"Burger" appeared earlier in DWOTD 149. Arresteren.

1. citizen, civilian [noun] [de burger, de burgers; ‘bur-gur’]

Examples:
– "Burgers en militairen."
("Civilians and soldiers.")

– "Vandaag zijn bij een explosie in Bagdad 15 onschuldige burgers gedood."
("15 innocent citizens were killed in an explosion in Bagdad today.")

"Burger" can also be used in conjunction with another noun. This usually translates to an adjective-noun construction in English.

Example:
– "De politie patrouilleert in burgerkleding.")
("The police are patrolling in plain/civilian clothes.")

Expression:
– "Dat geeft de burger moed!": That’s heartening/encouraging! (Literally: "That gives courage to the citizen!")

2. burger [noun] [de burger, de burgers]

Example:
– "Welke burgers vind je het lekkerst? Die van de Mc Donald’s of die van de Burger King?"
("Which burgers do you like most? Those from Mc Donald’s or the ones from Burger King?")

Related words:
– "Burgemeester": mayor.

1. to yawn [verb] [gaapte, gegaapt]

"Gapen" has appeared earlier in DWOTD 89. Slapen.

Examples:
– "Ik kon vanochtend niet ophouden met gapen."
("I couldn’t stop yawning this morning." Literally: "…stop with yawning.")

– "Frank zat tijdens de vergadering de hele tijd te gapen."
("During the meeting, Frank was yawning all the time." Note that "Frank zat…te gapen" (lit.: "Frank sat to yawn") is translated with "Frank was yawning"; it is a common construction in Dutch.)

– "Ik moet enorm gapen van deze slaapverwekkende film."
("I really have to yawn due to this dead boring movie." Literally: "…from this sleep generating movie.")

Related words:
1. "Slapen": to sleep.
2. "Slaperig": sleepy.
3. "Slaapkop": sleepy head.
4. "Dromen": to dream.
5. "Uitrekken": to stretch.

Extra:
Some old Dutch houses have an ornament which is a stone man’s head with a wide opened mouth. They used to indicate that a pharmacy resided in the building. Such a stone head is called a Gaper ("Yawner") in Dutch, obviously because of the wide opened mouth…(which is actually open for taking in medicine…)

2. to gape [verb] [gaapte, gegaapt]

Example:
– "De gapende menigte had zich verzameld rond het gebouw dat in brand stond."
("The gaping crowd had gathered around the building that was on fire."  Lit.: "…that stood on fire.")

Related word:
1. "zich vergapen aan": to gape at.

Example:
"De menigte vergaapte zich aan de sterren op de rode loper."
("The crowd was gaping at the stars on the red carpet.")

1. to commute, to shuttle [verb] [pendelde, gependeld]

Although the dictionary mentions “to commute”, this verb is more commonly used when talking about a shuttle service. It can also be used to say that you are travelling up and down between places.

Examples:
– “Marc pendelt vandaag tussen diverse bedrijfslocaties.”
(“Today, Marc travels up and down between several company locations.”)

– “Reis met de trein naar Lelystad. Er pendelen bussen tussen station Lelystad en het Lowlands festival.”
(“Travel to Lelystad by train. There is a shuttle service between Lelystad and the Lowlands festival.” Literally: “Busses shuttle between…”)

Related words:
– “Op en neer rijden”: to drive up and down.
– “Heen en weer reizen”: literally “to travel forth and back” this is the common Dutch translation for “to commute”.

Example:
“Frank reist elke dag heen en weer tussen zijn woon – en werkplaats.”
(“Frank commutes daily between home and work.” Literally: “… between his place of residence and place of work.” The ‘-‘ after ‘woon’ replaces the noun ‘plaats’. In Dutch it is common to do this in such combinations.)

– “Pendelbus/busje”: shuttle bus/van.
– “Pendeldienst”: shuttle service.

2. to answer questions by interpreting the rotation of a threaded object to dowse, to divine [verb] [pendelde, gependeld]

Ok, so this has nothing to do with computer science nor physics. We couldn’t find the proper name for the act of attaching an object of some weight to a thread that you hold between your fingers, and then asking a question and looking at the direction of rotation of the object 🙂

Update: the correct verb is “to dowse” (thanks Ramie), or “to divine” (thanks Jim).

The thread with the object attached to it for the described purpose is called a “pendel”.

Update: “pendel” is Dutch for “pendulum” in this context.

Example:
– “Sommige mensen beantwoorden vragen door middel van pendelen.”
(“Some people answer questions by means of dowsing/divining (with a pendulum).” You will often encounter the abbreviation ‘d.m.v.’ for ‘door middel van’.)

viaduct, fly-over, overpass [noun] [het viaduct, de viaducten]

There is not much to elaborate on here, a viaduct is just a viaduct and a fly-over is just a fly-over 🙂 However, in the past 3 years or so there has been quite some discussion in the Netherlands on how to prevent people from throwing objects down on the motor ways; a few people were killed by bricks flying through the wind screen of their cars. Plan is to put up some cameras that are able to detect ‘abnormal’ activity.

Examples:
– "De politie houdt vaak stiekem snelheidscontroles onder een viaduct."
("The police often secretly perform speed checks underneath a fly-over.")

– "Blijf de A4 volgen. Neem na het viaduct de eerste afslag richting Amsterdam."
("Keep on the A4. Take the first exit to Amsterdam after the viaduct." Literally: "Keep following the A4.")

– "Afgelopen weekend zijn twee jongeren gearresteerd na het gooien van bakstenen vanaf een viaduct."
("The past weekend, two adolescents have been arrested after they threw bricks off a viaduct." Literally: "… after the throwing of bricks…")

– "Om het gooien van stoeptegels te bemoeilijken, heeft het rijk besloten hekken te plaatsen op viaducten."
("In order to hinder the throwing of paving stones, the government has decided to erect fences at viaducts." Literally: "… to place fences…". When it concerns the authority "government" and not specifically the group of people in the government, the term "rijk" is used (a bit like "state"); quite often in the case of infrastructure. Mind that the adjective "rijk" translates to "rich".)

railway / railroad crossing [noun] [de spoorwegovergang, de spoorwegovergangen]

"Spoorwegovergang" is a good word for Scrabble 😉 It is built from several other words:
– "spoor": (t)rail;
– "weg": way/road;
– "overgang": transition, crossing, passage.

In the Netherlands there are two types of "spoorwegovergangen": the "onbewaakte spoorwegovergang" (ungated railroad crossing) and the "bewaakte spoorwegovergang" (gated railroad crossing). There are different road signs for an ungated and a gated railway crossing to alert traffic that a railroad crossing is ahead.

Examples:
– "Vannacht is er een auto door een trein aangereden bij een onbewaakte spoorwegovergang."
("Last night, a car has been hit by a train at an ungated railway crossing." Literally: "…a car has been ridden into by a train…")

–  "Bij een bewaakte spoorwegovergang zie je op een bord altijd de melding: ‘Wacht tot lichten gedoofd zijn, er kan nog een trein komen’."
("At a gated railway crossing, one always sees the following message on a road sign: ‘Wait until lights are out, another train may come’." Literally: "…’Wait until lights have been extinguished’…")

Note:

This road sign is referring to the red lights that will blink as long as the gates are not fully up. The blinking red lights are accompanied by the sound of a clinging bell. No one ever really waits until the gates are fully up again…

Example:
– "Tijdens de overgang hebben vrouwen vaak last van opvliegers."
("During menopause, women often have (hot) flushes/flashes." Literally: "…women are bothered/burdened with…")