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The end of the year is almost here! To help us celebrate, you can write a short story inspired by our Word of the Day site!

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As you might already know, a trap is a device used for catching animals or birds or, figuratively, any trick for catching someone by surprise. A situation that’s hard to escape from is also a trap. And did you know that, as a slang term, trap means ‘mouth?’ Traps, always in the plural, are the…

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A nut is a dry fruit consisting of an edible kernel, enclosed in a woody shell. The kernel itself is also called a nut. A nut is also a metal block with a threaded hole allowing it to be screwed down on a bolt to hold the objects the bolt passes through together. Colloquially,…

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To stray means ‘to wander,’ ‘to move away from the proper course,’ and also ‘to become distracted and digress.’ As a noun, a stray is a domestic animal, such as a dog or cat, found wandering and without an owner. Figuratively, a homeless or friendless person can also be called a stray…

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To swell means ‘to enlarge in size or weight,’ ‘to increase in amount or degree,’ and also ‘to rise in volume.’ In medicine, when something swells it means that it increases abnormally in size. Relating to emotions, we use swell to mean…

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A frame is a border used to enclose a picture or a photo or, in building, a structure used as support, or a structure used for enclosing something, such as a door or window. Frame also means physique, if we are talking about the human body. In cinema, a frame is…

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A bud is the small part on the end of a plant from which leaves or flowers grow. In some organisms, a bud is a prominence that develops into a new individual, and in general, any round small rounded part on a body can be called a bud, especially the rounded protuberances from which horns sprout. Figuratively, an…

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I’m sure you’ve been hearing and reading “Merry Christmas” a lot these days, but do you know what merry actually means?

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A pill is a small capsule or tablet of medicine. It is also a word for pill-like balls on clothing that appear when you wear or wash something a lot (a new sweater shouldn’t have pills, but many old sweaters have them). Figuratively and informally…

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