[Dixonary] Round 2376 MECHAL Results

[Tim Lodge]

Everyone who submitted a def has voted, so - as there's a slight
hiatus in the celebrations here - I'm closing the round a bit earlier
than planned.

Tony Abell's brown liqueur (11) attracted votes as it would have done
bees had it been real. Tony is our next dealer with a fine natural
8. Dodi Schultz is the real winner, running up with an unnatural 6
points. She and Johnny Barrs guessed that MECHAL meant 'adulterous'.

Over to you, Tony.

-- Tim L


*** MECHAL ***

1. unnatural.
Submitter: Tim Bourne Votes: 11 & 17 Score: 0 + 0 = 0
Voted for by:

2. a tautology.
Submitter: Guerri Stevens Votes: 11 & 15 Score: 3 + 0 = 3
Voted for by: Johnny Barrs, Chris Carson, Tony Abell

3. _Obs. rare._ adulterous.
Submitter: OED Votes: 0 & 0 Score: 2 + 0 = 2
Voted for by: Johnny Barrs, Dodi Schultz

4. a long-handled milk ladle.
Submitter: Glen Boswell Votes: 10 & 14 Score: 1 + 0 = 1
Voted for by: Efrem Mallach

5. of or related to the inclined plane.
Submitter: Dave Cunningham Votes: 12 & 18 Score: 0 + 0 = 0
Voted for by:

6. related to candles and candlemaking.
Submitter: Keith Hale Votes: 15 & 18 Score: 1 + 0 = 1
Voted for by: Scott Crom

7. shaped like or resembling a cylinder.
Submitter: Chris Carson Votes: 2 & 10 Score: 0 + 0 = 0
Voted for by:

8. [Sp.] possessing supernatural powers.
Submitter: Chuck Emery Votes: 11 & 17 Score: 1 + 0 = 1
Voted for by: Millie Morgan

9. milky deposit on top of fresh concrete.
Submitter: Judy Madnick Votes: 11 & 14 Score: 1 + 0 = 1
Voted for by: Steve Dixon

10. the sparse growth of grass commonly found on desert oases.
Submitter: Dodi Schultz Votes: 3 & 18 Score: 4 + 2 = 6
Voted for by: Dick Weltz, Glen Boswell, Chris Carson, Jim Hart

11. a brown liqueur of southern Portugal flavored with caramel and
aniseed.
Submitter: Tony Abell Votes: 2 & 18 Score: 8 + 0 = 8
Voted for by: Tim Bourne, Dick Weltz, Steve Graham, Judy Madnick,
Guerri Stevens, Jim Hart, Chuck Emery, Mike Shefler

12. Southeast Asia unit of volume used up to c.1850, equal to approx.
0.8L.
Submitter: Efrem Mallach Votes: 4 & 14 Score: 1 + 0 = 1
Voted for by: Dave Cunningham

13. the retraction mechanism for the arresting hook on carrier-based
aircraft.
Submitter: Steve Graham Votes: 11 & 17 Score: 0 + 0 = 0
Voted for by:

14. a variety of parsley found chiefly in equatorial regions of South
America.
Submitter: Jim Hart Votes: 10 & 11 Score: 4 + 0 = 4
Voted for by: Glen Boswell, Efrem Mallach, Judy Madnick, Millie Morgan

15. a cloth covering (usually embroidered silk) for the Reader's Desk
in a synagogue.
Submitter: Dick Weltz Votes: 10 & 11 Score: 4 + 0 = 4
Voted for by: Steve Dixon, Guerri Stevens, Keith Hale, Scott Crom

16. calabash; a tropical gourd with a very hard shell used to make
bowls and bottles [Lagenaria siceraria]
Submitter: Johnny Barrs Votes: 2 & 3 Score: 1 + 2 = 3
Voted for by: Mike Shefler

17. a psychoactive alkaloid (4,5-dimethoxyphenethylamine ) derived
from certain cacti found in the New World.
Submitter: Mike Shefler Votes: 11 & 16 Score: 3 + 0 = 3
Voted for by: Tim Bourne, Steve Graham, Chuck Emery

18. a point in the forehead at the middle of an imaginary line
joining the upper margins of the orbits of the eyes.
Submitter: Millie Morgan Votes: 8 & 14 Score: 4 + 0 = 4
Voted for by: Dave Cunningham, Dodi Schultz, Keith Hale, Tony
Abell

No Def: Scott Crom Votes: 6 & 15 Score: 0 + 0 = 0
No Def: Steve Dixon Votes: 9 & 15 Score: 0 + 0 = 0

--

[Dodi Schultz]

On 1/27/2013 6:59 AM, Tim Lodge wrote:

Tony Abell's brown liqueur (11) attracted votes as it would have done bees
had it been real. Tony is our next dealer with a fine natural 8. Dodi
Schultz is the real winner, running up with an unnatural 6 points. She and
Johnny Barrs guessed that MECHAL meant 'adulterous'.

================================================== ===================

I am totally astonished. I simply picked the two I thought the least likely
(on the sometimes reliable Least Likely Theory). Then, after I voted, I
looked it up. Or tried to. The only MECHALs I could turn up, digging
through dictionaries on and offline, were proper names. Finally, I stumbled
on a Spanish word (I think it was "mecha" or "mechas" or something like
that) and it had something to do with candles or light, and I thought: Ah!
It's obviously #6!

Words are weird.

—Dodi

[Tim Lodge]

Dodi

I'm not surprised you couldn't find MECHAL online: the OED has the
footnote: "Only recorded in the works of Thomas Heywood" and then
gives three quotations dated between 1606 and 1641. The etymology is
"< post-classical Latin _mechalis_ adulterous, lewd (from c1000 in
British sources) < classical Latin _moechus_ adulterer ( < ancient
Greek μοιχός , cognate with ὀμείχειν to urinate: see MIG n.1) + -�lis -
al suffix." I never know whether the abbreviation _Obs._ means
obscure or obsolete - probably the former in this case. I had to look
up Thomas Heywood to find that he was a prominent English playwright,
actor, and author whose peak period of activity falls between late
Elizabethan and early Jacobean theatre. So prominent, in fact, that
I'd never heard of him!

-- Tim L

On Jan 27, 2:37Â*pm, Dodi Schultz <DodiSchu... (AT) verizon (DOT) net> wrote:
> On 1/27/2013 6:59 AM, Tim Lodge wrote:
>
> Tony Abell's brown liqueur (11) attracted votes as it would have done bees
> had it been real. Tony is our next dealer with a fine natural 8. Dodi
> Schultz is the real winner, running up with an unnatural 6 points. She and
> Johnny Barrs guessed that MECHAL meant 'adulterous'.
>
> ================================================== ===================
>
> I am totally astonished. I simply picked the two I thought the least likely
> (on the sometimes reliable Least Likely Theory). Then, after I voted, I
> looked it up. Or tried to. The only MECHALs I could turn up, digging
> through dictionaries on and offline, were proper names. Finally, I stumbled
> on a Spanish word (I think it was "mecha" or "mechas" or something like
> that) and it had something to do with candles or light, and I thought: Ah!
> It's obviously #6!
>
> Words are weird.
>
> Dodi

--