Friday Vocabulary

1. bariatric — of or related to treatment of obesity and associated conditions

He was too tall to use the ordinary walker whilst recovering from surgery, so they gave him a bariatric rollator instead, as that device could be adjusted to suit his great height.

 

2. carceralism — philosophy of or belief in prisons and imprisonment as a public safety institution

While some point to carceralism as the major culprit behind a perceived failure of modern policing, others find this a fictive target, a straw man argument for so-called ‘progressives’ to attack as a means of further eroding the stability of the social order.

 

3. nekyia (also nekya) — necromantic rite in Ancient Greece

Questions about a supposed afterlife, and the possibility of some existence after death are found in the earliest human literature, as demonstrated by the nekyia of Odysseus in the great Homeric epic.

 

4. Heptasophs — defunct fraternal organization active in latter half of 19th Century, primarily in southern United States

The Order of Heptasophs was believed to have been inspired by the so-called Mystical Seven, one of the first American college fraternal societies.

 

5. emerods — [archaic] hemorrhoids

Though its loss was grievous to the tribes of Israel, the capture of the Ark of the Covenant was not an unqualified victory for the Philistines, who suffered from a “plague of emerods” that afflicted the “secret parts” of the captors.

 

6. cataplasm — [obsolete] poultice; plaster

When her agonies continued I placed a cataplasm of bark and laudanum on her belly and prayed for the best.

 

7. pediculous — infested with lice, lousy

We stopped at an unfriendly inn, finding only cold gruel for sustenance and pediculous pallets upon the even colder floor.

 

8. holland — opaque linen cloth

The small garret was suffused in murky light, the bright sunlight beyond the gable window blocked by an unfinished holland drapery.

 

9. vavasor — feudal vassal ranking just below baron

Like many another vavasor, Prentys was prickly and proud, easily offended if he felt in the least his rights were being slighted.

 

10. fasciculate — arranged in bunches or bundles

The tree is notable for the fasciculate leaves which tend to grow only at the extremities of its branches.

 

Bonus Vocabulary

(Australian idiom)

stone the crows — expression of annoyance or surprise

“Well, stone the crows!” fumed Bertie. “We won’t be on their trail after all. The bandits drained all our petrol.”

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