Professor Alexis Jay, who wrote the report, said she found examples of "children who had been doused in petrol and threatened with being set alight, threatened with guns, made to witness violent rapes and threatened they would be next if they told anyone"
Report claims police and council agencies ignored victims, some of whom...
Is ‘No Fun’ Sign Next? California Beach Bonfires May Be Doused
By IAN LOVETT
Air quality regulators, citing pollution and health risks, have proposed
removing more than 800 fire pits that dot the coastline of Los Angeles
and Orange Counties.
By ADAM DAVIDSON
There's a reason scalpers have confused economists for decades.
NYPD
By SARAH MASLIN NIR and AL BAKER 19 minutes ago
A man dressed as an exterminator was recorded on surveillance video dousing a woman with what a city official said was an accelerant and lighting her on fire.
黃牛票（touts） 。
Local airline Regional Express said the phone began glowing red and emitting dense smoke after the plane landed in Sydney on Friday.
Flight attendants had to
douse the phone, which has since been handed to investigators.
Western leaders responded to the re-election of Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai, offering congratulations and advice. Whether he will receive the support of the people after a fraud-marred campaign remains unknown.
By STEVEN LEE MYERS and ALISSA J. RUBIN 21 minutes ago
President Bush’s fourth and final trip to Iraq was interrupted(marred) by an incident in which a man threw his shoes at the president during a news conference.
tout (MAKE KNOWN)
verb
1 [T] to advertise, make known or praise something or someone repeatedly, especially as a way of encouraging their sale, popularity or development:
As an education minister, she has been touting these ideas for some time.
He is being widely touted as the next leader of the Social Democratic party.
Several insurance companies are now touting their services/wares on local radio.
2 [I] to repeatedly try to persuade people to buy your goods or services:
There were hundreds of taxis at the airport, all touting for business/custom.
South Korean Offer to North Is Marred by Killing of Tourist
By CHOE SANG-HUN
President Lee Myung-bak reversed his tough approach on North Korea and offered to resume dialogue and provide humanitarian aid, but a South Korean woman was shot by a North Korean soldier the same day.Olympic torch goes to Africa
The Olympic torch has left Argentina for the East African nation of
Tanzania, after a relatively trouble-free run through Buenos Aires. A
heavy security cordon surrounded the torch, preventing a repeat of the
incidents that
marred the London and Paris legs of the relay. Several
protesters tried unsuccessfully to
douse the torch with water bombs.
Meanwhile, China has denounced the European Parliament's call to
boycott the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics, if Beijing does
not start talks with the Dalai Lama about Tibet.
mar SLIGHTLY FORMAL
to spoil something, making it less perfect or less enjoyable:
Sadly, the text is marred by careless errors.
It was a really nice day, marred only by a little argument in the car on the way home.
I hope the fact that Louise isn't coming won't mar your enjoyment of the evening.
cordon
noun [C]
a line of police, soldiers, vehicles, etc. positioned around a particular area in order to prevent people from entering it:
There was a police cordon around the building.
━━ n. 非常（警戒）線; 飾りひも; （肩から掛ける）綬章; 【園芸】一本仕立ての果樹.
━━
vt. ((次の句で))
cordon off 非常線をはる.
Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun
douse also dowse
v.,
doused also
dowsed,
dous·ing dows·ing,
dous·es dows·es.
v.tr.
- To plunge into liquid; immerse. See synonyms at dip.
- To wet thoroughly; drench.
- To put out (a light or fire); extinguish.
v.intr.
To become thoroughly wet.
n.
A thorough drenching.
[From obsolete douse, to strike.]
Definition of douse
verb
[with object]
1pour a liquid over; drench:he doused the car with petrol and set it on fire
2 extinguish (a fire or light):stewards appeared and the fire was doused figurativenothing could douse her sudden euphoria
3 Sailing lower (a sail) quickly.
Origin:
early 17th century: perhaps imitative, influenced by
souse, or perhaps from dialect
douse 'strike, beat', from Middle Dutch and Low German
dossen
tout
(tout) 
v.,
tout·ed,
tout·ing,
touts.
v.intr.
- To solicit customers, votes, or patronage, especially in a brazen way.
- To obtain and deal in information on racehorses.
v.tr.
- To solicit or importune: street vendors who were touting pedestrians.
- Chiefly British. To obtain or sell information on (a racehorse or stable) for the guidance of bettors.
- To promote or praise energetically; publicize: "For every study touting the benefits of hormone therapy, another warns of the risks" (Yanick Rice Lamb).
n.
- Chiefly British. One who obtains information on racehorses and their prospects and sells it to bettors.
- One who solicits customers brazenly or persistently: "The administration of the nation's literary affairs falls naturally into the hands of touts and thieves" (Lewis H. Lapham).
- Chiefly Scots and Irish Slang. One who informs against others; an informer.
[Middle English tuten, to peer.]
touter tout'er n.
[動](他)
1 〈人・物を〉やっきになって宣伝［推薦］する, ほめちぎる.
2 〈取り引き・仕事・投票などを〉うるさく［しつこく］勧誘する［求める］；〈物品・入場券などを〉押し売りする, 高く売りつける.
3 ((英))《競馬》〈競走馬の〉様子を探る；((米))〈競走馬の〉予想をして賭(か)けさせる.
4 …を見張る, 偵察(ていさつ)する.
━━(自)
1 （取り引き・仕事などを）しつこく勧誘する［求める］；（…を）押し売りする；（…への）客引きをする((for ...))；((英))チケットを高く売りつける（((米))scalp）.
2 ((英))《競馬》（調教中の馬の）情報を探る((round ...))；((米))予想屋をする.
━━[名]
1 ((英))だふ屋（((米))scalper）.
2 （取り引き・仕事・支持などを）うるさく求める人；客引き, ぽん引き.
3 ((英))《競馬》競走馬のようすを探る人；((米))予想屋.
4 （盗賊の）見張り（人）
keep (the) tout
見張る.
5 ((北アイル俗))（警察への）情報提供者, タレコミ屋.
importune[im・por・tune]
- 発音記号[ìmpɔːrtjúːn | impɔ'ːtjuːn]
|
(verb) Beg persistently and urgently. |
| Synonyms: | insist |
| Usage: | She had come to the conclusion that he spoke no other English, and so she ceased to importune him for information. |
[動](他)
1 ((形式))〈人に〉（…を）うるさくせがむ((for, with ...))；〈人に〉（…するよう）しつこく頼む((to do))
2 〈人を〉（要求などで）うるさがらせる, 悩ます((with ...))
3 〈売春婦が〉〈客を〉誘う；〈売春相手を〉買う.
━━(自)
1 〈人が〉しつこくねだる［せがむ］.
2 〈売春婦が〉客を誘う.
im・por・tune・ly
[副]
Translate scalp | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of scalp
noun
1the skin covering the head, excluding the face: hair tonics will improve the condition of your hair and scalp
historical
the scalp with the hair belonging to it, cut or torn away from an
enemy’s head as a battle trophy, a former practice among American
Indians.
used with reference to the defeat of an opponent:in rugby Gloucester claimed the scalp of would-be champions Bath
2 Scottish a bare rock projecting above surrounding water or vegetation.
verb
[with object]
1 historical take the scalp of (an enemy): none of the soldiers were scalped
informal punish severely:if I ever heard anybody doing that I’d scalp them
2 North American informal resell (shares or tickets) at a large or quick profit: tickets were scalped for forty times their face value
Origin:
Middle English (denoting the skull or cranium): probably of Scandinavian origin
See 
The 'getting to know someone' meaning is now archaic and has been surplanted by the 'beginning to understand' meaning. 'Cottoning on' as we now use it derives from the meaning of 'attaching oneself to something', specifically an attachment to an idea that we haven't encountered before. This was coined independently from the previous meaning and two centuries later. It would seem to be a reasonable bet that at least one of these two meanings would have been coined in one of the major English-speaking cotton producing regions of the world, for example India or the USA. Not so; the 'become friendly' meaning was established in the UK and the first uses of the 'understand' meaning were in New Zealand and Australia. These do derive from the allusion to sticky cotton bolls. The earliest example that I can find of this is from the New Zealand newspaper The Wanganui Herald, June 1893:
st
mèr
st
