Little Johnny was sitting on a park bench munching on one candy bar after another.
After the sixth one a man on the bench across from him said, "Son, you know eating all that candy isn’t good for you. It will give you acne, rot your teeth, make you fat."
Little Johnny replied, "My grandfather lived to be 107 years old."
The man asked, "Did your grandfather eat 6 candy bars at a time?"
Little Johnny answered, "No, he minded his own business!"
—v. (-sing) 1 try to lessen the blame attaching to (a person, act, or fault).
- (of a fact) serve as a reason to judge (a person or act) less severely.
- (often foll. By from) release (a person) from a duty etc.
- forgive (a fault or offence).
- (foll. By for) forgive (a person) for (a fault).
- refl. Leave with apologies. —n. - reason put forward to mitigate or justify an offence.
- apology (made my excuses). be excused be allowed to leave the room etc. Or be absent. Excuse me polite preface to an interruption etc., or to disagreeing. excusable adj. [latin causa accusation]
EXEMPT
—adj. (often foll. By from) free from an obligation or liability etc. Imposed on others. —v. (foll. By from) make exempt. exemption n. [latin eximo -empt- take out]
EXEUNT
v. (as a stage direction) (actors) leave the stage. [latin: related to *exit]
EXHALE
v. (-ling) 1 breathe out.
- give off or be given off in vapour. exhalation n. [french from latin halo breathe]
EXHORT
v. (often foll. By to + infin.) Urge strongly or earnestly. exhortation n. Exhortative adj. Exhortatory adj. [latin exhortor encourage]
EXHUME
v. (-ming) dig up (esp. A buried corpse). exhumation n. [latin humus ground]
EXODUS
n. - mass departure.
- (exodus) biblical departure of the israelites from egypt. [greek hodos way]
EXOTIC
—adj. - introduced from a foreign country; not native.
- strange or unusual. —n. Exotic person or thing. exotically adv. [greek exo outside]
EXPAND
v. - increase in size or importance.
- (often foll. By on) give a fuller account.
- become more genial.
- set or write out in full.
- spread out flat. expandable adj. [latin pando pans- spread]
EXPECT
v. - a regard as likely. B look for as appropriate or one's due (i expect cooperation).
- colloq. Think, suppose. be expecting colloq. Be pregnant (with). [latin specto look]
Every night, wasps bite into the stem of a plant, lock their mandibles (jaws) into position, stretch out at right angles to the stem, and, with legs dangling, fall asleep.
