necking, pecking, trekking, begging, legging, pegging, bedding, dreading, heading, leading, Reading, Redding, shredding, spreading, treading, wedding, gelding, welding, bending, blending, ending, mending, pending, spending, tending, letting, netting, setting, wetting, tempting, betting, fretting, netting, setting, sweating, wetting, belting, felting, melting, pelting, smelting, tenting, venting, jesting, nesting, resting, testing, delving, dwelling, felling, selling, smelling, spelling, swelling, telling, yelling, trembling, heckling, meddling, peddling, settling, nestling, wrestling, fledgling, herring, headspring, wellspring, redwing, sweptwing, Fleming, hemming, lemming, stemming, helming, Denning, penning, Steyning, blessing, dressing, guessing, Lessing, pressing, flexing, vexing, fencing, Tenzing, threshing, etching, fetching, retching, sketching, stretching, belching, squelching, clenching, drenching, quenching, wrenching, dredging, edging, hedging, pledging, sledging, wedging, * bedecking, spot-checking, beheading, unbending, attending, offending, unending, ascending, transcending, impending, pretending, intending, extending, defending, descending, abetting, forgetting, upsetting, besetting, excepting, prospecting, affecting, collecting, connecting, projecting, respecting, expecting, fermenting, lamenting, consenting, repenting, eventing, relenting, dissenting, presenting, tormenting, protesting, molesting, arresting, suggesting, investing, requesting, compelling, reselling, misspelling, excelling, condemning, confessing, caressing, progressing, undressing, depressing, distressing, digressing, commencing, dispensing, refreshing, alleging, avenging, * doorstepping, bootlegging, deadheading, subheading, heart-rending, mind-bending, trendsetting, filmsetting, typesetting, blood-letting, hairdressing, well-dressing, processing, * double-checking, featherbedding, parascending, condescending, overspending, moneylending, thermosetting, stamp-collecting, self-respecting, intersecting, unsuspecting, unrelenting, unprotesting, storytelling, acquiescing, decompressing, prepossessing, repossessing, * uncomprehending, interconnecting, unprepossessing, etc.
10.37 helpings, leggings, headings, weddings, endings, settings, dwellings, spellings, herrings, lemmings, Jennings, blessings, etchings, etc.
10.38 develop, envelop, * redevelop
10.39 Lesseps, * develops, envelops, * redevelops
10.40 developed, enveloped, * redeveloped, * underdeveloped, undeveloped
10.41 Geddes, Lettice, lettuce, Prentiss, testis, Memphis, crevice, Elvis, pelvis, Ellis, trellis, derris, Ferris, Nerys, Emrys, premise, Dennis, Ennis, Glenys, menace, tennis, Venice, sepsis, lexis, * apprentice, Ben Nevis, Llanberis, Alexis, asepsis, * compos mentis, antisepsis, * Thomas à Kempis, non compos mentis, amanuensis, * in loco parentis
Better mention ‘The Merchant of Venice’
When her sweet pound o’ flesh you would menace.
COLE PORTER
10.42 trespass, preface, Hellas, jealous, zealous, helpless, feckless, necklace, reckless, legless, headless, endless, friendless, restless, selfless, breathless, deathless, stressless, sexless, senseless, ferrous, terrace, empress, Esdras, temptress, sempstress, dextrous, generous, genus, redness, wetness, deftness, deafness, wellness, freshness, nexus, plexus, Texas, census, precious, * horrendous, tremendous, stupendous, prospectus, conspectus, momentous, portentous, asbestos, Marcellus, relentless, defenceless, Mackerras, nonferrous, ungenerous, rebellious, correctness, directness, consensus, infectious, contentious, tendentious, sententious, pretentious, dissentious, licentious, * overzealous, ambidextrous, overgenerous, solar plexus, Paracelsus, semiprecious, conscientious, unpretentious, * expect us, refresh us, etc.
10.43 tempest, trespassed, reddest, eldest, wettest, deafest, prefaced, breakfast, steadfast, gentlest, terraced, tensest, freshest, etc.
10.44 leftist, dentist, cellist, check list, chemist, menaced, sexist, * librettist, cornettist, apprenticed, * clarinettist, irredentist, biochemist, * heterosexist
10.45 peckish, reddish, Lettish, fetish, pettish, Kentish, wreckfish, elfish, selfish, shellfish, hellish, relish, cherish, perish, blemish, Flemish, Rhenish, * coquettish, unselfish, embellish, replenish
10.46 relished, cherished, perished, blemished, * embellished, unblemished, replenished, * unembellished
10.47 Egbert, Prescot, Prescott, legate, effort, Evert, Helot, prelate, zealot, template, desert
10.48 cesspit, respite, debit, Tebbitt, Nesbit, Becket, Beckett, credit, edit, geddit, velvet, pellet, necklet, ferret, merit, emmet, helmet, pelmet, Bennett, genet, rennet, senate, sennet, tenet, bedsit, exit, Melchett, * decrepit, subedit, accredit, discredit, coedit, demerit, inherit, herb bennet, * disinherit, * check it, said it, etc.
If, with the literate, I am
Impelled to try an epigram,
I never seek to take the credit;
We all assume that Oscar said it.
DOROTHY PARKER
10.49 Elspeth, Hesketh, Knebworth, Hepworth, Petworth, Exmouth, Emsworth, Letchworth, Kenneth
10.50 festive, restive, pensive, * perceptive, deceptive, receptive, pre-emptive, redemptive, perspective, prospective, protective, affective, collective, corrective, connective, objective, subjective, respective, detective, effective, defective, infective, invective, elective, selective, reflective, directive, attentive, retentive, preventive, inventive, incentive, suggestive, digestive, oppressive, aggressive, progressive, obsessive, successive, possessive, depressive, repressive, impressive, expressive, regressive, recessive, excessive, digressive, reflexive, offensive, expensive, intensive, extensive, defensive, * contraceptive, unreceptive, retrospective, irrespective, ineffective, nonselective, unreflective, inattentive, disincentive, unimpressive, apprehensive, inoffensive, inexpensive, comprehensive, coextensive, * overprotective, counteroffensive
10.51 eddies, readies, teddies, Betty’s, empties, lefties, twenties, testes, bevvies, heavies, jellies, wellies, berries, cherries, sentries, Jeffreys, Jenny’s, pennies, pressies, Menzies, etc.
10.52 members, vespers, checkers, Chequers, beggars, elders, welders, betters, fetters, feathers, leathers, Bella’s, Mellors, Sellers, hecklers, settlers, errors, terrors, tremors, Jenna’s, tenors, dresses, guesses, Messrs, tresses, senses, sensors, pleasures, treasures, sketches, wretches, edges, hedges, * Rebecca’s, suspenders, offenders, EastEnders, directors, investors, expenses, adventures, Avengers, etc.
10.53 Enderby, Wetherby, therapy, entropy, jeopardy, yesterday, melody, threnody, Wednesday, Hecate, Hegarty, Peggotty, deputy, penalty, specialty, seventy, beggarly, elderly, slenderly, tenderly, mentally, westerly, helpfully, dreadfully, Beverley, cleverly, Everly, centrally, severally, generally, Thessaly, leisurely, specially, terribly, preferably, memorably, sensibly, legibly, westwardly, secondly, separately, desperately, pleasantly, presently, heavenly, jealously, zealously, recklessly, breathlessly, peppery, peccary, beggary, Gregory, rectory, reverie, feathery, heathery, leathery, celery, Ellery, temporary, equerry, vespiary, bestiary, vestiary, breviary, emery, memory, hennery, venery, pessary, sensory, treasury, lechery, treachery, century, elderberry, heraldry, prebendary, secondary, legendary, repertory, predatory, prefatory, helotry, zealotry, desultory, pedantry, sedentary, errantry, peasantry, pleasantry, devilry, revelry, weaponry, heronry, lectionary, Jeremy, Bellamy, enemy, sesame, ebony, betony, tetany, empathy, Stephanie, Bethany, felony, Melanie, lemony, Yemeni, embassy, legacy, ecstasy, jealousy, prelacy, heresy, leprosy, Hennessey, tendency, clemency, tenancy, pregnancy, Pevensey, energy, lethargy, * Penelope, synecdoche, telegraphy, telepathy, northwesterly, southwesterly, unhelpfully, regretfully, respectfully, resentfully, successfully, especially, potentially, essentially, impeccably, incredibly, regrettably, perceptibly, respectably, irreparably, ostensibly, illegibly, contentedly, expectantly, unpleasantly, horrendously, tremendously, relentlessly, extempore, pro tempore, grotesquery, peremptory, trajectory, refectory, directory, exemplary, contemporary, extemporary, incendiary, stipendiary,