The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-04-01 00:00:00

A DEFINITION BEE.
(From the Daily News)

Proverbially difficult as it is to give a good definition,
Kennington, which was almost the first district in
London to have a Spelling Bee, on Friday evening pre-
sented the spectacle of 95 persons, including several
ladies, willing to exhibit publicly, and before a large
audience, the degreee of skill to which they had attained
in that kind of achievement. The scene of the contest
was the Horns Assembly-rooms, and the prizes
to be contended for, money ones, four in num-
ber, and ranging from 108: to £5, amount-
ing in the aggregate to £lO. The words were
to be selected from the current literature of the
day, purely technical, scientific terms, and obsolete
words being excluded. The chair was taken by Major
L. Griffiths R.A. The interrogator was Mr. W.
Buttle, and the referees were Mr. R. Quelch,
C.E., and Mr. John Ellie. It should be added that
the referees had before them standard dictionaries, to
be wed by them at their discretion, and that the words
to be defined had to be drawn by the competitors from
envelope!.
The interrogator set of with the word "vulpine,"
correctly defined as "relating to a fox ; " and "dank,"
accurately rendered by "moist." After a few other
words which did not prove a sturobling-block came
"bruit," which was erroneously defined as" to wander."
The next failure was in "bittern,'. which the com-
petitor said was "a bird of he hawk species," instead
of marking it as one of the heron kind. The chairman
being exceptionally left to adjudicate decided that the
word "bird." being correct saved the competitor. A
gentleman objected to the word" wrangler" as technical
or inadmissible, but the meaning was given by theinter-
rogator as "a quarrelsome person," and the objector
ruled out. A lady immediately alter gave for "grega-
rious," those animals that et grain, and rttired amid
irrepressible laughter- another lady then failed to
define "redundant," making the meaning "sufficient."
instead of "more than sufficient ;" and a third with-
drew instantly after on being confronted with
"cogency," which she rather vaguely called "reasoning
powers.' A gentleman then failed to describe " val-
iance," familiarly associated with a bed. "Plateau"
was given by a gentleman as a "flat plain," an
answer which ejcited much laughter, but was ulti-
mately passed 3n the authority of Chambers's Dic-
tionary. " Meed " was fatal to another gentleman,
who called it "a field," "equip" to his successor ;
" moose " to the next competitor, who said he had
"'never heard the word." The number of rivals was
afterwards rapidly reduced by the difficulties of
" morbid," given as " inane • " "hone," the person
to whom it was put evidently not shaving; " reeve "
who was not recognised as a , public officer
"salient," which a lady curiously, if somewhat natur-
ally, described as " salt ; " "doily," an article of
domestic use which the answerer somewhat associated
with a horse ; "purlieus," which elicited a very vague
response; "brindled" which was not at all remem-
bered in its common association with the cow;
and "beagle," which a lady was not cognizint
of as the appellation of a hunting dog. By this
time the interrogator had run the round of the
95 rivals, 16 of whom had succumbed.

In the next'circuit the first fatal test was " protocol,"
defined as "the first part of an oration," in cmtra-
distinction to its ordinary use in diplomacy. Then
came a failure in "prototype." A warm discussion
ensued about the word "stevedore." A lady having
said, "an officer on board ship," the answer was
objected to on the ground that a stevedore was not