This week's theme: ordinal words. third degree (thurd di-GREE) noun
Intensive questioning using rough treatment. adjective Pertaining to the third degree. verb To subject to such treatment. [There are many folk etymologies regarding possible origins of this term but lexicographers are not certain. The more popular of the stories suggests it came from the third degree in freemasonry that was the most difficult to achieve. One aspiring to that rank was supposed to undergo intense questioning and grilling.] Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=third+degree -Anu Garg (garg wordsmith.org) "[John Dingell] loved nothing more than to call witnesses before his committee and give them the third degree." Thomas Bray; Do Elephants Have Ideas?; The New York Sun; Oct 25, 2006. Sponsors' messages: 10% pre-holiday T- shirt discount:Freud, Pavlov, Pluto,etc. Enter code: shirt at http://www.mentalfloss.com/store Perfect your French, German, Spanish or Italian with Champs-Elysees audio magazines on foreign life & culture. http://ads.champs-elysees.com/wsmith3 ............................................................................ Many a man thinks he is buying pleasure, when he is really selling himself to it. -Benjamin Franklin, statesman, author, and inventor (1706-1790) Send your comments to (words AT wordsmith.org). To unsubscribe, update address send gift subscription, etc., visit http://wordsmith.org/awad/subscriber.html Pronunciation: http://wordsmith.org/words/third_degree.wav http://wordsmith.org/words/third_degree.ram Permalink: http://wordsmith.org/words/third_degree.html This message was sent to "[email protected]".
