A Word to the Wise — Answers

Here are the answers to today’s questions.

Today’s questions are all about words and their meanings.

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One

What is the meaning of the adjective glabrescent?

• Hairless
• Raucous
• Shrinking

Answer: Hairless.

glabrescent in British English

(ɡleɪˈbrɛsənt)
adjective botany
1. becoming hairless at maturity
> glabrescent stems
2. nearly hairless 
Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers 
Word origin
C19: from Latin glabrescere to become smooth
— Collins Dictionary

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Two

What does the name of the dinosaur Falcarius mean?

• Ground scraper
• Sickle cutter
• Wood driller

Answer: Sickle cutter.

Falcarius, meaning ‘sickle cutter’, is a primitive therizinosaur from the Early Cretaceous in North America. Discovered in the Cedar Mountain Formation, it was a 4 m long bipedal herbivore with a small head, elongated neck, and tail. It is considered a transitional form between theropods and Therizinosauridae.

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Three

Spectrophobia, catoptrophobia and eisoptrophobia can all relate to what household item?

• Kettle
• Linoleum
• Mirror

Answer: Mirror.

Catoptrophobia, eisoptrophobia and spectrophobia are terms related to fear of mirrors, but they have distinct meanings. Catoptrophobia is the fear of mirrors themselves, eisoptrophobia is the fear of seeing one’s reflection, and spectrophobia can mean fear of mirrors or ghosts. Etymologically, catoptro– and eisoptron– mean ‘mirror’, whereas spectrum means ‘apparition’, explaining spectrophobia’s dual association.

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Four

What word can be added to crow to complete this plants name: crow …?

• Foot
• Quill
• Steps

Answer:

Crowfoot is a herbaceous plant of the genus Ranunculus, related to the buttercups, typically having lobed or divided leaves and white or yellow flowers.

Many kinds are aquatic with flowers held above the water.
Crow quill is a quill pen made from a large feather of a crow’s wing and used in fine writing.
Crow steps are projections resembling steps on the sloping part of a gable, common in Flemish architecture and in 16th- and 17th-century Scottish buildings. Also called corbie steps.
— all three definitions from Oxford English Dictionary. 

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Five

Which of these words means the 1938 annexation of Austria by Hitler’s Nazi Germany?

• Anschluss
• Rindereintopf
• Schlafwandeln

Answer: Anschluss.

Anschluss /ˈanʃlʊs /
▸ the annexation of Austria by Germany in 1938. Hitler had forced the resignation of the Austrian Chancellor by demanding that he admit Nazis into his cabinet. The new Chancellor, a pro-Nazi, invited German troops to enter the country on the pretext of restoring law and order.
– ORIGIN German, from anschliessen ‘to join’.
— Oxford English Dictionary 

Rindereintopf is a beef stew, and Schlafwandeln is sleepwalking.

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