gal, sap, sapling, gall, dirndl, make-or-break, against the grain

Certainly she is respected by her political opponents. “She’s a real grown-up, very, very impressive – she’s the one,” says one member of the Labour opposition top team. Keith Vaz says: “She reminds me a lot of Angela Merkel. Angela Merkel was in the beginning thought of as quite boring, and now everyone is saying what a great gal she is.”



Federal Official at Center of the Health Care Tumult Has Gone Against the Grain

By ROBERT PEAR

Gary M. Cohen, who oversees the health exchanges set up under the Affordable Care Act, has been a punching bag for Republicans and has been chided even by some Democrats.

Dirndl, Dress of Past, Makes a Comeback

By MELISSA EDDY

Long considered the dusty uniforms of an older generation, the dress has become a wildly popular symbol of the good times and good life in Bavaria.

But the children of tomorrow are the ones called by life, and the follow it with steady steps and heads high, they are the dawn of new frontiers, no smoke will veil their eyes and no jingle of chains will drown out their voices. They are few in number, but the difference is as between a grain of wheat and a stack of hay. No one knows them but they know each other. They are like the summits, which can see or hear each other—not like caves, which cannot hear or see. They are the seed dropped by the hand of God in the field, breaking through its pod and waving its sapling leaves before the face of the sun. It shall grow into a mighty tree, its root in the heart of the earth and its branches high in the sky.

Still Trailing Rivals, BlackBerry Seeks a Way Out

By MICHAEL J. DE LA MERCED and IAN AUSTEN 7:18 PM ET

The Canadian company introduced its BlackBerry 10 this year in a make-or-break attempt to recover at least some of its once-dominant position in the market.

Europe on edge ahead of make-or-break EU summit

As European Union leaders try to salvage their union, they're weighing treaty changes, sanctions against profligate spenders, eurobonds or appealing for the central bank to intervene - as a last resort.



I am gall.

galled eyes. (Hamlet)

gal 1 

Pronunciation: /ɡal/ 

NOUN

informal, chiefly North American

A girl or young woman.

against the grain

contrary to the natural inclination or feeling of someone or something:it goes against the grain to tell outright lies

[from the fact that wood is easier to cut along the line of the grain]

make-or-break

Cause either total success or total ruin, as in This assignment will make or break her as a reporter. This rhyming expression, first recorded in Charles Dickens's Barnaby Rudge (1840), has largely replaced the much older (16th-century) alliterative synonym make or mar, at least in America.

gall¹ (gôl)

n.

1. See bile (sense 1).
2. 1. Bitterness of feeling; rancor.
   2. Something bitter to endure: the gall of defeat.
3. Outrageous insolence; effrontery.

[Middle English, from Old English gealla, galla.]

gall² (gôl)
n.

1. A skin sore caused by friction and abrasion: a saddle gall.
2. 1. Exasperation; vexation.
   2. The cause of such vexation.

v., galled, gall·ing, galls. v.tr.

1. To make (the skin) sore by abrasion; chafe.
2. To damage or break the surface of by or as if by friction; abrade: the bark of saplings galled by improper staking. See synonyms at chafe.
3. To irk or exasperate; vex: It galled me to have to wait outside.

v.intr.
To become irritated, chafed, or sore.

[Middle English galle, from Old English gealla, possibly from Latin galla, nutgall.]

gall³ (gôl)
n.
An abnormal swelling of plant tissue caused by insects, microorganisms, or external injury.

[Middle English galle, from Old French, from Latin galla, nutgall.]

sapling

Syllabification: (sap·ling)

Pronunciation: /ˈsapliNG/

noun

• a young tree, especially one with a slender trunk.
• literary a young and slender or inexperienced person.

Origin:

Middle English: from the noun sap¹ + -ling

A young tree with a slender trunk is known as a sapling. Just as a young duck is called a "duckling," a young tree is called a sapling. The suffix "-ling" comes from Old English and often shows up today at the end of words to mean "young" or "youngster."

sap1

NOUN

• 1The fluid, chiefly water with dissolved sugars and mineral salts, that circulates in the vascular system of a plant.

  1. 1.1Vigor or energy.
     ‘the hot, heady days of youth when the sap was rising’

VERB

[WITH OBJECT]

• 1Gradually weaken or destroy (a person's strength or power)

  ‘our energy is being sapped by bureaucrats and politicians’

  1. 1.1Drain someone of (strength or power)
     ‘her illness had sapped her of energy and life’

Origin

Old English sæp, probably of Germanic origin. The verb (dating from the mid 18th century) is often interpreted as a figurative use of the notion “drain the sap from,” but is derived originally from the verb sap, in the sense undermine.

dirndl

Pronunciation: /ˈdəːnd(ə)l/

noun

• 1 (also dirndl skirt) a full, wide skirt with a tight waistband.

• 2a woman’s dress in the style of Alpine peasant costume, with a dirndl skirt and a close-fitting bodice.

Origin:

1930s: from south German dialect, diminutive of Dirne 'girl'