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Mind your language

How ‘furlough’ became mainstream

25 April 2020

9:00 AM

25 April 2020

9:00 AM

In July, in its ‘Guess the definition’ slot, next to the day’s birthdays, the Daily Mail asked its readers to plump for the correct meaning of furlough. Was it a) a second swarm of bees in a season; b) a pole across a stream to stop cattle; c) a soldier’s leave of absence?

I think the second swarm is called an after-swarm or piper.

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