Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Back in the game

Well, I haven't played along with Bermuda Onion's Wondrous Words Wednesday (a weekly meme where we share new (to us) words that we’ve encountered in our reading throughout the previous week.) in a very long time...but, the book I'm reading currently -- "The Songcatcher" by Sharyn McCrumb -- has offered up two words so far that I can add to the game...

  • orlop n. : the lowest deck of a ship, especially a war ship
  • "The men who had taken me off of the beach had locked me below deck on the orlop deck" (pg 31)
    and,
  • coracle n. : a small fishing boat of hide or oilcloth on a wicker frame
  • "...St. Columba -- had come over from Ireland, beached his wee leather coracle, and built a great church..." (pg 39)

    And that's all for me this week.
    What Wondrous Words have you encountered this week??

    *All definitions are garnered from The Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged Edition, unless otherwise noted.

    6 comments:

    Louise said...

    Nautical words are always different- and they have so many of them! I love the sound of orlop- pity I won't ever get to use it.

    Annie said...

    Nautical words ! I wonder how many they are ! I'm reading "Moby Dick" (in French ) and have to search a nautical word in the dictionnary several times a page ...

    Lisa said...

    I learned orlop in a book about pirates, but coracle was new to me. Great words!

    bermudaonion said...

    Those are both new to me! I love the sound of orlop but don't think I'll have the chance to use it.

    Lady In Read said...

    both new words for me. Maybe will get a chance to use orlop when we visit a war ship next month as part of a scout group outing (my son is going but will it be dad or mom with him, I don't know that yet)

    JNCL said...

    Coracle I knew, but had forgotten. Orlop was new. Great words!
    JNCL
    The Beauty of Eclecticism