GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

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E Pericoloso Sporgersi
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Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Post by E Pericoloso Sporgersi »

Algot Runeman wrote:crocket
Long ago my mom (if still alive, she would be 100 years old now) used to produce crockets with rolled mashed potatoes, beaten egg and breadcrumbs. She let them stiffen and set in the fridge for one night.

Then she fried them in hot molten beef fat to a crisp brown crust and served them with whatever else she had cooked, beef or pork roast, rabbit or rack of hare grandmother's style, venison or boar stew, or some other tasty game with a dark brown sauce.

Now I have no idea whether crockets is the correct term to apply to rolls of mashed potato in breadcrumbs, but I don't care very much because these potato crockets are delicious and I'll eat them any time, no matter what they're called.

In Dutch and Flemish a single crocket is spelled kroket (plural kroketten), but the pronunciation is almost identical.
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Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Post by Algot Runeman »

isagogics

/ˌʌɪsəˈɡɒdʒɪks/
plural noun
treated as singular Introductory study, especially of the literary and external history of the Bible prior to exegesis.

Origin
Mid 19th century: plural of isagogic, via Latin from Greek eisagōgikos, from eisagōgē ‘introduction’, from eis ‘into’ + agein ‘to lead’.

==========

Flipping through the WotD might be considered isagogics prior to a thorough examination of the unabridged dictionary.

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Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Post by Algot Runeman »

tetrad

/ˈtɛtrad/
noun
technical
A group or set of four.

Origin
Mid 17th century: from Greek tetras, tetrad- ‘four, a group of four’.

==========

The Kingston Trio was one singer short of a quartet, technically a triad, not a tetrad.

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Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Post by Algot Runeman »

blunderbuss

/ˈblʌndəbʌs/
noun
1 historical A short large-bored gun firing balls or slugs.
2 An action or way of doing something regarded as lacking in subtlety and precision.

Origin
Mid 17th century: alteration (by association with blunder) of Dutch donderbus, literally ‘thunder gun’.

==========

A blunderbuss is not suitable for long range accuracy.

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Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Post by Algot Runeman »

o-o

/ˈəʊəʊ/
(also oo)
noun
A honeyeater (bird) found in Hawaii, now probably extinct, which had a thin curved bill and climbed about on tree trunks.
Genus Moho, family Meliphagidae
Compare with ou

Origin
Late 19th century: from Hawaiian.

==========

Oh, oh! That wasn't an o'o, was it? I thought the species was extinct.

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Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Post by Algot Runeman »

clepsydra

/ˈklɛpsɪdrə/
noun
An ancient time-measuring device worked by a flow of water.

Origin
Late Middle English: via Latin from Greek klepsudra, based on kleptein ‘steal’ + hudōr ‘water’.

==========

By the time of the Greeks, a water clock, then called a clepsydra, had progressed to having time indicator scales to mark intervals during the day or night.

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Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Post by Algot Runeman »

slaughter

/ˈslɔːtə/
verb
[with object]
1 Kill (animals) for food.
1.1 Kill (people or animals) in a cruel or violent way, typically in large numbers.
1.2informal Defeat (an opponent) thoroughly.
noun
mass noun
1 The killing of animals for food.
1.1 The killing of a large number of people or animals in a cruel or violent way.
1.2 informal count noun A thorough defeat.

Origin
Middle English (as a noun): from Old Norse slátr ‘butcher's meat’; related to slay. The verb dates from the mid 16th century.

==========

See before you the site of significant slaughter.

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Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Post by Algot Runeman »

pusillanimous

/ˌpjuːsɪˈlanɪməs/
adjective
Showing a lack of courage or determination; timid.

Origin
Late Middle English: from ecclesiastical Latin pusillanimis (translating Greek oligopsukhos), from pusillus ‘very small’ + animus ‘mind’, + -ous.

==========

Um, yes, I am certain, positive, sure. I am pusillanimous, I think, maybe.

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Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Post by E Pericoloso Sporgersi »

Algot Runeman wrote:slaughter
...
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Instead of the view of a site of significant slaughter, I would very much prefer the sight of significant laughter.
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Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Post by Algot Runeman »

E.P.S. wrote: I would very much prefer the sight of significant laughter.
Ho, ho, ho.
Ha, ha, ha!
Hee, hee, hee.

Consider my knee slapped.
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Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Post by Algot Runeman »

impish

/ˈɪmpɪʃ/

adjective
Inclined to do slightly naughty things for fun; mischievous.

Origin
Old English impa, impe ‘young shoot, scion’, impian ‘to graft’, based on Greek emphuein ‘to implant’. In late Middle English, the noun denoted a descendant, especially of a noble family, and later a child of the devil or a person regarded as such; hence a ‘little devil’ or mischievous child (early 17th century).

==========

Todd was impish,
A little scamp.
He rode his skateboard
Down the busy ramp.

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Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Post by Algot Runeman »

azygous

/ˈazɪɡəs/
adjective
Biology Anatomy
(of an organic structure) single; not existing in pairs.

Origin
Mid 19th century: from Greek azugos ‘unyoked’ (compare with azygos vein) + -ous.

==========

Lungs and kidneys come in pairs, but there is only one stomach. It is azygous.

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Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Post by voralfred »

Algot, you are really azygous, there is noone like you.

E.P.S. is sometimes impish.

I'd like to contribute more often, but I am too pusillanimous, fearing to commit a blunderbuss.
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Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Post by Algot Runeman »

subreption

/səˈbrɛpʃn/
noun

1 Misrepresentation or suppression of the truth or facts; an act or instance of this.
2 Ecclesiastical Law. Suppression of the truth or concealment of facts in order to obtain a dispensation, etc.

Origin
Late 16th century. From classical Latin subreptiōn-, subreptiō act of taking secretly, stealing (2nd cent. a.d. in Apuleius), in post-classical Latin also action of snatching away by death, deceit, trickery from subrept-, past participial stem of subripere + -iō.

=========

I think "lies" when I hear the term subreption.

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Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Post by Algot Runeman »

barbecue

/ˈbɑːbɪkjuː/
noun
1 A meal or gathering at which meat, fish, or other food is cooked out of doors on a rack over an open fire or on a special appliance.
verb
[with object]
Cook (food) on a barbecue.

Origin
Mid 17th century: from Spanish barbacoa, perhaps from Arawak barbacoa ‘wooden frame on posts’. The original sense was ‘wooden framework for sleeping on, or for storing meat or fish to be dried’.


==========

The AFC Champion Patriots had a metaphoric barbecue, ultimately defeating the Chiefs in overtime.

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Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Post by Algot Runeman »

encephalon

/ɛˈkɛfəlɒn//ɛnˈsɛfəlɒn/
noun
Anatomy
The brain.

Origin
Mid 18th century: from Greek enkephalon ‘what is inside the head’, from en- ‘inside’ + kephalē ‘head’.

==========

We have a lot of nerve, discussing the encephalon in day-to-day conversation.

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Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Post by E Pericoloso Sporgersi »

Algot Runeman wrote:encephalon
With encephalon you're touching on a gastronomic delicacy.

Unfortunately, ever since the BSE-scare (Creutzfeldt–Jakob and mad cow disease) in the 80's, veal brain can not be had any more. :cry:

Oh well, lamb or pork brain will do as a substitute, as these aren't bovine.
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Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Post by Algot Runeman »

clowder

/ˈklaʊdə/
noun
rare
A group of cats.

Origin
Early 19th century: from dialect cludder ‘clutter’, probably related to clot.

==========

If you avoid spaying and neutering, you will soon gather a clowder of cats.

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Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Post by E Pericoloso Sporgersi »

Algot Runeman wrote:clowder
...
If you avoid spaying and neutering, you will soon gather a clowder of cats.
Your clowder of cats must have had/be having lots of fun. :lol:
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Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Post by voralfred »

Cats don't just come in clowders, they also come in glarings, pounces and destructions (although the latter is specific to feral cats, it would seem - though any owner of a domestic cat knows that she -or he, or even it- can be a destruction single-handed, er.. hm.. single-pawed ?).

Collective nouns for animals in english are amazing to me.
In general I’d be hard pressed to tell a crow from a raven, a rook, a jackdaw or a chough.
I am just as unable to recognise un corbeau d’une corneille, d’un freux, d’un choucas ou d’un chocard (ou d’un crave - french has two different names for the two species of the genus Pyrrhocorax, in english both are choughs)

But to tell a murder from a unkindness, a building (or a parliament), a train (that may be a clattering), or a chattering (also called a clattering, a possible confusion in that case) is way beyond my ability.
SInce all these names are called "terms of venery", you english speaking people are really great hunters !

There are four terms for a collective of ducks, and three more for a collective of mallards (four if you count the two spellings sute and suit as separate rather than just variants of a single name), and none are common. But if I see a single mallard, I'd call it a duck !

There are also some paradoxes.
Grasshoppers come in clouds, but locusts in plagues.
Also, you can have a sloth of bears, but not a bear of sloths: there is no name for a group of sloths. It is true that sloth are not very social creatures.

EPS:
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You should have posted your spoiler only in the Velvet Room, you lecher, you ! :hot:
I was not able to see its content directly by clicking on the link as it appeared, it was blocked, but by pretending to quote your post, I was able to copy the name of original website and thus have access to it. :banana:
Some in-built protection of the Web realised it was not appropriate to the younger members of this forum ! :worship:

Hey ! Now it works directly on your post, finding it once by an indirect way managed to release the block. My respect for the higher morality of the Web has decreased. :butter:
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Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Post by Algot Runeman »

venation

/vɪˈneɪʃ(ə)n/
noun
mass noun
Biology
1 The arrangement of veins in a leaf or in an insect's wing.
1.1 The system of venous blood vessels in an animal.

Origin
Mid 17th century: from Latin vena ‘vein’ + -ation.

==========

Venation describes half of the system of blood vessels, but there does not appear to be a similar collective term for the arteries. It may also fascinate me that the etymology of "artery" is from Greek "windpipe". I wonder just how confused early doctors were.

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[It is very timely that "terms of venery" was mentioned by voralfred a moment ago. There is a coincidence in there, for sure. Veins came up by chance so I won't feel vain about mentioning them.]
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Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Post by Algot Runeman »

indict

/ɪnˈdʌɪt/
verb
[with object]
North American
Formally accuse of or charge with a crime.

Origin
Middle English endite, indite, from Anglo-Norman French enditer, based on Latin indicere ‘proclaim, appoint’, from in- ‘towards’ + dicere ‘pronounce, utter’.

==========

The state's prosecutor stood before the judge to indict John for speeding.

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Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Post by Algot Runeman »

angular

/ˈaŋɡjʊlə/
adjective
1 Having angles or sharp corners.
1.1 (of a person or part of their body) lean and having a prominent bone structure.
2 Physics
Denoting physical properties or quantities measured with reference to or by means of an angle, especially those associated with rotation.
3 Astrology
Relating to or denoting any of the houses that begin at the four cardinal points of a chart.

Origin
Late Middle English (as an astrological term): from Latin angularis, from angulus (see angle).

==========

Alex wore an angular hat.

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Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Post by Algot Runeman »

rammel

/ˈram(ə)l
noun
English Regional, Midlands, Scottish, Northern
1 Small stunted trees or bushes collectively; a thicket. Now Scottish.
2 Broken bricks or stones, rubble; waste material; (more generally) rubbish. Now English regional.
3 Shale, occurring in a thin stratum, often found just above the coal seam.

Origin
Middle English (in an earlier sense). Probably partly from Anglo-Norman ramail, ramaile, ramayle, ramale, from rame branch + -elle.

==========

Ronnie rambled through the rammel and the rubble. A kid can make a playground from just about anything.

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Re: GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Post by Algot Runeman »

rip-and-read


adjective
US
Designating material to be read on radio or television which is supplied by teletype to local stations.

Origin
1950s; earliest use found in Lowell (Massachusetts) Daily Sun.

==========

Changes in technology have made rip-and-read into "breaking news". Perhaps the source bureau is the same, but it might just be from social media.

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