YEARBOOK ASSIGNMENT
1. putty • noun a malleable paste that hardens as it sets, used for sealing glass in window frames, filling holes in wood, etc. — PHRASES be (like) putty in someone’s hands be easily manipulated by someone. — ORIGIN French potée, ‘potful’.
2. excavate • verb 1 make (a hole or channel) by digging. 2 extract (material) from the ground by digging. 3 carefully remove earth from (an area) in order to find buried remains. — DERIVATIVES excavation noun excavator noun. — ORIGIN Latin excavare ‘hollow out’.
3. dainty • adjective (daintier, daintiest) 1 delicately small and pretty. 2 fastidious and fussy when eating. • noun (pl. dainties) a small appetizing item of food. — DERIVATIVES daintily adverb daintiness noun. — ORIGIN from Old French daintie ‘choice morsel, pleasure’, from Latin dignitas ‘worthiness, beauty’.
4. air • noun 1 the invisible gaseous substance surrounding the earth, a mixture mainly of oxygen and nitrogen. 2 the open space above the surface of the earth. 3 before another noun indicating the use of aircraft: air travel. 4 the earth’s atmosphere as a medium for transmitting radio waves. 5 one of the four elements (air, earth, fire, and water) in ancient and medieval philosophy and in astrology. 6 Music a tune or short melodious composition. 7 (an air of) an impression of. 8 (airs) an affected and condescending manner.
• verb 1 express (an opinion or grievance) publicly. 2 broadcast (a programme) on radio or television. 3 expose to fresh or warm air.
— PHRASES airs and graces an affectation of superiority. in the air noticeable all around. on (or off) the air being (or not being) broadcast on radio or television. take the air go out of doors. up in the air unresolved. walk (or tread) on air feel elated. — DERIVATIVES airless adjective. — ORIGIN Greek aer.
5. vivacious/vivaysh ss/ • adjective attractively lively and animated. — DERIVATIVES vivaciously adverb vivacity noun. — ORIGIN from Latin vivax ‘lively, vigorous’.
6. inconceivable • adjective not capable of being imagined or grasped mentally. — DERIVATIVES inconceivably adverb.
7. liable • adjective 1 responsible by law; legally answerable. 2 (liable to) subject by law to. 3 (liable to do) likely to do. 4 (liable to) likely to experience (something undesirable). — ORIGIN perhaps from French lier ‘to bind’, from Latin ligare
8. flabby • adjective (flabbier, flabbiest) 1 (of a part of a person’s body) soft, loose, and fleshy. 2 not tightly controlled and therefore ineffective.
— DERIVATIVES flabbily adverb flabbiness noun. — ORIGIN alteration of earlier flappy.
9. sit • verb (sitting; past and past part. sat) 1 be or cause to be in a position in which one’s weight is supported by one’s buttocks and one’s back is upright. 2 be or remain in a particular position or state: the fridge was sitting in a pool of water. 3 (of an animal) rest with the hind legs bent and the body close to the ground. 4 (of a parliament, committee, court of law, etc.) be engaged in its business. 5 serve as a member of a council, jury, or other official body. 6 Brit. take (an examination). 7 (of a table or room) have enough seats for. 8 (sit for) pose for (an artist or photographer).
• noun a period of sitting. — PHRASES sit in occupy a place as a form of protest. sit in for temporarily carry out the duties of. sit on informal 1 fail to deal with. 2 subdue or suppress. sit out not take part in. sit tight informal 1 remain firmly in one’s place. 2 refrain from taking action or changing one’s mind. sit up refrain from going to bed until later than usual. –USAGE It is good English to use the participle sitting rather than sat with the verb ‘to be’: we were sitting there for hours rather than we were sat there for hours. — ORIGIN Old English.
10. platoon • noun a subdivision of a company of soldiers, usually commanded by a subaltern or lieutenant and divided into three sections. — ORIGIN French peloton ‘platoon’, literally ‘small ball’.
11. nerd • noun informal a person who lacks social skills or is boringly studious. — DERIVATIVES nerdish adjective nerdy adjective. — ORIGIN of unknown origin.
12. halberd /halb rd/ (also halbert) • noun historical a combined spear and battleaxe. — ORIGIN High German
13. pavane /p van/ (also pavan /pavv’n/) • noun a stately dance in slow duple time, popular in the 16th and 17th centuries. — ORIGIN French, perhaps from Italian pavana ‘Paduan’, from the dialect name of the city of Padua.
14. babble • verb 1 talk rapidly in a foolish, excited, or incomprehensible way. 2 (of a stream) make a continuous murmur as the water flows over stones. • noun the sound of babbling. — DERIVATIVES babbler noun. — ORIGIN Low German babbelen, or an independent English formation, based on the repeated syllable ba, typical of a child’s early speech.
15. honey • noun (pl. honeys) 1 a sweet, sticky yellowish-brown fluid made by bees from flower nectar. 2 chiefly N. Amer. darling; sweetheart. 3 informal an excellent example: it’s a honey of a movie. — ORIGIN Old English.
Goofy Living his Dream
The music note left the bunch, because he was shunned by the rest of society. He grew up in a home with many other notes, but spoke with a stutter and breathed air- unlike everyone else in his house. He had one solid friend, Wilbert, who never left his side; some would describe them as nerds. They grew up together and sat next to each other on the bar when it came time for them to perform.
Wilbert and Goofy were as close as honey. They went everywhere together and even learned how to line dance together. One day during their line dancing lessons Goofy met a special note, Brooke; this note was a little dainty. She laughed a lot and saw the bright side of life. She was the prettiest girl in the bunch. Goofy never thought she would like him but he liked her and hoped to talk to her one day.
One day at line dancing practice Wilbert seemed more distracted than normal. “Wilbert, why are you having such a hard time focusing?” Goofy said. “You’ve been running into me all evening.”
“Look over there!” Wilbert said as he pointed to his left. Goofy could not believe his eyes, Brooke was sitting at the table staring at him. Could this be?
“Inconceivable!” He said in the midst of his babbling. As he stumbled over his words Brooke strutted over to talk to him.
“Sit down boy, you are turning into putty.
She came over to talk with the boys and invited them to a pavane going on the next night. They overwhelmingly accepted the invitation and skipped home. As he skipped his flabby tummy flipped and flopped in the wind.
“Dude, your stomach flapping in the wind… so not vivacious,” his friend brutally told him. “You are liable to make sure your flab doesn’t come out for vacation when you see her. You can’t mess this up!”
Since his friend told him he couldn’t mess up this big dance for him he joined a platoon to help get him ready for the big night. They helped him loose the flab and how to dance pavane style. While in the platoon he learned how to use a halberd to defend Brooke if any crazy monsters came her way. If anyone came up to her he had a plan to put them in their place with his new toy ‘The halberd,’ complete with a sword and battleaxe. He was not going to let the most beautiful note pass him by.
The next night the two went out dancing and had a marvelous time together. Wilbert could not believe was out with the girl of his dreams; he was in La-La land. Goofy saw stars in Wilbert’s eyes as he walked in the front door in a daze. Nothing Goofy did would bring Wilbert back to the real world, after his great date with Brooke. Goofy excavated him out of the ancient La-La land and brought him back
