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April 30, 2004 drench The verb drench means to make completely wet. The adjective form is drenched. The historic Krue Se Mosque, a symbol of Pattani's Islamic purity, was drenched in blood after a hail of gunfire rang out at dawn yesterday, in some of the bloodiest separatist violence Pattani has seen. Rain continued to pound the central provinces which have been drenched for more than a week. That night he woke up drenched in sweat. In the incident three temples and a mosque were drenched in petrol and set on fire. April 29, 2004 die-hard (DIE hard) The adjective diehard means to refuse to change or give up doing something even though it difficult or unreasonable to continue. In Fallujah, US commanders say they face up to 2,000 fighters including diehard Saddam loyalists. Diehard tennis fans know the sport has limited appeal among the general public and they worry that more dull matches will turn even more fans away. The KLA was originally made up of diehard Marxists. Quartz watches have electronic chips embedded in them, with less craftsmanship involved, thereby making them less attractive to diehard collectors. April 28, 2004 swift The adjective swift means to happen very quickly or without delay. China yesterday ruled out direct election s for Hong Kong's leaders in 2007, extinguishing hopes of a swift transition to full democracy. Other EU member states urged France to take swift action. Public reaction to the immigrants in many places has been swift and sometimes bloody. Nato made it clear that any move against its forces would be met with a swift and decisive response. April 27, 2004 square one The expression square one refers to an original situation, condition or problem, especially after attempts at dealing with it have failed. The dispute over Egat's privatisation returned to square one yesterday, after the company chairman denied the board had passed a resolution scrapping the share float. "If there is no movement towards a solution, everything will fly back to square one," he said. In the last few days, we seem to have returned to square one with the optimistic scenarios for the war being abandoned. It's clear we're back to square one with neither side trusting one another. April 26, 2004 savage (SAV idj) The verb savage means to criticise severely or to attack violently, causing serious injury or death. The adjective form is also savage. The noun form is savagery. A harsh independent report yesterday savaged the provincial health system in Ontario as unprepared and poorly led and uncoordinated to battle an outbreak of Sars which spread from Asia last year. Newspaper editorials were almost unanimous in savaging the government for its laxity in deal with the crisis. Police now are relatively certainly only the two gunmen where in the school during the savage attack. UN observers were appalled at the savagery of the fighting over the past ten days. Click here to see our words in the news for the previous week. Return to our home page |© The Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd. All rights reserved 2004 | Last modified: April 30, 2004