1. crocket — hook-shaped medieval ornament suggesting a leaf
The wind-flung veil had caught on one of the crockets that lined the steeple of the small village church, which some took as an ill omen for Susan’s decision to leave the convent.
2. egest — to expel from within the body
His plan had been to egest the small latex pouches of white powder after he had crossed the border, but one of the bags broke, and he died.
3. salpingectomy — removal of the Fallopian tube
In 1927, the Buck v. Bell decision of the Supreme Court led to forced vasectomies and salpingectomies for tens of thousands of men and women deemed ‘feebleminded’.
4. methyphobia — fear of alcohol or of drinking or drinkers of alcohol
Perhaps the disaster of his stepfather triggered an abiding methyphobia, but Gerald was so uncomfortable around liquor that he could not even dine in a restaurant where alcohol was served, severely limiting his choices on date night.
5. furfur — dandruff, scurf
The solemn effect of his sedate black tunic was somewhat undercut by the mass of bran-colored furfures which lay in scaly piles upon his shoulders.
6. plenilune — time of the full moon; the full moon
The silver and sable landscape beneath the plenilune seemed less witching than wild and romantic to Devon as he strode down the path with a hopeful heart.
7. nares — the nostrils
Jackson’s face was dominated entirely by his nose, the nares of which seemed like two huge black pits sunk in the middle of his visage like the snout of a boar.
8. grisaille — painting in gray monochrome, often to represent sculpture
Her frozen repose in the darkened room seemed a grisaille of grief lightened only by a single orange chrysanthemum which lay atop the piano near the curtained window.
9. certes — certainly, in truth, assuredly
Your love has conquered most, if not all, of the obstacles between you and the fair Melissa, and certes you will not shrink now from this final test.
10. miosis — excessive contraction of the pupil
I grabbed Honus by the shoulders and forced him to look at me, and his clammy pallor and miosis told me that he was back on the junk again.
Bonus Vocabulary
(Latin)
nil admirari — “to wonder at nothing”
He affected the nil admirari attitude of bohemians the world over, that hipper-than-thou insouciance that demonstrated that he had seen it all, even as he sought new wonders and revelatory experiences in this mundane plane of existence.