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DESISTANCE

PRONUNCIATION: (di-SIS/ZIS-tuhns)

MEANING: noun: The act of ceasing a behavior, particularly one considered harmful or unwanted.

ETYMOLOGY: From Old French desister (to withdraw), from Latin desistere (to leave off), from de- (off) + sistere (to stop, stand still). Earliest documented use: 1632.
_________________________

DEDISTANCE - to remove a prior standing away from, politically or psychlogically

DESI'S DANCE - how Lucille Ball's husband honored his Muse, Terpsichore

D.E.S. INSTANCE - di-ethyl-stilbesterol babies are an example of the reason we need post-marketing FDA oversight

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COLANDER or CULLENDER

PRONUNCIATION: (KUH/KAH-luhn-duhr)

MEANING: noun: A utensil with perforations, used for straining or draining foods.

ETYMOLOGY: Of uncertain origin. Probably from Latin colare (to strain). Earliest documented use: 1450.
________________________________

CUL-ENDER - anus (same word in French as in English)

COLA AND ER - too much soda'll land you in the Emergency Room

SCULL-ENDER - an unexpected rock close to the surface of the regatta course

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PROSCRIPTION

PRONUNCIATION: (pro-SKRIP-shuhn)

MEANING: noun: A prohibition or the act of prohibiting, particularly one imposed by law.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin proscribere (to publish in writing, to name someone as outlawed), from pro- (front) + scribere (write). Earliest documented use: 1387.
________________________

PROS CRYPTION - big shots trading Bitcoin

PYROSCRIPTION - therapeutic arson

PRO SCRIPT ICON - renowned choreographer of wrestling matches

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BENISON

PRONUNCIATION: (BEN-uh-zuhn/suhn)

MEANING: noun: A blessing; a benediction.

ETYMOLOGY: From Old French beneison, from Latin benedicere (to bless), from bene (well) + dicere (to say). Earliest documented use: 1300.
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BEN'S SON - Adam or Hoss or Little Joe Cartwright

BERI SON - a new strain of thiamine deficiency disease, only half as deadly as the original

BAN IS ON - they just started enforcing the taboo

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AUTOGAMY

PRONUNCIATION: (o-TOG-uh-mee)

MEANING: noun: Self-fertilization, for example, of a flower by its own pollen.

ETYMOLOGY: From German Autogamie, coined in 1876 by Austrian botanist Anton Kerner von Marilaun (1831-1898). Earliest documented use: 1877
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AUTOGAME - Road Race, an early videogame from Sega (1976)

AOÛTOGAMY - when a French child has a May birthday (fertilization thus having occurred in August)

ALTOGAMY - impregnating a woman with a low-pitched voice

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COCKY

PRONUNCIATION: (KOK-ee)

MEANING: adjective: Brashly confident.

ETYMOLOGY: From cock, from Old English cocc (rooster). Earliest documented use: 1549.
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CACKY - the cloth (and the color) of a standard Army uniform

CROCKY - infested with large carnivorous aquatic lizards

CDC, KY - the address of the Frankfort office of the federal Communicable Diseases Center, in Kentucky

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NUDIFIDIAN

PRONUNCIATION: (noo-dee-FID-ee-uhn)

MEANING: noun: One who believes that faith alone is sufficient for salvation.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin nudus (bare) + fides (faith). Earliest documented use: 1616.
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NIDIFIDIAN - fauna that live in nests

NOD IF INDIAN - incline your head up and down if you come from the Asian subcontinent

BUD, I FIND IAN ! - Costello tells Abbott he's located their Scottish pal

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TITMAN

PRONUNCIATION: (TIT-muhn)

MEANING: noun:
1. The smallest or weakest in a group, such as the runt of a litter.
2. A person of short stature, physically or metaphorically.

ETYMOLOGY: From tit (any of various small birds), short for titmouse + man. Earliest documented use: 1807.
___________________________

TINTMAN - an amateur cosmetician

TIPMAN - the pool hall employee in charge of the cues

TILTMAN - a habitual cheater at Pinball machines

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PUSSIVANT

PRONUNCIATION: (POOS-uh-vant)

MEANING: verb intr.: To meddle, fuss, to move around busily.

ETYMOLOGY: Apparently a variant of pursuivant (follower), from French poursuivant (pursuer). Earliest documented use: 1882.
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PUSS SAVANT - the Marquis of Carabas, a wise cat (even if not in boots)

PUSS: I CAN'T - when you try to housebreak a feline and it won't cooperate

PURSIVANT - a junior Officer at Arms who can't spell

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MIMETIC

PRONUNCIATION: (mi/muh/my-MET-ik)

MEANING: adjective: Copying the behavior, appearance, or characteristics of others.

ETYMOLOGY: From Greek mimetikos (imitation), from mimesis, from mimeisthai (to imitate). Earliest documented use: 1632.
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MIMETRIC - a musician who speaks of Pounds and Fluid Ounces rather than Meters or Liters

MAMETIC- my unconventional Auntie has an odd twitch here and there

MIWETIC - in need of a dry diaper

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GOBBLEDEGOOK

PRONUNCIATION: (GOB-uhl-dee-gook)

MEANING: noun: Speech or writing marked by jargon, circumlocution, or unintelligible terms.

ETYMOLOGY: Probably from gobble, representing a turkey’s gobble. Earliest documented use: 1944.
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GOBBLE DE ROOK - I jump on your sacrifice of a castle, said the chess master

COBBLE DE COOK - get the chef some shoes

GOBBLE DE GOOP - As Ralph Kramden said to Ed Norton, "What's that slop yer eating?"

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COLUMANDER – informal term for the commander of a column

CULLODENER – a Scot who is still bitter about the crushing of the Jacobite rebellion of 1745

POLANDER – Polish nationalist seeking independence

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BERSERK

PRONUNCIATION: (ber-SURK/ZURK)

MEANING: adjective: Frenzied or deranged, especially in a violent manner.
noun: One who has become frenzied or deranged.

ETYMOLOGY: From Old Norse berserkr (bear-shirt), from ber (bear), feminine of björn (bear) + serkr (shirt). Earliest documented use: 1814.
____________________________

BEESERK - how bees behave when their hive is threatened

BESSER: K - the twelfth meaning of the German word for "better"

BETS 'ER 'K - it's legal to wager

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KINDLER

PRONUNCIATION: (KIN-duh-luhr)

MEANING: noun:
1. A person or thing that starts a fire.
2. A person or thing that inspires, incites, or arouses.

ETYMOLOGY: Probably from Old Norse kynda (to ignite). Earliest documented use: 1439.
_______________________________

KINDLER - someone who reads digital books on a commercially supplied device

KANDLER - a person who searches for spoiled eggs by shining a light through them

KINUDLER - a roue

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FAIRY-TALE

PRONUNCIATION: (FER-ee-tayl)

MEANING: adjective:
1. Referring to a situation where improbable events lead to a happy ending.
2. Relating to a story with fantastical, untrue, or idealized elements.

ETYMOLOGY: From fairy, from Latin fata (the Fates), plural of fatum (fate) + tale, from Old English talu (story). Earliest documented use: 1904.
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AIRY-TALE - gossamer prose

FAIR-TALE - Charlotte's Web, i.e. (You say it's not? Just ask Templeton!)

FAIRY-TABLE - another name for mushroom

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FAIRY HAIL – rare meteorological phenomenon in intense cold

BEARY TALE – the story of Goldilocks

BEERY TRAIL – pub crawl

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RESURRECT

PRONUNCIATION: (rez-uh-REKT)

MEANING: verb tr.: 1. To raise from the dead.
2. To restore to use, practice, view, etc.
verb intr.: To rise from the dead.

ETYMOLOGY: Back-formation from resurrection, from Anglo-French resurrectiun, from Latin resurgere (to rise again), from re- (again) + surgere (to rise). Earliest documented use: 1772.
________________________

RECURRECT - to make the same amendments time after time

RESURJECT - to throw on top of something else...again

PRESURRECT - apply force before an expected event

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PENETRALIUM

PRONUNCIATION: (peh-nuh-TRAY-lee-uhm)

MEANING: noun: The innermost, secret, or hidden parts of something.

ETYMOLOGY: Back-formation from penetralia (plural of penetrale), based on the mistaken assumption that its singular form was penetralium. From penetrare (to penetrate), from penitus (interior) + intrare (to enter).
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BENETRALIUM - the definitive biography of poet Steven Vincent Benet

PENETRANIUM - an icepick wound to the skull

PELE-TRALIUM - fanciful way to refer to the soccer paparazzi from 1956 to 1974 (especially Brazil)

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BRINDLE

PRONUNCIATION: (BRIN-duhl)

MEANING: noun: 1. Gray or tawny with streaks or spots of a darker color.
2. An animal, especially a dog, cat, or cow, with a brindle coat.
adj.: Of the color brindle.

ETYMOLOGY: Back-formation from brindled, an alteration of brinded (streaked or spotted), from Old Norse. Earliest documented use: 1676.
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B. RIDDLE - He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's younger sister Barbara

BRIDLE - a girl getting married at the age of four

BRINDALE - a broad valley that's been inundated by salt water

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JURISPRUDE

PRONUNCIATION: (JOOR-uhs-prood)

MEANING: noun: One who flaunts legal knowledge or is excessively preoccupied with the nuances of law.

ETYMOLOGY: Back-formation from jurisprudence (influenced by prude), from Latin jus (law, right) + prudentia (knowledge).
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AURISPRUDE - one who can be influenced by ambient sounds

JURISPRUNE - a wizened old lawyer, stuck in his ways

JUDI'S PRUDE - Dame Dench is getting quite Victorian in her old age

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MAGNILOQUENT

PRONUNCIATION: (mag-NIL-uh-kwuhnt)

MEANING: adjective: Characterized by lofty, grandiose, or pompous speech or writing.

ETYMOLOGY: Back-formation from magniloquence, from Latin magnus (large) + loqui (to speak). Earliest documented use: 1640.
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MAGNILOQUEENT - delivered by our gifted orator of a monarch

MAGNITOQUENT - ...wearing a large hat

MAGNILOQUINT - full of five-syllable words

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CORSET

PRONUNCIATION: (KOR-sit/suht)

MEANING: noun: A close-fitting undergarment, worn historically by women to shape the body and make the waistline smaller.
verb tr.: To confine, control, or regulate strictly.

ETYMOLOGY: From Old French corset, diminutive of cors (body), from Latin corpus (body). Earliest documented use: 1299.
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CARSET - identical vehicles, one for each day of the week

CORKSET - assorted bottle stoppers

CORBET - Tom, the Space Cadet if the 1950s

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TIGHT-LACED

PRONUNCIATION: (TYT-laysd)

MEANING: adjective: Excessively proper, strict, or old-fashioned.

ETYMOLOGY: Alluding to a tightly laced bodice, popular in the past. Earliest documented use: 1741.
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TIGHT-LACKED - loose and rattling

EIGHT-LACED - having multiple redundancies of fasteners

TIGHT-PLACED - next to no wiggle-room

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BODICE-RIPPER

PRONUNCIATION: (BOD-is rip-uhr)

MEANING: noun: A type of historical romance, such as a novel or film, featuring passionate and often explicit romantic encounters and forced seduction.

ETYMOLOGY: From bodice (fitted upper part of a woman’s dress), a respelling of bodies, plural of body + ripper, from rip, from Middle English ripper (to pull out sutures). Earliest documented use: 1979.
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BODICE-ZIPPER - a closure that makes getting out of a tight corset much easier

BODICE-RIPPLER - a maneuver that increases the showiness of the upper body, used by strip-teasers to call attention to their bosom without showing any more

BODICE-TIPPER - customer who stuffs a $20-dollar-bill in a lap-dancer's bra

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STARCHY

PRONUNCIATION: (STAR-chee)

MEANING: adjective:
1. Relating to, containing, or stiffened with starch.
2. Stiff and formal.

ETYMOLOGY: From the use of starch in stiffening cotton and linen in laundering. Earliest documented use: 1633.
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SITARCHY - government by stringed musical instruments playing ragas

ST. ARCHY - how you address a canonized cockroach (according to Mehitabel)

STAR CRY - what a movie idol does, after not winning the Oscar as expected

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VELVET GLOVE

PRONUNCIATION: (VEL-vet gluhv)

MEANING: noun: An outward appearance of gentleness concealing an underlying firmness or resolve.

ETYMOLOGY: From velvet, from Old French veluotte, from velu (velvety), from Latin villus (tuft) + glove, from Old English glof. Earliest documented use: 1850.
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VELVET GROVE - an orchard of velvet trees

ELVET GLOVE - hand covering worn by the King on formal occasions (i.e. he wasn't playing the guitar)

VELVET LOVE - the fondness of teens and pre-teens for a horse-loving 12-year-old, based on a story by Enid Bagnold and a 1940s movie with Mickey Rooney and a young Elizabeth Taylor

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DISJECT

PRONUNCIATION: (dis-JEKT)

MEANING: verb tr.: To scatter or disperse.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin disjicere (to scatter), from dis- (apart) + -jicere, from jacere (to throw). Earliest documented use: 1581.
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MISJECT - to commit a throwing error

DISK-E.C.T. - shock therapy for a computer hard drive that's become psychotic and does crazy things

DIS JEST - a joke by Rodney Dangerfield, who complained he never got any respect

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EQUATIVE

PRONUNCIATION: (EK-wuh-tiv)

MEANING: adjective: Expressing identity or a degree of comparison.
noun: A case in some languages indicating equivalence or similarity between two things.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin aequare (to make equal). Earliest documented use: 1913.
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PEQUATIVE - like a whaling ship

EQUOTIVE - taking someone's words out of context

EQUUTIVE - horsey

EQUALIVE - falsely sweet; saccharine (as it were)

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ZYGOMORPHIC

PRONUNCIATION: (zy-guh-MOR-fik)

MEANING: adjective: Having a single plane of symmetry: divisible into two mirror-image halves along only one axis.

ETYMOLOGY: From Greek zygo- (yoke) + -morphic (shaped). Earliest documented use: 1875. The term contrasts with actinomorphic structures (from actino- meaning ray), which have radial symmetry.
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ZYMOMORPHIC - budding, yeast-shaped

ZYGOMORPHIA - a sleep-like state induced by a product of fermentation (a drubnken stupor, for example)

ZYGOTOMORPHIC - shaped like a fertilized egg

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EXCUBANT

PRONUNCIATION: (EKS-kyoo-buhnt)

MEANING: adjective: On guard.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin excubare (to lie on guard), from ex- (out) + cubare (to lie down), which also gave us cube, cubicle, concubine, and incubate. Earliest documented use: 1831.
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EXCUBART - pictures drawn by former boy scouts

EXCURRANT - a former berry

EXCUMBANT - the ousted ruler

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FORSWUNK

PRONUNCIATION: (for-SWUNK)

MEANING: adjective: Exhausted.

ETYMOLOGY: From Middle English forswinken (to overwork), from forswink (to exhaust), from for- + swink (to labor). Earliest documented use: 1250.
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FORSWUNG - cry of warning for the foursome ahead of you before your practice
swing, in case you should come in contact with the ball for real

FORSKUNK - what to be alert for on the course, in case you forgot your nose-plugs

HORS-WUNK - euphemism for what you have to muck out of the stables

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SKUNKWORKS

PRONUNCIATION: (SKUNGK-wurks)

MEANING: noun: A small, loosely structured corporate research and development unit or subsidiary formed to foster innovation.

ETYMOLOGY: From Skonk Works, a fictional facility in Al Capp’s comic strip Li’l Abner that processed dead skunks, old shoes, kerosene, and other odd ingredients. Earliest documented use: 1960.

NOTES: The term gained real-world application in 1960 when Lockheed Martin used it to describe a secretive unit tasked with developing advanced fighter planes. The facility, located near a plastic factory with an acrid odor, inspired an engineer to nickname it Skonk Works, later adapted to Skunkworks. The term now symbolizes agile, creative problem-solving in corporate or engineering environments.
_____________________

SUNKWORKS - what they did when they threw to motor overboard

SKU INKWORKS - the labelling factory that imprints the Stock Keeping Unit number on an item in the store, which we call a "bar code"

SKUNKWONKS - specialists in the care and feeding of Mephitis mephitica

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SAD SACK

PRONUNCIATION: (SAD sak)

MEANING: noun: A well-meaning but hopelessly inept person.

ETYMOLOGY: Named for the bumbling US Army private in George Baker’s (1915-1975) comic strip of the same name. See also: schlemiel.
__________________

SAD PACK - Green Bay lost the big game again

SAiD SACK - the word came back from HR - "Fire 'em!"

WAD SACK - a bag to carry all your $20 bills in

MAD SACK - if you're the quarterback...don't make the opposing linemen angry!

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EMBIGGEN

PRONUNCIATION: (em-BIG-uhn)

MEANING: verb tr.: To make larger.

ETYMOLOGY: From em- (to cause to be in) + big (large) + -en (verbal suffix), formed on the pattern of enliven. Earliest documented use: 1884.
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EMBAGGEN - answer to "What are you doing behind the checkout counter?"

EMBRIGGEN - (German; obsolete) to confine to the ship's lockup

AMBIGGEN - "to start," usually used as the present participle "ambiggening"

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LOWER SLOBBOVIA

PRONUNCIATION: (LOH-uhr sloh-BOH-vee-uh)

MEANING: noun: A place regarded as isolated, underdeveloped, or unimportant.

ETYMOLOGY: Coined by Al Capp in the comic strip Li’l Abner as the name of a fictional, perpetually snowbound, impoverished, and comically backward country. Earliest documented use: 1946.
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FLOWER SLOBBOVIA - the Slobbovia River

LOWERS LOBO-VIA - the false teeth for my mandible arrived by wolf-mail

BOWER SLOBBOVIA - the official courtship site for Slobbovians

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CROMULENT

PRONUNCIATION: (KROM-yuh-luhnt)

MEANING: adjective: Valid; acceptable; satisfactory.

ETYMOLOGY: Coined by the television writer David X. Cohen in the animated television series The Simpsons. Earliest documented use: 1996.
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FROMULENT - you are the source of what I borrowed

CROWULENT - describing the rarely-heard wavering call of a black bird

BROMULENT - calming to an unsettled stomach (and, it leaves a pink moustache)

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ELSEWHEN

PRONUNCIATION: (ELS-wen)

MEANING: adverb: At another time.

ETYMOLOGY: A combination of else, from Old English elles + when, from Old English hwenne. Earliest documented use: 1418.
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MEL SEW HEN - my cousin Melvin is fixing a torn stuffed chicken

ELSE WHET - You'll just have to put up with that dull knife, unless...

ELSIE? WHEN? - arranging an assignation at the dairy farm

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TOWARDLY

PRONUNCIATION: (TO-uhrd-lee, TORD-lee)

MEANING: adverb: 1. In a compliant or docile manner.
2. In a pleasant manner.
adjective: 1. Compliant.
2. Pleasant.
3. Favorable.

ETYMOLOGY: From toward, from to + -ward (directional suffix). Earliest documented use: 1513.
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TO HARDLY - a split infinitive in the making (obsolete, unfortunately)

TOEWARDLY - in the direction of the feet

TO WARILY - excessively cautious

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SPASSING

PRONUNCIATION: (PAS-ing, PAH-sing)

MEANING: adverb: To a surpassing degree.
adjective: Transitory or cursory.
noun: The act, process, or instance of transition, movement, or transference from one state, place, time, or condition to another.

ETYMOLOGY: From Old French passer, from Latin passare (to pass), from passus (step, pace). Earliest documented use: 1340.
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PASTSING - ruminating on might-have-beens

PASHING - imaginative play pretending to be a middle-eastern potentate

P.A. SING - the doctors' assistants put on a musical show

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Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Online: Content
Joined: Aug 2001
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SEEMLY

PRONUNCIATION: (SEEM-lee)

MEANING: adverb: 1. In a pleasing manner.
2. Suitably.
adjective: 1. Pleasing; handsome.
2. Appropriate; fitting.

ETYMOLOGY: From Old Norse sœmiligr (seemly), from sœmr (fitting). Earliest documented use: 1225. Seemly should not be confused with seemingly, which means “apparently”.
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SEAMLY - overly-complicated in its fabrication, with more places than needed where materials are joined

STEMLY - with an emphasis on science, technology, engineering and mathematics

SHE EM'LY - oh, just another girl who thinks she can write poems

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