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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
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"durance vile" used to be a euphemisms for jail.
"Old Nandy had a patron: one patron. He had a patron who in a
certain sumptuous way--an apologetic way, as if he constantly took
an admiring audience to witness that he really could not help being
more free with this old fellow than they might have expected, on
account of his simplicity and poverty--was mightily good to him.
Old Nandy had been several times to the Marshalsea College,
communicating with his son-in-law during his short durance there;
and had happily acquired to himself, and had by degrees and in
course of time much improved, the patronage of the Father of that
national institution."
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
Well, this was interesting, wwh: I read through some definitions of durance and one was synonymous with 'imprisonment,' as you wrote more specifically with your 'durance vile,' although apparently you don't need to append the 'vile'...
...and the third definition being obsolete, but I wonder? There seems to be a very popular fabric here in the South, and probably many other places, too, that meets this description:
"an obsolete strong felted cloth of woolen or worsted usually made in imitation of buff leather "
We do have a fabric that appears to be buff leather that s actually a kind of felted cloth. It looks very much like moleskin. If of troy happens by here, she may know the difference.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 13,858 |
Durance means imprisonment, but durance vile is extra unpleasant incarceration.
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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i know mole skin-- but to my mind mole skin (except when sold by Dr Scholls for foot care,) is always a dark color.. a dark olivy green, or khaki colored..
mole skin is a very strong twill with a napped surface --not quite felted, (but surprising pleasant to touch) -- it was common cloth for miners overalls
and is it mole skin because miners and navies and sand hogs were sometimes called moles? or because it looked like moles skin? i don't know!
i don't know durance as cloth at all..
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
Moleskin (the cloth) feels very much like chamois to me. I do wonder whether it is similar to this 'obsolete' durance mentioned in MW. Thanks, of troy, for taking a look.
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 5,400 |
WW-- as dr bill knows, (i told 'im!)i often check here below the fold before checking out thread above.. i know that i let hundred of words pass uncommented on.. but i have commented on many...
thank you for your comments..
i love the comraddiery, and fun that AWAD has become, but sometimes i really just enjoy learning new words.. and exploring meanings of words i think i know... Dr bill has given us hundreds.. and i sometimes think these thread below the fold are the best!
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
Thanks, of troy. I echo your sentiments and enjoy so much Bill's energy in unearthing these beauties, for which I have little time due to duties at school to respond to. But this holiday has been very much fun just to go back and read some of what wwh has gleaned for us--and then to have him respond to those that caught his interest through us again.
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