Thursday, June 13, 2013

(More) Today's words

tontine \TAHN-teen\ - a joint financial arrangement whereby the participants usually contribute equally to a prize that is awarded entirely to the participant who survives all the others
I've certainly heard of this sort of arrangement before, but don't remember this word for it.
sky pilot \SKY-PYE-lut\ - clergyman; specifically : chaplain
This is new one on me. I wonder if the phrase is more commonly used of naval chaplains than of those in the air force. 
efflorescence \ef-luh-RESS-unss\ - 1a. the action or process of developing and unfolding as if coming into flower  b. an instance of such development  c. fullness of manifestation : culmination  2. the period or state of flowering  3. the process or product of efflorescing chemically
I may have once known the chemical sense (described more fully in the full WOTD article). 

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