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NUNCUPATE

PRONUNCIATION: (NUHN-kyuh-payt)

MEANING: verb tr.:
1. To solemnly pronounce.
2. To declare a will orally.

ETYMOLOGY From Latin nuncupare (to declare or dedicate), from nomen (name) + capere (to seize). Ultimately from the Indo-European root kap- (to grasp), which is also the root of captive, capsule, capable, capture, cable, chassis, occupy, deceive, caitiff, captious, emancipate, percipient, and sashay. Earliest documented use: 1550.
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NUNCUPITE - inhabitant of he city of Nuncup

NUNC UP ANTE - the price of poker in Old Rome just increased

NUN COUP ATE - before-dinner mutiny in the convent


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REEVE

PRONUNCIATION: (reev)

MEANING: verb tr.: To pass (a rope or the like) through.
noun: A local official.

ETYMOLOGY: For verb: Of uncertain origin. Earliest documented use: 1600.
For noun: From Old English gerefa (high official). Earliest documented use: before 12th century.
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PRE-EVE - late afternoon

REEVER - what the Rio Grande is, in accented English

ROE VE - a short but well-known Supreme Court case (1973) dealing with abortion rights

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SENESCE

PRONUNCIATION: (suh-NES)

MEANING: verb intr.: To grow old or decay.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin senescere (to grow old), from senex (old). Ultimately from the Indo-European root sen- (old), which is also the ancestor of senior, senate, senile, Spanish se sir, sire, and surly (which is an alteration of sirly, as in sir-ly). Earliest documented use: 1656.
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OENESCE - to become wine

NENESCE - to turn into a Hawaiian goose

SEN'ENCE - a string of words with a subject and a verb (and usually a meaning), uttered by a drunk

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GRIMGRIBBER

PRONUNCIATION: (GRIM-gri-buhr)

MEANING: noun: Jargon of a trade.

ETYMOLOGY: From Grimgribber, an imaginary estate, discussed in the play Conscious Lovers (1722) by Richard Steele (1672-1729). Earliest documented use: 1722.
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GRIM, G. ROBBER - "Stop, thief!" shouted George Grim after him.

GRIM GRUBBER - has to tease out the ugly parts of everything (see also GRIMGRABBER)

GRIEG-RIBBER - Edvard was teased about how silly The Hall of the Mountain King sounded

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ECOTOPIA

PRONUNCIATION: (EE-ko-to-pee-uh, EK-o-)

MEANING: noun: An ecologically ideal place.

ETYMOLOGY: From Ecotopia (1975), the title of a novel by Ernest Callenbach. In the book, the word is used to describe the Pacific coast of the US. A blend of eco- + utopia, which itself is the title of Thomas More’s 1516 book. Earliest documented use: 1975.
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ECOOPIA - raise chickens electronically !

ECO-NOPIA - boycott

SECOTOPIA - a perfectly dry community

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RURITANIAN

PRONUNCIATION: (roor-i-TAY-nee-uhn)

MEANING: adjective: Relating to an imaginary place characterized by romance, adventure, and intrigue.

ETYMOLOGY: After Ruritania, a fictional Central European kingdom, in the novel The Prisoner of Zenda (1894) by Anthony Hope. Earliest documented use: 1894.
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PURITANIAN - the culture the Mayflower colonists hoped to establlish

RARITANIAN - a New Jerseyite

RURITALIAN - native to the Italian countryside, avoiding Rome and Florence and Naples and Venice and such

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EDENIC

PRONUNCIATION: (ee-DEN-ik)

MEANING: adjective: Like a paradise: filled with happiness, beauty, innocence, etc.

ETYMOLOGY: After Eden, the garden where the biblical characters Adam and Eve lived. From Hebrew eden (delight). Earliest documented use: 1850.
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EDENTIC - my baby teeth fell out

'EDONIC - a Cockney's flagrantly self-indulgent pleasures

EDENIN - Anais' sibling

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(and this is one of those other days)
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STEPFORD

PRONUNCIATION: (STEP-furd)

MEANING: adjective: Robotic, compliant, submissive; lacking in individuality.

ETYMOLOGY: After the fictional suburb of Stepford, Connecticut, in Ira Levin’s 1972 novel, The Stepford Wives, later made into movies (in 1975 and 2004). In the story, men of this seemingly ideal town have replaced their wives with attractive robotic dolls devoid of emotion or thought. Earliest documented use: 1972.
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STEEPFORD - It's tough to cross the river just there; the banks are too sharply angled

STEPFOOD - eat right, before you run a Marathon

STOP FOR D - good defense brings the game to a halt

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Step F-word- swear words in the safe zone

Stop Ford- Jimmy Carter's nutty campaign slogan

Step-Lord- the lord not ascribed to you at birth.

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PARBOIL

PRONUNCIATION: (PAHR-boil)

MEANING: verb tr.: To boil partially; to cook partly by boiling.

ETYMOLOGY: From Anglo-Norman parboillir/perboillir (to cook partially by boiling, to cook thoroughly by boiling), from Latin perbullire (to boil thoroughly), from per- (thoroughly) + bullire (to boil). From misinterpretation of par- with part, the meaning of the word changed from “to boil thoroughly” to “to boil partially”. Earliest documented use: 1381.
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PART-OIL - used to make hair controllable (if slick) - see MACASSAR (more to the point, see ANTI-MACASSAR)

PART-B-OIL - makes doctors' payments for Medicare go more smoothly

P-ART-OIL - used by painters who can't get ortho-oil or meta-oil

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