1. descant — to comment or enlarge upon
‘Twould be so very easy to descant upon poodles, those paragons of puppyhood, most distinguished of dogs, those curly-haired canines at the peak of the pack.
2. oriflamme — banner of St. Denis, red with two or three points; ensign or standard serving as a rallying point in a struggle; crappy advertising banner used at conventions, exhibits, etc.
While once soldiers in fraught fighting would rally to the oriflamme, or by its display know that no quarter would be given, today this formerly powerful symbol has been reduced to a flimsy nylon ad for the merciless corporate overlords, earning well its French name of drapeau publicitaire.
3. cavass (also kavass) — (Turkish) armed policeman; guide or courier
We had engaged our Turkish cavass in Istanbul, but found him quite ignorant of the mountains of Armenia where our search had led us, even his translation ability superseded by our own knowledge of the local tongue.
4. telomere — protective sequences of nucleotides found at the end of chromosomes
Besides the alarming reduction of bone density, the most significant effect of space travel upon human physiology is the lengthening of the body’s telomeres, possibly a positive effect since aging tends to shorten them, though further study (as usual) is needed.
5. spavined — afflicted with spavin, bony growth on lower hock joints of horses; lame, halt; decrepit
The venerable warrior held out his spavined leg, saying “You may doubt it—most do—but this very leg once kicked the pants off the Ameer of Kalchi because of the very shrub you mention.”
6. newel — central post around which a spiral staircase descends; post at head or foot of stair supporting railing
The spiral staircase was beautifully carved, organically descending from the attic without a newel, but I found myself worried about its stability as I climbed the aged wooden steps.
7. fungible — (economics) essentially interchangeable, said of products for which any exemplar may be replaced by another of the same good
His agreement was only to provide traffic for the new Web site, demonstrating the fungible nature of modern eyeballs.
8. porphyrogenite — born into the imperial family at Constantinople; born into royalty after accession of the king; born ‘in the purple’
Seated on either side of the table were his rat-faced porphyrogenite sons, smiling in that smug manner that left no doubt that each thought he would triumph over his sibling after the father’s passing.
9. bate — to reduce in intensity, to diminish; to blunt, to beat
The severe emotional shocks he had sustained, augmented by thirty-six sleepless hours of travail, had bated his usual enthusiasm and joie de vivre.
10. apothegm — terse maxim; sententious saying
His father was full of good advice and pithy sayings, hours of which he regaled me with during the rehearsal, giving me insight into his son which reminded me of another apothegm of computer programmers: garbage in, garbage out.
Bonus Vocabulary
(coined by Philip K. Dick)
kipple — useless detritus that seems to reproduce when nobody is present
In spite of his best efforts he was losing the battle with junk mail and old newspapers and such kipple; it was almost time to move to another apartment.