The local sheriff was looking for a deputy, so Homer – who was not exactly the sharpest nail in the bucket – went in to try out for the job.
"Okay," the sheriff drawled, "Homer, what is 1 and 1?"
"11," he replied.
The sheriff thought to himself, "That"s not what I meant, but he"s right."
"What two days of the week start with the letter "T"?"
"Today and tomorrow."
He was again surprised that Homer supplied a correct answer that he had never thought of himself.
"Now Homer, listen carefully: Who killed Abraham Lincoln?"
Homer looked a little surprised himself, then thought really hard for a minute and finally admitted, "I don"t know."
"Well, why don"t you go home and work on that one for a while?"
So, Homer wandered over to the pool hall where his pals were waiting to hear the results of the interview. Homer was exultant.
"It went great! First day on the job and I"m already working on a murder case!"
—v. (-tt-) 1 give permission or consent to; authorize.
- a allow; give an opportunity to. B give an opportunity (circumstances permitting).
- (foll. By of) admit. —n. - a document giving permission to act. B document etc. Which allows entry.
- formal permission. [latin permitto -miss- allow]
PERSON
n. - individual human being.
- living body of a human being (found on my person).
- gram. Any of three classes of personal pronouns, verb-forms, etc.: the person speaking (first person); the person spoken to (second person); the person spoken of (third person).
- (in comb.) Used to replace -man in offices open to either sex (salesperson).
- (in christianity) god as father, son, or holy ghost. in person physically present. [latin: related to *persona]
PERUKE
n. Hist. Wig. [french from italian]
PERUSE
v. (-sing) 1 read or study carefully.
- joc. Read or look at desultorily. perusal n. [originally = ‘use up’]
PESETA
n. Chief monetary unit of spain. [spanish]
PESTER
v. Trouble or annoy, esp. With frequent or persistent requests. [probably french empestrer encumber: influenced by *pest]
PESTLE
n. Club-shaped instrument for pounding substances in a mortar. [latin pistillum from pinso pound]
PETARD
n. Hist. Small bomb used to blast down a door etc. [french]
PETITE
adj. (of a woman) of small and dainty build. [french, = little]
PETREL
n. Sea bird, usu. Flying far from land. [origin unknown]
