1. modiste — fashionable milliner or dressmaker
Lady Sieveport’s headwear, a très au courant doll hat with feathers reminiscent of a crashing wave, gave proof of the modiste‘s expertise as a saleswoman, even if the hat itself seemed a feeble example of the milliner’s art.
2. enthymeme — logical argument with one premise or conclusion not explicitly stated, imperfect syllogism
His contention seemed to be—since it was an enthymeme we can only guess—that since religious education had proven so successful for the Catholic Church and especially for the Jesuit program, a similar indoctrination at an early age could effectively reduce criminality by teaching or rather preaching a message of niceness and brotherly love.
3. fatuous — silly, foolish; inane
Either you stop right now and explain the reasons behind your fatuous campaign to warn the neighborhood of the dangers of branded bottle openers or I shall leave these offices, taking my funding with me.
4. tilth — tillage; cultivated land
Looking upon these fine acres of crops today, you could not dream of the labor and pains taken to wrest this tilth from the rock- and weed-strewn badlands that my grandfather found when first he came to this valley.
5. convolute — to make difficult to follow, to complexify; to wind upon itself
Sickerts so convoluted his report that when he finished we weren’t certain whether he had purchased the milk or not.
6. mill lade (also mill-lade) — [Scots] mill race, mill leat
A stained cambric shirt was found three days later in the reeds across the stream from the mill lade down by Pinock’s farm.
7. tipstaff — sheriff’s officer, bailiff, court usher; ceremonial staff with metal tip
Though the tipstaff gave us some very hard looks, the judge seemed to find our involuntary interruption of the proceedings somewhat amusing.
8. kempt — neat, well maintained; combed
Like the rest of his attire, his hair and beard are almost compulsively kempt.
9. tigurine — Zwinglian, of or related to Zurich
The passage was not found in the tigurine translation of Luke, where the Calvinist scholars leaned towards a more material interpretation.
10. stirabout — [British] porridge
The food of their humble home was very luxurious, with both currants and cream for the stirabout.
Bonus Vocabulary
(Italian, lit. ‘noble floor’)
piano nobile — main (usu. first) floor of large house
We waited in the reception room of the piano nobile, surrounded by dark tapestries and even darker paintings of indecipherable Biblical scenes, sitting upon uncomfortable chairs of some ancient and darkly stained wood.