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VAMP
PRONUNCIATION: (vamp)
MEANING: noun: 1. The front upper part of a shoe.
2. Something patched up or improvised.
3. A short, introductory musical passage, usually improvised, repeated several times.
verb tr.: 1. To provide a shoe with a new vamp.
2. To piece together; to improvise.
verb intr.: To play a short, introductory musical passage several times.
noun: A woman who uses her charm to exploit men.
verb tr.: To seduce or exploit.
verb intr.: To behave like a vamp.
ETYMOLOGY: For the 1st group: From Old French avanpié, from avant (fore) + pié (foot), from Latin pes (foot). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ped- (foot), which gave us pedal, impeccable, podium, octopus, impeach, peccadillo (alluding to a stumble or fall), antipodes, expediency, and impeccable. Earliest documented use: 1225.
For the 2nd group: Short for vampire, from French, from Hungarian vampir, from a Slavic language. Earliest documented use: 1904.
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V.A. MOP - used by the janitor in a Veterans' Administration hospital to swab the floors
AVA, M.P. - Ms Gardner has won a seat in the House of Commons
TV AMP - increases the sound level of my television
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SHOEHORN
PRONUNCIATION: (SHOO-horn)
MEANING: verb tr.: To force something into an insufficient or unsuitable space.
noun: A tool to help slide one’s heel into a shoe.
ETYMOLOGY:
Originally, shoehorns were made of the horns of animals. Earliest documented use: 1589.
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SHOECORN - what you get when your footwear is too tight
SHOP HORN - tells factory workers when it’s lunchtime
SHOEBORN - the Old Woman had another kid
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STIGMA
PRONUNCIATION:(STIG-mah)
plural stigmata (stig-MAH-tuh, STIG-muh-) or stigmas
MEANING: noun:
1. A mark of shame or infamy.
2. A birthmark or scar.
3. An identifying mark of a disease.
4. The tip of the pistil of a flower where pollen is deposited.
5. A mark burned into the skin of a person.
ETYMOLOGY: From Latin stigma, from Greek stigma (tattoo mark), from stizein (to prick). Ultimately from the Indo-European root steig- (to stick; pointed), which is also the source of ticket, etiquette, instinct, stigma, thistle, tiger, and steak. Earliest documented use: 1596.
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ASTIGMA - shortened form of why your vision is distorted
STING-MA - the Queen Bee
'STIN, MA - answer to your mother's query, "What element is Sn?"
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STRATUM
PRONUNCIATION: (STRAY-tuhm, STRAT-uhm)
plural strata (STRAY-tuh, STRAT-uh) or stratums
MEANING: noun: A layer of something, as rock, tissue, people at an economic level, etc.
ETYMOLOGY: From Latin stratum (cover), past participle of sternere (to spread). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ster- (to spread), which also gave us structure, industry, destroy, street, Russian perestroika, stratagem, and stratocracy. Earliest documented use: 1599. Nowadays, the word is often seen in its plural form used as a singular, similar to agenda, errata, etc.
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STRADUM - one single priceless old violin
ASTRA-TUM - the pocket antacid tablet preferred by the ISS crew
SPRATUM - why Jack could eat no fat, and his wife no lean
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GUTTA
PRONUNCIATION: (GUHT-uh)
plural guttae (GUHT-ee)
MEANING: noun:
1. A drop.
2. One of a series of ornaments, typically in the shape of a truncated cone on buildings (in the Doric order in classical architecture).
ETYMOLOGY: From Latin gutta (drop). Earliest documented use: 1398.
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MUTTA - my female parent comes from in Boston
GUSTA - she likes it in Mexico City
GITTA - six-stringed musical instrument often used by Boston folk singers
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CHARISMA
PRONUNCIATION: (kuh-RIZ-muh)
plural charismata (kuh-RIZ-muh-tuh)*
MEANING: noun: A personal charm or appeal that inspires devotion, loyalty, enthusiasm, etc.
ETYMOLOGY: From Latin, from Greek kharisma, from kharis (favor, grace). Ultimately from the Indo-European root gher- (to like or want), which also gave us chrestomathy, hortatory, hortative, yearn, greedy, and exhort. Earliest documented use: 1641.
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*(I didn't think there was a plural!)
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CHERI'S MA - the mother of my dear French friend
(also, of course, "CHER IS MA - My mother was married to Sony Bono in the 1960s")
CHARISM - a fanatical insistence on ultra-well-toasted marshmallows
CHARISMAS - a poorly-articulated holiday that occurs near the winter solstice
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SOCRATIC METHOD
PRONUNCIATION: (suh-KRAT-ik meth-uhd)
MEANING: noun: A method of teaching in which, instead of giving the answer, the teacher guides students to it by asking them a series of questions.
ETYMOLOGY: After Greek philosopher Socrates (c. 470-399 BCE) who employed this method in his teaching. Earliest documented use: 1741. Socrates’s wife Xanthippe has also given us an eponym.
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SOCIATIC METH O.D. - we have a big problem with too much methamphetamine
SORATIC METHOD - procedure for treating an exfoliative skin disease
ISOCRATIC METHOD - principle of self-government
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