When you had sleepovers as a child, what did you call the makeshift beds you made on the floor? In some places, you call those bedclothes and blankets a pallet. This word comes from an old term for “straw.” And: What’s the story...
Many English words have their roots in Greek and Roman myth. Tantalize derives from the story of King Tantalus, condemned to stand forever in a pool that receded whenever he was thirsty, and beneath a bough of fruit that pulled away whenever he...
The tiny guppy, also called the millionfish or the rainbow fish, is named for amateur naturalist and Trinidad school superintendent Robert John Letchmere Guppy. This is part of a complete episode.
drain-bow n.— «“Drain-bows” (Rainbow parlance for slackers) who panhandled and shoplifted.» —“Rainbows came, camped, prayed, left” by Tom Morton Star Tribune (Jackson Hole, Wyoming) Dec. 29, 2008...
balloon glow n.— «The race features a “balloon glow” spectacular the evening before. The competing balloons set up before sunset, blowing their torches up into the expanded balloons just as night falls while still sitting on...
dichro n.— «Dorothy offered to teach him and LuAnn how to make dichroic glass jewelry.…They will be showing their dichro jewelry—as it’s known in industry speak.…Using all the colors of the rainbow and then some, LuAnn and Pat...