Word of the Day challenge Options

[evlpez]

Word of the Day Challenge

I'll post a new word for each day, including its definition(s). All words are courtesy of the Oxford English Dictionary unless otherwise noted.

Ferrets are asked to write a short ficlet (between 100-500 words) and include a WotD.

Submissions can be any genre, about any canon character(s) in any time period.

• There is no deadline.
• You may use any previously listed WotD once.
• You may use more than one WotD in a single submission.
• Please give each submission a title.
• You should specify the WotD used at the end of your post.
• All subs are to be posted in this topic.
• Comments for submissions must be posted in the WotD Discussion topic.
• Each submission will count as 2 Ferret Points (10 galleons) towards its writer's earnings in the Hogwarts Bathroom Fund Drive.

[evlpez]

Your first words:

shard, sherd, n.1

I. A cleft, gap.

• 1. A gap in an enclosure, esp. in a hedge or bank. Now chiefly dial.
• 2. Used by Spenser for: ? A dividing water.
• 3. A gap or notch in the blade of a tool. dial.

II.

• 4.
  1. A fragment of broken earthenware. spec. in Archæol., a piece of broken pottery. Phrase: to break, etc. into sherds: to reduce to fragments, break beyond repair.
     Cf. POTSHERD and OE. crocsceard. Sherd is now established as the normal Archæol. spelling.
  2. fig. and in figurative context.
  3. transf. A fragment (of other material).
  4. Sc. A remnant (of something worn or decayed).

5. A scale (in quot. of a dragon). Obs. rare .
[Cf. OHG. scartifedar, shell fish or tortoise.]

_____________________

rageaholic, n. and a
orig. and chiefly U.S.

[< RAGE n. + -AHOLIC.]

A. n. A person prone to extreme, freq. unprovoked, outbursts of rage.

B. adj. Designating or characteristic of a rageaholic.

_____________________

dictionary

• 1.
  1. A book dealing with the individual words of a language (or certain specified classes of them), so as to set forth their orthography, pronunciation, signification, and use, their synonyms, derivation, and history, or at least some of these facts: for convenience of reference, the words are arranged in some stated order, now, in most languages, alphabetical; and in larger dictionaries the information given is illustrated by quotations from literature; a word-book, vocabulary, or lexicon.
  2. fig. The vocabulary or whole list of words used or admitted by any one. Obs.
  3. Colloq. phr. to have swallowed the (or a) dictionary: to use long or recondite words.
  4. An ordered list stored in and used by a computer; spec. (a) a list of contents, e.g. of a database; (b) a list of words acceptable to a word-processing program, against which each word of text is checked.

2.

1. By extension: A book of information or reference on any subject or branch of knowledge, the items of which are arranged in alphabetical order; an alphabetical encyclopædia: as a Dictionary of Architecture, Biography, Geography, of the Bible, of Christian Antiquities, of Dates, etc.
   (Here the essential sense ‘word-book’ is supplanted by the accidental one of ‘reference book in alphabetical order’ arising out of the alphabetical arrangement used in modern word-books.)
2. fig. A person or thing regarded as a repository of knowledge, convenient for consultation.

3. attrib. and Comb., as dictionary English, meaning, order, phraseology, word, work; dictionary-maker, -making, -writer, -writing; dictionary-tutored adj. ; dictionary-monger, one who deals much with dictionaries; dictionary-proof a., proof against the informing influence of a dictionary.

[evlpez]

o'clock , adv. (and n.)

• 1.
  1. Of or according to the clock: used to express time, after a numeral indicating the hour.
  2. In direct and indirect questions. † what is o'clock?: what is the time? (obs.). what o'clock is it?: what time is it? (now rare). † to know (also find) what o'clock it is: to know (or discover) the real state of things (obs.).

2. In extended use: used following a numeral to indicate direction, bearing, etc., in various contexts, with reference to the position of the numeral 12 on an imaginary clock-face, this being usually thought of as directly above or in front of the observer.

[evlpez]

Draco's Tea

Draco Malfoy took his tea in the kitchen with the house elves when he was younger. His parents were often out, or his father working while his mother took tea in her rooms. Either way, they never missed him. Every Tuesday at two o'clock, Dobby would fetch Draco and invite him to tea at the request of the other elves. Dobby never really cared for him as much as Bunsie and the other female elves did, Draco knew. When he was four, Draco often broke his teacups on purpose, and the elves would work their magic and entertain him by dancing the shards of china around the table before reassembling them. But Dobby was different; strange, even for a house elf. He fussed over Draco like the others, but he seemed always to be watching for something. Spying for his father, maybe, he thought. Anyway, he was a mystery to Draco.

Later, at the end of his second year, he found out that Dobby had been visiting Potter, and that Potter had managed to get Dobby freed by tricking his rageaholic father. He stopped taking tea with the elves in the summer that followed. Father insisted that it gave them ideas. Draco was furious. The elves were his. Dobby had been the Malfoys' property and none of Potter's business. There was an inkling in the back of his mind though, however fleeting, that maybe Draco would be so lucky someday that he'd be freed, as well.



(o'clock, shard, rageaholic)

[evlpez]

immediately, adv.

In an immediate way; the reverse of mediately.

• 1. Without intermediary, intervening agency, or medium; by direct agency; in direct or proximate connexion or relation; so as to concern, interest, or affect directly, or intimately; directly.
• 2. With no person, thing, or distance, intervening in time, space, order, or succession; next or just (preceding or following, before or after); closely; proximately; directly.
• 3. Without any delay or lapse of time; instantly, directly, straightway; at once.

[evlpez]

webcam, n.

A video camera which is connected to a computer so that its output may be viewed on a network, esp. the Internet.
A proprietary name in the United States.

_____________________

goofus, n.1
and a. slang (orig. and chiefly U.S.).

A. n. A foolish or stupid person. Cf. DOOFUS n.
In early use in the U.S. military, freq. as a humorous surname.

B. adj. Stupid, foolish.

[evlpez]

saltation

1.

1. Leaping, bounding, or jumping; a leap.
2. spec. Dancing; a dance.
3. fig. An abrupt movement, change, or transition.
4. Physical Geogr. A mode of transport of hard particles over an uneven surface in a fluid stream (as a wind or river), in which they progress in leaps, and on falling to the surface either bounce up for another leap or impart their momentum to other particles which on rising are accelerated forward by the stream.

2. spec. Pulsation or spurting forth (of blood)

3. Biol.

1. A mutation, esp. one with marked effects on several characters.
2. Change of phenotype occurring within a fungal colony.

Hence sal|tational a., of, pertaining to, or occurring by means of saltation.

[timeturner]

Ron Makes a Funny

Harry removed his glasses and placed them gently on the table in front of him. Rubbing the bridge of his nose, he closed his eyes to block out the mound of homework spread before him. The Professors had been pushing the sixth years harder than ever.

A loud bang shattered his moment of relaxation. Having returned from the library, Hermione had slammed her newly acquired books down on the table and pulled up a chair next to him and Ron.

"Oh, Hermione! My glasses," Harry moaned, lifting Hermione's heavy stack of musty books.

Hermione winced when she saw that Harry's lenses had been reduced to a pile of rubble beneath the texts. She pushed a stray shard of glass into the heap with her wand and whispered what was becoming a familiar incantation.

"Repairo!"

"Thanks," Harry said, putting his glasses back on before they could suffer further damage.

"I'm sorry, Harry," Hermione said. "I couldn't find the Herbology book I wanted in the library and I desperately need it. My furniculus mushtona has developed some type of saltation and Professor Sprout has threatened to remove it from the greenhouse."

"So you've decided to become a rageaholic and take swings at people with giant books?" Ron asked, causing Harry to snort with much-needed laughter.

Hermione went a shade of pink and replied, "Hardly, Ronald. I haven't injured you yet. Have I?"

"No, but it's only eleven o'clock. The night's still young," Ron quipped and laughed a bit at his own joke before he was forced to hide under the table to avoid the giant dictionary Hermione had chucked at his head.


WotD used: dictionary, o'clock, saltation, shard, rageaholic

[evlpez]

ish, adv.
colloq.

Qualifying a previous statement or description, esp. as a conversational rejoinder: almost, in a way, partially, vaguely.

1986 Sunday Times 19 Oct. (Review section) 51/8 One of those neatly crafted middle-brow plays which, because they have a pleasantly happy ending (well, ish), might make people think that they've been handed a soft option. 1990 P. PULSFORD Lee's Ghost (BNC) 41 You must try to remember that some people are normal. Ish. 1991 J. O'CONNOR Cowboys & Indians (1992) 122 Frank asked if they were linked, romantically... Then he said yeah, he supposed they were, that was one way to put it, in a way. He paused. ‘Ish,’ he admitted. ‘Vaguely.’ 1995 C. BATEMAN Cycle of Violence vi. 94 ‘Trust Davie Morrow.’ ‘You know him?’ ‘Ish. He's a regular across the road.’ 2002 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 5 Sept. D8/5 Mr. Langmead, speaking by telephone from London, hesitated. ‘Ish,’ he said, employing the international shorthand for slight hedge.

[evlpez]

nauseously, adv.

In a nauseous manner; to an extent that causes nauseousness. Also fig.

[evlpez]

dot-commer, n.
orig. U.S.

Forms: 19- dot-commer, dotcommer, dot.commer. Also with capital initial(s). [< DOTCOM n. + -ER.]

A person who is (or has been) employed by a dotcom company.

_____________________

debauch, v.

Forms: 6- debauch; 6-7 (9 Sc.) debosh, 7 debaush, debausch, debosche, 7-8 deboash, 9 Sc. debush. [a. (c 1600) F. débauch-er, in OF. desbaucher (13-14th c.) to entice away from the service of one's master, seduce from duty, etc. Of obscure derivation. The original pronunciation after modern F., and its gradual change, are seen in the spellings debosh, debaush, deboach, debauch riming in 1682 with approach: see the n. See also DEBOISE.

1.

1. trans. To turn or lead away, entice, seduce, from one to whom service or allegiance is due; e.g. soldiers or allies from a leader, a wife or children from husband or father, etc. (Usually with the connotation ‘lead astray, mislead’.) Rarely with against. Obs.
   
2. To entice, seduce, or gain over to a party or course of action, or to do a thing. Obs.
   
3. (Without const.) To seduce from allegiance or duty, induce to desert; to render disaffected; to pervert or corrupt in regard of allegiance or duty to others. Obs. (exc. as merged in the more general sense of 2.)

2.

1. To seduce from virtue or morality; to pervert, deprave, or corrupt morally; esp. to corrupt or deprave by intemperance, or sensual indulgence.
   
2. To seduce (a woman) from chastity.

3. To deprave, vitiate (the taste, senses, judgement, etc.).

4.

1. To vilify, damage in reputation; to depreciate, disparage. Obs.
2. To damage or spoil in quality. Obs.

5. To dissipate, spend prodigally, squander.

6. intr. (formerly refl.) To indulge to excess in sensual enjoyment, esp. that of eating and drinking; to riot, revel. ? Obs

Hence de ' bauching vbl. n. and ppl. a.

[evlpez]

orenda, n.

Brit. / [< Iroquoian orenda (J. N. B. Hewitt 1902, in Amer. Anthropologist 4 37: see quots. 1902) < the Huron cognate of Mohawk orenda inherent power.]

In Iroquois belief: a spirit or power thought to exist in all things.

1902 J. N. B. HEWITT in Amer. Anthropologist 4 33 (title) Orenda and a definition of religion. 1902 J. N. B. HEWITT in Amer. Anthropologist 4 37 This subsumed magic power is called..orenda by the Iroquoian tribes. And it is suggested that the Iroquoian name for the potence in question, orenda, be adopted to designate it. 1920 Times Lit. Suppl. 29 Apr. 264/2 Notions of the type of mana or orenda are of ‘a nascently philosophic order’. 1947 C. S. LEWIS Miracles xi. 100 It [sc. pantheism] may even be the most primitive of all religions, and the orenda of a savage tribe has been interpreted by some to be an ‘all-pervasive spirit’. 1971 J. VAN BAAL Symbols for Communication VI . 129 The trend towards mystic participation is expressed in concepts such as mana, wakenda, orenda, and so on, which give scope to the mystic connections underlying things and events. 2000 Beaver (Winnipeg) (Nexis) July V , Everyone was thought to hold a certain amount of personal power or orenda suitable for making offerings and entreaties to spirits for luck in battle, for protection of one's home and family, or to encourage the season's crops to grow well.

[evlpez]

Bork, v.
U.S. Polit. slang.

Brit. Also with lower-case initial. [< the name of Robert H. Bork (b. 1927), a judge whose nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1987 was rejected following a large amount of unfavourable publicity for his allegedly illiberal and extreme views.]

trans. To defame or vilify (a person) systematically, esp. in the mass media, usually with the aim of preventing his or her appointment to public office; to obstruct or thwart (a person) in this way. Also intr.

[evlpez]

surf and turf, n.
Cookery (orig. U.S.).

Forms: 19- surf and turf, Surf and Turf, Surf & Turf, surf 'n' turf, Surf 'n' Turf, Surf N' Turf.

A dish containing both seafood and meat; esp. one combining lobster and steak. Also in extended use.

_____________________

mink, n.1 and a.

A. n. I. Simple uses.

1. A skin or pelt of a mink (sense 2). Usu. in pl. Obs.

2. Either of two small, semi-aquatic, carnivorous mammals resembling stoats, Mustela vison (family Mustelidae), native to North America and widely farmed for its dark brown fur, and the smaller M. lutreola, found in Europe.
As a result of fur farming the American mink has become naturalized in many parts of Europe.

3.

1. The thick glossy dark brown fur of the mink, esp. as used to make coats or as a trimming for other garments.
   Often with connotation of luxury: cf. sense B. 2.
2. A garment made of mink.
3. A dark brown colour like that of a mink's fur.

4. U.S. slang. An attractive or sexually provocative woman; a girlfriend. Also in extended use. Cf. FOX n. 2c, MINX n. 2.

orig. and chiefly S. Afr. colloq. mink and manure, designating or relating to the inhabitants of the wealthy northern suburbs of Johannesburg, typically noted for their expensive clothes, love of horse riding, etc.; (hence) moneyed, rich.

II. Compounds.

6. mink farm, farmer, farming, head, hunting, oil, ranch, ranching, skin, tail, throat; mink brown (also as n.), -lined adjs. mink frog, a small mottled or spotted frog, Rana septentrionalis, of marshy lakes and ponds of north-eastern North America, which when handled exudes an odour resembling that of a mink. minkhound, a dog, esp. a foxhound or otterhound, used for hunting mink.

B. adj. (attrib.).

1. Of a coat or other garment: made of mink.

2. fig. Opulent, sumptuous, wealthy.

[evlpez]

fresh, v.

[f. FRESH a.; cf. F. fraîchir (OF. freschir intr. in the 12th c.).]

1. trans. To make fresh.

1. To refresh, recruit, strengthen; also, to increase. Also with up.
2. To renew, repair (obs.).
3. Naut. to fresh the hawse: see FRESHEN v. 3 (obs.).

2. intr. Of the wind: To become fresh, to begin to blow fresh. Also with up. Occas. of the sea: To become lively, roughen.

Hence ' freshing vbl. n., renewal, refreshment; (of a wound) recrudescence; ' freshing ppl. a.