A musical director was having a lot of trouble with one drummer. He talked and talked and talked with the drummer, but his performance simply didn"t improve.
Finally, before the whole orchestra, he said, "When a musician just can"t handle his instrument and doesn"t improve when given help, they take away the instrument, and give him two sticks, and make him a drummer."
A stage whisper was heard from the percussion section: "And if he can"t handle even that, they take away one of his sticks and make him a conductor."
n. (as sing. Or pl.) Factory where iron is smelted or iron goods are made.
IRRADIATE
v. (-ting) 1 subject to radiation.
- shine upon; light up.
- throw light on (a subject). irradiation n. [latin irradio shine on, from radius ray]
IRREGULAR
—adj. - not regular; unsymmetrical, uneven; varying in form.
- not occurring at regular intervals.
- contrary to a rule, principle, or custom; abnormal.
- (of troops) not belonging to the regular army.
- (of a verb, noun, etc.) Not inflected according to the usual rules.
- disorderly. —n. (in pl.) Irregular troops. irregularity n. (pl. -ies). Irregularly adv.
IRRITABLE
adj. - easily annoyed.
- (of an organ etc.) Very sensitive to contact. irritability n. Irritably adv. [latin: related to *irritate]
ISINGLASS
n. - gelatin obtained from fish, esp. Sturgeon, and used in making jellies, glue, etc.
- mica. [dutch huisenblas sturgeon's bladder]
ISOMETRIC
adj. - of equal measure.
- (of muscle action) developing tension while the muscle is prevented from contracting.
- (of a drawing etc.) With the plane of projection at equal angles to the three principal axes of the object shown. [greek isometria equality of measure]
ISOSCELES
adj. (of a triangle) having two sides equal. [from *iso-, greek skelos leg]
ISOTROPIC
adj. Having the same physical properties in all directions. isotropy n. [from *iso-, greek tropos turn]
