1. censor — to remove or suppress objectionable content from work to be published or promulgated
Still, the easiest way for the occupying government to repress these renascent ideas of nationalism was to encourage these artists to censor themselves, whether from fear of paperwork or of financial loss.
2. sprezzatura — [Italian] studied nonchalance, art of making quite difficult work seem effortless
He tried just a smidge too hard to affect an air of sprezzatura in his writing, but often this careful carelessness came off more as a disinclination to proofread his own work.
3. dreck — useless stuff; garbage
He wrote thousands of words every NaNoWriMo, but it was always just fifty thousand words of dreck.
4. ligyrophobia — fear of loud noises
The doctors agreed that this was not a symptom of PTSD, that his ligyrophobia had some other cause, given that he’d been a headbanger and metalhead up until last Thursday.
5. tabouret (also taboret) — small stool
He sat upon the pale pink leather tabouret so as to be close to her, but found it impossible to rise for dinner later without making quite ungentlemanly contortions.
6. orography — scientific study of mountains; mountain features of a region
Of course, the orography of an area will inluence its hydrography, though the converse is not always true.
7. potter — [British] to busy oneself in a desultory manner to little or no effect; to waste time
When she had pottered about with the index cards for a while, Alice might finally be able to think about the import of the secret she had learned that morning.
8. avernal (also Avernian) — of or related to Lake Avernus, Italian lake famed for its noxious fumes and thought to be an entrance to Hell; hellish
For days we made our weary way through the fetid swamp, until I feared that the avernal fumes would leave me with permanent debility even after we should ever leave this pestilential quagmire.
9. breasthook — [nautical] shaped horizontal timber spanning the bow between decks of a ship
The use of breasthooks greatly increased the stability of His Majesty’s vessels, and of course provided support when ramming operations were required.
10. unhouseled — [obsolete] in the condition of not having received the Eucharist
Is not such a foul deed, assassination in the dark, leaving the victim unshriven and unhouseled, is not this the worst of crimes?