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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
here then are the results for speight, with comments and notes to follow:
a) a long handled gaff used in sport fishing [consuelo] etaoin, belMarduk
b) German mythological bird resembling a yellow-bellied sapsucker [AnnaStrophic]
c) a channel sewn into a corset to hold a whalebone (baleen) stiffening strip [Elizabeth Creith] Alex W, wofa
d) a bridge which requires payment of a toll at both ends. [musick]
e) to make clear or clarify; elucidate [Kelly123]
f) the green woodpecker (obs.) [OED2] ASp
The green woodpecker, Gecinus viridis. [Either repr. an unrecorded OE. *speht (*speoht), or a. MDu. or MLG. specht (Du. specht, WFris. specht, spjucht), = OS. speth (sic), OHG. speht (MHG. speht, speiht, G. specht): cf. Da. spætte, Norw. spetta, Sw. hackspett, and OF. espoit, espois (from Germanic). The ultimate affinities of the word are uncertain.] {there’s that WFris. again}
g) foul-mouthed [Bingley]
h) prediction, prophecy; augury, omen. (rare) [joe friday] Bingley, Elizabeth C, Kelly
i) a drying rack for turves [TEd Remington] Faldage, Marianna, themilum
j) a display window magic trick: An unhooked spigot is suspended from a height of about two feet by a single fishing line. Once turned on water rushes out from the spigot into a wash pan night and day for about a week. [themilum]
k) hardy wheat grown mostly in Europe for livestock feed [Marianna] Consuelo, A.
l) a collection, meeting, or assemblage, esp. one to elect a military officer from the ranks of enlisted men. (archaic) [Alex Williams] musick
m) (Scot.) late; lateness [wofahulicodoc]
n) a small wooden sluice for draining water from an overflow tank [Faldage] Ted, Jackie
o) a slew; a myriad; a vast quantity [WhitmanO'Neill]
NB:
• The startling bit is that there was a tie at the top (three votes ea.) between TEd R. and joe f. (breaking a long draught for joe); using the usual* tie-breaking procedures…
• a drying rack for *turves*??
• ASp voted for the woodpecker based seemingly on some odd bird association(?) to her submitted def’n. [but she was first (and onliest) to pick the correct def’n, thereby denying the hogmaster a sweep of top honors]
• I think Milo has lost his touch, or has lost touch, one.
• Excepting the birds [edit: and the waters], I don’t see any armils® (unless you count the more obvious relationship to the term spate, which didn’t get much play).
* arbitrary and capricious
-hogmaster ron
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
I picked up that word on a trip to Ireland, I think. When I biked throughout Ireland I saw many times the pyramid stacks of peat drying in the sun, and when we were there three years ago I took a little train tour of a place they harvested the peat to produce electricity. Massive operation covering hundreds if not thousands of acres. We got a chance to try our hands and backs at cutting peat using the special shovels the Irish developed for the purpose. But I think I heard turves during my first tour.
TEd
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Joined: Jan 2001
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
from the Online Etymology Dictionary turf (n.)
O.E. turf, tyrf "slab of soil and grass," also "surface of grassland," from P.Gmc. *turb- (cf. O.N. torf, Dan. tørv, O.Fris. turf, O.H.G. zurba, Ger. Torf), from PIE base *drbh- (cf. Skt. darbhah "tuft of grass"). Fr. tourbe "turf" is a Gmc. loan-word. The O.E. plural was identical with the singluar, but in M.E. turves sometimes was used. Slang meaning "territory claimed by a gang" is attested from 1953 in Brooklyn, N.Y.; earlier it had a jive talk sense of "the street, the sidewalk" (1930s), which is attested in hobo use from 1899, and before that "the work and venue of a prostitute" (1860). The verb is attested from c.1430, originally "to cover (ground) with turf." Turf war is recorded from 1950s.
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,096 Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,096 Likes: 2 |
...obvious relationship to the term spate, which didn’t get much play
"Spät," pronounced shpate, is German for "late." No one took the bait, is all!
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Joined: Jan 2001
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
Quote:
...obvious relationship to the term spate, which didn’t get much play
"Spät," pronounced shpate, is German for "late." No one took the bait, is all!
How is lateness related to a spate [(a) : a large number or amount <a spate of books on gardening> (b) : a sudden or strong outburst]?
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Joined: May 2005
Posts: 456
addict
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addict
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 456 |
It was mentioned, as "...sounds plausible as a foreign or archaic spelling of 'spate'..." but somehow not as credible as some of the other fake answers.
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
I'm a beginning birder. Maybe what happened is I ran across the word in one of my bird books and remembered it enough to construct a daffynition and then to recognize the real one. There's a word for that.
I'm ready -- bring it on!
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
Quote:
There's a word for that.
Bird-brained? 
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Quote:
Quote:
There's a word for that.
Bird-brained?
Which takes on a whole new meaning given recent discoveries about birds' mental capacities. Can you remember where you hid 15,863 pine nuts last fall?
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
At the price of pine nuts these days I know where every damned one of 'em is. Put up in a high cupboard where the kids cannot get at them for snacks!
TEd
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