Cozy at Home

Eight warm words for a cozy day inside.

Meet each word one at a time, then take the quiz to lock them in.

1. 1 mitten noun
2. 2 hollow noun
3. 3 flap verb
4. 4 hush verb
5. 5 snug adjective
6. 6 breezy adjective
7. 7 sadly adverb
8. 8 madly adverb

Nelson's word

noun

Mitten. A noun, and I file it under things-that-keep-you-warm. A mitten is a soft cover for your hand, one snug pocket for your thumb and one big pocket for all four fingers together. That is what makes a mitten different from a glove. In a glove, every finger gets its own room. In a mitten, the fingers stay close, side by side, and that is why a mitten keeps a hand warmer. State it precisely, and you will always know which one you mean.

She lost one red mitten in the snow.

Nelson's word

noun

Hollow. A noun, and a quiet one. A hollow is an empty space inside something, a little room where nothing is. Think of the hollow inside an old tree, where an owl tucks itself in to sleep, or the hollow inside a drum that lets it boom. If a thing is full, it has no hollow. If a thing has an empty space inside, that space is a hollow, and I file it right under there.

The owl sleeps in a hollow in the old tree.

Vinny's word

verb

Flap! Now THAT is a verb. To flap is to move up and down, quick and light, the way a wing does: the birds flap their wings, the flag flaps in the wind, the little bat flaps across the yard. It is a doing word, and it moves. But keep your eyes open, because this word can wear a second hat as a naming word, and we will catch it wearing it in the Many Hats way.

The birds flap their wings and fly away.

Vinny's word

verb

Hush. A gentle verb, but a mighty one, and it is mine. To hush is to make something quiet, to bring the noise down soft and low: I hush the room, the mother hushes the crying baby, the snow hushes the whole street. Even a hero needs quiet sometimes. When you hush a place, you turn the loud all the way down until only the calm is left.

I hush the room so the baby can sleep.

Jake's word

adjective

Snug. Oh, I love this one, and it is mine, because it describes. Snug means warm and cozy and close-fitting, wrapped up just right, not too loose and not too tight. A snug blanket, a snug hat, a kitten curled up snug in a basket. Its Smile is cozy, which means almost the same thing. Its Frown is loose, when a thing is too big and floppy to be snug at all. Could we be more specific than 'nice'? We always could. Snug.

The kitten is snug in its little bed.

Jake's word

adjective

Breezy. A describing word, and a fresh one, magnifique on a spring day. Breezy means with a light, gentle wind, the kind that ruffles your hair and tugs your kite but never knocks you over. And here is a secret worth keeping. Take the word breeze, a soft little wind, drop the e, and add a y to the end, and you get breezy, full of breeze. That tail, the letter y, turns a thing into a word that describes it: breeze becomes breezy, cloud becomes cloudy, wind becomes windy.

It is a breezy day, so we fly a kite.

Benny's word

adverb

Sadly. An adverb, and I own it the way Nelson owns his nouns. Sadly means in an unhappy way, and it tells you HOW something is done: the puppy waited sadly by the door, the boy waved sadly as the bus pulled away. Here is your coach's tip. Take a feeling word, sad, and add l-y to the end, and it turns into a word that describes how you do a thing. Sadly. Make it sharper next time, and instead of saying someone walked, you can say they walked sadly, and now your reader can feel it.

The puppy waited sadly by the door.

Benny's word

adverb

Madly. Another one of my adverbs, and a wild one. Madly means in a wild, excited way, all energy and go: the puppy runs madly around the yard, the fans cheer madly for the team, the flag waves madly in the storm. Here is the coach's trick again. Start with mad. Mad can mean angry, but it can also mean wild and full of feeling, and when you add l-y you get madly, telling you HOW a thing is done. You can do better than 'a lot,' and here is how: they cheered madly.

The fans cheer madly for their team.