Vocabulary for
The Weaving of a Dream
with Sniffy the Hamster, resident wordsmith
Printable Version (opens in new window).
(this book has no page numbers)
Sniffy Says: "My favorite brocade in the world was made by my Aunt Hammy. She lives in China. It's my brocade because she gave it to me for my birthday and it's made of silk. It's like a blanket, but I'd never use it as a blanket because it's far too beautiful. Aunt Hammy put lots of pictures on the silk using gold and silver threads. If you touch it you can feel the pictures because of the threads. Trees and flowers and boats and mountains cover every inch of it. When I stare at it it makes me wish I lived there."
Sniffy Says: "My sister, Sneezy, is a widow. She married Jimmy Ziggertoes, a hamster from the palm tree across the street. Well, one day Zigger, that's what I called him, decided he wanted to climb this big pine tree in the back yard. I tried to tell him not to, but he said it was there and he had to climb it. So he starts climbing and climbing and climbing. Now Zigger was a talker. He could talk and talk and talk. So as he was climbing he was saying things like, 'I'm the biggest, I'm the best, I'm the climbingest hamster you ever did see.' He just kept talking all the way to the top. 'I made it,' he yelled and then he fell. All the way down he talked: 'I'm a flying hamster—the only one I know.' He never hit the ground, unfortunately that's because a hawk snatched him out of the air, but he just kept talking: 'Nice catch, hawk! Hey, this is a nice view, much better than the top of the pine tree. I hope you have salt and pepper because I'll taste much better that way.' We never saw him again and that's how my sister became a widow."
Sniffy Says: "Maize? Where is it? I'm hungry and maize sounds great! Boil it and let me eat it right off the cob! Oh yeah, put some butter on it and some salt, lay it in my cage and let me chomp, chomp, chomp that corn until it's all gone. I love Indian corn. I could eat it all day—wait—I did eat it all day—there's nothing better than the smell of maize in the morning or in the afternoon or at night or on a rainy day . . ."
On-Line Dictionaries
The Free Dictionary: This is now my favorite on-line dictionary (the box above links to this dictionary). Not only does it provide you with audios to pronounce the word, but it also gives you examples of the word used in context. They also have a "References in classic literature" section which provides entire sentences from classic literature in which the word is used. Also includes a thesaurus, encyclopedia and more.
Answers.com: This is not just a dictionary, but it has a dictionary and the reason I list it is because the dictionary has an audio pronunciation feature which is very helpful when one comes across words that are difficult to pronounce or have never been seen before. Access is free.
The Dictionary of Difficult Words: Good resource for those words that your dictionary doesn't have or that other on-line dictionaries do not have.
A Latin Dictionary: This is great resource for Latin. There is even a downloadable version for your computer that will do both Latin/English and English/Latin.
Dictionary.com Free Access. You can purchase additional features.
Merriam-Webster Free Access.
WordSmyth A children's dictionary is also available. This dictionary requires registration. Free Access.
Oxford English Dictionary The best English dictionary in the world! This dictionary requires paid subscription. $29.95 per month or $295.00 per year.
|
