fescue
/ˈfɛskjuː/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.17 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A straw, wire, stick, etc., used chiefly to point out letters to children when learning to read.
Countable
Example Sentences
- "to come under the fescue of an imprimatur"
- "‘Now then,’ Mason rapping upon the Table’s Edge with a sinister-looking Fescue of Ebony, whose List of Uses simple Indication does not quite exhaust, whilst the Girls squirm pleasingly"
- "with thy golden fescue play'dst upon Thy hollow harp"
- "A minister that cannot be trusted to pray in his own words without being chewed to, and fescued to a formal injunction of his rote lesson, should as little be trusted to preach, besides the vain babble of praying over the same things immediately again ; for there is a large difference in the repetition of some pathetical ejaculation raised out of the sudden earnestness and vigour of the inflamed soul, (such as was that of Christ in the garden,) from the continual rehearsal of our daily orisons;"
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English festu, from Old French festu (modern fétu), from Late Latin *festūcum, from Latin festūca (“stalk, stem, straw”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: festu, *festūcum, festūca