I'm going to open up a new window for this since the other one is getting kinda long. Here are the definitions of sprag. Three of them are correct. I'll post the answers next Wednesday.

Sprag is ...

1 ... a young salmon.

2 ... a small wheel attached to the beam of a plow to help control the depth of the furrow.

3 ... the bright green alga/moss that grows on rocks and soil surrounding fresh-water springs, including, but not limited to the genus Spiro.

4 ... a small piece of metal that is fastened to the hub of car wheel as part of the process of Wheel-balancing.

5 ... a mechanical device that limits rotary motion to one direction.

6 ... on a gear wheel, the space between two teeth is known as the sprag.

7 ... a sort of supporting device or beam in a coal mine, which allows miners access to otherwise unaccessible areas.

8... the tassle topping a mortarboard worn by students wearing "cap and gown" in a graduation ceremony. Traditionally, the sprag is worn to the left up to the moment the student receives his or her diploma at which point the switch to the right officially signals the completion of his or her formal education.

9 ... a piece of wood or metal wedged beneath a wheel or between spokes to keep a vehicle from rolling.

10 ... a miscellaneous part left over after repairing a mechanical device.

11 ... to stand guard, watch out for the authorities: you sprag outside while I hold up the store.(slang, of course)

12 ... the past tense of sprig (spring) in dialect: He sprag out from behind t’ chicken coop and skairt her good. Used in parts of Appalachia and the Ozarks.

Remember: there are three correct answers. I'll post them next Wednesday.

Tinman

Three correct answers?

I'll go for 4., 5. and 12.

Oddly enough, here's my vote for the three genuine sprags:

Nine, seven, and five.

~~~ jerry

I promise I decided before I saw Jarry's answer.

5 7 9

Three answers? It's a good thing the scoring has gone byu the wayside; I don't think the rules cover this situation.

As to the correct three answers...there's really nothing to point to one over another if you don't know the word already. It's interesting to see how often the concept of smallness crept into the definitions. Limiting motion by stopping things turning seems more like 5,9, and 6 than 5-9-7.


Nevertheless, I'm going to choose 1,2,and 10 because I like the whimsy they show...

Tinman,
Are you sure you want us to give you 3 answers? This will befuddle you in scoring...

I choose.......1,2, and 6!

When I first saw the word "sprag" I thought to myself "Aha! Three easy points!" since, when I was growing up, a sprag was a kind of a small lizard. Just my luck, though - Twelve answers to choose from and not a lizard in the lot!

I'll go with #1 (in the hope that maybe someone considers the salmon to be in the lizard family) and #2 & #7 since they both contain the word "beam." Gotta be logical with these choices, right?

Three answers? It's a good thing the scoring has gone byu the wayside
Not with me around! As soon as this is over, I will post the scores, though Tinman has gummed up the works a bit!

It's hard enought to choose 1, but 3?

I choose: 1, 5, 11

quote:

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Originally posted by Haberdasher:
...the scoring has gone byu the wayside...

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...that's Louisiana scoring, of course...

Two, phyve, and nyun

Sprag is ...

1 ... a young salmon.
Correct, according to dictionary.com.
Guessed by Haberdasher, CJ and Kalleh.

2 ... a small wheel attached to the beam of a plow to help control the depth of the furrow.
Submitted by Kalleh.
Fooled Haberdasher, KHC, C.J. and Asa.

3 ... the bright green alga/moss that grows on rocks and soil surrounding fresh-water springs, including, but not limited to the genus Spiro.
Submitted by jerry thomas.
Fooled no one.

4 ... a small piece of metal that is fastened to the hub of car wheel as part of the process of Wheel-balancing.
Submitted by Bob Hale.
Fooled arnie.

5 ... a mechanical device that limits rotary motion to one direction.
Fooled arnie, jerry, Bob, Kalleh, and Asa.

6 ... on a gear wheel, the space between two teeth is known as the sprag.
Submitted by arnie.
Fooled KHC.

7 ... a sort of supporting device or beam in a coal mine, which allows miners access to otherwise unaccessible areas.
Submitted by KHC. Also correct, according to dictionary.com.
Guessed by jerry, Bob, and C.J.

8... the tassle topping a mortarboard worn by students wearing "cap and gown" in a graduation ceremony. Traditionally, the sprag is worn to the left up to the moment the student receives his or her diploma at which point the switch to the right officially signals the completion of his or her formal education.
Submitted by C.J.
Fooled no-one.

9 ... a piece of wood or metal wedged beneath a wheel or between spokes to keep a vehicle from rolling.
Correct, according to dictionary.com.
Guessed by jerry, Bob, and Asa.

10 ... a miscellaneous part left over after repairing a mechanical device.
Submitted by jheem.
Fooled haberdasher.

11 ... to stand guard, watch out for the authorities: you sprag outside while I hold up the store.(slang, of course)
Submitted by haberdasher.
Fooled Kalleh.

12 ... the past tense of sprig (spring) in dialect: He sprag out from behind t’ chicken coop and skairt her good. Used in parts of Appalachia and the Ozarks.
Submitted by Tinman.
Fooled arnie.

The correct answers, according to dictionary.com, are 1, 7 and 9. Ten people submitted definitions. One of those definitions was correct. Eight people each submitted 3 guesses.

None of arnie's guesses were correct. His definition fooled 1 person: KHC.

Haberdasher, KHC, Kalleh and Asa each got one guess correct.

Haberdasher fooled 3: KHC, CJ and Kalleh.

KHC's submitted a correct definition, guessed by 3: jerry, Bob, and C.J. Interestingly, she didn't guess it.

Kalleh fooled 4: Haberdasher, KHC, C.J. and Asa.

Asa fooled 5: arnie, jerry, Bob, Kalleh, Asa. He even fooled himself!

Jerry thomas, Bob Hale and CJ each got 2 correct answers.

Jerry fooled no one.

Bob fooled arnie.

CJ fooled no one.

Tinman fooled arnie.

I think I've got it right, but I wouldn't swear to it. When Kalleh gets back from Hawaii she can sort it all out and assign points. She'll probably give me a -5.

When I first say the word , [bsprag[/b], I liked the wheel chock definition, that is, "a piece of wood or metal wedged beneath a wheel or between spokes to keep a vehicle from rolling", and that is the definition I intended to use. But then KHC sent in a correct definition, a supporting beam in a mine. I could have posted her definition and skipped the wheel chock definition, but I decided to post them both. Then I saw a third definition: a salmon. I liked that because it was so far removed from the other two. The first two were related in that they both involved wood used as a tool. So I decided to include it.

The OED Online the noun, sprag can be
"... a slip; a twig or spray" (dialect),
"... a lively young fellow" (obsolete),
"... a young salmon",
"... a young cod",
"... a prop used to support the coal or roof during the working of a seam".
"... a stout piece of wood used to check the revolution of a wheel (or roller), usually by inserting it between two of the spokes".
"... a rod or bar which can be dropped so as to prevent a vehicle from running backwards. More widely, any of several devices formerly fitted to motor vehicles to prevent them from running backwards down a hill" (US).

It can also be used figuratively, as in "A sprag in the wheel of progress".

As an adjective, it can mean "smart, clever" (rare). It is apparently a mispronunciation of sprack ("Brisk, active; alert, smart; in good health and spirits", chiefly dialect).

It can be a verb, meaning

"To prop up or sustain (esp. coal in a mine) with a sprag or sprags".

"To check or stop (a wheel) by inserting a sprag".

"To accost truculently". (Australian slang).

It is "of obscure origin".

CJ said a sprag was a lizard when he was growing up (not that he's grown up now). The Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE) offers this:

sprag -- "To slow or steer a sled by dragging the feet." Our only evidence is from the 20s and 30s in northeastern Pennsylvania. (We are not concerned with the many technical senses of sprag.)

Perhaps, CJ, you might submit your lizard definition to them.

The "Dictionary of Automotive Terms" includes these definitions:

sprag brake: A sprag is a stick (of wood or metal) which is inserted into gears or even into the dirt to stop the motion of something.

sprag clutch: A clutch that will allow rotation in one direction but that will lock up and prevent any movement in the other direction.

And that's all for sprag. Aren't you glad?

Tinman








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

It's the first one that I actually knew (apart from in the Salmon definition). That's because in my part of the country it's still in fairly common use. We say "sprag open the door" or "sprag it up".
Well my Dad does anyway.

Good job, Tinman.

That was interesting... I didn't vote for myself, because I soon lost confidence that I was right... Darn! I'd never make it on Final Jeopardy!

Who's next as the Bluffmaster?

I just went back and reread my post and discovered a few errors, such as "say" instead of "saw". Normally I would edit them out, as I did the first thousand mistakes, but I see I can't use that feature anymore. Apparently you can edit your post for only so long after you post it.

KHC, you should have stuck by your guns! Am I supposed to pick the next Bluffmaster? If so, you're it (or do you prefer "Bluffmistress"?).

Bob, I'm glad that someone still uses sprag. I'd never heard the word before, but I like it. I doubt that it'll ever make it into my active vocabulary, though.

Tinman

Tinman

You should be able to edit your post by clicking on middle of the three little icons to the bottom right of the post. The left-hand one is to reply quoting the message, the middle is to edit (only seen by you on your own posts), and the right-hand one is to report a post to the administrators if you don't like it.

Tinman,

I think it is Haberdasher's turn! Hab... are you listening? Today was the last day of school, my son graduates tomorrow, etc., etc... I'm like something the cat dragged in.. My brain has sprag a leak, and I can't post many sentences at a time.

Hab... SOS..

Yes, it is HAB, and he knows it! I will send him a PM.

I am still in Hawaii and will definitely wait until I am home to calculate the score. This will not be easy!

New word, new forum.

See "five letter words" thread.

quote:

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Originally posted by arnie:
Tinman

You should be able to edit your post by clicking on middle of the three little icons to the bottom right of the post.

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Yes, arnie, I can edit using the icon as you suggest, if I edit right away. But if I come back to it the next day, the edit icon is no longer there, just the reply icon.

Tinman

At least you can edit, Tinman! I have the same trouble you do, but I can't even open a new heading! Arnie's tried to help, but I'm too darned dense to understand. But what do you expect from someone who fools himself - by accident! I got tangle-eyed during the voting! Having an automotive beckground, I knew the last two definitions you posted, but guessed at the rest.

quote:

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But if I come back to it the next day, the edit icon is no longer there, just the reply icon.

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I don't understand how that can happen. You should be able to edit messages of any age.

Asa, did you update your browser?

I tried to but it wouldn't accept the update. Maybe throwing this computer out and starting over is my only solution! Or maybe throwing ME out and letting the computer have its way would be better. I dunno.