This one came to me today in an email and I realized I really like this word. Usually I do some digging, and I also keep a list of words that I want to do on here on day, but this one just was too perfect:
Batten -- to furnish or fasten with or as if with supports.
Now, you ask, why is that too perfect? Because just before I read it, I was thinking to myself that we needed to get the cabin ready for winter. I said to myself, we need to batten down the hatches. Then I started wondering about that phrase. Batten down the hatches, where did it come from? What does it mean exactly?
So I opened up my email and there was the answer! There's a bit of serendipity in the world sometimes.
Batten comes from the name for an iron bar used to secure the covering of a hatchway on a ship, which was especially useful in preparation of stormy weather. The verb batten is used in variations of the phrase "batten down the hatches," which means "to prepare for a difficult or dangerous situation." It winds back to Latin battuere, meaning "to beat." ~ Merriam - Webster.
The email also came with a quiz:
2 comments:
Would that be a 'CLEAT'?
- Willy the Rat
You got it! :-)
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