A.Word.A.Day -- carrageen

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carrageen or carragheen

(KAR-uh-geen)

noun: An edible seaweed, usually purplish, found on the Atlantic coast of Europe and North America. Also called Irish moss. Carrageen is the source of carrageenan, used as a thickener and emulsifier (to make sure a solid is evenly distributed in a liquid).

[After Carrageen, near Waterford in southeast Ireland.]

"Melissa Katsoulis collects the school reports of famous writers.
Who is this week's pupil?

There is a petition going around this school requesting that cook supplement her carrageen moss pudding with the ripe wee noses of first-years, and we can only assume your son is at the bottom of it. This is a modest submission compared with his 'What I Did On My Holidays', a ridiculous confection seemingly designed to test the limits of our credulity. He should remember that there is a fine line between Juvenal and juvenile, and while the masters of Kilkenny are able to tell the difference, the world at large may not be.

Answer: Jonathan Swift."
Melissa Katsoulis; Swots and monsters; The Times (London, UK);
Apr 14, 2007.

See more usage examples of carrageen in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

X-Bonus

Since we are destined to live out our lives in the prison of our minds, our one duty is to furnish it well. -Peter Ustinov, actor, writer and director (1921-2004)

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