# Dedicated use verbs **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 8, 2012, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dedicated-use-verbs/637046 "2012-10-08T02:25:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mornac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Mornac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mornac)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dedicated-use-verbs/637046/1 "2012-10-08T02:25:50Z")
Can one _wreak_ anything else besides havoc, or _spew_ anything other than venom or vitriol? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dedicated-use-verbs/637046/2 "2012-10-08T02:39:20Z")
I believe you can also wreak vengeance. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dedicated-use-verbs/637046/3 "2012-10-08T03:18:31Z")
The only thing that’s ever bated is breath. ---
**Author:** ![picker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/picker/32/13969_2.png) [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dedicated-use-verbs/637046/4 "2012-10-08T03:26:51Z")
and spew vomit. ---
**Author:** ![Mornac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Mornac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mornac)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dedicated-use-verbs/637046/5 "2012-10-08T03:26:52Z")
Aside from gall, is there anything else that is unmitigated? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dedicated-use-verbs/637046/6 "2012-10-08T03:28:57Z")
Let’s nitpick the use of “dedicated.” The phrases here are traditional, literary ones, based on mostly obsolete meanings that have limited use today. Technically, however, you can pair the words with anything you like to make a rhetorical point: wreak peace or spew chowder or with bated music. Spew in fact is often used literally as spitting or figuratively as vomiting. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dedicated-use-verbs/637046/7 "2012-10-08T04:11:34Z")
😕 ‘Wreak’ and ‘‘bated’’ I can understand, since it is extremely unusual to see those words used in any other context. But it seems really odd seeing ‘spew’ and ‘unmitigated’ in the list. Those are words that are regularly used with a wide variety of other words, in both literature and the popular press. Looking at Google News, within just the past 2 weeks we have NFL fans spewing outrage, volcanoes spewing ash, millionaires spewing hate, fires spewing smoke and Justin Bieber spewing, well, spew. Similarly, we have Mitt Romney being and unmitigated disaster, a reporter being an unmitigated asshole, a sports team suffering and unmitigated defeat and Obama’s foreign policy being an unmitigated failure. Are these really words that some people have only seen in a single pairing? I just can’t see how they could be considered to be based on mostly obsolete meanings. The meaning seems to be perfectly ordinary and commonplace in modern speech. Sure, they aren’t words you’d expect someone with a 5th grade education to use, but they are no more obsolete or prone to single pairings than, for example, “impassioned” or “unleash”. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dedicated-use-verbs/637046/8 "2012-10-08T06:02:41Z")
[To the extent people here are describing something real, it falls under the heading of ‘fossil words’.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil_word) The word ‘fettle’ in ‘fine fettle’ is an example, as is ‘spick’ as in “spick and span”. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dedicated-use-verbs/637046/9 "2012-10-08T06:19:54Z")
There’s only two types of ‘Sprees’; Spending and Killing. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dedicated-use-verbs/637046/10 "2012-10-08T06:36:16Z")
> [@chacoguy](#): > > There’s only two types of ‘Sprees’; Spending and Killing. :dubious: Google news again. Past 2 weeks: “buying spree” “touchdown spree” “break-in spree” “crime spree” “offending spree” “theft spree” “Stimulus spree” “Lawn Damage Spree” “shoplifting spree” "Vandalism spree " "[computer]Trojan spree " "approval spree " “scoring spree” ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dedicated-use-verbs/637046/11 "2012-10-08T06:46:14Z")
Fine. :Sulks: ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dedicated-use-verbs/637046/12 "2012-10-08T10:08:18Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Let’s nitpick the use of “dedicated.” The phrases here are traditional, literary ones, based on mostly obsolete meanings that have limited use today. Technically, however, you can pair the words with anything you like to make a rhetorical point: wreak peace or spew chowder or with bated music. Spew in fact is often used literally as spitting or figuratively as vomiting. The Big Bang event spewed a Universe? > [@Blake](#): > > Similarly, we have Mitt Romney being and unmitigated disaster, a reporter being an unmitigated asshole, a sports team suffering and unmitigated defeat and Obama’s foreign policy being an unmitigated failure. And the Straight Dope Message Board mitigating unmitigated ignorance. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dedicated-use-verbs/637046/13 "2012-10-08T13:08:16Z")
> [@picker](#): > > and spew vomit. Interestingly, the only thing that comes to mind is a line from _Blue Eyed Pop_ by the Sugarcubes, seemingly referring to exiting from a place of business. Which in Roman times was often accomplished through a portal called…a vomitorium. Hmmm. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dedicated-use-verbs/637046/14 "2012-10-08T13:09:20Z")
> [@Mornac](#): > > Aside from gall, is there anything else that is unmitigated? I often describe a less than successful trial as not an unmitigated disaster. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dedicated-use-verbs/637046/15 "2012-10-08T13:16:49Z")
Intercalated has only one use I’ve ever seen, but its a bit esoteric. ---
**Author:** ![Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fake_Tales_of_San_Francisco)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dedicated-use-verbs/637046/16 "2012-10-08T13:29:06Z")
I ran a corpus search on BNCweb and I get the following words paired with ‘wreak’ as a verb. more destruction mayhem havoc vengeance revenge inhumanity terrible damage So it’s by no means completely limited, but ‘havoc’ appears about 90% of the time. Doesn’t seem to be a fossil word yet, if it ever will be. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dedicated-use-verbs/637046/17 "2012-10-08T14:10:55Z")
The OP is concerned, as well as with “fossilized words” (i.e., words which are almost out of usage, but which survive in a handful of expressions), with “collocations”. A “collocation” is a group of words which get used together a lot, while not having the nuanced/hidden meanings of an idiom. They can vary culturally, even within the same language; for example, if I say, in Spanish “vals” (waltz), most people will answer “de Strauss” (Strauss’) or “el Danubio Azul” (the Blue Danube); if someone answers “¡de Astráin!” with a shit-eating grin, it means they’re from Pamplona, where Astrain’s waltz gets played to death every Sanfermines…