This week's theme: short words. ret (ret) verb tr.
To soak or expose to moisture (flax, hemp, etc.) to remove fiber from softened wood. [From Middle English reten, perhaps from Middle Dutch.] Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=ret -Anu Garg (gargATwordsmith.org) "Deep in the city's culture memory is the experience of the linen trade. As Robert Johnstone writes, 'The fibres came to the hacklers retted, dried and scutched, like long, flaxen hair which would comb through metal brushes.'" Tom Paulin; The Vernacular City; The Guardian (London, UK); Feb 23, 2002. Sponsors' Messages: Subscribe to http://delanceyplace.com -- a carefully selected non-fiction book excerpt free to your email each day. It's the thinking person's daily quote. Ever wonder why we aren't just happy, we're happy as a clam? Derivation, a fascinating game about word & phrase origins. A great gift! http://entspire.com ............................................................................ Once you label me you negate me. -Soren Kierkegaard, philosopher (1813-1855) Looking for word/quotation archives: http://wordsmith.org/awad/archives.html Unsubscribe, change address, etc: http://wordsmith.org/awad/subscriber.html Pronunciation: http://wordsmith.org/words/ret.wav http://wordsmith.org/words/ret.ram Permalink: http://wordsmith.org/words/ret.html This message was sent to "[email protected]".
