1. advowson — [British] right to nominate person to fill an vacant church benefice
But the third Lord Ermley had never severed the advowson from those land holdings, and thus confusion ensued when Mr. Symonds asserted ownership of the parcel alongside the banks of the river.
2. prevent — [obsolete] to come before, to precede
The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me.
[Psalms 18:5 (KJV)]
3. sclerotic — of or pertaining to the morbid hardening of tissue
The sclerotic nature of bureaucracy meant that no waivers could not be issued without a hearing before this quite temporary board created over five decades ago.
4. obliviscence — forgetfulness, an act of forgetting
Though the professor stressed an agnostic attitude towards those things which we students had no knowledge of, and spoke strongly of nescience as an admirable state when one was truly ignorant, I’m afraid that we instead became partisans of obliviscence, forgetting just those facts and natural laws he took such pains to inculcate into our obdurate minds.
5. espalier — fruit-bearing tree or bush trained so that its branches form a flat surface, as against a wall or to form a hedge
Unlike the wild topiary of the manor house, Mickelson’s espaliers were designed to catch as much of the region’s rare sunlight as possible, so that his apples would have a longer growing season.
6. flat — [obsolete] fool, dullard
Wise about money, perhaps, but the new parson was such a flat about more elevated things that the wags of the town found it easy to convince him that the chapel was haunted.
7. minced oath — euphemism for objectionable term or phrase formed by replacing taboo element with another word or expression
After the baby was born he never engaged in baby talk, but he did start using minced oaths in lieu of all his former expletives, even when away from his child, so we enjoyed hearing at work his exclamations of “Flibber-de jibber-de-jabbit!” when he caught his thumb in a drawer.
8. palearctic — of the immense biogeographical region consisting of Europe, Asia north of the Himalayas, and North Africa
These distinctive amphibians are found only in the palearctic regions, though Australia has reported an invasive grouping discovered outside Sydney.
9. rencontre — unexpected encounter
We left the path and made our way through the grove to escape any unpleasant rencontre with the locals who would inevitably have asked questions about our outrageous attire.
10. cariostatic — having the property of preventing or halting production of dental caries (cavities)
I was told that popcorn was a healthy cariostatic snack, but then I got a kernel lodged deeply beneath my gum and ended up with a dentist’s bill far larger than I would have had for a few fillings.