1. spadroon — straight single-edged light sword of the 18th and 19th Centuries Few weapons have been as poorly designed and as badly executed as the British Army’s spadroon of 1796. 2. cock a snook — [idiom] to show contempt; to make rude hand gesture with thumb on the nose with fingers extended The …
Tag Archives: vocabulary
Friday Vocabulary
1. holism — theory or system asserting that the whole is greater than the parts From this youthful belief in a spiritual and psychological holism he moved to an even more radical reductionism, preaching that all so-called ‘elevated states’ stemmed from a combination of a mere three substances found within brain chemistry. 2. pig …
Friday Vocabulary
1. equipollent — of equal power; logically equivalent The first mistake in Wilber’s reasoning came when he declared that this negation was equipollent with absence, whereas even a schoolchild could have told him that not getting dessert was not the same as getting nothing at all. 2. misease — [archaic] misery, discomfort, suffering The …
Friday Vocabulary
1. bdellium — fragrant gum resin; the plant producing this resin We are told that manna was the color of bdellium, which can be found in several shades similar to those of amber, though in plant form it is a greenish white berry. 2. pteruge — protective strip of leather or stiffened linen, used …
Friday Vocabulary
1. bleck — black fluid; soot, smut He broke up the blecks at the back of the fireplace with a long staff of ash. 2. abulia — loss or severe reduction of volition, as symptom of mental disorder With the unending drumbeat of bad and worse news, how long before a citizen just gives …
Friday Vocabulary
1. scantling — small piece of wood, usu. used for studs etc.; blocks of wood of a given size; [nautical] framing timber of a vessel Finally we found the missing doubloon, covered in pitch and hidden in the scantlings just aft of the bilge. 2. pygarg — food animal, perhaps a species of antelope …
Friday Vocabulary
1. bolt — [botany] to change rapidly from growing primarily leaves to produce instead seeds and flowers Spinach plants will bolt in hot weather conditions, leaving a plant with a very bitter taste (if it does not become entirely inedible). 2. verge — rod or staff carried as badge of office You can see …
Friday Vocabulary
1. temerarious — reckless, rash, heedless On the other hand, as a result of his temerarious purchase of Dogecoin he’s now a multi-billionaire. 2. shawm — medieval double-reed woodwind with a conical shape For the nonce we made merry, dancing to the strains of the sackbuts, shawms, and pipes. 3. brassie (also brassey) …
Friday Vocabulary
1. molinary — of or related to the grinding of corn But the crows quickly resumed their post in the old tree, and the old woman resumed her molinary exertions at the metate. 2. amain — at full force, violently; at full speed Their chargers coursed amain down the slight declivity and fell upon …
Friday Vocabulary
1. tetrachromat — person who is able to perceive many more colors than usual due to a fourth type of cone cells in the retina Only women can be born as tetrachromats, because the gene for red and green cones is on the X chromosome. 2. addle — to make (eggs) rotten Though this …