Cambridge Dictionary

2022-06-09 16:00:08 Cygnet, noun.

/ˈsɪɡnɪt/

Definition: A young swan.

Examples:

1. After hatching, parents led the cygnets to feeding grounds on lawns surrounding the lake or shallow water close to the shore.
2. Goslings graze with their parents out of the water whereas swans teach cygnets in the water to be aquatic feeders.
3. Congratulations and well done to the two English anglers who were fishing on Gills Pond recently and rescued a young cygnet that was in trouble.
4. The swans had three healthy cygnets that will leave the lake next year.
5. Six mute swans and cygnets and three foxes were found dead close to one another in Kilcoole some days ago.
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2022-06-09 09:00:00 Roller coaster, noun.

Definition: A fairground attraction that consists of a light railway track which has many tight turns and steep slopes on which people ride in small, fast open carriages.

Examples:

1. A roller-coaster ride.
2. Jimmy and I liked fast rides like the roller coaster.
3. It felt like when you're riding a really fast roller coaster, only a hundred times worse.
4. But we rode a roller coaster in Toronto with her on the fairgrounds after the show.
5. My heart gave a little flutter and my stomach dropped like I was going down a steep hill on a roller coaster, or over train tracks in the car.
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2022-06-08 20:00:01 A watched pot never boils, phrase.

Definition (proverb): Time seems to drag endlessly when you're waiting for something to happen.

Examples:

1. Another way of putting it is: a watched pot never boils.
2. They say a watched pot never boils, so you might want to do something else at this point.
3. ‘Um, I hate to sound cliché, but I thought a watched pot never boils,’ Rachel said with interest.
4. While you're waiting (because a watched pot never boils, you know!) go outside and cut the culprits down to their crowns.
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2022-06-08 16:00:07 Hokum, noun.

/ˈhəʊkəm/

Definition (mass noun • informal): Nonsense.

Examples:

1. They dismissed such corporate homilies as boardroom hokum.
2. That's bosh and hokum, and it does a disservice to the people.
3. It's surprising, then, how a couple of strangely touching notes toward the close redeem a work that boldly straddles the line between total hokum and the very stimulating.
4. There's too much of this kind of prima-donna diving going on in football already and to see a player of Kelly's outstanding calibre resort to that kind of hokum is as disappointing as it is pathetic.
5. Rarely a week goes by without similar flights of fantasy, the latest being some hokum about Prince William, the very mention of whose name is said to send sales of newspapers into the stratosphere.
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2022-06-08 09:00:00 Lamb, noun.

/lam/

Definition: A young sheep.

Examples:

1. More than 90% of the sheep were marked as lambs, and all rams were individually identifiable.
2. We are told that dogs are presently loose in the fields at night, and are a danger to the sheep and their young lambs.
3. A farmer has lost all his sheep, 300 lambs among them, shot by young men from Her Majesty's Armed Forces, whose sergeant had been reduced to hidden tears.
4. They are often seen soaring in search of carrion, but their diet also includes young goats and lambs.
5. Rumen's only source of income is from selling lambs and sheep.
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2022-06-07 20:00:01 Beggars can't be choosers, phrase.

Definition (proverb): People with no other options must be content with what is offered.

Examples:

1. But my funds are getting down to the wire and so beggars can't be choosers…
2. I've had more glowing reviews, but beggars can't be choosers.
3. Sadly not a two-seater but beggars can't be choosers.
4. It was worth a lot more but beggars can't be choosers.
5. This is going to be a little messier than I like, but beggars can't be choosers.
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2022-06-07 16:00:08 Rathskeller, noun.

/ˈrɑːtsˌkɛlə/

Definition (US): A beer hall or restaurant in a basement.

Examples:

1. I was there prowling for pierogies last week, and that's how we ended up in a rathskeller of a place called the Polish Village Café.
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2022-06-07 09:00:00 Mutton, noun.

/ˈmʌt(ə)n/

Definition (mass noun): The flesh of fully grown sheep used as food.

Examples:

1. A leg of mutton.
2. Beef, mutton, pork and venison were common meats, and communities close to the coast could expect to widen their diets with fish and shellfish.
3. The dinner would consist of roast beef, roast mutton, roast pork, and vegetables, plum puddings, Christmas cake, and tea, and would be served to about 1,200 poor people.
4. The document reveals that the bishop's menu would have included a range of meats, from mutton and beef to veal, geese, rabbit, duck and lamb.
5. Meat pies, joints of mutton, and other hearty foods are most likely to be served.
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2022-06-06 20:00:01 One good turn deserves another, phrase.

Definition (proverb): If someone does you a favour, you should take the chance to repay it.

Examples:

1. She stabbed him a season or two back and one good turn deserves another.
2. ‘As I see it,’ the woman said, ‘one good turn deserves another.’
3. His eyes hardened, ‘Well, I guess one good turn deserves another.’
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2022-06-06 16:00:02 Caterwaul, verb.

/ˈkatəwɔːl/

Definition (no object): Make a shrill howling or wailing noise like that of a cat.

Examples:

1. He seems to think that singing soulfully is to whine and caterwaul tunelessly.
2. The caterwauling of a pair of bobcats.
3. A caterwauling guitar.
4. The roofers went up there yelling and screaming and caterwauling in an attempt to get them to go.
5. Tielli is best known for his perfect vocal and guitar caterwauling, and for song-writing with the Toronto rock group the Rheostatics.
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