Merriam-Webster's Winning Words Scavenger Hunt

2007 is Merriam-Webster's "golden" 50th anniversary with the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Since 1957, we've donated both our professional expertise and major prizes on local and national levels.

To commemorate this special occasion, Merriam-Webster invited all 286 regional champions of the 2007 Spelling Bee to participate in a Winning Words Scavenger Hunt. Each finalist was asked to correctly identify the following twenty "winning words" from the past 50 years of the Bee, based on information accessed from the complete and updated text of our Unabridged Dictionary (the Bee's only official resource for spelling and pronunciation) found at www.Merriam-WebsterUnabridged.com.

Hint: You can find a list of all the champions and their winning words of the Scripps National Spelling Bee here.

1. If you have a toothache, you're suffering from this Winning Word.
2. Besides its more common meaning, this Winning Word was also used to describe a kind of wine cooler in the 18th century.
3. G.H. Stuart states that "to visit an ambassador" may exemplify this Winning Word.
4. Strawberry plants should be particularly wary of this Winning Word.
5. This Winning Word can be used to describe both an early 19th century fire raft and an ill-tempered quarrelsome person.
6. Synonyms for this Winning Word include service, pomp, and retinue.
7. This Winning Word was originally a gymnasium near ancient Athens where Aristotle taught.
8. The etymology of this Winning Word includes the Spanish word otoñar, which means "to grow in the autumn."
9. This Winning Word can be used to describe an expression of sorrow or "excruciating nostalgia."
10. This is a Winning Word for a gastropod mollusk of the genus Haliotis.
11. One sense of this Winning Word is a table or manual giving the exchange values of moneys, weights, and measures of various countries.
12. This Winning Word is a fabric made of spun-rayon yarn.
13. Remedy and medicine are two obsolete senses of this Winning Word.
14. Synonyms for this Winning Word include intermediate and provisional.
15. The etymology of this Winning Word includes the Greek phainein: to reveal, show, or make known.
16. Edgar Allan Poe's short story The Premature Burial is all about this Winning Word.
17. A coat or uniform might be lined with this Winning Word.
18. This Winning Word is used to designate the numbers 13 to 24 in the roulette layout.
19. The verb in the sentence "I remain well and my wife also" is an example of this Winning Word.
20. This Winning Word is based on the idea of happiness as the proper end of conduct.