1. fescue — pointer of straw, wire, etc.
Chillingsworth now placed the tip of his birch fescue on the map projected upon the wall by the clever device he’d carried in his vest pocket.
2. oho — exclamation of surprise, elation, recognition
“Oho!” exclaimed Percy brightly. “Looks like the hand is afoot now!” as he played his initial card.
3. rhonchus — wheezing or rattling sound made during breathing, caused by non-gaseous material in the lungs
With a mighty rhonchus he jackknifed himself into a sitting position upon the overstuffed feather bed.
4. rarefy — to make less dense
Of course the possibility of rarefying the habitual thought patterns of the career politicians involved in this mighty effort may seem minuscule at best.
5. filigree — intricate and delicate decoration made of metal wire; ornate or intricate design
As I leaned closer across the threshold of the bed, the ruddy lines that marked the enormous proboscis took on a mysterious and portentous air, as if his giant avuncular nose (a family trait which, I am glad to say, I do not share with my brothers) had been decorated with a lace filigree of red threads depicting some long-ago forgotten map of a long vanished region, perhaps the railway lines of the Carpathian Mountains during the very time of my ancestors of whom my bedridden uncle was speaking at this moment with such vehemence.
6. suzerain — state or ruler having control over dependent state
Though the duchy henceforth was allowed the fiction of independence, in all but purely domestic affairs it always had to bow to the will of its suzerain in Aachen.
7. eruct — to belch
Now from the back of the classroom as Mr. Heaney was waxing rhapsodic on the power and glory that was Rome came a thunderous reverberating roar from the very bowels (as it seemed) of Spivey, as that tyro felt the action of the gallon of ginger beer he’d consumed after morning maths, and the entire class approved the interruption as the poorest student in class eructed a long and deep sonorous counterpoint to the teacher’s enervating lecture.
8. antinomy — contradiction, paradox
But unfortunately it was at this precise moment that the deep antinomies of rampant capitalism were seen in their worst guises.
9. antimony — silver-white metal element used in alloys and medical compounds
The 51st element in our modern periodic table was known best in ancient times in its black sulfide, making antimony the source of kohl, one of the primary cosmetics of early history.
10. aptotic — [linguistics] uninflected
Over two-thirds of its nouns no longer exhibit any plural form at all, making Swedish the most aptotic language in the Germanic family.
Bonus Vocabulary
(French)
lèse-majesté (also lese majesty) — crime against dignity of the sovereign or the state, treason; offense against established order
The absolutism of the Sun King’s rule has its roots in the tyrannical edicts of Roman emperors such as Tiberius and Caligula, who invented the crime of lèse-majesté to persecute anyone who dared to not treat them as the gods they purported to be.