Word of the Day...

[blunthead]

kraken (krä′kən) noun, a legendary sea monster of northern seas.

Terton, lengthman of the 45th Length, hadn't heard such a clashing since the night a giant kraken had been swept into the Fence five years ago.

[JohnDalglish]

kraken (krä′kən) noun, a legendary sea monster of northern seas.

Terton, lengthman of the 45th Length, hadn't heard such a clashing since the night a giant kraken had been swept into the Fence five years ago.

Hi,

John Wyndham wrote a great horror story, probably his best, a few years ago called, I think 'The Kraken Wakes'.

John Wyndham

Long days and pleasant nights

[blunthead]

Hi,

John Wyndham wrote a great horror story, probably his best, a few years ago called, I think 'The Kraken Wakes'.

John Wyndham

Long days and pleasant nights

Yes, indeed. I read it, I read a bunch of Wyndham after Danse Macabre. He's excellent!

canapé [kæ-nê-'pey] noun, an appetizer made of small squares of toast or crackers overlaid with a tasty relish of cheese, meat, or the like.

"Here we are, going to be sacrificed to some god or other in the morning, and you just sit there eating barnacle canapés."

[Haunted]

handsel \HAN-suhl\, noun:

1. First encounter with or use of something taken as a token of what will follow.
2. A gift or token for good luck or as an expression of good wishes.
3. A first installment of payment.

Breakfast done, the seekers made little delay, so eager as they were to behold the King, and to have handsel of their new sweet life.
-- William Morris, The Story of the Glittering Plain: Or the Land of Living Men

Or (if what they say is true and the ability cum willingness to speak the unspeakable proves the unspeakable's on the way out at last) does it on the contrary provoke a handsel, a prosperous new era, one long overdue, for all concerned?
-- Michael Brodsky, Limit point

Handsel is a venerable English word, literally consisting of "hand" and an early word for "gift."

[blunthead]

plinth (plĭnth) noun, a block or slab on which a pedestal, column, or statue is placed.

They managed to turn without really moving, like a couple of statues revolving on plinths.

[sprinco12]

I learned a new word in a chemistry independent study last year. My teacher loved that word because he thought it was so cool to say. Wierd.
Deliquescent 1:tending to melt or dissolve; especially : tending to undergo gradual dissolution and liquefaction by the attraction and absorption of moisture from the air it basically means to suck the water out of the air to form a solution 2: having repeated division into branches <elms are deliquescent trees>

[Atik]

Currently I´m readıng Bram Stoker Dracula and I came across thıs word.
Chagrın-A great dıssapoıntment or humılıatıon.
I thought ıt was pretty cool word.

[omm poppa mow mow]

<elms are deliquescent trees>

we have an elm up here, north of you, called a piss elm. the darn things grow like weeds, smell like....pee...when you burn them. We burn a lot of wood up here. As burning wood tends to dehydrate the air...especially over the winter, and too much humidity in the house over the winter, really any time...is never good news. good word...deliquescent.

[omm poppa mow mow]

rubbage

I believe this is a word from Twain...Adventures of Huckleberry Finn....and possibly others. There's some stuff on-line about it....stiff about tires, truck tires. But I like the word. rubbage.

I think this is the stuff that ends up in the burn barrel and gets burned on weekends and stinks up the town. rubbage. ha ha ha ha! Pascoe's Store, otherwise known as Big Boy Market....sheesh, we called it "the store" had these burn barrels out int he alleyway behind it...

Course, others used burn barrels. Like, Whitey's old man. We'd put potatoes in them, the barrels. wrap them up in tinfoil and go about our stuff. Come back later, or forget, one. But they were good. Spuds. Not rubbage. Man, what I wouldn't give for a potato right now...or a couple hours three from now, just when it is getting dark and a big yellow moon is coming up over Torch Lake. Man, that'd be great, unwrapping a potato, breaking the skin, and taking a bite. MMMMMMM. mmmmmm! Good! Man! You haven't lived until you've eaten potatoes from the burn barrel in the alley, just before dark, mosquitoes buzzing around, and maybe Whitey's old Dalmatian in the doghouse, giving us the eye. That dog was hyper.

[blunthead]

penury (pen′yo̵̅o̅ rē, -yə-) noun, lack of money, property, or necessities; extreme poverty; destitution.

A few of the more daring members of the Gambler's Guild had once experimented with a form of worship, in the deepest cellars of Guild headquarters, and had all died of penury, murder or just Death within the week.