A swindler. Maybe a combination of grafter and drifter? Since grafter also means con man, maybe a grifter is a rootless swindler.

Is it proper to use this word to describe a dysfunctional legislative body as opposed to, say, a congenital disorder of the human body?

This is timely. A substance that causes production of an anti body. French loaned this to german.

An adjective with an LY ending? But can’t this be used as an adverb? “He became prickly when asked about the phone call.”
Where does this come from? German: prickle.

From German, down plus rope. In English this means to descend a near vertical cliff face.

It occurred to me that this may be derived from German, luft, meaning air. Turns out to be correct. It appears in other German languages, but seems to have no PIE origin. Just wondering if other Indo-European languages took it.

Definitely worth adding to a collection of winter related words. Here are others:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-a ... nter-words

It’s not ironic that this word caught my eye during this season. From Greek for promoting peace, but alas I am not the first to suggest this word. At least two others promoted it previously.

I don’t know if this is strictly a local word, but it is timely with lake levels rising and home owners concerned about fending off flooding basements and yards. It apparently comes from a nautical term meaning rippling water caused by elevated land.

Is this now an English word? Is general usage of a foreign word the only criteria for it being “officially” adopted? What about voila and rendezvous? The fact that spell check helped me with all of these words should indicate something.

From French, from Medieval Latin from Greek. A preparer of drugs and poison and a sorcerer. Not dissimilar to present day.

The ending produces the diminutive, causing Homo (man) to become little person.

Interesting that. Also that the Latin ferro, may have a Semitic origin.

Where did this come from?

Seems like an oxymoron...how can a town be a ship? However, from my limited research the suffix appears to denote quality, condition, position. The PIE root for town has many progeny, all meaning or alluding to hill fort.