1. resomation — disposal of dead bodies through alkaline hydrolysis, using lye and heat
Resomation is being touted as an ecologically friendly alternative to cremation, but in the United States the process is legal only in sixteen states.
2. shambles — slaughterhouse; scene of carnage
“It smells like a shambles,” said Joseph as we descended further into the fetid tunnel through the thickly rooted earth.
3. stridor — (pathology) harsh respiratory noise indicative of obstruction in breathing passages
My worse fears were realized when I heard the distinctive creaking stridor as Larry tried to talk, and I knew he had not swallowed the bug after all.
4. hough — hollow behind the knee joint (in man), joint in rear leg above fetlock (in horses, cows, etc.)
Don’t get in a huff
though you may receive a shock
when you feel blows rough
hitting on your hough.
5. sedevacantist — believer in idea that the Holy See has been vacant since death of Pope Pius XII, due to mainstream Catholic embrace of modernist ideas, epitomized by the Second Vatican Council
You can’t please everybody, and even the sedevacantists cannot agree on a replacement pope.
6. stolid — dull and impassive, unexcitable
Everyone thought him a boring and stolid fellow, though his few close friends knew this was only true as long as one avoided the subject of endangered weasels.
7. dysphagia — difficulty of swallowing
The time traveler from the 1950s suffered from political dysphagia and so was unable to endure any news programs on television.
8. vatic — prophetical
Many still give credence to the vatic quatrains of Nostradamus.
9. costard — large apple
Modern tastes tend towards apples smaller than the old English costard, which was so large it became slang for the head.
10. whither — to where? to what place?; to what end?
Teleology is the study of whither we go, though we moderns tend to ask ‘whether’ instead.