1. pharyngitis — inflammation of the back of the throat We were worried that her pharyngitis was a symptom of strep, but she only had a common cold. 2. gallinaceous — of the order of common poultry and game birds For sheer tenacity you would be hard pressed to find a challenger to the …
Tag Archives: vocabulary
Friday Vocabulary
1. matrix — womb, uterus That thou shalt set apart unto the LORD all that opens the matrix, and every firstling that cometh of a beast which thou hast; the males shall be the LORD’s. [Exodus 13:12 (KJV)] 2. hederated — decorated or crowned with ivy Under new management, however, the intriguing hederated adornment …
Friday Vocabulary
1. agita — irritation, upset, anxiety; indigestion Me? I lose it completely—but Hélène doesn’t let the agita get to her at all. 2. hobeler (also hobbler) — light horseman, retainer who supplied his own hobby (a small horse or pony) All told we were able to assemble four score men-at-arms and sixty hobelers, with …
Friday Vocabulary
1. crepitus — grating noise produced by friction between bone and cartilage or pieces of broken bone; rale As I slowly made my way up the stairs, each step with my right leg produced the crepitus from my knee that had been constant background music for the past five years, though usually unheard except at …
Friday Vocabulary
1. bleb — vesicle, blister; bubble of air in fluid But the original insight was confirmed only when scientists inspected the steam blebs of ancient lava flows beneath the microscope. 2. assort — to distribute like things according to type Our first day in the creaking house found us assorting the heaps of material …
Friday Vocabulary
1. effulge — to shine forth, to brilliantly radiate Jackson found himself hiding within his own shadow, his dark mood made darker by his rival’s brilliant smile, which effulged across the room as if to compete with the very sun streaming through the bay window. 2. mardy — [British] grumpy, sulky, moody No matter …
Friday Vocabulary
1. excursive — digressive What was supposed to have been a pithy précis turned into an excursive epic under the weight of his overheavy pen, topping two hundred pages of turbid prose. 2. peterman — [slang] safecracker Though once he was renowned as a peterman of the first water, today he is as honest …
Friday Vocabulary
1. tegument — covering; integument He stood haughtily above the field, his bronzed and polished armor a bright protective tegument over the doomed flesh within. 2. quiff — lock or curl of hair hanging over the forehead My eyes kept straying to the oiled quiff of his dark hair which he affected in some …
Friday Vocabulary
1. glister — to sparkle Suddenly the last rock gave way and we felt the welcome breeze of the night air upon our begrimed faces, and beheld in wonder the glistering heavens spangled with an almost blinding glory of stars. 2. sequacious — tending to blindly follow others; pliable, easily molded But the sequacious …
Friday Vocabulary
1. evert — to turn outward or inside out And so everted has the American Dream become that we are sated by likes and follows and bundles of steam and dark mode. 2. ophiophagous — eating snakes When I interned among the ophiophagous lawyers then practicing in Albany, I thought of the experience as …