a. adj. - macabre, eerie. (derived by contraction from samhain)

b. sanitation, general health environment: "The low level of sain in most third-world countries creates a burden for their hospitals."

c. to bless, especially by making the sign of the cross over someone.

d. Acronym. SAIN was used between novices in celibate communities and was written across the sealed flap of an envelope, usually together with a cross, and stood for Signum Anti Impius Necessitas. The novices, with their poor command of Latin, used this as a translation of ‘sealed against wicked desires’ and it represented their fight against carnality.

e. A form of precipitation which is mostly rain but has some snow or sleet content. An expression from northern England.

f. the line of debris left on a beach at the high tide mark.

g. [baseball] term used to describe a once successful major league pitcher who later succeeds as a pitching coach--after Johnny Sain, "Spahn and Sain and pray for rain."

h. From the Scots Gaelic sabbhain; "to your health".

i. Name of a plant found in W. England and Wales whose leaves were often used in poultices; (dialect) a poultice.

j. A substance derived from shellfish used in making incense.

k. A device for seeding clouds for the purpose of producing rain.

l. The diameter of a globular body; the diameter of a solid spheroid, especially of a cannonball


Definitions were submitted by: Bingley, Capfka, Coffeebean, dxb, Faldage, jackie, sjm, tsuwm, Whitman O’Neill, wofahulicodoc, and Wordwind.

Bingley


Bingley