HURDYGURDY

Hur"dy-gur`dy, n. Etym: [Prob. of imitative origin.]

1. A stringled instrument, lutelike in shape, in which the sound is produced by the friction of a wheel turned by a crank at the end, instead of by a bow, two of the strings being tuned as drones, while two or more, tuned in unison, are modulated by keys.

2. In California, a water wheel with radial buckets, driven by the impact of a jet.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

4 April 2025

GUILLOTINE

(verb) kill by cutting the head off with a guillotine; “The French guillotined many Vietnamese while they occupied the country”


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Coffee Trivia

Decaffeinated coffee comes from a chemical process that takes out caffeine from the beans. Pharmaceutical and soda companies buy the extracted caffeine.

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