Round 3274: DEFARM [Results]
Paul Keating
In this round, Efrem Mallach’s melancholia (#6) and Judy Madnick’s embezzle (#3) went into an early lead, and stayed neck and neck until the very final vote, when Efrem voted Judy’s def up to 6 points, but also voted himself into first place (5+2) by picking the correct definition, an error for disarm (#4).
This definition, which Tony Abell rightly characterized as improbable, arose as follows. In 1894, the OED published the following definition for defarm:
Obs. rare—1. [ad. OF. desfermer, défermer to unshut, disclose, turn out from an enclosure, f. des-, dé-, de- I. 6 + fermer to shut, close.]
trans. To shut out from, dispossess.
1648 Symmons Vind. Chas. I, 237 Should they part with it [the Militia] they should not only‥defarme themselves of safety but of their wealth and riches too.
The label Obs. rare—1 tells you that this is a hapax. The whole entry, elaborate etymology and all, is based on one single citation. An otherwise unsupported single citation from the mid-17th century would today be unlikely to be considered sufficient for an article, without at least a hint that the definition was speculative. Current policy is to prefix such speculation with perhaps:—and when I choose such words, I carefully omit the perhaps.
So matters remained until the OED3, when it was discovered that the 1693 edition of the same book (The vindication of King Charles) corrected defarme to read disarme. Recall that at the time the latter word would have been both written and printed with a long S, thus: diſarme; making that a commoner misprint than it would be now. So the OED3 definition really does say “an error for disarm.”
It is now not policy to remove definitions based on misreadings from the dictionary. Otherwise the original error tends to live on. For example, Johnson in 1755 gave a definition for congrument (“fitneſs; adaptation”), which turned out to be based on a misprint for congruent. Todd, in his edition of 1828, left the misreading out, but that did not stop other lexicographers from taking it up, generations later, from Johnson’s original.
1. A conservation and rehabilitation approach to food and farming systems, focusing on topsoil regeneration, increasing biodiversity, improving the water cycle, enhancing ecosystem services, supporting biosequestration, increasing resilience to climate change, and strengthening the health and vitality of farm soil.
Submitted by: Dan Widdis who voted for: 3 & 5
2. The presence of excess colonic bacteria in the small intestine resulting in malabsorption.
Submitted by: Debbie Embler who voted for: 3 & 6
Votes from: Judy Madnick, Mike Shefler
Score: 2
3. To embezzle money held on trust.
Submitted by: Judy Madnick who voted for: 2 & 6
Votes from: Tony Abell, John Barrs, Debbie Embler, Efrem Mallach, Shani Naylor, Dan Widdis
Score: 6
4. An error for disarm.
Real Definition from the OED3
Votes from: Tony Abell, Tim Lodge, Efrem Mallach
Score: D3
5. Poor ore.
Submitted by: Shani Naylor who voted for: 3 & 6
Votes from: Tim Lodge, Dan Widdis
Score: 2
6. Depression, melancholia.
Submitted by: Efrem Mallach who voted for: 3 & 4
Votes from: John Barrs, Debbie Embler, Judy Madnick, Shani Naylor, Mike Shefler
Score: 5+2=7
7. To return agricultural land to nature; to rewild.
Submitted by: Tim Lodge who voted for: 4 & 5
Vote from: Deborah Fein
Score: 1+2=3
8. The government policy of subsidies to encourage farmers to convert their land to some other use such as golf courses, forests etc. rather than produce crops. Rewilding or leaving land fallow is not usually one of the options.
Submitted by: John Barrs who voted for: 3 & 6
Vote from: Deborah Fein
Score: 1
Paul Keating
Soustons, Nouvelle Aquitaine, France
