{"id":5155,"date":"2025-12-26T10:24:06","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T18:24:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/?p=5155"},"modified":"2025-12-29T10:47:04","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T18:47:04","slug":"friday-vocabulary-377","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/?p=5155","title":{"rendered":"Friday Vocabulary"},"content":{"rendered":"

1. apanthropy<\/strong> \u2014 disdain for human companionship, predilection for solitude<\/p>\n

Among the many powerful feelings which the holidays always inspires in me, an overwhelming sense of <\/em>apanthropy is perhaps the strongest and most sustained.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2. flannelette<\/strong> \u2014 napped cotton made to resemble flannel<\/p>\n

Marcie wore a fleecy <\/em>flannelette nightgown striped in blue and yellow, and her hair was already perfect, even at this ungodly hour.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

3. duumvirate<\/strong> \u2014 two persons having joint power over something; rule by two people<\/p>\n

Babbage succumbed to either the poison or the poor doctoring and thus the ruling committee became a de facto <\/em>duumvirate.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

4. rhumb<\/strong> \u2014 line of navigation crossing successive meridians at a constant angle<\/p>\n

Obviously, therefore, the distance travelled following the <\/em>rhumbs will always be greater (though often not much greater) than a Great Circle route, unless the <\/em>rhumb is identical with a line of latitude.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

5. reach-me-down<\/strong> (often plural) \u2014 [British slang<\/em>] readymade clothes<\/p>\n

They think themselves so smart in their ill-fitting <\/em>reach-me-downs, so new the pleats can cause an injury.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

6. mereology<\/strong> \u2014 study or philosophy of relationships between parts and wholes<\/p>\n

But no <\/em>mereology could explain the violently discordant family dynamic in which I’d become ensconced this weekend, no logician could detail just which relative A had engendered the murderous actions of relative B, and no sage could tell me just what in the hell I should do now.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

7. flagroot<\/strong> (also flag root<\/strong>) \u2014 root of acorus calamus<\/em> (of the lily family), with supposed healing and hallucinogenic effects, banned in the U.S. for use in food due to its toxicity<\/p>\n

Well into the 1950s the Shakers sold candied <\/em>flagroot as part of their ultimately futile effort to raise income for the ever-decreasing community.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

8. blucher<\/strong> \u2014 leather half-boot, strong high shoe<\/p>\n

One more step and I was up to my <\/em>bluchers in the rank freezing water of one of the treacherous bogs in the moors.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

9. hare<\/strong> \u2014 to move with great quickness<\/p>\n

In the distance we could see young Carter inexplicably <\/em>haring about between the haystacks which dotted the field, as if he were searching for the proverbial needle under an extreme time limit.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

10. salmi<\/strong> \u2014 stew or ragout, usu. with game meat<\/p>\n

Mrs. Churchward took our brace of partridges and made a wonderful <\/em>salmi for that night’s supper, garnished with some orange slices that she found heaven knows where.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bonus Vocabulary<\/h4>\n

(derogatory UK slang)<\/p>\n

left-footed<\/strong> \u2014 Catholic, esp. an Irish Catholic, from supposed use of poor Irishmen of single-sided spades for digging <\/p>\n

“What’s the matter, doctor? You expected some superstitious nonsense from a silly old <\/em>left-footed Irish farmer? Maybe thought I’d be waving magic charms over the cows?”<\/em><\/p>\n

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

1. apanthropy \u2014 disdain for human companionship, predilection for solitude Among the many powerful feelings which the holidays always inspires in me, an overwhelming sense of apanthropy is perhaps the strongest and most sustained.   2. flannelette \u2014 napped cotton made to resemble flannel Marcie wore a fleecy flannelette nightgown striped in blue and yellow, … <\/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-5155","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\/5155","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=5155"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5159,"href":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5155\/revisions\/5159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}