1. erudite — having or showing lots of knowledge or learning
But this sort of erudite reasoning is hardly to the point when we’re merely trying to decide where to build the outhouse.
2. gleeman — wandering singer (in medieval era)
But the roles were not always thought of as separate in those times, and the term ‘juggler’ (or ‘jongleur‘) might be used of dancers, actors, acrobats, or gleemen.
3. skewiff (also skewwhiff or skew-whiff) — [Australian colloquial] askew, awry, out of line
You could tell Andy had started drinking earlier than usual that day, as his furrows became a bit skewiff at the back of the field.
4. aubade — song or poem in honor of the dawn
His plans to serenade (of course, that is the wrong word) his sweetheart with a lovely aubade at daybreak were devastated when he saw by the new-breaking sun’s light his rival descending furtively from her window.
5. scamp — to perform in a slipshod or careless way
And that trivial incident was the beginning of the end of his usefulness to the firm, as from that day on Pauley seemed to discard all his previously held habits of industriousness and high business ethics, becoming tardy and often absent altogether, taking ever longer breaks, scamping his work whenever he could.
6. rear-vassal — vassal of a vassal, feudal tenant of one who held his own fief from a greater lord or the king
But these gains only applied to the great dukes and barons, and neither the villeins nor the rear-vassals can have noticed much if any difference in their daily lives.
7. dissipate — to disperse; to squander, to waste; to lose energy through conversion to heat
By this point, however, the young lord had dissipated his inheritance by his wastrel lifestyle, and most of the lands in question were already under lien or had been sold outright to his many creditors.
8. scone — [Australian slang] to hit on the head
“Well, it’s not like I expected to be sconed by my son’s English teacher, is it?”
9. Weltschmerz — world-weariness, sorrowful depression over the state of the world and one’s portion in life
Then, like many a young lad before him, he cast aside the memories of his unhappy love affair, returned from his voyage to resume his duties at the bank, renounced his affected attitude of Weltschmerz, and gave up his naïve ideas of becoming a poet and got on with his life.
10. lintel — horizontal beam across the top of a door or window
There above the lintel we saw the same red teardrop of wood that we’d seen in several other houses in this benighted village.
Bonus Vocabulary
(Australian slang)
dob — to inform on someone, to tell authorities of another’s wrongdoing; to be selected for an unwanted job
Everyone knew Alice had dobbed him in to the school because Cliff wouldn’t give her drugs anymore.