flake
n.— «I prefer mulches that break down readily in the soil and are easy to lay down. I used to buy salt hay, which grows in coastal marshes, because the seeds it contains don’t germinate in gardens. But it’s less available now, so I use straw or hay. These come off the bale in flakes, like the volumes in an encyclopedia.» —“Green Thumbs Value a Good Mulch” by Barbara Damrosch Washington Post May 6, 2004. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
One of the most powerful words you’ll ever hear — and one of the most poignant — isn’t in dictionaries yet. But it probably will be one day. The word is endling, and it means “the last surviving member of a species.” The...
It’s hard to imagine now, but there was a time when people disagreed over the best word to use when answering the phone. Alexander Graham Bell suggested answering with ahoy! but Thomas Edison was partial to hello! A fascinating new book about...