word

Gnash

lfsaldenbirch , , ,

I think we have danger and adventure.  There’s something biblical and epic-proportioned about “gnash”.

  • 04.033 and all his soldiers gnashed their teeth, clashed their shields,
  • 04.034 “Slash them! Beat them! Bite them! Gnash them!
  • 06.082 and gnashed their teeth;

“gnash, v.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 29 May 2015.

“† gnast, v.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 29 May 2015.

Frizzle

lfsaldenbirch , , , , ,

“Frizzle” in meaning one has to do with curling hair in tiny curls.  In meaning two, it has to do with cooking with an accompanying sputtering noise.  Bilbo’s hair after meeting Smaug?  Both!

  • 12.081 it had all been singed and frizzled

“frizzle, v.1.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 29 May 2015.

“frizzle, v.2.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 29 May 2015.

Bleat

lfsaldenbirch , , ,

the cry of a sheep, goat, or calf – or dwarf when lashed by a goblin.  It’s a funny farm word, ameliorating the fright of being captured by such alien and altogether scary enemies.  Low or high?  tough call.  Because it is tempering the danger with farm noises, I’m calling it “low”.

  • 04.021 Batter and beat! Yammer and bleat!
  • 04.022 and bleating like anything,

“bleat, v.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 29 May 2015.

Clap

lfsaldenbirch , ,

Both a type of hit and the sound associated with it.

  • 01.095 As soon as I clapped eyes on the little fellow
  • 04.019 Clap! Snap! the black crack!
  • 04.022 The walls echoed to the clap, snap!
  • 04.023 and clapped their hands,
  • 06.005 He could have clapped
  • 07.092 Beorn clapped his hands,
  • 16.043 clapping Bilbo on the back.
  • 18.023 and broke like a clap of thunder through the ring.

Whistle

lfsaldenbirch , , , ,

Again, it depends on what is whistling.  The sound-play words are intensifiers, not valences.

  • 01.092 like the whistle of an engine coming out of a tunnel.
  • 02.002 Bilbo began to whistle loudly
  • 05.112 a whistling
  • 05.143 Whistles blew,
  • 07.030 and when I call or whistle begin to come after me –
  • 07.051 So Gandalf gave a long shrill whistle,
  • 07.061 They don’t seem all to have come when I whistled.
  • 07.062 Go on, whistle again!
  • 07.063 Gandalf whistled again;
  • 07.100 its whistling voices were released.
  • 12.022 in fierce whistling steam,
  • 14.040 Above the borders of the Forest there was whistling,
  • 17.039 and arrows whistled;

“whistle, v.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 29 May 2015.

Trot

lfsaldenbirch , , ,

Even when wolves do it, trotting sounds light hearted.

  • 04.038 as fast as he could trot,
  • 04.038 he was trotting along again,
  • 05.007 and trotted along with his little sword held
  • 05.010 he trotted splash into water!
  • 06.058 Just at that moment the wolves trotted
  • 07.032 trotted up across the grass
  • 07.036 As for Bilbo he could easily have trotted through his legs
  • 07.092 in trotted four beautiful white ponies
  • 07.145 Off they trotted gaily,
  • 09.003 Nor did they hear or feel him trotting along
  • 09.026 but Bilbo was trotting as fast as he could
  • 12.035 Did you expect me to trot back
  • 13.017 Quickly Bilbo trotted to the door