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VIRESCENT

PRONUNCIATION: ( vuh/vy/vi-RES-uhnt)

MEANING: adjective:
1. Greenish.
2. Turning green.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin virescere (to become green), from virere (to be green). Earliest documented use: 1826.
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VI. DESCENT - the sixth phase of air flight, after boarding, seatbelt inspection, takeoff, climbing, and cruising at altitude

VIRUS CENT - a one-penny coin commemorating the pandemic of 2019-2023

VILE SCENT - the combined musk of a thousand angry skunks

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MEMORITER

PRONUNCIATION: (muh-MOR-uh-ter)

MEANING: adverb: By memory; by heart.
adjective: Involving memorization.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin memoriter (by memory), from memor (mindful). Earliest documented use: 1612.
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MEMO WRITER - 1. the Boss, dictating to stenographer; 2. the stenographer, transcribing

MEMORY ITER - where Julius Caesar strolls when waxing nostalgiac

MEMO RATER - grader in the course on how to write business letters

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ASTERN

PRONUNCIATION: (uh-STUHRN)

MEANING: adverb, adjective:
1. At the rear of a ship or another vessel.
2. In a reverse direction.
3. Backward.

ETYMOLOGY: From a- (toward) + stern (back part), probably from Old Norse stjorn (steering). Earliest documented use: 1627.
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A-SPERN - what an Italian does to an unwanted marriage proposal

WAS TERN - used to be a bird

E-ASTER-N - an electronic Fall flower that tries to face North

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SINISTRAD

PRONUNCIATION: (SIN-uh-strad)

MEANING: adverb, adjective: Toward the left side.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin sinister (left, left hand, unlucky). Earliest documented use: 1803.
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SIGNIST RAD - a very woke ASL translator

SINIST: READ - trigonometrician's homework assignment

SIN IS TRIAD - committed not one but three evil acts

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AGLEY

PRONUNCIATION: (uh-GLEE/GLAY/GLY)

MEANING: adverb, adjective:
1. Awry.
2. Wrong.

ETYMOLOGY: From Scots agley, from a- (toward) + gley/glee (to squint). Earliest documented use: 1785.
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GAGLEY - like a gathering of geese

AGNEY - terrble pain

ANGLEY - having lots of sharp corners

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GRATIS

PRONUNCIATION: (GRAT-is, GRA/GRAY-tis)

MEANING: adverb, adjective: Without payment; free.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin gratis, contraction of gratiis (out of kindness), from gratia (grace, kindness). Earliest documented use: 1477.
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GRAMIS - awards for Best Recording

GYRATIS - another word for "drones"

GRATIST - a vegetable shredder

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PINION

PRONUNCIATION: (PIN-yuhn)

MEANING: noun: 1. A feather or a wing, especially the terminal segment of a wing.
2. A small cogwheel engaging with a larger wheel or a rack.
verb tr.: 1. To cut or bind the wing of a bird.
2. To bind, restrain, shackle, etc.

ETYMOLOGY: For noun 2: From French pignon (cogwheel), from Latin pecten (comb), from pectere (to comb).
For the rest: From French pignon (pinion), from Latin pinna (feather, wing, fin).
Earliest documented use: For noun: 1400; for verb: 1556.

NOTES: According to one website, “The raven has five pinions in each wing and the crow has six. So the true difference between the two is a matter of a pinion!”
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pH-IN-ION - determining the acidity of a charged particle

PI? NON - Is pi the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet? (Vraiment, c'est le seizième.)

PIG ION - what the Fourth Little Pig built his Boston house of

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DEACON

PRONUNCIATION: (DEE-kuhn)

MEANING: noun: In a church, a person appointed as a lay leader to a position below a pastor, priest, etc.
verb tr.: 1. To present the best part of something.
2. To pack or arrange in a way so that the finest pieces (such as fruit) are visible.
3. To adulterate; to doctor; to falsify.
4. To kill a calf or another animal soon after birth.
5. To ordain as a deacon.
6. To read aloud lines of a verse before singing.
verb intr.: To lie.

ETYMOLOGY: From Old English diacon, from Latin diaconus, from Greek diakonos (servant, minister). Earliest documented use: for noun: 900; for verb: 1839.

NOTES: A deacon typically helps with things like ushering, collecting the offering, visiting church members in their homes, etc. In churches where not enough copies of religious books were available for all attendees, a deacon or a choir leader would read one or two lines at a time before the choir or the congregation would sing them.

It’s not clear how the negative meanings of the word arose. Maybe when a deacon visited, a family did a bit of staging: moved their religious music records to the front, brought out their best china, even displayed the best fruit on the table.

Maybe it’s alluding to the deacons themselves, displaying goodness on the surface (speaking politely) that hid what lies inside. According to a New England proverb “All deacons are good, but there’s odds in deacons.”

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BEACON - 1)a signal to light the way; 2)instruction to commit crimes and be sentenced to prison

DEAFCON - a system for grading how much hearing disability there is

ODEACON - a convention of laudatory poets

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INFAME

PRONUNCIATION: (in-FAYM)

MEANING: noun: A person having a bad reputation.
verb tr.: To defame: to attack the reputation or to disgrace.
adjective: Having a bad reputation.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin in- (not) + fama (reputation). Earliest documented use: for noun: 1413; for adjective: 1551; for verb: 1413.
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IN GAME - where a bridge player wants to end up

IN FLAME - how we might go down in the Army Air Corps

SINFAME - Ebenezer Scrooge, Casanova, Lizzie Borden had it

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SCEND or SEND

PRONUNCIATION: (send)

MEANING: verb intr.: To rise or lift by, or as if by, a wave.
noun: The rising movement of a wave or a ship on a wave.

ETYMOLOGY: Perhaps an alteration of send, influenced by ascend or descend. Earliest documented use: for verb: 1625; for noun: 1726.
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SLEND - not particulary thin (positive form of the comparative SLENDER)

'SCAND - wise-guy reply to the question "Is that fresh or frozen?"

SACEND - what makes a cul-de-sac a cul-de-sac

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