Casting a spell on you

                              Every Friday afternoon after lunch, and shortly before she'd set up the bean bag game in her classroom, Miss Fleming would give our third-grade class a spelling quiz.
                              One particular day, she gave us an oral quiz instead of a written one.  In frosted hair and pointed eyeglasses worn mostlyby teenage girls huddled around a jukebox at a '50s malt shop dreaming of Elvis, she stood before us with her open textbook and asked each of us to spell a particular word.
                              My classmates would anxiously await their word, hoping it was one they knew how to spell, particularly because if they didn't they might feel embarrassed as the entire class would know and the speller in question wouldn't hear the end of it at recess.
                              Being seated in the front row, I was first.  I nervously swung my legs that were too short to reach the floor.  Then Miss Fleming delivered my word.
                              "Spell diminutive," she directed.
                              Being a good speller, I reeled it off in a snap.
                              "Now, give me its definition," she followed.
                              Definition?  Hmm.  I licked my lips and furrowed my brow.  I hemmed and hawed.  My little klegs swung faster.  I wondered what John Glenn might do in this situation.  I just didn't know the definition.
                              And then from the back of the room came the answer.
                              "Small, like you," the smart aleck snapped.
                              My classmates laughed.  So, too, did Miss Fleming before kicking into teacher mode by saying, "Students, let's settle down."
                              Miss Fleming would emphasize that knowing how to spell a word without knowing its meaning was like owning a car without knowing how to drive; it was useless.  Anyone can spell humuhumunukuapuaa, but how many know it's a Hawaiian reef fish?  And be honest, how many of us could get through life without such knowledge?
                               So, in my old teacher's memory, and also in honor of Visha Parmar, a 14-year-old from Bucks County who advanced to Round 3 before bowing out this week at the 85th Scripps National Spelling Bee, I will use challenging words from past national bees to challenge you to my Definition Bee.

1. EUDAEMONIC
a) Gaelic mouth organ
b) Street language, as in "You da man!"
c) The practice of producing happiness
2. CYMOTRICHOUS
a) Having wavy hair
b) A viral infection
c) To be especially nasty or vulgar
3. APPOGGIATURA
a) Melodic tone
b) Mediterranean dish of cheese and lamb
c) Spring flower found near volcanic ash
4. FOULARD
a) Overeater who views his troubled team as a contender
b) Silk article of clothing
c) French chest of drawers or dresser
5. OPODELDOC
a) Type of plaster
b) Phillies without Roy Halladay
c) Scandinavian jelly or spread
6. LADDICEAN
a) Indifferent in religion or politics
b) Petite crustacean, such as crayfish or shrimp
c) Nervous twitch or movement
7.  ESQUAMULOSE
a) Benign skin rash or irritation
b) Smooth, or without scales
c) Young Turkish camel
8. ANTIPYRETIC
a) Fire-choking agent
b) Compulsive talkativeness
c) Relieving or reducing fever
9. EUONYM
a) An apt name
b) Lining of the epigiottis
c) What Phils GM Ruben Amaro would say to team regretting trading for declining, overpaid Jimmy Rollins
10. VIVISEPULTURE
a) 17th century art
b) Practice of burying one alive
c) Ornate hand-carved chairs
11. SUCCEDANEUM
a) Substitute medication
b) The upper level of a coliseum or arena
c) Painful condition caused by watching Joe Blanton pitch



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Answers : 1. c  ; 2. a  ; 3. a  ; 4. b  ; 5. a  ; 6. a  ; 7. b  ; 8. c   ; 9. a  ; 10. b  ; 11. a