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THEW

PRONUNCIATION: (thyoo)

MEANING: noun:
1. Muscle or tendon.
2. Power; strength; vitality.

ETYMOLOGY: From thew (muscle, strength), from Old English theaw (custom, usage). Earliest documented use: 888.
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ATHEW - what you say "Gesundheit!" after

IT HEW - what an ax do when you swing it

THE WY - where you might go to swim, or work out, or socialize, or other things, depending

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pelf

PRONUNCIATION: (pelf)

MEANING: noun: Money or wealth, especially when acquired in a dishonorable manner.

ETYMOLOGY: From Old French pelfre (booty), which also gave us the word pilfer. Earliest documented use: 1425.
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peaf - a French chanteuse, also called "the Little Sparrow" (la Môme)

p.e. elf - a gym rat of a pixie

pelft - pyslexic Dutch earthenware

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BRED IN THE BONE

PRONUNCIATION: (bred-in-thuh-BOHN)

MEANING: adjective:
1. Deep-rooted.
2. Habitual; inveterate.

ETYMOLOGY: From the old proverb “What is bred in the bone will not come out of the flesh”, implying something deep-rooted cannot be removed. Also recorded in the form “What is bred in the bone will come out in the flesh”, meaning deeply ingrained traits will ultimately reveal themselves. Earliest documented use: 1470.
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BREAD IN THE BONE - turkey stuffing for connoisseurs

BRED IN THE BONG - parents were high as kites when you were conceived

BREDING HE-BONE - having mucho macho offspring (but can't spell very well)

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OSSIFY

PRONUNCIATION: (OS-uh-fy)

MEANING: verb tr., intr.:
1. To convert or change into bone.
2. To make or become rigid in thinking, attitudes, habits, etc.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin os (bone). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ost- (bone), which also gave us ossuary and ostracize. Earliest documented use: 1670.
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MOSSIFY - when a stone stops rolling

OSHIFY - becoming a government bureaucracy concerned with job safety

OSSIFRY - a passel of overcooked little fish

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BONEHEAD

(BOHN-hed)

MEANING:
noun: A stupid person.
adjective: Stupid; thoughtless.

ETYMOLOGY:
A bonehead is someone thick-skulled, a blockhead. The word is a combination of bone, from Old English ban (bone) + head, from Old English heafod (top of the body). Earliest documented use: 1903.
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ONEHEAD - another name for the United Nations International Children's Emergency PHund (UNICEPH)

BONE-HEXAD - the six-sided lattice structure of Calcium Hydroxyapatite (the principal mineral component of bone)

BONEHEARD - the sound of one femur snapping

BOONEHEAD - where to find a coonskin cap

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JELL-O

PRONUNCIATION: (JEL-o)

MEANING: noun:
1. A dessert made from gelatin, sugar, and fruit flavoring.
2. Something soft and wiggly.

ETYMOLOGY: Jell-O is a trademark for a gelatin-based dessert. The word gelatin (a substance formed by boiling bones, skin, ligaments, etc.) is from Latin gelare (to freeze). Ultimately from the Indo-European root gel- (cold; to freeze), which also gave us jelly, chill, glacier, cold, and congeal. Earliest documented use: 1935.
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OJELLO - Yogi Bear's favorite Shakespeare drama

JELLBO - what you call a pitcher's lax arm joint after too many surgical procedures

JELL-NO - Absolutely not, transliterated into Spanish

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BAREBONED

PRONUNCIATION: (BAYR-bohnd)

MEANING: adjective: Lean; spare; gaunt.

ETYMOLOGY: From bare-bone (a lean person), from Old English baer (bare) + ban (bone). Earliest documented use: 1600.
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BAR-EBONY - black keys on a honky-tonk piano

BAREBOND - a financial instrument stripped of interest

BLAREBONED - the brass section of "Rex Tremendae" in the Verdi Requiem

BARRE-BONED - a body well trained for classical ballet

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BIBLIOTAPH

PRONUNCIATION: (BIB-lee-uh-taf)

MEANING: noun: One who hoards books.

ETYMOLOGY: From Greek biblio- (book) + taphos (tomb), which also gave us cenotaph Earliest documented use: 1823.
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BIBLIOTACH - speed-reading

BILIOTAPH - where they bury inflamed gall bladders after surgery

BIBLIOTAPE - a spoken edition of the King James Version

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BOUQUINIST

PRONUNCIATION: (BOO-ki-neest)

MEANING: noun: A dealer in old and used books.

ETYMOLOGY: From French bouquiniste, from bouquin (a colloquial word for a book, little book, or old book). Earliest documented use: 1840.
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BOUQUINSIST - down with e-readers !

BOUQUIRIST - the capital of Roumania

BOUQUILIST - card catalog of the library of the city of Straßbourg

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FLORILEGIUM

PRONUNCIATION: (flor-uh-LEE-jee-uhm, FLOR-)

MEANING: noun: A compilation of excerpts; anthology.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin florilegium, from flor (flower) + legere (to gather). Ultimately from the Indo-European root leg- (to collect), which also gave us lexicon, lesson, lecture, legible, legal, select, cull, subintelligitur (something that is not stated but understood), prolegomenon (an introduction to a text), lignify (to turn into wood), and lection (a version of a text in a particular edition). Earliest documented use: 1621.

NOTES: If you think of compiling an anthology as arranging flowers in a bouquet, you wouldn’t be far off: the word comes to us from Greek anthos (flower). Florilegium is the Latin equivalent, from flor (flower). Both words have also been applied to a collection of flowers or a collection of writing about flowers. Now, you might think a bouquiniste (a dealer in old and used books) has a similar connection too, but no, this word comes to us from French bouquin (slang for book).
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FLORILEGGUM - to throw lily-painted Easter eggs at the house (that'll teach 'em not to be so cheap next Halloween!)

GLORILEGIUM - the girl has one remarkable gam

FLORILERIUM - to visit the Botanical Gardens while having hallucinations

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