Subject: AMBRETTE at last

From: Ranjit Bhatnagar <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 18 Oct 1999 09:46:03 -0700 (PDT)

MY BEAUTIFUL AMBRETTE
The adventures of a scented pear upstaged by a dot.
Starring UNCLE AUSSIE as the one who fooled us all.

I spotted the ambrette, a smelly old pear, on an internet 
horticulture site some years ago. I haven't been able to 
find any real confirmation of its existence, though one 
web site cites the OED (I don't have one to check).  I was
hoping to be able to buy some ambrettes, or at least some
seeds to grow my own, but e-commerce hasn't progressed 
quite that far yet.

Aussie's Clock Dot definition took the prize with 4 votes
worth 6 points, closely followed by Eric's Ersatz Amber and
Elliot's Unforgeable Inscriptions, 5 points each.  If Uncle
Aussie is unable to fulfill the obligations appurtenant to
the position, Eric and Elliot will be sent to the Fight Club
to compete for the right to succeed her.

	ranjit

ambrette, n. A bulbous flask.
-- Nova & James get 2 points
++++ 2 - Elizabeth: "Simple, concise, I like it."
.... Kir: "Simple.  Intriguingly simple. Hmmm."
.... Fran: "this sounds so nicely laboratorical"

ambrette, n. A four-wheeled cannon support.
-- Kir gets 1 point
++.. 1 - Jean-Joseph: "One point.  It must have a name, and it could 
well be ambrette."
.... Fran: "this sounds so militarily-historical"
.... Elizabeth: "This is intriguing, and makes me wonder what the
real name for that thing actually is."

ambrette, n. Hard, golden, translucent plastic, a modified form of
celluloid.  Formerly used in jewelry as a substitute for amber.
-- Eric gets 5 points
++++ 2 - Aussie 
++++ 2 - JDMS: "Corny, but believable.  Two points (and apologies to the 
author for calling it corny if I'm wrong)."
++.. 1 - MyS
.... Kir: "Plausible idea, but something in the definition doesn't quite ring
true for me."
.... Fran: "I can hear the flea-marketeer lauding its virtues"
.... Pierre: "Too obvious."

ambrette, n. A hatchway.
-- Fran Poodry
.... Jean-Joseph: "Honorable mention.  Sounds very plausible."

ambrette, n. An inherent craving for the physical, esp. at the expense
of the spiritual.
-- Jeff Hutchinson
   "Great def! Pity it's mine *G*"
.... Elizabeth: "In a recent round, someone wrote that the "esp." in
my defintion was kind of a giveaway that one of the
participants wrote it..."

ambrette, n. A mild appetite.
-- Jean-Joseph
   "Curious to know if anybody sees through this bogus etymology: "hambre"
(Spanish for hunger) with a diminutive French suffix."

ambrette, n. An old variety of pear, Pyrus communis, amber pear, 
with a faint odor of ambergris.
-- OED?  2 points for the "real" definition
++.. 1 - Judith
++.. 1 - David
.... Kir: "Bit of confusion between variety & species, maybe?"
.... Jean-Joseph: "I didn't think ambergris has any particular aroma itself, 
but rather that it is a fixative for oils derived from flowers and such."
.... Elizabeth: "I have a vague memory of ambergris as a non-food
item, or maybe it comes from whales.  Either way, I
wouldn't expect it to be in a pear."

ambrette, n. 1. One of the markings used in place of a numeral on a
stylized clock or watch face.  2. Any dot or tick marking on a clock or
watch face, including minute markers.
-- Aussie gets 6 points -- the WINNAH!
++++ 2 - Jeff: "Certainly there's a name for these. I'm betting this is it."
++++ 2 - Fran: "I can imagine the Swiss watch-makers calling it this"
++.. 1 - Pierre
++.. 1 - Elizabeth
.... Kir: "Hmmm!"

ambrette, n. An ornamental iron fireplace screen designed to hold small 
candles.
-- MyS gets 2 points
++++ 2 - Judith
.... Kir: "I think the candles might melt."
.... Jean-Joseph: "Now why would you want to put candles in such a place?  
(A friend who is visiting put this near the top of his list, though.)"
.... Elizabeth: "This is one of those nice definitions, but I don't
think it's real."

ambrette, n. A small carriage, usually drawn by a pony, but occasionally
by a large dog.
-- Judith gets 4 points (1 for guessing the "real" definition)
++++ 2 - MyS
++.. 1 - Fran: "I can Sooo picture this, though I don't really think 
it is right"
.... Kir: "There is such a thing, but with this name?  Having such a
large dog, I am tempted!"
.... Jeff: "No, this is called a dog cart. Sherlock Holmes rides in one in
several of his adventures."
.... Pierre: "Is the pony Amethyst?"

ambrette, n. 1. A small glass bottle containing ambergris or other
perfumes. 2. An aphrodisiac. 3. A flirtatious young woman
-- David gets 2 points (1 for guessing the "real" definition)
++.. 1 - Jeff: "A perfume bottle to a love drug to a slut? What a 
wild combination!"
.... Kir: "#2 muddles me."
.... Jean-Joseph: "This looks very David Randall to me."
.... Elizabeth: "Oh, one of the multi-associative ones.  Nah.  I'm
gonna go out on a limb and say that this one's Uncle
Aussie's.  Perhaps."

ambrette, n. A strong liqueur made from gin, honey, and the oil of
any of several nuts, esp. hazelnuts or beechnuts.
-- Jennifer gets 2 points
++++ 2 - Pierre: "Sounds like a variant of 'amaretto'."
.... Kir: "There is something of the kind, but made with *gin*?"
.... Jean-Joseph: "Yuck."
.... Elizabeth: "There's that "esp." again..."

ambrette, n. A style of cursive handwriting, formerly much used in
legal draughting because of its resistance to alteration. 
-- Elliott gets 5 points
++++ 2 - Kir: "So odd that I will give it 2 points."
++++ 2 - Jean-Joseph: "I like this.  Nice solution to a problem.  If it's not
ambrette, but such a thing does exist, I'd be interested in knowing what
it is called."
++.. 1 - Aussie: "I don't believe it, but I like it."
.... Elizabeth: "Fascinating concept.  Pierre, is that you?"

ambrette, n. A tool with a rounded point, used in conjunction with a burin for
carving wood.
-- Pierre gets 4 points
++++ 2 - David
++.. 1 - Kir: "And another such plausible def, that I think I will give it a
point too."
++.. 1 - JDMS: "Not sure what a rounded point does for you, but I'll give it 
a point anyway."
.... Jean-Joseph: "My friend likes this one, too."

ambrette, n. (archaic) A unit of weight equal to nine grains.
-- Joshua Mackay-Smith <[email-masked]>
.... Jeff: "Far too prosaic. TOO believable."
.... Pierre: "Yeah, rice."

JOKE DEFINITIONS:

ambrette, n. A hair clasp for underarm hair, used during a thankfully 
short period of sleeveless women's wear during the reign of Henry VIII
-- Jeff Hutchinson <[email-masked]>

ambrette, int. What Brett says when introducing himself.
-- Pierre Abbat <[email-masked]>