Word: thirdhand
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Thirdhand smoke n.--The toxic residue from tobacco smoke that remains after a cigarette is extinguished...
USAGE: "A recent study in the journal Pediatrics notes: 'Children are especially susceptible to thirdhand smoke exposure because they breathe near, crawl and play on, touch and mouth contaminated surfaces.'" --Chicago Tribune...
...EVIDENCE Kerry's medical record was signed not by Letson but by corpsman J.C. Carreon. Letson claims Carreon routinely signed forms for him. Letson told the Los Angeles Times he heard the wound was self-inflicted thirdhand--from his subordinates, who heard it from Kerry's two crewmates. They deny saying that and insist Schacte wasn't on the boat that night. The military grants a Purple Heart for any wound requiring medical attention that was inflicted during action against the enemy...
...serum containing antibodies from recovered SARS patients that is injected into current victims. The cocktail seems to be working, with most of the deaths thus far confined to the elderly or those with pre-existing medical conditions. Doctors also suspect that as the disease is passed on second- and thirdhand, the virus might lose its potency. Says Dr. Joseph Sung, chief of service at the Prince of Wales Hospital: "I'm quite convinced that some people might have contracted the infection, but not the disease. Some may develop mild symptoms, like a little bit of cough and no fever; some...
Once upon a time, Presidents might have fudged the facts to a few Congressmen in smoke-filled rooms, but who was the wiser? If voters heard the words second- or thirdhand, how could they judge them? Now it's impossible to fib in obscurity. Americans can already mouth the words when they see the incessant reruns of that finger-jabbing image: "I did not have sexual relations with that woman." Sissela Bok, the high priestess of the scholars of lying, says the TV camera has made it far more dangerous for a President to prevaricate than it was 50 years...