1. ale-bush — tavern sign
Lost and friendless in the fog’s smother, how pleasant it was to come upon the hanging ale-bush above a dark wooden door.
2. surcingle — girth for horse or other animal that passes around belly and over pack, blanket, etc. to keep it in place
What I first had taken for a large tentroll I now saw was a human body beneath a blanket held by a surcingle to the donkey’s back.
3. isonomy — equality of persons before the law
No matter if professions of isonomy are mere lip service, the custom must still be followed.
4. prosody — the study of poetic meter and versification
A poulter’s measure is now only of interest to students of prosody as no one uses the meter anymore, and no one even writes poetry.
5. apophasis — rhetorical figure in which speaker brings up the very subject he or she pretends to deny
“I’m not going to mention the rumors that he likes to rub midgets,” she said in a fine apophasis, “because you can’t believe everything you hear, and I suppose what a man likes to rub is his own business.”
6. supernal — of heaven; belonging to higher plane of existence
I thought once that those “Not Of This World” stickers on cars indicated the driver’s supernal inclinations, so you can imagine my disappointment when I discovered they were merely promoting a clothing line.
7. percutaneous — through the skin
Recently a sound engineer suffered an accidental percutaneous dosing while cleaning a LSD-encrusted synthesizer made during the heyday of the psychedelic era.
8. catachresis — improper use of words
At one time, spoonerisms and malapropisms were clever rhetorical figures in their own right, but now catachresis is merely another symptom of our meaningless universe.
9. shrive — to impose penance upon; to hear confession of; to make confession
Fighting alongside a priest means he can shrive me before each battle, which is almost as good as extreme unction.
10. boot — to improve; to profit, to avail
It boots thee well to study the word of God daily.