1. lamella — gill of a mushroom; plate or scale of bone or other tissue
The secondary lamellae arise within the spaces between the primary or earlier gills as those latter grow away from the stem.
2. syntagma (also syntagm [linguistics]) — syntactic component; arrangement of components producing meaning or a greater whole; phalanx of Macedonian spearmen
But of course he was known best for the three syntagmata detailing all that was known at his era of the vagaries and nuances of Akkadian law and custom.
3. thrombus — blood clot formed within an organism’s blood vessels
If the antidote is not received quickly, thrombi will appear in the lungs with the consequent fatal effects.
4. keimelia (more commonly cimelia) — stored up or hidden treasure
Thorsten permitted me to peruse this rare volume, opening up his keimelia of rare books to me in an extremely generous gesture.
5. whipster — know-it-all, smart aleck
And then your cousin, that blithe whipster, had the audacity to lecture my father on the proper way to harvest our melons.
6. Kufic (also Cufic) — of or related to the Iraqi city of Kufa; of or related to Arabic characters used in originally writing the Koran
Though the Kufic characters were used in manuscripts for only three hundred years, they may be seen in inscriptions for far longer, well into the Fifteenth Century of the Common Era, and indeed the takbir on the present-day Iraqi flag uses the Kufic script.
7. hidalgo — gentleman or lesser nobility in Spain or Hispanophone regions
He dropped the reins into the hands of the shoeless peasant with all the foolish pride of the landless hidalgo.
8. pensile — hanging down
The Red-wing Oriole generally builds its pensile nest from long meadow grasses if these are available.
9. manciple — steward in charge of supplies for a college, monastery, or law offices
Our table was always excellent, for we had that best of all manciples, not looking askance at sharp dealing, but never to the detriment of the house.
10. palinode — ode or other poem retracting views of an earlier poem; recantation
Once upon a time, changing one’s view necessitated at least the artistic endeavor of a palinode, whilst today one merely screams “reverse ferret” and goes on as if nothing had ever been said differently.
Bonus Vocabulary
(UK newspaper term)
reverse ferret — sudden change of editorial position, esp. with no recognition of previous view
While Orwell’s 1984 posited a severe system of psychological shocks to induce one to give up previously held tenets, nowadays merely searching for more clicks is enough to induce a reverse ferret.