1. loosestrife — common name of flowering plants of two distinct genera: Lythrum and Lysimachia
So many flowers fall under the general rubric of the loosestrifes that it is often unclear which is meant, as—for example—the scarlet pimpernel from which the famous hero took his name, which is one of over two hundred plants bearing the name loosestrife.
2. pyretic — related to, causing or caused by fever
But this sort of pyretic philosophy has always been popular among college freshmen (emphasis on men) and latecomers to deep thought who believe they are the first to explore ideas about the nature of things.
3. postulate — axiom; supposedly obvious assumption used as basis for argument
Of course, one can see Euclid’s Fifth Postulate as a bellwether for the vast changes that were to occupy turn-of-the-century mathematics, with Non-Euclidean Geometries only one of the first domains now captured by Functional Analysis.
4. risaldar (also rissalder, ressaldar) — Indian calvary rank of a native commander of a horse regiment
The mustachioed risaldar looked doubtful, but as I held the Queen’s commission, he held his tongue.
5. circumquaque — roundabout speech or writing
He provided as apology before the actual work his own circumquaque pretending to take offense at the author’s ideas that he was publishing, thus hoping to deflect the inevitable attacks and censorship which, indeed, followed immediately after he distributed the tendentious pamphlet.
6. warrener — professional keeper or hunter of rabbits
No man besides the warrener saw the passage of the horsemen, and he saw them only darkly in the distance as he guarded his pens from foxes that moonless night.
7. manticore — legendary beast with human face on the body of a lion and the tail of a scorpion or dragon
“Do not be fooled by his very human, very charming bearded face, my young apprentice, for the manticore has an insatiable hunger for flesh, for human flesh, and it is not a cannibal appetite but rather the monstrous bestiality of this vile creature that drives him, in spite of his honeyed words.”
8. clapper bridge — old style of bridge in which large stone slabs are laid across a creek or river, usually on stone piers
The violence of the river in spate had pushed off one of the schist slabs from the clapper bridge leading to the abbey, so the oxcarts had to take a long detour to the ford further down by Withinex.
9. compere — [British] master of ceremonies
When I was chosen as compere of my retiring boss’s roast, I had no idea how many drunken idiots I would have to ride herd on that long, long night.
10. gaiter — lower leg covering worn over boot; covering for ankle and instep
Presby wrote an entire monograph upon the uselessness of gaiters as military footwear, unfortunately not realizing that the Colonel’s brother-in-law was supplying the same for the entire Army of the West.
Bonus Vocabulary
(British military food slang, WWI era)
Zepp — sausage
We ate well, two Zepps in a cloud, that is, two sausages on a ‘cloud’ of mashed potatoes.