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.
SCARIFY
scarify
(verb) puncture and scar (the skin), as for purposes or tribal identification or rituals; “The men in some African tribes scarify their faces”
scarify
(verb) break up; “scarify soil”
scarify
(verb) scratch the surface of; “scarify seeds”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Verb
scarify (third-person singular simple present scarifies, present participle scarifying, simple past and past participle scarified)
(horticulture) To remove thatch (build-up of organic matter on the soil) from a lawn, to dethatch.
To make scratches or cuts on.
(horticulture) To damage the testa (seed coat) of a seed by cutting, scraping, chemicals, hot water, or fire to allow permeation of water and faster germination.
To break up, loosen, or roughen the surface of a field or road or a hard surface.
To harrow the feelings.
(obsolete or nonstandard) To scar.
(obsolete or nonstandard) Denude, or lay waste to.
Anagrams
• sacrify
Source: Wiktionary
Scar"i*fy, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Scarified; p. pr. & vb. n. Scarifying.] Etym: [F. scarifier, L. scarificare, scarifare, fr. Gr.
1. To scratch or cut the skin of; esp. (Med.), to make small incisions in, by means of a lancet or scarificator, so as to draw blood from the smaller vessels without opening a large vein.
2. (Agric.)
Definition: To stir the surface soil of, as a field.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
24 May 2025
EARTHSHAKING
(adjective) sufficiently significant to affect the whole world; “earthshaking proposals”; “the contest was no world-shaking affair”; “the conversation...could hardly be called world-shattering”
Coffee Trivia
