The Internet Book Database of Fiction

drysalter

[drahy-sawl-ter]
noun, British.
1. a dealer in dry chemicals and dyes.

Origin of drysalter
1700-10; dry + salter

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Dominic dominated the region, the only drysalter of significance. He seemed to be able to provide the routine goods immediately and the strange ones in a day.

biathlon

n. A competition that combines events in cross-country skiing and rifle shooting.

Etymologies
bi-1 + Greek āthlon, prize of contest.

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Bjorn missed only once during the biathlon competition, but the extra time penalty was just enough to cost him the gold medal.

massage

Pronunciation: /məˈsɑː(d)ʒ//ˈmasɑː(d)ʒ/
noun
[mass noun] The rubbing and kneading of muscles and joints of the body with the hands, especially to relieve tension or pain.

Origin
Late 19th century: from French, from masser knead, treat with massage, probably from Portuguese amassar knead, from massa dough.

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Victor put his warmed hand on Velma's back. She responded with a small start, but then relaxed into her weekly massage.

Algot Runeman wrote:massage

I wonder how many people join a biathlon and pretend to exhaust themselves, all for an excuse to go get rubbed, squeezed, pinched, stomped and walked on in a torturous massage after the race.

rigour [definition 2]

(US rigor)
noun
1 [mass noun] The quality of being extremely thorough and careful.
‘his analysis is lacking in rigour’
1.1 Severity or strictness.
‘the full rigour of the law’
1.2 Harsh and demanding conditions.
‘the rigours of a harsh winter’

Origin
Late Middle English: from Old French rigour from Latin rigor stiffness.

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The rigours of the harsh winter prevented Mark from applying his normal rigour to the mowing of his lawn.

Algot Runeman wrote:rigour [definition 2]

Of course my use of the English vocabulary, grammar and idiom, lacks rigour.

Moreover I guess I sometimes apply punctuation with too much vigour.

And I humbly beg pardon for any puns I commit, on purpose or not.

But it's so much fun, I decline to curb my frivolity.

douse

dous/
verb
past tense: dowsed; past participle: dowsed
pour a liquid over; drench.
Sailing
lower (a sail) quickly.

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Before he went into the tent for the night, Cliff dowsed the fire. Though morning coals do make it easier to get a fire going in the morning, it really isn't safe to leave the fire smoldering overnight. It has been way too dry this summer.

kincob

\ˈkinˌkäb -\
noun.
1. a fine silk fabric embroidered with threads of gold or silver, of a kind made in India.

Word Origin.
C18: from Urdu kimkhāb.

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Kairavi hoped the scarf, a modern kincob would please her mother-in-law.

Algot Runeman wrote:kincob

That scarf looks like a sleeping aid.

I mean, instead of counting sheep, the mother-in-law can count the kins, or the cobs or whatever they're called.

runnel

ˈrənl/
noun
noun: runnel; plural noun: runnels
a narrow channel in the ground for liquid to flow through.
a brook or rill.
a small stream of a particular liquid.

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Between plays, Calvin could feel a runnel of sweat sliding down between his shoulder blades. His entire jersey was soaked, not just those damp areas you saw in the runner ads on TV.

racemose

Botany
adjective: racemose
(of a flower cluster) taking the form of a raceme.
Anatomy
(especially of compound glands) having the form of a cluster.

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Carla clustered her racemose flowers together, selecting them for the variety of different cluster forms. All the spiked clusters were together, as were the umbels, heads and corymbs.

Algot Runeman wrote:racemose...
Carla clustered her racemose flowers together ...

I would certainly assume that Carla's racemose are very docile and much easier to handle than Alaskan race moose.
Better smelling too ...

It's eerie, E.P.S.

Another person with whom I shared the word of the day, someone from Maine instead of Alaska, mentioned a race moose!

The power of words to bring us all together is awe inspiring.

omoplatoscopy

Noun
omoplatoscopy ‎(uncountable)
divination by use of a shoulder blade

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Walter wanted to practice divination by omoplatoscopy, so he routinely stared at people's backs at the beach. Unfortunately, try as he might, the only thing he saw in their future was a sunburn.

sheikhdom

noun sheikh·dom \-dəm, -təm\
: an area ruled by a sheikh

These days,the number of sheikhdoms has declined, even in the Arabian Peninsula, through consolidation of tribal lands into nation states. These states are not generally called sheikhdoms, though ruled by a sheikh, the head of a royal family.


Sheikh Sattam de Haddadin of Palmyra, by Alexandr Evgenievich Yacovleff.

Algot Runeman wrote:sheikhdom

I suspect the term was coined in the era of British colonial expansion.

One of the explorers must have described the tribal nomad rulers and their chic domains, and then shortened it to chicdoms.

Thoroughly intrepid but not so gifted with spelling skills, the explorer meant chicdom but in his diary wrote sheikhdom.

And so it was published in his travel memoirs.

E.P.S.,

I enthoozeastikally endorse your spelling spekyoulayshuns. I always wondered if the lyrics from a while ago were "Sheikh, rattle and roll" which other songs may have influenced.





All of which is to imply "sheikh dumb", something I want to clearly say I do NOT endorse.

Nice hand!

But I'll raise you 1 Fats Domino and 4 Beatles.



(With a little translation error)

haemolymph

(US hemolymph)
noun
[mass noun] A fluid equivalent to blood in most invertebrates, occupying the haemocoel.
Pronunciation: haemolymph/ˈhiːmə(ʊ)lɪmf/

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Your waggish wordsmith widely smiles as he uses a grasshopper to illustrate today's WotD. There's no point to the choice. Haemolymph is bloody well found in almost all of the millions of invertebrate species. In the gaps between the creature's organs, the fluid is clear instead of red, with immune system cells floating along which work to fight disease and parasites.

volary

Pronunciation: volary/ˈvəʊləri/
noun
rare
A flock of birds kept in an aviary.
‘a volary of a thousand birds’

Origin
Mid 17th century (in sense ‘birdcage, aviary’): from French volière, from voler to fly.

Arnold's aviary was large enough to allow for two volaries of birds to race each other around the building. The birds chose up teams, but there were sometimes defections, even during a race.

transparent

Pronunciation: /tranˈspɛːr(ə)nt//tranˈspar(ə)nt//trɑːnˈspɛːr(ə)nt//trɑːnˈspar(ə)nt/
adjective
1 (of a material or article) allowing light to pass through so that objects behind can be distinctly seen.
‘transparent blue water’
‘fine transparent fabrics’
2 Easy to perceive or detect.
‘the residents will see through any transparent attempt to buy their votes’
‘the meaning of the poem is by no means transparent’
2.1 Having thoughts or feelings that are easily perceived; open.
‘you'd be no good at poker—you're too transparent’
2.2 (of an organization or its activities) open to public scrutiny.
‘if you had transparent government procurement, corruption would go away’
3 Computing
(of a process or interface) functioning without the user being aware of its presence.
4 Physics
Transmitting heat or other radiation without distortion.
‘CFCs and water vapour are virtually transparent to incoming short-wave solar radiation’

Origin
Late Middle English: from Old French, from medieval Latin transparent- shining through, from Latin transparere, from trans- through + parere appear.

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The gossamer gown glowed with transmitted LED light revealing the shape of her legs through the not-quite-transparent fabric. The rest of the crowd, mostly trans parents had little reaction.

bridgework

Pronunciation: /ˈbrɪdʒwəːk/
noun
1 Dental bridges collectively.
2 Building
The component parts of a bridge.
2.1 The construction of bridges.

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Dan wanted to do dental work, but his ideas of bridgework needed modification before they could be useful.

The choice of bridgework as WOTD is transparent favoritism to help our resident dentist (RET) to answer first !

I had to douse my rightful indignation and try hard in order to keep my blood to remain as cool as haemolymph

Algot Runeman wrote:bridgework

This is present day bridgework:

the bridge foundation in bedrock = titanium threaded roots, implanted in the bone the bridge supports = abutments the actual bridge = assembly of crowns and pontic(s) an overview

conference

noun
1 A formal meeting of people with a shared interest, typically one that takes place over several days.
‘an international conference on the environment’
‘the Labour Party Conference’

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He sat at the greeter's table of the conference, his duty station until noon each day of the event.



[WotD may be interrupted or delayed during the conference days this week and next.]