George Washington (1-3)

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(1) John R Miller, The Original American Idol; When King George III heard Washington had refused to be king, he said, 'If that is true, he must be the greatest man in the world.' Wall Street Journal, Feb 19, 2011.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704881304576093831865011332.html
(Washington's birthday Feb 22, 1732; third Monday in February: Presidents Day, which marks the birthday not only of Washington but of Lincoln and all other presidents)


Note:
(a) John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were US presidents whose terms were 1797-1801 and 1801-1809, respectively.
(b) peal
(vi): "to give out peals"
(n): "the loud ringing of bells"

All definitions are from www.m-w.com.
(c) The article says, "Antislavery activists claimed Washington since he had freed his slaves.

Well, not exactly.
(i) George Washington
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_washington
(The death of his father [when George was 11] prevented Washington from crossing the Atlantic to receive an education at England's Appleby School, as his older brothers had done. He attended school in Fredericksburg[, Virginia] until age 15./ Washington presided over the Constitutional Convention that drafted the United States Constitution in 1787; sectin 10.1 Slavery)
(ii) George Washington and slavery
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington_and_slavery
(section 4 Posthumous emancipation)

(d) Iroquois
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroquois
(the Iroquoian-speaking peoples coalesced as distinct tribes, based mostly in present-day central and upstate New York, in the 16th century or earlier; section 1 Name)
(e) Madeira wine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madeira_wine
(made in the Madeira Islands, Portugal)
(f) facile (adj; Latin facere to do): "READY, FLUENT <facile prose>"
(g) The article states "his presence moved the delegates [to the Constitutional Convention] to choose a presidential form of government, largely because they knew he would serve as the first chief executive.

See
President of the United States
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_the_United_States
(section 1 Origin)


(2) Stephen Brumwell, War in the Wilderness; A callow youngster's thirst for honor triggered the Seven Years' War. Wall Street Journal, Jan 20, 2011.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703779704576074361451138344.html
(book review on David A. Clary, George Washington's First War; His early military adventures. Simon & Schuster, 2010)

Note:
(a) French and Indian War
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_and_Indian_War
(The French and Indian War is the common U.S. name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756 the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war)
(b) callow (adj): "lacking adult sophistication : immature <callow youth>"
(c) blinker (n): "BLINDER"

Blinders are for a horse, so as not to be distracted or startled.
(d) Edward Braddock
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Braddock
(1695-1755; British; best remembered for his command of a disastrous expedition against the French-occupied Ohio Country in 1755, in which he lost his life; section 3 North America)
(e) Shawnee
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawnee
(The Algonquian nations of present-day Canada regarded the Shawnee as their southernmost branch.
Algonquian languages have words similar to the archaic shawano (now: shaawanwa) meaning "south")
(f) Martha Washington
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_Washington
(1731-1802; nee Martha Dandridge; At age 18 [1749] she married Daniel Parke Custis, a rich planter two decades her senior[, whose] death in 1757 left Martha a rich widow; Martha Dandridge Custis, aged 27, and George Washington, aged nearly 27, married on January 6, 1759)
(g) Sally Fairfax
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_Fairfax
(ca. 1730-1811; section 1.2 Relationship with George Washington)
(h) smarmy (adj): "of low sleazy taste or quality <smarmy eroticism>"


(3) Janet Maslin, Dusting Off an Elusive President’s Dull Image. New York Times, Sept 28, 2010.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/28/books/28book.html
(book review on Ron Chernow. A Life. The Penguin Press, 2010)

When George Washington was sworn in as the first president of the United States [in 1789, at age 57], he had only one original tooth left

Note:
(a) bicuspid (adj; Latin bi- + cuspid-, cuspis point): "having or ending in two points <bicuspid teeth>"
(b) dentures
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dentures
(Perhaps the most famous early denture user was George Washington. He was fitted with them no later than 1764. President Washington's dentures are part of a new display on exhibit at Mount Vernon. Despite the rumors, the famous dentures are not made of wood; instead they are made of hippopotamus ivory)
(c) plod (vi) "to work laboriously and monotonously : DRUDGE"
(d) clotheshorse (n):
"1: a frame on which to hang clothes
2: a conspicuously dressy person"

For definition 1, see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clotheshorse
(e) slave driver (n):
"1: a supervisor of slaves at work
2: a harsh taskmaster"
(f) gland-hand
(vt): "to extend a glad hand to <candidates glad–handing everyone they meet>"
(n): "a warm welcome or greeting often prompted by ulterior reasons"

Photos:
* UMBRO WOMEN’S PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Ashlee Pistorius, Texas A&M. DallasSoccerNews.com, Jan 13, 2008.
http://www.dallassoccernews.com/teams/aggies2.php?article_id=1094
(photo caption: Ashlee Pistorius gets the glad hand from her many admirers among the Aggie faithful at the Aggie Stadium complex. She broke the Texas A&M soccer scoring record her senior season.
Courtesy Texas A&M)
* Cameron launches fightback against surging Lib Dems, claiming hung parliament will stop 'real change.' Daily Mail, Apr 17, 2010.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1266726/Cameron-launches-fightback-surging-Lib-Dems-warning-hung-parliament.html
(caption of photo No. 5: Glad hand: David Cameron meets supporters during an election rally in Gloucester)

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