1. heliograph — signaling device using mirrors to reflect flashes of sunlight; instrument for taking pictures of the sun
The gang hid out in this canyon fastness after each robbery, secure from the sheriff’s searchers, until Old Kentuck would signal them by heliograph that the coast was clear.
2. rootle — to dig with the snout
“It’s hopeless,” she cried. “Every time I get that dog groomed, he immediately runs out and rootles into the herb garden, undoing all my efforts.”
3. moribund — near death, dying; stagnant
As he waited in line at Starbucks with the team’s detailed order clenched tightly in his aching hand, Grant tried very hard not to ponder his moribund career and that fateful day at the pizza palace.
4. thimblerig — rigged game in which the mark is asked to guess under which cup the operator has hidden the pea, shell game
Once again the Democrats were invited to play thimblerig in their search for Republican votes supporting the bill.
5. lag — to send to prison; to capture, to apprehend
“Look, I want to lag this bastard as much as you do, but rushing about like querulous geese isn’t the way to do it.”
6. doctress — female doctor, female healer
The widow Mapes was known as a canny doctress, though whether her healing powers came from her potent potions or her persuasive tongue was a subject of some debate.
7. pile — sharp metal head of an arrow, dart, or lance; pointed stake driven into ground; [heraldry] wedge-shape charge upon escutcheon with point downwards
Inside the small outbuilding of charred bricks was a pile of brass piles, all that remained of the armory’s store of javelins.
8. inspan — [South Africa] to yoke (animals, esp. oxen) to a vehicle; to harness
He told Toby to inspan the cart before the Lieutenant had even finished his tea.
9. blackguard — to revile with scurrilous words
In spite of the fact that she had been blackguarded by every newspaper in London, I found the woman at the center of the case to be utterly charming and quite composed in the face of the scandalous charges.
10. lazaroidal — of or related to lepers
After the trial, we saw no more of Doctor Fasteau, though I heard a rumor that he had ensconced himself behind the walls of a lazaroidal enclave in South America.
Bonus Vocabulary
(Geordie slang)
radgie — aggressive or violent person
We were going to the club but some radgie was screaming in the street outside so we just headed back home.