Aug. 28th, 2010

But I found a bunch of cool words in the dictionary.

hobblebush: /Viburnum lantana/, also moosewood, hoarwithy, witch hobble, American wayfaring tree.

kebbuck: a cheese.

kanone: (slang) a hot-shot skiier. [< G.]

kaput: [< G. /kaputt/, < Fr. /\^etre capot/ to take no tricks in a game of piquet.]

kalamein door: a wooden door cladded in galvanized steel, previously used as a fire door. [Trade name of a New York company (still extant), said to be < /calamine/, zinc oxide, so named for the zinc used to galvanize. But Century Dict. has |kalamain| "a compound of tin, antimony, bismuth, lead, and nickel used in the manufacture of a particular form of galvanized iron."] (Our garage has this as a fire door.)

wenchman: a fish of the snapper family, /Pristipomoides aquilonaris/. [< Malay, /ikan lutjan/]

woadwaxen: the plant /Genista tinctoria/, dyer's broom or greenweed, used as a yellow dye which in combination with woad made Kendal green. [< /woodwax/, prob. < /wood/ + /wax/ to grow.]

wind of 120 days: a windy summer period in eastern Iran, and in nearby areas.

windlestraw: a dry stalk of grass.

gulgul: a preparation of crushed shells, applied to the bottom of a ship to protect against the teredo. [< Hindi /galgal/.]

hogmanay: in Scotland, the last day of the year; an oatmeal cake given to children on that day; the cry which they use to solicit it door-to-door. [OF. /aguillaneuf/, used identically, though its connection to /hogmanay/ is unknown.]

linstock: a staff used in gunnery, holding a lit match and pointed at the base to stand in the ground.

blind seed: a disease of rye, due to the fungus /Gloeotinia temulenta/.

biofog: a steam fog caused by animal moisture in cold air.

winterbourne: a stream which flows only in winter.

wire-wove: a type of paper with fine uniform surface, a wove paper.

wove paper: paper made in a mold whose wires are woven into a mesh.

laid paper: paper made in a mold whose wires run parallel.

wire side: the side of the paper that was on the bottom, pressed against the wire mold and acquiring its texture.

felt side: the side of the paper that was on the top, generally smoother.

dandy roll: a metal stamp roll used to apply a watermark to paper.

wiretapper: a swindler who claims to tap the wire transmitting horse-race results in order to place winning bets (at the last minute?), and is willing to place a bet on the mark's behalf.

cassareep: a syrup made by boiling down the juice of bitter cassava, used as an antiseptic and as a flavoring. [< a Carib language.]

withywind: bindweed, especially /Convolvulus arvensis/.

snake fence: a fence made of rails laid horizontally, each section interleaved with the previous and set at an oblique angle to it.

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Eli

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