by Kevin Burton Last month on Page 7 we looked at words such as several and handful that defy exact definition. Here’s another: Jiffy. How long is a jiffy? Merriam-Webster says a jiffy is “a very short period of time: moment, instant.” The Cambridge dictionary lists synonyms “flash, heartbeat, instant, split second.” …
Tag Archives: dictionary
Words About Words From Merriam-Webster
by Kevin Burton The second offering from today’s word list from Merriam-Webster strikes me as something Bob Dylan might slip into a song to confuse the matter. The dictionary mentions that “epithet” has a meaning without negative connotations. I say that meaning has been completely swallowed up and that using it in the …
Going Willy Nilly Into Rhyming Words
by Kevin Burton Who doesn’t love a good rhyme? We’re serving up a full platter of them today with rhyming words, courtesy of our friends at Merriam-Webster. They are called reduplicative words. Some are hyphenated, some are compound words, some separated into two words. But they are all fun. Hocus-Pocus: nonsense or sham …
Common Words Borrowed From Arabic
by Kevin Burton Have there been more impassioned articles written about the evil of alcohol or the evil of algebra? Who can tell really? But these twin menaces are linked in today’s word list from Merriam-Webster, words borrowed by English from Arabic: Algebra Anyone who has unpleasant memories of slogging through this …
From India With Love: Ten Borrowed Words
by Kevin Burton Hindi and Urdu are two of the languages spoken in India. Today, a list of words borrowed from those languages, courtesy of Merriam-Webster. You can thank the dictionary and me today, if you are sleepy, or need to wash your hair: Pajamas: a loose usually two-piece lightweight suit designed especially for …
The Sweet Elements Of The English Language
by Kevin Burton Separate an Oreo cookie into its two elements and you’re going to find out, it’s all good stuff. So it is when you start peeling apart words. They’re all sweet to the taste for some of us, even if at times they are bittersweet. Merriam-Webster served up a particularly …
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More Words You Can’t Quite Count On
by Kevin Burton Yesterday we brought clarity to numerical words and phrases which are indefinite, in some cases to the point of mystification. And you have come back for more. Thanks! And here is a bonus number-word definition: If I say “thanks a bunch” or “Thanks a million” it’s all the same. …
Helpful Hints For Tricky Words And Phrases
by Kevin Burton I can still hear Rosa, one of my English as a Second Language students trying out a new word, “seldom.” I was a reasonably good teacher without having had any training. She was a very good student, having had better teachers in the earlier levels of English study. “Seldom.” …
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What I Couldn’t Remember, I Now Can’t Forget
by Kevin Burton The Scrabble words deployed against you that get you beat; those are the ones you remember the best. Something kind of similar happened with my Bible memory verses recently. I’ve written previously about my memory verses, typed on paper, taped onto index cards of various colors. I am up …
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The Answer My Friend, Is In The Dictionary
by Kevin Burton I don’t know that Merriam-Webster consults Bob Dylan or vice versa, but the two are tied in today’s word list. “Blowin’ in the Wind” is among Dylan’s best and best-known works. So as not to be long-winded, let’s go directly to the dictionary’s list of words about the wind: Sirocco …
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