replies to altogether too many posts

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 124062


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)" 
<catlady at w...> wrote:
> Geoff wrote in
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/122645 :
> 
> << Until a few years ago, it was even more vague because they would 
be
> summoned by a maroon - assuming they were within hearing range. >>
> 
> To me, 'maroon' is a color, a purplish red. The American Heritage
> dictionary agrees with me: http://www.bartleby.com
> /61/80/M0118000.html . 
> 
> A certain amount of searching around in onelook found 
> http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/maroon_1?view=uk 
> "noun 1 a dark brownish-red colour. 2 chiefly Brit. a firework that
> makes a loud bang, used as a signal or warning. — ORIGIN from
> French marron `chestnut'; sense 2 is so named because the
> firework
> makes the noise of a chestnut bursting in the fire."

Geoff:
I could have saved you the search if you'd posted the query...

I'm surprised your American Heritage Dictionary didn't list it. I 
have very similar definitions in my Concise Oxford Dictionary and my 
Readers' Digest Word Power Dictionary.

Our local lifeboat station still fires a maroon when the boat is 
about to launch so that visitors, tourists and general hangers-on can 
come and goggle at the spectacle. Since it is heard a mile or so 
away, it's a bit of a bigger bang than a bursting chestnut. :-)