal with mine anymore.



My other sister is normal and fun, same as my brother.  The odd sister has managed to alienate all 3 of us and our parents.  Mom visits out of a sense of duty and maternal feelings.  My Dad (the kindest man in the world) will have nothing to do with her.

Okay, enough about my sister...


----------



## taxlady

PrincessFiona60 said:


> Does everyone have a sister like this???  If she wasn't my sister I would have nothing to do with her.


Nope. I only have one sister and we get along fine most of the time. We even enjoy each others company. We both agree that while we like and love each other, we wouldn't have been friends if we weren't sisters.


----------



## Addie

PrincessFiona60 said:


> My other sister is normal and fun, same as my brother.  The odd sister has managed to alienate all 3 of us and our parents.  Mom visits out of a sense of duty and maternal feelings.  My Dad (the kindest man in the world) will have nothing to do with her.
> 
> Okay, enough about my sister...



 You know, she might just be one of Cat's gypsies. There has to be a reasonable explanation for her being that way. Maybe she fell on her head as an infant. Did a strange babysitter take care of her for a while?


----------



## PrincessFiona60

unciform:
Of the shape of a hook; hook-shaped.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/unciform>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

buy
bī/
_verb_
verb: *buy*; 3rd person present: *buys*; past tense: *bought*; past participle: *bought*; gerund or present participle: *buying*


*1*. 
obtain in exchange for payment.
"we had to find some money to buy a house"
synonyms:purchase, acquire, obtain, get, pick up; Moretake, procure, pay for; 
invest in; 
_informal_get hold of, snatch up, snap up, grab, score 
"they bought a new house"



antonyms:sell


pay someone to give up an ownership, interest, or share.


procure the loyalty and support of (someone) by bribery.
"here was a man who could not be bought"


be a means of obtaining (something) through exchange or payment.
"money can't buy happiness"


get by sacrifice or great effort.
"greatness is *dearly bought*"


make a profession of purchasing goods for a store or firm.






*2*. 
_informal_
accept the truth of.
"I am not prepared to buy the claim that the ends justify the means"




*3*. 
_informal_
used to say that someone has died.
"his friends had bought it in the jungle"





_noun__informal_

noun: *buy*; plural noun: *buys*
*1*. 
a purchase.
"the wine is a good buy at $3.49"
synonyms:purchase, investment, acquisition, gain; More


----------



## PrincessFiona60

gleek:
1. (archaic) To jest, ridicule, or mock; to make sport of.
2. (informal) To discharge a thin stream of liquid through the teeth or
from under the tongue.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gleek>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

subduct:
1. (transitive) To draw or push under or below.
2. (intransitive) To move downwards underneath something.
3. (rare) To remove; to deduct; to take away; to disregard.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/subduct>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

palatal:
1. (anatomy) Pertaining to the palate.
2. (dentistry, not comparable) Of an upper tooth, on the side facing the
palate.
3. (phonetics) Articulated at the hard palate.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/palatal>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

verily:
1. Truly, doubtlessly, in truth.
2. Confidently, certainly.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/verily>


----------



## Addie

PrincessFiona60 said:


> verily:
> 1. Truly, doubtlessly, in truth.
> 2. Confidently, certainly.
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/verily>



Verily, I say unto thee, "Good Morning all!


----------



## PrincessFiona60

Isn't this verily early in the morning for you?


----------



## Addie

PrincessFiona60 said:


> Isn't this verily early in the morning for you?



I am afraid not. I have yet to go to bed. I just took an apple pie out of the oven and now I have to clean the kitchen and then make brownies. All of this is for my daughter.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

Good grief, Addie, I'm just halfway through my wake up coffee...


----------



## Addie

PrincessFiona60 said:


> Good grief, Addie, I'm just halfway through my wake up coffee...



I will crash about two this afternoon until seven, then again at eleven 'til about three a.m. Short naps for me. I get more done that way. I will clean the kitchen this morning, and then the big room tonight while I watch The Wheel and Jeopardy. Also the World Series is on and of course I have to watch The Red Sox win!  Go Red Sox!


----------



## PrincessFiona60

I love short naps, unfortunately...my boss doesn't


----------



## Addie

PrincessFiona60 said:


> I love short naps, unfortunately...my boss doesn't



When I worked at Stone and Webster, around 3 o'clock I would feign cramps and go into a stall in the bathroom. I would stay there for about 15 minutes taking a nap. Did wonders for me. I was able to make it to five o'clock.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

LOL!!  I can just lock the door to the office and close the blinds...no one even knows I'm there.


----------



## taxlady

Sleeping twice per night seems to be the way most Westerners did for a very long time. Nifty article about that here: Your Ancestors Didn’t Sleep Like You


----------



## Cooking Goddess

Addie said:


> I will crash about two this afternoon until seven, then again at eleven 'til about three a.m. Short naps for me. I get more done that way. I will clean the kitchen this morning, and then the big room tonight while I watch The Wheel and Jeopardy. Also the World Series is on and of course I have to watch The Red Sox win!  Go Red Sox!


You can sleep this evening Addie.  No Cards/Sox game since they travel to St. Louis today.


taxlady said:


> Sleeping twice per night seems to be the way most Westerners did for a very long time. Nifty article about that here: Your Ancestors Didn’t Sleep Like You


Didn't look at that article yet taxy, but are they calling it "Second Sleep"?  Ran across that term when I was having long awake states during the night.  I've never been a Straight-Eight kind of sleeper ever.


----------



## taxlady

Cooking Goddess said:


> ...
> Didn't look at that article yet taxy, but are they calling it "Second Sleep"?  Ran across that term when I was having long awake states during the night.  I've never been a Straight-Eight kind of sleeper ever.


Second sleep or morning sleep.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

antihero:
(literature) A protagonist who proceeds in an unheroic manner, such as
by criminal means, via cowardly actions, or for mercenary goals.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/antihero>


----------



## Addie

Cooking Goddess said:


> You can sleep this evening Addie.  No Cards/Sox game since they travel to St. Louis today.
> 
> Didn't look at that article yet taxy, but are they calling it "Second Sleep"?  Ran across that term when I was having long awake states during the night.  I've never been a Straight-Eight kind of sleeper ever.



The only time I ever slept through the night was during my working days. Now I can do housework any time I want and what I want to do. I made an apple pie earlier, cleaned the kitchen, took a nap and now will be making brownies in a short while. I love being retired. My time is my own.


----------



## Cooking Goddess

Yup Addie, we're on our own time clock too around here.  Not sure if it's Alaskan time or Hawaiian time, but it works for us most of the time.  I can go on my 6 hours at "night" as long as kitty and I get our nap during Greater Boston.


----------



## cave76

taxlady said:


> Sleeping twice per night seems to be the way most Westerners did for a very long time



Many dairy ranchers do that still.  Full udders demand emptying!


----------



## PrincessFiona60

auton:
(science fiction) A machine or robot, usually in the form of a living
being, designed to follow a precise sequence of instructions.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/auton>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

mara:
1. (folklore) A nightmare; a spectre or wraith-like creature in
Scandinavian folklore, especially one that causes terrifying visions or
dreams.
2. (Buddhism) A malicious or evil spirit.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mara>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

unit:
1. An organized group comprising people and/or equipment.
2. (sciences) A standard measure of a quantity.
3. (commerce) An item which may be sold singly.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/unit>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

isomorphic:
1. (mathematics) Having a one-to-one correspondence.
2. (biology) Having a similar structure or function to something that is
not related genetically or through evolution.
3. Having identical relevant structure.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/isomorphic>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

Cassandra:
A person who makes dire predictions, especially those which are not
believed but turn out to be true.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Cassandra>


----------



## Zhizara

*defenestrate* - throw through or out of the window; "The rebels stormed the palace and defenestrated the President."


----------



## PrincessFiona60

Zhizara said:


> *defenestrate* - throw through or out of the window; "The rebels stormed the palace and defenestrated the President."



One of my favorite words!!!


----------



## taxlady

Zhizara said:


> *defenestrate* - throw through or out of the window; "The rebels stormed the palace and defenestrated the President."





PrincessFiona60 said:


> One of my favorite words!!!


Same here.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

turlough:
(Ireland) A temporary lake in an area of limestone, filled by rising
groundwater during the rainy winter season.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/turlough>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

dematerialize:
1. (intransitive) to disappear by becoming immaterial.
2. (transitive) to cause something to disappear by becoming immaterial.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dematerialize>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

xoanon:
(historical) A wooden statue, used as a cult image in Ancient Greece.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/xoanon>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

rumpty:
(New Zealand) Having a quality below standard; in a state of disrepair.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rumpty>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

peri:
A sprite or supernatural being in Persian mythology.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/peri>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

adipose:
1. Containing, composed of, or consisting of fat.
2. Slightly overweight, somewhat fat and hence soft.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/adipose>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

minyan:
The minimum number of ten adult Jews required for a communal religious
service.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/minyan>


----------



## tinlizzie

PrincessFiona60 said:


> minyan:
> The minimum number of ten adult Jews required for a communal religious
> service.
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/minyan>



What an interesting thread to check each day -- thank you, PF.

Today's word, which I thought was a new-to-me homonym for minion, turns out to be a subcategory -- a homophone.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

kraal:
1. In Central and Southern Africa, a rural village of huts surrounded by a
stockade.
2. An enclosure for livestock.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kraal>


----------



## Addie

PrincessFiona60 said:


> kraal:
> 1. In Central and Southern Africa, a rural village of huts surrounded by a
> stockade.
> 2. An enclosure for livestock.
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kraal>



Now I have seen that word many times over the years. Specially when it has to do with Masai herdsmen building a wall of thorns around their village and animals at night. The show Big Cats Diary uses it at times.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

Very close to the word corral.


----------



## Addie

PrincessFiona60 said:


> Very close to the word *corral.*



Probably brought over on the slave boats.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

rory:
1. (obsolete) Covered by dew.
2. (obsolete) Of gaudy, tasteless, or unsubtle colors.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rory>


----------



## Addie

PrincessFiona60 said:


> rory:
> 1. (obsolete) Covered by dew.
> 2. (obsolete) Of gaudy, tasteless, or unsubtle colors.
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rory>



That one is a surprise. I have always used it to mean out of date. No longer acceptable or in use.


----------



## GotGarlic

Addie said:


> Probably brought over on the slave boats.



This made me curious, so I checked it out. It originated in the Netherlands and the Dutch colonized South Africa, so they brought it there, and probably to America with Dutch explorers.

corral
verb (corrals, corralling, corralled)
[with object]

1. gather together and confine (a group of people or things):the organizers were corralling the crowd into marching formation

2. chiefly North American put or keep (livestock) in a corral.
    historical form (wagons) into a corral. 

noun
North American

1. a pen for livestock, especially cattle or horses, on a farm or ranch.
 2. historical a defensive enclosure of wagons in an encampment. 

Origin:

late 16th century: from Spanish and Old Portuguese (now curral), perhaps based on Latin currere 'to run'. Compare with kraal

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/corral


----------



## Addie

I forgot that the Dutch had a very active colony in South Africa. And the two 'a's' is very typical in the spelling of a lot of Dutch words.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

full circle:
1. Through a rotation or revolution that ends at the starting point.
2. (idiomatic) Through a cycle of transition, returning to where one
started after gaining experience or exploring other things.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/full_circle>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

omega:
1. The final letter of the Greek alphabet.
2. (idiomatic) The end; the final, last or ultimate in a series.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/omega>


----------



## GotGarlic

silk

noun


a fine, strong, soft, lustrous fiber produced by silkworms in making cocoons and collected to make thread and fabric.
[often as modifier] thread or fabric made from the fiber produced by the silkworm:a silk shirt
(silks) garments made from silk, especially as worn by a jockey in the colors of a particular horse owner.
Riding a cover worn over a riding hat made from a silklike fabric.
British informal a Queen’s (or King’s) Counsel. [so named because of the right accorded to wear a gown made of this cloth]
any silklike threads that grow in plants, such as at the end of an ear of corn or in a milkweed pod.
silk: definition of silk in Oxford dictionary - American English (US)


----------



## PrincessFiona60

spoiler:
1. One who spoils; a plunderer, pillager, despoiler.
2. A document, review or comment that discloses the ending or some key
surprise or twist in a story.
3. (automotive) A device to reduce lift and increase downforce.
4. (US, chiefly politics, sports) An individual, unable to win themselves,
who spoils the chances of another's victory.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/spoiler>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

yana:
(Buddhism) Any of the three modes or methods of Buddhist spiritual
practice; Mahayana, Hinayana and Vajrayana.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yana>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

zygon:
1. (anatomy) In the cerebrum, the short crossbar or stem that connects the
two pairs of branches of an H-shaped fissure.
2. (music) An affinity or connection in a piece of music between tones,
chords, or phrases, such that one part appears to repeat, to imitate, or
to derive from the other, especially when perceived as an organising
force in the music.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/zygon>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

donna:
A lady, especially a noblewoman; the title given to a lady in Italy.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/donna>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

scriptorium:
A room set aside for the copying, writing, or illuminating of
manuscripts and records, especially such a room in a monastery.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/scriptorium>


----------



## tinlizzie

That immediately brings to mind "The Name of the Rose," a beautiful 1986 movie starring Sean Connery.  It's a should-see for fans of 14th century times.  Thanks for the mental poke, PF.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

tinlizzie said:


> That immediately brings to mind "The Name of the Rose," a beautiful 1986 movie starring Sean Connery.  It's a should-see for fans of 14th century times.  Thanks for the mental poke, PF.



It did for me, too Tin.  One of my favorite movies.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

rani:
1. The wife of a rajah.
2. A Hindu princess or female ruler in India.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rani>


----------



## taxlady

tinlizzie said:


> That immediately brings to mind "The Name of the Rose," a beautiful 1986 movie starring Sean Connery.  It's a should-see for fans of 14th century times.  Thanks for the mental poke, PF.


Ooh, yeah. It's also a good whodunit.


----------



## taxlady

This discussion of _The Name of the Rose_ reminds me of this:

Middle Ages Tech Support - YouTube


----------



## purple.alien.giraffe

taxlady said:


> This discussion of The Name of the Rose reminds me of this:
> 
> Middle Ages Tech Support - YouTube



I've seen that before and can tell you that there are days when tech support feels exactly like that.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

unearthly:
1. Not of the earth; non-terrestrial.
2. Preternatural or supernatural.
3. Strange, enigmatic, or mysterious.
4. Ideal beyond the mundane.
5. Ridiculous, ludicrous, or outrageous.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/unearthly>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

ace:
(UK, slang) Excellent.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ace>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

tractator:
1. (historical) In medieval commerce, the person who handles or transports
merchandise on behalf of an investor.
2. A person who writes tracts.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tractator>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

capacious:
Having a lot of space inside; roomy.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/capacious>


----------



## tinlizzie

soupcon - 1.  a slight trace or flavor; 2. a very small amount


----------



## PrincessFiona60

exterminate:
1. To kill all of a population, usually deliberate and especially applied
to pests.
2. (figuratively) To bring a definite end to; to finish completely.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/exterminate>


----------



## tinlizzie

propagate - to cause to multiply by natural reproduction (Random House dictionary)


----------



## PrincessFiona60

glogg:
A Scandinavian version of vin chaud or mulled wine; a hot punch made of
red wine, brandy and sherry flavoured with almonds, raisins and orange
peel.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/glogg>


----------



## taxlady

PrincessFiona60 said:


> glogg:
> A Scandinavian version of vin chaud or mulled wine; a hot punch made of
> red wine, brandy and sherry flavoured with almonds, raisins and orange
> peel.
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/glogg>


red wine and (choose one)
akvavit
vodka
rum
brandy

+ the mentioned seasonings and sugar and usually a cinnamon stick and whole cloves.

I never heard of adding sherry, but it sounds good


----------



## tinlizzie

parch - to make dry, hot, or thirsty.  Random House Dict.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

taxlady said:


> red wine and (choose one)
> akvavit
> vodka
> rum
> brandy
> 
> + the mentioned seasonings and sugar and usually a cinnamon stick and whole cloves.
> 
> I never heard of adding sherry, but it sounds good



Sounds like Wiki could use an update from someone who knows.


----------



## taxlady

PrincessFiona60 said:


> Sounds like Wiki could use an update from someone who knows.


Can't be bothered. I'm not up for finding the references. 

BTW, I will be making glögg soon.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

fleeting:
Passing quickly.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fleeting>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

intersperse:
1. To mix two things irregularly, placing things of one kind among things
of other; specifically:
2. To scatter or insert (something) into or among (other things), as Nature
interspersed dandelions among the petunias, or
3. To diversify (something) by placing or inserting other things among
(it), as Nature interspersed the petunias with dandelions.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/intersperse>


----------



## taxlady

From https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cygnet
Noun *cygnet* (_plural_ *cygnets*)


The immature young of a swan.
*Etymology*

 From Middle English _cignet_, _signet_, from Anglo-Norman _cignet_, diminutive of Old French _cigne_ (“swan”), from Latin _cygnus_, _cycnus_ (“swan”), from Ancient Greek _κύκνος_ (kýknos, “swan”).


I'm curious why the say it is from Old French "cigne", when it's spelled with a "y" and the modern French words for "swan" and "cygnet" are "cygne" and "cygnet".


----------



## PrincessFiona60

archeress:
A female archer, a woman who shoots an arrow from a bow: Elizabeth
deigned to show her skill as an archeress, to the detriment of the
dappled deer in the wide park beyond (John Berwick Harwood).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/archeress>


----------



## tinlizzie

brickbat -- a piece of broken brick; any rocklike missile.  Random House Dictionary


----------



## PrincessFiona60

tinlizzie said:


> brickbat -- a piece of broken brick; any rocklike missile.  Random House Dictionary



Now why would I chunk something like that at you?  Just because you have the good sense to live where it's warm


----------



## PrincessFiona60

blunderbuss:
An old style of muzzleloading firearm and early form of shotgun with a
distinctive short, large caliber barrel that is flared at the muzzle,
therefore able to fire scattered quantities of nails, stones, shot, etc.
at short range: Timothy was excited to find a toy blunderbuss waiting
under the Christmas tree.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/blunderbuss>


----------



## tinlizzie

PrincessFiona60 said:


> Now why would I chunk something like that at you?  Just because you have the good sense to live where it's warm



brain freeze - cold stimulus headache; a form of brief cranial pain (from Wikipedia)


----------



## tinlizzie

PrincessFiona60 said:


> blunderbuss:
> An old style of muzzleloading firearm and early form of shotgun with a
> distinctive short, large caliber barrel that is flared at the muzzle,
> therefore able to fire scattered quantities of nails, stones, shot, etc.
> at short range: Timothy was excited to find a toy blunderbuss waiting
> under the Christmas tree.
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/blunderbuss>



howitzer:
a cannon having a comparatively short barrel, used especially for firing shells at a high angle of elevation, as for reaching a target behind cover.  Random House Dictionary


----------



## Zhizara

bomb·shell  (b
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





m
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




sh
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




l
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




)_n.

_*1. * An explosive bomb.
*2. * One that is sensationally shocking, surprising, or amazing.
*3. * One who is very attractive.

I'm detecting a trend here.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

pass muster:
1. (idiomatic) To meet or exceed a particular standard.
2. (idiomatic) To adequately pass a formal or informal inspection.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pass_muster>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

canary in a coal mine:
(idiomatic) Something whose sensitivity to adverse conditions makes it a
useful early indicator of such conditions; something which warns of the
coming of greater danger or trouble by a deterioration in its health or
welfare.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/canary_in_a_coal_mine>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

stigmatize:
(transitive) To characterize as disgraceful or ignominious; to mark with
a stigma or stigmata.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/stigmatize>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

tin anniversary:
The tenth anniversary (yearly recurrence) of an event, especially a
wedding.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tin_anniversary>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

calendrical:
Of, pertaining to, or used by a calendar system.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/calendrical>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

instar:
1. Any one of the several stages of postembryonic development which an
arthropod undergoes, between molts, before it reaches sexual maturity:
the hopper was placed in a box in its first instar.
2. An arthropod at a specified one of these stages: first and second
instars of this species are more susceptible to H. bacteriophora than
later instars.
3. A stage in development: "photographs of the landlady’s children in all
their instars" (Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/instar>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

neverendum:
A series of "neverending" referendums on the same issue held in an
attempt to achieve an unpopular result.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/neverendum>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

neotenous:
1. Exhibiting retention of juvenile characteristics in the adult.
2. (informal) Babyfaced.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/neotenous>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

pergola:
A framework in the form of a passageway of columns that supports a
trelliswork roof; used to support and train climbing plants.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pergola>


----------



## vitauta

PrincessFiona60 said:


> tin anniversary:
> The tenth anniversary (yearly recurrence) of an event, especially a
> wedding.
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tin_anniversary>




tin is a big 10 on all my calendars....


----------



## PrincessFiona60

So what's a 29th anniversary???


----------



## PrincessFiona60

doomsayer:
One who makes dire predictions about the future; one fond of predicting
disaster.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/doomsayer>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

deracinate:
1. To pull up by the roots; to uproot; to extirpate.
2. To force (people) from their homeland to a new or foreign location.
3. To liberate or be liberated from a culture or its norms..
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/deracinate>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

solstitial:
1. Pertaining to a solstice: a solstitial point, the solstitial meridian
plane, avenues with a solstitial orientation.
2. Occurring on a solstice: the solstitial half-moon, a solstitial event.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/solstitial>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

relict:
1. Something which, or someone who, survives or remains after the loss of
others (compare relic).
2. (archaic) The surviving member of a married couple; a widow or widower.
3. (biology, ecology) A species, organism or ecosystem which was once
widespread but which is now found only in a few areas: some think the
Loch Ness monster is a relict from the age of dinosaurs.
4. (geology) A structure or other feature which has survived from a
previous age: dark rims are a relict of a primary interaction between
basalt and seawater.
5. (linguistics) A word or language which survives as an archaicism.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/relict>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

bullshot:
1. A cocktail made from vodka and beef bouillon.
2. (neologism, video games) A phony screenshot created for promotional
purposes.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bullshot>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

wassail:
To go from house to house at Christmastime, singing carols.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wassail>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

rebarbative:
Irritating, repellent.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rebarbative>


----------



## tinlizzie

PrincessFiona60 said:


> wassail:
> To go from house to house at Christmastime, singing carols.
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wassail>



and all this time I thought it was a noun, an old-timey drink.


----------



## GotGarlic

tinlizzie said:


> and all this time I thought it was a noun, an old-timey drink.



It's both: 

Noun

wassail (plural wassails)

    A toast to health, usually at a festival.
    The beverage served during a wassail, especially one made of ale or wine flavoured with spices, sugar, roasted apples, etc.
    Revelry.  [quotations ▼]
    A festive or drinking song or glee.  [quotations ▼]

Translations
[show ▼]beverage served during a wassail

Verb

wassail (third-person singular simple present wassails, present participle wassailing, simple past and past participle wassailed)

    (transitive) To toast, to drink to the health of another.

        The next morning he much regretted the gusto with which he had wassailed the night before.

    (intransitive) To drink wassail.
    To go from house to house at Christmastime, singing carols.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

GG's are the ones I knew...


----------



## PrincessFiona60

hooey:
(slang) Silly talk or writing; nonsense.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hooey>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

brawn:
Physical strength; muscularity.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/brawn>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

nobble:
1. (UK, Australia, slang) To injure or obstruct intently; batter.
2. (UK, slang) To gain influence by corrupt means or intimidation.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nobble>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

peckled:
(now UK dialectal) Speckled, spotted.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/peckled>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

reverie:
A state of dreaming while awake; a loose or irregular train of thought;
musing or meditation; daydream.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/reverie>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

inception:
The creation or beginning of something; the establishment.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/inception>


----------



## CWS4322

Here's a link to the names of 48 things for which you may not have known the name:

48 Things You Didn't Know Had Names | Mental Floss


----------



## PrincessFiona60

cacophonous:
Containing, consisting of, or producing harsh, unpleasant or discordant
sounds.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cacophonous>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

swage:
A tool, used by blacksmiths and other metalworkers, for cold shaping of
a metal item.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/swage>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

Twelfth cake:
A decorative cake distributed among friends or visitors on the festival
of Twelfth Night (which is either the evening of January 5th or of
January 6th, depending on interpretation).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Twelfth_cake>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

at first blush:
(idiomatic) Upon first impression or consideration; seemingly,
apparently, ostensibly.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/at_first_blush>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

burgess:
1. An inhabitant of a borough with full rights; a citizen.
2. (historical) A town magistrate.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/burgess>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

factitious:
1. Created by humans; artificial.
2. Counterfeit, fabricated.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/factitious>


----------



## vitauta

pf, someone has left a word for your 'word of the day' thread. it has come, in error or by design, lacking the customary introduction. 
the word is 'vouchsafe' -- from the looks of it, what do you suppose it means?


----------



## PrincessFiona60

Now that one I had to look up for the entire meaning, it's been one of those words I gleaned meaning by context, never looking it up.  Here is the definition: _give or grant (something) to (someone) in a gracious or condescending manner.

_I always thought it meant to grant passage, did not realize it cold mean so much more.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

carpe diem:
Seize the day, make the most of today, enjoy the present.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/carpe_diem>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

zeptomole:
(chemistry, physics) A small amount of a substance, especially a
countable number of atoms or molecules.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/zeptomole>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

superannuated:
Obsolete, antiquated.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/superannuated>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

orgulous:
Proud; haughty; disdainful.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/orgulous>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

floccinaucinihilipilificate:
(colloquial) To describe or regard something as worthless.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/floccinaucinihilipilificate>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

ascertain:
To find out definitely; to discover or establish.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ascertain>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

casuistry:
1. The process of answering practical questions via interpretation of rules
or cases that illustrate such rules, especially in ethics.
2. (pejorative) A specious argument designed to defend an action or
feeling.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/casuistry>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

I just glad I don't have to use some of these in a sentence.  Fit this one into a conversation:

palinspastic:
(geology, of a map) Showing the previous location of geological
features, correcting for any intervening crustal movements.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/palinspastic>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

enthesis:
(anatomy) The point at which a tendon, ligament, or muscle inserts into
a bone.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/enthesis>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

Here is a silly word...

blueberrying:
The act of gathering blueberries.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/blueberrying>


----------



## Addie

PrincessFiona60 said:


> Here is a silly word...
> 
> blueberrying:
> The act of gathering blueberries.
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/blueberrying>



I would hope that the meaning would be obvious to the average person. 

"the act of gathering...." brings to my mind a mental picture of merrily skipping along toting one's pail.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

Now we know what happened to the unicorns...

alicorn:
(now historical) The horn of a unicorn considered as a medical or
pharmacological ingredient.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/alicorn>


----------



## taxlady

*Murmuration*:

/merr'meuh ray"sheuhn/, n.

1. an act or instance of murmuring.

2. a flock of starlings.

Here's an example of the second meaning:

It blew me away.

Murmuration (Official Video) by Sophie Windsor Clive & Liberty Smith - YouTube


----------



## PrincessFiona60

monoousian:
(theology) Having one and the same nature or essence, especially with
regard to the persons of the Trinity.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/monoousian>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

penumbra:
A partially shaded area around the edges of a shadow, especially an
eclipse.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/penumbra>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

obviate:
(transitive) To bypass a requirement or make it unnecessary.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/obviate>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

mignon:
Small and cute; pretty in a delicate way; dainty.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mignon>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

smaragdine:
Having the colour of emeralds.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/smaragdine>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

cascabel:
1. A small, round, hot variety of chili pepper, Capsicum annuum, which
rattles when dry.
2. A knob at the end of a cannon, cast onto the gunbarrel, to which ropes
are attached in order to control recoil.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cascabel>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

amerce:
(transitive) To impose a fine on; to fine.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/amerce>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

proppant:
Sand or similar particulate material suspended in water or other fluid
and used in hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to keep fissures open.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/proppant>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

blemish:
1. A small flaw which spoils the appearance of something, a stain, a spot.
2. A moral defect; a character flaw.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/blemish>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

comestible:
Suitable to be eaten; edible.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/comestible>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

galactagogue:
A substance that induces lactation.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/galactagogue>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

conlanger:
Someone who creates constructed languages (conlangs).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/conlanger>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

nunatak:
A mountain top or rocky element of a ridge that is surrounded by glacial
ice but is not covered by ice; a peak protruding from the surface ice
sheet.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nunatak>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

set the Thames on fire:
(idiomatic) To achieve something amazing; to do something which brings
great public acclaim.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/set_the_Thames_on_fire>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

ophidian:
Of or pertaining to the suborder Serpentes; of, related to, or
characteristic of a snake or serpent.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ophidian>


----------



## vitauta

pf, how do you make your selections for this word of the day thread?


----------



## tinlizzie

zarf - a holder, usually of ornamental metal, for a coffee cup without a handle.  Random House Dictionary


----------



## PrincessFiona60

vitauta said:


> pf, how do you make your selections for this word of the day thread?



They come in my e-mail every day...


----------



## PrincessFiona60

gourmandise:
To eat food in a gluttonous manner; to gorge; to make a pig of oneself.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gourmandise>


----------



## taxlady

PrincessFiona60 said:


> gourmandise:
> To eat food in a gluttonous manner; to gorge; to make a pig of oneself.
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gourmandise>


That really surprised me. I'm used to it being used as in French in the following sense:

*Noun*

*gourmandise* f (_plural_ *gourmandises*)


delicacy (a pleasing food)
Or in the sense that the French Wikipedia article puts it:


La *gourmandise* est un désir d'aliments jugés particulièrement agréables...


The gourmandise is a desire for foods that are considered particularly pleasing.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

snappish:
Exhibiting irritation or impatience; curt; irascible.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/snappish>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

troika:
1. A Russian carriage drawn by a team of three horses abreast.
2. A party or group of three.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/troika>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

elope:
(intransitive, of an unmarried person) To run away secretly for the
purpose of getting married with one's intended spouse; to marry in a
quick or private fashion, especially without a public period of
engagement.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/elope>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

bridge the gap:
(idiomatic) To serve as or create a connection between two disconnected
or disparate things.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bridge_the_gap>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

treknobabble:
A kind of technobabble particular to the Star Trek universe, with a
particularly heavy emphasis on configurations of pseudoscientific
particles and waves.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/treknobabble>


----------



## Zhizara

Good one, Princess!  Being a Trekkie, I love it!

By the way, why don't they show some of the Voyager series.  I miss that one a lot.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

Zhizara said:


> Good one, Princess!  Being a Trekkie, I love it!
> 
> By the way, why don't they show some of the Voyager series.  I miss that one a lot.



I don't know, I'm getting tired of NG reruns...


----------



## Zhizara

PrincessFiona60 said:


> I don't know, I'm getting tired of NG reruns...



And Space Station 9!


----------



## PrincessFiona60

bebother:
To bring trouble upon.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bebother>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

artisanal:
1. Of or pertaining to artisans or the work of artisans.
2. Involving skilled work, with comparatively little reliance on machinery.
3. (of an item, especially a foodstuff) Made by an artisan (skilled
worker).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/artisanal>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

tor:
(South-West England) A hill.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tor>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

take a flyer:
(idiomatic) To make a choice with an uncertain outcome; to take a
chance.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/take_a_flyer>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

jump the shark:
1. (idiomatic, of a television program or other narrative) To undergo a
storyline development which heralds a fundamental and generally
disappointing change in direction.
2. (more generally) To experience a decline in quality, appeal, popularity,
etc.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/jump_the_shark>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

fugacious:
Fleeting, fading quickly, transient.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fugacious>


----------



## purple.alien.giraffe

PrincessFiona60 said:


> fugacious:
> Fleeting, fading quickly, transient.
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fugacious>



What a rough sounding word. The sound of it would make it a great fit for poetry or prose that was bitter, angry, or condescending of something non-permanent. "His fugacious affection," or "The politician's fugacious concern over..." I know the English language has its faults, but I think its abundance of synonims (sp?) is one of its strengths. You can generally find a word that not only has the definition required, but also has the inflection, sound, and mood required.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

Yes, I was pleased with this word when it came today.  I will try to use it several times, to get it into my vocabulary.  "Fugacious friendships."


----------



## vitauta

fortunately, i finally finished filming a fugacious fight in a flashback fantasy feature.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

vitauta said:


> fortunately, i finally finished filming a fugacious fight in a flashback fantasy feature.



Okay, that sentence would make me lose my teef...


----------



## tinlizzie

purple.alien.giraffe said:


> I know the English language has its faults, but I think its abundance of synonims (sp?) is one of its strengths.



PAG is awarded three gold stars for the proper form of 'its' three times in one sentence!  Nary an apostrophe to be seen.  It's amazing!


----------



## PrincessFiona60

_*synonims (sp?)

*_synonyms


----------



## purple.alien.giraffe

PrincessFiona60 said:


> synonims (sp?)
> 
> synonyms



Spelling is my one of my biggest weeknesses. It's not for lack of trying, I just have trouble keeping it all memorized. Also, a lot of words look weird to me even when I've looked them up in a dictionary and know they are correct.


----------



## purple.alien.giraffe

tinlizzie said:


> PAG is awarded three gold stars for the proper form of 'its' three times in one sentence!  Nary an apostrophe to be seen.  It's amazing!



Haha, after proofreading I had to go back and change one. At least I caught it though.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

purple.alien.giraffe said:


> Spelling is my one of my biggest weeknesses. It's not for lack of trying, I just have trouble keeping it all memorized. Also, a lot of words look weird to me even when I've looked them up in a dictionary and know they are correct.



I have the same problem, some words just look wrong even when they are right.  I joke that _I_ cannot spell, my left hand is the good speller and it goes on it's own.  Most of the time I have to write a word down to make sure I have it correct...surprising I used to win all the spelling bees all the way up to the state finals.


----------



## vitauta

purple.alien.giraffe said:


> Spelling is my one of my biggest weeknesses. It's not for lack of trying, I just have trouble keeping it all memorized. Also, a lot of words look weird to me even when I've looked them up in a dictionary and know they are correct.


 
   ^^^
'weaknesses'.  maybe make use of the spellcheck thingy on your computer? but don't feel bad about your spelling, pag.  spelling has always come naturally to me.  but i would much rather have your bright intelligence, your fertile imagination or your talent for descriptive writing, than be able to spell well.  appreciate the special gifts you have in abundance, pag. they are a rare blessing.  btw, didya know that most of our u.s. presidents have been lousy spellers and left handed?


----------



## purple.alien.giraffe

vitauta said:


> ^^^
> 'weaknesses'.  maybe make use of the spellcheck thingy on your computer? but don't feel bad about your spelling, pag.  spelling has always come naturally to me.  but i would much rather have your bright intelligence, your fertile imagination or your talent for descriptive writing, than be able to spell well.  appreciate the special gifts you have in abundance, pag. they are a rare blessing.  btw, didya know that most of our u.s. presidents have been lousy spellers and left handed?



Thank you Vit. I do appreciate them. My 9th grade English teacher told me that most people could either spell well or write well, only rarely could someone do both. She said I should be greatful I got the weakness that could be fixed with a dictionary.  

I do use a dictionary and spell check when I am writing seriously, but I check DC and Facebook on my phone most of the time. Checking the words in its dictionary would mean composing comments in my notes, saving them, verify the words I needed in the dictionary, going back to the notes and making changes, then copying the text and pasting it in the comment box. I love you guys but you'll just have to forgive any spelling errors.


----------



## purple.alien.giraffe

Also, don't underestimate your intelligence Vit. You are most likely smarter than you realize. Most people are likely smarter than they realize, but that is a potentially lengthy disscusion so message me if you are interested in hearing my thoughts about this.

The president trivia is nifty. I didn't know that.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

That's why I couldn't become president, while I am left-handed, I am also able to spell.

Now if I could learn to type...


----------



## PrincessFiona60

This is my co-worker, I will have to reteach her when she comes back from vacation.

technopeasant:
(informal) One who is disadvantaged or exploited within a modern
technological society, especially through inability to use computer
technology.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/technopeasant>


----------



## vitauta

purple.alien.giraffe said:


> Also, don't underestimate your intelligence Vit. You are most likely smarter than you realize. Most people are likely smarter than they realize, but that is a potentially lengthy disscusion so message me if you are interested in hearing my thoughts about this.
> 
> The president trivia is nifty. I didn't know that.



this wasn't meant to be about me, pag, but your compassion and generous nature are duly noted.  i was reminded of a while back, when you were posting these fascinating descriptions of your dreams in a dc thread of timothy's. the stories were wrapped in an atmosphere of suspense and doom, rather scifi in genre. your story telling, your writing, was fresh and alive, replete with danger, intrigue and symbolism. i hope you are continuing to express yourself in this way, through your creative writings, pag.


----------



## purple.alien.giraffe

PrincessFiona60 said:


> This is my co-worker, I will have to reteach her when she comes back from vacation.
> 
> technopeasant:
> (informal) One who is disadvantaged or exploited within a modern
> technological society, especially through inability to use computer
> technology.
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/technopeasant>



I know a few of these. I even know a few of these that are part of the technology generations.


----------



## purple.alien.giraffe

vitauta said:


> this wasn't meant to be about me, pag, but your compassion and generous nature are duly noted.  i was reminded of a while back, when you were posting these fascinating descriptions of your dreams in a dc thread of timothy's. the stories were wrapped in an atmosphere of suspense and doom, rather scifi in genre. your story telling, your writing, was fresh and alive, replete with danger, intrigue and symbolism. i hope you are continuing to express yourself in this way, through your creative writings, pag.



I understand it was a compliment, I'm just passionate about people not underestimating themselves and about seeing the value of people regardless of where their talents fall. I think a lot of people have valuable skills and talents that are important but frequently overlooked, and I think intelligence manifests differently in people and in some isn't recognized because it doesn't show in traditionally recognized ways. Don't get me wrong, I know I'm smart, I know I'm fortunate in my talents. I just also know other people are also smart and fortunate in their talents, sometimes in ways that aren't aknowledged by society.


----------



## purple.alien.giraffe

Oh, and thank you. I'm not sure I've said that yet.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

king's ransom:
(idiomatic) A very large sum of money.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/king%27s_ransom>


----------



## tinlizzie

achene, also akene - a small, dry, hard, one-seeded, indehiscent (does not open at maturity, yes I had to look it up) fruit.  It's those little surface seeds in strawberries.  I suppose everything must have a name...thank you, Botany, for this one.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

tinlizzie said:


> achene, also akene - a small, dry, hard, one-seeded, indehiscent (does not open at maturity, yes I had to look it up) fruit.  It's those little surface seeds in strawberries.  I suppose *everything must have a name*...thank you, Botany, for this one.



Well yeah, otherwise how could we talk about it?


----------



## tinlizzie

As wonderful as Google is, it's really hard to find the name of a bird whose song or call you've heard -- without the name of the bird.

I finally found the name of the tiny migratory birds in my yard; they are yellow-rumped warblers.  Gotta love the name.


----------



## taxlady

tinlizzie said:


> As wonderful as Google is, it's really hard to find the name of a bird whose song or call you've heard -- without the name of the bird.
> 
> I finally found the name of the tiny migratory birds in my yard; they are yellow-rumped warblers.  Gotta love the name.


Yes, that is a great name, and they are such cuties (I Googled).

If you can get a photo, it gets a little better trying to Google, using image search. Upload your pic and Google will try to find similar pix. Sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you really bizarre results.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

PAG!!!  Here is a good word for writer's block or delivery of a speech:

dystocia:
(medicine, veterinary medicine) A slow or difficult labour or delivery.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dystocia>


----------



## purple.alien.giraffe

PrincessFiona60 said:


> PAG!!!  Here is a good word for writer's block or delivery of a speech:
> 
> dystocia:
> (medicine, veterinary medicine) A slow or difficult labour or delivery.
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dystocia>



Nice


----------



## PrincessFiona60

compere:
(chiefly UK) A master of ceremonies in a television, variety or quiz
show. Also used more generally for any master of ceremonies.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/compere>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

fons honorum:
A person who, by virtue of sovereignty, holds the exclusive right to
create and confer legitimate titles of nobility and orders of chivalry.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fons_honorum>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

philtrum:
The shallow groove running down the center of the outer surface of the
upper lip.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/philtrum>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

begorra:
(Ireland) A mild minced oath; a euphemism for "by God".
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/begorra>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

phillumenist:
A person who collects match-related items, like matchbox labels,
matchboxes, matchbooks, or matchbook covers.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/phillumenist>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

triduan:
1. Lasting three days.
2. Happening every third day.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/triduan>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

win-win:
Of a situation or outcome that benefits two parties, or that has two
distinct benefits.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/win-win>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

normothermic:
(medicine) Having a normal body temperature.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/normothermic>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

zombie out:
(informal) Become like a zombie in being listless, vacant, and
unresponsive.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/zombie_out>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

hamiform:
Curved at the extremity, shaped like a hook.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hamiform>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

dudeen:
A short-stemmed Irish pipe made out of clay.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dudeen>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

tribology:
(physics, engineering) The science and technology of friction,
lubrication, and wear.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tribology>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

A vague definition for you today:

vaguery:
1. (uncountable) Vagueness, the condition of being vague.
2. (countable) A vagueness, a thing which is vague, an example of
vagueness.
3. (countable, in the plural) An eggcorn for vagaries.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vaguery>


----------



## GotGarlic

I had to look this up, after reading #3 above 

eggcorn (plural eggcorns)

(linguistics) An idiosyncratic but semantically motivated substitution of a word or phrase for a word or words that sound identical, or nearly so, at least in the dialect the speaker uses. 

Etymology

The subject of eggcorns was first introduced on the Internet on September 23, 2003 by Mark Liberman on the website Language Log.[1]

He discussed the case of a woman who always thought the word acorn was egg corn. Later on, the word egg corn or eggcorn was suggested by Geoffrey K. Pullum to name such linguistic peculiarities.

Chris Potts has told me about a case in which a woman wrote "egg corns" for "acorns." This might be taken to be a folk etymology, like "Jerusalem" for "girasole" in "Jerusalem artichoke" (a kind of sunflower). But it might also be treated as something like a mondegreen (also here and here), the kind of "slip of the ear" that is especially common in learning songs and poems. Finally, it's also something like a malapropism, where a word is mistakenly substituted for one of similar sound shape.

Examples

    deep-seeded instead of deep-seated
    deformation of character instead of defamation of character
    for all intensive purposes instead of for all intents and purposes
    free reign instead of free rein
    oldtimer's disease instead of Alzheimer's disease
    on tender hooks instead of on tenterhooks
eggcorn - Wiktionary


----------



## PrincessFiona60

Faster than me this morning, I was going to be looking "eggcorn" up as soon as I got some coffee.

Thanks GG!!


----------



## taxlady

A friend of mine was in the hospital and complained that she didn't want the staff to tell her any more banal platitudes. She later found a note on her chart, "Patient doesn't like plain attitudes."


----------



## PrincessFiona60

ROFL!!!  I guess some nurses have their own eggcorns.  I know I do and they are getting worse.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

forethoughtful:
Having or full of forethought; provident; proactive; visionary.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/forethoughtful>


----------



## tinlizzie

Wowzer!  Maybe malaprops/eggcorns deserve their own thread.

I once saw one in an old cookbook:  slithered almonds

And another one I can't recall where I found it:  considerate done


----------



## PrincessFiona60

perfusion:
(medicine) The introduction of a drug or nutrients through the
bloodstream in order to reach an internal organ or tissues.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/perfusion>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

escapade:
A daring or adventurous act; an undertaking which goes against
convention.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/escapade>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

siesta:
An afternoon nap, especially the one taken after lunch in some cultures.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/siesta>


----------



## purple.alien.giraffe

PrincessFiona60 said:


> siesta:
> An afternoon nap, especially the one taken after lunch in some cultures.
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/siesta>



AKA coveted custom for many US workers. If only...


----------



## PrincessFiona60

Yeah, I'm getting to where I need a nap in the afternoon.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

in a pig's eye:
(idiomatic) Very unlikely; probably never.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/in_a_pig's_eye>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

say this one fast three times:

otorhinolaryngology:
(medicine) The study of diseases of the ear, nose and throat.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/otorhinolaryngology>


----------



## Cooking Goddess

Are you kidding? I can't even read that slowly one time through! Does the doctor graduate with that degree even if he can't pronounce it?


----------



## taxlady

Cooking Goddess said:


> Are you kidding? I can't even read that slowly one time through! Does the doctor graduate with that degree even if he can't pronounce it?


That's why it's abbreviated ENT.


----------



## purple.alien.giraffe

PrincessFiona60 said:


> say this one fast three times:
> 
> otorhinolaryngology:
> (medicine) The study of diseases of the ear, nose and throat.
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/otorhinolaryngology>



Oto-rhino-laryng-ology. Look for the base words and it's a bit easier. Still would take practice to get it to roll off the tongue but at least it becomes doable.


----------



## tinlizzie

Some lucky girl got her Dad's teaching gene . . .


----------



## PrincessFiona60

purple.alien.giraffe said:


> Oto-rhino-laryng-ology. Look for the base words and it's a bit easier. Still would take practice to get it to roll off the tongue but at least it becomes doable.



It was a good thing I had 4 years of nursing school...took me that long to spell and pronounce "sphygmomanomete_r_".


----------



## PrincessFiona60

eat crow:
(chiefly US, idiomatic) To recognize that one has been shown to be
mistaken or outdone, especially by admitting that one has made a
humiliating error.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/eat_crow>


----------



## purple.alien.giraffe

tinlizzie said:


> Some lucky girl got her Dad's teaching gene . . .



It helps that dad and various science teachers along the way taught me tricks for reading long words. It's actually easier with science jargon than with other long words because they are mostly compound words. Other words that are just long are much more difficult (for me at least).


----------



## PrincessFiona60

wry:
1. Turned away, contorted (of the face or body).
2. Dryly humorous; sardonic or ironic.
3. Twisted, bent, crooked.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wry>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

jape:
(intransitive) To jest; play tricks; joke; jeer.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/jape>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

prosopagnosia:
A form of visual agnosia characterised by difficulty with face
recognition despite intact low-level visual processing.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/prosopagnosia>


----------



## purple.alien.giraffe

PrincessFiona60 said:


> prosopagnosia:
> A form of visual agnosia characterised by difficulty with face
> recognition despite intact low-level visual processing.
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/prosopagnosia>



I have a friend with this. She spent years hiding it because she was affraid people would be offended that she doesn't recognise most people until they speak. Fortunately when she finally told everyone people were very supportive and told her to stop worrying about something she couldn't control.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

purple.alien.giraffe said:


> I have a friend with this. She spent years hiding it because she was affraid people would be offended that she doesn't recognise most people until they speak. Fortunately when she finally told everyone people were very supportive and told her to stop worrying about something she couldn't control.



That would be dreadful to have.  I'm glad your friend was able to get support from her friends.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

roundabout:
Indirect, circuitous or circumlocutionary; that does not do something in
a direct way.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/roundabout>


----------



## taxlady

I saw the word "roundabout" and this is what I thought of:

*Noun*

*roundabout* (_plural_ *roundabouts*)


(chiefly UK, New Zealand and Australia) A road junction at which traffic streams circularly around a central island


----------



## PrincessFiona60

taxlady said:


> I saw the word "roundabout" and this is what I thought of:
> 
> *Noun*
> 
> *roundabout* (_plural_ *roundabouts*)
> 
> 
> (chiefly UK, New Zealand and Australia) A road junction at which traffic streams circularly around a central island



Me too and how I try to avoid them...they do slow traffic down in neighborhoods, simply because folks don't what to do.


----------



## Addie

We have them here in Mass. all over the place. You have to "yield" to the person in the rotary, as we call them. 

One day my daughter and I were in a rotary, and there was a bad case of "road rage" going on, on the other side because one driver didn't yield to the one in the rotary. We got the heck away from there fast. And so did a lot of other drivers. We had to go up a road we weren't intending to go to, but as the saying goes, "better safe than sorry." The rage was bad enough that we heard the sirens coming. 


In the new test handbook for new drivers there is a rather large chapter covering rotaries. Or roundabouts as you folks call them.


----------



## taxlady

I've heard the term rotary before. I know it's used in Halifax, NS. We also use the term "traffic circle".


----------



## Addie

The biggest one I have ever seen had six roads leading into it. There is one in Everett that services a very large mall. Now that one is the biggest one. Two for the mall, entrance and exit, one for Route 16, E&E, one road for the mall across from the mall for the appliance store E&E, and one to get you back to the right road if you missed the one you wanted, E&E. That makes eight. After you have driven on it a couple of times, you get used to it. It is less than ten years old.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

taxlady said:


> I've heard the term rotary before. I know it's used in Halifax, NS. We also use the term "traffic circle".



I can't say what I call them here...


----------



## taxlady

PF, 

 Addie, the biggest roundabout that I have seen is the one around the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, 12 streets! The biggest one I have negotiated isn't a roundabout anymore. It was in Copenhagen and seven streets and a streetcar line crossing it. I rode that one on a bicycle. 

Here, most of our roundabouts have traffic lights or stop signs.  Not far from where I live, there's a little one with only three streets and it has three stop signs.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

lek:
(biology) An aggregation of male animals for the purposes of courtship
and display.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lek>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

unheralded:
Without prior warning; unexpected or unannounced.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/unheralded>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

popliteal:
(anatomy) Of the area behind the knee.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/popliteal>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

ungulate:
Having hooves.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ungulate>


----------



## Cooking Goddess

I wonder if you can undulate with hooves...


----------



## PrincessFiona60

LOL!!

pink slime:
1. (paper manufacture) An undesirable pink-colored microbial mass occurring
in the slurry used in making paper.
2. (informal) A meat byproduct produced from otherwise unusable material
such as skin and connective tissue, spinal bones, and digestive tissue
by heating and then mixing with ammonia in a centrifuge to produce a
food additive.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pink_slime>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

hapax legomenon:
A word occurring only once in a given corpus.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hapax_legomenon>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

oubliette:
A dungeon only accessible by a trapdoor at the top.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/oubliette>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

capias:
(law) An arrest warrant; a writ commanding officers to take a specified
person or persons into custody.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/capias>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

crosswordese:
The jargon of crossword puzzle answers, classically consisting of rare,
archaic, or dialectal words.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/crosswordese>


----------



## Cooking Goddess

You've got that right, sister! Himself is having me "check" Crosswordheaven right now. Yup, we cheat!


----------



## PrincessFiona60

levant:
To abscond or run away, especially to avoid paying money or debts.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/levant>


----------



## Addie

Occasionally you will put in a word that I don't even have to look at the printed explanation or meaning. I just love those days.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

vates:
A poet or bard who is divinely inspired.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vates>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

doggedly:
In a way that is stubbornly persistent: Abby marked the International
Day of the Dog with her beloved Jack Russell terrier, despite how he was
doggedly gnawing through her extensive collection of shoes.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/doggedly>


----------



## tinlizzie

"Stubbornly persistent" - that mosquito, while I'm on the stepladder with a paint can in one hand and brush in the other.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

tinlizzie said:


> "Stubbornly persistent" - that mosquito, while I'm on the stepladder with a paint can in one hand and brush in the other.



I would have "whitewashed" her.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

capacious:
Having a lot of space inside; roomy.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/capacious>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

anapest:
1. (US, prosody) A metrical foot consisting of three syllables, two short
and one long (e.g the word "velveteen").
2. (US, prosody) A fragment, phrase or line of poetry or verse using this
meter; e.g. “Every Who down in Whoville liked Christmas a lot, but the
Grinch, who lived just north of Whoville, did NOT!” (Dr. Seuss, How
the Grinch Stole Christmas.).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/anapest>


----------



## Cooking Goddess

PrincessFiona60 said:


> capacious:
> Having a lot of space inside; roomy.


And all this time when people told me I had a capacious mind I thought it was a compliment...


----------



## PrincessFiona60

Cooking Goddess said:


> And all this time when people told me I had a capacious mind I thought it was a compliment...



LOL!!

What's horrible is I now fill what used to be my capacious pants.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

tumpline:
A strap used to carry objects tied to its ends by placing the broadened
or cushioned middle of the strap over the head just behind the forehead.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tumpline>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

Penrose stairs:
An impossible loop of endlessly ascending and descending stairs, or an
optical illusion appearing to depict such a loop.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Penrose_stairs>


----------



## Cooking Goddess

Not just Penrose, but M C Escher. Our son has a copy of the print of Escher's never ending staircase. Amazed me every time I'd walk in his room and see it on the wall.


----------



## Addie

Cooking Goddess said:


> And all this time when people told me I had a capacious mind I thought it was a compliment...





 Good one CG.


----------



## Addie

Cooking Goddess said:


> Not just Penrose, but M C Escher. Our son has a copy of the print of Escher's never ending staircase. Amazed me every time I'd walk in his room and see it on the wall.



Years ago one of our local papers used to carry "Believe It Or Not" by Ripley. Every so often that staircase would show up. There is also another one that is a spiral. Is it spiraling inward or outward?


----------



## PrincessFiona60

Cooking Goddess said:


> Not just Penrose, but M C Escher. Our son has a copy of the print of Escher's never ending staircase. Amazed me every time I'd walk in his room and see it on the wall.



That was M.C. Escher's depiction of what Penrose stairs would look like.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

sequela:
(pathology) A disease or condition which is caused by an earlier disease
or problem.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sequela>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

plangent:
Having a loud, mournful sound.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

morpheme:
(linguistics) The smallest linguistic unit within a word that can carry
a meaning, such as "un-", "break", and "-able" in the word
"unbreakable".
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/morpheme>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

sangfroid:
Composure, self-possession or imperturbability especially when in a
dangerous situation.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sangfroid>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

I am going to be using this one:

thagomizer:
(anatomy) An arrangement of spikes found on the tails of various
stegosaurs.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/thagomizer>


----------



## taxlady

PrincessFiona60 said:


> I am going to be using this one:
> 
> thagomizer:
> (anatomy) An arrangement of spikes found on the tails of various
> stegosaurs.
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/thagomizer>


But you left out the best part:
*Etymology*

 Coined by Gary Larson  in 1982. His comic strip shows a caveman giving a lecture illustrating  this part of a dinosaur, with the caption "Now this end is called the  thagomizer... after the late Thag Simmons". See _-ize_, _-er_.

The term "thagomizer" has been in use for quite a while, as a joke, but it is now the official term.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

I only put out the information I had...but, I am glad to have learned a Larsonism.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

apothegm:
A short, witty, instructive saying; an aphorism or maxim.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/apothegm>


----------



## CWS4322

PrincessFiona60 said:


> morpheme:
> (linguistics) The smallest linguistic unit within a word that can carry
> a meaning, such as "un-", "break", and "-able" in the word
> "unbreakable".
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/morpheme>


Actually, a morpheme is the smallest _grammatical_ unit that carries meaning. The example is made up of three morphs and each morph represents one morpheme. There are free morphemes, bound morphemes, derivational morphemes, inflectional morphemes, and even cranberry morphemes. One can't study morphology without having had the difference between a morph and a morpheme pounded into one's head. A morph is a formal unit with a physical shape. A morpheme is an abstract unit of meaning. Now doesn't that distinction make perfect sense?


----------



## taxlady

CWS4322 said:


> Actually, a morpheme is the smallest _grammatical_ unit that carries meaning. The example is made up of three morphs and each morph represents one morpheme. There are free morphemes, bound morphemes, derivational morphemes, inflectional morphemes, and even cranberry morphemes. One can't study morphology without having had the difference between a morph and a morpheme pounded into one's head. A morph is a formal unit with a physical shape. A morpheme is an abstract unit of meaning. Now doesn't that distinction make perfect sense?


Examples?


----------



## Zhizara

Yeah, 'splain us more, please?


----------



## PrincessFiona60

have Van Gogh's ear for music:
(humorous) To be tone-deaf.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/have_Van_Gogh%27s_ear_for_music>


----------



## vitauta

boondoggle

work or activity that is wasteful or pointless, but gives the impression of having value.


----------



## CWS4322

CWS4322 said:


> Actually, a morpheme is the smallest _grammatical_ unit that carries meaning. The example is made up of three morphs and each morph represents one morpheme. There are free morphemes, bound morphemes, derivational morphemes, inflectional morphemes, and even cranberry morphemes. One can't study morphology without having had the difference between a morph and a morpheme pounded into one's head. A morph is a formal unit with a physical shape. A morpheme is an abstract unit of meaning. Now doesn't that distinction make perfect sense?


TL--an example of an inflectional morpheme would be the ending added. When you add -ed to a word to form the past tense, that is an inflectional morph to indicate physically the past tense and the morpheme is that it conveys the action happened in the past (abstract). However, you can also have -t as the morph to indicate past tense and the abstract unit of meaning is that the action happened in the past. How one adds inflection in Swedish is a better example, but it is after 2 a.m. and I've had a couple of glasses of wine and can't think of any examples in Swedish except the word for house but can't remember all the suffixes added and don't wish to embarrass myself on a public forum! A cranberry morpheme is more fun. There are two morphs cran and berry. Cran as a morpheme is a very abstract unit of meaning because it really doesn't carry a meaning, but combined with the two syllable morph berry we understand it. Other cranberry morphemes would be similar words that when broken down don't make sense and are not used in other instances (unlike -un, -like, -ed and the like).


----------



## PrincessFiona60

vitauta said:


> boondoggle
> 
> work or activity that is wasteful or pointless, but gives the impression of having value.



That sounds like an apt description of the work I do for the facility.  It's all for the government and insurance companies.


----------



## Zhizara

Uh...Okay.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

Zhizara said:


> Uh...Okay.



in response to?


----------



## taxlady

Thanks CWS


----------



## Zhizara

Zhizara said:


> Uh...Okay.



Morpheme explanations.  Made my head swim.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

Zhizara said:


> Morpheme explanations.  Made my head swim.



Ah!  Mine, too!


----------



## CWS4322

I spent 6 years studying things like that...no wonder I was confused as to what to do when I finished my M.A.


----------



## Addie

CWS4322 said:


> I spent 6 years studying things like that...no wonder I was confused as to what to do when I finished my M.A.



Other than here right now, and how has all that information served you in life?


----------



## CWS4322

Addie said:


> Other than here right now, and how has all that information served you in life?


Ummmm...I'm the "go to" person for all my friends when they have a question about grammar. It did transfer well to how to editing and writing, which is what I do for work (which seems more like play than work).


----------



## PrincessFiona60

superannuate:
1. (transitive) To retire or put out of use due to age.
2. (intransitive) To become obsolete or antiquated.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/superannuate>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

oneironaut:
A person who explores dream worlds, usually associated with lucid
dreaming.


----------



## Zhizara

I had to go to oneiroscopy to get a audio pronunciation for that one.  I still haven't figured a way to use it in a sentence.  Is it "living in a dream world" or just vivid dreams?


----------



## PrincessFiona60

I think it's having vivid dreams, which I have.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

caisson:
1. (military) A two-wheeled, horse-drawn military vehicle used to carry
ammunition.
2. (engineering) A watertight retaining structure used in the construction
of bridges.
3. (architecture) A sunken panel used as decoration for a ceiling or a
vault; a coffer.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/caisson>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

piece together:
1. To physically assemble (or reassemble) from fragments or pieces.
2. (figuratively) To reconstruct an event or goal from incomplete or flawed
elements.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/piece_together>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

make shift:
(dated) To contrive; to invent a way of surmounting a difficulty.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/make_shift>


----------



## cave76

triskaidekaphobia

Fear of the number 13---- posted on Friday 13.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

and a full moon...I'll be looking for werewolfs with bad luck...


----------



## PrincessFiona60

vexillology:
The study of flags.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vexillology>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

encapsulate:
1. To cover something as if in a capsule.
2. To epitomize something by expressing it as a brief summary.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/encapsulate>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

postilion:
A rider mounted on the near, leading horse pulling a carriage who guides
the team.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/postilion>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

chiaroscuro:
An artistic technique developed during the Renaissance, referring to the
use of exaggerated light contrasts in order to create the illusion of
volume.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/chiaroscuro>


----------



## taxlady

PrincessFiona60 said:


> chiaroscuro:
> An artistic technique developed during the Renaissance, referring to the
> use of exaggerated light contrasts in order to create the illusion of
> volume.
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/chiaroscuro>


I couldn't picture what this meant, so I Googled pix of chiaroscuro. Here's an example:


----------



## Addie

taxlady said:


> I couldn't picture what this meant, so I Googled pix of chiaroscuro. Here's an example:



In my mind's eye I pictured an oil lamp or candle holding lamp. Intense lighting covering a small area.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

angst:
1. A feeling of acute but vague anxiety or apprehension often accompanied
by depression, especially philosophical anxiety.
2. More commonly, painful sadness or emotional turmoil, as teen angst.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/angst>


----------



## Addie

PrincessFiona60 said:


> angst:
> 1. A feeling of acute but vague anxiety or apprehension often accompanied
> by depression, especially philosophical anxiety.
> 2. More commonly, painful sadness or emotional turmoil, as teen angst.
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/angst>



 I hate having angst when I don't know what is causing it. I don't recall any depression following though. I don't think I have ever had a bout of depression in my life. I get angry at the situation instead of depressed. Angry enough to do something about what is causing the problem.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

avocation:
1. A hobby or recreational or leisure pursuit.
2. Pursuits; duties; affairs which occupy one's time; usual employment;
vocation.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/avocation>


----------



## tinlizzie

PrincessFiona60 said:


> avocation:
> 1. A hobby or recreational or leisure pursuit.
> 2. Pursuits; duties; affairs which occupy one's time; usual employment;
> vocation.
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/avocation>



That seems contradictory -- what's the distinction - is an avocation a (1) hobby or a (2) vocation?  Or is this my first senior moment of the day . . .?


----------



## PrincessFiona60

there are two different words "avocation" and "vocation"

Avocation = hobby

Vocation = work, employment, pursuit


----------



## taxlady

PrincessFiona60 said:


> avocation:
> 1. A hobby or recreational or leisure pursuit.
> 2. Pursuits; duties; affairs which occupy one's time; usual employment;
> vocation.
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/avocation>





PrincessFiona60 said:


> there are two different words "avocation" and "vocation"
> 
> Avocation = hobby
> 
> Vocation = work, employment, pursuit


I must be having a senior moment too. Isn't the Wiktionary definition, part 2, saying they are the same thing?


----------



## PrincessFiona60

I guess it depends on why you do the work you do.


----------



## cave76

*Contrarian*

A contrarian is a person who takes up a contrary position, a person who seems to be "contrary for the sake of being contrary," especially a position that is opposed to that of the majority [...]

Contrarian - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


----------



## PrincessFiona60

con·de·scend   verb  : to show that you believe you are more intelligent or better than other people


----------



## PrincessFiona60

dead tree edition:
(idiomatic, pejorative, humorous) Paper version of a publication that
can be found online.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dead_tree_edition>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

röck döts:
(informal, humorous) Heavy metal umlauts; umlauts over letters in the
name of a heavy metal band (as in "Motörhead", "Queensrÿche" and
"Mötley Crüe"), added gratuitously for mere stylistic effect.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/r%C3%B6ck_d%C3%B6ts>


----------



## taxlady

PrincessFiona60 said:


> röck döts:
> (informal, humorous) Heavy metal umlauts; umlauts over letters in the
> name of a heavy metal band (as in "Motörhead", "Queensrÿche" and
> "Mötley Crüe"), added gratuitously for mere stylistic effect.
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/röck_döts>


I hate them. My brain wants to pronounce them.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

My brain says, "So that's where my missing periods went..."


----------



## PrincessFiona60

enterolith:
A mineral concretion in the intestinal tract.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/enterolith>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

miserabilist:
One who is unhappy, or extols being miserable as a virtue; a philosopher
of pessimism.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/miserabilist>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

scuppernong:
1. A large greenish-bronze grape native to the Southeastern United States,
a variety of the muscadine grape (Vitis rotundifolia).
2. A sweet, golden or amber-colored American wine made from this variety of
grape.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/scuppernong>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

geodesy:
Scientific discipline that deals with the measurement and representation
of earth, its gravitational field and geodynamic phenomena (polar
motion, earth tides, and crustal motion) in three‐dimensional,
time‐varying space.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/geodesy>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

Panglossian:
1. (pejorative) Naively or unreasonably optimistic.
2. (pejorative) Of or relating to the view that this is the best of all
possible worlds.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Panglossian>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

gruntled:
(humorous) Satisfied.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gruntled>


----------



## Zhizara

You must have read my mind.  Last night I was thinking that is disgruntled meant unhappy, there ought to be a definition for gruntled, but I had never heard it used.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

Higgs boson:
(physics) A hypothetical elementary particle predicted by the Standard
Model; a boson with zero spin, it is thought to give mass to other
particles.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Higgs_boson>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

sanguinary:
1. Attended with bloodshed.
2. Eager to shed blood; bloodthirsty.
3. Consisting of, covered with or similar in appearance to blood.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sanguinary>


----------



## cave76

epergne

a type of table centerpiece, usually made of silver, but may be made of any metal or glass or porcelain. (Wiki)


----------



## Addie

PrincessFiona60 said:


> sanguinary:
> 1. Attended with bloodshed.
> 2. Eager to shed blood; bloodthirsty.
> 3. Consisting of, covered with or similar in appearance to blood.
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sanguinary>



Every so often you put up a word that I know. I just have never come across an event that would give me reason to use it. I need to start hanging out with the Crips or Bloods.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

I find my phlebotomist to be quite sanguine...


----------



## Addie

PrincessFiona60 said:


> I find my phlebotomist to be quite sanguine...



Aha! The next time I find myself at a cocktail party, I shall bring that up. Thank you.


----------



## cjmmytunes

PrincessFiona60 said:


> I find my phlebotomist to be quite sanguine...



I'll remember to use this sentence while Mom and I are at her Dr appointment tomorrow.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

LOL!


----------



## PrincessFiona60

badinage:
Playful raillery; banter.


----------



## CWS4322

PrincessFiona60 said:


> badinage:
> Playful raillery; banter.


Badinage is from the French badinage which is from the French verb batiner. It seems to me that the Latin *bat- is the root of abash...which is to destroy the self-confidence of s/one. A derogatory term from the same root. (Not closely related to badinage, but shares some of the same etymology--sort of like a family tree with first cousin x times removed).


----------



## PrincessFiona60

The abashed bat was proficient at badinage.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

gaggle:
1. A group of geese when they are on the ground or on the water.
2. Any group or gathering of related things; bunch.


----------



## Addie

PrincessFiona60 said:


> gaggle:
> 1. A group of geese when they are on the ground or on the water.
> 2. Any group or gathering of related things; bunch.



I have always loved that word. It has a great sound to it when you say it out loud.

I love having a gaggle of people in my kitchen when I am cooking.


----------



## cjmmytunes

I hate having a gaggle of people in a waiting room when I am ill. Makes me want to cough all over them and give them whatever I have.

Sent from my SM-N900R4 using Discuss Cooking mobile app


----------



## taxlady

I love some those collective nouns.

A giggle of girls
A bother of boys
A parliament of rooks
A congress of baboons
A murmuration of starlings


----------



## cjmmytunes

You are right about the congress of baboons. 

Sent from my SM-N900R4 using Discuss Cooking mobile app


----------



## PrincessFiona60

List of collective nouns in English - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


----------



## Cheryl J

I've always thought "a murder of crows" was a pretty bizarre choice of words...


----------



## PrincessFiona60

inveterate:
1. Old; firmly established by long continuance; of long standing;
obstinately deep-rooted; as, an inveterate disease; an inveterate habit.
2. (of a person) Having habits fixed by long continuance; confirmed;
habitual; as, an inveterate idler or smoker.
3. Malignant; virulent; spiteful.


----------



## Addie

If I don't know the correct term for any group, they just become a "bunch of" Works for me and the other person gets the idea and meaning.


----------



## cave76

cjmmytunes said:


> You are right about the congress of baboons.


----------



## cave76

Persnickety
"1. excessively particular; fussy."
persnickety - definition of persnickety by The Free Dictionary

Easily offended and persnickety can be interchangeable at times.


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## PrincessFiona60

tardigrade:
Sluggish; moving slowly.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tardigrade>


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## PrincessFiona60

*harridan* 

A vicious and scolding woman, especially an older one.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/harridan


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## cave76

PrincessFiona60 said:


> *harridan*
> 
> A vicious and scolding woman, especially an older one.
> 
> https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/harridan



Bazinga!


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## PrincessFiona60

hapless:
Very unlucky; ill-fated.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hapless>


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## PrincessFiona60

effluvium:
A gaseous or vaporous emission, especially a foul-smelling one.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/effluvium>


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## PrincessFiona60

quisling:
(pejorative) A traitor who collaborates with the enemy.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/quisling>


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## PrincessFiona60

disconsolate:
1. Cheerless, dreary.
2. Seemingly beyond consolation; inconsolable.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/disconsolate>


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## PrincessFiona60

disinter:
1. To take out of the grave or tomb; to unbury; to exhume; to dig up.
2. To bring out, as from a grave or hiding place; to bring from obscurity
into view.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/disinter>


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## CWS4322

PrincessFiona60 said:


> quisling:
> (pejorative) A traitor who collaborates with the enemy.
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/quisling>



Being that the letter "q" is my favorite letter in the alphabet, I was dismayed to learn that "k" replaced "q" in many words (to think my name could have been spelled with a Q...). The "w" is also not widely used in Swedish.

Swedish Alphabet and Pronunciation

ET Genealogi - Swedish language


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## taxlady

CWS4322 said:


> Being that the letter "q" is my favorite letter in the alphabet, I was dismayed to learn that "k" replaced "q" in many words (to think my name could have been spelled with a Q...). The "w" is also not widely used in Swedish.
> 
> Swedish Alphabet and Pronunciation
> 
> ET Genealogi - Swedish language


Danes don't really use "q" any more either. They have also replaced it with "k" (followed by "v").

Some of those pronunciations for the Swedish letters were downright wrong. E.g., "y as in year". No, like a French "u" or a German "u" with an umlaut. And "Å å - oo in poor", not close.


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## PrincessFiona60

reliquary:
A container to hold or display religious relics.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/reliquary>


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## PrincessFiona60

punctilious:
1. Strictly attentive to detail; meticulous or fastidious, particularly to
codes or conventions.
2. Precise or scrupulous; finicky or nitpicky.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/punctilious>


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## PrincessFiona60

mither:
1. (intransitive, Northern England) To make an unnecessary fuss, moan,
bother.
2. (transitive) To pester or irritate someone. Usually directed at
children.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mither>


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## PrincessFiona60

roundelay:
(music) A poem or song having a line or phrase repeated at regular
intervals.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/roundelay>


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## PrincessFiona60

levity:
1. Lightness of manner or speech, frivolity.
2. The state or quality of being light, buoyancy.
3. (countable) A lighthearted or frivolous act.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/levity>


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## PrincessFiona60

sagacity:
The quality of being sage, wise, or able to make good decisions; wisdom.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sagacity>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

eviscerate:
1. (transitive) To disembowel, to remove the viscera.
2. (transitive) To destroy or make ineffectual or meaningless.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/eviscerate>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

portend:
1. (transitive) To serve as a warning or omen.
2. (transitive) To signify; to denote.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/portend>


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## PrincessFiona60

doula:
A support person, usually female, who may not have medical or midwifery
training, who provides emotional assistance to a mother or pregnant
couple before, during or after childbirth.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/doula>


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## Addie

I want to thank you for making me feel so smart. You have been putting up words that I knew the meaning before I even read any further. Doula I knew instantly. Having lived in Texas, why wouldn't I?


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## PrincessFiona60

Well, I don't put the words up to make people feel stupid.  I put them up to teach, if you already know, sometimes it is a reminder the word is still around.  If I ever sound like I am patronizing or making you feel stupid, just tell me.  I don't mean to be that way.


----------



## taxlady

PrincessFiona60 said:


> Well, I don't put the words up to make people feel stupid.  I put them up to teach, if you already know, sometimes it is a reminder the word is still around.  If I ever sound like I am patronizing or making you feel stupid, just tell me.  I don't mean to be that way.


Doesn't sound that way to me.


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## PrincessFiona60

Thank you, Taxy!


----------



## cjmmytunes

My daughter had a doula and a midwife when.she had.my granddaughter. 

Sent from my SM-N900R4 using Discuss Cooking mobile app


----------



## Addie

PrincessFiona60 said:


> Well, I don't put the words up to make people feel stupid.  I put them up to teach, if you already know, sometimes it is a reminder the word is still around.  If I ever sound like I am patronizing or making you feel stupid, just tell me.  I don't mean to be that way.



Oh heavens no. I love this thread. I love learning new things. It just was that you posted three or more words in one day that I already knew and was very familiar with. Kind of like being able to run a category on Jeopardy.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

That makes me feel better, Thanks Addie!

Today's word is silly, but so descriptive:

shipwrecky:
1. Characteristic of a shipwreck.
2. (figuratively) Weak, feeble; shaky.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shipwrecky>


----------



## Addie

PrincessFiona60 said:


> That makes me feel better, Thanks Addie!
> 
> Today's word is silly, but so descriptive:
> 
> shipwrecky:
> 1. Characteristic of a shipwreck.
> 2. (figuratively) Weak, feeble; shaky.
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shipwrecky>



I have known some folks who are walking shipwrecks.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

chiropterologist:
Someone who studies bats (the flying mammal).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/chiropterologist>


----------



## Addie

PrincessFiona60 said:


> chiropterologist:
> Someone who studies bats (the flying mammal).
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/chiropterologist>



Now there is one occupation I will never be guilty of practicing. I will leave that to others.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

coppice:
A grove of small growth; a thicket of brushwood; a wood cut at certain
times for fuel or other purposes, typically managed to promote growth
and ensure a reliable supply of timber.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/coppice>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

olympicene:
(organic chemistry) A pentacyclic aromatic hydrocarbon whose structure
is in the form of the Olympic rings.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/olympicene>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

dolorous:
Solemnly or ponderously sad.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dolorous>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

bowdlerize:
To remove those parts of a text considered offensive, vulgar, or
otherwise unseemly.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bowdlerize>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

yarl:
A deep, guttural vocal style with affected pronunciation, characteristic
of male grunge and postgrunge singers of the 1990s and early 2000s.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yarl>


----------



## Mad Cook

taxlady said:


> *Danes don't really use "q" any more either. They have also replaced it with "k" (followed by "v").
> *
> Some of those pronunciations for the Swedish letters were downright wrong. E.g., "y as in year". No, like a French "u" or a German "u" with an umlaut. And "Å å - oo in poor", not close.



Why?


----------



## Mad Cook

PrincessFiona60 said:


> mither:
> 1. (intransitive, Northern England) To make an unnecessary fuss, moan,
> bother.
> 2. (transitive) To pester or irritate someone. Usually directed at
> children.
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mither>


I'm glad you mentioned "mither". It's one of my favourite words. Being Northern/Midlands dialect I didn't think many Americans would have come across it.


----------



## Mad Cook

May I have a go? 

*Oleaginous* = 
    Rrich in, covered with, or producing oil; oily. 
"_fabrics would quickly become filthy in this oleaginous kingdom_"

    Exaggeratedly and distastefully complimentary; obsequious:
"_candidates made oleaginous speeches praising government policies_" It sounds just like that.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

Mad Cook said:


> I'm glad you mentioned "mither". It's one of my favourite words. *Being Northern/Midlands dialect I didn't think many Americans would have come across it.*



Why not?  My grandparents came from England, my best friend's Mother is from England, I also know a couple Australians, Canadians and a New Zealander...I guess Americans are actually quite well versed in many things.


----------



## taxlady

Mad Cook said:


> Why?


I don't really know why. I suspect it is because it is pronounced more like "kv" in Danish than like "kw".


----------



## PrincessFiona60

dog days:
1. The days between early July and early September when Sirius (the Dog
Star) rises and sets with the Sun.
2. Hot, lazy days
3. A period of inactivity, laziness, or stagnation.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dog_days>


----------



## Addie

PrincessFiona60 said:


> dog days:
> 1. The days between early July and early September when Sirius (the Dog
> Star) rises and sets with the Sun.
> 2. Hot, lazy days
> 3. A period of inactivity, laziness, or stagnation.
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dog_days>



So how does that explain #3 the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year's Eve? Those were always recovery days for me.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

Addie said:


> So how does that explain #3 the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year's Eve? Those were always recovery days for me.



Those are not Dog Days, they are Gluttony Recovery Days... In some cases, Alcohol Recovery Days.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

Olympiad:
1. (historical) A period of four years, by which the ancient Greeks
reckoned time, being the interval from one celebration of the Olympic
games to another, beginning with the victory of Corbus in the foot race,
which took place in the year 776 b.c.; as, the era of the olympiads.
2. An occurrence of the Olympic games.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Olympiad>


----------



## LPBeier

Interesting choice, PF.  

We currently are watching Amazing Race Canada.  It is hosted by a former Olympic skier (just retired after the 2014 games and in this season (2) there are two female Olympic hockey players teamed up.  So far they have one all three legs of the race.  So it is sort of a mini Olympiad!


----------



## PrincessFiona60

dressage:
An equestrian sport in which the horse and rider perform a test of
specific movements in an arena, and are judged on the horse's obedience,
acceptance of the bridle and of the rider's aids, gaits, impulsion, and
the harmony between horse and rider.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dressage>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

shuttlecock:
(badminton) A lightweight object that is conical in shape with a cork or
rubber-covered nose, used in badminton as a ball is used in other
racquet games; a birdie.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shuttlecock>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

pankration:
An Ancient Greek martial art combining aspects of boxing and wrestling,
introduced in the Greek Olympic games in 648 BC.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pankration>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

leeward:
Away from the direction from which the wind is blowing. Downwind.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/leeward>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

bevy:
1. A group of animals, in particular quail.
2. A large group or collection.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bevy>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

repechage:
(sports) A heat (as in rowing or fencing) in which the best competitors
who have lost in a previous round compete for a place or places yet left
in the next round.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/repechage>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

erratic:
(geology) A rock moved from one location to another, usually by a
glacier.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/erratic>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

social contract:
(philosophy, politics) An implicit agreement or contract among members
of a society that dictates things such as submission of individuals to
rule of law and acceptable conduct.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/social_contract>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

transhumance:
The moving of cattle or other grazing animals to new pastures, often
quite distant, according to the change in season.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/transhumance>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

accismus:
(rhetoric) Feigning disinterest in something while actually desiring it.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/accismus>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

provident:
With care and consideration for the future; foresightly.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/provident>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

draculin:
(organic chemistry) A glycoprotein with anticoagulant properties, found
in the saliva of vampire bats.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/draculin>


----------



## taxlady

PrincessFiona60 said:


> draculin:
> (organic chemistry) A glycoprotein with anticoagulant properties, found
> in the saliva of vampire bats.
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/draculin>


I even knew that one.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

That is a fun word.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

anglicism:
A word or other feature originating in the English language that has
been borrowed by another language.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/anglicism>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

punctilio:
A fine point in exactness of conduct, ceremony or procedure. Strictness
in observance of formalities.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/punctilio>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

chirality:
The phenomenon, in chemistry, physics and mathematics, in which an
object differs from its mirror image.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/chirality>


----------



## PrincessFiona60

iatrogenesis:
(medicine) Any adverse effect (or complication) resulting from medical
treatment.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

vocable:
1. A word or utterance, especially with reference to its form rather than
its meaning.
2. A syllable or sound without specific meaning, used together with or in
place of actual words in a song.


----------



## PrincessFiona60

torrefy:
To subject to intense heat.


----------

