jilt – A female accomplice to a thief. More…
furtive – Someone who is furtive literally “carries things away like a thief.” More…
ferret – Its name comes from Latin furritus, “little thief”—alluding to the animal’s affinity for stealing hens’ eggs. More…
thief – Has the underlying meaning of “crouching, furtive person.” More…
phantom – A model of a baby used in obstetric demonstration. More…
configure – First meant “fashion according to a model.” More…
pattern – Comes from patron, “something serving as a model.” More…
Frisbee – Was modeled on pie tins from Mrs. Frisbie’s Pies—made by the Frisbie Bakery of Bridgeport, Connecticut—which students began tossing around in the 1920s. More…
laund – An open space in the woods, like a glade or pasture. More…
step-thru – Refers to having an open space in an otherwise solid object through which a person can step or walk, e.g. a motor-scooter has a step-thru frame. More…
agoraphobia – Based on Greek agora, “open space,” it was not the first phobia described, which was actually hydrophobia in the mid-16th century. More…
concourse – An open space for people to move about in an airport terminal (or a set of gates) or other transport station. More…
pricket – A candlestick with a spike for holding up the candle (or the spike itself). More…
barb – As any type of spike or projection, it is based on Latin barba, “beard”; it is also a piece of vertically pleated linen worn over or under the chin, as by nuns. More…
brad – A small or thin wire nail, it is from Old Norse broddr, “spike.” More…
spike – Probably borrowed from Dutch spiker, “long sharp piece.” More…
coryphaeus – A Greek word meaning “chief,” for the leader of a party, sect, school of thought, etc. More…
herald – Etymologically, a “leader of an army,” from Germanic kharjaz, “army.” More…
hegemon – A Greek word for “leader.” More…
nestorian, nestor – Nestorian means wise and aged, and a nestor is a senior figure or leader in one’s field. More…
fowl, poultry – Chickens, ducks, geese, pheasants, and turkey are fowl in the wild and poultry if domesticated. More…
free range – Supposed to mean that poultry is allowed to roam without being confined and is fed naturally grown crops, consuming only a vegetarian diet. More…
poultry, pullet – Poultry is derived from Latin pullus, “young animal” or “chicken”; a pullet is a young hen between the ages of a chicken and a mature fowl. More…
alektorophobia – Fear of chickens. More…
traffic-calming device – Any device (e.g. a speed bump) or technique on or next to a road that is used to slow or restrict traffic, especially in residential areas. More…
appliance – First was the use or application of a technique, putting a technique into practice. More…
expression marks – The collective term for musical directives, including tempo, volume, technique, phrasing, and mood. More…
martial art – So named for Japanese bu-jutsu (bu + jutsu), “art, technique, skill, craft.” More…
accordion, concertina – Accordion derives from Italian accordare, “to tune,” and both it and the concertina operate on the same basic principle; however, the accordion has a pianolike keyboard and is rectangular and bulky, while the concertina has buttons in headboards and is hexagonal and more portable. More…
carol – A term which originally referred to a non-religious ring dance accompanied by singing. Eventually it came to mean a merry song with a tune that could be danced to. The Italian friars who lived with St. Francis of Assisi were the first to compose Christmas carols, c. 1410. More…
lilt – Comes from a word meaning “pipe,” and the noun originally meant “song, tune.” More…
perseveration – The recurrence of a tune or thought in the mind. More…
alpha male – A domineering man; the dominant member in a group of males, especially animals. More…
kiva – In Native American Pueblo practices, an underground chamber used by the males for religious rites. More…
mixed voices – Voices of both males and females united in the same performance. More…
trope – A figurative or metaphorical use of a word or phrase. More…
ingrain, ingrained – Ingrain literally means “work into the grain” (originally, of fabric), and ingrained is metaphorically “deep-seated.” More…
farce – First meant forcemeat stuffing and came to be used metaphorically when a humorous play was “stuffed” in between two more serious acts of the main theatrical presentation—or for interludes of impromptu buffoonery in a dramatic presentation. More…
relieve – Metaphorically, to “alleviate, lighten,” from Latin relevare, “raise again.” More…