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score (music sheet vs number of points)
vs an amount more than nineteen but less than twenty-one
vs scratch or make a mark in, as with a pane of glass to be broken
(We're starting to mix nouns and verbs now - did we disallow that?)
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
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actually, score starts out meaning scratch or mark, moves on to tally (scoring a game,) and then from there to meaning a count of twenty and by another path, a musical score (a tally of all the notes as it were!)
the meaning of score has meandered.. but one word, one root.. all you have to do is check out a dictionary.
even a simple M-W 10th has two entries for case, with some brief history, and one entry for score.. and progressing meanings..
this is really a simple game.. and you can check things out for your self..
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Toll is good, and so is limb, but Fall-- as in downward motion, is what leaves do in autumn, so its no good,
on the other hand, if you checked it out, you would have found grave, (serious) grave (hole in the ground/burial spot) and grave (to rub with corse sand, and change the surface, which leads to engrave-- a third word.)
Each of these word have differnt roots.
1-gravis-- heavy (serious)
2-graef-- to dig out
3-grafe-- sand (to rub with)
but i didn't chech them all out.
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Carpal Tunnel
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From Saturday's Merriam Webster Word of the Day:
defile \dih-FYLE or DEE-fyle\ (verb)
: to march off in a line
Example sentence:
The king nodded with approval as his soldiers defiled past
him.
Did you know?
You probably know the "defile" that is a verb meaning "to
make unclean or impure," but did you also know that today's
word is a verb that is entirely unrelated to the more familiar
"defile"? The "defile" that means "contaminate" dates to the
14th century and is derived from the Old French verb "defouler,"
meaning "to trample on, mistreat." Today's featured word, on the
other hand, arrived in English in the early 18th century. It's
also from French, but it's derived from the verb "defiler,"
formed by combining "de-" with "filer" ("to move in a column").
"Defiler" is also the source of the English noun "defile," which
means "a narrow passage or gorge."
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Carpal Tunnel
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Faldage, is that meaning connected to "file", as in "Would you please put this paper in the file?"
Asking as a serious question, and sedulously avoiding the temptation to say, "Put this in de-file, please."
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old hand
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old hand
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> root has only two variants, each with a noun and verb form
I'm puzzled.
(1) So when is a variant a variant? If a word has four common forms/usages, why are there not four variants?
(2) Granted the Antipodean "root" (sexual intercourse for those that don't know) may fall into the category of slang - but what about the other three, viz:
- (noun) feeding mechanism and/or structural component of a plant
- (verb) to dig
- (verb) support a team or a cause. My dictionary says this comes from rout - which would make it different to the structural implications of the first example I've given.
????????????
stales
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Carpal Tunnel
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when is a variant a variant?
For purposes of this thread when the two words have completely separate histories and only happen to be spelled the same in MnE.
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Carpal Tunnel
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The Word of the Day for February 21 is:
demean \dih-MEEN\ (verb)
: to conduct or behave (oneself) usually in a proper manner
Example sentence:
"It shall be my earnest endeavour to demean myself with
grateful respect towards her Ladyship." (Jane Austen, _Pride
and Prejudice_)
Did you know?
There are two words spelled "demean" in English. The more
familiar "demean" -- "to lower in character, status, or
reputation" -- comes straight from "mean," the adjective that
means "spiteful." Today's featured word, on the other hand,
comes from the Middle French verb "demener" ("to conduct"),
which in turn comes from Latin "minare," meaning "to drive."
This verb has been with us since the 14th century and is
generally used in contexts specifying a type of behavior: "he
demeaned himself in a most unfriendly manner"; "she demeaned
herself as befitting her station in life"; "they knew not how
to demean themselves in the king's presence." As you may have
already guessed, the noun "demeanor," meaning "behavior,"
comes from this "demean."
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