1. monopsonistic — of or related to a situation or market where only one buyer exists for given goods or services
Before 1976, baseball players found their salaries kept down by the monopsonistic logic of the MLB.
2. endogamy — marriage within only a given tribe or social group
Eventually this denaturing endogamy among the crowned heads of Europe would lead to the tragedy of Rasputin and Tsarevich Alexei, and indeed hemophilia became known as ‘the royal disease’.
3. pandit — learned or wise man in India; term of respectful address
Of course the initial fault was not that of the tardy milkmaid, but that of the impatient pandit, who then magnified his mistake by using his very learning to upbraid the poor servant girl for things beyond her control.
4. quincunx — arrangement of five objects with four at corners of a square and the fifth in the center
A thousand years later you can just make out the depressions in the sands where the Carthaginian quincunxes of fruit trees once stood on the North African coast before they and all of Carthage was razed to the ground to stand again nevermore.
5. scolopendrid — large centipede
The most frightening scolopendrid (besides the poisonous Australian monster just mentioned) may be the nearly foot-long Peruvian giant-leg centipede, which researchers in Venezuela claim to have seen devouring entire fruit bats.
6. butty — co-worker or work friend, esp. in colliery
But no I’ll not say a word against any butty of mine, but we’re speaking about the owner of the whole works.
(the below entry was discovered to be a duplicate of a word previously used in 2020)
synoptic — having the nature of a synopsis; of the first three gospels
Before we delve into the specific events of that shocking day, it may be best to take a synoptic view of the decade of tragic missteps, failed compromises, and ultimately useless negotiations which preceded the final disaster.
7. barcarolle (also barcarole) — gondolier’s song
The demands of the bride were seconded by the grim Russian count, so Henri improvised a barcarolle on the spot, which pleased the beaming young girl in white chiffon.
8. perruquier — wigmaker
Thanks to the tireless efforts of my perruquier, however, none of the partygoers suspected a thing.
9. maugre — [archaic] notwithstanding, in spite of, despite
Maugre the frightful weather, the bad omens, and even the broken bridge, Ernest drove himself forward, ever forward, towards his rendezvous with his lady love.
10. cerecloth — waterproof cloth impregnated with wax, used to wrap corpses or parcels
One of the more gruesome tasks of the monks of St. Balnan’s was the annual unwrapping and replacement of the cerecloth around the blessed martyr.
Bonus Vocabulary
(drugs)
chandu — strongest preparation of opium for smoking
With a flick of his wrist he pulled the black tarry pill of chandu from the spatula and placed it within the pipe of my poor benighted cousin.