1. revers — lapel or other garment part turned back to reveal the lining The colonel wore a half-length silk robe in black with revers in a startling crimson. 2. cornice — [architecture] horizontal element surrounding the top of a building; crown molding of walls within a room; overhanging snow in alpine mountains Jeremy …
Category Archives: Vocabulary
Friday Vocabulary
1. terret — ring on harness saddle through which the reins are passed When driving a unicorn team you need to ensure that the reins of the lead horse are fed loosely through the pair’s terrets, which usually requires an extra D-ring. 2. shebeen — [Ireland, Scotland, South Africa] unlicensed place where alcoholic drinks …
Friday Vocabulary
1. grom — [slang] young surfer; youth on a board of the various types (wake-, snow-, skate-; i.e., not corporate) That pesky grom really got worked when he took off on the wrong wave at the reef break. 2. reata — lariat, lasso Scotch Bill dallied the rawhide reata around his saddlehorn as he …
Friday Vocabulary
1. iconoclast — destroyer of religious images; one who criticizes or attacks orthodoxy; independent thinker Jocelyn was such a staunch iconoclast she refused the invitation of Mr. Kipling, lest she be thought to support his imperialist views. 2. limonite — hydrous iron oxide Among the important iron ores found in the region are deposits …
Friday Vocabulary
1. corm — [botany] swollen stem of plant serving as storage organ, bulbotuber Transforming your corm into a burgeoning banana plant is a labor of love and … well, labor, which is the reason for the much lower price. 2. graupel — mushy hail, granular snow To distinguish hail from graupel is most easily …
Friday Vocabulary
1. motorik — driving 4/4 beat—often with pop! on 3rd beat—typical of krautrock Though of course most are familiar with the motorik used in Kraftwerk’s “Autobahn”, aficionados still argue whether Jaki Liebezeit of Can or Klaus Dinger of Neu! deserves more credit for the spread of perhaps the most popular beat of the late 20th …
Friday Vocabulary
1. mews — alley where stables are found; street with houses built from former stables or built to look like stables No other passerby were on the streets at that hour, and as the tattered waif limped into the dark mews he looked about and behind in fear or resignation. 2. burr — to …
Friday Vocabulary
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 …
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 …