[Fictionary] SPREATH ballot

[eLLioTT morEton]

Dear Fictionary,

Here is the SPREATH ballot!  Contributors include Ranjit, Linda, Eric, 
David, Jim, Hutch, Pierre, Jean-Joseph, and a harmless drudge.  Everyone 
has a 1-point vote and a 2-point vote, plus as many pointless (but 
potentially tie-breaking) awards as you care to invent.  Votes are due by 
Saturday evening, Nov. 6th.

Regards,
em
________________________________________________________________________________
spreath - n.  - a bouquet; particularly, an informal bouquet of 
wildflowers.

A spreath of dog-rose from the combe
Her feet bedewed whilst tripping home

  -- Robert Southey, _Cataract of Lodore_
________________________________________________________________________________
spreath, n.  The marrow from the bones of a fowl.

My sisters fought over the drumsticks, but I just waited for the spreath.
________________________________________________________________________________
'spreath, interj.  An exclamation contracted from "God's breath"; used as 
an oath.

But where I go next, why it's more than I know;
To the word that he speaks, 'sbreath, I mustn't say nay;
But with heart, hand, and soul, must still cheerily bow,
For 'tis his to command, and 'tis mine to obey.

-- John Howell, _The Man-of-War's-Man_, 1825
________________________________________________________________________________
spreath, n.  A herd of cattle carried or driven off in a raiding 
expedition.

1665 J. FRASER Polichron. (S.H.S.) 85 He wasted and spulied the whole 
country, carrying away a vast spreath of their strongest cattle.
________________________________________________________________________________
sbreath, exc.  A contraction of the oath "God's breath."

"I'll no oben tha burse a vhit," said the good Squire Trelawny, somewhat
rubicund.  "Sbreath, I'd soonster hang mezelf than gibe tha jackanabes a
zhilling."
________________________________________________________________________________
Spreath, n.  The breadth of a tree in autumn, just before the leaves fall.

Jon calculated the spreath of the trees in his orchard every year, when
they were at their maximum width and glory, to see if they needed any
special organic treatments.
________________________________________________________________________________
spreath, n.  The area over which a given plant is capable of dispersing
its seeds.

The Sandbox Tree (Hura crepitans) explosively ejects its seeds as far as
100 meters, resulting in a spreath of over 3 hectares, though is is 
eclipsed by trees which disperse seeds that can be carried by the wind.
________________________________________________________________________________
'spreath, interj.  Euphemistic shortening of God's breath.  Cf 'sblood,
'snails, 'slight, zounds, strewth.

Wittipol: 'Spreath! Sit, sir, and silent wait.  We go.
Does now the cuckold rise as if to fight?
How rise by day, that will not rise by night?

-- Ben Jonson, _The Devil is an Ass_, 1616.
________________________________________________________________________________
spreath, n.  The vertical distance measured between the stadia hairs on a
leveling rod.

To compute the horizontal distance, multiply the spreath by K times the
cosine squared of the vertical angle.
________________________________________________________________________________