Word Of The Week #116
Word Of The Week -- seiche
Definition: seiche (sāsh, sēch)
n.A wave that oscillates in lakes, bays, or gulfs from a few minutes to a few hours as a result of seismic or atmospheric disturbances.
Etymology: [French dialectal, exposed lake bottom, probably from French sèche, feminine of sec, dry; see sec1.]
Obscurity: 80% (May have seen this once or twice, but have no clue what it means.)
Usefulness: 5% (Jargon word, not generally used in casual conversation.)
Examples:
(def. 1) "The temblor wasn't very strong, but the ensuing seiche capsized a few boats in the bay and caused the Coast Guard some trouble."
I've been pretty bad at keeping to my Wednesday deadline for WOTW lately, and I apologize.
Since I was utterly without inspiration for a word to use yesterday, it's very lucky that one of the headlines in today's Chicago Tribune contained a word I'd never seen before! "Chicago beaches reopen after seiche warning," it said.
Hope everybody has a safe and happy 4th -- I just got permission from my boss's boss to not come into work after all unless I get something dumped on me by someone else, so things are looking up. :)
--- Ajax.