Lexicon: effacing – eider

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effacing, verbal adj. [or verbal n.; see efface, v.]

  1. [Verbal adj.] reclusive; invisible; anonymous; nameless; [fig.] evasive; reserved; reticent; silent; shy; modest; [metaphor] private; not seeking publicity.
  2. [Verbal n.] seclusion; invisibility; anonymity; namelessness; [fig.] evasion; reserve; reticence; silence; shyness; modesty; [metaphor] privacy; refusal to be published; decision to withdraw from the world.

effect, n. [Anglo Norman < L. efficere, to work out, accomplish.]

Consequence, event.

effervesce (-d), v. [L. ex, out + fervesc-ěre, to begin to boil.]

Boil off; escape from under pressure; emit as a result of commotion.

efflorescence, n. [L. floresco, to blossom.]

Blossoming; flowering; [fig.] redness; inflammation; flush of color; colorful filigreed cloud formations; [metaphor] peak; prime.

effort, n. [L. < ex, out + forti-s, strong.]

  1. Endeavor; enterprise; experiment; essay; successive attempts to accomplish a purpose.
  2. Work; exertion.
  3. Push; initiative; exercise; expended energy; [fig.] smile.
  4. Struggle; wrestle; attempt; strain; labor.

effulgence (effulgencies), n. [L. < ex, out + fulgēre, to shine.]

Splendor; a flood of light.

egg (-s), n. [OE.]

  1. Case for an unborn bird; spherical shell produced by female birds containing the germ of a new individual.
  2. Hatchling; young bird now hatched.
  3. Phrase. “Egg of forests”: nut; kernel; hard seed capsule that can produce new trees.

egg-life, n. [see egg, n. and life, n.]

Embryotic stage; pre-birth [fig.] childhood; time of innocence; age of formation.

Egyptian, proper n. [Egyptian hūt-kā-ptah, temple of the soul of Ptah (father of Gods); or Phoenician Kapthor, Crete island.]

Hieroglyphics; pictograph text; sacred Christian Coptic characters; extinct Afroasiatic language; Hamito-Semitic script dating back to 3000 B.C.; written discourse characteristic of the City of the Dead; [fig.] enigma; riddle; incomprehensible mystery; (see Genesis 40:5, Matthew 2:13, and ED letters).

eider, adj. [Icel. æthar.] (webplay: duck).

  1. Airy; soft; floating; plumy; light-weight; [fig.] tutu; swan-feather; made of net; like a ballet skirt.
  2. Angelic; winged; [fig.] snowy; cloudy; billowy; [metaphor] whispered; soft-spoken.
  3. Phrase. “Eider duck”: species of duck; water fowl whose plumage is used for bedding; bird that lines its nest with downy feathers.