tills, softened, steamrollered, rototiller/rotovator/rotavator,

Over the course of a generation Tesco steamrollered its way across the country, seemingly building supermarkets in every postcode to cement a dominant position resulting in its tills ringing up nearly £1 in every £7 spent on the British high street.

What happens when an empire starts to crumble?






Vo Nguyen Giap, 1911-2013

Relentless General Who Won 2 Vietnam Wars

By JOSEPH R. GREGORY

General Giap, who helped drive the United States and France from Vietnam, was later regarded as an elder statesman with softened views. He was thought to be 102.

Kuni Takahashi for The New York Times

The Saturday Profile

Bhutan’s New Leader Eyes Concrete Goals

By GARDINER HARRIS 7:35 PM ET

Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay is forgoing Bhutan’s “gross national happiness” campaign in favor of modest objectives like a rototiller in every village. 

rototiller

Pronunciation: /ˈrəʊtə(ʊ)ˌtɪlə/

noun[名]回転耕耘(こううん)機.

• North American term for rotavator.

Derivatives

rototill

verb

rotavator

Pronunciation: /ˈrəʊtəveɪtə/

(also rotovator)

noun

trademark

• a machine with rotating blades for breaking up or tilling the soil.

Derivatives

rotavate

verb

Origin:

1930s: blend of rotary + cultivator

till3

Pronunciation: /tɪl/

Translate till | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish

verb

[with object]

• prepare and cultivate (land) for crops:no land was being tilled or crops sown

Derivatives

tillable

adjective

 till

noun

• a cash register or drawer for money in a shop, bank, or restaurant: there were queues at the till checkout tills

Phrases

have (or with) one's fingers (or hand) in the till

used in reference to theft from one’s place of work:he was caught with his hand in the till and sacked

Origin:

late Middle English (in the general sense 'drawer or compartment for valuables'): of unknown origin