1. transpontine — of or related to (something on) the farther side of a bridge; of or related to the area south of the Thames river in London; of or related to sensational plays of the 19th Century presented in the area south of the River Thames
“I will not have your so-called ‘friends’ bringing their penchant for melodrama and their transpontine attitudes into my house,” said the stout publican and quondam theater critic.
2. cispontine — of or related to this side of a bridge
We could make out chevaux de frise and barbed wire before the barricades and guardhouse at the cispontine abutment, but the difficulties of the farther side were hidden by the impenetrable fog.
3. ratiocinate — to reason logically
Quimby seemed rather a dullard at most times, placid and affable and seemingly without a thought in his head, so when he was forced to ratiocinate upon any particularly challenging problem, sweat broke out upon his brow and one could almost imagine that the very veins at his temples began to throb with the effort to supply blood to the brain, that henceforth unused organ.
4. diehard — a person obstinately resistant to change; someone holding to a tenet with no single inclination to question that belief; person devoted entirely to a lost cause
There were, of course, a large number of diehards in favor of the Latin Mass, even after Vatican II.
5. vershok — old Russian unit of measurement equal to 1-3/4 inches, or 4.445 cm
He was very tall, even after he removed his papakha, standing at least 2 arshins and 11 vershoks high.
6. arshin — measurement of about 28 inches used in Imperial Russia and up to 1925
Arkady stood less than 2 arshins tall, and he had the pugnacious attitude of many very short men.
7. volute — having a spiral shape
The dog worried at the blanket and finally pulled it into the proper volute form upon which to rest her head.
8. demotic — of or related to common people; of or related to common language, vernacular; of or related to the simplified form of Egyptian cursive writing originating about the 7th Century BCE
But the wide spread of radio and finally television purged regional speech of its demotic vigor, replacing heretofore strong idioms with the pallid speech of news anchors and product demonstrators.
9. cleat — knob or device (often metal) used to secure lines on a nautical vessel; protrusion on shoes etc. to provide extra traction; strip secured across something to provide stability or strength
“Just cut the line! The cleat‘s about to go!”
10. constituent — part or piece of a whole; person represented by an elected official
Once we analyzed the stew we found one constituent entirely out of place: conium, or poison hemlock.
Bonus Vocabulary
(old slang)
pi-jaw — sermonizing or patronizing talk, esp. of an adult to a child
Not since I was an undergrad have I had to sit still for such a load of pi-jaw as I was forced to suffer through that afternoon, as we all sat stupidly around the table and listened to J.B. rattle off his theories of what was wrong with the world and why.