Thursday 30 June 2016

Thursday 30^th June 2016

Towser \ [tou-zer]

Noun

1. a big dog.

2. Informal. a big, hearty person, especially one who is very energetic:

He is a towser for rough outdoor work.

Quote

"Leander tells me," said Girling, "that it's a credited legend in dogdom that when

old Mother Hubbard went to her cupboard, there was no bone fit for a towser to

eat in it, but there was a skeleton.

....Horace Annesley Vachell, Nether Applewhite: A Story of Strange Lives in an

English Village, 1934

Origin

Towser is formed on the basis of the word touse meaning "to handle roughly;

dishevel" or "to struggle; tussle." It entered English in the mid-1600’s.

Monday 27^th June 2016

Verb -fies, -fying, -fied

1. (transitive) ( jocular) to change or transform into a different shape,

esp a grotesque or bizarre one

Quote

I loved my boyfriend so tenderly, I thought I must transmogrify into vapor. It

would take spectroscopic analysis to locate my molecules in thin air.

....Annie Dillard, An American Childhood, 1987

Origin

Transmogrify is of uncertain origin. It came into popular usage in the mid-1600’s.

Friday 24^th June 2016

Adjective

1. very amusing; causing laughter

Quote

At the Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey, Sheridan’s rib-tickling skewering of

romantic love, marriage, class and wealth has an extremely funny Mrs. Malaprop in

the person of Monique Fowler.

....Naomi Siegel, "It's Point, Counterpoint in a Comedy That Rocks," New York Times,

August 13, 2006

Origin

Rib-tickling entered English in the early 1800’s.