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Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Vocabulary Answers March 2012

This was fun! I found out that several of you knew edamame, and John B. invented a wonderful word for silly- "magrapunious," and Ann suggests a travelator is a percolator for traveling (which I think works as well as the real meaning!)

Here we go!

rataplan= the sound of tattoo, such as a drum, horse hooves, or machine gun fire, etc.

encomium= a tribute or praise

diaconal= having to do with being a deacon

espagnolette= the hardware on a French door

travelator= a moving walkway (like in an airport)

mirador= an architectural feature, like a small balcony or tower with an extensive view

edamame= young soybeans, steamed or boiled in the pod

avulsive= where something is torn away from where it belongs, often refers to an injury

attar= essential oil of flowers used for perfumes

exogam= a person who marries outside of a certain group. For example, it's good to marry outside of the group of your blood relatives, which is biological exogamy, the opposite of incest

perfervid= overly eager

anastomosing= the reconnecting of things that were previously branched, such as a braided stream

otiose= lazy or indolent

gibus= a collapsible top hat

bastinado= foot torture

machicolated= having openings in the floor of a projecting battlement so that objects can be dropped on attackers

asseverate= to state positively and firmly

catafalque= a stand for a coffin

abseil= rappel

tatami= Japanese floor mats, usually made of rice straw and rushes, always exactly twice as long as they are wide

viaticals= a type of investment where a third party buys a life insurance policy for more than its cash surrender value but less than its death benefit

Whew! Wonder how many of them I'll remember? The ones I SHOULD have recognized are rataplan, attar, anastomosing, and abseil. I knew I'd seen them before, but couldn't remember their meaning.

The one I find most interesting is exogam (exogamy), since it's a common concept. It can also be applied culturally or linguistically (oddly enough) where people only marry someone from other cultures, or who speak other languages.

If you are worded out, I'll leave you with a graphic demonstration of how the color "apple green" gets its name. Enjoy the lovely baby leaves.

emerging apple leaves

See Vocabulary Day March 2012
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6 comments:

jeanlivingsimple said...

Goodness...You have floored me with this word post. It is way to late (EST) for me to process all these new words.:)

john bain said...

I simply cannot asseverate enough just how much I enjoyed this post.

Ann said...

Well I guess I was a little off...lol

rainfield61 said...

Your have a beautiful picture.

And here we are back to school again.

Sharkbytes said...

Jean- Well, I collected them all over 3 months. I really want to get back to doing only a few at a time. I even made a graphic for the plan, so long ago. They really are too much in one big lump.

John- I'm glad that you have assimilated asseverate without my needing to resort to bastinado.

Ann- maybe we need a word for a percolator that is moving on a travelator.

rainfield- This would be one tough vocabulary test!

vanilla said...

Do you read the dictionary "just for fun"?
;-)