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OBEISANCE

PRONUNCIATION: (o-BAY/BEE-sans)

MEANING: noun:
1. A gesture of submission, such as a curtsy.
2. Deference or homage.

ETYMOLOGY: From Old French obeissance, from obeir (to obey), from Latin oboedire (to obey, to listen to), from ob- (toward) + audire (to hear). Ultimately from the Indo-European root au- (to perceive), which also gave us audio, audit, obey, auditorium, anesthesia, aesthetic, synesthesia, and clairaudience. Earliest documented use: 1382.
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OBEISEANCE - the spirits you summon will do your bidding !

KOBE IS A NCE - your basketball star is a non-commissioned enlistee

OBEISANE - no, old Ben Kenobi isn't crazy at all

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CONSCIENTIOUS

PRONUNCIATION: (kon-shee-EN-shus)

MEANING: adjective:
1. Meticulous or painstaking.
2. Following one’s conscience; scrupulous.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin con- (intensive prefix) + from scire (to know). Ultimately from the Indo-European root skei- (to cut or split), which also gave us schism, ski, shin, science, conscience, nice, scienter, nescient, exscind, and sciolism, adscititious. Earliest documented use: 1603.
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CORNSCIENTIOUS - searching for a way to modify maize crops so that they are pest-resistant without harming Monarch butterflies

CONSCIENTIOPUS - the Bloom County penguin who reminds us to do the right thing, because somebody might be watching

CONESCIENTIOUS- studying the perception of color (or hand-held ice cream treats)

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GRANDISONIZE

PRONUNCIATION: (gran-DIS-uh-nyz)

MEANING verb tr.: To escort in a courteous manner.

ETYMOLOGY: After Sir Charles Grandison, the model gentleman hero of Samuel Richardson’s 1753 novel The History of Sir Charles Grandison. Earliest documented use: 1824.
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GRAND IS ON ICE - a thousand dollars is safely put away

GRANDISONIAZE - make the anti-Tb drug super-potent

GRANDIOSONIZE - afflict with inflated ideas of self-importance

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LYNCH

PRONUNCIATION: (linch)

MEANING: verb tr.: To punish (typically, killing by hanging) for an alleged crime, without a legal trial.

ETYMOLOGY: After Captain William Lynch (1742-1820) of Pittsylvania, Virginia, who was the head of a vigilante group. Some have attributed the term to Charles Lynch (1736-1796), a Virginia magistrate. Earliest documented use: 1836.
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SLYNCH - to wince while moving around furtively

LYONCH - le déjeuner in eastern France (that's not Nice!)

LYN-OCH ! - enraptured Scotsman waxes lyrical

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GALVANIZE

PRONUNCIATION: (GAL-vuh-nyze)

MEANING: verb tr.:
1. To motivate or to arouse to action.
2. To coat with a rust-resistant material, such as zinc.
3. To stimulate by applying an electric current.

ETYMOLOGY: After physician and physicist Luigi Galvani (1737-1798), who studied electrical stimulation in animal tissue. Earliest documented use: 1802.
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ALVANIZE - speed up a voice recording so it sounds like a chipmunk

GALIANIZE - switch to an inexpensive wine

GALLANIZE - convert liquid volume measurements from metric to English units

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MESMERIZE

PRONUNCIATION: (MEZ/MES-muh-ryz)

MEANING: verb tr.:
1. To spellbind.
2. To hypnotize.

ETYMOLOGY: After physician Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815) who discovered a way of inducing hypnosis through what he called animal magnetism. Earliest documented use: 1829.
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MESMERITE - one whose religion is based on Animal Magnetism

MEMMERIZE - when you know something by heart but still can't spell it

MESOMERIZE - in stereochemistry, to make a racemic mixture of d- and l-isomers in equal measure

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CRUSOE

PRONUNCIATION: (KROO-soh)

MEANING: noun: A castaway; a person who is isolated or without companionship.
verb intr.: To be marooned; to survive or manage through one’s ingenuity without outside help.

ETYMOLOGY: After the title character of Daniel Defoe’s 1719 novel Robinson Crusoe. Crusoe was a shipwrecked sailor who spent 28 years on a remote desert island. Earliest documented use: 1888. Crusoe’s aide has also become an eponym in the English language: man Friday.
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CRUSODE - 1. past tense for a great Holy War
2. monies due to finance 1. above
3. epic poetry in praise of 1. above

GRUSOE - what little Johnny did since you saw him last

CRUSOX - what you wear on your feet while rowing in a regatta

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EROSE

PRONUNCIATION: (i-ROS)

MEANING: adjective: Irregularly notched or jagged.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin erosus, past participle of erodere (to gnaw off), from ex- (off) + rodere (to gnaw). Earliest documented use: 1793.
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HEROSE - doers of great and valiant deeds

FEROSE - the Iron Flower

REROSE - increased the size of the bet yet again

...and, of course, since Easter is coming,
EROSE - wot 'e did on the third day

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SCOW

PRONUNCIATION: (skou)

MEANING: noun: A flat-bottomed boat with square ends.

ETYMOLOGY: From Dutch schouw (ferryboat). Earliest documented use: 1524.
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SCOWN - lightly sweetened biscuits, often taken with tea

SCROW - fornication in the pluperfect subjunctive

SACOW - New England anarchist, executed for murder in the 1920s along with his associate Vanzetti

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VAWARD

PRONUNCIATION: (VAH-ward, VOU-ord)

MEANING: noun: The forefront; vanguard.

ETYMOLOGY: From vaumward/vamward, from vantward, from Old French avantward, from avant (before) + garde (guard). Earliest documented use: 1400.
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VACARD - identification to prove you're entitled to Veterans' benefits

UVAWARD - toward the grapes

VALARD - rendered fat from Virginia ham

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