Hazy Definitions 4
To wrap up the series of Hazy Definitions, here’s a treble. This week’s challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to use all three in casual conversation:
velarise: to produce with velar articulation [and velar, as we know, describes the tongue curled toward - or touching - the soft palate] So what is a word we customarily velarise? I’m still chewing my lip in befuddlement.
lapstrake: see clinkerbuilt [any boatbuilder is athwart this baby, but old salts do have a habit of speaking an impenetrable argot. See Vain Endeavours in the Freelance section if you don’t believe me.]
spathe: conspicuous bract subtending a spadix [Winner of the Hazy Definition Goblet for 2007. Congratulations.]
Elucidated? Remember where you learnt it first.