Friday Vocabulary

1. contumelious — disdainfully insolent, contemptuous, scornfully rude

Little wonder if, after hearing these contumelious remarks day after day about the laziness of modern day workers, of their lack of basic work ethic, if those selfsame workers become lazy and uncaring in response to the imprecations of their bosses.

 

2. union — [archaic] enormous pearl

Her devotion had given her a complexion like the sheen of a precious union, shining with pearly translucence when faced with the vicissitudes of the material world.

 

3. hylozoism — belief that life is an inherent property of all matter

Thus the hylozoism in the strange world of Adventure Time is shown by this and other episodes, but no more significantly than the story of the crying mountain.

 

4. equitation — horse riding, horsemanship

Alas! Modern westerns are ruined the moment the lead actors begin to ride, for the art of equitation has been almost entirely lost in this all too enlightened century.

 

5. ambilevous (also ambilævous) — left-handed on both sides, clumsy, unhandy

Though well-proportioned and bestowed of all vigor and comeliness befitting such a youth, Andrew was ambilevous in everything he put his hand to, awkward in the saddle or sports, unable to catch or to throw, and likely to break any tools he took up in his fist.

 

6. leery (also leary) — suspicious, wary

While you are quite right to be leery of Señor Totoro’s promises, still it behooves you to at least listen to his proposal.

 

7. quidnunc — gossip, habitually inquisitive person

The outer chamber of the social hall—center for the Bradford machine—was filled with the usual clumps of politicians, hangers-on, and quidnuncs who perennially gathered outside the doors of power hoping for any crumb of preference they might pick up.

 

8. sorn — [Scots] to sponge off, to mooch

Even a fine lady as wealthy and well-endowed as Lady Regan does not like to feel she is paid court to only by a bunch of men who sorn her food and hospitality while making love to her maids.

 

9. parsimony — frugality; miserliness

This foolish parsimony as good as forced the best teachers at the institute to look elsewhere for employment, leaving behind only the inept, the uncaring, or the senescent.

 

10. portiere — curtain hung across a doorway in lieu of a door

The silken portieres separating the alcoves along the walls of the main chamber were removed for the children’s performance, to accommodate additional seating areas for the puppet show.

 

Friday Vocabulary

1. arctics — waterproof overshoes appropriate for cold weather

In my arctics and fur-lined gloves I thought myself ready for our little excursion, but I had not reckoned with the piercing frozen winds of that benighted valley.

 

2. orphrey — embroidered ornamental band or border on medieval vestments

Among the heraldic devices embroidered upon the orphrey of the Cope of Alnuf is a rare joke, an insult to the St. Neval family which had built the priory, for a bend sinister has been sewn across the St. Neval arms, implying that the baron was in fact illegitimate.

 

3. proem — preface, preamble, introduction

Gradually it dawned upon us that the assemblyman’s lengthy remarks had been only a proem to what promised to be an even longer, and likely even less interesting, discourse.

 

4. ceil — to finish or line a surface, esp. a ceiling

When I questioned my host for the evening, he assured me that he had been meaning to ceil the guest room for some time now, had had every intention of doing so, but for lack of time (which I took to mean lack of effort), he’d been unable, and he added that he hoped that I would not be too terribly cold that evening, but that at least he didn’t think it was going to rain.

 

5. perdurable — everlasting, imperishable

The warm booths of Saul’s Diner have seemed always a perdurable oasis of stability amid the desert of the here today, gone tomorrow restaurants along Alvyn Street, but business realities have finally caught up with the longtime favorite of locals and tourists alike.

 

6. ferrety — of or like a ferret

He was a cool customer, and his ferrety eyes made only the slightest flicker towards the desktop where the marble bust still lay broken in three uneven pieces.

 

7. neap tide — tide between new and full moon (or vice versa), when high and low tides differ by the least

Our shellfish hunt was prolonged owing to the neap tide, which allowed us to stay out on the rocks hours longer than would have usually been the case.

 

8. phthisis — wasting away; pulmonary tuberculosis, consumption

I’d tried to steel myself before entering his bedchamber, having been warned of what the doctors now confirmed as advanced phthisis, but I confess I gave a start when I saw the shriveled-up husk of my former friend lying upon the bedclothes in the darkened room.

 

9. ravelin — triangular outworks before main fortification, often providing additional protection to a gate or other strategic point

As I understand it, the lieutenant had planned to seize the ravelin before the postern curtain under cover of the nightly fog, but he and his small troop themselves got hopelessly lost in the clammy mist, and were captured just as they were about to attempt a daring raid upon the enlisted men’s privy.

 

10. gules — [heraldry] the tincture red

The pointy white spears were doubtless given some fancy name in the family coat of arms such as “gules, three piles argent”.

 

Friday Vocabulary

1. dyspathy — antipathy, opposite of sympathy

By the strange alchemy of sympathy and dyspathy, these two rivals who by common judgment should have been uncompromising enemies were instead courteous and understanding adversaries.

 

2. cincture — girdle, belt; enclosure

He had gathered the rough buffalo hide he wore over his shoulders in a hempen cincture, from which depended a leathern satchel that clinked as he moved.

 

3. orotund — (of speech or voice) full and clear; (of style) pompous, inflated

Do not be deceived by our provost’s orotund manner of speaking; his bombastic loquacity conceals an incisive and insightful mind and wit.

 

4. syndic — governmental officer; official of corporation with plenipotentiary power to transact certain business

A gift of several cases of the wine we had found abandoned on the highway leading into the small village sufficed to assure the town’s syndic that our cause was honorable and just.

 

5. votress (var. of votaress) — female votary, religious, or devotee

The soft light of the moon somehow changed Miss Ellen’s face from that of a thin almost sickly spinster to that of an ancient votress of the primordial goddess of change and rebirth, full of sensuous passion on her lips and fire within her fervent eyes.

 

6. proctorize — to perform the duties of or to exercise the powers of a proctor (of a college or university)

It’s true that Mr. Eamons was in the bar that night, not for a nightcap, however, but only to proctorize any malefactor students who’d sneaked in for a forbidden beverage.

 

7. tisane — herbal tea; [archaic] medicinal drink

“Quickly, bring our cold and wet cousin a honey barley tisane before the cold gets into her chest.”

 

8. cwm — steep narrow valley, cirque

As we stepped within the ancient grove of giant yew trees at the head of the cwm, a preternatural quiet seemed to surround us, the birds falling suddenly silent and even our footsteps muted on the loamy soil.

 

9. orthognathous — having a jaw nearly in line with the forehead and so neither jutting nor receding

The noteworthy feature of ape genus Anoiapithecus is its orthognathous facial cross-section.

 

10. supremum — least upper bound, smallest element of partially ordered set greater than or equal to every element of a subset of the partially ordered set

Of course, for finite totally ordered sets the supremum and the maximum are identical.

 

Bonus Vocabulary

(perfumes)

Florida water — Cologne water developed in U.S. in early 19th century, with a distinctive spicy orange scent

She sprinkled Florida water liberally through her hair, hoping that the citrus smell would cover somewhat the lingering tobacco smoke odor that doubtless still clung to her coiffure after those hours of close confinement in the dreary coach.

Friday Vocabulary

1. scrimer — fencer, swordsman; fencing master

Unlike the young braggarts who fancied themselves scrimers and focused on feathers and pose, the bladesman before me stood flatfooted, his rapier steadily pointed at my head and main gauche held loosely at his side, and I knew from his calm confidence that I had a true challenge before me.

 

2. Mameluke — former military slaves who seized power in Egypt in the 13th C., ruling for centuries

He watched over his daughter as vigilantly as a Mameluke guarding the sultan’s harem.

 

3. hectograph — jellygraph, early document duplicating process

While the hectograph fell out of favor long before the mimeograph, some elements of its process are still used today in nail stamping at salons.

 

4. bract — [botany] small specialized leaf growing with a plant’s flower

That beautiful flower we admire on a peace lily is not a flower at all, but a spathe, a hood-like bract which surrounds the flowering spadix within.

 

5. bandbox — small cardboard box for storing collars or small hats

Eliezer was born in a bandbox of a shack, and confined to its four cramped walls for the first few months after his birth, so cold was the winter and so tenuous was his grasp upon life.

 

6. swale — low hollow, esp. marshy declivity between higher land

The faint tracks led into a swale in the middle of the prairie, where we lost the trail among the marsh grass.

 

7. antonomasia — [rhetoric] use of epithet, title, or appellation in place of proper name; use of proper name to designate an idea or another person supposed to share the characteristic property of that named

“Yes, your Ineffableness,” said the servile lackey in one of the more bizarre examples of antonomasia it has ever been my displeasure to witness.

 

8. marl — soil composed mainly of clay and lime, often used as fertilizer; to fertilize with marl; [archaic] earth

Two skeletons were discovered in the marl pits last Tuesday, and in the pub all the talk was whether Bettie and Haney had turned up at last.

 

9. fiacre — small four-wheeled horse-drawn carriage for hire

Of course, since it was raining, not a single fiacre could be found to convey us and our parcels to the station.

 

10. sybaritic — fond or overfond of luxurious pleasure

I dared not confess that what she thought of as my sybaritic lifestyle consisted solely of brief moments at exclusive clubs with her on my arm, followed by weeks of drudgery and twelve to sixteen hour days whilst I saved my pennies for another night on the town with her.

 

Bonus Vocabulary

(history of The Reformation in Germany)

Schmalkaldic League — Lutheran military alliance aimed at preventing Holy Roman Emperor Charles V from crushing nascent protestantism within German states

Before democratic governors dream of banding together in a modern blue state Schmalkaldic League, they should reflect on the failure of the original alliance in the Schmalkaldic War, when unclear chains of command and competition for precedence allowed their forces to be picked off piecemeal.

Friday Vocabulary

1. modiste — fashionable milliner or dressmaker

Lady Sieveport’s headwear, a très au courant doll hat with feathers reminiscent of a crashing wave, gave proof of the modiste‘s expertise as a saleswoman, even if the hat itself seemed a feeble example of the milliner’s art.

 

2. enthymeme — logical argument with one premise or conclusion not explicitly stated, imperfect syllogism

His contention seemed to be—since it was an enthymeme we can only guess—that since religious education had proven so successful for the Catholic Church and especially for the Jesuit program, a similar indoctrination at an early age could effectively reduce criminality by teaching or rather preaching a message of niceness and brotherly love.

 

3. fatuous — silly, foolish; inane

Either you stop right now and explain the reasons behind your fatuous campaign to warn the neighborhood of the dangers of branded bottle openers or I shall leave these offices, taking my funding with me.

 

4. tilth — tillage; cultivated land

Looking upon these fine acres of crops today, you could not dream of the labor and pains taken to wrest this tilth from the rock- and weed-strewn badlands that my grandfather found when first he came to this valley.

 

5. convolute — to make difficult to follow, to complexify; to wind upon itself

Sickerts so convoluted his report that when he finished we weren’t certain whether he had purchased the milk or not.

 

6. mill lade (also mill-lade) — [Scots] mill race, mill leat

A stained cambric shirt was found three days later in the reeds across the stream from the mill lade down by Pinock’s farm.

 

7. tipstaff — sheriff’s officer, bailiff, court usher; ceremonial staff with metal tip

Though the tipstaff gave us some very hard looks, the judge seemed to find our involuntary interruption of the proceedings somewhat amusing.

 

8. kempt — neat, well maintained; combed

Like the rest of his attire, his hair and beard are almost compulsively kempt.

 

9. tigurine — Zwinglian, of or related to Zurich

The passage was not found in the tigurine translation of Luke, where the Calvinist scholars leaned towards a more material interpretation.

 

10. stirabout — [British] porridge

The food of their humble home was very luxurious, with both currants and cream for the stirabout.

 

Bonus Vocabulary

(Italian, lit. ‘noble floor’)

piano nobile — main (usu. first) floor of large house

We waited in the reception room of the piano nobile, surrounded by dark tapestries and even darker paintings of indecipherable Biblical scenes, sitting upon uncomfortable chairs of some ancient and darkly stained wood.

Friday Vocabulary

1. telson — terminal segment or appendage in abdomen of many arthropods and some embryonic insects

Melisande gasped as the foul black telson of the monstrous scorpion hovered over her body, a drop of noxious ichor hanging from its sharp point.

 

2. Whitsunday — Sunday seven weeks after Easter, Holy Day celebrating descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost; Pentecost

Hartland finds in his examinations of fairy tales a connection to the otherwise singular story of Lady Godiva in an account of a similar price paid for a yearly gift to the poor, supposedly given every Whitsunday in the parish of St. Briavels.

 

3. quiddity — thingness, thatness, quality of a thing making it what it is

But if I were to go on about all the oddnesses and quiddities of our family life in that strange and inward-looking home, your patience would fail long before my tales were done.

 

4. mumble — to chew near uselessly, as with toothless gums

Slowly the old codger mumbled the red berries, the bright juice dripping from the side of his turtle-like mouth.

 

5. bilharzia — schistosomiasis, disease endemic to Africa and South Africa

Unfortunately, too many of these villagers will cease taking the medicine when the overt symptoms of bilharzia disappear, though this only ensures that the parasitic worm will remain in the host, perhaps causing further problems down the road.

 

6. reefer — short-waisted close-fitting thick jacket; midshipman charged with reefing the sails

Cedric habitually carried several kola nuts in the pockets of his reefer, a holdover from his days trading in the South Seas.

 

7. moulinet — circular cut in fencing; circling an opponent’s blade with your own

The lieutenant began to execute a moulinet but drew up short when I kicked him in the balls.

 

8. sutler — merchant selling wares to soldiers in the field

Both the sutler and his wife protested that they had not violated the general’s order forbidding the sale of spiritous liquor, but their wagons and horses were seized nonetheless.

 

9. unsavory — without taste, insipid; distasteful; morally or socially disagreeable

Not that his unsavory reputation was undeserved—if anything, the gossips underestimated his terrible manners and actions—but the man himself was so charming in person, so uninhibitedly full of life, so engaging and interested in each and every member of his company, that I could not help but fall under his trashy spell.

 

10. cruse — pot or jar of earthenware

Within the deer hide satchel we found a cruse of some foul oil, destined for who knows what evil ritual of the mad witch doctor.

 

Bonus Vocabulary

(British slang)

blag — to obtain through wheedling or cajolery

We found him just where Noel had promised us he’d be, blagging drinks from a slightly pop-eyed barmaid at The Broken Badger, as dreary a pub as I’ve ever seen.

Friday Vocabulary

1. avoirdupois — weight measurement system based upon a pound of 16 ounces; body weight

Even from this great distance she can doubtless see that I carry around too much avoirdupois.

 

2. vigesimal — based upon or related to the number twenty

With the arrival of the new century, however, this series of vigesimal constitutional crises accelerated until a new political shock arrived every decade, and then every four years, and soon the pace of governmental calamity far outstripped the ability of the man in the street to keep abreast of, let alone to understand.

 

3. spinney — [British] small thicket

The only trace was a small, torn square of orange cloth, found upon a well-traveled path through the spinney behind the church.

 

4. doxastic — of or related to belief or mere opinion

The entire essay presupposes that most people are susceptible to doxastic manipulation, that a well-formed and convincing argument can somehow change deeply held beliefs formed over a lifetime of experience and thought.

 

5. tanist — elected second-in-command or heir apparent to a Celtic chief

The young prince—no longer quite so young—had never forgiven the insult he’d received when the clansmen rejected his nomination as tanist.

 

6. suffragan — subordinate bishop, or bishop of diocese other than the metropolitan diocese

The diocese was already stunned by the actions of both its suffragans when the news of the purple and pink Bentley made the earlier revelations seem trivial.

 

7. suffrage — vote in favor of a proposition or candidate

I am sure that I can rely upon your suffrage, once you have heard my proposals.

 

8. pervious — allowing passage through; accessible to reason or influence

In the midst of that bog was one small hillock with good, dry, pervious soil, and it was here that we found our host’s homestead.

 

9. deshabille [also dishabille] — state of being only partially or carelessly clothed

Hieronymous lay languid and unshaven in his sickbed deshabille, giving little sign of the precise and trenchant mind for which he was noted.

 

10. bindle — bundle carried by a hobo; folded paper container

Inside the bindlestiff’s bundle we found several bindles of amphetamine.

 

Friday Vocabulary

1. mort — hunting horn note signifying death of the prey; [obsolete] death

Let the trumpet sound a mort that all may know he lies here dead, and with him all our hopes.

 

2. mort — three year old salmon

For this dish Chef Jackson prefers a mort to any younger fish, to better highlight the heartiness of the soup.

 

3. mort — [cant] girl, woman; harlot

Go down to Butcher’s Row, then, if your lust is upon you, and find a walking mort to slake your lecherous thirst, the better to have your mind upon our business on the morrow.

 

4. roneo — to copy or produce a document by means of a mimeograph

“I’ve had my girl roneo these sheets for you to use when performing the inventory.”

 

5. synclinal — sloping downward

Unaware of these regular though infrequent floods, the settlers built their outpost at the very base of this synclinal trough, placing themselves directly in the path of disaster.

 

6. rundlet — small barrel or cask; old British measurement equivalent to about 18 US gallons

Besides several bundles of foolscap and bottles of ink, he also carried a rundlet of oil with which to light his lamp so that he could write deep into the dark night.

 

7. clew — skein or ball of yarn, etc.

After the dye has set, from the spindles are drawn the thread to make clews of each color.

 

8. galloon — close-woven braid often used in military uniforms

The robin’s egg damask seemed to be covered at almost every inch with a gold galloon of dazzling brightness, as if the sun itself were shining upon the brave hussar.

 

9. mongery — trade, the business of buying and selling

This petty mongery is all very well and good, but I’m talking about an chance to set yourself up for life, to live in a manor with a title and servants, to never have to work again.

 

10. writing-block — small board or firm tablet upon which to set paper for writing, used in travel

I managed to save both my journals and my writing-block, which MacAdam had cunningly outfitted with a compartment for a pen and a small store of ink, with which I am writing you this missive.

 

Bonus Vocabulary

(fashion, mid-19th c.)

Dundreary whiskers — overly long bushy sideburns worn without a beard (called in England ‘Piccadilly weepers’)

Before Booth’s cowardly assassination of the president at Ford’s Theatre, the play Our American Cousin was perhaps most famous for the introduction of the brief fad for Dundreary whiskers, ridiculous facial hair worn by a fatuous character of the same name in the play.

200,000 Songs (No, really)

Though of course it is difficult for we humans to enumerate more things than we have fingers (or fingers and toes, for the more vigesimally inclined), and though I still misdoubt Bourbaki’s great project to ensconce numbers firmly within Set Theory, still one must begin to count somewhere, and eventually one must leave off counting, at least we mortals must, it seems. So, though another view might give a different result (Is it really the 45th caller who wins the prize?), still and all, according to the counting I have in place, today I’ve just added my two hundred thousandth song to my iTunes collection.

The specific song added to my iTunes was the classic Dead tune “It Must Have Been The Roses”, from a matrix by Hunter Seamons of the February 24, 1974 show at the long gone Winterland Ballroom. These matrix mixes of soundboard and audience recordings (‘Hunter’s Trix’) are one large reason why I’ve passed the milestone noted above, as I’ve been adding a ton of these wonderfully mixed and produced renditions of terrific Grateful Dead shows. (Not all the shows are stellar, but then I’m just prejudiced. On the other hand, if anyone can make me appreciate Brent Mydland, it’s Vince Melnick.)

Of course, I haven’t listened to 200,000 songs … not yet. In fact, I’m just a hair over 120k. Specifically, my records show (with the usual caveats about indeterminacy referenced in the first paragraph) that I’ve listened now to 121,516 songs, consisting of 524 days, 21 hours, 12 minutes, and 44 seconds of music … or at least sound. This takes up 812.68 GB of space on a hard drive. Which reminds me, I need to back up all this new music.

Friday Vocabulary

1. leman — [archaic] lover; mistress

‘Twas an open secret that the fisher’s daughter was the leman of the ruddy-cheeked monk, though perhaps Brother Peter misguessed how widespread was this common knowledge.

 

2. defalcation — misappropriation (as of funds), embezzlement; shortfall, loss

The gambler’s fallacy gave way to a frenzied need to make up the defalcation by any means possible.

 

3. responsions — first of three examinations a bachelor of arts candidate must pass at Oxford University

For the Greek portion of the responsions he had focused upon two plays of Aeschylus, The Persians and Prometheus Bound, and was disturbed when Rudolf Westphal publicly cast doubts upon the famous playwright’s authorship of the latter.

 

4. actantial — of a mode of semiotic analysis whereby the action is broken down into various structural roles performed

One may doubt (as this reviewer doubts) whether any gain is made by the actantial method of breaking down the story into the roles played by the hero, the villain, the princess, etc., when even the fourfold biblical interpretation of medieval scholars seems to produce more insight.

 

5. lucubrate — to write or to study intensely, esp. at night

His eyes were weak, damaged by hours spent lucubrating upon some ponderous tome by the poor light of inferior tapers.

 

6. linn — [Scots] waterfall; pool beneath waterfall

Neatly folded atop a stern stone standing like a dark gray table by the side of the linn was the pale blue dress he had seen her wearing the evening before at MacGregor’s party.

 

7. filibuster — speech obstructing progress in legislature; unauthorized military adventurer in foreign land; freebooter

Though scant evidence exists now, it is rumored that he turned filibuster during the troubles in China, and some state as fact (though none can present proof of the claim) that it was there that he lost his left eye and hand.

 

8. oneiric — of or related to dreams or dreaming

The broken contours and jarring colors perplexed him, held him fascinated, as if the wide canvas taunted him with some secret just out of range of his pedestrian vision, some revelation within its oneiric imagery that was not vouchsafed to such an uncultured oaf as he knew himself to be.

 

9. obtrusive — projecting or imposing in the way; overly forward

Startled, I turned, and saw once more the obtrusive postman leaning in his habitually insouciant attitude against the doorframe, a toothpick clenched in his smiling teeth.

 

10. kegling — bowling

The chairman was an avowed kegling monomaniac, and even had a single lane built for the use of himself and his friends at his mountain retreat in Jasper—though of course by necessity he had to rely upon a human pinsetter there, usually drafted from one of the hangers-on that surrounded him always.

 

Bonus Vocabulary

(abbreviation, Latin)

p.p. — per procurationem, by proxy

Nor do we even have a sample of her handwriting, as every document was signed by her secretary, “Jackson Smythe p.p. Rosalyn Rutherford”.