crambo

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The Word of the Day for August 24 is:

crambo   \KRAM-boh\   noun
     : a game in which one player gives a word or line of verse to be matched 
in rhyme by other players

Example sentence:
     According to his early letters, James Boswell, friend and biographer of 
English lexicographer Samuel Johnson, was a keen crambo player.

Did you know?
     We've called the game "crambo" since at least 1660, but it was originally 
dubbed "crambe." The now-obsolete word "crambe" literally meant "cabbage," but 
it was rarely used for the leafy plant. Instead, it was used figuratively (in 
reference to a Latin phrase meaning "cabbage repeated or served up again") for 
things that were overused or repeated. The game, which was popular in the 17th 
and 18th centuries, began with one player picking a word. A second player then 
tried to guess it by asking questions. For example: "I know a word that rhymes 
with 'bird.'" "Is it ridiculous?" "No, it is not absurd." "Is it a part of 
speech?" "No, it is not a word." And so on, until the word was guessed.





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