Wednesday, October 9, 2013

moraine, murrain

Moraine or moraine means a piece of ground scattered with rocks and gravel, left by a retreating glacier--
Wear sturdy shoes or boots, because we have to walk across a moraine.
A glacier left this moraine after the last ice age.

Murrain or murrain ( almost rhymes with moraine ) means a disease that infects cattle--
Ancient sorcerers threatened their neighbors with a murrain that would kill their cows.
Anthrax is a well-known murrain.

Now that you know that, you can say--
"Some of the cows hurt their hooves crossing a moraine; we'll have to watch for signs of a murrain among them."

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