Wordie [wûrd • ē]
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11 wordies list
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first listed by:
msc (224 words)
appears in these lists:
msc's Words, by msc
slumry's Words, by slumry
cgrimm's list, by cgrimm
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There's always something worse...
Wow. And I thought *my* job was tedious.
OED sez:
Originally: the coarse woody fibres (hurds or tow) separated from the finer fibres of flax or hemp; (also) clippings, trimmings, shreds (obsolete). Later (also): esp. loosely twisted fibres obtained chiefly by untwisting and picking old hemp rope; such fibres or the like, used as a caulking material for the seams of wooden ships, the joints of pipes, etc., and formerly sometimes in dressing wounds. Now chiefly historical.
The picking of old rope was a task formerly assigned to convicts and inmates of workhouses.