ramify

Use this forum to suggest Good Words for Professor Beard.
Huny
Lexiterian
Posts: 293
Joined: Thu Jun 01, 2006 11:38 pm
Location: Georgia

ramify

Postby Huny » Fri Jul 28, 2006 11:10 pm

ram·i·fy ( P )
v. ram·i·fied, ram·i·fy·ing, ram·i·fies
v. intr.
To have complicating consequences or outgrowths: The problem merely ramified after the unsuccessful meeting.
To send out branches or subordinate branchlike parts.

v. tr.
To divide into or cause to extend in branches or subordinate branchlike parts.

[Middle English ramifien, to branch out, from Old French ramifier, from Medieval Latin rmificre : Latin rmus, branch; see wrd- in Indo-European Roots + Latin -ficre, -fy.]

This word has always had my attention due to the two different meanings it possesses. I use the word ramification more than any other forms of the word. Those that do not know the meaning of ramification would definitely need to know how to dispense damage control. :shock:
"What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compaired to what lies inside us." R.W.E.

Brazilian dude
Grand Panjandrum
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Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 3:31 pm
Location: Botucatu - SP Brazil

Postby Brazilian dude » Sat Jul 29, 2006 1:06 am

Funny you should mention ramify. Today I learned an Italian word, ramingo, which means a bird, just after hatching, which hops from branch to branch. Can anybody think of a good English equivalent?

And by the way, is there any name for a concept you've never heard of, and then, after the first time you hear or see it, it seems as if you encounter it everywhere, as if it had always been there but it was you who had never paid attention to it?

Brazilian dude
Languages rule!

skinem
Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 1197
Joined: Thu Apr 27, 2006 4:33 pm
Location: Middle Tennessee

Postby skinem » Sat Jul 29, 2006 9:20 pm

Funny you should mention ramify. Today I learned an Italian word, ramingo, which means a bird, just after hatching, which hops from branch to branch. Can anybody think of a good English equivalent?

Brazilian dude
I'm not aware of a word that means exactly that, but an english word that may be close is precocial. (http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/precocial)
These are birds that are highly capable at birth, able within a few hours to run, hide, feed. Specie examples would be types of shorebirds, pheasant, grouse, ducks, geese.
The opposite of these types of birds are altricial--birds born blind, naked and weak. These are songbirds, hawks, owls, woodpeckers.

Those words as such aren't exactly what you were looking for--they don't describe a type of behavior--the words more accurately describe a type of bird with some common behavioral characteristics, but it's the closest I can come!

I know it's geeky (and I don't care)--but I like birds!

Bailey
Great Grand Panjandrum
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Joined: Tue Mar 21, 2006 7:51 pm

Postby Bailey » Sun Jul 30, 2006 10:16 am

I came across this:Ra`mig´er`ous (rå`mĭj´ẽr`ŭs)
a. 1. (Bot.) Bearing branches; branched.
Ra`mip´a`rous (rå`mĭp´å`rŭs)
a. 1. (Bot.) Producing branches; ramigerous.
Which contributes nothing about the bird but is quite interesting re: ramify and it's own ramifications. But I could find nothing in English about ramingo birds, sigh.

mark

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