1. jingo — bellicose patriot Appalled at Lord Muley’s quick insistence on massive reductions in the fleet, Sir Richard showed why he was considered the foremost jingo in the opposition with a long and loud speech of both hawkish and mawkish protest. 2. rondure — supple roundness; orb, sphere As they swung through the …
Tag Archives: bonus word
Friday Vocabulary
1. trunnion — one of pair of pivots supporting something; cylindrical projection from cannon supporting same on its carriage The bearings inside the telescope’s trunnions were manufactured to a previously unheard of precision, allowing the new astronomical wonder unparalleled accuracy in viewing the heavens. 2. okta — measurement of cloud cover equal to one …
Friday Vocabulary
1. doryphore — persistent pest, obstinately pedantic critic And of course Reinhard, the office doryphore, noticed that we’d had to change the printer paper, and that the later pages of the report used 92 brightness paper instead of the 96 bright at the beginning. 2. aoudad — Barbary sheep The hills around Hearst Castle …
Friday Vocabulary
1. gallipot — small glazed jar used by an apothecary Between the two of them they left hardly one gallipot of the sweet German wine given us by the count. 2. galipot — unrefined turpentine found on some European pines Though the galipot is of better quality than the dried barras more often found, …
Friday Vocabulary
1. lamella — gill of a mushroom; plate or scale of bone or other tissue The secondary lamellae arise within the spaces between the primary or earlier gills as those latter grow away from the stem. 2. syntagma (also syntagm [linguistics]) — syntactic component; arrangement of components producing meaning or a greater whole; phalanx …
Friday Vocabulary
1. azote — nitrogen Azote is necessary for most plants, though the form in which it can be absorbed varies; beets, for example, require nitrates for an abundant crop. 2. phlegm — sticky mucus from throat and lungs; one of the four humors of medieval medical theory, causing sluggish temperament; composure, calmness, apathy Funds …
Friday Vocabulary
1. raptus — seizure; ravishing, rape; medieval form of marriage by abduction Of course the most famous person accused of raptus is last week’s featured poet, Geoffrey Chaucer. 2. posture chair — office chair designed to support and conform to natural human form Ryback leaned back in the dark wooden posture chair which was …
Friday Vocabulary
1. williwaw (also williwau) — savage squall off cragged coasts in near-polar waters Never have I viewed a sudden storm with such joy as I did when I saw the dark clouds rage behind us in what had been clear waters as the williwaw arose suddenly to confound our pursuers. 2. sere — dry, …
Friday Vocabulary
1. corybantic — crazed, wild, frenzied, orgiastic We have no need for corybantic preaching and unbridled emotional appeal, for our program is a sane and reasoned approach of proven value. 2. spencer — short tight jacket of 19th century, often trimmed with fur when worn by women and children Not even taking time to …
Friday Vocabulary
1. loathe — to detest, to feel disgust for or towards I simply loathe the new branding, and don’t even get me started on what they’ve done to the mascot. 2. loath — unwilling, averse, reluctant Loath as I was to bring the bad news to Elsa, I realized that it was, after all, …