Swarf

In reality, swarf describes a group of pilings or chips of wood or metal. The kind of stuff that I usually call sawdust, perhaps. Your invented meanings were many and varied and I enjoyed them all. Congratulations to Winiata for his excellent invented meaning. I agree with the pollsters.

Cringle

A cringle might be found on a rue-raddy, funnily enough. It's the part of a rope called the eye where there is a metallic thimble looking thingy so that another rope can pass through the eye. I enjoyed your various invented meanings and am pleased to announce that Iota was the winner in the voting stakes. Great work, Iota.

Rue-raddy

A rue-raddy is handy. It's a belt or rope which you throw over your shoulder to help you drag something along. Not sure if they do that at the Olympics. We're all very excited in New Zealand to have finally won some medals. Go the Kiwis! Hope you're all enjoying the coverage as much as we are. Great work Sandra Dodd! You received the gold medal in today's vote.

Geostrophic

Geostrophic means depending on the earth's rotation. I guess our existence on this planet, therefore, is somewhat geostrophic. What a wonderful array of invented meanings from the serious to the utterly bewildering - and everything in between. I'm glad I'm back with the game. Well done to Mandy, our poll winner today.

Snickersnee

A snickersnee is really a knife which is used as a weapon. Hopefully not something any of the word imps will encounter any time soon. The meanings invented by The Encourager and Livelyclamor polled equally and are hereby declared dual winners - without so much as a snickersnee in sight.

Word Imp is Back!

Hi everyone. My squillions of apologies for being so absent for all these months. Thanks for wondering and worrying. I'm fine. No visible wounds. No horrible diseases. Just so busy that something had to give. Sadly, it was this blog for the time being. A huge part of me wants to keep going with it. I wonder how easy (or difficult) it will be for me to start it up again. Let me know through your comments whether you are still keen. Thanks for your interest.