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DOBBER

PRONUNCIATION: (DOB-uhr)

MEANING: noun:
1. An informer.
2. In cricket, a bowler, especially a slow bowler.
3. A float for a fishing line.
4. A large marble.

ETYMOLOGY: For 1, 2: From dob (to inform, to put down, to throw).
For 3: From Dutch dobber (float, cork).
For 4: From dob, a variant of dab (lump).
Earliest documented use: 1836.
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DOUBER - what to do when you need to get somewhere in NYC and you don't have a car

DOBER - familiar form of an allegedly vicious breed of dog

ADOBBER - someone who erects Pueblo-style homes (or Hopi or Zuni, if you like)

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BRUIT

PRONUNCIATION: (broot)

MEANING: noun: 1. Rumor.
2. Report.
3. Noise.
4. An abnormal sound heard in internal organs in the body during auscultation.
verb tr.: 1. To report.
2. To repeat.
3. To spread a rumor.

ETYMOLOGY: From Anglo-Norman bruire (to make a noise), from Latin brugere, a blending of rugire (to roar) + bragire (to bray). Earliest documented use: 1400.
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BERUIT - captail of Lebanon

B. QUIT - second option for dealing with an obnoxious boss

BRUSIT - what you'll do if you squeeze the fruit too hard

BLUIT - gave up a walkoff home run in the ninth and lost the game

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CAMEO

PRONUNCIATION: (KAM-ee-oh)

MEANING: noun:
1. A small sculpture carved in relief on a background of another color.
2. A short description, literary sketch, etc., that effectively presents the subject.
3. A very brief appearance by a well-known actor or celebrity in a film, typically in a non-speaking role.
4. A brief appearance or a minor role.

ETYMOLOGY: From Italian cammeo, from Latin cammaeus. Earliest documented use: 1561.
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CAMEOW - the utterance (udderance?) of a bovine kitty

CHAMEO - a soft cloth used for polishing

CAFÉO - French coffee, without the milk

CAMOO - French existentialist novelist, author of [i]The Stronger[/b]

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PILLBOX

PRONUNCIATION: (PIL-boks)

MEANING: noun:
1. A small container for pills.
2. A small fortified enclosure, used for firing weapons, observing, etc.
3. A small brimless hat with a flat top and straight sides.
4. Something small or ineffectual.

ETYMOLOGY: From pill, from Latin pilula (little ball), from pila (ball) + box, from Old English, from Latin buxis, from pyxis (boxwood box), from Greek pyxis, from pyxos (box tree). Earliest documented use: 1702.
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GILLBOX - what fish get their oxygen delivered in

POLLBOX - where you deposit your ballot

SPILLBOX - a large concrete casting downstream from a dam to minimize erosion from the water runoff

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PLIGHT

PRONUNCIATION: (plyt)

MEANING: noun: 1. An unfortunate situation.
2. A pledge.
3. A fold, wrinkle, braid, etc. Also called plait or pleat.
verb tr.: 1. To become engaged to marry.
2. To promise.
3. To fold, wrinkle, braid, etc.

ETYMOLOGY: For noun/verb 1, 2: From Old English pliht (danger).
For noun/verb 3: From Anglo-Norman plit (fold, wrinkle, condition), from Latin plicare (to fold).
Earliest documented use: 450.
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D-LIGHT - what else they do, for most

PLIGHTY - going from one peril to the next

P-SIGHT - possessed mostly by older men: tracking the strength of your urinary stream

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PAPIER-MACHÉ

PRONUNCIATION: (pay-puhr muh-SHAY)

MEANING: noun: A mixture of pulped paper, glue, etc., used in making sculptures, boxes, ornaments, etc.
adjective: 1. Made of papier-mache.
2. Fragile; temporary; false; illusory.

ETYMOLOGY: From French papier-mâché (chewed paper). Earliest documented use: 1753.
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RAPIER-MACHÉ - my sword got mashed between a rock and a hard place

PAPIER-MACH - lightning-fast, at least on paper

POPIER-MACHÉ - in a disagreement between Il Papa and the Bishops' Council, the Pope wins

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SOUGH

MEANING: verb intr.: To make a moaning, sighing, whistling, murmuring, or rustling sound.
noun: 1. Such a sound.
2. A rumor.

ETYMOLOGY: From Old English swogan (to rustle, whistle, etc.). Earliest documented use: before 1066.
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SCOUGH - 1. belittle, sneer at; 2. to scrape or mar, as shoes

O SO UGH - extremely distasteful

SPOUGH - a pastiche or satire for comedic purposes

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WOOLGATHERING

PRONUNCIATION: (WOOL-gath-uh-ring)

MEANING: noun:
1. Daydreaming.
2. Absentmindedness.

ETYMOLOGY: From wool, from Old English wull + gathering, from Old English gaderian. Earliest documented use: 1553.

NOTES: Woolgathering may be aimless wandering of the mind these days, but once it was serious work. It was pulling tufts of wool caught on bushes or fences or left on the ground by sheep. Besides today’s word, the English language has many other ovine-related terms, such as sheep’s eyes and sheeple.
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WOO-LATHERING - soft-soaping your sweetie-pie so she'll agree to marry you

WOOF GATHERING - bunching together the cross-threads in woven cloth, to pinch the fabric

WOOL-BATHE RING - a community activity, akin to a quilting bee, to cleanse the sheep-shearings

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SCABBY

PRONUNCIATION: (SKAB-ee)

MEANING: adjective:
1. Having scabs.
2. Mean or contemptible.

ETYMOLOGY: From scab, from Old Norse skabb (scab, itch). Earliest documented use: 1526.

NOTES: The word scab started out as a skin disease, evolved into a word for a crust over a wound, and then figuratively, into a moral disease. Eventually, it was applied to a mean person, especially a strike-breaker. Two other terms for such a person are fink and blackleg.
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SCARBY - worker in an itinerant carnival; a carny or roustabout (after Scarborough Fair)

SCA-BABY - a teen-ager preoccupied with Jamaican music

SCA BOY - a young man who's very active in the Society for Creative Anachronisms

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FLAGSHIP

PRONUNCIATION: (FLAG-ship)

MEANING: noun:
1. A ship that carries the fleet commander and flies the commander’s flag.
2. The best or the most important of a group of things.

ETYMOLOGY: From flag, of obscure origin + ship, from Old English scip. Earliest documented use: 1672.
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FLAGSHIP - a vessel that carries pennants, banners, gonfalons, and such

FLOGSHIP - a boat propelled by malfeasants shackled to oars (see also FLAYSHIP)

FLATS HIP - shoes without heels are all the rage these days

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