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Funny Bone A pun on the word humerus. It is the inner condyle of the humerus; or, to speak untechnically, the knob, or enlarged end of the bone terminating where the ulnar nerve is exposed at the elbow; the crazy bone. A knock on this bone at the elbow produces a painful sensation.
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Furbelow A corruption of falbala, a word in French, Italian, and Spanish to signify a sort of flounce.
Not to be confused with the pubic hair.
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Futile (2 syl.) is that which will not hold together; inconsistent. A futile scheme is a design conceived in the mind which will nothold good in practice. (Latin, futio, to run off like water, whence futilis (See Scheme.)
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Gabardine' (3 syl.). A Jewish coarse cloak. (Spanish, gavardina, a long coarse cloak.)
Dear of troy: a fabric not named for place of origin. Put a mark on the wall.
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Galaxy (The). The "Milky Way." A long white luminous track of stars which seems to encompass the heavens like a girdle.According to classic fable, it is the path to the palace of Zeus (1 syl.) or Jupiter. (Greek, gala, milk, genitive, galaktos.) A galaxy of beauty. A cluster, assembly, or coterie of handsome women.
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Gammut or Gamut g (hard). It is gamma ut, "ut" being the first word in the Guido-von-Arrezzo scale of ut, re mi, fa, sol, la. In the eleventh century the ancient scale was extended a note below the Greek proslambanomy note (our A), the first space of the bass staff. The new note was termed g (gamma), and when "ut" was substituted by Arrezzo the "supernumerary" note was called gamma or ut, or shortly gamm' ut - i.e. "G ut." The gammut, therefore, properly means the diatonic scale beginning in the bass clef with "G."
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Gargouille or Gargoil (g hard). A water-spout in church architecture. Sometimes alsospelt Gurgoyle. They are usually carved into some fantastic shape, such as a dragon's head, through which the water flows. Gargouille was the great dragon that lived in the Seine, ravaged Rouen, and was slain by St. Romanus, Bishop of Rouen, in the seventh century. (See Dragon.)
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Gaunt (g hard). John of Gaunt. The third son of Edward III.; so called from Ghent, in Flanders, the place of his birth.
Note the pronunciation of "Ghent".
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Gauntlet (g hard). To run the gantlet. To be hounded on all sides. Corruption of gantlope, the passage between two files of soldiers. (German, ganglaufen or gassenlaufen.) The reference is to a punishment common among sailors. If a companion had disgraced himself, the crew, provided with gauntlets or ropes' ends, were drawn up in two rows facing each other, and the delinquent had to run between them, while every man dealt him, in passing, as severe a chastisement as he could. The custom exists among the North American Indians. (See Fenimore Cooper
I can remember reading references to this, and the name never made sense to me.
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Genoa from the Latin, genu (the knee); so called from the bend made there by the Adriatic. The whole of Italy is called a man's leg, and this is his knee.
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