Wondrous Words Wednesday, hosted by Kathy from Bermudaonion's Weblog, is an enjoyable and educational meme. One of my pleasures is reading the dictionary, and today's words are from The Random House College Dictionary. (I know, I deserve the Nerd-of-the-Week award!)
1. graminivorous: feeding on grass or the seeds of grass
"Sheep and goats are graminivorous, but sheep browse assiduously and steadily, whereas goats shift their ground rapidly, and browse only on the tips of the herbage."
~ The History of Animals, Aristotle
2. hedgehop: to fly an airplane at a very low altitude, as for spraying crops, low-level bombing in warfare, etc.
To hedgehop is to fly low (at the level of hedge tops?) and to avoid obstacles as necessary. I think that a plane that does this type of flying is referred to as a hedgehopper.
3. quadruped: a four-footed animal, creature, or machine (noun or adjective)
While many animals are quadrupeds, humans, birds, crustaceans, snakes, and insects are not quadrupeds, although there are a few exceptions. Among insects, the praying mantis is classified as a quadruped.
4. relume: to light or illuminate again; rekindle
Nightly in October, my youngest daughter wishes to relume the candles to make our house cozy, inviting, and fragrant.
I like the elegance of this word, and will ask my daughter to relume the candles this evening. Hopefully, the word may be used in this manner.
What wondrous new words have you encountered during recent reading?
Posts
No wonder you're so smart! I remembered quadruped from school, but the rest are new to me. I love the word hedgehop - I wish I could figure out a way to work that one into a conversation. Thanks for playing along.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Kathy. You are very kind! I knew the meaning of "quad" and "ped", but I hadn't really thought about what happens when you put them together. Thanks for hosting this meme so graciously!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing these words, I am pretty sure they are all new to me. I particularly like relume.
ReplyDeleteI knew numbers 2 and 3 but as for the rest? How amazing is language? Like your daughter I often light candles at this time of year - but not any more, from now on I shall relume them.
ReplyDeleteI will have to remember these words for my ' words with friends' games. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteGreat words Suko. I liked 'relume' too. Enjoy your weekend!
ReplyDeletehttp://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/
You have relumed my curiousity about graminivorous quadrupeds and hedgehopping.
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of any of those words! Love learning new words. Can't wait to play Scrabble with my husband, bwaaahhaa.
ReplyDeleteHey! This is such a nice idea to learn new words. Thanks for doing this. :)
ReplyDeleteI don't like the sound of Relume, rekindle sounds so much better LOL!
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