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GAZUMP

PRONUNCIATION: (guh-ZUHMP)

MEANING: verb tr.:
1. To raise the price after accepting an offer from a buyer.
2. To offer a higher price to a seller on something that’s already being sold to another.
3. To preempt something, especially by questionable means.
4. To swindle.

ETYMOLOGY: Of uncertain origin, perhaps from Yiddish gezumph (to overcharge). Earliest documented use: 1928.

NOTES: Gazumping often happens in house sales. You have found your dream house, everything looks great, price negotiations are finished, inspection is done, you are ready to sign the contract, and then the seller receives a higher bid and gazumps: raises the price on you. It’s mostly seen in the UK. The term is often used in an extended sense: to trump something by the use of dubious methods. There’s a counterpart to today’s word. Meet it on Friday
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GAZUP - what it does before it comes down, as it must

HAZUMP - decides whether things are dangerous or not

GAGUMP - baseball referee's been ordered not to say anything to anybody...

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AL DESKO

PRONUNCIATION: (al DES-ko)

MEANING: adverb: At one’s desk.

ETYMOLOGY: Patterned after alfresco, from desk, from Latin desca (desk), from discus (disk), from Greek diskos (disk). Earliest documented use: 1981.
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AIL DESKO - repetitive strain injury caused by sitting still at work all day

AL DISKO - ¿Where are we dancing tonight, Mamacita?

ALDO'S KO - the former Prime Minister of Italy was famous for using this tactic when he played Go

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GRINAGOG

PRONUNCIATION: (GRIN-uh-gog)

MEANING: noun: One who is always grinning.

ETYMOLOGY: From grin, from Old English grennian (to show the teeth in pain or anger) + apparently -agogue (bringer). Earliest documented use: 1565.
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GRINGO G. - a recently-arrived visitor to Latin America, whose identity shall remain disguised

GRIN, MAGOG - the Apocalypse is at hand!

AGRI-NAGOG - a farm near the pond in Acton/Littleton, Massachusetts

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POT-VALOR

PRONUNCIATION: (POT-val-uhr)

MEANING: noun: Boldness or courage induced by the consumption of alcohol.

NOTES: Also known as liquid courage or Dutch courage.

ETYMOLOGY: From pot, alluding to a drinking pot + valor (boldness), from Latin valor (worth), from valere (to be well, be of worth). Ultimately from the Indo-European root wal- (to be strong), which also gave us valiant, avail, valor, value, wieldy, countervail, valence, valetudinarian, and valorize. Earliest documented use: 1623.
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POT-VATOR - device for taking the weed up or down a floor, but in any case out of view

POT-VAPOR - all that remains of the marijuana after using the above device

POST-VALOR - ...nor Covid-19 shall stay these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds

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GAZUNDER

PRONUNCIATION: (guh-ZUHN-duhr)

MEANING: verb tr.: To reduce the amount of an offer after it has been accepted by the seller.

ETYMOLOGY: A blend of gazump + under. Earliest documented use: 1988.

NOTES: To gazump is to raise the price after accepting an offer from a buyer, but buyers are not always angels. Sometimes a buyer reduces the offer, just before signing the contract. These typically happen in the housing market. A real-estate company even offers a helpful article on How To Gazunder Successfully. While legal, the practice is clearly unethical. It’s fitting then, that the word gazunder has another slang meaning, though it’s unrelated to today’s word. It also refers to a chamber pot, from the condensed spelling of “goes under” referring to where a chamber pot is placed.
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GAZE-UNDER - to search for a chamber-pot

GA-ZOUNDER - one who is given to SUDDEN LOUD EXCLAMATIONS !

G'LAUNDER - to run through the g'washing machine

GAWUNDER - drown

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TRANSECT

PRONUNCIATION: (tran-SEKT)

MEANING: verb tr.: To cut across.
noun: 1. A narrow section through a natural feature.
2. A path along which measurements or observations are made.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin trans- (across) + secare (to cut). Earliest documented use: for verb 1634, for noun 1905.
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TRANSECTS - arthropods who change their gender

TRAINSECT - we worship railroad locomotive and cars and tracks

TRANSPECT - to look across

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SURFEIT

PRONUNCIATION: (SUHR-fit)

MEANING: noun: 1. Excess.
2. Overindulgence in eating or drinking.
3. Satiety or disgust caused by overindulgence.
verb tr.: To do or supply anything to excess.
verb intr.: 1. To overindulge.
2. To suffer from overindulgence.

ETYMOLOGY: From Old French surfait (excess), from past participle of surfaire (to overdo), from sur- (over, above) + faire (to do), from Latin facere (to do). Earliest documented use: for noun 1387, for verb 1400.
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SMURFEIT - the little blue girl

SQUR-FEIT - how my apartment is measured

SUR-FIT - same size for everybody! (see also SURE-FEIT)

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RECONNOITER or RECONNOITRE

PRONUNCIATION: (ree-kuh-NOI-tuhr, rek-uh-)

MEANING: verb tr., intr.: To explore or scout an area for gathering information.
noun: An act of reconnoitering.

ETYMOLOGY: From obsolete French reconnoître, from Latin recognoscere, from re- (again) + gnoscere (to know). Ultimately from the Indo-European root gno- (to know), which is also the source of know, recognize, acquaint, ignore, diagnosis, notice, normal, agnostic, incognito, connoisseur, cognize, anagnorisis (the moment of recognition or discovery), and prosopagnosia (inability to recognize faces). Earliest documented use: for verb 1705, for noun 1781.
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DECONNOITER - suppress information about an area

RE: CONN OBITER - about the writer of death notices in Hartford and vicinity

RECON OUTRÉ - investigate the bizarre

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TRAJECT

PRONUNCIATION: (truh-JEKT)

MEANING: verb tr.: To transport or transmit.
noun: Transport, transmission, or passage.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin traicere (to throw across), from trans- (across) + jacere (to throw). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ye- (to throw), which also gave us jet, eject, project, reject, object, subject, adjective, joist, jactitation, subjacent, and jaculate. Earliest documented use: for noun: 1552, for verb 1624.
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TRA-JEST - the chorus of a jocular song

PRAJECT - the speaker could be heard, but his enunciation wasn't very good

TERAJECT - to throw in billions

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INTERPOSE

PRONUNCIATION: (in-tuhr-POHZ)

MEANING: verb tr., intr.: 1. To place in between.
2. To intrude or to interrupt.
noun: 1. The act of, or an instance of, putting something in between.
2. An interference or interruption.

ETYMOLOGY: From French interposer, from Latin interponere, from inter (between) + ponere (to put). Ultimately from the Indo-European root apo- (off or away), which is also the source of pose, apposite, after, off, awkward, post, puny, apposite, and apropos. Earliest documented use: for verb: 1599, for noun: 1610.
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INTEL POSE - capsule summary of that new thriller The Pretend Spy

INTER POISE - just the right amount of savoir-faire

ENTER POSE - to begin the impersonation

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