Pony's Adopted Drop A Letter! Trivia Quiz

Answer: cartilages

Cartilage is a very strong and flexible connective tissue that protects joints and bones by serving as a kind of shock absorber that reduces friction. Humans have three types of cartilages; hyaline cartilage is most commonly found in joints, while elastic cartilage is found in the ear, both inside, as in the eustachian tubes, and outside. Did you know that the part of the ear that can be seen is made of cartilage? Fibrocartilage is present in the knee meniscus and in the disks between the vertebrae in the spine.

It's really important to take care of one's cartilages, as injuries typically take longer to heal because cartilage doesn't receive direct blood flow. Exercising regularly, maintaining a healthy weight, and abstaining from tobacco use are said to keep cartilages working as they should.

Answer: glaciates

Glaciers begin to form when the snow in an area does not melt from year to year. As this continues to occur - over the course of many years, decades, or centuries - the snow on the bottom becomes more compressed, turning to ice, and glaciates the land.

Glaciers cover about 10% of the world's total land area and are found on every continent except Australia. It has been estimated that they hold about 69% of the world's fresh water.

Answer: gestical

Have you waved to anyone lately? Then you have made a gestical body movement; in other words, you have conveyed an idea through nonverbal communication. Although the expression is mainly used when describing dancing, the word applies to any number of gestures people make every day.

It originated from the Latin "gestus", meaning a movement of the limbs. Perhaps more of an obsolete term - gestic is the word most commonly used today - gestical is a valid Scrabble word, found in official Scrabble dictionaries throughout the world.

Answer: ligates

In medical terms, a surgeon ligates or ties off a blood vessel to prevent blood from flowing to another part of a person's body. A common procedure ligates or ties off a woman's Fallopian tubes in order to prevent pregnancy. The process blocks the passage of eggs from the ovaries to the uterus.

In chemistry the term is used when molecules are joined together to form a new chemical bond. An example of this process is the joining of DNA molecules, which is important in DNA replication, repair, and genetic engineering.

Answer: silage

Used since the early 1800s, silage is food for sheep, cattle, and other animals that graze. It is made from grass crops, such as maize, sorghum, or oats, and uses the entire plant.

After the crop is harvested, it is cut into small pieces, placed on the floor of the silo or barn, and closely packed together. A material like straw is then put on the top layer and weights are added to be sure there aren't any oxygen pockets. The time needed for fermentation varies according to the type of silage, but is typically sometime between 10 days and four weeks.

Answer: aegis

In Greek mythology Zeus acquired his aegis from Amaltheia, the goat who had nursed him when he was a baby while his mother was hiding him from his father. Hephaestus, the god of fire and metalworking, was said to have crafted the goat hide into a shield. The image of the head of Medusa is believed to have been put on the aegis to give it more power.

Zeus' daughter Athena also wore an aegis, and, according to Homer in the "Iliad", Zeus loaned hers to Apollo for use during the Trojan War. Today's meaning of the word aegis is to be under the protection or sponsorship of an individual.

Answer: sage

When used as a noun, sage can have two meanings; it can describe either a North American bush or a commonly used herb found in the Mediterranean region. This form of the word is derived from the Latin, "salvia", which was passed on to the Old French as "sauge". The plant was commonly used as a condiment or as a medicine. In Old English it was known as "salvie".

The word sage can also be used as an adjective, to mean a person who is wise, or knowledgeable. It was derived from the Latin "sapere", which meant to be wise. Used as a noun, a sage is a wise man. This usage probably was derived from the term used for the Seven Sages, who were ancient Greeks known for their wisdom.

Answer: gas

There are four fundamental states of matter - solid, liquid, plasma, and gas. Jan Baptist van Helmont, a chemist from Belgium, identified carbon dioxide, which he called "gas sylvestre" in 1630. It was the first gas after air that was identified.

The word gas was probably derived from the term, "khaos", used by a 16th century Swiss physician named Paracelsus, who used the word to describe ultra-rarified water. In Dutch the "kh" is the "g" sound, which resulted in the word gas. It was not until 1779 that the modern meaning of the word - a combustible mix of vapors - was used.

Answer: as

A territory of the United States located in the Pacific Ocean, American Samoa is part of the island group called Polynesia. It is the southern most territory of the U.S., and is located 2200 miles (3500 km) southwest of Hawaii.

In 1899 at the Tripartite Convention, Germany and the United States divided the island between themselves, and it proved to be strategically important during WWII and the Cold War. U.S. Naval Station Tutuila, its name in 1900, was an important naval base at Pago Pago. In 1967 American Samoa adopted its own constitution and became self-governing.

Answer: a

There are two indefinite articles in the English language - a and an. Used before vague singular nouns, they help to indicate that the noun does not refer to anything that is specific. For example, if my son says, "I want a new car", the statement really refers to any car other than the one he currently owns.