1. polysemy — quality of word, sign, phrase, or concept having multiple (often similar) meanings Translation is made even more difficult, of course, by the ingrained polysemy present in every human language—with the possible exeception of some artificial, invented tongues. 2. hymeneal — of marriage; of the hymen Not until he saw the overtaut …
Author Archives: mysterious6030
Friday Vocabulary
1. infandous — of that which should not be told; odious in the extreme, horrid I shuddered and steeled myself once more to descend those irregular stairs and enter the wretched basement where Jeremiah had spent the last days of his tortured life, to gaze once more upon the infandous figures in the charcoal drawings …
Friday Vocabulary
1. loosestrife — common name of flowering plants of two distinct genera: Lythrum and Lysimachia So many flowers fall under the general rubric of the loosestrifes that it is often unclear which is meant, as—for example—the scarlet pimpernel from which the famous hero took his name, which is one of over two hundred plants bearing …
Friday Vocabulary
1. toerag (also toe-rag) — [British colloquial] worthless or despicable person; vagrant But I’m not about to be made to feel guilty by some toerag whose problems are all his own. 2. noddle — [British] the head This job’s not a very good use of your fine old noddle, now is it? 3. …
Friday Vocabulary
1. erudite — having or showing lots of knowledge or learning But this sort of erudite reasoning is hardly to the point when we’re merely trying to decide where to build the outhouse. 2. gleeman — wandering singer (in medieval era) But the roles were not always thought of as separate in those times, …
Friday Vocabulary
1. usufruct — right to benefit and profit from a property without actual ownership nor the right to destroy, diminish, or alienate said property Though initially the usufruct of the lands granted to the vassal reverted to the lord upon the former’s death, within a short span of years the fief became hereditary. 2. …
2023 By The Numbers
Friday Vocabulary
1. transpontine — of or related to (something on) the farther side of a bridge; of or related to the area south of the Thames river in London; of or related to sensational plays of the 19th Century presented in the area south of the River Thames “I will not have your so-called ‘friends’ bringing …
Friday Vocabulary
1. grutch — to complain “If you must grutch and moan,” said the hospitaler, “have the sense to do it away from the sickroom windows.” 2. voile — diaphanous cotton fabric If you decide to use voile for the side panels, be sure that the fabric is fully mercerized. 3. haylage — silage …
Friday Vocabulary
1. jingo — bellicose patriot Appalled at Lord Muley’s quick insistence on massive reductions in the fleet, Sir Richard showed why he was considered the foremost jingo in the opposition with a long and loud speech of both hawkish and mawkish protest. 2. rondure — supple roundness; orb, sphere As they swung through the …