1. hawser — large rope or small cable for warping, towing, or mooring
With muffled paddles the trio made their way beneath the six inch hawser to the stern of the English merchantman, grimly set upon their treacherous work.
2. pepperpot (also pepper-pot) — pepperbox; something or someone figuratively like a pepperpot
But Brawley was quite the pepperpot both on and off the field, and too often had to be restrained by his teammates from igniting a serious brawl for the least (or even an imagined) insult.
3. jupon — short, sleeveless tunic worn over armor
His shield and crest had been lost in the battle, and his once fine features were now destroyed forever, but when we turned the body over we knew him by the boar’s head embroidered upon his jupon and we bewailed that Lord Cannell was dead.
4. fazenda — [Portuguese] estate or large farm
We enjoyed a few days comfort at the fazenda while supplies were obtained for our journey up river.
5. flump — to fall or move heavily with a thump
Roscoe was so exhausted that he just flumped down on the path as soon as the rest period was announced, without even bothering to seek shade from the sun.
6. char — odd job, household chore
Now that the chars were done I could fill a pipe and sit upon the stoop, enjoying the setting sun and the peaceful scenery.
7. gleet — watery or purulent discharge, as from a wound
The bleeding had stopped, but I found gleet upon the bedclothes which gave me cause to worry.
8. isochrony — state of occurring at same time or occupying same length of time; theory of linguistic division of time into equal parts
Further evidence that the age of miracles had not quite ended was found in the perfect isochrony between the extended commercial break and his hurried trip to the bathroom.
9. nowhither — to no place; nowhere
For all this preparation, however, and with nineteen years of schooling, Jocelyn still managed to arrive nowhither, joining those who had come to that absence without any education at all.
10. shagreen — untanned leather with rough pebbled surface; sharkskin used as an abrasive
Jacob took out his traveling writing case and removed a shagreen ink pot which he set upon the table just above the foolscap.
Bonus Vocabulary
(Latin)
pons asinorum — ‘bridge of asses’, fifth proposition of Euclid’s first book; difficult point in learning a subject
He is quite expert in database queries, and can build an effective cursor in a trice, but object-oriented programming seems to be his personal pons asinorum and so you can see he is quite useless to me.