1. rising — [informal] nearly, almost
It was rising two in the morning before we were all prepared, with Vince insisting on carrying his ridiculous stiletto unsheathed in his left hand.
2. bulla — [biology] blister, vesicle; [biology] hollow spaces within bone structures; [historical] clay balls or containers, often with external writing detailing contents; papal letters
As fascinating as these votive bullae seemed to be, the real prize turned out to be a bulla found in Chamber 32 which turned out to contain a papyrus inventory of the entire garrison from the period just before the war with Anarkoreg.
3. pay — to coat, cover, or caulk with tar or pitch
While the ship was beached as the search parties went looking for trees for a new foremast, Higgins made sure the bottom was well paid with the pitch he had found in the ship’s stores.
4. umbra — shadow; fully dark shadow cast by object intervening between the surface and the light source; dark center of sunspot
Longton will not be beneath the full umbra, and so will only experience a partial eclipse.
5. lacquer tree — tree producing resin used in making of coating for wood and other craft items
A poisonous component is found within the sap of all three of these lacquer trees found in China, Japan, and Southeast Asia.
6. gozzle — throat, gullet
Little Benji ate a honey candy so greedily that he didn’t take off the wrapper and it got stuck in his gozzle and he liked to have died!
7. orthogonal — [mathematics] perpendicular to, at right angles; of functions whose product has an integral equal to zero; irrelevant
Not to get too far down this orthogonal cul-de-sac in our conversation, but have you seen Ed’s new Alfa Romeo?
8. grate — [obsolete] agreeable, pleasant, gratifying
Though the chamber is small, the old feather bed heaped high with blankets and quilts is commodious enough and grate to any traveler unless he be an inveterate ingrate.
9. asker — [Welsh & English idiom] newt
You will no longer find these great crested newts within the Vale, but the askers are still widespread throughout England, Wales, and Scotland, as well as most of northern Europe.
10. brach — [archaic] female hound; disgusting woman
Laird Staines had left his favorite brach behind for she’d just finished whelping the next generation of fine hunting hounds.
Bonus Vocabulary
(church stuff)
vicar — lesser or substitute priest (details vary between the various denominations; usu. a vicar does not receive the full stipend of a priest per se)
The vicar came round to tea as usual, but failed to take a lemon square, so I knew that he was greatly troubled by the incident with Springer and the electric tractor.