Rusticate has two very different meanings in real life. The most expected meaning is "to retire to the country". That's quite delightful and is a word that should be used more often. The other, unexpected meaning, is quite bizarre and intriguing. According to my dictionary, rusticate also means to "banish someone temporarily from university as a punishment". Now who would have ever thought that? That's what I like about being a word imp - the lifelong learning.
Anyway, the game participants will be keen to know which invented meaning has been selected as today's winner. It was a hard decision, but I have gone with the effort of Hey Jude. Well done, Jude. Here it is: To rusticate is to country-fy something. People who live in the city often rusticate their property to make it feel like they live more rurally. An example of this would be to adorn their garden with a wagon wheel, or an old milk can filled with a pansy plant.
Have fun with a new word each day. I'll choose a word. You make up a meaning.
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How to Play:
1. I choose an obscure dictionary word.
2. You invent a wacky meaning and add it as a comment.
3. After a certain time I list the true meaning and choose a winner for the invented meaning.
There are no prizes, just lots of fun!
Remember, children use this site too.
2. You invent a wacky meaning and add it as a comment.
3. After a certain time I list the true meaning and choose a winner for the invented meaning.
There are no prizes, just lots of fun!
Remember, children use this site too.
About Me
- Word Imp
- I am a children's author who has had a handful of books published by trade publishers. They're in book shops and libraries. I've also had a sackful of books published by educational publishers. These are mainly found in schools. I love words and that's why I invented this blog site.
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By posting to this site, you give the site a nonexclusive right to any copyrighted works posted.
What I'm writing...
- Picture books in my head...
- Job applications so I can earn actual money.
- Boring stuff for companies to earn actual money.
- This blog
What I'm reading...
- Penina Petersen's Table Tucker
- Rereading my fave - The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
- Mike Gayle's To Do List
- Any good biography
- The dictionary!
6 comments:
To rusticate is to country-fy something. People who live in the city often rusticate their property to make it feel like they live more rurally. An example of this would be to adorn their garden with a wagon wheel, or an old milk can filled with a pansy plant.
To rusticate is to corrode something or make it rusty. The final result of putting a nail in a glass of Coca Cola is also rustication.
Rusticate describes the chewing and digestive process of bovine animals.
Rus-ti-cate vb: Rusticate is a verb explaining what happens to a very old car when it's left outside in Oregon.
To rusticate is to be obsessed with monitoring outbreaks of rust on vehicles. Serious rusticaters take daily photos of their vehicle so that they can compare each days photo with the last to monitor the passage of the rust. These people never actually do anything about the rust on their cars, they are more fascinated with seeing how long it takes for an entire car to disappear in a pile of rusty coloured rust.
Rusticate is a verb: Rusticate is what happens to any metal objects that are left outside in a beachside town like ours.
Such as "The wheelbarrow and all of the lawn tools had rusticated when we went to use them. Therefore we had to buy new ones and use them quickly before they had a chance to rusticate, too."
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