1. columbary — dovecote
Indeed, even such a medical luminary as Sir Thomas Browne sees fit to mention the important role played by the guano (so to speak) found at the floor of columbaries for its use in the production of saltpeter.
2. columbarium — vault or structure built with many niches for placement of funerary remains, such as urns containing cremated ashes; such a niche in such a building
And so, to steal Nietzsche’s phrase, the latest plans for the ‘new education’ enshrine the most foolish, dangerous, and defeated ideas of the last century in a columbarium of wacko ideas.
3. ling — long slender fish used for food, usu. either salted or dried
The fleet was setting sail for the massive schools of ling found at this time of year in the Atlantic just off the western coast of Ireland.
4. descry — to discern, to see, usu. from a distance; to discover
Only then did we descry that the pennant we’d taken for the falcon of Marlbarg was actually the double-headed eagle of the Polish king.
5. schrecklichkeit — [German] terrorizing the enemy and esp. civilians as military strategy; overarching atmosphere of badness or dread
Helicoptering over the barren desert towards the dusty city that would shine so brightly once the sun fell beneath the horizon, Evans was struck once again with the futile schrecklichkeit of the time as he mused that soon all cities would be the same as this Arabian metropolis, shining beacons of steel and light at night, surrounded in daylight by endless swathes of dead land extending as far as the eye could see.
6. cepe (also cep) — edible mushroom, porcini
I had my cepes simmering already when I discovered that someone had made off with my shallots.
7. disherison — [archaic] act of disinheriting
Sir Gage was displeased to learn that his patron’s marriage to the young widow became also the occasion for the disherison of all the old members of Lord Carlo’s fighting band, of whom Gage had not been the least.
8. chelicera — one of the pair of claws before the mouth of certain arachnids and horshoe crabs
The tick binds itself to its victim with these chelicerae, which may be left in the skin if the woodland pest is merely plucked off.
9. erstwhile — formerly
Now these two, who erstwhile had fought so bitterly, transformed themselves into the truest of friends, and ofttimes the villagers would see them strolling side by side throughout the province, deep in discussion of any of their numerous mutual interests.
10. fractious — unruly; quarrelsome
Now these fractious youths had their hands upon the levers of power, and they began to pull at them willy-nilly, with the frantic energy of the tail of a dog with stolen bacon in its mouth.