1. rep — ribbed fabric of silk or wool
Each of the small alcoves—really nothing more than cubbyholes—had a curtain of silk rep across it, save the one at eye level holding Winthrop’s blue and pink slippers.
2. petronel — muzzle-loading firearm of the 16th and 17th Centuries, midway in size between a pistol and a carbine
Assisted by two stout horsemen armed with petronels, Claxton rode into the muttering mob to quell the rumors of famine and civil war.
3. philogynist — admirer or lover of women
One needn’t be a rank philogynist to concede that women have contributed much more to society and civilization than their mere generative power.
4. Belinograph — early mechanism for sending photographs over telephone lines
Zhang Zuolin, the Manchurian warlord, invited the inventor of the Balinograph to visit China in hopes that his invention could facilitate the transmission of Chinese writing over phone lines.
5. lackaday — expression of grief or regret
“Lackaday!” Van Houten cried, “that we should arrive only hours too late to save Sophie from these brigands!”
6. culet — flat bottom cut onto gemstone; armor plate layered to protect the buttocks of the wearer
True it was that his culets prevented the mighty sweep of that broadsword from severing his leg, but the bruise upon his arse was only slightly smaller than the one upon his ego.
7. saponaceous — of or resembling or containing soap; evasive, sly
He assented in that servile yet saponaceous manner I had come to expect from Sir Gerald’s factotum.
8. felo de se (also felo-de-se) — [Latin] crime against the self; in particular, suicide
“Before you hasten to your felo de se, allow me to point out what seem to be the missing keys suspended from your vest pocket watch chain.”
9. vici — soft treated leather used primarily for shoe uppers
In her vici kid button-up shoes she had nothing to fear from the misting rain that had left her cousin’s feet sodden.
10. tosh — nonsense, rubbish
“Don’t hand me such tosh, Seymour,” said Hazlitt as he tamped his briar. “We know you saw Phenny at the bank last Tuesday, so it just won’t do.”
Bonus Vocabulary
(informal idiomatic phrase, used imperatively)
wake up and die right — come to one’s senses, get a grip
We had better wake up and die right in the face of these new adversities and changing circumstances, or else we can just resign ourselves to obsolescence and desuetude.