1. corybantic — crazed, wild, frenzied, orgiastic
We have no need for corybantic preaching and unbridled emotional appeal, for our program is a sane and reasoned approach of proven value.
2. spencer — short tight jacket of 19th century, often trimmed with fur when worn by women and children
Not even taking time to button my spencer, I flew out the door and into the waiting coach.
3. decrepitate — (of minerals) to crackle when heated
The hunchback left the pan over the fire until the salts had completely decrepitated, sluicing the remaining slurry through a fine sieve.
4. slate — [British informal] to criticize severely
But no previous work of the Cambridge playwright had been slated so unanimously by the critics; indeed, the naysayers had been almost silent heretofore.
5. deturgescence — relative dehydration by which the cornea is maintained in a transparent condition
The results of our study of the effects of temperature upon corneal deturgescence were ambivalent, at best.
6. oneirophrenia — hallucinatory state of dreamlike perception, often caused by severe sleep deprivation
Often an episode of oneirophrenia will be mistaken for schizophrenia, due to observation of obvious hallucinatory episodes.
7. homogamy — inbreeding
Though the weak chins and drooping eyes we saw in all the villagers proved the deleterious effects of the homogamy that held this remote valley in its vile grip, hidden from view was the loathsome effects of this horrid inbreeding upon this group’s moral sense, which suffered a deficiency far greater than the receding lower jaws.
8. parsec — unit of astronomical distance equal to about 3.26 light-years, the distance to a star which has an apparent heliocentric parallax of one second when viewed from earth
Antares—the supposed locale of Dray Prescot’s adventures—lies some 170 parsecs distant from Earth.
9. futurity — horse competition in which contestant horses must be nominated to the event long before it is held
He couldn’t attend the reunion as he had a two-year-old in the weekend’s futurity in Lansdowne, but Figgers promised to get in touch the week after.
10. imbricate — to overlap, as in roof tiles
But Dr. Whelan had imbricated the damaged tissues with such care that there was never any weakness along that side of the leg, although the scar was plainly visible.
Bonus Vocabulary
(British derogatory slang)
slapper — prostitute; woman of bad morals, woman with many sexual partners
I got out of bed where the slapper still slept, lit a cigarette, and looked out the window to the street where I saw the same blue Lancia I’d noticed following me the day before.