1. husbandman — farmer
Before the drought blasted the valley, Enoch had been a noble husbandman behind his team, but now he was just a desperate dirt farmer looking for a handout.
2. spillikins — jackstraws, pick-up sticks
Mighty fine we looked in our fancy powder blue uniforms with the gold braid, but we lay scattered like spillikins when the first chain shot tore through our ranks.
3. podgy — [British] pudgy
Thurston hulked over the wan damsel, his podgy hands peeking out from his coat sleeves like cow’s udders.
4. camlet — tough, waterproof cloth, usually of camel or goat hair
The fierce lightning flashed once more, and I could see that beneath his drab camlet cloak he held a bloody bayonet.
5. besom — broom
But I could see that the besom of doubt had swept over the crew, and that the men who this very morning had been passionate to discover the new land now thought only of saving their own skins.
6. basset — banking card game similar to faro
The young marquise had lost all his wealth playing at basset, save for some entailed properties in the Jura.
7. epigastrium — upper abdomen situated just above the stomach
Without warning this creature of the streets drove a brutal blow deep into my epigastrium, sending me to the rough wooden floor in an agony of pain.
8. chibouque (also chibouk) — very long-stemmed Turkish pipe for tobacco
The stranger in the corner sat silent all evening, drawing deeply from his chibouque (which was filled with a vile mixture), watching the rest of the chattering crowd, until a mustachioed hussar in a rain-soaked red cloak strode into the room.
9. phatic — of or related to language used primarily for social purposes, rather than the communication of ideas or information
Timeo seemed capable solely of phatic phrases, endlessly repeating “Is that right?” and similar tritenesses, and it was in vain that we sought to discover his position on the urgent question of refrigeration reform.
10. counterscarp — outer wall or slope of a protective ditch of a fortification
The blast had blown a huge trench through the counterscarp on the west side of the fort, and into this the Danes rushed with siege ladders.
* Written on Saturday, because I forgot while watching the game