Yvonne
Wondrous Words Wednesday …
Is a weekly meme where we share new (to us) words that we have encountered in our reading
So, my first word this time, I discovered in a very creepy book I finished towards the end of last year
“So this is the priest’s hole that the Wilmingtons had built,’ said John. ‘It’s extraordinary those priest hunters never found it. I mean, they were pretty canny. Pursuivants they were called, and they were former spies and mercenaries. They could make themselves a fair amount of bounty if they caught a priest.’
PURSUIVANTS – A pursuivant or, more correctly, pursuivant of arms, is a junior officer of arms. Most pursuivants are attached to official heraldic authorities, such as the College of Arms in London or the Court of the Lord Lyon in Edinburgh. In the mediaeval era, many great nobles employed their own officers of arms. Today, there still exist some private pursuivants that are not employed by a government authority. In Scotland, for example, several pursuivants of arms have been appointed by Clan Chiefs. These pursuivants of arms look after matters of heraldic and genealogical importance for clan members.
This word I came across in the book I am currently reading / reviewing, it’s a lovely story!
“‘Matthew,’ he said, holding out his hand. ‘Calista,’ I said, shaking it. ‘Does this mean you’re another ligger, like me?’ he asked. ‘Ligger?'”
LIGGER – (in this instance the first definition applies)
To take advantage of free parties, travel, or other benefits offered by companies for publicity purposes.
dialectal, England : A float that usually consists of a bundle of reeds with baited line attached for pike fishing
dialectal, England : A footbridge (as a plank) across a ditch or drain
As lockdown comes and goes, I continue to be addicted to both my online digital jigsaw puzzles and my regular daily dose of online crossword puzzles.
After completing one such crossword last week, I was left with this word as an answer and had no idea how it related to the clue given.
As I was pretty certain that all my other linking answers were correct, I just had to look it up!
The word I was left with was:- SHIM
SHIM – A shim is a thin and often tapered or wedged piece of material, used to fill small gaps or spaces between objects. Shims are typically used in order to support, adjust for better fit, or provide a level surface. Shims may also be used as spacers to fill gaps between parts subject to wear.
Three new to me words this week, How many did you recognise?
Wondrous Words Wednesday … Is a weekly meme where we share new (to us) words that we have encountered in our reading.
It is hosted by Mareli, over at ‘Elza Reads‘
You can either stop by and leave a link to your own ‘mystery’ words of the week, or just browse the eclectic mix of words that others have discovered, there is always a great selection.
Don’t forget that Mareli and the rest of us, all love to read your comments as well, so that we can visit and share your own words of the week, or simply say Hi!
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Hi there Yvonne! So glad you took part again!
Pursuivants remind me of a series of books I’ve read by Donato Carissi, The Marcus series. What an interesting word. And I love ‘ligger’! The sound of the word fits the description perfectly!
I’ve just posted my WWW and the linky is up as well.
Have a wonderful Wednesday!
Wondrous Words Wednesdays
Hi Mareli,
Sorry about the delay in linking up our posts (which I have done now!), it’s down to the time zone differences, so I have to wait until I get up on a Wednesday morning to actually use the link, even though I schedule my post for earlier publication.
I haven’t come across author Donato Carissi before, so I have just spent a nice few minutes checking him out. I must admit that I never generally include the etymology of a word, so I shall think about doing that in future. You automatically veered towards the Italian when you saw ‘pursuivants’ and I immediately thought French. The word apparently is Middle English but with an Anglo-French history!
‘Ligger’ was a great word and although there was an explanation included in the passage of the book I was reading, I still thought it worth sharing. Here in the UK we would probably either use the word ‘bludger’ or ‘scrounger’ to mean the same thing.
Thanks for stopping by and have a good week!
Stay Safe 🙂
All are new words for me too. How fascinating! I do love this series. I will need to remember shim for when we play Scrabble or another word game. :))
Hi Anca,
As you predominantly read non-fiction and reference books, you must come across quite a few new words, it would be good to have you share them sometimes, although I know that your studies may not always allow you enough time to do that!
Actually, I thought you might have known ‘Pursuivant’ in its historical context, although I am obviously pleased that I managed to fox you completely this week, as it doesn’t make me feel quite so bad about not knowing them myself!
‘Shim’ seems to be quite a worldwide commonly used word, although I have never come across it before and neither had my husband. In his DIY projects, he would refer to a shim as either a wedge or a spacer. As you say though, a good one for one of those fill-in words in Scrabble to use up those odd letters at the end of a game.
Thanks for stopping by 🙂
That’s a good idea. If I’m going to remember to make a note of the unknown words I will start writing this kind of posts too. 🙂
I think that Mareli is only planning on running the meme on a fortnightly basis now, as her time is quite limited, so that may be a bit more ‘doable’ for you too! 🙂
The first time I remember running across “shim” was in the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. The main character and his best friend had completely different ways of fixing their motorcycles. The best friend wanted to go to a shop and get a knowledgeable mechanic to replace a bad piece of the cycle with a shiny new part. The main character took a beer can and cut a shim to fix the problem.
I’m glad you joined in for WWW. Words are great fun.
Hi Deb,
I’ve never read that particular book, however when I was investigating the word, one of the first adverts to appear on Google was for ‘shims’ in relation to motor mechanics, so that obviously ties together really well!
I used to take part in WWW quite often, when it was run by Kathy over at Bermudaonion. When she first went off on her extended blogging break, I carried on putting up my own WWW posts, simply because I was accumulating so many new words at the time. Kathy did ask me to take over ownership of the meme, however at that time I didn’t want to commit to regular posting. Mareli began joining me in WWW posts and then decided with Kathy that she would take over the reins. Hopefully it is a meme which will continue to go from strength to strength! 🙂
Thanks for stopping by and Stay Safe 🙂
Shim is a familiar word to me, but I would have needed a multiple choice selection to be able to define it. I didn’t know the others. These are always fun posts!
Hi Kelly,
Now there’s a notion for a fun alternative, the multiple choice option! – just joking, that would be almost impossible to put together and to be honest, some of the words are so out of this world, that I still might not get the right answer!
Most words are ‘doable’ from the context of the text in a book, although it is still good to get confirmation of that!
I think that ‘ligger’ was my favourite word this week, I would never have got that one if it had part of a crossword puzzle clue!
I hope you don’t feel too excluded for the next couple of times if I dig into that lovely list of words you sent me through, as I haven’t come across any new words in my own reading for a while? I really should read that Truman Capote book, although it’s not really my kind of thing. I need to see how all those words are fitted into the narrative!
Thanks for stopping by and I hope that all is well with you 🙂
I just saw your latest jigsaw post. ‘Dogs With Jobs’ looks like good fun and just my kind of puzzle! Was this quite an easy one to put together, or is it that you have more time to devote to your puzzles, now that you are not blogging and responding to comments so regularly? This definitely looks like a fun way to spend a few hours and it made me smile, so thanks for sharing 🙂
It was fairly easy, so I made myself just work a bit at a time and spread it out over a couple of days. That made it more fun since I was able to really enjoy its cleverness as I worked. I’ve got another dog puzzle on the go at the moment.
[…] Words. Words New To Me #1. I always enjoyed reading the new words Yvonne shares in her posts, like this last one. Also, if you fancy to see more, the linky is hosted on Mareli’s blog over at […]
Thanks for the mention in your first Wondrous Words Wednesday post. It is good to have you on board and may we find lots of lovely new words to share and discuss 🙂