Before her biography Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne (Bookshop|Amazon), Katherine Rundell was better known as a writer of children’s books, including The Girl Savage (Bookshop|Amazon) and Rooftoppers (Bookshop|Amazon). The...
One of our listeners was visiting the Orchid House at the San Diego Zoo and happened across the word fugacious, meaning “blooming only briefly.” The word can also apply to one’s mood, and shares a Latin root with...
poodle cut n.— «Lygodium, or Old World climbing fern, covers trees like a green blanket. Workers use a technique called “poodle cut” on lygodium vines, carving deeply into the thick vegetation near the base, which kills the...
broom v.— «The number of wolves in the refuge is increasing, and biologists are beginning to see browse that is “broomed,” a term used to describe willows that have been topped and are mushrooming, Aderman said.» —“Number of twins...