1. chiliad — group of 1,000; 1,000 year period Can Christianity survive its third chiliad? 2. Barmecidal — illusory, offering imaginary sustenance (fr. Arabian Nights story) When we received the news, we had no champagne and no way to get any (this was back when the Blue Laws were still in effect and you’ll …
Category Archives: Vocabulary
Friday Vocabulary
1. bindlestiff — hobo “What does that bindlestiff have on you, that you keep putting up with his nonsense, giving him money and clothes, and now a job?” 2. lineament — line, design; (often pl.) feature of a face or body; (pl.) distinctive features Barely restrained grief suffused the warrior’s lineaments as he gazed …
Friday Vocabulary
1. catoptric — of or related to a mirror, or to optical reflection He felt lost in this strange, emotional world, in which people’s motivations always eluded him, and wished he could create some catoptric device capable of splitting and reflecting the psychic waves around him, a psychological Michelson-Morley experiment to enable him to determine …
Friday Vocabulary
1. steatopygic — having a fat ass, of or related to the possession of very large buttocks due to the accumulation of fat there and in the thighs and hips (esp. in women) True, he had been easily distracted by her forward protuberances, but when she turned around and began twerking in all her steatopygic …
Friday Vocabulary
1. bodge — to patch poorly or clumsily As long as he remained in his chair nobody could see how he had bodged the rip in the seat of his pants, leaving a pleat along the center seam. 2. malefic — producing evil, baleful Being snubbed at the party had a malefic effect upon …
Friday Vocabulary
1. tagger (HT to Steve Skaar) — one who tags; device for tagging (sheep, merchandise, etc.); graffitist Most variants of the game have a ‘no tag-backs’ rule of some sort, so that the tagger can not immediately become the taggee. 2. dorter — dormitory, esp. in a monastery I had been so nervous the …
Friday Vocabulary
1. descant — to comment or enlarge upon ‘Twould be so very easy to descant upon poodles, those paragons of puppyhood, most distinguished of dogs, those curly-haired canines at the peak of the pack. 2. oriflamme — banner of St. Denis, red with two or three points; ensign or standard serving as a rallying …
Friday Vocabulary
1. pouter — domestic pigeon, noted for puffing out its crop In contrast to Jack, whose beer belly could be seen before the man himself, Bert had an almost inverse shape, with a narrow waist and overlarge barrel chest, puffed up like a pouter in full distention. 2. fons et origo — source and …
Friday Vocabulary
1. procrustean — producing conformity or uniformity through severe means without regard to natural variation The sentencing guidelines have created a procrustean nightmare which prevents state judges from exercising discretion in even the most egregious cases. 2. winklepickers — shoes with long pointed toe The Leningrad Cowboys are known for their winklepickers and overlong …
Friday Vocabulary
1. flapdoodle — nonsense Certainly the collapse of that Colorado savings and loan during the ’80s had plenty of suspicious circumstances, but Bill was always peddling some flapdoodle about satanism and child abuse being involved so we just learned to tune him out. 2. lusus naturae — freak, sport of nature, deformed creature Palmer’s …