WordPaths
1. This word for someone who accompanies a young woman or supervises
gatherings of young people derives from the French word for a protective
hood or head covering.
2. Now a word meaning a lout, stumblebum, lummox, clod, klutz,
lump, goon or clumsy person, this 3-letter word comes from the Old
Norse word for a changeling child left by the fairies in place of
the one they have purloined.
3. Derived from the Latin word which originally meant "soul or
driving force", this noun denotes an intense dislike, amounting
sometimes to open hostility.
4. This 13-letter adjective comes from Latin words for 'tiny' and
'mind.' I suppose it takes a small mind to be so contemptibly fearful
and lacking in courage or resolution.
5. Derived from an Icelandic word meaning "badly twisted," this
word means "in deplorable condition" or "about to fall apart." I
seem to visualize a bulldozer about to raze a small crude dwelling....
6. This adjective comes from the name of the native land of the
Spartans in ancient Greece, and is a testament to the Spartans'
terse and succinct habits of speech.
7. Imagine having the power to influence a commodity's price because
you are one of very few purchasers buying it! This market situation
entered the language of economics from Greek words meaning 'few'
and 'buying'.
8. The name of this South American capital city comes from Latin
roots denoting 'Mountain' & 'I see.'
9. This word comes to us directly from French and was a geologist's
term meaning 'the sudden breaking of the ice in a river.' The word's
meaning has been broadened to extend to any great catastrophe, not
just a spring flood.
10. This 11-letter verb, meaning to "bend the truth for the purpose
of deceiving", comes from the Latin word for "to walk crookedly."
11. From the Greek name for a professional dinner guest, this word
denotes an organism or person who lives and feeds off another.
12. As a verb, this word means to sully or pollute. As a noun it
is a narrow gorge that restricts lateral movement. The word stems
from the Old French word for 'spinning thread', or 'marching in
line'.
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