Still completely behind, so this is going to be rather random ...
Last week I read Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery for the readalong at the Midnight Garden, so I have a few words from that book ...
A child of about eleven, garbed in a very short, very tight, very ugly dress of yellowish-gray wincey.
wincey
- a plain or twilled fabric of wool and cotton used especially for warm shirts or skirts and pajamas.
- is a coarse twill or plain-woven fabric woven with a linen warp and a woollen weft. Similar fabrics woven with a cotton warp and woollen weft in Colonial America were also called linsey-woolsey or wincey.
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"She looks exactly like a – like a gimlet."
gimlet
gimlet (plural gimlets)
- A small screw-tipped tool for boring holes.
- A cocktail, usually made with gin and lime juice.
This one was confusing me, because neither of these makes much sense as an insult from a child, but I finally found out that gimlet was also used figuratively to describe something as sharp or piercing.
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"...I got up yesterday spelling 'ebullition."
eb·ul·li·tion (ĕb′ə-lĭsh′ən) n.
- The state or process of boiling.
- A sudden, violent outpouring, as of emotion
A term which certainly describes Anne.
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"... And then shall I run down the cellar and get some russets, Matthew ? Wouldn't you like some russets?"
russets - from Wikipedia "Russeting on apples is a particular type of skin, slightly rough, usually with a greenish-brown to yellowish-brown colour. Many apple cultivars have some natural russeting, but some are almost entirely covered in it, notably the Egremont Russet. Russet apples often exhibit a scent and flavour reminiscent of nuts, and are often very sweet. ... "
(This was one confusing the heck out of me - I thought that she was talking about russet potatoes at first!)
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I'll send her to the manse tomorrow to borrow the Peep of the Day series, that's what I'll do.
manse - The house occupied by a minister of a Presbyterian church. Origin - late 15th century (denoting the principal house of an estate): from medieval Latin mansus 'house, dwelling', from manere 'remain'.
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| The Leaskdale Manse that L.M. Montgomery moved into after marrying Ewan Macdonald in 1911, three years after publishing Anne of Green Gables. Macdonald was a Prince Edward Islander and had become the community’s Presbyterian minister in 1910. Montgomery lived there for 15 years. http://lucymaudmontgomery.ca/about-maud/ |
I get wincey hence Winceyette which I remember my grandmother talking about - nighties I think. Ebullition is new to me.
ReplyDeleteI knew two of the words today, liked wincey.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read Anne of Green Gables last year, these words were new to me also. And I did not look up russets, I just assumed she was talking about potatoes! Interesting!
ReplyDeleteI love "ebullition"! I have to remember to use it in a sentence in the next few days, to cement it in my mind.
ReplyDeleteI knew russets and manse but the others are new to me. Gimlet confused me because I thought it was a drink!
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