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 …
Tag Archives: vocabulary
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 — …
Friday Vocabulary
1. ragout — highly seasoned meat dish I despise mutton in all its forms, and no amount of spices will make this ragout palatable to me. 2. connubial — of or related to wedlock or the state of marriage If it was not in the eyes of law and society exactly connubial it was …
Friday Vocabulary
1. perissodactyl — ungulate with an odd number of toes, such as equids, tapirs, and rhinos I slunk back into the bushes and retreated across the wash to avoid the perissodactyl and allowed a wide margin before returning to the path, hoping I’d left the rhino far behind. 2. quadragesimal — of or related …
Friday Vocabulary
1. borborygmus — stomach noise made by internal gas movement; wamble I desperately hoped the girl was asleep on her side of my California king size bed, though the rude borborygmi I was plagued with seemed loud enough to wake the dead. 2. conservatory — preserving from loss or damage These methods are not …
Friday Vocabulary
1. rising — [informal] nearly, almost It was rising two in the morning before we were all prepared, with Vince insisting on carrying his ridiculous stiletto unsheathed in his left hand. 2. bulla — [biology] blister, vesicle; [biology] hollow spaces within bone structures; [historical] clay balls or containers, often with external writing detailing contents; …
Friday Vocabulary
1. defecate — [obsolete] made pure, clarified; spiritually or morally purified Thus may defecate reason attain an even greater appreciation of more universal truth in forging with faith an antinomy stronger than mere material science. 2. anorak — [UK slang] obsessive fan, esp. of trains He’s a total anorak about 2000 AD and especially …
Friday Vocabulary
1. dingle — wooded valley Below the prominence lay a dark dingle which formed a precipitous barrier to any invading force, a steep ditch formed by the stream that even when fordable during the dry days of summer, still had treacherous rocks aplenty to turn the hooves of cavalry and men. 2. dingle — …