1. verisimilar — appearing true or real
At first I thought myself deceived by a demonic phantasm, some tool of the dark forces assuming a verisimilar likeness to my favorite actor playing his most famous role, but then I realized it was just a cosplayer.
2. thrang — [Scots, N. England] busy, occupied with work
On the shore the maids were thrang sewing at the nets.
3. pinna — [biology] visible outer parts of ear in most mammals; wing, fin, or similar structure in animals
While he wore his big slouch hat he seemed almost unscathed by the fire, but once Jerome removed it the scars on his skull spoke of his misadventure and his pinnae were almost entirely missing, burned away during the rescue mission his ex-wife once told me.
4. anoxic — lacking oxygen
She had that effect, could transform a lively party into an anoxic wasteland of discomfort and antipathy, her very presence making everyone else decide that they would be better off anywhere but here.
5. aplanatic — (of a lens) free of spherical and comatic aberration
These fancy binoculars were supposed to be high-tech aplanatic masterpieces of German engineering, but of course just turned out to be some Siamese knock-offs with spherical lenses.
6. schlub — oaf, boor, clumsy or unattractive person
Don’t let that poor schlub ruin your party; he’s just jealous of your success.
7. deadworks — [nautical] those parts of a laden ship above the waterline
The Dutch frigate employed the guns in her towering poop deck to rain deadly fire on the pirate ship, almost completely destroying her deadworks and all the crew who had not immediately abandoned ship.
8. brontide — sound of distant thunder
Debate still continues as to the possible seismic origin of brontides in some earthquake-prone regions such as Haiti.
9. demarche — diplomatic or political maneuver; official notice of a country’s position vis-à-vis some situation
Jennison was quite proud of the ambiguous language in the latest demarche he had written for the ambassador, and was sure that it would feature prominently in that eminent person’s eventual memoirs.
10. keystone — to project an image improperly so that the projecting plane is not aligned with the receiving surface and thus causing distortion
Once Billie pointed out that the decrepit theater’s cameras were off-kilter and were keystoning the movie, I could see nothing but strange trapezoids instead of the noir buildings of the city, as if Dr. Caligari had cast a spell upon 1940s Los Angeles.
Bonus Vocabulary
(Latin)
pro tanto — only to a given extent
The court ruled the claims were limited pro tanto by the damages asserted in the original filing.