Friday Vocabulary

1. lithia water — mineral water containing lithium salts While it is true that 7-Up tried to capitalize on the craze for lithia water with its original name, the soft drink never contained any lithium, unlike the Coca-Cola product mentioned above.   2. kirmess (also kermesse or kermis) — street fair in Dutch or German …

Friday Vocabulary

1. chalybeate — containing iron salts The town council decided that our chalybeate springs should be highlighted in the promotional materials.   2. gynander — woman with characteristics of a man In response to the nascent women’s movements of the fin de siècle, the forces of reaction posited a pretended threat from gynanders who would …

Friday Vocabulary

1. dawamesc (also Dawamesk) — greenish edible paste or marmalade consisting of hashish mixed with butter, sugar or honey, pistachios, cinnamon and other spices, musk, nutmeg, pine nuts, orange juice Perhaps the Algerian dawamesc was the first introduction into Europe of cannabis edibles, being served in 1844 at the Club des Hashischins in Paris.   …

Friday Vocabulary

1. finca — large estate in Spain or Hispano-America The Labor Law of 1894 established the right of any worker in Guatemala to seek employment outside his finca on days when the owner was not using his labor.   2. trichiliocosm — [Buddhism] third order world of thousands of thousands of worlds, conception of universe …

Friday Vocabulary

1. dapperling — dwarf or child, esp. one neatly dressed; mushroom of the Agaricaceae family Face to face finally with my tormentor, I found him to be a smartly turned out dapperling with the missing monocle suspended like a mayoral chain beneath his chic imperial beard, and confess I did not know whether to bow …

Friday Vocabulary

1. crocodile — line of walking persons, esp. when composed of children Like some strange Pied Piper I led the crocodile through the rubble and broken walls, hoping the older children would encourage the younger and prevent those toddlers from falling aside before we had reached some semblance of safety.   2. gramercy — [archaic] …

Friday Vocabulary

1. ogee — [architecture] double curve with S-shaped cross-section Looking like a bubble or onion atop the larger main chamber of the still, the ogee before the neck allows the distillate to cool and condense, dropping some of the heavier products back into the pot and creating a purer, more satisfying, product.   2. Hierosolymite …

Friday Vocabulary

1. pasquinade — lampoon, satire The plywood boards over the old store windows were covered with rude (and crude) pasquinades of The Leader’s dalliance with the Princess of Earl, which some soul had tried to counter rudely (and crudely) by smearing the word ‘NO!’ over the broadsheets in black house paint.   2. circumjacent — …