{"id":5143,"date":"2025-12-05T10:44:30","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T18:44:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/?p=5143"},"modified":"2025-12-05T10:44:30","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T18:44:30","slug":"friday-vocabulary-374","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/?p=5143","title":{"rendered":"Friday Vocabulary"},"content":{"rendered":"

1. devilfish<\/strong> \u2014 octopus; piranha; devil ray; giant squid; other marine animals with (supposedly) malevolent mien<\/p>\n

And though that <\/em>devilfish had his suckers wound around the old man’s arm, the aged diver did not panic, but calmly extracted the octopus from his hiding spot.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2. firedog<\/strong> \u2014 andiron<\/p>\n

Smoke continued to leak into the room until Renee finally shoved back the <\/em>firedogs with the pointed end of her golf umbrella.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

3. wallop<\/strong> \u2014 [slang<\/em>] beer<\/p>\n

“After that fracas,” Pete said, wiping his forehead, “I need a pint of <\/em>wallop before I tell you two gents the whole tale.”<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

4. pseudocide<\/strong> (also pseuicide<\/strong>) \u2014 faked death<\/p>\n

But when they seemed ready to indict Eleanor for murder, Lance arose from the grave\u2014or rather returned from Belize where he’d been hiding\u2014to reveal that the whole stunt with the hang glider and the exploding banana boat had been merely an elaborate <\/em>psuedocide he’d concocted to escape the mounting pressure due to his malefactions at the bank, and though the authorities were never convinced by his protestations that his wife was not involved, she was never charged.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

5. bedizenment<\/strong> \u2014 gaudy manner of dress; vulgar decoration<\/p>\n

The purple, gold, and green <\/em>bedizenments of plastic top hats and kittens and playing cards and buxom silhouettes strewn around the walls of the dark chamber did not increase our confidence in this psychic’s ability.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

6. polled<\/strong> \u2014 without horns<\/p>\n

The <\/em>Polled Angus was one of only two of the many hornless cattle breeds which had any real success on American ranches.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

7. iniquitous<\/strong> \u2014 nefarious; flagrantly unfair<\/p>\n

As much as these political leaders may inveigh against these <\/em>iniquitous decisions, so far we have seen no attempts to stop, correct, or even investigate these patently immoral acts.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

8. bed-sitter<\/strong> (also bedsit<\/strong>, bedsitter<\/strong>)\u2014 small single room apartment with cooking facilities in the same room<\/p>\n

Agnes rented <\/em>bed-sitters by the month, week, and day, on a sliding scale as she said, though some of her tenants opined that the scale slid based on the desperation of the renter.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

9. kaddish<\/strong> (often capitalized) \u2014 prayer sequence in the Jewish faith; prayers for the dead<\/p>\n

Eli tried to explain the rules about who should say <\/em>kaddish and when, but, seeing my perplexity, he said, “The important thing, you see, is that our parents, our ancestors, they must be remembered and honored.”<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

10. anyhow<\/strong> \u2014 carelessly; in no particular manner, in any fashion whatsoever<\/p>\n

“Just put those boxes <\/em>anyhow over against that wall, and I’ll sort through them later.”<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bonus Vocabulary<\/h4>\n

(abbreviation)<\/p>\n

GFC<\/strong> \u2014 Global Financial Crisis, worldwide economic suffering which started at the end of 2007 and beginning of 2008 <\/p>\n

We were going gangbusters and had just expanded to five more stores when the <\/em>GFC wiped out not only our expansion but also our capital and credit and \u2026 well, everything.<\/em><\/p>\n

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

1. devilfish \u2014 octopus; piranha; devil ray; giant squid; other marine animals with (supposedly) malevolent mien And though that devilfish had his suckers wound around the old man’s arm, the aged diver did not panic, but calmly extracted the octopus from his hiding spot.   2. firedog \u2014 andiron Smoke continued to leak into the … <\/p>\n

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