1. doula — trained woman assisting mother during and after childbirth
Though the doula may provide emotional support and practical advice, she differs from a midwife in that she cannot perform medical activities.
2. congener — something of the same type as another; living organism belonging to same genus as another; fusel alcohols and other chemicals produced during fermentation (besides ethanol) which give a liquor its characteristic taste
Many claim that drinking very pure vodka almost obviates the risk of hangover, citing its near lack of congeners which some suppose engenders the morning-after malaise.
3. doughty — brave and resolute, valiant
“So once more, my doughty comrades, up and at them!”
4. protanopia — daltonism, color-blindness between red and green
The prevalence among males of protanopia is one reason for the standardized red-yellow-green sequence of traffic lights, though in some cases the inability to detect red colors can make the sufferer unable to detect whether the red light is actually off or on.
5. garrote — to kill by strangling, esp. with a thin cord or wire; to kill with iron collar formerly used in Spain for executions
Christopher Lee, like all British commandos, was taught dozens of ways of dealing death, from a sudden knife thrust to the spine to garroting a sentry from above.
6. culm — [botany] plant stem, esp. of grass or sedge
In order to more fairly compare the two yields, we shall measure the number of grains per culm in our study.
7. culm — waste coal or coal dust; inferior anthracite
To most effectively use all this excess culm, however, it must be dried and pulverized to obtain anything like a steady heat.
8. piezometer — instrument for measuring pressure of fluid, or compressibility of same
To better understand the strata permeability, a series of fourteen piezometers was placed about the tract.
9. hipshot — having one hip lower than the other
He shuffled hipshot towards me, his characteristic ungainly gait the result of some childhood boating accident I’d been told, but the crabbed look on his face needed no explanation, save that he was just pure mean through and through.
10. Malagasy — person from Madagascar
The second mate was a Malagasy whose smile grew bigger with each abusive order he threw at his gang of lascars in the pinnace.
Bonus Vocabulary
(divination)
splanchnomancy — divination by examination of human entrails from victim sacrificed for that purpose
Though some later Christians accused the ancient Romans of splanchnomancy, in fact those pagans practiced haruspicy, the art of reading portents from the viscera of sacrificed animals, not humans.