1. scurf — scales of epidermis that are continually peeling off the skin; any scaly incrustation upon a body
The telephone pole on the street corner was pierced with hundreds of large staples at eye level, each metal clinch holding down a geologic scurf formed from the shreds of old announcements of lost dogs, roommates wanted, record release parties, items for sale, and happy hours of weeks gone by.
2. chancre — venereal ulcer, painless with a hard base
The residential row had several houses ripped down to the studs before the money ran out, the torn earth surrounding each looking like a chancre caused by unsafe redevelopment.
3. cheese-paring — parsimonious or stingy
She was cheese-paring in everything save her extravagant collection of sports bras.
4. secateurs — one-handed pruning shears
With a sigh he grabbed the secateurs and strode out to the front yard to deal once more with the recalcitrant bush.
5. smut — soot particle
The plastic cigarette filter had caught fire in the overfilled ashtray, and tiny smuts covered every surface of the heretofore off-white room.
6. whilom — former, at one time
The whilom lovers now maintained an uneasy truce: she not bringing up that wretched trip to Amsterdam, and he trying not to make that plaguey ‘ahem’ noise at the back of his throat.
7. uxorious — doting upon or excessively submissive to one’s wife
Jason was flabbergasted that his bosom pals credited him with an uxorious bent, solely because he let his wife watch The Voice while the game was on.
8. facia — dashboard, instrument panel in a car
The delightful facia of old roadsters, with its panoply of circular dials and gauges, has now been replaced by an oversize, out-of-place iPad.
9. aposiopesis — rhetorical device in which the speaker suddenly stops, as if unable or unwilling to continue
He would often break off his thought (such as it was) in midsentence, as if inviting those of his audience who had not nodded off to prompt him to continue, but his was not a true aposiopesis, as no force in nature — not even the most obvious disdain from his listeners — could compel him to be silent for more than two or three seconds at most.
10. scunner — object of loathing
The office supplies manager poked his head into the room, and we looked at the weak scunner with barely concealed distaste.