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Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2019 6:23 pm
by voralfred
Paracetamol (or acetaminophen) is also hepatotoxic. So when you have the flu, there are two choices to fight the fever, both dangerous for the liver.

A strong hot grog with a lot of honey, lemon juice and rum may be less efficient than a gram of paracetamol, but it won't damage your liver more than the latter, and it is much more pleasurable.

Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2019 9:46 pm
by E Pericoloso Sporgersi
voralfred wrote:Paracetamol (or acetaminophen) is also hepatotoxic.
...
A strong hot grog ... is much more pleasurable.
My unabashed dictionary says:
hepatotoxi-city - the capital of grog

Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2019 7:35 am
by Algot Runeman
aviculture

/ˈeɪvɪˌkʌltʃə/
noun
mass noun
The breeding and rearing of birds.

Origin
Late 19th century: from Latin avis ‘bird’ + culture.

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Not known for his high culture, John was a birdbrain, so he naturally was an expert in aviculture.

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Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2019 8:07 am
by Algot Runeman
cornetist
(also cornettist)

/kɔːˈnɛtɪst/
noun
A musician who plays the cornet

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A cornetist does not appreciate being called tightly wound.

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[In the ODO definition it merely said "see cornet". I do wish that otherwise helpful online dictionary woulld cease and desist from their paperbound proclivities.]

Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2019 10:34 am
by E Pericoloso Sporgersi
Algot Runeman wrote:cornetist
(also cornettist)
That brings to mind a Danny Kaye movie I've seen several times. The last time 5 years or so ago when I downloaded and saved it on HDD. Again I couldn't keep my feet from tapping the beat.

But now, for the first time, I googled for Loring "Red" Nichols.
I actually found a video with him performing live on New Year's Eve of 1956.
(Though I must admit preferring the more modern music versions of Kaye's Five Pennies.)

Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Wed Apr 10, 2019 7:57 am
by Algot Runeman
chinook

/ʃɪˈnʊk//tʃɪˈnuːk//ʃɪˈnuːk//tʃɪˈnʊk/
noun
1 A warm dry wind which blows down the east side of the Rocky Mountains at the end of winter.
2 A large North Pacific salmon which is an important food fish. Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, family Salmonidae

Origin
Mid 19th century: from attributive use of Chinook.

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Short-winded today, let's focus on the fishy meaning of chinook.

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Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Wed Apr 10, 2019 11:53 am
by E Pericoloso Sporgersi
Algot Runeman wrote:chinook
I'm not so much for fish.
I'd rather focus on Chinook helicopters.

Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2019 5:08 am
by Algot Runeman
zephyr

/ˈzɛfə/
noun
1 literary A soft gentle breeze.
2 historical mass noun A fine cotton gingham.
2.1 count noun - A very light article of clothing.

Origin
Late Old English zefferus, denoting a personification of the west wind, via Latin from Greek zephuros ‘(god of the) west wind’. Sense 1 dates from the late 17th century.

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Alice walked down Main Street in the village, heading south toward the general store. At the crossing with Market Avenue, a light west wind, merely a zephyr, caught the hem of her summer dress. Heads turned.

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Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2019 6:50 am
by E Pericoloso Sporgersi
Algot Runeman wrote:zephyr
...
At the crossing with Market Avenue, a light west wind, merely a zephyr, caught the hem of her summer dress. Heads turned.
Heads turned. The zephyr did not.

Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2019 5:07 pm
by voralfred
Two winds in a row, first chinook, then zephir....
Next time ODO gives us a repeat, there are dozens of winds to choose from. From the austrian Föhn that drives people crazy to the african khamsin that brings sand across the Mediterranean all the way to Europe. I remember once in Cannes when my white car had turned completely yellow. Everything one ate felt gritty under the teeth: the extra fine sand managed to get across anything.

Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Fri Apr 12, 2019 6:36 am
by Algot Runeman
benison

/ˈbɛnɪz(ə)n//ˈbɛnɪs(ə)n/
noun
literary
A blessing.

Origin
Middle English: from Old French beneiçun, from Latin benedictio (see benediction).

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Barbara loved her husband, dear.
The benefits of marriage, clear.
To their wedlock there's a benison.
Joe always brings home the venison.
Or on Sunday some finger licken'
If he brings home a plump chicken.
Of the sayin' I am certainly makin'
A muck: "Brings home the bacon."

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Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2019 9:23 am
by Algot Runeman
voralfred wrote:Next time ODO gives us a repeat, there are dozens of winds to choose from. From the austrian Föhn that drives people crazy to the african khamsin that brings sand across the Mediterranean all the way to Europe. I remember once in Cannes when my white car had turned completely yellow. Everything one ate felt gritty under the teeth: the extra fine sand managed to get across anything.
Sadly, today's ODO word on offer, opus, (for which I would just love to deliver a master work) is only 4 letters long and this forum software won't let me check for it in our past. I quickly checked on "khamsin" as a solution, but we have used that one before. "Föhn" is also a four letter word. Phooey!

Stymied...but only temporarily...Next up stymied!

Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2019 10:00 am
by Algot Runeman
stymie

/ˈstʌɪmi/
verb
[with object]
informal
Prevent or hinder the progress of.

Origin
Mid 19th century (originally a golfing term, denoting a situation on the green where a ball obstructs the shot of another player): of unknown origin.

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Ted contemplated his putt. Bob's marker looked flat enough, but would it still deflect his ball and stymie the shot?

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Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Sun Apr 14, 2019 8:04 am
by Algot Runeman
cobby

/ˈkɒbi/
adjective
(of horses, dogs, and other animals) shortish and thickset; stocky.

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I wonder why Joe prefers cobby animals?

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Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2019 8:31 am
by Algot Runeman
astragalus

/əˈstraɡ(ə)ləs/
noun
1 Zoology
another term for talus (ankle bone)
1.1 astragalihistorical Small bones used as dice.
2 A plant of a genus that includes milk vetch.
Genus Astragalus, family Leguminosae

Origin
Mid 16th century: via Latin from Greek astragalos ‘ankle bone, moulding’, also the name of a plant.

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It intrigues me that the astragalus bone isn't either of the projecting points (lateral and medial malleoli) I see when I look at someone's beautiful ankles.

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Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2019 5:42 pm
by voralfred
Curiously, when Albertine Sarrazin wrote "L'Astragale", she used usual, roman, characters rather than cuneiforms.

Sorry, no english Wiki page for this book.

Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 6:03 am
by Algot Runeman
nidus

/ˈnʌɪdəs/
noun
1 Medicine
A place in which bacteria have multiplied or may multiply; a focus of infection.
2 A place or situation in which something develops or is fostered.

Origin
Late 17th century (in the former sense ‘place in which an insect deposits its eggs’): from Latin, literally ‘nest’.

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Festering, foul and flourishing, bacteria rapidly developed in the blemish, an unwanted and unsightly nidus.
(Fear not, Joe has been to the doctor to get it fixed. No gross images needed.)

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Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 8:34 am
by E Pericoloso Sporgersi
Algot Runeman wrote:nidus
A few years ago, I had a swelling between my scapulae. An ulcus that I could barely reach with either hand and could hardly see, even with two mirrors.
My physician confirmed it was an ulcus, caused by infection of a sebaceous cyst. He incised and drained it, and prescribed Isobetadine ointment.

Had he said it was a nidus, I would have heard thunder in Cologne (*), not understanding the term.

(*) In Flemish: "horen donderen in Keulen", meaning: "being flabbergasted".

Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Wed Apr 17, 2019 6:38 am
by Algot Runeman
ungual

/ˈʌŋɡw(ə)l/
adjective
Medicine Zoology
Relating to or affecting a nail, hoof, or claw.

Origin
Mid 19th century: from Latin unguis ‘nail’ + -al.

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To paraphrase a similar saying, "To a set of clippers, every problem is ungual." [To a hammer,every problem is a nail.]

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Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Wed Apr 17, 2019 8:52 am
by E Pericoloso Sporgersi
Algot Runeman wrote:ungual
...
"To a set of clippers, every problem is ungual." [To a hammer,every problem is a nail.]
Replace both "ungual" and "nail" by the word "finger" for an interesting comparison. Image

Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Thu Apr 18, 2019 6:42 am
by Algot Runeman
couchant

/ˈkaʊtʃ(ə)nt/
adjective
Heraldry
usually postpositive (of an animal) lying with the body resting on the legs and the head raised.

Origin
Late Middle English: French, ‘lying’, present participle of coucher (see couch).

Calvin, the cat, rested couchant on the back of the couch, relaxed in the afternoon sun from the front window, but attentive to the birds in the shrubs outside, flitting from branch to branch.

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Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Fri Apr 19, 2019 6:50 am
by Algot Runeman
stagnant

/ˈstaɡnənt/
adjective
1 (of a body of water or the atmosphere of a confined space) having no current or flow and often having an unpleasant smell as a consequence.
1.1 Showing no activity; dull and sluggish.

Origin
Mid 17th century: from Latin stagnant- ‘forming a pool of standing water’, from the verb stagnare, from stagnum ‘pool’.

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The corporation shows some stagnant financial components.

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Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Sat Apr 20, 2019 7:47 am
by Algot Runeman
crackerjack

/ˈkrakədʒak/
adjective
North American
informal
Exceptionally good.

noun
North American
informal
An exceptionally good person or thing.

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Carl was a crackerjack baseball player, one error, on average per season as a shortstop, with a lifetime 355 batting average.

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[ODO offered frabjous today. An unused substitute was in order. How about staying in frame?]

Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2019 8:54 am
by Algot Runeman
funicular

/fjʊˈnɪkjʊlə//fəˈnɪkjʊlə/
adjective
1 (of a railway, especially one on a mountainside) operating by cable with ascending and descending cars counterbalanced.
2 Relating to a rope or its tension.
noun
A funicular railway.

Origin
Mid 17th century (in the sense ‘of or like a cord or thread’): from Latin funiculus (diminutive of funis ‘rope’) + -ar.

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Fran frankly feared heights, but somehow didn't mind taking the funicular up to the top of the town.

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Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2019 12:35 pm
by Algot Runeman
prologue

/ˈprəʊlɒɡ/
noun
1 A separate introductory section of a literary, dramatic, or musical work.
1.1 archaic The actor who delivers the prologue in a play.
2 An event or act that leads to another.
2.1 (in professional cycling) a short preliminary time trial held before a race to establish a leader.

Origin
Middle English: from Old French, via Latin from Greek prologos, from pro- ‘before’ + logos ‘saying’.

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The prologue to installing a fence is digging holes so you can put in the post logs.

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