Words Within Words Trivia

1. What six-letter "may" word is often repeated in radio communications to signal distress in many kinds of situations -- a sinking ship, a malfunctioning airplane, for example?

From Quiz May Is Amazing

Answer: mayday

The rhyming vocal alarm "mayday" was devised by an air-traffic controller in London in the 1920s. It coincided with the French distress call "m'aidez", meaning "help me". Other acknowledged calls for assistance include "pan pan" and "declaring emergency".

From Quiz Time For Tea

Answer: teacher

TEAcher A teacher is anyone who helps others to learn things. While this is something done at an informal level, the term 'teacher' is generally attached to the educational profession, interchangeable with the term 'educator'. Historically, teachers for the wealthy were hired tutors, like Confucius, for example, but it took some time for the establishment of teacher training at colleges and universities. The first examples came during the Middle Ages with the founding of universities, such as Cambridge University, founded in 1209. 'Teach' is derived from the Old English word 'tæcan', meaning to show, point out, declare, or demonstrate.

From Quiz Splash's F A R Fetched Word Cruncher

Answer: Fare

In ancient Greek mythology a coin was placed into the eyes of the dead to allow them to pay the ferryman who carried their remains across the River Styx to the 'other side'. Failure to pay would mean the soul would wander the shores for eternity.

From Quiz A Catacomb of CAT Words

Answer: prevaricate

To prevaricate is to be so deliberately ambiguous or vague as to mislead or withhold information; so it is a form of lying. The word 'prevarication" appeared in English in the late 14th century, to mean "divergence from a right course, transgression". It came from Old French 'prevaricacion', that is, "breaking of God's laws, disobedience (to the Faith)". This came from the Latin 'praevaricationem', meaning "duplicity, collusion, or stepping out of line", from past-participle stem of 'praevaricari' meaning figuratively "to make a sham accusation, deviate" and literally "to walk crookedly". Broken down further, it's from 'prae' "before" and 'varicare' "to straddle", from 'varus' "bowlegged, knock-kneed". Though the noun appeared in the 14th century, the verb 'prevaricate', however, didn't appear until the 1580s.

From Quiz VENTing in Quizzyland

Answer: pre

To prevent or to avert can be defined as an action to stop something from happening, particularly one that would result in a negative outcome. An example would be to prevent a forest fire by extinguishing a campfire. Prevent stems from fourteenth century Middle English when its meaning was to precede or anticipate.

From Quiz I'll Know It When I See It

Answer: Italic & italics

The italic typeface is thought to have originated in Italy around 1500 and it is a style of calligraphy. In popular word processing applications like Microsoft Word italic is a popular typeface option alongside bold and underline.

From Quiz It's All Over

Answer: Clover

The clover belongs to the pea family and is generally found to have three leaves. Traditionally, four leaved clovers were considered to be lucky given their rare occurrence.

From Quiz What Can Be Done with the Pigs?

Answer: champignon

Mushrooms are a delicious fungus. Especially good for fun guys and gals who love Fun Trivia.

From Quiz I Have an Arch, too

Answer: Patriarch

In the Old Testament of the Bible, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are referred to as the 'Patriarchs of Israel'.

From Quiz Keys and More Keys

Answer: turkey

The turkey is a large bird that is used across the western world as a meal for special occasions such as Christmas and Thanksgiving. They are related to birds such as chickens and pheasants. The turkey is such a famous bird in North America that Benjamin Franklin wanted to use the wild turkey the national bird of America rather than the bald eagle.

From Quiz Think Ink

Answer: Blink

Blinking is a semi-automatic closing and opening of an eye and helps to keep the eye moist. It is not unusual to blink ten times a minute, but when the eye is focused, such as in reading, it may only occur three or four times a minute. The word contains 'ink'.

From Quiz In the Name of the 'Nyms'

Answer: from the Greek 'onoma'

Did you get this right? So much of our language originated from the Greeks, and this particular suffix is no different. From the Greek word 'onoma' which means name or word, -nym literally means name. You may find the size of the 'nym family' surprising, so won't you play along with me to 'Nym That Tune'? If you're interested in the incorrect choices, I made them up from Swift's 'houyhnhnms', and Brooklyn rapper 'Nymrod', to the French word 'agile' which translates to 'nimble'. Pretty eclectic, eh?

From Quiz Dow on my Mind

Answer: Widow

The term for a man in a similar situation is widower. Vrindavan is a town located ten kilometers away from Mathura, the birth place of the Hindu god Krishna according to mythology in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. It is known as the 'City of Widows' as a large number of these women abandoned by their families after the death of their husbands make their way here to live out their days in the various ashrams of the city by eking out a livelihood through begging.

From Quiz Dogs Not Allowed

Answer: Arcature

An arcature is a set of blind arches used on a side of a building for decorative purposes, or a small arched passageway. A fine example can be seen inside the cloisters at the Monreale Abbey on the Isle of Sicily. Brocatel is a type of fabric. Hecatomb is a sacrifice to the gods. Sacaton is a coarse perennial grass.

From Quiz Lost in the Land of Oz

Answer: Policeman

Rozzer is a slang term for policeman used in England, mainly London and often in TV and films. There are various explanations for its origin, the prevailing one being from "Robert" as in Robert Peel, the British statesman who established the Metropolitan Police Force in London in 1829.

From Quiz 'Tea'-terring on the Brink

Answer: Anteater

anTEAter There are four species of anteaters, and all have tongues that can extend up to two feet. They also have very sharp claws and no teeth. The anteater is the mascot of University of California at Irvine. The word 'anteater' was first recorded in the mid-1700s to describe literally the animals which catch ants and termites with their long sticky tongues.

From Quiz My Friend Ash

Answer: Seashore

The seashore is defined as the land bordering the sea or ocean, and legally consists of the ground between the high water and low water marks. Landing on beaches was quite common in the early days of flying, but Ash would have done better to aim for one of the many airports in the southern part of England.

From Quiz LOLita

Answer: Lollipop

A lollipop, or lolly, is a hard sweet candy on a stick, normally flavoured with fruit or mint that come in many shapes and sizes. An iced lollipop is a frozen desert on a wooden or plastic stick which can contain frozen flavoured water or ice cream.

From Quiz Words With the Word Red in Them

Answer: redo

Re means again, so redo means to do again. Redo can also be defined as to make over, such as when someone redoes their house.

From Quiz Words containing WHY?

Answer: Whey

Another term for whey is milk serum. It is the remaining byproduct found after milk has been curdled and strained. This substance has many uses including being a nutritional supplement, and a flour conditioner in the baking process.

From Quiz Come on Over to my House

Answer: Greenhouse & glasshouse

Greenhouses are made from a frame covered with glass panes, or plastic, and are designed to grow plants which need a warm environment. This is particularly important in climates such as that of the United Kingdom, where plants such as grapes would be hard to cultivate outside. The principles of growing plants in greenhouse type structures have been traced back to Roman times.

From Quiz Spreading the Heat

Answer: Cheater

Other synonyms that can be used for cheater are trickster, deceiver and fraudster.

From Quiz An Expedition Full of FUN!

Answer: Madeira

Madeira is a Portuguese island territory situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, renowned for its wine production which enjoys ever increasing in popularity as a holiday resort. The name Funchal derives from the copious amounts of fennel growing naturally in the area, 'funcho' being the local name for this herb. Honshu is the largest of the four principal islands of Japan, with a population exceeding 100,000,000. Guernsey is situated in the English Channel, being the second largest of the Channel Islands after Jersey. Tourism, dairy farming and banking are probably the three main contributors to the island's stable economy. Saint Helena is a UK territory situated in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a volcanic island with a population of just over 4,000. Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled on the island by the British government in 1815.

From Quiz All You Need is a Good Laugh

Answer: Bashes

Solution is as follows: basHEs. The word bash carries with it a tone of violence and can be used to indicate a beating or an assault. It also indicates the delivery of a blow or a series of heavy blows such as a boxer laying into and bashing his opponent. The meaning of bash, however, need not always be about physical violence, it can also be used to denote criticism. A good example may be the criticism of government officials being called "polly bashing". A good bash is another way of indicating a good party. I can only wonder if our good friend Smacka took lessons from Paul Simonon, the bass player of the band The Clash. Simonon once smashed his bass guitar on the side of the stage. The photograph taken of this event became the iconic cover of the band's 1979 album "London Calling".

From Quiz Chin Up

Answer: Aching

Tony Bennett sang, "I Wonder". "My heart is aching, I'm a fool To let it go on breaking Maybe I'll awake and find that I'm mistaken I wonder." When I think of aching hearts, I think of Billy Ray Cyrus and his "Achy Breaky Heart" song.

From Quiz I'm Ill, When No One's Around

Answer: Illuminate

Illuminate can also mean to decorate with lights or allow someone to understand. An alternate answer to this question may have been "illustrate"; however, its meaning is more about enlightenment than brightening with light.

From Quiz The Answer is Always Yes

Answer: yesterday

This is also a song by The Beatles.

From Quiz The Last Word

Answer: Iconoclast

Iconoclasm, destroying icons or religious symbols, can be carried out from genuine belief but can also be done for political reasons. For instance, an occupying power may destroy the symbols of the subject people to exert their authority. An example would be the destruction of the figures of Buddha in Afghanistan by the Taliban. Iconoclast can also be used in a less literal sense to describe someone who challenges the status quo.

From Quiz Put It All Together One More Time

Answer: abandon

a (one), ban (prohibit), don (put on). Abandon: v. to give up wholly and finally; n. careless freedom.

From Quiz Words with the Word "Wind" in Them

Answer: WINDOW

Though we use windows today without giving them a second thought, the first windows were simple holes in roofs with no covering whatsoever to let in light. The first glass windows date back to the Roman Imperial period and were made of thick irregular blown glass. These windows were meant for insulation and safety rather than to let people look through them or receive internal lighting. The most common place to find the first glass windows was in the Roman baths.

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Last Updated Dec 21 2024 5:46 AM

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