Making an Easy Start Trivia Quiz

Answer: East

East is one of the four main or cardinal directions of the compass, with north, south and west being the other three. Four other directions (north-east, south-east, south-west and north-west) are called the ordinal directions and each one lies equidistant between two of the cardinal directions with, for instance, north-east lying half-way between north and east. Traditionally Asia has been referred to as the East or Orient while Europe and the Americas have been called the West or Occident.

The word 'east' originated from the Proto-Indo-European 'aus-' meaning 'to shine' or 'dawn' and this word evolved over time through the Proto-Germanic 'astro', the Old English 'ēast' and the Middle English 'est' to become the current English 'east'. The word has cognates in other European languages and all refer to the fact that east is the usual direction in which the sun rises because the earth rotates around its axis in an easterly direction.

Answer: Vast

As well as 'enormous', the adjective 'vast' has many other synonyms including 'immense', 'huge' and 'massive'. The word can be used to describe quantities as well as single objects. A few instances are 'vast numbers of people' and 'vast stores of ammunition', 'a vast mansion' and 'a vast mistake'. Like most adjectives, 'vast' has a comparative and a superlative form and these forms are 'vaster' and 'vastest' respectively.

The word 'vast' derived from the Latin word 'vastus' meaning 'immense'. The Latin word also meant 'void' and used in this sense eventually evolved into the English 'waste' and its German cognate 'Wuste', although the words 'vast' and 'waste' now have no connection with each other. When combined with 'ness', the word 'vast' forms the noun 'vastness' meaning a very large sized thing, for instance 'the vastness of space'.

Answer: Last

A cobbler's last is shaped like an adjustable foot and the shoe that the cobbler is repairing or making is placed over it. This piece of equipment then holds the shoe in place while the cobbler is working on it. When shoes and boots were made individually made by hand, a cobbler's wealthier customers could have their own personal lasts made. The word 'last' used in this sense is derived from the Old English word 'laest', meaning 'footprint'.

The word 'last' is also used to mean the final one in a series and thus is the opposite of 'first' as in, for example, the statement 'he came last in the race'. In this context the word descended from the Old English 'latost' meaning 'slowest'. Used as a verb, 'last' can also mean that someone or something carries on for a long time, for instance as used in the sentence 'these sweets last for ages'. As used in this way the word comes from the Old English 'lęstan' meaning 'to continue/endure'.

Answer: Lash

In its lesser used noun form 'lash' can be a synonym for a whip, as in the expression 'to give someone the lash/whip' meaning to beat them with one. Used as a verb, for example in the expression 'to lash someone/something', the word means to beat them with a whip or similar object, for instance as when a whip was used on carriage horses to make them go faster. A particular whip known as a cat o' nine tails was used to punish sailors and occasionally soldiers and this whip was comprised of nine thick knotted cords or ropes.

In other contexts, someone can be said to lash another person with their tongue when they scold them severely, or a person can 'lash out' at another when they attack them verbally or physically. In a couple of expressions the word can have a connection with alcohol as 'to be on the lash' is to be out drinking heavily and to be 'lashed' is to be drunk. 'Lash' can sometimes be combined with another word to form a new word, for instance with 'eye' to form 'eyelash' and with 'whip' itself to make 'whiplash', which word describes an injury caused after experiencing a strong jerk to the head.

Answer: Cash

'Cash' is a word used for money available to be spent straight away and refers to the coins and banknotes that someone has in their possession. This is in contrast to funds in a bank or similar account. The word 'cash' can be used on its own or combined with another to form an expression meaning the same thing, such as 'cold cash'. The term 'to work cash in hand' means that someone is paid cash for a job as soon as it is done, rather that presenting an invoice and being paid later.

The word 'cash' can also be used as a verb in some contexts and one example is to describe someone as having 'cashed their chips in'. This expression can either be used literally to convey that someone having played in a casino exchanged their remaining casino chips (small discs used instead of cash for betting) for money or can be used figuratively to mean that someone died.

Answer: Cast

The actors in a play, film, television programme and so on are referred to as the cast. Similarly, to cast one of these productions means to select the actors for it. In relation particularly to the film industry, the term 'casting couch' can be used to mean that an actor (and generally a female one) is prepared to have sex with a producer or director in order to obtain a role in a production. This expression may have started when a physical couch was used for the activity, but it has now become a more general expression.

Used in another sense the word 'cast' can be a synonym for 'throw', for instance in the phrase 'to cast oil on troubled waters', which means to try and reconcile two or more people having a disagreement just as pouring oil on to water has the effect of calming it. As other examples, to 'cast something aside' is to get rid of it as it is no longer needed, and to 'cast one's fate to the wind' means not to try and control one's future but to let it happen.

Answer: Cart

The word 'cart' usually referred to a wheeled vehicle pulled by a horse or mule that was used mainly to transport heavy goods or largish loads, especially those connected with farming. The proverb 'do not put the cart before the horse' means that things should be taken or done in the correct order. Similarly, someone not having done that can be said to have 'put the cart before the horse'.

Smaller carts could be pushed or pulled by a person and in modern life one of the names for the receptacle into which shoppers put goods in a supermarket is 'shopping cart'. This term is used in parts of the US, while 'shopping buggy' and 'shopping trolley' are used in parts of southern US states and in the UK respectively. The traditional expression 'to upset the applecart' was, and sometimes is, used to mean to spoil a system or someone's plans.

Answer: Hart

A hart, also known as a stag, is a male deer and the word is especially applied to a male red deer aged over five years. The female of this deer is called a hind or sometimes a roe. Red deer have lived in parts of Europe and Asia and in northern Africa for over 800,000 years and from the mid-nineteenth century onwards have been introduced into Australia, New Zealand and parts of the Americas.

The red deer (Cervus elaphus) is the fourth largest of the extant deer species. These deer are ruminants whose stomachs have four chambers while their reddish-brown coats grow thicker and have at least some grey in them during the winter. Only the males have antlers and these are shed annually, normally at the end of winter ready for new ones to grow in the spring. The females usually have one fawn at a time and this fawn is generally weaned by the time it is two months old but stays with its mother until it is about a year old.

Answer: Hare

The Lepus genus consists of a number of species of 'true' hares, such as the Arctic hare and the desert hare, and several species commonly known as 'jackrabbits' but which are actually hares. Between them the various species inhabit many parts of the world, being native to areas of Europe, Asia, Africa and North America. Hares are similar in appearance to rabbits but are usually larger and have longer ears, through which body heat can be lost, and longer hind legs.

Unlike rabbits, who mainly live collectively in underground warrens or burrows, hares normally live alone or in pairs above ground in a shallow depression or nest of grass, known as a form. Females usually give birth two to four times a year and have two or three young each time. These leverets, as young hares are called, are precocial, which means they can fend for themselves shortly after being born. Adult male hares are known as jacks and adult females as jills while several collective nouns are used for a group of hares, including 'band', 'leap' and 'drove'.

Answer: Hard

The word 'hard' has a number of meanings, one of which is 'difficult', and in this sense 'hard' is the opposite of 'easy'. As an example of this, walking through a puddle is usually easy but swimming across the Mediterranean is normally hard. Another instance of the difference in meanings is that someone coping with much ongoing adversity can be said to be having a hard life while someone described as having an easy life has few problems and is often comfortably off.

'Hard' can also mean 'firm' or 'unyielding' and in this sense the word is the opposite of 'soft'. 'Hard' and 'soft' can be used to describe a contrasting physical property of either an object or a person. For instance, something made of iron is hard to the touch while a cushion or pillow feels soft. A person described as 'hard' or 'hard-hearted' is considered to have a strong but ruthless personality with no sympathy for others. In contrast, someone described as 'soft' or 'soft-hearted' is kind, caring and sympathetic to other people.