Friday Vocabulary

1. pantile — roofing tile, often clay, curved to an ogee shape — that is, having a cross-section shaped like an ‘S’ — which interlocks with similar tiles to create a distinctive wavy roof line

In Kirkcaldy whilst visiting Fife you can visit Sailor’s Walk, which is actually two 17th-century houses, both with the distinctive pantile roof often seen in this part of Scotland.

  2. persiflage — light banter; frivolous way of treating any subject

Though he may appeal to the younger set with his knowing talk of the people’s will and equality for all, we can discern the knowing persiflage and even a hint of sarcasm beneath his supposedly earnest professions.

  3. lacustrine — of or relating to a lake or lakes

Buried beneath four centuries of lacustrine silt lay the remains of the sacrificed twins, their golden chains still bound round their necks.

  4. supercilium — colored stripe on bird’s head running from beak to just above the eye; (obsolete) eyebrow

His sole ability which defined him as an actor was his almost unique facility at raising one supercilium while at the same time depressing the other.

  5. turbid — opaque with suspended matter, muddy, cloudy

Beneath the turbid surface of the lake must be vicious gar and snapping turtles, I felt, ready to rend the flesh from my toes should I dip them even a few inches into the brown still water.

  6. whitlow — infection of the tip of the finger or toe, usually suppurating

Jackson doubted his fiancée’s diagnosis of a whitlow, recalling that he had removed a splinter from just that finger a few days ago.

  7. hoyden — tomboy, romp; boorish or ill-bred girl

Miss Alice was a terrible hoyden at ten years of age, always begging to go riding or playing in the fields, so it was quite a shock to see her at seventeen, demurely sitting at the pianoforte playing Hensel’s songs with virtuosity and near brilliance.

  8. roister — to act in a swaggering or blustering manner; to revel rudely or noisily

Oh, those were wonderful times for roistering from dusk until dawn, and often it was only the crow of the cock that ended our revels.

  9. accumber — (obsolete) to overwhelm, to crush, to burden

Oft he searched his worn Bible for some solace, but so accumbered was he by religious melancholy that the words of solace seemed proof of his unworthiness instead.

  10. beldame — old woman; hag, witch

“It’s listening to the superstitious nonsense of that crazy beldame by the sewer gate that’s got you worked up in such a state.”

Bonus Vocabulary

(fantasy gaming)

dweomer (also seen as dwimmer) — aura of magic (on an item, or from a spell), magic power or effect

Her golden lasso has a powerful dweomer which compels anyone constrained by it to speak only the truth.