1. bdellium — fragrant gum resin; the plant producing this resin
We are told that manna was the color of bdellium, which can be found in several shades similar to those of amber, though in plant form it is a greenish white berry.
2. pteruge — protective strip of leather or stiffened linen, used as skirt or flexible addition to armor in ancient Greek or Roman armies
But the tiny dart, coated in a poisonous ichor, stuck fast to a stray pteruge dangling from my decorative epaulet, and so I was saved—for the moment, at least.
3. oblation — office or sacrament of the Eucharist; religious or charitable offering
The malt liquor poured out onto the 7-11 parking lot, a foaming oblation to a not-so-blithe spirit who though gone was hardly forgotten.
4. pukka — proper, genuine
We simply must get the electrician to replace these extension cords and cables with pukka wiring, or one day all the lights are going to blow.
5. virulent — extremely noxious; intensely poisonous; very bitter, highly acrimonious
If Mr. Deavers thinks that I am going to merely suffer silently while bombarded by these increasingly virulent verbal and written assaults he is very much mistaken.
6. ichneumon — Egyptian mongoose; parasitic wasp or other insect which lays its eggs in the larvae or pupae of other insects
In ancient Egypt the ichneumon was revered because of its penchant for devouring the eggs of crocodiles.
7. hylozoism — theory that all matter has life, that life is merely a property of matter
But the proponents of the Rife microscope tend to veer off into a radical hylozoism, discovering in optical artifacts veridical clues to unsuspected lifeforms only visible to their specially trained eyes.
8. pernicity — rapidity, celerity
Jubal then assembled the portable altar with a pernicity that would have been amazing in a much younger man, and which was simply staggering in a man of his threescore and ten years.
9. phallophoric — bearing or displaying a phallus
Whether the phallophoric processions of the Dionysian cult of this era was part of a dedication to generative principles or merely a badge of libertinage and excess, is a question much debated by historians and philologists.
10. coble — flat-bottomed fishing boat with lugsail used in salmon fishing in Scotland and North England
We placed the leather satchel in the aft of our coble and returned to the mossy rocks to see if any further evidence could be found.
Bonus Vocabulary
(military)
cheval-de-frise — portable obstacle of wood or iron shaped like a larger toy ‘jack’, used to stop cavalry charges or otherwise impede military movements; spikes or glass embedded into the top of a wall
On our inspection tour we found where the intruder had entered the grounds, noting the damaged and missing chevaux-de-frise along the top of the wall, though at the time we could not tell whether this was the result of the burglar’s actions or a consequence of some earlier event.