| tumbaga | n. | gold and copper alloy used in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica | ||
| tumbrel | n. | two-wheeled wooden cart, esp. that used to convey persons to the guillotine during the French Revolution | ||
| tumid | adj. | swollen; bombastic | ||
| tummler | n. | gregarious activity director and emcee at Catskill Mountain resorts | ||
| turbary | n. | land where peat or turf may be cut for fuel; legal right to cut turf or peat on such land | ||
| turbid | adj. | opaque with suspended matter, muddy, cloudy | ||
| turf | v. | to forcibly remove, to kick out (also turf out) | British | |
| turgid | adj. | pompous, overblown | ||
| turgor | n. | swollenness; distention of plant cells | ||
| turpitude | n. | vileness, inherent wickedness | ||
| turps | n. | alcoholic drink; turpentine | slang | |
| tussar | n. | deep gold silk | ||
| tussock | n. | tuft, clump, or bunch of grass or sedge | ||
| tutelary | adj. | of or related to a guardian or guardianship | ||
| tweeny | n. | auxiliary maidservant, assisting both the cook and housemaid | ||
| twit | v. | to censure, to tease | ||
| twoc | v. | to steal, esp. a car (from the phrase ‘taking without owner’s consent’) | British | |
| tylectomy | n. | removal of tumor or cyst by surgery, esp. from the breast; lumpectomy | ||
| Tyler | n. | guard stationed outside meeting of Masons to prevent uninitiated persons from entering | ||
| tympanic | adj. | related to the eardrum; of or resembling a drum | ||
| tympany | n. | swelling of the bowels caused by a build up of gas in the intestines | ||
| tyne | v. | (also tine) to close or shut | ||
| typewriter | n. | submachine gun (esp. a Thompson submachine gun) | slang | |
| uffish | adj. | “a state of mind when the voice is gruffish, the manner roughish, and the temper huffish” [Lewis Carroll] | ||
| ugglesome | adj. | gruesome, horrible | ||
| ultracrepidarian | adj. | opinionated about things outside one’s expertise | ||
| ululate | v. | to howl or wail, esp. by alternating loud high-pitched sounds | ||
| umbel | n. | inflorescence of short flower stalks radiating from a common center | botany | |
| umbelliferous | adj. | belonging to the parsley family; having umbels | ||
| umbra | n. | shadow; fully dark shadow cast by object intervening between the surface and the light source; dark center of sunspot | ||
| umbrage | n. | offense, annoyance; slightest feeling, as of suspicion or dislike; shade or shadow | ||
| umbrageous | adj. | shady, providing shade | ||
| unchancy | adj. | unlucky; dangerous | Scots | |
| unctuous | adj. | excessively polite or flattering, smarmy; oily, greasy | ||
| undercroft | n. | underground chamber or vault, crypt | ||
| understrapper | n. | underling, junior official | informal | |
| underwood | n. | small trees or shrubs grown beneath timber | ||
| undine | n. | water nymph or spirit | ||
| undulate | v. | to move in a wavelike manner; to look like a wave | ||
| unhouseled | adj. | in the condition of not having received the Eucharist | obsolete | |
| Uniate | n. | member of one of the Christian churches in eastern Europe or the Middle East which acknowledges papal supremacy but retains its own liturgy | ||
| union | n. | enormous pearl | archaic | |
| university | n. | totality, entirety; the universe | obsolete | |
| univocal | adj. | having only a single meaning, unambiguous | ||
| unlax | v. | to relax | slang | |
| unsavory | adj. | without taste, insipid; distasteful; morally or socially disagreeable | ||
| unweeting | adj. | unwitting | obsolete | |
| unwonted | adj. | unusual, not customary; unaccustomed | ||
| upas-tree | n. | Javanese tree of myth so toxic that it killed all surrounding life at a large distance; tree of Java producing poisonous milky sap, used to empoison arrows | ||
| urinator | n. | diver | obsolete |
