1. catoptric — of or related to a mirror, or to optical reflection
He felt lost in this strange, emotional world, in which people’s motivations always eluded him, and wished he could create some catoptric device capable of splitting and reflecting the psychic waves around him, a psychological Michelson-Morley experiment to enable him to determine just which way the social aether around him flowed.
2. water-cart — vehicle consisting of a barrel or tank on wheels, used primarily to water streets, though sometimes used to provide water for consumption
After his third failure at a desk job, the boss gave Hector the duty of manning the water-cart patrolling the south side, near the stockyards.
3. buccal — of or related to the cheek
Once bitten, he couldn’t seem to stop reinjuring his cheek whenever he ate, and of course he couldn’t slap a bandage into his buccal cavity.
4. acroter — pedestal at apex or bases of pediment, upon which statue or ornament (an acroterium or acroterion) is placed
The statues themselves had long been lost, making the stubby acroteria on either side of the squat temple resemble Hellboy’s cut-off devil’s horns.
5. argal — therefore (used facetiously to suggest clumsy reasoning)
You say you read very little, argal, this dictionary will be quite a valuable book for you, as it shall retain its pristine pages and thus its resale value.
6. phaeton — light four-wheeled carriage with forward-facing seats
To one side of the mounts of the principals and their seconds stood the doctor’s phaeton which had been brought in the possibly forlorn hope that the loser of the duel might be brought back to health if he could be carried away quickly to the medico’s surgery.
7. annelid — worm
Now you shall see how the annelid turns about!
8. scathe — to injure, to damage; to destroy by fire or lightning, etc.; to shrivel or waste with invective
You can still make out where the old cabin stood, before it was scathed by the roiling flames of the meth lab explosion.
9. joss — Chinese cult image or idol
Although the term became associated with both the incense used in worship and the house where the idols of the deities were maintained, the term ‘joss‘ itself is not of Chinese, but of Portuguese origin, being a corruption of the word ‘Deus’.
10. rufous — brownish red, ferruginous
Pete had the worst case of trucker’s tan I ever hope to see, his left arm a hairy rufous mass while his right, though just as massive, seemed a pallid thread-covered log in comparison.