1. enfeoff — to give a fiefdom Due to the political realities, King Jane had enfeoffed the duke with his old holdings under the previous dynasty, but the new king did not—of course—entirely trust his vassal. 2. chuffed — [British informal] delighted “And on top of that, I finally found my reading glasses, so …
Category Archives: Vocabulary
Friday Vocabulary
1. assiduous — persistently diligent, constant I should have been more specific in my request, for Hervey’s assiduous nature interpreted my vague instructions as an order to read the entirety of the New York Herald-Tribune‘s sports pages from 1923 through 1950. 2. aroint — [archaic] begone, get hence Aroint thee, ye vile knave, or …
Friday Vocabulary
1. oolite — spherical sedimentary rock formed in concentric layers The walls of the keep have fallen almost in ruins, and are made from oolite from the Northland deposits some twenty miles away. 2. stumer — [British slang] fraud; bad check; failure After Wally’s remarks before, I expected that Russell’s check would turn out …
Friday Vocabulary
1. forsooth — [archaic] indeed, in fact I am sore weary, forsooth, but what failing strength I yet have I pledge to thee and thy cause. 2. peduncle — [botany] flower stalk A straight peduncle which goes along the entire inflorescence from base to tip is called the axis of inflorescence. 3. taffrail …
Friday Vocabulary
1. purse-seine — fishing net (usu. deployed by two boats) in shape of an enormous bag closed at the bottom by a line (the purse-line) The first recorded purse-seine was used in 1826 to catch a staggering school of menhaden which was almost too huge for the fishermen to handle. 2. dunch — [golf] …
Friday Vocabulary
1. welting (also simply welt) — ridge, wale; strengthening seam with one edge of leather folded over the other After hours of searching and the almost total destruction of Mr. Savoyed’s luggage, we found the microfilm on an impossibly narrow strip of rigid plastic concealed in the welting of the supposed banker’s briefcase. 2. …
Friday Vocabulary
1. haggard — appearing worn, exhausted, gaunt, esp. as result of privation or anxiety; wild-looking Even in the better light of the foyer, I could hardly believe that the haggard and desperate wretch before me was my former lab partner from school, the ruddy-cheeked fair-haired boy who scoffed at peril and laughed at adversity. …
Friday Vocabulary
1. fjeld — elevated plateau barren of all except rocks To cross the fjeld is only a matter of traversing the hundred miles of wasteland to attain the sources of the Bergen Fjord, but the mere distance rather understates the difficulty of the journey, with only mute rocks for company, and the dreadful sameness of …
Friday Vocabulary
1. adither — flustered, in a state of confusion But I was all adither and deleted both the old and the new files, leaving my site a shambles. 2. cloistral — of or related to a cloister Lurking beneath the cloistral arch was the truant gamekeeper, his downcast eyes refusing to meet our own. …
Friday Vocabulary
1. bucranium — [architecture] sculpted ox skull used as decoration Though we can trace the bucrania found at Monticello and the University of Virginia to a frieze depicted in Les Édifices Antiques de Rome by Desgodetz, the decorative use of such skulls and horns has been dated back at least as far as the neolithic …