1. allotropic — existing (of an element) in multiple physical forms
Carbon is rightfully known for both the multitude and the variety of its allotropic forms, which include diamonds, graphite, charcoal, glassy carbon, and even such modern derivations as buckyballs and nanotubes.
2. exiguous — scanty, meager
The physician’s actual treatment was so exiguous that it nearly qualified as homeopathy, though his fees seemed inversely proportional.
3. educe — to bring out, to elicit; to infer
He was a canny prosecutor, and rarely failed to educe just the answer he was looking for from his witnesses.
4. panga — large machete-like knife used in East and South Africa
We now turn to the days of the so-called ‘Kenya Emergency’, when fear of the Mau Mau pangas ruled the night.
5. tutelary — of or related to a guardian or guardianship
Under the care of his supposedly tutelary older brother, Ashton was allowed to do almost as he pleased.
6. trainband — civilian militia company of London and other areas, during Stuart rule and after
Jack had missed them while he was abroad, his stolid compatriots forming their trainbands or meeting in the coffee houses, working in the fields and shops, or sitting in the pews of a Sunday.
7. lambrequin — woven covering for a knight’s helmet; decorative drapery placed over door or window
Like much of medieval panoply, the lambrequin degraded from its initial functional purpose—protection of the helmet from rust and heat, in this case—to an almost merely decorative accoutrement, coming to resemble nothing so much as a gaily colored quoit worn over the head like the imagined crown of a silly child.
8. cinereous — of or related to ashes; ash-colored
An ill-advised attempt at a jig led to an inebrious stumble against the mantle which propelled the urn containing dear Uncle Roberts to the marble floor, and there among the cinereous rubble lay the ornate missing key.
9. coruscate — to scintillate, to sparkle
Though there were times when his conversation would coruscate with flashes of wit, for the most part his speech was of a leaden dullness which left his listeners in a tiresome gloom.
10. fauces — arched cavity at back of mouth leading to the pharynx
If you don’t have burned toast or such suitable material, simply tickling the fauces with a finger or a feather will often elicit the desired emetic response.
Bonus Vocabulary
(old U.S. military slang)
canned willie — corned beef in a can, corned beef hash
“I know what I’ll do when I first get home,” he mused, “I’m going straight to the most expensive restaurant in Omaha and ordering the biggest steak they’ve got—very rare—with baked potato and mushrooms … and I’ll never eat canned willie again for the rest of my life.”