{"id":4444,"date":"2024-02-09T13:22:43","date_gmt":"2024-02-09T21:22:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/?p=4444"},"modified":"2024-02-09T13:22:43","modified_gmt":"2024-02-09T21:22:43","slug":"friday-vocabulary-285","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/?p=4444","title":{"rendered":"Friday Vocabulary"},"content":{"rendered":"

1. loosestrife<\/strong> \u2014 common name of flowering plants of two distinct genera: Lythrum<\/em> and Lysimachia<\/em><\/p>\n

So many flowers fall under the general rubric of the <\/em>loosestrifes that it is often unclear which is meant, as\u2014for example\u2014the scarlet pimpernel from which the famous hero took his name, which is one of over two hundred plants bearing the name <\/em>loosestrife.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2. pyretic<\/strong> \u2014 related to, causing or caused by fever<\/p>\n

But this sort of <\/em>pyretic philosophy has always been popular among college freshmen (emphasis on men<\/strong>) and latecomers to deep thought who believe they are the first to explore ideas about the nature of things.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

3. postulate<\/strong> \u2014 axiom; supposedly obvious assumption used as basis for argument<\/p>\n

Of course, one can see Euclid’s Fifth <\/em>Postulate as a bellwether for the vast changes that were to occupy turn-of-the-century mathematics, with Non-Euclidean Geometries only one of the first domains now captured by Functional Analysis.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

4. risaldar<\/strong> (also rissalder<\/strong>, ressaldar<\/strong>) \u2014 Indian calvary rank of a native commander of a horse regiment<\/p>\n

The mustachioed <\/em>risaldar looked doubtful, but as I held the Queen’s commission, he held his tongue.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

5. circumquaque<\/strong> \u2014 roundabout speech or writing<\/p>\n

He provided as apology before the actual work his own <\/em>circumquaque pretending to take offense at the author’s ideas that he was publishing, thus hoping to deflect the inevitable attacks and censorship which, indeed, followed immediately after he distributed the tendentious pamphlet.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

6. warrener<\/strong> \u2014 professional keeper or hunter of rabbits<\/p>\n

No man besides the <\/em>warrener saw the passage of the horsemen, and he saw them only darkly in the distance as he guarded his pens from foxes that moonless night.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

7. manticore<\/strong> \u2014 legendary beast with human face on the body of a lion and the tail of a scorpion or dragon<\/p>\n

“Do not be fooled by his very human, very charming bearded face, my young apprentice, for the <\/em>manticore has an insatiable hunger for flesh, for human flesh, and it is not a cannibal appetite but rather the monstrous bestiality of this vile creature that drives him, in spite of his honeyed words.”<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

8. clapper bridge<\/strong> \u2014 old style of bridge in which large stone slabs are laid across a creek or river, usually on stone piers<\/p>\n

The violence of the river in spate had pushed off one of the schist slabs from the <\/em>clapper bridge leading to the abbey, so the oxcarts had to take a long detour to the ford further down by Withinex.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

9. compere<\/strong> \u2014 [British<\/em>] master of ceremonies<\/p>\n

When I was chosen as <\/em>compere of my retiring boss’s roast, I had no idea how many drunken idiots I would have to ride herd on that long, long night.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

10. gaiter<\/strong> \u2014 lower leg covering worn over boot; covering for ankle and instep<\/p>\n

Presby wrote an entire monograph upon the uselessness of <\/em>gaiters as military footwear, unfortunately not realizing that the Colonel’s brother-in-law was supplying the same for the entire Army of the West.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bonus Vocabulary<\/h4>\n

(British military food slang, WWI era)<\/p>\n

Zepp<\/strong> \u2014 sausage<\/p>\n

We ate well, two <\/em>Zepps in a cloud, that is, two sausages on a ‘cloud’ of mashed potatoes.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1. loosestrife \u2014 common name of flowering plants of two distinct genera: Lythrum and Lysimachia So many flowers fall under the general rubric of the loosestrifes that it is often unclear which is meant, as\u2014for example\u2014the scarlet pimpernel from which the famous hero took his name, which is one of over two hundred plants bearing … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Friday Vocabulary”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[112,69],"class_list":["post-4444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vocabulary","tag-bonus-word","tag-vocabulary","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4444"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4446,"href":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4444\/revisions\/4446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}