1. arctics — waterproof overshoes appropriate for cold weather
In my arctics and fur-lined gloves I thought myself ready for our little excursion, but I had not reckoned with the piercing frozen winds of that benighted valley.
2. orphrey — embroidered ornamental band or border on medieval vestments
Among the heraldic devices embroidered upon the orphrey of the Cope of Alnuf is a rare joke, an insult to the St. Neval family which had built the priory, for a bend sinister has been sewn across the St. Neval arms, implying that the baron was in fact illegitimate.
3. proem — preface, preamble, introduction
Gradually it dawned upon us that the assemblyman’s lengthy remarks had been only a proem to what promised to be an even longer, and likely even less interesting, discourse.
4. ceil — to finish or line a surface, esp. a ceiling
When I questioned my host for the evening, he assured me that he had been meaning to ceil the guest room for some time now, had had every intention of doing so, but for lack of time (which I took to mean lack of effort), he’d been unable, and he added that he hoped that I would not be too terribly cold that evening, but that at least he didn’t think it was going to rain.
5. perdurable — everlasting, imperishable
The warm booths of Saul’s Diner have seemed always a perdurable oasis of stability amid the desert of the here today, gone tomorrow restaurants along Alvyn Street, but business realities have finally caught up with the longtime favorite of locals and tourists alike.
6. ferrety — of or like a ferret
He was a cool customer, and his ferrety eyes made only the slightest flicker towards the desktop where the marble bust still lay broken in three uneven pieces.
7. neap tide — tide between new and full moon (or vice versa), when high and low tides differ by the least
Our shellfish hunt was prolonged owing to the neap tide, which allowed us to stay out on the rocks hours longer than would have usually been the case.
8. phthisis — wasting away; pulmonary tuberculosis, consumption
I’d tried to steel myself before entering his bedchamber, having been warned of what the doctors now confirmed as advanced phthisis, but I confess I gave a start when I saw the shriveled-up husk of my former friend lying upon the bedclothes in the darkened room.
9. ravelin — triangular outworks before main fortification, often providing additional protection to a gate or other strategic point
As I understand it, the lieutenant had planned to seize the ravelin before the postern curtain under cover of the nightly fog, but he and his small troop themselves got hopelessly lost in the clammy mist, and were captured just as they were about to attempt a daring raid upon the enlisted men’s privy.
10. gules — [heraldry] the tincture red
The pointy white spears were doubtless given some fancy name in the family coat of arms such as “gules, three piles argent”.