I don't hear ambiguity with an "already," but try: "I really enjoy these shelled pistachios" - I might interpret that as some pistachios that have shells and where I've got to remove the shells. "De-shelled" would …

Nov 2, 2015 · Growing up in Canada, in addition to "trick-or-treating" as a description of kids' activities on Hallowe'en evening, I often heard the verb "shell out", conjugated as "shelling out" or "shellouting...

Dec 30, 2013 · How does one remove the ambiguity of shelled peanuts? Must one just not use the adjective 'shelled' in relation to peanuts, or other nuts, or shellfish?

Aug 5, 2024 · I (Australian) have never heard "high-skilled", and on reading it I automatically wondered how it would differ from "highly skilled". As a result it suggested to me somebody who has learned …

Oct 12, 2012 · Very similar to shelled vs. unshelled in reference to nuts. Both of them can refer to nuts either with or without shells, depending on whether the word is used as a verb or an adjective, which …

Jul 4, 2014 · Where does the phrase "walking on eggshells" originally come from? Research indicates that there is no consensus on the idiom's origin, except that it is from the 1800s. Can anyone explain …

Q&A for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts

Oct 22, 2014 · From The Conversationist, Introvert or extrovert, normal or abnormal: the problem with personality types, by Nick Haslam (Professor of Psychology, University of Melbourne), July 30, 2014: …

Apr 15, 2019 · 3 I’m 75 years young and I remember vividly in Aston Birmingham early 1950s saying do you want to come and play up on the Bomb Peck meaning shelled houses and flattened land.

Merriam-Webster definition #4 of 'oyster': 'an extremely taciturn person'. Since Online Etymology Dictionary says nothing about, can anybody say when and how 'oyster' assumed that meaning?