Educated Guesswork

1. palestra — (ancient Greece) place devoted to public teaching and wrestling and athletics

Epicurus knew well how divisive his teachings were and preferred to instruct his followers at his home, shunning outdoor schools such as the Academy where onlookers would kibitz as if at the palestra.

  2. ataraxy — state of freedom from emotional distress and anxiety

Though sometimes confused with stoical indifference, ataraxy engenders a calm demeanor due to the strong philosophical foundation of the person blessed by its presence.

  3. contumacy — perverse and obstinate resistance to authority

Though the modern age may hardly give credence, a person’s indulgence in contumacy was once seen as a greater evil than his actual criminal acts.

  4. Toby — jug or mug formed in likeness of fat old man wearing a tricorn hat

One thing led to another, she pulled when I pushed, and with a cry from both of us the brightly colored Toby fell from our hands to shatter upon the faux marble tile, revealing an aged parchment which had been concealed therein.

  5. cumshaw — gratuity, present, tip

The British agents were completely ignorant of the cult of cumshaw and missed every hint I made of a bribe to speed us along our way.

  6. imprecation — act of cursing or invoking evil upon

Despite the muttered imprecations from the sullen crowd surrounding us, we removed the police tape and entered the supposedly abandoned warehouse.

  7. brassard — decorative cloth band worn on upper arm

I quickly removed the sergeant’s brassard and whipped it over my own right shoulder, hoping that my khaki shirt and the dim light would let me pass myself off as a military policeman.

  8. footy — paltry, worthless

For all your vain plaints, you shall see that this footy search for crimes will come to naught.

  9. apotheosis — deification, elevation to the rank of a god

Jon McNaughton brings a problematic set of allusions and portrayals in his charged and political art, not least of which is his apotheosis of the current occupant of the White House.

  10. plenum — space conceived of as completely filled with matter (usu. opposed to vacuum)

Descartes argued that all motion in the plenum was necessarily circular, and required an infinitely small division of matter.

1. valetudinarian — person obsessively concerned with his or her poor health

Their daughter caught what I call the valetudinarian disease, her parents worrying her so about any possible vector for germs in her environment that she seemed to have built up no resistance whatsoever to even the simplest illnesses, and thus she was always sick.

  2. shabracque — saddlecloth used by European hussars

Our regiment’s brave green and gold uniforms were repeated upon our shabraques, where the regimental crest was detailed in lustrous golden threads.

  3. sunder — to split or cleave

He continued to defend his peculiar concept of liberty and in that moment of excited over-explanation our partnership was sundered for evermore and I realized that I must needs search for a new knifeboy.

  4. outwith — outside

They will have to learn how to function outwith the European Union’s regulations.

  5. flavescent — yellowish, turning a pale yellow

My ill mood was not helped by the dawning morn, as the fog clung stubbornly and gave the daylight a sickly flavescent aura that betokened no good.

  6. logy — dull in thought or movement

I pulled myself out of the couch where I had passed out earlier and trod with logy steps up the stairs, every muscle in my thighs and knees protesting.

  7. merlon — upright section of battlement between crenels

I ducked back behind the merlon to quickly reload my crossbow, turning the cranequin as quickly as possible, when I spied a small enemy party that had breeched the wall opposite.

  8. hobbledehoy — an awkward youth

Do not be fooled into thinking that these ideas are merely the vain musings of some hobbledehoy upon subjects outside his ken, for just as all youths grow and and some grow wiser, so may these ungainly ideas mature into persuasive thoughts which could set the pattern for decades to come.

  9. goffer — to flute or crimp by means of a heated iron

She sat in the dark with her costume discarded, save for the goffered collar always associated with the first Queen Elizabeth.

  10. slattern — slovenly woman or girl

We were served weak ale by a short, plump slattern who refused to serve young John until we gave her an extra copper.

1. clepsydra — ancient timekeeping device using discharge of water to measure time; water-clock

Like water through the clepsydra, so are the days of our lives.

  2. frass — insect excrement

The spider webs behind the appliances were spotted with frass that betrayed the unseen life forces which threatened the old homestead.

  3. burble — (aeronautics) breakdown of smooth airflow into turbulence

At this angle of attack our wing’s leading edge began to suffer from burble and I feared we would stall at any moment.

  4. combe — deep hollow or short valley

The fog lay heavy in the combe making it impossible to spy any enemy forces which might be sheltered there.

  5. sumpter — pack animal

I hired two horses at the livery stable, as well as a sumpter pony to carry our supplies and the mining tools.

  6. postern — side or back entrance

We left by the postern gate an hour before dawn, hoping to escape the notice of the watchers posted opposite the drawbridge.

  7. ordure — excrement, dung

The medieval alleys were plagued by heaps of ordure from chamberpots lying in wait for the unwary pedestrian.

  8. superficies — outer surface

“The territory of the thirteen original States of the Union comprehended a superficies of 371,124 English square miles.”

  9. ewer — wide mouthed jug

I poured some water into the basin from the ewer standing ready by my bed.

  10. wherry — light rowboat

I paid an oarsman to take me across the river in his wherry.

1. brickbat — piece of brick, esp. when used as a missile

Piled behind the barricades were cobblestones and brickbats to be used against the government troops during the inevitable reactionary assault.

  2. fret — to gnaw; to wear away by gnawing, friction, corrosion, etc.

He was proudest of the ivory box lid in which he had fretted a bas-relief depicting the defeat of Burgoyne at Saratoga.

  3. halation — blurring around edges in photographic image beyond proper boundaries, creating local fog around highlights, etc.

The UFOs seemed impossible to focus upon, and we saw instead a reddish halation rather than a definable edge, even as the craft drew closer to our dismasted schooner.

  4. fettle — condition, state

The fish were in a fine fettle, showing the attentive care lavished upon them and their aquarium.

  5. aumbry (archaic spelling of ambry) — cupboard, locker; recess in church wall for storage (of sacramental vessels, books, etc.)

He pulled back the rough wooden door, but the aumbry was bare, the sacred silver noticeable only by its absence.

  6. coulter (also colter) — blade fixed before the plowshare, cutting soil vertically

A lively debate broke out after everyone had finished their second glass of wine, as to whether the introduction of the coulter to the heavy plough in the middle ages led to increased concentration of population in farming centres.

  7. tardigrade — slow moving or slow walking; of or relating to sloths; of or relating to water-bears

The tardigrade action of the sloth belies the inherent strength of these magnificent animals.

  8. moil — to drudge, to work hard; to wallow in mire

You will never get rich if you moil uselessly with nothing put aside for the morrow.

  9. ecdysis — shedding of integument by reptiles, crustaceans, etc.

His was unfortunately an incomplete ecdysis, as a large portion of shedded skin continued to adhere to the claws on his right forefoot, leaving the harassed gecko annoyed and alarmed.

  10. starling — pointed set of pilings around a bridge pier for protecting from the impact of debris or vessels

We pushed off the boat-like starlings as we drifted beneath the bridge, our prow just passing by the half prow of the wooden pilings.

1. jade — vicious, worn-out, or worthless horse; disreputable woman

Though she be but a jade your contemptuous attitude towards her does you no credit.

  2. circumvallation — state of being surrounded by rampart or entrenchment

Vercingetorix was unable to lift the siege of Alesia after the circumvallation of that settlement, leading to the final victory of Caesar over the Gauls.

  3. plaudit — marked expression of approval, applause

He claimed to disdain the plaudits of the critics and crowds because of his dedication to his art, but we suspected that it was not their approval he truly craved.

  4. singlet — close-fitting woolen undershirt or jersey, usu. sleeveless

When we came upon the murderer, he stood over the body dressed only in a white singlet and shorts, like some Victorian era boxer in training.

  5. stile — steps or rungs permitting person to pass over wall or fence whilst forming barrier for sheep, cattle, etc.

As Alice approached the stile she saw that the Red Knight had gotten hopelessly stuck in the fence and was now hanging upside down, suspended from a large dutch oven strapped to his back.

  6. mordant — caustic, biting

She evinced more of a mordant witlessness, as when she remonstrated the company that she couldn’t imagine why they were decrying the collapse of civilization when her shoes were chafing her feet very terribly.

  7. slue — to turn about an object’s axis; to swing around

Our ship’s boy was foolishly showing off his balance on the port tip of the spar when the ship left the lea of the cliffs, the sudden wind from that quarter causing the spar to slue, sending the boy headlong into the sea.

  8. reticle — fine wires or threads placed within eyepiece of telescope, etc. to facilitate accurate observation

Adjusting for windage, the silent observer targeted his next victim in the reticle of his gunsight.

  9. reticule — small bag or purse, usu. woven

Though the delicate lace network of her reticule seemed quite frail, I was astounded by the sheer volume and mass of the objects she habitually carried in her handbag.

  10. send down — to expel

Thus we learned that he had been sent down from Dublin University for “acts of an immoral nature”, to our great dismay.

1. dark lantern — lantern with a shutter to hide the light

“Watson, be sure to bring the dark lantern so that we can conceal our presence in the chamber after traversing the underground paths to the tomb.”

 

2. arrant — notorious, unmitigated

We have rarely heard such arrant falsehoods since Satan was imprisoned in Hell.

 

3. withe — pliant twig or stem used for binding

Before plastic, packages might be tied up with withes, one possible option for the post-plastic age to come.

 

4. vinous — relating to wine; caused by indulgence in wine

I was appalled by his vinous visage hovering so closely over my own face, the rubicund and swollen nose seeming like a diseased sinking sun.

 

5. ostler — person responsible for horses, esp. at an inn

In the darkened stables we found our young ostler, apparently kicked and killed by one of his charges.

 

6. ceorl — one of the lowest rank of freemen, in medieval times (more commonly churl)

Though he had the support of every rank from barons to ceorls, Harold could not stave off the invasion of the Normans, coming so close on the heels of his battle in the north with Harald Hardrada at Stamford Bridge.

 

7. lapidescence — petrifaction, quality of turning into stone

The shores of the salt sea shimmered in the setting sun, the sparkling lapidescence creating an eerie shine along the lifeless coastline.

 

8. contumely — scornful rudeness or abuse

If a southern gentleman is never unintentionally rude, his claim to that title was not lessened one iota by the insolent contumely he heaped upon his nemesis.

 

9. atrabilious — melancholy; splenetic

She feared that he was in an atrabilious temper this morn, and would give short shrift to the reasoned arguments she had marshaled.

 

10. Laodicean — person lukewarm in religion, politics, etc.

For all the shrill voices condemning third-party candidates, the real danger to democracy comes from the hordes of Laodiceans who constitute even at this hour an immense portion of the body politic.

1. kakistocracy — government by the worst citizens

If all good people abdicate their responsibilities as citizens, eventually we shall all live under a kakistocracy.

  2. exuberate — to be exuberant; to abound

I would fain exuberate your news has moved me so!

  3. stillicide — a falling (as of water) in drops

The laws of stillicide govern where the fault lies when rainwater falls from one person’s roof onto the property of another.

  4. preterlabent — gliding or floating past

The fallen leaves formed a preterlabent flotilla of red and gold upon the slow moving stream.

  5. trocar — perforator enclosed in a cannula or metal tube used in surgery for draining fluids, etc.

His victims were stabbed with an embalming trocar, which though thematic is a rather punctilious weapon.

  6. zugzwang — a position in chess in which every move leads to a worse situation

I was trapped in an emotional zugzwang, for if I did not tell her of my indiscretions Jenks would continue his blackmail, while if I did tell her she would be irrevocably hurt.

  7. theriac — antidote; specifically a medical paste compounded of many ingredients used by Greeks to cure poisons

As yet no sage has discovered the alchemy by which a theriac for racial hatred may be compounded.

  8. rubicund — red, reddish, red-faced

Santa Claus is usually portrayed as a portly rubicund fellow, though his overall good health is never questioned.

  9. hymnody — the singing or composition of hymns

Though Routley was a noted expert on hymnody, he also wrote one work about Puritan themes in the modern detective story.

  10. garth — enclosed ground, usu. beside a building, yard, etc.

The stables, barn, and other outbuildings formed a garth for the horses, with only a short length of fencing with a gate completing the paddock.

1. fleer — to grin or laugh in a rude or coarse manner

How my old low companions did fleer when I confessed to them that my great plans for a tremendous heist had been foiled by two meek nuns and a truculent novitiate.

  2. empennage — the stern of an airplane or airship, usually including the tail fin, rudder, stabilizer, and elevator

The jungle had buried most of the broken twin-prop craft beneath a coverlet of almost black green foliage, making it all the more surprising that the plane’s empennage remained unscarred and uncovered, the blue and white logo on the soaring tail appearing freshly painted.

  3. shoat — young weaned pig

Blake held the shoat by its ears until the young porker freed itself with a sudden twist.

  4. reave — to rob, to plunder (also as reive)

“Better to have actual pirates burn me out of house and home than to have my inheritance reft by these pretended relatives and their satanic solicitors!”

  5. phalera — sculpted metal disk worn on the breast as military award

The modern military challenge coin may be the descendent of the ancient Roman phalerae, though it is doubtful that any Roman legion would have wished to honor Coast Guard Memes.

  6. truckle — to submit timidly; to submit from unworthy motives

Hoping to truckle his way into her pants, Jerome told her that he would be happy to listen to some more country music.

  7. pellucid — transparent, translucent; clear in style or expression

The deceptive ease with which E.B. White’s pellucid prose moves the reader masks a deep mastery of words and a workmanlike craft.

  8. heterodyne — method by which an incoming radio signal has a signal of only slightly different frequency added to it, causing ‘beats’ to occur

The actual working of the device would have been undetectable to the human ear had not a heterodyne effect been created by other electronics in the room, so that a very subtle beating was noticeable when the surveillance gear was in operation.

  9. noria — device for raising water, consisting of buckets on a chain or wheel, the buckets filling with water at the bottom and discharging the water at the top, used in Spain and Asia

Besides providing water for the monastery, the peasants also used the noria as a convenient, if slightly wet, elevator into the building.

  10. gyve — (usu. pl.) shackles, esp. for legs

The hopeless coffle made its awkward way past the coach, each slave affecting a strange bow-legged gait because of the gyves binding his ankles.