1. gobsmacked — flabbergasted, utterly astounded We were gobsmacked to learn that the mole was Mrs. Abernathy’s two year-old toddler, who was actually an Australian midget wearing a very clever disguise. 2. footling — blithering, foolish, silly I managed to make some footling comments, but could barely conceal my very great surprise. 3. …
Tag Archives: vocabulary
Friday Vocabulary
1. murmuration — flock of starlings (sometimes applied to other birds) The gyring movement of the murmuration resembled a gentle whirlpool in the air as the birds suddenly decided to quit their perches in the elm overhanging the river. 2. dynamics — variation in volume of musical sounds The quiet portion of the song …
Friday Vocabulary [UPDATED]
NOTE: Due to recently (11 July 2019) discovered repetition of a previously used vocabulary word, the offending entry has been replaced with a new word, definition, and example sentence. The original entry is preserved with strikethrough formatting. 1. ha-ha — sunken fence or wall bounding garden or park, set into ditch so as to not …
Friday Vocabulary
1. stanch — to cut off the flow of; to quench; to repress O let me stanch my primal force Sooner than blanch the wild water’s course. 2. soffit — under surface of architectural feature, such as a lintel, architrave, vault, or arch An accent color of pale orange had been used on the …
Friday Vocabulary
1. clarigation — solemn demand for redress made through heralds prior to declaration of war Despite their important mission, the members of the clarigation delegation were not immune to the siren song of the boogie woogie. 2. swadkin — diminutive of “swad” meaning country bumpkin, lout “Stop pressing that button, you pestiferous swadkin! Cannot …
Friday Vocabulary
1. sennight — seven days, a week It is difficult to believe that Christmas is only Tuesday sennight from today. 2. forearm — to arm beforehand I forearmed myself with the relevant facts in support of my plan to clean the filthy stables by tricking some godlike idiot into undertaking the job. 3. …
Friday Vocabulary
1. trow — to believe, to trust “The parson would never indulge in such reprehensible behavior, as I trow.” 2. theodolite — portable surveying instrument with telescopic sight for measuring horizontal, and sometimes vertical, angles The aging theodolite rarely was put into service, having been replaced in most mensural functions by wireless computer assisted …
Friday Vocabulary
1. drolatic — humorous, comically strange The drolatic characters and incidents in John Kennedy Toole’s prize-winning novel sometimes conceal and sometimes reveal the deep philosophic roots of this posthumously published fiction. 2. jodhpurs — riding pants cut very loosely over the hips and thighs with a tight fit from the calf to the ankle …
Friday Vocabulary
1. specie — coined money Though cash has become rare, specie is rarer still, for no one wants pennies scuffing a fancy phone case or screen. 2. gurning — making a silly or grotesque face [Brit.] Watching the facial tics and spasms of the psychics as they communicated telepathically made me think I had …
Friday Vocabulary
1. gormless — stupid, lacking in intelligence or vitality “If you are going to prefer the word of this gormless gamer to mine, so be it!” 2. gaum — to smear with a sticky substance Though the handle of his baseball bat had been thoroughly gaumed with pine tar, it still slipped effortlessly out …