Author Topic: Thursday 23/9 Puzzle word  (Read 2168 times)

ensiform

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Thursday 23/9 Puzzle word
« on: September 24, 2010, 08:33:24 AM »
I'm utterly constounded and shellocked that "astrew" is apparently not a word.  I've been using it all my life to mean "in a state of disorder"!  I'm so shamebarrassed!

Apparently I'm not the only one...

http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&=&q=%22clothes+astrew%22

http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&=&q=%22hair+astrew%22

http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&=&q=%22paper+astrew%22

birdy

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Re: Thursday 23/9 Puzzle word
« Reply #1 on: September 26, 2010, 03:42:06 AM »
and is there another form of the word "astrewn"?

Alan W

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Re: Thursday 23/9 Puzzle word
« Reply #2 on: October 04, 2010, 02:03:35 PM »
The word has even been used by a few published authors, probably the best-known being Gerard Manley Hopkins in his poem "The Wreck of the Deutschland":

Quote
... in thy sight   
Storm flakes were scroll-leaved flowers, lily showers—sweet heaven was astrew in them.

But then, he was the holder of a poetic licence - a couple of lines before that, he used "unchancelling".

Astrew is possibly a portmanteau word, like some of the words you coined in your post, ensiform. Maybe it is a combination of strewn and askew.

Keep using it, ensiform, and maybe one day it will find its way into the dictionaries.
Alan Walker
Creator of Lexigame websites