1. tarlatan — thin, open-mesh muslin, used frequently for ballroom gowns
We could discern Jason’s sisters only with difficulty, hidden as they were within a cloud of tarlatan finery of pink and green.
2. scratty — (colloquial) unkempt, scruffy; scrawny
By this time, Peele was living in a scratty little SRO by the bus station, bathrooms down the hall, and I found him there, trying to wash the blood out of his socks in the corner sink, but the taps had springs and wouldn’t stay open so every time he went to scrub out the stains the trickle of rusty water shut off.
3. fellwalker — (British) person who walks over hills or high moors
If they caught him here they could just toss him over the cliffs onto the rocks below, and the police would assume he was just one more fellwalker who had gotten caught out too late and taken a wrong turn in the dark.
4. grig — unrestrainedly lively person; dwarf; cricket, grasshopper; small eel
For all I knew, the parson’s wife was merry as a grig in her own kitchen, but her presence had a deadening effect at my own tea party.
5. bamboula — drum made from a rum barrel; dance using such a drum
Even today the old bamboula rhythm can be heard behind much of the most vibrant New Orleans music.
6. sericulture — production of silk through farming of silkworms
Emperor Justinian was the first European potentate to have the secret of sericulture within his grasp, according to apocryphal stories of missionary monks from the Eastern Roman Empire who (it is said) managed to smuggle silkworm eggs out from China within hollow canes especially constructed for the purpose.
7. ectopic — out of place, anomalously situated
Next to the entrance to the restrooms, right atop the bar, sat the ectopic toddler.
8. amanuensis — one who writes from dictation, copyist, secretary
“I apologize for using an amanuensis,” the letter concluded, “but my writing hand is still swollen and useless due to the affray I told you about in the previous paragraph.”
9. nerk — (British) fool, dolt
So there he was, the poor nerk, opening the door for the tax man while on the phone with his bookie, with no money for either.
10. Kletterschuh — light boot with cloth or felt sole made especially for climbing
This weekend was all about hiking not hunting, so he left his Gamsbart behind, but made sure to pack his Kletterschuhe.
Bonus Vocabulary
(Latin)
mutatis mutandis — with the necessary changes
Yet all knew that if we attempted to put forth the argument he had used when the opposition party held sway, mutatis mutandis, he would blithely maintain that the situation was entirely different now, though the only difference to us seemed to be that now his party was in the catbird seat.