WORD WIZARDRY

GUESS THE DEFINITION: Rime (c 900) a) A single ear of corn. b) Frost formed from cloud or from fog. c) An edge. Answer below.

PHRASE EXPLAINED

Cock-a-hoop: Having both the sense of being overjoyed and also of being smug; coined in the 1600s, it relates either to turning a tap to allow liquor to flow (with ‘cock’ being a spigot and ‘hoop’ a keg) or to a cockerel crowing.