Some 16th-century Italian clergymen tried to ban coffee because they believed it to be “satanic.” However, Pope Clement VII loved coffee so much that he lifted the ban and had coffee baptized in 1600.
JACKSTRAWS
jackstraws, spillikins
(noun) a game in which players try to pick each jackstraw (or spillikin) off of a pile without moving any of the others
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Noun
jackstraws
plural of jackstraw
Source: Wiktionary
JACKSTRAW
Jack"straw`, n.
1. An effigy stuffed with straw; a scarecrow; hence, a man without property or influence. Milton.
2. One of a set of straws of strips of ivory, bone, wood, etc., for playing a child's game, the jackstraws being thrown confusedly together on a table, to be gathered up singly by a hooked instrument, without touching or disturbing the rest of the pile. See Spilikin.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
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Word of the Day
31 January 2025
DISPERSION
(noun) the act of dispersing or diffusing something; “the dispersion of the troops”; “the diffusion of knowledge”
Coffee Trivia
