4 March 2017
strigil
[strij-uh l]
noun
1. an instrument with a curved blade, used especially by the ancient Greeks and Romans for scraping the skin at the bath and in the gymnasium.
Origin of strigil
Latin
1575-1585; Latin strigilis, akin to stringere to touch lightly; see streak, strike
Related forms
strigilate [strij-uh-lit, -leyt], adjective
Dictionary.com
Examples from the Web for strigil
Historical Examples
Having warmed the fat of a squirrel in a strigil, instil it.
Surgical Instruments in Greek and Roman Times
John Stewart Milne
In one the athlete is represented handing his strigil to his slave, in the other the athlete stands alone, strigil in hand.
Miscellanies
Oscar Wilde
Tool used at the Palaistra, or wrestling school: in this case the strigil.
A Handbook to the Works of Browning (6th ed.)
Mrs. Sutherland Orr
Anagram
girl sit
gilt sir
rig list
Today’s quote
There is always some kid who may be seeing me for the first or the last time, I owe him my best.
– Joe DiMaggio
On this day
4 March – National Grammar Day.
4 March 1918 – first case of Spanish flu is identified when company cook, Albert Gitchell reports sick at Fort Riley, Kansas. The influenza pandemic infected 500 million people across the globe, killing an estimated 50 to 100 million people, or between 3% and 6% of the global population. The 1918 Spanish Flu killed more people in 24 weeks than AIDS killed in 24 years. It killed more people in one year than the Bubonic Plague (Black Death), killed in a century. The flu affected the entire planet. It was named the Spanish flu after wartime censors in Germany, France, Britain and the US banned reporting of it in order to maintain morale. Spain was a neutral country during World War I, so the media was free to report the impact of the pandemic in that country, including the grave illness of Spanish King Alfonso XIII, giving rise to it being called the Spanish flu.
4 March 1987 – President Ronald Reagan admits that the U.S. negotiated the Iran-Contra deal, which swapped ‘military arms for hostages’ in order to secure the release of hostages from Iran.