Word: softened
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...industries. A corrosive poison in some forms (mercury bichloride), a therapeutic salve in others (mercury ammonium chloride), fickle mercury also goes in hefty quantities into such disparate products as dental fillings and dry-cell batteries, antibarnacle paint and electrical control apparatus. Hatmakers, however, have ceased using the stuff to soften felt. Reason: poisoned by mercury vapor, almost one U.S. hatter in ten developed shakes and mental disturbances. The resulting cliche, mad as a hatter, survives...
...death only began to go out of style when the belligerents recognized some kind of relationship, as in the case of the Greek city states, which tried to soften their deadly rivalry through diplomacy and mercy. But such temperateness was strictly limited to social equals; Aristotle, who is credited with inventing the term "a just war," could apply it to military action "against men, who, though intended by nature to be governed, will not submit." The Romans took over the idea of a just war as an instrument of efficient administration, and Cicero laid down some pragmatic ground rules. Only...
...government ministries are Chou's responsibility; the ministries would probably prefer to concentrate on the country's rice and steel quotas. But Mao and Lin's watchers, following events like soap opera devotees, wonder if Chou will be able to prevail up on Mao and Lin to soften the impact of the Cultural Revolution on the provincial chiefs and his own bureaucrats...
...before boarding their planes. But most folk who follow their horoscopes in the newspapers or magazines hardly take them seriously. As one enthusiast explains, "It's an institution for buttressing opinions and explaining mishaps. According to the magazine you buy, you can always find a comfortable explanation to soften the blow of anything from infidelity to a bumped fender. If you don't find your answer, just change magazines...
Yesterday's meeting was an attempt to get the Institute to soften its position on the Portland-Albany route, the one now favored by opponents of Brookline-Elm. Thus far, the Institute's public resistance to this second route has not been as vigorous as its opposition to the railroad alignment...