prill results!
fictioneric at cluemail.com
fictioneric at cluemail.com
Tue Jan 16 12:10:41 EST 2007
Fictioneers --
A close round this time. Although hard-pressed
by Melissa at 10 points, Jean-Joseph takes it
with 12 points.
The real def was
prill, n. A small aggregate of material, most often a dry pellet,
formed by allowing drops of the prill substance to congeal in
mid-air by being dripped from the top of a prilling tower.
Slightly rephrased by me from Wikipedia. For more on prills, see here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prill
and here
http://www.gmfgouda.nl/jet-priller-gas/info-jet-priller-gas.html
My odd scoring system had no impact, since only
Pierre gave any votes to the true definition (two
votes, gaining him three points). Credit to
Pierre, and credit to me for choosing a good word.
Read on, for the votes and the comments.
------------------------------------------------
prill, n. A slurry of glass beads (dia. 500 - 900 microns) and
water, used as a final polishing compound for comparatively soft
minerals in lapidary work. prill, v. To polish using this
compound.
--- Jean-Joseph
12 points (4, David Randall. 1, Jim; 4, Linda; 2, Fran; 1, MYS)
prill, n. An extraneous mark on an engraving plate that mars the
printed picture.
--- Melissa
10 points (3, Jim; 2, James; 2, Fran; 2, Ranjit; 1, Elliott)
prill, n. The sound a baby chick or duckling makes to its mother
while still in the egg, in response to its mother's prilling.
prill, v. To communicate as between a mother and unborn chick
while in incubation.
--- lindafowens
5 points (4, Judith; 1, MYS)
prill, n. (fr. the name of the heroine in the novel _Outlaw of Mars_
by American science-fiction author Leigh Brackett) 1. (1950s
and 1960s science-fiction-fan slang) An attractive female
science fiction fan. 2. (1980s and 1990s Hollywood slang) A
young actress typecast in science fiction movies, often with the
pejorative implication of limited acting abilities. 3. (2000s
teen slang) An attractive, "spacey" young woman.
--- David Randall
5 points (1, MYS; 2, Ranjit; 2, Elliott)
prill, n. The call of the snipe. prill, v. To utter a purring
whistle like a snipe.
--- Fran
5 points (2, Pierre; 3, Jean-Joseph)
prill, adj. (dial.) Dangerously stormy.
--- Pierre
5 points (3 points for giving 2 votes to the dictionary;
1, James; 1, Jean-Joseph)
prill, n. Fossilized beach sand.
--- Hutch
3 points (2, Nicolas; 1, Elliott)
prill, n. "In Queensland head boxing, a swinging blow delivered
with the side of the head to the side of the opponent's head."
(Bowes' Dictionary of Sport, 1910)
--- Elliott
2 points (1, James; 1, MYS)
prill, n. The dust, etc., that collects under one's fingernails.
--- Judith
1 point (1, Nicolas)
prill, v. To quickly sort through or inspect seeds, grains,
precious stones, etc. by spreading them out on a tray.
--- Ranjit
1 point (1, Nicolas)
prill, n. An adjustable plate used to attach a theodolite to a
tripod.
--- James
0 points
------------------------------------------------
Hutch has given us some lovely research on
*various* real definitions for prill. He writes:
After making the votes below, I looked it up. The
real definitions are almost as varied as our
fictionitions were *G*:
Webster's 1828
<http://adsl-65-66-134-201.dsl.kscymo.swbell.net/cgi-bin/webster/webster.exe?search_for_texts_web1828=prill>
calls it
PRILL, n. A birt or turbot
TUR'BOT, n. A fish of the genus Pleuronectes, [fishes which swim
on the side.] It grows to the weight of twenty or thirty pounds, and
is much esteemed by epicures
BIRT, n. burt. A fish, called also turbot
The Phrontistery (home of the International House of Logorrhea and the
Compendium of Lost Words) <http://phrontistery.info/p.html> defines it
as
prill nodule of metal obtained after assaying
Webster's 1913 <http://machaut.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/WEBSTER.sh?WORD=prill> says
Prill (?), n. [Cf. Brill.] (Zoöl.) The brill.
Brill (?), n. [Cf. Corn. brilli mackerel, fr. brith streaked, speckled.]
(Zoöl.) A fish allied to the turbot (Rhombus levis), much esteemed
in England for food; -- called also bret, pearl, prill. See Bret.
Prill, v. i. To flow. [Obs.] Stow.
Prill, n. A stream. [Obs.] Davies (Microcosmos).
Prill (Page: 1137)
Prill, n. [Etymol. uncertain.] 1. (Mining) (a) A nugget of virgin metal.
(b) Ore selected for excellence. 2. The button of metal from an assay.
And finally, Encarta
<http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/DictionaryResults.aspx?refid=1861736986>
says
prill [ pril ] transitive verb (past and past participle prilled, present
participle pril·ling, 3rd person present singular prills) make solid into
granules: to make a solid into granules or pellets that flow freely and
do not clump together. noun (plural prills)
------------------------------------------------
General comments:
James identified the "bird-call family" of defs,
and "The small-particulate-matter family. It's a
big enough family that they should print t-shirts
for their reunion."
Hutch: Quite a varied collection this time around.
Nicolas: Several very believable ones.
prill, n. A slurry of glass beads (dia. 500 - 900 microns) and
water, used as a final polishing compound for comparatively soft
minerals in lapidary work. prill, v. To polish using this
compound.
--- Jean-Joseph
Pierre: This sounds too big to be used as a final
polishing compound. Beads about this size are
sprinkled on top of road paint to make it
retroflective. I call them "rainbow sand".
prill, n. An extraneous mark on an engraving plate that mars the
printed picture.
--- Melissa
James: TWO POINTS. It's sort of a member of the
small-particulate-matter family, but didn't go to
the reunion.
Ranjit: 2 pts, almost believable.
Elliott: 1 point. Printers have funny words; why not engravers?
prill, n. The sound a baby chick or duckling makes to its mother
while still in the egg, in response to its mother's prilling.
prill, v. To communicate as between a mother and unborn chick
while in incubation.
--- lindafowens
Elliott: TRILL. Word is re-used inside
definition, inconsistently with how it's defined.
Pierre: I thought this was "peep".
prill, n. (fr. the name of the heroine in the novel _Outlaw of Mars_
by American science-fiction author Leigh Brackett) 1. (1950s
and 1960s science-fiction-fan slang) An attractive female
science fiction fan. 2. (1980s and 1990s Hollywood slang) A
young actress typecast in science fiction movies, often with the
pejorative implication of limited acting abilities. 3. (2000s
teen slang) An attractive, "spacey" young woman.
--- David Randall
Jim: I was going to vote for this until the 3rd
definition. I just haven't ever heard it used by
current Swat students nor seen it in any likely
places (e.g web comics).
Hutch: I have a distinct memory of a character
named "Prill" in a science fiction novel, but
this one doesn't sound right. I love the
definitions though!
James: I don't think that any slang would have
this sort of staying power among varying groups
with varying meanings (evocative of each other).
Ranjit: 2 pts for cleverness.
Elliott: Lovely etymology, and I might have
believed it if it had stopped after definition
#2. But I like this one so much I'm going to
give it 2 points anyway.
prill, n. The call of the snipe. prill, v. To utter a purring
whistle like a snipe.
--- Fran
With her def, Fran wrote: A snipe is a bird. It
lives in the woods. It really does exist--and my
grandfather was born into the snipe clan. So if
anyone sends you on a snipe hunt...come back with
one! (don't include this last bit until you send
out the final results of the voting!)
Hutch: A snipe's call is harsh, grating, rather than a "purring whistle".
Nicolas: Heh. Snipe.
Elliott: TRILL.
Pierre: Two points for the snipe hunt.
Jean-Joseph: A special case of "pishing", I suppose. Three points
prill, adj. (dial.) Dangerously stormy.
--- Pierre
Hutch: 2 points for whoever was brave enough to offer us an adjective!
James: ONE POINT for succinctness. Woulda been
two, except that the dialect is not identified.
prill, n. Fossilized beach sand.
--- Hutch
Nicolas: 2 points. Simple and plausible.
Elliott: 1 point. On the one hand, geology has
lots of weird words. On the other, I think Eric
would have chosen something with a werider
definition
Jean-Joseph: Now that's a boring fossil. I think
it's often called "sandstone".
prill, n. "In Queensland head boxing, a swinging blow delivered
with the side of the head to the side of the opponent's head."
(Bowes' Dictionary of Sport, 1910)
--- Elliott
James: ONE POINT. The phrase "Queensland head
boxing" made my day. I don't know whether I hope
it's real, or whether I hope it isn't. It does
sound like an event made for the nether reaches
of late-night cable-TV sports. It's got to be at
least as entertaining as competitive
lumberjacking.
Elliott: Probably unconsciously influenced by German _prellen_ 'to bruise'.
prill, n. The dust, etc., that collects under one's fingernails.
--- Judith
Elliott: Believable but for the "etc.".
prill, v. To quickly sort through or inspect seeds, grains,
precious stones, etc. by spreading them out on a tray.
--- Ranjit
Nicolas: 1 point. I don't know why sift needs a synonym, but it sounds cooler.
prill, n. An adjustable plate used to attach a theodolite to a
tripod.
--- James
Elliott: You just wanted to say "theodolite",
which according to Wikipedia is an inherently
funny word.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Inherently_funny_word&diff=99282030&oldid=71087961)
Pierre: I'd probably have heard of this, though
we use total stations, robots, and now GPS units.
prill, n. A small aggregate of material, most often a dry pellet,
formed by allowing drops of the prill substance to congeal in
mid-air by being dripped from the top of a prilling tower.
--- Wikipedia
Jim: And if the drops evaporate before reaching the ground, they're puna-prill?
Elliott: Like the duck definition, uses the word
inside the definition in ways inconsistent with
how the word is defined.
Pierre: Two points for the prilling tower.
--
-- Eric | fictioneric at cluemail.com
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