In sports, especially American football, to mislead an opponent with one’s eyes as to one’s intentions in a given play. Watch the video
Month: July 2021
EURion Constellation
The EURion constellation is a pattern of five small yellow, green, or orange circles repeated across areas of a banknote. The technical details of the EURion constellation are top secret, but it is known to help software programs detect a banknote in a digital image so that users cannot produce counterfeit bills. Some programs not only abort attempts to access images of banknotes but also direct the user to a website about counterfeiting laws. What currencies feature the EURion constellation? Discuss
abeyance
Definition: (noun) The condition of being temporarily set aside.
Synonyms: suspension.
Usage: Every other feeling as it rushed upon him was thrown into abeyance by pity, deep respectful pity, for the man who sat before him.
Discuss
tower
tower – A group of giraffes. More…
spire, steeple – A spire is the tall pointed roof of a tower or the tall pointed structure on top of a steeple; a steeple is the tower plus the spire. More…
ziggurat – A tower in the form of a terraced pyramid. More…
Big Ben – Not the clock in the tower of the Houses of Parliament but the bell itself. More…
Feast of Our Lady of Carmel
Our Lady of Carmel (the Madonna del Carmine) is the patroness of the city of Naples, Italy. Her festival is celebrated with dancing, singing, and magnificent fireworks displays. Brightly decorated wax replicas of human body parts used to be sold at booths near the church, and people suffering from various physical ailments appealed to the Madonna to restore their health by offering her these replicas of the diseased portions of their bodies. Her feast is also observed by Italian Americans in the United States. Discuss
feel like a million bucks
To feel exceptionally attractive or in very robust health. Watch the video
Hans Island
Hans Island is located between Canada and Greenland in the strait that connects Baffin Bay to the Arctic Ocean. Used by the Inuit as a hunting ground for centuries, it was later found by 19th-century British and American explorers searching for the Northwest Passage and the North Pole. The island was named after Greenlander Hans Hendrik, the guide of American explorer Charles Francis Hall. Though it is just 0.5 sq mi (1.3 sq km) and is barren and uninhabited, it is claimed by what two countries? Discuss
flippant
Definition: (adjective) Marked by disrespectful levity or casualness.
Synonyms: frivolous, irreverent, saucy, glib, pert, impertinent, impudent.
Usage: When a sensible woman has a serious question put to her, and evades it by a flippant answer, it is a sure sign, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, that she has something to conceal.
Discuss
tie
dogfall – A draw or tie. More…
dead heat – If two horses tied in a heat, the heat did not count and was called “dead”; now any tie can be called a dead heat. More…
knit – Literally first meant “tie with or in a knot.” More…
moor – Meaning “tie up a boat,” it was probably borrowed from German or Dutch. More…
The Chowchilla School Bus Kidnapping (1976)
Chowchilla is a small California town that made national headlines when kidnappers took control of a school bus full of children in 1976. The 26 children and their bus driver, Ed Ray, were driven around in two vans for 11 hours before being forced into a moving van buried in a quarry. After 16 hours underground, Ray and the children managed to escape. All were safely returned home, and the kidnappers were soon arrested. What technique helped Ray to recall the kidnappers’ license plate number? Discuss