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HATCHET JOB

PRONUNCIATION: (HATCH-it job)

MEANING: noun: Malicious criticism meant to harm someone’s reputation.

ETYMOLOGY: From hatchet (a small, short-handled axe), from Old French (hachete), diminutive of hache (axe) + job, of unknown origin. Earliest documented use: 1925.

NOTES: In the beginning a hatchet job was a murder carried out by a hired Chinese assassin in the US, known as a hatchet man. Over time, the word began to be used metaphorically for verbal criticism meant to destroy someone’s reputation. Another hatchet idiom is to "bury the hatchet," meaning to end hostilities and reconcile.
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HITCHET JOB - attach the horses to the wagon

HATCHET JOY - easy work for a lumberjack

HATCHET JIB - a small sail in the prow of the boat that lets it slice through the wind

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BATTLE-AXE (or BATTLE-AX)

PRONUNCIATION:

(BAT-l aks)

MEANING: noun:
1. A broadax used as a weapon of war.
2. A typically older woman with a reputation for being sharp-tongued, domineering, and aggressive.

ETYMOLOGY: From battle, from Latin battuere (to beat) + ax, from Old English aecs (ax). It’s not entirely clear how this term came to be applied to a fierce woman. Perhaps it’s because a sharp-tongued woman could cut down someone as well as an ax, metaphorically speaking. Earliest documented use: 1380 (1896 for the figurative meaning).
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B.A. TITLE AXE - the lumberjack's tool that went to college
(see also B.A. TITLE X - ...because she could postpone having children until she wanted them

BATT, LEAH - sister of Batt, Rachel

CATTLE-AX - (I don't think I want to discuss this one)

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SMOKING GUN

PRONUNCIATION: (SMOH-king gun)

MEANING: noun: Something that serves as incriminating evidence, especially of a crime.

ETYMOLOGY: From the idea that someone holding a recently fired gun that still has the smoke coming out of the barrel would make for incontrovertible evidence that they were the one who shot the victim. Earliest documented use: 1970s.
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SMOKING GYN - you're my doctor, she said; you should know better

I'M OK-ING GUN - Here's your license to carry

AMOK-ING GUN - fires a psychosis-inducing drug instead of a tranquilizer

SUMO KING GUN - even big wrestlers sometimes have to defend themselves

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GREAT GUNS

PRONUNCIATION: (grayt gunz)

MEANING: noun: Someone or something impressive.
adverb: With energy and enthusiasm; successfully.
interjection: Expressing surprise or disbelief.

ETYMOLOGY: In the beginning, great gun referred to a large firearm that required mounting. Eventually it came to be applied metaphorically. The adverbial use started in horse races. Earliest documented use: 1430.
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GROAT GUNS - ditto for kernels of grain

GREAT RUNS - record-breaking streaks of anything

GRE AT UNS - prerequisite for admission for graduate study at the University of Nova Scotia

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FULGOR oR FULGUOR

PRONUNCIATION: (FUHL-guhr))

MEANING: noun: Splendor; brightness.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin fulgor (brightness), from fulgere (to shine). Ultimately from the Indo-European root bhel- (to shine or burn), which also gave us blaze, blank, blond, bleach, blanket, flame, refulgent, fulminate, and effulgent. Earliest documented use: 1600
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FULIGOR - a zombie wrestling hold (cf. HALF-IGOR)

NUL-GOR - rated G

FOULGOR - rated XXX for violence

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INQUILINE

PRONUNCIATION: (IN-kwuh-lyn)

MEANING: noun: An animal living in the nest, burrow, or home of another.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin inquilinus (tenant, lodger), from in- (into) + colere (to dwell). Earliest documented use: 1640.
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INQUIRINE - curious

INQUININE - malaria-resistant

MINQUILINE - furry

SINQUILINE - transgressing (see also INIQUILINE)

INQUILINK - precursor of the fountain pen

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JOUISSANCE

PRONUNCIATION: (ZHWEE-sans)

MEANING: noun: Pleasure; ecstasy.

ETYMOLOGY: From French jouissance, from jouir (to enjoy). Earliest documented use: 1484.
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LOUISSANCE - regal bearing

JOUISTANCE - position taken by expert game-players

JOLUISSANCE- boxing prowess

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WORRICOW

PRONUNCIATION: (WUH-ree-kau)

MEANING: noun: A hobgoblin, scarecrow, or a person of frightening appearance.

ETYMOLOGY: From Scottish, from worry (to harass) + cow (hobgoblin). Earliest documented use: 1711.
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WORRI-CON - annual gathering of Fussbudgets

TWO RR ICON - Chessie (Chesapeake and Ohio Railway); Roxy (Long Island Rail Road)

WORRICOWL - worn by monks to indicate their bafflement over the ambiguities of this world

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HYALOID

PRONUNCIATION: (HY-uh-loyd)

MEANING: adjective: Glassy or transparent.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin hyaloides, from Greek hualoeies (glass-like), from hualos (glass). Earliest documented use: 1835.
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HOYALOID - like a Georgetown sports team

HYALOIN - by going to school in Brooklyn, Noo Yawk

HYALOIS - 1. Clark Kent's informal greeting to Daily Planet reporter Lane; 2. Newspaper daily-and-Sunday comic strip

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CORBIE MESSENGER

PRONUNCIATION: (KOR-bee mes-uhn-juhr)

MEANING: noun: A messenger who does not arrive or return in time.

ETYMOLOGY: noun: From allusion to the crow that Noah had sent out from his ark. From corbin (raven), from Old French corbin, from Latin corvus (raven, crow). Earliest documented use: 1525.
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CORBIE MESS ANGER - rage at the bad food in the Crow army

SCORBIE MESSENGER - brings word of crippling Vitamin C deficiency

GORBIE MESSENGER - ambassador from the USSR between 1985 and 1991

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