Screw machines, sex linkage, spermophiles, and succotash!

I'll bring you the "S" words from this book that Jon and Harmony got me for my birthday. This is from Butt Rot and Bottom Gas: A Glossary of Tragically Misunderstood Words (Eric Groves, Sr.)

S

sackbut: [From the Middle French words sacquer and bouter, meaning "to push" and "to pull"] a Renaissance sliding horn strongly resembling a trombone

saltpeter: an alternative name for the chemical potassium nitrate

Sapphic stanza: a poetic form of four lines invented by the Greek poet Sappho

saucebox: an impudent, back-talking person (particularly a child)

sax: a colloquial term for a saxophone, a woodwind instrument

Schwann's white substance: in human anatomy, a material found in the medullary sheath or myelin sheath, the insulating sac that surrounds human nerve-cell fibers; the material is 80 percent fat, giving it a whitish appearance [Schwann's white substance is named after the man who discovered it, the seminal German physiologist and cytologist Theodor Schwann (1810-1882)]

screwcap: a metal alternative to a cork to keep a wine bottle sealed

screw head: the top of a metal screw, which engages the screwdriver

screw jack: a hand-cranked or a hydraulic device used to raise objects several feet or several yards into the air; also known as JACKSCREW [the threaded rod of the screw jack turns through a nut, held by movable metal bars connected to a metal plate, which effectively raises heavy loads such as cars and trucks]

screw machine: a metalworking machine used to make turned components

scuttlebutt: the freshwater barrel on sailing ships where sailors gather to converse

sea cock: a valve on a steamship that carefully controls any intake of ocean water

seamen: two or more sailors

sects: small religious groups with their own religious doctrines

seersucker: a type of light, crinkled linen or other cloth

sekts: German sparkling wine

SEX: the acronym for the chemical compound sodium ethyl xanthate

sexagenarian: an elderly person, male or female, in the sixth decade of life (that is, between sixty and sixty-nine years old)

sexagesima: in the Catholic religion, the second Sunday before Ash Wednesday

sexithiophene: a molecule with six subunits of thiopene rings

sex linkage: the inheritance of a sex chromosome as linked to a given gene

sextant: a common navigational instrument on ships

sextet: any group containing six people

sextuplets: six identical babies, all born at roughly the same time

sexus: a person's biological gender (that is, male or female)

shiitake: a nonpoisonous edible Asian mushroom

shite: the lead actor in Japanese Noh theatre

shittah: an Asian acacia tree (Acacia albida) mentioned in the Old Testament; still flourishes in Jordan and in the Sinai Peninsula region of Egypt [the wood of the shittah tree is called "shittim," and was used by the ancient Jewish people to construct the Ark of the Covenant, the sacred vessel for the Tabernacle of Moses] {"I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, the pine, and the box tree together. That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the Lord hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it." - Isaiah 41:19-20}

shittimwood: the wood from the shittah tree

shuttlecock: in badminton, a piece of cork (with feathers attached) hit over a net to score points

silicone balls: the smooth bouncing objects used in juggling

sin bin: in hockey, a colloquial term for the penalty box where rule-breaking players sit

skin diver: one who swims deep underwater while wearing breathing apparatus

slimehead: a small, long-lived, deep-sea fish

slippery dick: a saltwater fish (Halichoeres bivittatus) of the family Labridae that lives in coral reefs and shallow sandbars throughout the Atlantic Ocean, in a region extending from North Carolina to South America [a mature slippery dick can grow to an impressive nine inches long]

smegmatic: soapy; having to do with soap

snatch block: a single- or multiple-pulley assembly in which the block's eye can be opened along a hinge to insert a line, either a rope or a metal cable

sodamide: the chemical sodium amide

soddyite: a mineral named for British physicist and chemist Frederick Soddy

spanker: a specific type of canvas sail used on a large, three-masted sailing ship

spasmodic poets: a group of British poets writing during the Victorian era

spermaceti: the white oil found in the head of a sperm whale

Spermo: the Greek goddess of grain

spermophile: a rodent resembling a squirrel that inhabits subterranean burrows

sperm whale: a large whale (Physeter macrocephalus) having teeth instead of strandlike baleen [the sperm whale can grow up to sixty feet long, with a massive head and huge conical teeth in its lower jaw] {"I tell you, the sperm whale will stand no nonsense." - Herman Melville, Moby Dick}

spontaneous emission: the process by which an electron, a subatomic particle, decays to a lower energy state

spotted dick: a traditional British dessert pudding served with thick, steaming-hot custard; also known as SPOTTED DOG [Spotted dick is usually made with flour, milk, butter, white or brown sugar, and dried fruit such as currants. The word "spotted" refers to the dotlike currants in the pudding, while "dick" may refer to the dough.]

squeeze box: a portable box-shaped musical instrument

squeeze off: to fire rounds from a firearm, usually a handgun

sticky dog: a drying wicket in the game of cricket that is difficult to bat on

stiffnut: an alternative term for a lock nut

stimulated emission: a phenomenon in physics during which an electron (or negatively charged subatomic particle) is hit with a photon (or discrete particle of light energy), causing the electron to emit a photon; also called optical amplification [Stimulated emission makes lasers possible, or devices that project coherent light beams. In fact, the word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation."]

stud master: a person who oversees the breeding stock of a horse owner

studs: the smaller vertical wooden beams used in home construction

stuffing balls: baked or fried balls of stuffing mixtures, generally made of breadcrumbs, diced onion, sausage meat, and spices such as sage / pepper / salt [stuffing balls can be placed in turkeys and other fowl or meats as a substitute for loose stuffing mixture]

stuffing box: the sealed area around a propeller shaft where the shaft exits a boat

succor: to help someone during hard times

succotash: a stew made of lima beans and corn

succubus: according to ancient Mesopotamian beliefs, a female demon who wended her way into men's dreams and drained away their life force

sucker: a budding shoot near a tree base

sucker hole: a sailor's term for a short period of seemingly good weather

sucking pig: an alternative term for a suckling pig that has fed only on its mother's milk

suck reflex: the natural reflex of most human babies to put things into their mouths and repeatedly suck on them; common sucking objects are fingers, toes, and baby bottles

sweet spot: the area on the face of a cricket bat that provides maximum power