NO ALE - Answers1. Making predictions. Nostradamus, a French apothecary with a reputation as a seer, became famous after the publication in 1555 of his book Les Propheties (The Prophecies). The book has been reprinted many times.2. Opulence is really great wealth (from the French word for wealth, based on L. opulentia). The discovery of oil under their land transformed the family fortunes from near poverty to instant opulence. 3. Alewives are edible fish (and women who run alehouses). The term probably comes from the French alose—for shad, which the alewife (the fish, not the women) resembles. 4. A lorgnette is glasses on a stick—eyeglasses or opera glasses on a handle (from French lorgner—to peer at—related to a Germanic word for squinting). The aristocratic lady raised her nose, eyebrows, and lorgnette when asked if she would care for a boilermaker. 5. An escutcheon is a shield, especially one containing a coat of arms (from Latin scutum, shield). He was exceedingly proud of the bend sinister on his family escutcheon. (The plate on the stern of a ship bearing its name and origin is also called an escutcheon.) |
|
 |
|
|||||||||