1. Deo volente — god willing (abbr. D.V.) We shall be married this very day, and shall assume my curacy, Deo volente, next week. 2. sally port — opening in fortification for passage of troops making a sally Unbeknownst to Lord Dairnlee, however, the location of the sally port had been betrayed, and the …
Tag Archives: vocabulary
Friday Vocabulary
1. truncheon — broken off piece; fragment of spear or lance I must have the aid of a leech, for this truncheon causes me more pain that all the other blows I have suffered in this tourney. 2. sago — starch made from the pith of the trunks of several palms and cycads, used …
Friday Vocabulary
1. metonymy — rhetorical figure in which a thing or concept is used to refer to a thing with which it is associated or related Technically speaking, “BMWs are assholes” is metonymy rather than synecdoche, since the drivers are the assholes, and the cars are separate from the drivers. 2. fust — to grow …
Friday Vocabulary
1. hebdomadal — weekly He finally had a regular schedule and they began going out for dinner every Tuesday night, each of them looking forward to their hebdomadal outing. 2. piebald — having two-color patches, usu. black and white His chin had a piebald appearance due to his use of hair dye inappropriate for …
Friday Vocabulary
1. ale-bush — tavern sign Lost and friendless in the fog’s smother, how pleasant it was to come upon the hanging ale-bush above a dark wooden door. 2. surcingle — girth for horse or other animal that passes around belly and over pack, blanket, etc. to keep it in place What I first had …
Friday Vocabulary
1. resomation — disposal of dead bodies through alkaline hydrolysis, using lye and heat Resomation is being touted as an ecologically friendly alternative to cremation, but in the United States the process is legal only in sixteen states. 2. shambles — slaughterhouse; scene of carnage “It smells like a shambles,” said Joseph as we …
Friday Vocabulary
1. dogsbody — drudge, person given menial work Once I lowered my expectations from Senior Vice President to dogsbody I finally found a job opportunity. 2. pyogenic — pus-producing As if an antibiotic-resistant staph infection was not enough of a worry, now we learned that Larry was also in the throes of pyogenic meningitis. …
Friday Vocabulary
1. gnome — general maxim, aphorism, terse saying with a moral Since, like Polonius in Hamlet, his speech seems to consist primarily of gnomes and clichés, I doubt he would be able to follow this play’s sustained allegory. 2. shirtwaist — tailored blouse for women The old-fashioned establishment did not allow Jane to dine …
Friday Vocabulary
1. parergon — embellishment, thing subordinate to main subject Burgess maintains that the final chapter of A Clockwork Orange was essential to the novel and should never have been removed from the American edition, but Kubrick and many other readers have found it an unconvincing parergon. 2. adust — burnt up, scorched But under …
Friday Vocabulary
1. embonpoint — healthy plumpness; fleshy part of the body, esp. of the bosom Though two decades had passed, she seemed just the same — well, a slight tendency to embonpoint perhaps, which was only heightened by the stately curves of her gown. 2. catarrh — secretions from the nose and eyes which accompany …