1. telex — teletypewriter service using public communication channels to deliver two-way text transmission between subscribers
Though the public telex offices were jammed with expatriates attempting to send the startling news to interested parties back home, the government ensured that none of those messages made it to their intended recipients, censoring all mention of the strange and ludicrous end of the prince and his hunting party.
2. assart — to root up trees and bushes from land for cultivation
Sir Rilchiam was granted use of the wood by the church, with the provision that should the land be assarted, a tithe of its produce would be given to the church each year.
3. canaille — vulgar populace, rabble
On the other side of the parked busses the streets became more and more packed with the canaille of the city and others imported for the protests, accompanied by the usual gaggle of reporters and presumed bloggers and mere excitement tourists, all hurtling themselves forward toward the thick line of olive drab and black clad police of a dozen or more agencies, resplendent in their flak jackets, helmets, and face shields.
4. pentice — shed with sloping roof, such a roof projecting from side of a building, penthouse
The side door was protected from the rain by a ramshackle pentice of pine and scrap lumber.
5. urticant — producing stinging or itching sensations
Even a purely psychological approach, such as talk of small insects (especially when accompanied by scratching motions), can produce an urticant effect.
6. estoppel — judicial limitation on a party from making a claim or statement at odds with a previous position
Though in law a man may be forbidden by the principle of estoppel from asserting as fact something directly contradictory to his previous claim, apparently in politics this principle does not apply.
7. squinch — scuncheon; structure placed across corner of interior walls to hold up some superstructure
“Be careful as you make your measurements of the inner tower walls; I’ve heard tell of a Lord killed by a falling squinch.”
8. circumflittergate — to move around and around quickly in a purposeless and random manner
Harold was completely overmatched by his charges in his role as substitute Sunday school teacher, and the parents found him haplessly plopped down on the floor while the five-year-old boys and girls circumflittergated about him with construction paper and white glue and glitter and crayons and all the other impedimenta of the classroom.
9. cretonne — heavy printed cloth often used in upholstery
Perhaps once the wicker chairs with their cretonne covers had evoked elegance and relaxation, but not the mildewed and rotting seats only underlined the sad decay of the entire house.
10. jink — to move jerkily; to elude
The wise pilot keeps his eyes on the enemy’s rudder, knowing that any lack of attention will allow his target to jink away from the pursuit, and even to become the pursuer.