I have no idea if this will work or not, but this was a game suggested to me by my logophile friend. He suggests that we post a definition, and then someone will post the word, adding another definition. As my friend says, what good are words anyway if you don't remember their meaning. This will help us to recall some meanings. I will start:

A layer or series of layers of sediment deposited in a body of still water in one year.

What is the word? If you know, post the word and a definition of your own.

BTW, there is no scoring in this game!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kalleh,

This may be too hard of a word. My logophile friend is quite erudite! I will give it a couple of days. If no one gets the word, I will then post another definition that's easier.

If that doesn't take, well, then I will know that no one is interested in this game.

Don't know the word in question, but isn't this the same setup as the TV game, Jeopardy?

To be honest, I may be the one person in America who doesn't watch Jeopardy, so I don't know.

I did get a PM from someone who Googled and got the answer. He/she may have felt that was cheating, though I wish he/she would post it anyway. There is no cheating in this game!

This isn't a game of scoring, and I wouldn't consider the use of Google or something else cheating. While I have never in my life found a reverse dictionary that's any good, maybe someone would even find that helpful. To me (and my logophile friend), this is a way to learn words and definitions. As my friend says, we often see a word once or twice, but then forget it. If this game can help us know even 5 or 6 more words, it's a winner!

One more day, and then I will give the answer and maybe ditch this game.

Don't ditch the game, Kalleh!

Using the resources available to us we can expand our vocabulary.

For example, "Google" served as a Reverse Dictionary for me when I sought a word meaning the annual layers of sedimentary deposits.

..... varve ......

varve


One entry found for varve.
Main Entry: varve
Pronunciation: 'värv
Function: noun
Etymology: Swedish varv turn, layer; akin to Old Norse hvarf ring, Old English hweorfan to turn -- more at WHARF
: a pair of layers of alternately finer and coarser silt or clay believed to comprise an annual cycle of deposition in a body of still water

You beat me to it, J.T., but then again I knew you would, you sedimental old softy!


Current Standings:

J.T. - 17
me - 15
Arnie - 14
Kalleh - C+
Asa - a large cone-shaped pastry over-sprinkled with confectioner's sugar.

Too late to enter (thank goodness!). I would have guessed "loess," but that fails the one-year stipulation.

A decade of varve can lead to ten layers or loess.

Jerry, now you post a definition for us!

My assignment is to post a definition.

Here's one: "The long tail of a hood in medieval or academic costume."

aumices....??

"aumices," or amices is close, but no cigar. Please try again.

Back to the books for me..

could you be referring to a lire-pipe.... also sometimes spelled lyre-pipe or lire-pype.

liripipe is what I had in mind, jo.

Your turn now !!

sorry to be so long with this.

The definition is:

A tall crop plant of the goosefoot family, cultivated in Peru and chile for its seed.

If we were playing the TV game, Jeapordy, the answer would be, "What is quinoa?" Well, that's one answer anyway. I think it's also called "Inca wheat."

I have tried and tried to find the answer...to no avail!

so where is your definition, Asa?

Asa got it! It is quinoa.... a lovely grain by the way. It makes a really fine, nutty tasting bread, though I always combine it with other flours. But if you have someone who can't tolerate gluten, this is the flour for them.

"Asa got it!
_________________________

Gosh, Jo, most women say I "don't get it!" I'm unsure about just what they mean, though...

Since I got the last word, I'll post another definition: Lengthwise structural members on an aircraft fuselage.

Grrrr! These things are much harder than I had imagined. Now, I find myself reading about airline fuselage structure, including the tension, compression, bending, shear stress, and torsion. Now, I did learn a few new words, but not what Asa wants, I fear. "Semimonocoque" is the most often used construction for modern, high-performance aircraft. It literally means "half a single shell."

It is the structural "members" that is getting me. "Members?"

It is a good thing this game isn't scored, or I'd be even more frustrated!

Asa, which are you looking for? Stringers, or longerons?

It's tit for tat, Jo! Longerons it is! Funny how several parts of an aeroplane are French words, as longerons, empennage, and ailerons.

OK, Jo and I have had our fifteen seconds of fame - who's got the next definition in need of a word?

Jo, I hope you don't mind, but here is a defintion:

"A sense of panic in middle age brought on by the feeling that life is passing you by"

...looks as if it's trying to be a definition of "Mid-Life Crisis." Does it have a fancy one-word name too?

Torschlusspanik?

Middle age? I've been getting that feeling since the age of 24!

Great, you got it! It's one of my favorite words. The fact is, it can be used for any kind of a situation where there is a panic before approaching something...like Christmas shopping! However, I used the common definition from tsuwm's dictionary.

Interestingly, I was sitting on a plane yesterday next to a fellow from Dresden, Germany. I asked him about this word, and he hadn't heard of it! I really love German words, and I think one of my favorite vocabulary themes was the one on German words that wordcrafter did a long time ago.

Now, Cat, it's your turn for a definition.

"Torschlusspanik"? Panic over the worry that the door is closing and the world is moving on without you now...Are you sure this isn't one of those plausible configurations we could argue Is-it-or-is-it-not-a-real-word about, like "cybersquatting"?

There ought to be a Greek equivalent to it, along the lines of epicaricy for Schadenfreude...

OK...

"the lammergeier, a rare type of vulture".

That's not the rare raptor whose off-color name was allowed in the OED mainly because it came toward the end of the alphabet, standards of propriety having relaxed somewhat by then (compared to what was extant when aa- though af- [for example] were compiled), is it?

Gypaetus barbatus (aka/Lammergeier)

Are you sure this isn't one of those plausible configurations we could argue Is-it-or-is-it-not-a-real-word about, like "cybersquatting"?

It's in OED. That's always my compass.

I assume you're right, Jerry (my dictionary doesn't give much more info than that which I typed in), but the specific word I'm looking for is another common (one assumes) name for it. Here's a clue: it begins with a letter.

Hab, I'm ashamed to admit it, but you've lost me! Can you accelerate my process of kicking myself and elaborate?

See PM

Thanks Hab - see reply

bearded vulture or ossifrage?

Hab, I'm ashamed to admit it, but you've lost me!

Oh, he loses me all the time, too!

Ossifrage is right, Kalleh! Mucho congrats!

I opened the dictionary at random and just loved the word

Great!

I just found this one myself, and I have no idea if it is rare or not...however, I hadn't heard of it:

"A beating with a stick or cudgel, especially on the soles of the feet."

quote:

---

Originally posted by Kalleh:
"A beating with a stick or cudgel, especially on the soles of the feet."

---

I didn't know the word, but I do now; I looked it up.

Tinman

BASTINADO! For those who are inquisitive...


New definition:

... the state of being or becoming shrunken with a notched or indented edge.

It wouldn't be scalloped by any chance? Serrated also fits the "notched or indented edge", but I don't know about the "shrunken" part.

those are both great guesses! And you are in the area, but no cigar yet!

Crenellated? Crenation?

Bingo! It's CRENATION

From which we will later get crenellation and all those other interesting words.

OK, the next word is defined as:

[domination by] a romantic or unreal conception
of oneself: conceit.

I didn't know the word, but I do now; I looked it up.

Tinman...and others, the point of this game is to learn new words. It is perfectly alright to look them up; there is no winning or losing in this game.

arnie, is it bovarism?

Bang on, Kalleh! Bovarism it is.

Next?