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scintillescent
vetitive
rapparee
bilabial
froufrou

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A.Word.A.Day--rapparee

Pronunciation Sound Clip RealAudio

This week's theme: yours to discover.

rapparee (rap-uh-REE) noun

1. An Irish guerrilla fighter in the late seventeenth century.

2. Any freebooter or robber.

[From Irish rapaire/ropaire (half-pike), since rapparees were known to carry these.]

-Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org)

"The bloody man, the more than Hun, the sottish rapparee, he will not die." Patrick O'Brian; Master and Commander; Harper Collins; 1970.

X-Bonus

The man who prefers his country before any other duty shows the same spirit as the man who surrenders every right to the state. They both deny that right is superior to authority. -Lord Acton, historian (1834-1902)

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