1. tripper — [British] excursionist, one who goes on a trip Liz would often go into the city for the weekend, and history was made when the young tripper met the editor of New Moon magazine in an Edinburgh pub. 2. medinal — sodium salt of barbital, first commercial barbiturate “Neil had made himself …
Category Archives: Vocabulary
Friday Vocabulary
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 …
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 …
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 …
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. …
Friday Vocabulary
1. verisimilar — appearing true or real At first I thought myself deceived by a demonic phantasm, some tool of the dark forces assuming a verisimilar likeness to my favorite actor playing his most famous role, but then I realized it was just a cosplayer. 2. thrang — [Scots, N. England] busy, occupied with …