word of the day: beechmast
context: “Underfoot she felt moss and beechmast — so easy to run on, soon, as her eyes grew accustomed to the darkness, she was running quite fast …”
definition (Merriam-Webster): beechnuts especially as they lie under trees (dictionary has it as two words, “beech mast”)
A little girl, at the direction of our mouse hero Miss Bianca, is trying to run away from the evil Grand Duchess under the cover of night. Yet the Duchess has bloodhounds with no compunction about hunting down errant little girls, and perhaps they even have, if Miss Bianca has correctly identified the detritus of the bloodhounds’ rooms, gnawed upon another little girl’s bones.
source:
Miss Bianca
by Margery Sharp
1962. Little, Brown, & Co., Boston MA
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