In the 16th century, Turkish women could divorce their husbands if the man failed to keep his family’s pot filled with coffee.
BARRENLY
Etymology
Adverb
barrenly (comparative more barrenly, superlative most barrenly)
unfruitfully; unproductively
Source: Wiktionary
Bar"ren*ly, adv.
Definition: Unfruitfully; unproductively.
BARREN
Bar"ren, a. Etym: [OE. barein, OF. brehaing, brehaigne, baraigne, F. bréhaigne; of uncertain origin; cf. Arm. brékha, markha, sterile; LL. brana a sterile mare, principally in Aquitanian and Spanish documents; Bisc. barau, baru, fasting.]
1. Incapable of producing offspring; producing no young; sterile; -- She was barren of children. Bp. Hall.
2. Not producing vegetation, or useful vegetation; "Barren mountain tracts." Macaulay.
3. Unproductive; fruitless; unprofitable; empty. Brilliant but barren reveries. Prescott. Some schemes will appear barren of hints and matter. Swift.
4. Mentally dull; stupid. Shak. Barren flower, a flower which has only stamens without a pistil, or which as neither stamens nor pistils.
– Barren Grounds (Geog.), a vast tract in British America northward of the forest regions.
– Barren Ground bear (Zoöl.), a peculiar bear, inhabiting the Barren Grounds, now believed to be a variety of the brown bear of Europe.
– Barren Ground caribou (Zoöl.), a small reindeer (Rangifer Groenlandicus) peculiar to the Barren Grounds and Greenland.
Bar"ren, n.
1. A tract of barren land.
2. pl.
Definition: Elevated lands or plains on which grow small trees, but not timber; as, pine barrens; oak barrens. They are not necessarily sterile, and are often fertile. [Amer.] J. Pickering.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
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29 June 2024
INITIALISM
(noun) an abbreviation formed from the initial letters of the several words in the name and pronounced separately; “HTML is an initialism for HyperText Markup Language”
Coffee Trivia
