umbrella (n) 1. a device for protection from the weather consisting of a collapsible canopy mounted on a central rod 2. Anything that covers or protects.
I'm thinking about my trusty collapsible black umbrella that has literally traveled the world with me. It's an amazingly simple yet versatile object to own. It has kept me dry in the rain, cool in the sun.
I've owned other umbrellas. I had a large, golf size umbrella emblazoned with the NBC symbol that was given to me during the LA Olympics. It was particularly good at sheltering my new hydrangea from the sweltering rays of summer sun, and in keeping two people dry in a rainfall. It was used so much over the years that it literally rotted off its frame.
I had a colorful umbrella that made me smile despite the gray drizzle that surrounded me. It was too delicate for a real storm, however, and a strong wind turned it forever inside out.
When I was looking up umbrella in the dictionary, it had another definition that I had never heard before. But then again, I'm not a zoology major.
The contractile gelatinous, rounded mass constituting the major part of the body of most jellyfishes.
Thinking about it, I can totally visualize the upper part of the jellyfish body as an umbrella ~ a beautiful, ethereal umbrella that undulates most elegantly through the water.
I think it's cool to read the dictionary as there is so much to learn, even about words that seem so common to us. Does that make me a dweeb?
1 comment:
If being a dweeb is wrong, I don't want to be right...
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