1. pyx — small container for holding the consecrated bread of the Eucharist; [rare] box
The tiny, decorative boxes so enamored of by modern collectors hearken back to the enameled pyxides of the famous Limoges workshops, regularly made there since the 13th Century.
2. teal — small dabbling duck from which the mallard evolved
Some now dispute that the green-winged teal is in fact a separate species from its more famous European cousin.
3. gaffer — chief electrician in film or TV production; oldster; [British] foreman
Mr. Darnby, the boss, were a fine sort, but his gaffer was the worst kind of petty tyrant.
4. hippopotamic — enormous, cumbersome
But on my third attempt to force my mother’s hippopotamic suitcase into the back seat, I finally admitted that there was simply no way that she and I and it were ever going to fit into my tiny 1967 Volkwagen Beetle.
5. vedette — mounted sentry patrolling beyond an army’s outposts
Even if we can evade the vedettes we still must pass somehow through the skirmish line before we could ever find your captured brother.
6. gloaming — twilight of the evening
The pretended philosophers practicing in the gloaming of the Roman Empire merely practiced sophistic casuistry in support of the latest Emperor.
7. toponymy — study of place names
Why over fifty American cities and counties are named for the naval hero of 1812 and of the Barbary Coast is an interesting question of toponymy.
8. sett — lair of a badger; distinctive pattern of a Scottish tartan
The hill is also home to a large group of badgers, whose sett was first noted over five hundred years ago.
9. moraine — mound of rocks and debris left by passage of a glacier
Crossing the granite scree of the moraine was made doubly difficult by the sudden summer storm.
10. murrain — cattle disease; [obsolete] plague
Though the old crone threatened to curse us with a murrain upon our cattle, we were not worried, having no livestock.
Bonus Vocabulary
(nautical)
glory hole — small shipboard storeroom
The midshipman had just returned from the glory hole with the captain’s spare spectacles when the cannonball hit him.