[BITList] Fwd: A.Word.A.Day--trammel

[John Feltham]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Wordsmith" <wsmith at wordsmith.org>
Date: 2 June 2009 2:17:10 PM
To: wulguru.wantok at Gmail.com
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--trammel

  Wordsmith.org	The Magic of Words

This week's theme
Words having many unrelated meanings

This week's words
purlicue
trammel

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

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.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
It is a trick among the dishonest to offer sacrifices that are not  
needed, or not possible, to avoid making those that are required. - 
Ivan Goncharov, novelist (1812-1891)

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