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…
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…
agnosy, agnoiology – Agnosy is another word for ignorance and agnoiology is the study of human ignorance. More…
ignotism – A mistake due to ignorance. More…
nescience, inscience – Nescience and inscience both mean “ignorance.” More…
sophomoric – Includes the roots soph-, “wise,” and moros, “fool”—so the contrast between wisdom and ignorance is built right into the word. More…
turbine – Came from Latin turbo, “whirl, whirling thing.” More…
twirl – May be a blend of twist and whirl. More…
warble – Has the underlying notion of “whirling around”; for sounds, it took on the meaning “whirl of notes; trill.” More…
whorl – A variant of whirl, it first meant “small flywheel.” More…
craze – First a crack or flaw; to craze is to produce minute cracks on the surface of pottery. More…
fictile – An adjective meaning “pertaining to pottery” or “suitable for making pottery.” More…
ceramic, earthenware – Pottery made from clay is called ceramic or earthenware. More…
slip – As in pottery, it derives from Norwegian slip/slipa, “slime on fish.” More…
apsis – The extreme point of an orbit. More…
eccentric – First meant “not concentric” as it referred to an orbit in which the Earth was not precisely in the center or straying from a circular path; the area where two circles overlap is the eccentric. More…
exorbitant – Originally a legal term for a case outside of the scope of a law; since it implies going “out of orbit,” it also first meant “deviating from the true path.” More…
orbit – First meant “eye socket”; the eye is located in the eye socket or orbit. More…
dub – Meaning “to provide a film with a soundtrack,” it is an abbreviation of “double.” More…
endow – First meant “provide a dower or dowry.” More…
refurbish, refurnish, redecorate, renovate – Refurbish means to “clean up again,” refurnish means “to provide with new furnishings,” redecorate means “to add new decoration(s),” and renovate means “renew or restore to as-new condition.” More…
improvise – Etymologically, if you improvise something, it is because it has not been “provided” for in advance, from Latin improvisus, “unforeseen.” More…
fallboard – The hinged protective covering that protects the keyboard of a piano when it is not being played. More…
finger board – The part of a stringed instrument against which the fingers press the strings to vary the tone—as well as the keyboard of a piano, organ, etc. More…
home key – The home key is either of two keys on a keyboard acting as the base position for one’s fingers in touch-typing (left F, right J). More…
octothorpe – The pound key on a keyboard or keypad is technically an octothorpe. More…
corroboree – A large, noisy gathering. More…
crash – May have been created as an imitation of the sound of noisy breaking, or may be a blend of craze and dash. More…
obstreperous – Meaning “clamorous, noisy” and “argumentative,” it is from Latin ob-, “against,” and strepere, “to make a noise.” More…
strepent, strepitent – Strepent and strepitent mean “noisy.” More…
iniquity – Absence of moral or spiritual values or an unjust act, it is a combination of in-, “not,” and aequus, “equal, just,” from Latin. More…
moral, morality – Latin mor/mos, “custom,” is the starting point of moral, morality, and other related words. More…