1. longeron — load-bearing brace or frame running lengthwise in an airplane’s fuselage, or spanwise in its wing structure The strut was hinged to the bottom longeron of the small craft, but had become warped during the previous landing. 2. cami-knicks (also camiknickers) — ladies’ undergarment combining camisole and knickers; a teddy Alice put …
Author Archives: mysterious6030
Friday Vocabulary
1. wally — [British slang] fool, doofus Brett always acted the wally but I suspected there was more going on behind those blue eyes than any of us ever knew. 2. chough — birds belonging to a genus within the crow family The choughs of Iona seemed to resent our presence, their dark forms …
Friday Vocabulary
1. cog — to load dice so as to cheat; to cheat; to plagiarize Someone had obviously cogged the dice—too obviously, for I couldn’t imagine anyone being gulled by dice that always threw sevens. 2. haggard — [Scots] enclosure on farm for storage of grain or hay We piled high the hay-bogy and Alf …
Book List: 1600 Books
As I told you not too very long ago, I’ve just finished another set of 100 books (not counting the comic books and graphic novels (of which latter there was only one, sort of, and it was one of the very rare books so bad that I gave it a single star in my rating …
Friday Vocabulary
1. advowson — [British] right to nominate person to fill an vacant church benefice But the third Lord Ermley had never severed the advowson from those land holdings, and thus confusion ensued when Mr. Symonds asserted ownership of the parcel alongside the banks of the river. 2. prevent — [obsolete] to come before, to …
Friday Vocabulary
1. lithia water — mineral water containing lithium salts While it is true that 7-Up tried to capitalize on the craze for lithia water with its original name, the soft drink never contained any lithium, unlike the Coca-Cola product mentioned above. 2. kirmess (also kermesse or kermis) — street fair in Dutch or German …
1600 Books
Finally I have finally finished Paradise Lost, which I’ve been reading off and on (mostly off, as you will gather) for well over a year now. I can’t even claim that I got stuck in the ancillary materials in this, the Norton critical edition, because it is the poem itself that made my steps through …
Friday Vocabulary
1. chalybeate — containing iron salts The town council decided that our chalybeate springs should be highlighted in the promotional materials. 2. gynander — woman with characteristics of a man In response to the nascent women’s movements of the fin de siècle, the forces of reaction posited a pretended threat from gynanders who would …
Friday Vocabulary
1. Telfordize — to pave a road using Telford principles The sudden squalls inundated the terrain and flooded the newly constructed roads, damaging them after each reconstruction until the captain decided to Telfordize the roadways, raising them above the surrounding ground with large stones creating a foundation which helped quickly drain the road surface after …
Friday Vocabulary
1. dawamesc (also Dawamesk) — greenish edible paste or marmalade consisting of hashish mixed with butter, sugar or honey, pistachios, cinnamon and other spices, musk, nutmeg, pine nuts, orange juice Perhaps the Algerian dawamesc was the first introduction into Europe of cannabis edibles, being served in 1844 at the Club des Hashischins in Paris. …