GrammarPhile Blog

Number Nine...Number Nine...Number Nine

Posted by Phil Jamieson   Nov 5, 2014 6:00:00 AM

9 tilesNovember was the ninth month in the ancient Roman calendar. Nine is the atomic number of fluorine. We're obsessed with nine today. Can you tell?

1. nonagon: (a) a game of cards with up to four players, each with nine cards, the object of which is to obtain nine consecutive cards through drawing and discarding; (b) a bowling pin used in ninepins; (c) a polygon of nine angles and nine sides; (d) a combination of nine instruments or voices.

2. an English unit of length equal to nine inches: (a) span; (b) arc; (c) ninch; (d) sector.

3. the ninth muse of Greek mythology: (a) Calliope; (b) Urania; (c) Thalia; (d) Talitha.

4. earned run average: (a) the average number of earned runs per game scored against a pitcher in baseball determined by dividing the total of earned runs scored against him by the total number of innings pitched and multiplying by nine; (b) the average number of runs a player scores in a game, calculated by dividing the number of actual runs in a season by the number of games played in a season; (c) average runs per game, calculated by dividing a teams' runs scored in a season by nine (innings per game); (d) a batter's batting percentage divided by nine.

5. a person whose age is in the nineties: (a) ninogenerian; (b) nimogenerian; (c) nonagenarian; (d) nanogenerian.

6. balkline: (a) an imaginary line nine inches off the pitcher's mound, beyond which if a pitcher steps while pitching, he is called on a balk; (b) a fishing line used by fishermen to catch squid; (c) a whip made of usually nine knotted lines or cords fastened to a handle; (d) one of four lines parallel to the cushions of a billiard table dividing it into nine compartments.

7. novena: (a) a Roman Catholic period of prayer lasting nine consecutive days; (b) a period of blindness and fasting (Acts 9:9); (c) the first nine years of a royal reign; (d) a hand in poker consisting of all nines.

8. a group of nine: (a) ennead; (b) mennead; (c) minead; (d) monead.

9. stanine: (a) the ninth light of a menorah; (b) having nine units or members; (c) a system of measurement or currency in which the basic units increase by powers of 9; (d) any of the nine classes into which a set of normalized standard scores arranged according to rank in educational testing are divided.

10. Yarborough: (a) the ninth Duke of York; (b) a hand in bridge or whist containing no ace and no card higher than a nine; (c) the ninth-ever winner of the Daytona 500; (d) all the above.



Go here for the answers.



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