A.W.A.D. - Multiple Meaning Words

with Anu Garg

"That's a great deal to make one word mean," Alice said in a thoughtful tone. "When I make a word do a lot of work like that," said Humpty Dumpty, "I always pay it extra."

Alice and Humpty Dumpty in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass might as well have been talking about this week's words. While the word "set" has the largest number of meanings -- the Oxford English Dictionary has 26 pages devoted to this little three-letter word -- each of this week's hard-working words has many unrelated meanings that are interesting.

Come to think of it, Alice's one word mean can mean more than one mean word. With this week's words in AWAD Humpty Dumpty is going to have to pay a lot. Let's get our money's worth.

purlicue
PRONUNCIATION: (PUHR-li-kyu)
MEANING: noun:
1. The space between the extended forefinger and thumb
2. A flourish or curl at the end of a handwritten word. Also known as curlicue
3. A discourse, especially its summarizing part

ETYMOLOGY: Of uncertain origin, probably from Scots pirlie (curly)

USAGE: "Won Li's attentions moved to the weblike purlicue between my thumb and forefinger." Suzann Ledbetter; A Lady Never Trifles with Thieves; Pocket; 2003

trammel
PRONUNCIATION: (TRAM-uhl)
MEANING: noun:
1. Something that limits or hinders
2. A fishing net having three layers
3. An instrument for drawing ellipses
4. A shackle used in training a horse to amble
5. An instrument for gauging and aligning parts of a machine
6. A hook for hanging a pot or a kettle over a fire

verb tr.:
To restrain; to hinder

ETYMOLOGY: From Old French tramail, from Latin tremaculum, from tres (three) + macula (mesh). Ultimately from the Indo-European root trei- (three) that's also the source of such words as three, testify (to be the third person: to bear witness), and triskaidekaphobia (fear of the number 13)

USAGE: "John Singleton, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. spokesman, said [the ban on cigarette sales at Boston drugstores and on college campuses] does trammel on businesses' right to sell what they want to sell." Stephen Smith; Hub Seeks More Bans on Tobacco; The Boston Globe; Sep 4, 2008

"'Lost in Showbiz asks what constitutes a crisis?' Jonathan Blake continues, free of the trammels of punctuation." Marina Hyde; Our High Priest of Showbiz Offers Up Some Vehicle Specs; The Guardian (London, UK); Apr 27, 2009

grig
PRONUNCIATION: (grig)
MEANING: noun:
1. A cricket or grasshopper
2. A small or young eel
3. A lively or lighthearted person

ETYMOLOGY: The word is often used in the phrase "merry as a grig". The word is of uncertain origin, though various theories have been suggested, such as a corruption of "merry as a cricket" or "merry as a Greek", as in Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida: "Then she's a merry Greek indeed."

USAGE: "When all is reversed and we shall be like the insane, to whom the antics of the sane seem the crazy twistings of a grig." EB White; Removal; 1938
"I walked into my local branch of Boots the Chemists as merry as a grig, with a twinkle in my eye and an annoying whistle on my lips." The Weasel; Independent (London, UK); Jun 8, 1996

growler
PRONUNCIATION: (GROU-luhr)
MEANING: noun:
1. One that growls
2. A container (as a pail or pitcher) brought by a customer to fetch beer
3. A small iceberg
4. A four-wheeled cab.5. An electromagnetic device for testing short-circuited coils

ETYMOLOGY: From growl, from Middle English groule, grollen (to rumble), probably of imitative origin

USAGE: "When Euro-metal comes to mind it can often rouse visions of hairy, horn-helmeted growlers howling about faraway lands and legendary times." Fawnda Mithrush; Primordial: Thoroughly Modern Metal; Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada); May 7, 2009

"The two-story building will feature a to-go bar on the first floor for beer aficionados to buy and fill growlers." Rachael Fisher; Brewing Company on the Move; The Anchorage Daily News (Alaska); May 1, 2009

"We sailed the 30-mile stretch of the Atlantic Sound, otherwise known as Iceberg Alley. The smaller, granite-hard growlers are to be avoided just as deftly as the enormous floating glacial islands."Neill Johnston; Cool Cruise Among Ice and Penguins; Birmingham Post (UK); May 15, 2009

"So this growler will get into Audi R8 territory for about a third of the Audi's $130,000 starting price tag." Jeremy Cato; New Challenger Even Better; The Globe and Mail (Toronto, Canada); Feb 19, 2008

gaff
PRONUNCIATION: (gaf)
MEANING: noun:
1. A pole with a hook on the end, used to land large fish
2. A metal spur for a gamecock
3. A hoax or fraud
4. Gimmick or trick
5. Harsh treatment or criticism
6. A place of entertainment, especially with a disreputable reputation
7. A house, apartment, shop, or other building
8. A social error; a faux pas

verb tr.:
1. (to stand or take the gaff) To receive severe criticism; to endure hardship
2. To cheat
3. To gamble

ETYMOLOGY:
noun 1-4: From gaffe (boat hook), ultimately from the Indo-European root kap- (to grasp) that is also the root of captive, capsule, chassis, cable, occupy, and deceive

5-7: Of unknown origin

8: A variant of gaffe

verb 1-3: Of uncertain origin

USAGE: "I had murdered a couple of nice halibut, impaling them with the gaff and then happily beating their brains out all over the deck of a friend's boat." Richard Chiappone; The Killing Season; Anchorage Press (Alaska); May 13, 2009

"Derek Dingle, a famous closeup man, adjusted the Cigarette Through Quarter trick by palming and replacing one gaffed quarter with another." Adam Gopnik; The Real Work; New Yorker; Mar 17, 2008

"'They don't want to take the gaff when something goes wrong,' said Bud Long." A Dismal Record; The Fresno Bee (California); Aug 9, 1992

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