1. bludge — [Australian slang] to shirk; to scrounge; to live off another’s earnings, esp. as a pimp
It was the first time I’d ever bludged school, so I was more nervous than I ever was after.
2. chukka — period in game of polo, lasting from 7 to 7-1/2 minutes of play
While Larry was meeting with Harry I went back to the stands to catch a chukka or two of the game.
3. tractable — easily led or managed; malleable
Perry was a tractable sort of lad—or so I thought at that time—and thus I had no hesitation in asking the Chief to make him my number two on the Swanswell project.
4. tenebrosity — darkness, gloominess, obscurity
With the sunset, the shadows seemed to reach out from the very branches of the surrounding woods, as we felt ourselves bound in the sullen tenebrosity of the forest.
5. upas-tree — Javanese tree of myth so toxic that it killed all surrounding life at a large distance; tree of Java producing poisonous milky sap, used to empoison arrows
The combination of the new mall and new bypass had devastated the once vibrant shopping district, leaving the shuttered storefronts near the old courthouse facing streets empty of all save dust, as if some baleful upas-tree had killed the village itself along with its former marketplace.
6. catasterize — (in mythology) to transform a creature or person into a star or other celestial object
The strange myth of the wounded rainbow in the Thomas Covenant books brings a new look at the idea of a god losing his children, catasterized by their curious exploration of the hole in the universe subsequently repaired by the father deity.
7. fontange — high headdress formed of starched cotton and ribbons, worn by upper classes in 17th and 18th Century Europe
The costly and increasingly ridiculous fontanges of the court ladies could not be stopped even by order of King Louis, but finally were thrown aside because of the whimsically turning wheel of Fashion.
8. gaud — showy bauble or trinket
Prewston drew duty the day after the final parade, spending his shift sweeping up the cast-aside gauds of the wild youth who’d drunkenly welcomed in the Mad King on the last day of his revels.
9. stammtisch — [German] usual table
Soon we were regulars at the place, at least on Thursday nights, with our own stammtisch in the back corner by the rear entrance.
10. recrement — dross, waste matter
Sprawled beneath the bed with my flashlight, I saw the missing piece in the far corner, amidst a pile of cat hair and nail clippings and other recrements of Jonesie’s abysmal bachelor lifestyle.