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SARDINE

PRONUNCIATION: (sahr-DEEN)

MEANING: verb tr.: To pack tightly.

ETYMOLOGY: The verb form developed from the tight packing of the sardine in cans. From French sardine, from Latin sardina, from Greek Sardo (Sardinia). Earliest documented use: 1895.
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TSARDINE - the person in charge of educating the children of the traditional rulers of Russia

STARDINE - where the elite meet, greet, and eat

TARDINE - the color of Dr Who's vehicle

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FRIEZE

PRONUNCIATION: (freez)

MEANING: noun:
1. A decorative horizontal band, as on a building.
2. A coarse woolen fabric.

ETYMOLOGY:
For 1: After Phrygia, an ancient country in Asia Minor, noted for embroidery. Earliest documented use: 1563.
For 2: From French frise, perhaps from Latin frisia (Frisian wool). Earliest documented use: 1418.
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MR.IEZE - stories by Agatha Christie and Josephine Tey and Rex Stout and such

FRIETZE - Ms. Frietze Rietz, aunt of Nancy in the old comic strips

FLIEZE - tiny jumping insects that torment dogs and form circuses

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PIERIAN

PRONUNCIATION: (py-EER-ee-uhn)

MEANING: adjective: Relating to learning or poetry.

ETYMOLOGY: After Pieria, a region in Greece. In Greek mythology, Pieria was home to a spring that was sacred to the Muses and inspired anyone who drank from it. Earliest documented use: 1591.

NOTES: Alexander Pope in his poem “An Essay on Criticism” (1709) wrote
“A little learning is a dang’rous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring.”
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PTERIAN - winged

PIPERIAN - inimical to mice

PIEVIAN - 3.1416 liters of bottled water

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PLETHORA

PRONUNCIATION: (PLETH-uhr-uh)

MEANING: noun: An abundance or excess.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin plethora, from Greek plethore (fullness), from plethein (to be full). In the beginning the word was applied to an excess of a humor, especially blood, in the body. Earliest documented use: 1541.
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PLETHORAE - abundances (fem.)

PLETHERA - soft forgetfulness

PLETHIRA - an over-funded retirement plan


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COMESTIBLE

PRONUNCIATION: (kuh-MES-tuh-buhl)

MEANING: noun: An article of food.
adjective: Fit to eat; edible.

ETYMOLOGY: From French comestible (edible, food), from Latin comedere (to eat up), from com- (intensive prefix) + edere (to eat). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ed- (to eat, to bite), which also gave us edible, obese, etch, fret, edacious, anodyne, esurient, prandial, and postprandial. Earliest documented use: 1483.
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COMBESTIBLE - makes the most impressive bonfires

COMESSIBLE - two army battalions that can eat together

COMETIBLE - the comet named for astronomer Alfred Ible, its discoverer

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MYRIAD

PRONUNCIATION: (MIR-ee-ehd)

MEANING: noun: A large number.
adjective: Large in number, variations, etc.

ETYMOLOGY: From Greek myriás (ten thousand, countless). Earliest documented use: 1555.
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MYTRIAD - composer's proud claim to his unique three-note chord

MYRIADH - patriotic hymn heard in Saudi Arabia (cf. SYRIAD "toward Syria")

MR IAD - Paul M Zoll (1911-99); American cardiologist, pioneer in the development of the Implantable Automated Defibrillator

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NUGATORY

PRONUNCIATION: (NOO-guh-tor-ee, NYOO-)

MEANING: adjective:
1. Of little value; trifling.
2. Having no force; ineffective.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin nugatorius (trifling), from nugari (to trifle). Earliest documented use: 1603.
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MUGATORY - what many a Whig would like to do (but instead, being Gentlemen, they content themselves with NAGATORY)

NEGATORY - military slang for the opposite of "affirmative"

NUTATORY - pertaining to nodding movement, more specifically to the perturbation of the axis of a spinning symmetrical object in a gravitational field (actually that may be a real word; see NUTATION)

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FRUCTIFY

PRONUNCIATION: (FRUHK-tuh-fy, FROOK-)

MEANING: verb tr., intr.: To make or become fruitful.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin fructificare (to bear fruit), from fructus (fruit). Earliest documented use: 1325.
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FRUCTIFLY - Drosophila melanogaster

ERUCITFY - what a Guy calls enriching the atmosphere by belching

FRICTIFY - roughen

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AU COURANT

PRONUNCIATION: (o koo-RAN) [the last syllable is nasal]

MEANING: adjective:
1. Up-to-date; fully-informed.
2. Fashionable.

ETYMOLOGY: From French au courant (literally, in the current, i.e. knowledgeable or up-to-date), from Latin currere (to run). Ultimately from the Indo-European root kers- (to run), which also gave us car, career, carpenter, occur, discharge, caricature, cark, discursive, and succor. Earliest documented use: 1762.
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AD COURANT - "On Sale TODAY ONLY!"

EAU COURANT - where to go white-water rafting

AU SCOURANT - used to get the tarnish off your gold bullion

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RUNNEL

PRONUNCIATION: (RUHN-l)

MEANING: noun: A small stream or channel.

ETYMOLOGY: From Old English rinnan (to run). Ultimately from the Indo-European root rei- (to flow or run), which also gave us run, rival, and derive. Earliest documented use: 1577.
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RUNEL - a small mark or letter, of mysterious or magical (but not very great) significance

TRUNNEL - what a locomotive and the cars it's pulling go through on the trip under Mont Blanc

RUNNELM - warning cry to an Ent when woodcutters are detected entering the forest

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