A man met his tailor in the street and stopped him.
"I quite forgot to pay for the suit which I have on now," he said. "Why didn"t you remind me?"
"I never ask a gentleman for money," the tailor replied.
"Then what do you do if he doesn"t pay?"
"Well, after some time I no longer think he is a gentleman and then I ask him."
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]
