Word Spice II — Answers

Here are the answers to today’s questions.

Identify the five words defined below.

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One

This twelve-letter noun means ‘a political candidate who seeks election in an area where they have no local connections’. What is this word?

Answer: Carpetbagger.

carpetbagger ▸ noun informal, derogatory a political candidate who seeks election in an area where they have no local connections.
— ORIGIN mid 19th century: originally applied to people from the northern states of the US who went to the South after the Civil War to profit from the Reconstruction.
Oxford English Dictionary 

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Two

This six-letter noun means ‘the period of a person’s or thing’s greatest success, popularity, activity, or vigour’. What is this noun?

Answer: Heyday.

heyday /ˈheɪdeɪ /
▸ (one’s heyday) noun the period of a person’s or thing’s greatest success, popularity, activity, or vigour: the paper has lost millions of readers since its heyday in 1964.

– ORIGIN late 16th century (denoting good spirits or passion): from archaic heyday!, an exclamation of joy, surprise, etc.
Oxford English Dictionary 

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Three

This four-letter verb means ‘move along slowly and carefully’. What is it?

Answer: Inch.

inch verb [no object, with adverbial of direction] move along slowly and carefully.
— ORIGIN late Old English  ynce, from Latin uncia ‘twelfth part’, from unus ‘one’ (probably denoting a unit). Compare with ounce.
Oxford English Dictionary 

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Four

This seven-letter verb means ‘criticise (someone or something) harshly’. What is this verb?

Answer: Lambast.

lambast /lamˈbast / (lambaste /lamˈbeɪst /)
▸ verb [with object] criticize (someone or something) harshly: they lambasted the report as a gross distortion of the truth.

– ORIGIN mid 17th century (in the sense ‘beat, thrash’): from lam1 + baste3. The current sense dates from the late 19th century.
Oxford English Dictionary 

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Five

This five-letter verb means ‘inspire or permeate with (a feeling or quality)‘. What is the word?

Answer: Imbue.

imbue /ɪmˈbjuː /
▸ (be imbued with) verb ( imbues, imbuing, imbued) [with object] inspire or permeate with (a feeling or quality): his works are invariably imbued with a sense of calm and serenity.

– ORIGIN late Middle English (in the sense ‘saturate’): from French imbu ‘moistened’, from Latin imbutus, past participle of imbuere ‘moisten’.
Oxford English Dictionary 

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Word Spice

The post title was a bit of a clue But not as straightforward as yesterday. The first letter of each answer spells ‘chili’ when taken in order — chili being a spice.

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