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Vocabulary Words

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This is a running list of vocabulary words I've encountered in my reading over the last several years. I use the vocabulary-list feature on my Kindle to collect words, then export them from the Sqlite database with a simple SQL. From there, I have a text file with words that I combine with my existing list, deduplicate and then re-apply formatting to generate the text below. I will occasionally update this list. <info>Where a word (e.g. "reef") has a common definition, I've left it off, preferring to include the more-unusual or rarer definition or definitions.</info> <div style="margin-left: 1em"> <ol> Word -- Definition a fortiori -- For a still stronger reason; all the more a-signifying -- Incidentally meaningful semiotics; effective but not directly connected to intent, meaning or significance (e.g. <a href="https://larvalsubjects.wordpress.com/2011/01/26/a-signifying-semiotics/">purchase-history--based recommendations</a>) abdominous -- Pot-bellied abiogenesis -- The development of living organisms from nonliving matter. (the original definition included "supposed" before "development", but it must have happened at least once or I'd not be writing this) abjure -- To renounce or retract, esp. formally, solemnly, or under oath ablative -- Related to removal through melting or evaporation abnegation -- Self-denial; renunciation of your own interests in favor of the interests of others abrogation -- To abolish or annul, esp. by an authority absquatulate -- To depart in a hurry; abscond abstruse -- Difficult to understand; obscure accidie -- Spiritual sloth; apathy; indifference acedia -- Spiritual torpor and apathy; ennui. acidulous -- Slightly acrid in taste or manner acnestis -- On an animal, the point of the back that lies between the shoulders and the lower back, which cannot be reached to be scratched acrostic -- Poem or text where the first letters of each line form a message adamant -- (n): Extremely hard substance adduce -- To cite as an example or means of proof in an argument adenoidal -- Nasal in tone adiabatic -- Occurring without gain or loss of heat adjunct -- Added or connected in a subordinate or auxiliary capacity adjuvant -- A treatment that enhances an existing medical regimen, as a pharmacological agent added to a drug to increase or aid its effect. adumbrate -- To give a sketchy outline advesperate -- To approach evening aerostat -- A lighter-than-air vehicle, like a balloon or dirigible aerumnous -- Full of trouble aesculapian -- Related to the art of medicine aesthete -- A person who is unusually sensitive to beauty in art or nature aetiology -- The philosophy or study of causation; variant of etiology affiant -- One who makes an affidavit. afflatus -- A strong creative impulse, especially as a result of divine inspiration. affray -- A riot; a large group fighting aftosa -- Another name for foot-and-mouth disease. aga -- leader (civil or military) in the Ottoman empire agitprop -- subversive writing; see samizdat agnatology -- the study of culturally-induced ignorance agonistic -- Argumentative; striving for effect; strained aiguillette -- An ornamental cord worn on the shoulder of a military uniform ailurophobia -- Extreme or irrational fear of cats. akinesia -- Loss of normal motor function, resulting in impaired muscle movement akrasia -- Weakness of will; acting contrary to one’s moral values Albion -- Britain or England aleatory -- Dependent on chance alee -- On the leeward side alembic -- Distilling apparatus consisting of two vessels and a tube aliform -- Shaped like a wing; alar alkahest -- The hypothetical universal solvent once sought by alchemists. amanuensis -- An assistant ambuscade -- An ambush amethyst -- Purple or violet quartz amphisbaena -- Mythical Greek ant-eating serpent with a head at each end anaclitic -- Psychologically dependent on others anacoenosis -- An appeal by the speaker to his opponents or to the audience for an opinion of the point anadem -- A wreath or garland for the head. analysand -- A person who is being psychoanalyzed anamnesis -- 1. A recalling to memory; recollection; 2. the case history of a patient anastomosis -- Connection of parts of a branching system to form a network (e.g. blood vessels or rivers) ancho -- A dried poblano pepper. andirons -- A pair of metal supports used for holding up logs in a fireplace anfract -- [definition unknown] (from Umberto Eco, The Island of the Day Before (<iq>[...] following its rifts and anfracts, past corridors of chalk in which vinous harlequins were stuck</iq>) anhedonia -- Inability to express pleasure anile -- unable to think clearly or infirm because of old age anisotropic -- Having properties that differ based on the direction of measurement (e.g. oval) anodyne -- Uncontentious or inoffensive anoesis -- Absence of thought (anoetic) anorak -- A socially inept person with a hobby considered by most people to be boring anorectic -- Marked by loss of appetite (anorexic) anserine -- Goose-like anterior -- Before or in front of; previously anthroponymy -- The study of the names of human beings (syn: anthroponomastics) antimacassar -- A protective and often decorative covering for the back or arms of a chair or sofa. antinomian -- One who denies the fixed meaning or universal applicability of moral law antinomy -- A contradiction between two beliefs or conclusions that are in themselves reasonable; a paradox antipodes -- Group of rocky island near New Zealand, almost directly opposite Greenwich, England aperçus -- A discerning perception; an insight. apodictic -- Logically certain; demonstrably true or false apophasis -- Allusion to something by denying that it will be mentioned, as in I will not bring up my opponent's questionable financial dealings apophatic -- Of or relating to the belief that God can only be described by a process of negation apophenia -- The tendency to perceive connections and meaning between unrelated things; confirmation bias aporetic -- A doubt, real or professed, about what to do or say aporia -- An insoluble contradiction or paradox in a text's meanings. Aposematic -- Having bright, colorful markings that warn predators of poison; a doubt, real or professed, about what to do or say apostasy -- Abandonment of one’s religious faith, party or a cause apothegm -- A maxim apotheosis -- Deification; exaltation to divine rank (nirvana) apotropaic -- Intended to ward off evil appanage -- Provision (usually land) granted (usually to a family member) as a source of revenue apperception -- Conscious perception with full awareness apposite -- Appropriate or relevant approbation -- Official approval appurtenance -- 1. appendage; 2. gear arbalest -- Crossbow-like missile launcher architrave -- The lintel or beam lying across two columns arcology -- A portmanteau of architecture" and "ecology", a very densely populated habitat (page 231 of Reamde) arhat -- One who has attained enlightenment. armamentarium -- The complete range of materials available or used for a task armet -- A late-medieval light helmet with a neck guard and movable visor armillary -- Of or relating to the arm (e.g. bracelets) arquebus -- A portable, long-barrelled gun, predecessor to the rifle arrant -- Utter; out-and-out arras -- A tapestry, wall hanging or curtain (usually Flemish) arreptitious -- Snatched away; seized or possessed, as a demoniac; raving; mad; crack-brained artilect -- A machine or robot possessing artificial intelligence asafetida -- A plant common to Iran and Afghanistan; produces a brownish, strong-smelling resin askesis -- The exercise of rigorous self-discipline, especially mental self-discipline practiced as a means to spiritual growth. aspirate -- To draw in or remove by inhalation or suction, esp to suck (air or fluid) from a body cavity or to inhale (fluid) into the lungs after vomiting asseveration -- A positive and emphatic declaration assignation -- A tryst astragal -- A molding that covers a gap (usually to prevent airflow) ataraxia -- A calm of mind; serenity ataxic -- Loss of the ability to coordinate muscle movement (Lucky Jim) Ativan -- Tranquilizer; trade name for lorazepam atrabilious -- Melancholy; peevish; surly attenuate -- To become slender, fine or small auscultate -- To listen to sounds produced by the body (e.g. heartbeat) autarky -- Quality of being self-sufficient, as in a state or economy autoclave -- A heavy vessel for sterilizing or cooking by means of steam under pressure. autochthonous -- Local; native; indigenous autolatrous -- Self-worshiping autopoiesis -- A closed system capable of creating itself autotelic -- Having a purpose in and justifying itself avariciously -- Greedily, immoderately so aventurine -- A form of quartz; green; translucent with a shimmering or glistening effect avulsion -- The forcible tearing away of a body part; change in landscape due to flooding or riverbed changes baize -- Coarse woolen cloth (used e,g, to cover snooker or billiard tables) balanitis -- Inflammation of the glans penis, usually due to infection balatron -- Jester or buffoon balboa -- The official currency of Panama baldachin -- A canopy of state over an altar or throne ballista -- Medieval field weapon similar to a crossbow (heavy projectiles) basque -- A woman's close-fitting bodice. bast -- The phloem of a plant (bast fiber) bastinado -- A beating on the soles of the feet Batavia -- A former name for Jakarta bathetic -- Portmanteau of bathos and pathetic (anticlimactic, banal, trite) bathypelagic -- Relating to or inhabiting the layer of the water column of the open ocean that lies between the mesopelagic and abyssopelagic layers at depths of about 1,000 to 4,000 meters batrachian -- An amphibian, esp. a frog or a salamander battement -- 1. In dance, a kicking movement done with a lifted leg. 2. A beating; striking; impulse. baulk -- Line from which croquet, snooker, billiard ball is put into play (or the area behind it) beadle -- Church usher beignet -- A square doughnut without a hole; a fritter beldam -- A hag (also written as beldame) belie -- To misrepresent benedicence -- Benevolence in speech benthic -- Of or pertaining to the bottom of a body of water besom -- Twigs tied to a handle to make a broom bezique -- A card game for two or more players with tricks similar to whist (or pinochle) but with additional points scored for honours and sequences: played with two packs with nothing below a seven bezoar -- hard, indigestible mass of food in the stomach or intestines bibelot -- A small decorative object; a trinket bidonville -- A shantytown on the outskirts of a city, especially in France or North Africa. bight -- A loop in a rope; a wide bay characterized by a bend or curve bilious -- Peevish; ill-humored biretta -- Square hat worn by ecclesiastics, with three or four ridges on the brow bitts -- A post on the deck of a ship to which ropes or cables are secured blackleg -- 1. A livestock or plant disease, usually fatal. 2. A cardsharp blench -- To draw back or shy away, as from fear; flinch bloater -- A large mackerel or herring, salted, smoked and dried bodkin -- A long needle or awl; a dagger or stiletto boffin -- A person who has extensive skill or knowledge in a particular field (Brit.; similar to wonk in Amer.) bolster -- A long, narrow pillow or cushion bombilate -- To make a certain noise or sound. To buzz. boracic -- Having no money; Brit. slang borage -- Southern European bristly herb with blue or purplish, star-shaped flowers bothy -- Small hut or cottage (Scot.) bourg -- 1. A market town. 2. A medieval village, especially one situated near a castle. boustrophedonic -- A script that is simultaneously left-to-right and right-to-left bowdlerize -- To expurgate literary material; to censor boyar -- A member of the nobility of Russia, before Peter the Great bract -- A leaflike or scalelike plant part, usually small, sometimes showy or brightly colored, and located just below a flower, a flower stalk, or an inflorescence bradycardia -- Slowness of the heart rate (usually less than 60BPM) brassica -- Genus that includes cabbage, swede, rape and mustard breechclout -- A loincloth breezeway -- An enclosure joining two parts of a building (e.g. a house and its garage) brigandine -- Flexible body armor covered in cloth bromidrosis -- Body odor bruit -- A din or clamor brume -- Fog or mist burgeon -- To begin to grow or blossom (to put forth buds) burgoo -- Any of several thick stews, originally an oatmeal porridge. burbot -- A freshwater food fish (Lota lota) of northern regions of the Northern Hemisphere, closely related to and resembling the cod and having a long barbel on the chin. Also called cusk, eelpout. buskin -- A thick-soled laced half boot worn by actors of Greek and Roman tragedies buttonholer -- Someone who accosts or detains (a person) in conversation cabochon -- A highly polished, convex-cut, unfaceted gem cabotage -- Law or policy protecting transporters of passengers and goods within a country from competition from foreign carriers. cachalot -- Sperm whale cadastral -- A public register showing details of ownership of the real property in a district, including boundaries and tax assessments caduceus -- A herald’s wand or staff (usually refers to the two serpents logo of Hermes’s staff used by the medical profession) caecotrophs -- Animals that are coprophagous (eat their own excrement) cafard -- A feeling of severe depression (from the French, literally hypocrite, cockroach) caique -- A long narrow rowboat traditionally used on the Bosporus. caisson -- A watertight structure for performing work or repairs under water caitiff -- A despicable coward; a wretch caleche -- A light two- or four-wheeled horse-draw carriage calenture -- A tropical fever thought to be caused by heat; similar to sunstroke caliche -- A mineral deposit of gravel, sand, and nitrates caliginous -- Dark, misty and gloomy calk -- 1. A spiked plate that is fixed on the bottom of a shoe to prevent slipping and preserve the sole.; 2. A pointed extension on the toe or heels of a horseshoe, designed to prevent slipping. callipygian -- Relating to or having buttocks that are considered beautifully proportioned callow -- Immature calque -- To make a loan translation from (a word in another language) caltrop -- Metal spikes thrown across a road calvados -- A French brandy made from apples. canaille -- The common people; the masses; the hoi polloi candlewick -- A fabric resembling chenille, made with closely-spaced tufts of cotton and used primarily for bedspreads and robes canebrake -- A piece of ground covered with a dense growth of canes canescent -- Turning white or grayish; becoming hoary cannula -- A tube inserted into a body cavity (e.g. a nose tube) cantrip -- A deceptive move; a sham caoutchouc -- Untreated rubber caparison -- Fancy dress or ornamentation for a man or horse (or to make fancy by decorating in this way) capercaillie -- A large grouse (Tetrao urogallus), native to northern Europe and having dark plumage and a fanlike tail. Also called wood grouse. capsid -- A virus’s protein coat captious -- Nitpicky; deliberately confusing; underhanded debating tactics caracole -- A half-turn performed by a horse and rider (or to perform same) caravansary -- An inn built around a large court for accommodating caravans (mostly in Asia) carnelian -- A pale to deep red or reddish-brown variety of clear chalcedony, used in jewelry. casement -- A window or part of a window set on a hinge so that it opens like a door casuistical -- Specious reasoning intended to mislead castrum -- An old Roman fortress or encampment catabolic -- The metabolic breakdown of complex molecules into simpler ones, often resulting in a release of energy. catafalque -- A funeral bier catamenial -- Of or relating to menstruation or the menses catamite -- A boy who has a sexual relationship with a man. cataphract -- A defensive armor, often made of link mail, used for the entire body (also covering a horse in cavalry) catastasis -- The part of a drama immediately preceding the climax catawampus -- Skewed, twisted catchpenny -- Designed and made to sell without concern for quality; cheap. catechism -- 1. A manual giving basic instruction in a subject, usually by rote or repetition; 2. A body of fundamental principles or beliefs, especially when accepted uncritically catechumen -- A novice; one who is being instructed at an elementary level catenary -- The curve formed by a cable suspended by its endpoints caudal -- Situated beneath or on the underside; inferior; opposite of anterior caudillo -- A leader or chief, especially a military dictator. cautery -- The act or process or cauterizing (or an agent used to cauterize) cavil -- To quibble cenotaph -- A monument honoring a person buried elsewhere cerements -- A burial cloth cernuous -- Drooping, as the leaves of a plant chaff -- Trivial or worthless matter; dry bracts of seeds, removed during threshing; metal bits emitted by a plane to foil radar chalcedony -- A translucent to transparent milky or grayish quartz chancel -- The space around the altar of a church for the clergy and sometimes the choir, often enclosed by a lattice or railing. chancellery -- The rank, position, office or department of a chancellor chandler -- One that makes or sells candles chaparral -- An area covered by a dense growth of mostly small-leaved evergreen shrubs charas -- A cannabis concentrate made from the resin of a live cannabis plant; from the Urdu/Hindi charivari -- An elaborate, noisy celebration, often mocking (page 508 of the Idiot) chary -- 1. Very cautious; wary; 2. Not giving or expending freely; sparing chatelaine -- The mistress of a castle or of a large, fashionable household; a hooklike clasp with chains for suspending small objects, as keys worn at the waist by women esp. in the 18th and 19th centuries chautauqua -- A summer school or educational meeting held in the summer chiasmus -- Reversal of the order of words in the second of two parallel phrases: he came in triumph and in defeat departs. chiaroscuro -- The technique of using light and shade in pictorial representation chiasmus -- A rhetorical inversion of the second of two parallel structures, as in "Each throat / Was parched, and glazed each eye" (Samuel Taylor Coleridge). chicane -- 1. An artificial narrowing or turn on a road or auto-racing course; 2. To resort to tricks or subterfuges chicle -- The coagulated milky latex of the sapodilla, formerly used as the principal ingredient of chewing gum. chilblain -- An inflammation followed by itchy irritation on the hands, feet, or ears, resulting from exposure to moist cold chimerical -- Highly improbable or illusory chine -- 1. The backbone or spine, esp. of an animal; 2. a cut of meat containing same chintz -- A printed and glazed cotton fabric, usually of bright colors Chiron -- The wise centaur who tutored Achilles, Hercules, and Asclepius chiropodist -- A podiatrist or foot doctor chiton -- 1. A mollusk that lives on rocks and has a shell consisting of eight overlapping calcareous plates. Also called sea cradle or coat-of-mail shell; 2. A tunic worn by men and women in ancient Greece choad -- a. A penis (esp. one that is wider than it is long); 2. Someone who is obnoxious or annoying chode -- Past tense of chide cholecystitis -- Inflammation of the gallbladder choropleth -- A symbol or marked and bounded area on a map denoting the distribution of some property chronophagy -- Something that wastes (or "eats") time. chyme -- Semi-fluid mass of partly digested food/bolus in the stomach chyron -- A graphic that is digitally superimposed over the lower portion of a broadcast television image, often scrolling or otherwise animated cichlid -- Any of numerous tropical and subtropical chiefly freshwater fishes of the family Cichlidae, which includes the tilapias and many species that are popular as aquarium fish. cimicine -- Smelling like bugs circumvallate -- Encircle as with a rampart cisalpine -- Relating to, living on, or coming from the southern side of the Alps cislunar -- Of or relating to the space between the earth and the moon clabber -- Sour, curdled milk; to curdle clafoutis -- A baked dessert composed of a layer of fresh fruit topped with a thick batter. Chiefly French. clapboard -- 1. A long thin timber board with one edge thicker than the other, used in wood-frame construction by lapping each board over the one below; 2. a house made of same clavis -- 1. A key; 2. A glossary clepsydra -- An instrument designed to measure time by the fall or flow of a quantity of water; also called a "water clock" clerestory -- A portion of an interior rising above adjacent rooftops and having windows admitting daylight. clerisy -- Educated people considered as a group; the literati. cloistered -- Secluded or shut up from the world clotted cream -- A thick cream made primarily in England by heating milk until a layer of cream forms on its surface that is then cooled and skimmed off clyster -- An enema coadunate -- Closely joined; grown together; united. cockade -- An ornament, such as a rosette or knot of ribbon, usually worn on the hat as a badge. codon -- A sequence of three adjacent nucleotides constituting the genetic code that determines the insertion of a specific amino acid in a polypeptide chain during protein synthesis or the signal to stop protein synthesis coffle -- A line of animals or slaves, chained together coir -- The fiber obtained from the husk of a coconut colliery -- A coal mine together with its physical plant and outbuildings colloidal -- A liquid within which very fine particles are evenly distributed so that they stay suspended colloquy -- Written dialogue coloratura -- Vocal music characterized by florid ornamental passages colporteur -- A peddler of devotional literature colubra -- A female snake colubrine -- Serpentine Columbine -- A flower from the buttercup family colure -- Either of two great circles on the celestial sphere, one of which passes through the celestial poles and the equinoxes and the other through the poles and the solstices commensality -- The act or practice of eating at the same table commixtion -- The act of mixing together communard -- One who lives in a commune compendious -- Containing or stating briefly all the essentials of something; comprehensive and concise compossible -- Able to exist with another thing; consistent. comprador -- A person who acts as an agent for foreign organizations engaged in investment, trade, or economic or political exploitation conatus -- the tendency of all things to persist in their own being concessio -- "A rhetorical stylistic tool in which one takes up the opponent’s argument, acknowledging it as correct while simultaneously weakening it. (E.g. “Yes. Günther has behaved immorally, but he can not be legally punished for it.”) See paromologia." concomitant -- Occurring or existing concurrently concupiscent -- Lascivious condign -- Deserved; adequate congelation -- The process of congealing or the state of being congealed. congeries -- A collection conjunctivitis -- Inflammation of the conjunctiva, characterized by redness and often accompanied by a discharge conker -- A horse chestnut conkers -- A game in which two players swing horse chestnuts strung on string, each trying to use his or her horse chestnut to shatter his or her opponent's. connubial -- Of marriage or wedlock; matrimonial; conjugal. consilience -- A chance happening or coincidence conspecific -- Of or belonging to the same species. constult -- To act stupidly together consubstantiality -- Participation of the same nature; coexistence in the same substance. contango -- A situation where the futures price of a commodity is higher than the spot price contemn -- To view with contempt; despise contra mundum -- Against the world; in defiance of all general opinion contrariety -- The quality or condition of being contrary. contretemps -- 1. An inopportune or embarrassing occurrence or situation; 2. an argument or dispute contumacious -- Anti-authoritarian contumely -- Rudeness or contempt arising from arrogance; insolence conurbation -- A predominantly urban region including adjacent towns and suburbs; a metropolitan area convolvulus -- Any typically twining herbaceous convolvulaceous plant of the genus Convolvulus, having funnel-shaped flowers and triangular leaves copula -- The word or set of words that serves as a link between the subject and predicate of a proposition coracle -- A small, rounded, primitive boat (stretched skin over wooden frame) corse -- A corpse (archaic) corybantic -- To dance in a fashion similar to rites for the Phrygian goddess Cybele, celebrated with music and ecstatic dances cotise -- A narrow stripe that usually occurs as one of a pair, with each stripe occurring on either side of a bend, fess, or other charge in heraldry crepuscular -- Resembling twilight; dim; active at twilight (from Reamde) cresset -- A metal cup, often suspended on a pole, containing burning oil or pitch and used as a torch cretonne -- A heavy unglazed cotton, linen, or rayon fabric, colorfully printed and used for draperies and slipcovers crim -- Short for criminal crotchet -- An odd, whimsical, perverse or stubborn notion croupy -- The rump of a beast of burden, especially a horse. croupy -- Characterized by respiratory difficulty and a hoarse, brassy cough cryptid -- Animals that cryptozoologists believe may exist somewhere in the wild, but are not believed to exist by mainstream science cuirass -- A piece of armor for protecting the breast and back, often consisting of two pieces fastened together cuirassier -- A horse soldier in European armies whose equipment included the cuirass culverin -- 1. An early, crudely made musket; 1. A long heavy cannon used in the 16th and 17th centuries cumbrously -- In a cumbersome manner; difficult to handle because of size or weight cunctation -- Procrastination; delay cupidity -- Excessive desire, esp. for wealth; covetousness or avarice curate -- 1. A member of the clergy employed to assist a rector or vicar; 2. To take charge of (a museum) or organize (an art exhibit); 3. To gather and present to the public curlew -- Any of several brownish, long-legged shorebirds of the genus Numenius, having long, slender, downward-curving bills currycomb -- A comb with plastic or rubber teeth, used for grooming horses. curtilage -- The area considered legally part of a house or dwelling by virtue of its enclosure by a fence or habitual use in domestic activities. cuspidor -- spittoon; a large bowl, often of metal, serving as a receptacle for spit, esp. from chewing tobacco cutis -- The dermis and epidermis of the skin together cynosure -- Focal point of attention or admiration dacoit -- A member of a robber band or gang in South Asia dag -- Hanging fur matted with mud damask -- 1. A rich patterned fabric of cotton, linen, silk, or wool; 2. the wavy pattern on Damascus steel davit -- A small crane that projects over the side of a ship and is used to hoist boats, anchors, and cargo deadhead -- To remove dead flowers from a bush deare -- An act of damage or injury debauch -- To corrupt morally; to seduce debility -- Being weak or infirm deckle -- A frame used in making paper by hand to form paper pulp into sheets of a desired size. decoupage -- The technique of decorating a surface with cutouts, as of paper, and finishing with layers of lacquer or varnish decrepicate -- To make a crackling sound when roasted (crystals or salts) defalcation -- Misuse of funds; embezzlement defeasance -- The voiding of a contract or deed deflagrate -- To burn or cause to burn with great heat and intense light deictic -- Directly proving by argument dekko -- A look; a glance; view. E.g. Take a dekko at. delation -- The act of conveying; carriage (obsolete) delator -- An accuser; an informer deliquesce -- 1. To disappear as if by melting; 2. to dissolve and become liquid by absorbing moisture from the air; 3. to branch out into numerous subdivisions that lack a main axis, as the trunk of an elm demesne -- An extensive piece of landed property; an estate demiurge -- A powerful creative force or personality demob -- Short for demobilization of armed forces demonym -- Official designation for the inhabitant of a region (see gentilic) demotic -- Of or relating to the common people; popular deodand -- A thing that had caused a person's death and was forfeited to the crown for a charitable purpose; literally: "giving unto God" deoppilate -- To clear a passage through derecho -- A windstorm that is accompanied by a quickly moving, usually bow-shaped band of showers or thunderstorms. descant -- 1. An ornamental melody or counterpoint sung or played above a theme; 2. A discussion or discourse on a theme desideratum -- Something considered necessary or highly desirable desquamate -- To shed, peel, or come off in scales. Used of skin desuetude -- A state of disuse or inactivity. diachronic -- Of or concerned with phenomena, such as linguistic features, as they change through time. diagetic -- Music that exists within the reality of a film dialetheia -- True contradictions (true statements whose opposite is also true) diaphoresis -- Copious perspiration; usu. a condition dibble -- A pointed gardening implement used to make holes in soil, especially for planting bulbs or seedlings. diegesis -- The world that is depicted in a work of narrative art, especially a film. diegetic -- Existing or occurring within the world of a narrative rather than as something external to that world (i.e. narration or soundtrack music in a film is non-diegetic) dieresis -- Diacritical mark indicating a pronounced vowel diffident -- Lacking or marked by a lack of self-confidence; shy and timid dilatory -- Causing or intended to cause delay dimity -- A sheer, crisp cotton fabric with raised woven stripes or checks, used chiefly for curtains and dresses. dioptric -- Relating to optical refraction; refractive discursive -- Covering a wide field of subjects; rambling. disembogue -- Pour out; be disgorged in quantity disheveled -- Being in loose disarray; unkempt, as hair or clothing dissimulate -- To conceal one's true feelings or intentions dissolute -- Lacking moral restraint; indulging in sensual pleasures or vices; lax in morals; licentious distaff -- Women considered as a group; female dithyramb -- 1. any wildly enthusiastic speech or writing 2. A frenzied, impassioned choric hymn and dance of ancient Greece in honor of Dionysus divagate -- 1. To wander or drift about; 2. to ramble; digress doolally -- Out of one's mind; crazy dombra -- A long-necked Kazakh, Uzbek and Bashkir lute doss -- 1. Sleep; rest; 2. a crude or makeshift bed douanier -- A customs officer dovecote -- A compartmental structure, often raised on a pole, for housing domesticated pigeons dowager -- 1. A widow who holds a title or property derived from her deceased husband; 2. an elderly woman of high social station doxastic -- Of or relating to belief doxology -- An expression of praise to God, esp. a short hymn sung as part of a Christian worship service draughts -- The game of checkers dropsy -- An excessive accumulation of serous fluid in tissue spaces or a body cavity; edema (obsolete) drupe -- A fleshy fruit with a pit (e.g. peach, plum, cherry, etc.) duckboard -- A board or boardwalk laid across wet or muddy ground or flooring dudgeon -- 1. A sullen, angry, or indignant humor; 2. A dagger with a hilt made of this wood. dunam -- A unit of area used for land measurement in Israel and usually equal to 1,000 square meters. dupatta -- A long wide scarf often worn draped over the head or across the shoulders, chiefly by women in South Asia duumvirate -- 1. A regime or partnership of two persons 2. A coalition of two people holding the same office, as in ancient Rome. dysarthria -- Unclear articulation of otherwise normal speech dysgraphic -- Having a neurological disorder marked by impairment of the ability to write, especially to write by hand and to spell. dysphemism -- The use of a derogatory, offensive or vulgar word or phrase to replace a (more) neutral original. dysphoria -- An emotional state characterized by anxiety, depression, or unease; the opposite of euphoria easement -- 1. The act of anointing as part of a religion; 2. An ointment or oil; a salve eau-de-nil -- A pale yellowish green color, supposedly that of the color of the Nile (taken from the French for “water of the Nile”) ecclesial -- Of or relating to a church, especially as an organized institution. Syn.: ecclesiastical ecdemic -- Not indigenous or endemic; foreign echolalia -- The uncontrollable and immediate repetition of words spoken by another person, esp. as associated with mental disorder. écorché -- An anatomical representation of all or part of a human or animal body with the skin removed so as to display the musculature ecumene -- A nuclear area of high culture to which neighboring regions stand in a relation of cultural backwardness or dependence efflorescence -- 1. A gradual process of unfolding or developing; 2. the point or time of greatest vigor; the culmination egregoric -- Of or relating to the occult concept of a group mind, egregore eidolon -- An image of an ideal. An apparition. eisegesis -- Reading meaning into a text that is not there ekphrastic -- In the style of a work of art produced as a rhetorical exercise. Elbrus -- A peak, 5,643 m (18,513 ft) high, in the Caucasus Mountains of southwest Russia near the border of Georgia. It is the highest elevation in Europe eleemosynary -- 1. Of, concerned with, or dependent on charity; 2. Given as an act of charity elegiac -- Of, relating to, or involving elegy or mourning or expressing sorrow for that which is irrecoverably past elozable -- Readily influenced by flattery emanant -- Flowing, issuing, or proceeding from something else; becoming apparent by an effect. embonpoint -- The plump or fleshy part of a person’s body, in particular a woman’s bosom. embouchure -- The mouth of a river emolument -- Payment for an office or employment; compensation Empedocles -- Greek philosopher who believed that all matter is composed of earth, air, fire and water, and that all change is caused by attraction and repulsion. empennage -- The tail assembly of an aircraft (page 223 of Reamde) empyrean -- Heavenly or sublime; the highest part of the (supposedly spherical) heavens, thought in ancient times to contain the pure element of fire and by early Christians to be the abode of God and the angels enantiodromia -- The principle that a superabundance of a force produces its opposite enantiomorphic -- To be chemically identical crystals that are mirror images of each other enceinte -- Pregnant (from the French) encomiast -- A person who delivers or writes an encomium; a eulogist encomium -- Warm praise endometriosis -- The presence of endometrium elsewhere than in the lining of the uterus; causes premenstrual pain and dysmenorrhea endonym -- The name for themselves, their homeland, or their language of a people or social group endue -- To provide with a quality or trait; endow enfeoff -- To invest (a person) with possession of a freehold estate in land Ensor -- Belgian expressionist painter, noted for his macabre subjects entasis -- A slight convexity or swelling, as in the shaft of a column, conventionally employed especially in classical architecture. entelechy -- Actuality as opposed to potentiality (from Aristotelian philosophy) entheogenic -- Hallucinogenic, psychedelic, or mind-altering. It applies esp. to drugs or plants employed in mystical, religious, or spiritual ceremonies entrepôt -- A warehouse; a market or trading center (page 648 of Reamde) enure -- To toughen or harden by use or exposure; accustom; habituate (see inure) enuresis -- The involuntary discharge of urine; urinary incontinence epeirogeny -- Uplift or depression of the earth's crust, affecting large areas of land or ocean bottom epenthesis -- Insertion of a sound in a word epergne -- An ornamental stand or dish for holding fruit, flowers, etc., used as a centerpiece epicortical -- On top of the bark (botanical) epicurean -- Devoted to the pursuit of sensual pleasure, esp. to the enjoyment of good food and comfort epideictic -- Designed primarily for rhetorical display epigenetic -- Denoting processes by which heritable modifications in gene function occur without a change in the sequence of the DNA epigone -- A second-rate imitator or follower, esp. of an artist or a philosopher epigram -- A concise, clever, often paradoxical statement (can be a poem); see Yogi Berra or Groucho Marx epigraph -- 1. An inscription, as on a statue or building; 2. a motto or quotation, as at the beginning of a literary composition, setting forth a them epiphenomena -- 1. A secondary or additional phenomenon; by-product; 2. An unexpected or atypical symptom or occurrence during the course of a disease epistemology -- Study of the nature of knowledge epistle -- A literary composition in the form of a letter epistolary -- Of or associated with letters or the writing of letters epitatic -- [definition unknown] (from Oblivion by David Foster Wallace) epithelium -- Membranous tissue composed of one or more layers of cells separated by very little intercellular substance and forming the covering of most internal and external surfaces of the body and its organs epizeuxis -- The repetition of a word with vehemence and emphasis equanimity -- The quality of being calm and even-tempered; composure equerry -- A personal attendant to the British royal household, generally responsible for the horses ergodic -- Of or relating to the probability that any state will recur erysipelas -- An acute streptococcal infectious disease of the skin, characterized by fever, headache, vomiting, and purplish raised lesions, esp. on the face. Also called: Saint Anthony's fire Esau -- In the Bible, the eldest son of Isaac and Rebecca who sold his birthright to his twin brother, Jacob, for a mess of pottage eschatology -- The branch of theology that is concerned with the end of the world or of humankind escheat -- A common law doctrine that transfers the real property of a person who has died without heirs to the Crown or state escutcheon -- Shield or emblem bearing a coat of arms espaliered -- A tree or shrub that is trained to grow in a flat plane against a wall or trellis, often in a symmetrical pattern. estaminet -- A small café. estivation -- Dormancy or torpor during the summer esurient -- Hungry etiolate -- 1. To cause to appear pale and sickly; 2. to make weak by stunting the growth or development of eudaemonic -- Producing happiness and well-being euphonium -- A brass instrument similar to the tuba but having a somewhat higher pitch and a mellower sound euphonious -- Pleasing or agreeable to the ear. evanescent -- Vanishing or likely to vanish like vapor, ephemeral or transitory, passing out of sight; fading away; vanishing evection -- Irregularity in the moon's motion caused by perturbations of the sun and planets excrescent -- Abnormal or excessive growth exegesis -- Critical explanation or analysis exegete -- A person skilled in exegesis exercitant -- One who practices religious exercises exigent -- Requiring immediate aid or action exiguous -- Meager or extremely scanty exonym -- A name by which one people or social group refers to another and by which the group so named does not refer to itself. exophthalmic -- Characterized by the prominence of the eyeballs exordium -- A beginning or introductory part, esp. of a speech or treatise exoteric -- Not confined to an inner circle of disciples or initiates. extrorse -- Botanical term for facing outward or turned away from the axis factotum -- An assistant who takes on a wide range of tasks and responsibilities. fain -- Happily; gladly (archaic) falchion -- A short and slightly curved medieval sword broader towards the point fantail -- Overhanging stern of a boat (esp. a warship) fard -- To paint the face with cosmetics, so as to hide blemishes farrago -- An assortment or a medley; a hodgepodge farro -- The grains of three wheat species farrow -- 1. A litter of pigs. 2. To produce a litter of pigs. faute-de-mieux -- For lack of something better fauvism -- An early 20th-century movement in painting begun by a group of French artists and marked by the use of bold, often distorted forms and vivid colors. fecundate -- Fertilize; make fruitful felid -- Sly, stealthy, or treacherous; belonging or pertaining to the cat family (related to canid for dogs) fesse -- A wide horizontal band forming the middle section of an escutcheon. fiacre -- A small four-wheeled carriage fideistic -- Reliance on faith alone rather than scientific reasoning or philosophy in questions of religion. fillip -- 1. A snap or light blow made by pressing a fingertip against the thumb and suddenly releasing it; 2. To stimulate or arouse (or something that does so) finial -- 1. An ornamental terminating part, as on a post or piece of furniture; 2. an ornament on top of a spire, gable firedamp -- Methane firth -- A long, narrow inlet fissiparous -- Having a tendency to divide into groups or factions flews -- The fleshy hanging upper lip of a bloodhound or similar dog flinder -- 1. A butterfly. 2. To scamper about flutteringly 3. To break (something) into flinders (pieces) flivver -- A broken-down car or jalopy flocculent -- Having a fluffy or woolly appearance; fleecy flyblown -- 1. Tainted; corrupt; 2. dirty or rundown; squalid flyover -- An overpass, as on a highway (chieflly British) fomes -- Any inanimate or nonpathogenic substance or material, exclusive of food, which may act as a vector for a pathogen. fomites -- Plural of fomes foolscap -- A sheet of writing or printing paper measuring about 13 by 16 inches foxed -- Marked with spots or discoloration, as from age frass -- Debris or excrement produced by insects. fritinancy -- A chirping or creaking, as of a cricket. frowsy -- 1. Unkempt; slovenly; 2. ill-smelling; musty frugivore -- An animal, such as a chimpanzee or fruit bat, that feeds primarily on fruit. fubsy -- Fat and squat fucus -- A seaweed common to intertidal regions and typically having greenish-brown slimy fronds. See also wrack fulguration -- To emit flashes of lightning fulsome -- 1. Excessively flattering or insincerely earnest; sycophantic; 2. disgusting or offensive fungible -- Interchangeable fungo -- The act of tossing the ball upwards and hitting it as it descends, a ball hit in this manner or the light bat used to hit such balls furbelow -- 1. A ruffle or flounce on a garment; 2. piece of showy ornamentation furze -- Gorse; spiny evergreen shrubs fustic -- The wood of a large, tropical American tree, Chlorophora tinctoria, of the mulberry family, yielding a light yellow dye. gaff -- Barbed spear; stick with a hook on it gaffer -- An electrician in charge of lighting on a movie or television set Galen -- Greek anatomist, physician, and philosopher. His theories, which emphasized maintaining a balance of the four humors, formed the basis of European medicine until the Renaissance Galicia -- A region of east-central Europe on the north side of the Carpathians, now in SE Poland and Ukraine galliass -- A large, fast, heavily armed three-masted Mediterranean galley of the 1500s and 1600s (var. of galleas) gallimaufry -- A jumble; a hodgepodge gamelan -- An Indonesian orchestra composed mainly of tuned percussion instruments such as bamboo xylophones, wooden or metal chimes, and gongs gastrocnemius -- The largest, most prominent muscle of the calf of the leg, the action of which extends the foot and bends the knee gatka -- An Indian martial art associated with the Sikhs of the Punjab gauleiter -- A person in a position of petty or local authority who behaves in an overbearing authoritarian manner (from a provincial governor in Germany under Hitler) gavage -- Introduction of nutritive material into the stomach by means of a tube. Gehenna -- 1. A place or state of torment or suffering. 2. The abode of condemned souls; hell gelastician -- One who causes laughter gentian -- Any gentianaceous plant having blue, yellow, white, or red showy flowers gentilic -- Derived from a place name that depicts the residents of that place; see demonym geoid -- The hypothetical surface of the earth that coincides everywhere with mean sea level. ghat -- Stairs or a passage leading down to a river (from the Hindi) gigue -- A synonym for jig girn -- To complain; to snarl or grimace (also gurn) glaucous -- 1. Of a pale grayish or bluish green; 2. covered with a bluish waxy or powdery bloom glean -- To gather (something) slowly and carefully in small pieces (comes from the word for gathering useful remnants of a crop from a field after a harvest) glymphatic -- A functional waste clearance pathway for the vertebrate central nervous system. gnomic -- Marked by aphorisms; aphoristic godown -- Warehouse (esp. in India) goffer -- An iron used for pressing ridges or narrow pleats, or ridges or pleats produced in this manner gonfalon -- A banner hung from a crosspiece, like in the Crusades gound -- The gunk that collects in the corners of the eyes gowpen -- A bowl formed by two hands (Scottish) grace-and-favour -- A house, flat, etc. owned by the sovereign and granted free of rent to a person to whom the sovereign wishes to express gratitude gracile -- Gracefully slender gravamen -- Material substance of a charge or complaint greaves -- Shin armor/guards grebe -- Any of various swimming and diving birds of the family Podicipedidae, having a pointed bill and lobed, fleshy membranes along each toe. greenmail -- The practice of a company buying sufficient shares in another company to threaten takeover and making a quick profit as a result of the threatened company buying back its shares at a higher price griot -- A member of a caste responsible for maintaining an oral record of tribal history in the form of music, poetry, and storytelling (chiefly in Western Africa) grisaille -- A style of monochromatic painting in shades of gray grizzle -- To make or become gray groat -- An English silver coin worth four pennies, taken out of circulation in the 17th century groyne -- Variant of groin grutch -- To grudge; to begrudge gudgen -- Pivot; hinge; small fish; one who is easily duped (page 86 of the Brothers Karamazov) guerdon -- A reward; recompense guipure -- A coarse large-patterned lace without a net background. Also called Venice lace. gurn -- To complain, snarl or grimace (also girn; from the Scottish) gyp -- A fraud or swindle, or some who perpetrates same ha-ha -- A wall or other boundary marker that is set in a ditch so as not to interrupt the landscape habergeon -- A short, sleeveless coat of mail; a hauberk. haecceity -- The property that uniquely identifies an object hagridden -- Tormented or harassed by nightmares or unreasonable fears halvah -- A confection of Turkish origin, made chiefly of ground sesame seeds and honey hamartia -- A tragic flaw; the flaw in character which leads to the downfall of the protagonist in a tragedy (e.g. Achilles’s heel) hapax legomenon -- A word or form that occurs only once in the recorded corpus of a given language. hardtack -- A hard biscuit or bread made with only flour and water. Also called sea biscuit, sea bread, ship biscuit haruspicy -- Divination by natural means (e.g. lightning) haustorium -- A specialized structure of a parasitic fungus or plant, used to absorb nutrients and water from the host plant. hawse -- The part of a ship where the hawseholes are located; The space between the bows and anchors of an anchored ship. hebephrenic -- A type of schizophrenia characterized by disorganized speech and behavior, flat or inappropriate affect, and sometimes silly or inappropriate mannerisms. hecatomb -- A large-scale sacrifice or slaughter heliotrope -- Any of various plants that turn toward the sun helotry -- The condition of serfdom helve -- A handle of a tool, such as an axe, chisel, or hammer. hendecagon -- A polygon having eleven sides heresiarch -- One who originates or is the chief proponent of a heresy or heretical movement hermeneutics -- Theory of interpretation (esp. religious texts) heterachy -- A formal structure (e.g. connected nodes) without any single permanent uppermost node heteroclite -- an irregularly formed word; irregular or unusual heterophemize -- To say something different from what you mean to say (e.g. as a false compliment) hierophant -- An interpreter of sacred mysteries or arcane knowledge Hijri -- The lunar calendar used by Muslims and reckoned from a.d. 622: the calendar year consists of 354 days and contains 12 months. hippocras -- Wine flavored with spices homoeomery -- The state or quality of being homogeneous in elements or first principles; likeness or identity of parts. (also Homoeomery) horripilated -- Having goosebumps from either fear or cold or excitement howdah -- A seat for riding on an elephant's back, esp. one with a canopy hoyden -- Tomboy; a boisterous, high-spirited, saucy girl huckster -- A person who sells small items door-to-door or from a stall humect -- To moisten; to wet hunker -- To squat on one's heels (a synonym from Bill Burr: Vietnamese gambler squat) hustings -- A place where political campaign speeches are made (chiefly British) hyaline -- Resembling glass, as in translucence or transparency; glassy hypaethral -- Wholly or partly open to the sky hypertelorism -- Abnormal distance between two paired organs, esp. the eyes iatrogenic -- Unintentionally induced by a physician icteric -- Related to jaundice (to be ill with or a treatment) idiolect -- Unique linquistic pattern with a small group; mini-dialect illeism -- Referring to oneself in the third person imbricate -- To overlap in a regular pattern immanent -- Inherent impecuniousness -- The state of being poor; penury impecunity -- The state of being poor; penury impetigo -- A contagious bacterial skin disease characterized by the formation of pustules that develop into yellowish crusty sores impluvious -- Wet with rain incalescent -- Growing hotter or more ardent incarnadine -- Of a fleshy pink color; blood-red incunabula -- An artifact of an early period (artifact of an early period) indiscerpible -- Not discerpible; inseparable indite -- To set down in writing; to compose infundibulum -- Any of various funnel-shaped bodily passages, openings, structures, or parts, esp. the stalk of the pituitary gland infusoria -- Various microscopic organisms found in infusions of decaying organic matter ingenuous -- Candid; lacking in guile inimical -- Injurious or harmful in effect; adverse; unfriendly or hostile inspissate -- To thicken, as by evaporation instauration -- Renovation; restoration. intarsia -- A decorative inlaid pattern in a surface, esp. a mosaic worked in wood indendant -- An administrative official (such as a governor); director or manager in German interpellate -- To question (a member of the government) on a point of government policy, often interrupting the business of the day interpellation -- An act of delaying or interrupting the continuity; see interpellate intransitive -- An intransitive verb, on the other hand, describes an action that does not happen to something or someone inveigle -- To obtain by cajolery; seduce inverter -- Any device for converting a direct current into an alternating current invidious -- Inciting ill will; troll-y; discriminatory; envious; invigilator -- Monitor or proctor who watches examination candidates to prevent cheating ipseity -- The quality of being oneself or itself; the essentia] element of identity irenic -- Promoting peace; conciliatory. irredentism -- A national policy advocating the acquisition of some region in another country by reason of common linguistic, cultural, historical, ethnic, or racial ties. irrefragably -- Admittedly; fairly jabot -- An ornamental cascade of ruffles or frills down the front of a shirt, blouse, or dress. jasper -- An opaque cryptocrystalline variety of quartz that may be red, yellow, or brown jejune -- Naive, simplistic, or superficial jequirity -- Indian liquorice seeds; used to make black rosary beads jouissance -- Jollity; merriment katabatic -- Of or relating to the downward flow of cold dense air keck -- To retch or feel nausea; to feel or express disgust kedgeree -- 1. A dish of India containing rice, lentils, and spices. 2. a dish of rice, fish, hard-boiled eggs, cream, and seasonings kefir -- A creamy drink made of fermented cow's milk keloid -- An abnormal proliferation of scar tissue, often pink, as on the site of a surgical incision kenning -- A conventional poetic phrase used for or in addition to the usual name of a person or thing, esp. in Old Norse and Old English verse, as wave traveler for boat; see metonymy kermess -- A fair or church dedication kipper -- A herring or salmon that has been split, salted, and smoked kirtle -- 1. A man's knee-length tunic or coat; 2. a woman’s dress or skirt knelling -- The process of disassembling something and arranging its parts kulak -- A prosperous landed peasant in czarist Russia, characterized by the Communists during the October Revolution as an exploiter kukri -- A knife with a curved blade that broadens towards the point, esp. as used by Gurkhas kvass -- A Russian fermented beverage similar to beer, made from rye or barley kwashiorkor -- Severe malnutrition of infants and young children, esp. soon after weaning, resulting from dietary deficiency of protein (comes from the Ghanan) kyriarchy -- A social system or set of connecting social systems built around domination, oppression, and submission (used in feminist theory) lability -- The susceptibility to error or lapses of any kind, as a human failing laburnum -- Any leguminous tree or shrub of the Eurasian genus Laburnum, having clusters of yellow drooping flowers: all parts of the plant are poisonous laconically -- Marked by terseness or concision lacuna -- An empty space or a missing part; a gap lagniappe -- A small gift given with a purchase lahar -- A mass of volcanic fragments, often mixed with water (e.g. rain), moving rapidly down the side of a volcano lambent -- Flickering lightly (e.g. firelight); glowing with soft radiance, luminous lapidary -- Polisher or dealer in precious stones lapillus -- A small, solidified fragment of lava (pl. lapilli) lapis lazuli -- An opaque to translucent blue, violet-blue, or greenish-blue semiprecious gemstone composed mainly of lazurite and calcite. larrikin -- A person given to comical or outlandish behavior; an imp; a hooligan (chiefly Australian) lascar -- An East Indian sailor, army servant, or artillery trooper during the era of European colonialism in Asia laterality -- Preference in using one side of the body over the other. laterite -- A red residual soil formed by the leaching of silica and by the enrichment with aluminum and iron oxides, esp. in humid climates latibulate -- To hide oneself in a corner leal -- Loyal and honest lenity -- The condition or quality of being lenient; leniency Lepus -- A constellation in the Southern Hemisphere near Orion and Columba letabund -- Filled with joy Levallois -- A filet-working technique in which a flint is trimmed so that a flake of predetermined size and shape can be struck from it leyden jars -- An early form of capacitor consisting of a glass jar lined inside and out with tinfoil and having a conducting rod connected to the inner foil lining and passing out of the jar through an insulated stopper lictor -- A Roman functionary who carried fasces when attending a magistrate in public appearances lief -- Beloved; ready or willing limerence -- Puppy love; a state of mind resulting from romantic attraction, characterized by feelings of euphoria, the desire to have one's feelings reciprocated, etc liminal -- Intermediate between two states, conditions, or regions; transitional or indeterminate lisle -- A fine, smooth, tightly twisted thread spun from long-staple cotton lithotomy -- Surgery to remove one or more stones from an organ or duct litotes -- Understating by negation: no mean feat" littoral -- A coastal region; a shore; the region or zone between the limits of high and low tides. locus -- A locality; a place longueur -- 1. A tedious passage in a work of literature or performing art; 2. a period of time filled with boredom or tedium lorgnette -- A pair of eyeglasses or opera glasses mounted on a handle louche -- Disreputable or sordid lubricious -- Overtly sexual; salacious lucubrations -- Writing or study; meditations ludic -- Showing spontaneous and undirected playfulness lues -- Any venereal disease (e.g. Syphilis); pestilence lumbago -- A painful condition of the lower back, as one resulting from muscle strain or a slipped disk lupanarian -- Pertaining to a brothel or prostitution; characteristic of illicit sexual desire or activity. (Also, lupinarian) lyceum -- A hall in which public lectures, concerts, and similar programs are presented machicolation -- A projecting gallery at the top of a castle wall, supported by a row of corbels and having openings in the floor through which stones and boiling liquids could be dropped on attackers (machiolate: to construct machicolations) macrocarpa -- A large coniferous tree of New Zealand, Cupressus macrocarpa, used for shelter belts on farms and for rough timber. Also called: Monterey cypress maculate -- (v): To spot, blemish, or pollute; (n): 1. Spotted, blotched, or stained. 2. Morally sullied or impure madding -- Acting madly; frenzied maenad -- 1. A frenzied woman; 2. a female member of the orgiastic cult of Dionysus majolica -- Italian earthenware covered with an opaque glaze of tin oxide and usu. highly decorated malesuete -- Accustomed to poor habits malversation -- Misbehavior and esp. corruption in an office, trust, or commission; corrupt administration mandala -- Any of various designs symbolizing the universe, usually circular mandamus -- A writ issued by a court requiring a public official or entity to perform a duty associated with that office or entity manqué -- 1. Unfulfilled; potential; would-be; 2. Unfulfilled or frustrated in the realization of one's ambitions or capabilities manumission -- To free from slavery or bondage; emancipate manumit/manumission -- To set free; release from slavery martingale -- Part of a bridle; half-belt on the back of a coat; doubling the stakes after each loss; stability rigging for the bowsprit or jib (see <a href="http://www.thefreedictionary.com/martingale">definition</a>) mascon -- Any of several lunar regions of high gravity mattock -- A digging tool with a flat blade set at right angles to the handle. matutinal -- Of, relating to, or occurring in the morning; early megatherium -- A large, extinct ground sloth that lived from the Miocene through the Pleistocene Epochs, primarily in South America. It was as large as an elephant, had long curved claws, and ate plants meretricious -- Gaudy merkin -- A pubic wig merlon -- The solid portion between crenels mésalliance -- A marriage with a person of inferior social position. metempsychosis -- The theory of reincarnation metonym -- A word used in metonymy metonymy -- A synonym/metaphor; e.g. “brass" for upper officers or "plastic" for credit cards; see kenning mews -- A group of buildings containing private stables that have been converted to residences mezzanine -- A low story between two others in a building miasma -- An unwholesome or oppressive atmosphere micrognathia -- Abnormally small jaw micturition -- urination; also, micturate milt -- The sperm-containing fluid of a male fish mimetic -- Of or relating to an imitation; imitative minatory -- Of a menacing or threatening nature; minacious Mindanao -- Second largest of the Philippine islands, NE of Borneo mirabile dictu -- Wonderful to relate; amazing to say misfeasance -- Improper and unlawful execution of an act that in itself is lawful and proper. misprision -- Neglect in performing the duties of public office. moidore -- A former Portuguese gold coin moiety -- One half Moloch -- Something possessing the power to exact severe sacrifice; a Semitic deity to whom parents sacrificed their children mondegreen -- Misinterpretation of song lyrics (e.g. Israeli Men" instead of "It's Raining Men")" monkey-puzzle -- A coniferous evergreen tree (Araucaria araucana) native to Chile and Argentina, having whorled branches covered with scalelike, overlapping, sharp-pointed leaves. monomachy -- Single combat, or a duel Monophysite -- A person who holds that there is only one nature in the person of Christ, which is primarily divine with human attributes monopsony -- A situation in which the entire market demand for a product or service consists of only one buyer morbific -- Causing disease; pathogenic morganatic -- A marriage between nobility and lower rank, where titles and wealth are not shared morion -- A crested metal helmet; black or blackish-brown smoky quartz morphetic -- Of or relating to sleep or dreams moulinet -- A circular cut or swing of the sword mountebank -- A flamboyant charlatan mucopus -- A mucopurulent discharge; a mixture of mucous material and pus. mudra -- Ritual hand movements in Hindu religious dancing mulct -- 1. To penalize by fining or demanding forfeiture; 2. to cheat or defraud mulga -- The outback; bush mullein -- Any of various Eurasian plants of the genus Verbascum of the figwort family, especially V. thapsus, naturalized in North America, having a tall spike of yellow flowers and leaves covered with dense woolly down. mullet -- Freshwater, spiny-finned fish Munda -- A family of languages spoken by scattered peoples throughout central India murine -- A family of rodents that includes mice and rats murrain -- Redwater fever, affecting livestock; a plague, epidemic or crop blight muskeg -- A peat bog formed by an accumulation of sphagnum moss, leaves, and decayed matter, often with scattered small trees, and found especially in northern North America. musquash -- Another name for muskrat musth -- A periodic state of heightened sexual activity and aggression in adult male elephants, characterized by the discharge of secretions from glands near the eyes and the continuous dribbling of urine. mutatis mutandis -- The necessary changes having been made (e.g. when applying a concept from one domain to another, e.g. maritime law to space travel) myocyclonic -- Of or relating to a sudden irregular twitching of muscles or parts of muscles, occurring in various brain disorders myrmidon -- Soldier or a subordinate civil officer who executes orders of a superior without protest or pity; -- sometimes applied to bailiffs, constables, etc. mythopoeic -- Serving to create or engender myths; productive in mythmaking nankeen -- A sturdy yellow or buff cotton cloth (or trousers made of same). naphthalene -- A white crystalline volatile solid with a characteristic penetrating odour: an aromatic hydrocarbon used in mothballs and in the manufacture of dyes, explosives natality -- Birthrate natant -- Floating or swimming in water navvy -- A laborer, esp. one employed in construction or excavation projects neep -- A dialect name for a turnip, chiefly British nefandous -- Too odious to be spoken of nenuphar -- Either a white or yellow water lily nepenthe -- Something that induces forgetfulness of sorrow or eases pain (mentioned in the Odyssey) nephrologist -- Specialist in conditions related to the kidney nescience -- Ignorance; absence of awareness Nestorianism -- The doctrine that Christ was two distinct persons, divine and human, implying a denial that the Virgin Mary was the mother of God. It is attributed to Nestorius and survives in the Iraqi Church netty -- A lavatory, originally an earth closet (chiefly British) neuralgic -- Sharp, severe paroxysmal pain extending along a nerve or group of nerves niello -- A black metallic alloy (sulfur and copper, silver or lead nigrescent -- Blackish; dark noctilucent -- Luminous at night noddle -- n: The head or brains, chiefly British; v: to nod (the head), as through drowsiness noetics -- The laws of logic; the science of the intellect. noisome -- x nonplused -- Filled with bewilderment noosphere -- The part of the biosphere that is affected by human thought, culture, and knowledge nosology -- The science of classification of diseases numeraire -- A unit or an item of commerce in which prices are measured numinous -- awe-inspiring, mysterious or spiritual; supernatural nibble -- Four bits; also semi-octet, quadbit, or quartet; Brit: nybble nystagmus -- A persistent, rapid, involuntary side-to-side eye movement obeah -- 1. A form of belief involving sorcery, practiced in parts of the West Indies, South America, the southern U.S., and Africa. 2. A fetish or charm used in practicing obeah. obganiate -- To annoy by repeating over and over and over and over oblation -- Any offering made for religious or charitable purposes (e.g. offering of the bread and wine of the Eucharist to God) obloquy -- 1. calumny; detractive language; 2. ill repute obovate -- Egg-shaped and flat, with the narrow end at the base obscurantist -- Practicing deliberate vagueness obsidional -- Relating to a siege occiput -- Back of the head ocherous -- Ocher in color (or a mineral used to make that color) octarine -- The Color of Magic or the King Color, the eighth color of the Discworld spectrum, visible only to wizards and cats, a greenish purple yellow color. ofay -- A derogatory term for a White person (see cracker, honky, peckerwood) ogee -- A double curve, resembling an S, formed by the union of a concave and a convex line (often a molding or arch in this shape) ogive -- A diagonal rib or groin of a Gothic vault; 2. A distribution curve in which the frequencies are cumulative okrug -- A type of administrative division in some Slavic-speaking states. oligopsony -- A market with only very few buyers omphalic -- Of or relating to the navel omphaloskepsis -- Literally, the contemplation of one's navel, which is an idiom usually meaning complacent self-absorption oneiric -- Dream-like onomastics -- The study of the etymology, history, and use of proper names ontogenesis -- The development of an individual organism or a part of an organism from inception to maturity. ontology -- The study of the essence of being opprobrium -- Ignominy; cause of shame or disgrace opsimath -- A person who learns late in life optative -- Indicating or expressing choice, preference, or wish orgulous -- Haughty; proud (archaic) orison -- A prayer, a devout petition to God or an object of worship orogenesis -- The process of mountain formation, esp. by a folding and faulting of the earth's crust orotund -- Pompous and bombastic; resonant; booming orthography -- The art or study of correct spelling according to established usage orthophemistic -- Plainly denotative; not euphemistic or dysphemistic osculation -- A kiss (page 332 of Doctor Sleep) osmically -- Of or relating to odors or the sense of smell osteitis -- Inflammation of bone or bony tissue ostler -- Man who looks after horses at an inn otiose -- Lazy; indolent; serving no useful purpose otoconia -- Minute calcareous particles in the gelatinous membrane surmounting the macula in the inner ear; also statoconia, otoliths, or statoliths oviparous -- Producing eggs lain outside of the body paillasse -- A straw-filled mat or mattress (var. of palliasse) palapa -- A structure, such as a bar or restaurant in a tropical resort, that is open-sided and thatched with palm leaves. palimpsest -- A manuscript, typically of papyrus or parchment, that has been written on more than once, with the earlier writing incompletely scraped off or erased and often legible. palingenesis -- The doctrine of transmigration of souls; metempsychosis; the supposed repetition by an organism during its embryonic development of the stages in the evolution of its species, as asserted by the discredited biogenetic law Palio -- Italian Renaissance or Medieval festival Palladian -- Of, relating to, or characterized by wisdom or study palliasse -- A straw-filled mat or mattress (var. of paillasse) palp -- Either of a pair of sensory appendages that arise from the mouthparts of crustaceans and insects panicle -- A loosely branched inflorescence, especially a branching raceme. panjandrum -- A pompous self-important official or person of rank pantechnicon -- 1. A large van, esp. one used for furniture removals; 2. a warehouse where furniture is stored pap -- 1. A teat or nipple (archaic); 2. material lacking real value or substance; 3. soft or semiliquid food, as for infants papillote -- 1. A paper frill around cutlets; 2. cooked in oiled greaseproof paper or foil pappus -- A ring of fine feathery hairs surrounding the fruit in composite plants, such as the thistle; aids dispersal of the fruits by the wind paraphilia -- Any abnormal sexual behavior; sexual anomaly or deviation parapraxis -- A Freudian slip paregoric -- An opium derivative used to treat diarrhea pareidolia -- The perception of a recognizable image or meaningful pattern where none exists or is intended, as the perception of a face in the surface features of the moon. paresis -- Slight or partial paralysis pareve -- Prepared without meat, milk, or their derivatives and therefore permissible to be eaten with meat or dairy dishes according to dietary laws pari passu -- At an equal pace; side by side parlous -- full of danger or uncertainty paromologia -- Admitting a weaker point in order to make a stronger one. (See concessio.) paronomasia -- Pun; play on words parrhesia -- Boldness or frankness of speech; the act of asking forgiveness for speaking in such a way parterre -- A formally patterned flower garden parturition -- The act or process of giving birth to one or more offspring parve -- Containing neither meat nor milk products and so fit for use with either meat or milk dishes (from Judaism) passerine -- An order of birds characterized by the perching habit: includes the larks, finches, crows, thrushes, starlings, etc. pastern -- The part of a horse's foot between the fetlock and hoof pauce -- Being scarce or insufficient pauldron -- Shoulder protection in a suit of armor pawl -- A hinged or pivoted device adapted to fit into a notch of a ratchet wheel to impart forward motion or prevent backward motion. peaky -- Wan, emaciated, or sickly peavey -- An implement consisting of a wooden shaft with a metal point and a hinged hook near the end, used to handle logs. peccant -- Sinful; guilty; corrupt peccary -- A gregarious pig-like mammal that is found from the southwestern U.S. to Paraguay. (reference was “swarm […] like army ants on a drove of peccaries”.) peculation -- Embezzlement pecuniary -- Relating to money pedlars -- Persons who travel about the country with merchandise, for the purpose of selling it; salesmen pedology -- 1. The scientific study of soils, including their origins, characteristics, and uses; 2. the study of the physical and mental development and characteristics of children pelf -- Lucre; wealth or riches, esp. when dishonestly acquired pellicle -- A thin skin or membrane; film; scum pellucid -- Transparent or translucent penectomy -- Penis removal through surgery, generally for medical or personal reasons. pentimento -- A visible trace of earlier painting beneath a layer or layers of paint on a canvas penurious -- Poverty-stricken; stingy; meager percale -- A closely woven cotton fabric used for sheets and clothing percipient -- Perceptive perdurable -- Enduring continuously; immortal perdure -- To last permanently; endure peremptory -- Subject to no further debate or dispute; final and unassailable perfervid -- Extremely or extravagantly eager; impassioned or zealous. perfidy -- Treachery; deliberate breach of faith periagua -- Another name for pirogue; Also piragua; A canoe made from a hollowed tree trunk peripatetic -- Mobile on foot; an itinerant periphrastic -- The use of circumlocution. A roundabout way of expressing something. peristalsis -- The wavelike muscular contractions of the digestive tract or other tubular structures by which contents are forced onward toward the opening perseverate -- To repeat a word, gesture, or act insistently or redundantly persiflage -- Banter; small-talk perspicacious -- Acutely perceptive or discerning perspicuous -- Clearly expressed or presented; lucid pertinacious -- Tenacious pessary -- A device for inserting into the vagina, either as a support for the uterus or (diaphragm pessary) to deliver a drug, such as a contraceptive petecure -- Modest cooking; cooking on a small scale; the opposite of epicure petitio principii -- A form of fallacious reasoning in which the conclusion has been assumed in the premises; begging the question petrichor -- The distinctive smell given off by earth, rock, or pavement at the beginning of a rain after a period of warm, dry weather. Petronius -- Roman courtier who is credited with writing the Satyricon pettifogging -- 1. Dishonest or unethical in insignificant matters; meanly petty; mean; quibbling; 2. to engage in legal chicanery pettish -- Ill-tempered; peevish (see shirty) phaeton -- A light, four-wheeled open carriage, usually drawn by a pair of horses phalanstery -- A self-sustaining cooperative community of the followers of Fourierism. Also called phalanx, or the buildings in such a community pharisaic -- Of, relating to, or characteristic of the Pharisees philippic -- A verbal denunciation characterized by harsh, often insulting language; a tirade phillumenist -- A person who collects matchbox labels philogynist -- A lover or friend of women; one who esteems woman as the higher type of humanity; antonym of misogynist phimosis -- An abnormal constriction of the foreskin that prevents it from being drawn back to uncover the glans penis. phlebotomy -- The act or practice of opening a vein to let or draw blood as a therapeutic or diagnostic measure phlegmatic -- Having or suggesting a calm, sluggish temperament; unemotional or apathetic Phoebus -- The sun phthisis -- A disease characterized by the wasting away or atrophy of the body or a part of the body (e.g. pulmonary tuberculosis) phylactery -- 1. A reminder or aid to remembering; 2. an amulet or charm (archaic); 3. either of the pair of blackened square cases containing parchments inscribed with biblical passages, bound by leather thongs to the head and left arm, and worn by Jewish men during weekday morning prayers (also called: Tefillah) phylogenetic -- The evolutionary development and history of a species or trait of a species or of a higher taxonomic grouping of organisms piacular -- Making expiation for sacrilege; wicked pibroch -- A series of variations on a martial theme or traditional dirge for the highland bagpipes. pied-à-terre -- A secondary or temporary place of lodging. pilchard -- A small, S European marine fish, Sardina pilchardus, related to the herring but smaller and rounder pillock -- A stupid or annoying person (chiefly British) pinchbeck -- Appearing valuable, but actually cheap and tawdry pinnace -- Any of various kinds of ship's tender or boat piquant -- Pleasantly sharp taste pirogue -- Any of various kinds of dugout canoes; also called piragua piscatorial -- Of or relating to fish, fishing, or fishermen pistic -- Referring to or having a pure and genuine faith. plangent -- Loud and resounding plastron -- 1. A metal breastplate worn under a coat of mail; 2. a quilted pad worn by fencers to protect the torso and side; 3. The front of a man's dress shirt; 4. the ventral part of the shell of a turtle or tortoise pleach -- To plait or interlace (branches or vines, for example), esp. in making a hedge or an arbor (similar to caning for making chairs from same) pleiotropy -- The phenomenon of one gene affecting more than one phenotypic characteristic plenteous -- Ample; abundant; copious pleonasm -- A newly created word pleroma -- The state of total fullness or abundance, relating particularly to the nature of God pleura -- A thin serous membrane in mammals that envelops each lung and folds back to make a lining for the chest cavity pleurisy -- Inflammation of the pleura, characterized by pain that is aggravated by deep breathing or coughing Plimsoll mark -- A load line painted on the side of a cargo ship plinth -- A block or slab on which a pedestal, column, or statue is placed plover -- Any shore bird of the family Charadriidae, typically having a round head, straight bill, and large pointed wings poetaster -- A writer of insignificant, meretricious, or shoddy poetry poleaxe -- (n): An axe having a hammer face opposite the blade, used to slaughter cattle; v: To strike or fell with or as if with a poleaxe poleyn -- Knee protection in a suit of armor polygyny -- The condition or practice of having more than one wife at one time polymath -- A person of great or varied learning pomace -- The pulpy material remaining after the juice has been pressed from fruit, such as apples or grapes. Also called marc pomaceous -- Of, relating to, bearing, or characteristic of pomes, especially apples. poignard -- See poniard poniard -- 1. A small, slender dagger; 2. a dagger typically having a slender three- or four-sided blade poplin -- A ribbed fabric of silk, rayon, wool, or cotton, used in making clothing and upholstery posset -- A drink of hot milk curdled with ale, beer, etc, flavoured with spices, formerly used as a remedy for colds postern -- Secondary door or gate in a fortification such as a city wall or castle curtain wall postillion -- A person who guides a horse-drawn coach or post chaise while mounted on the horse or one of a pair of horses. By contrast, a coachman controls the horses from the vehicle itself. potash -- Potassium carbonate, esp. the crude impure form obtained from wood ashes. pothouse -- A small tavern or pub (chiefly British) potsherd -- A broken pottery fragment, esp. one of archaeological value prang -- 1. An accident or crash in an aircraft, car, etc; 2. to bomb from the air prattlement -- Chatter, prattling precatory -- Relating to or expressing entreaty or supplication. Relating to prayer. prefatory -- Of, relating to, or constituting a preface prelapsarian -- Of or relating to the period before the fall of Adam and Eve premonitory -- Giving premonition; serving to warn beforehand prepossession -- A prejudice or bias, esp. a favorable one presbyopia -- A progressively diminishing ability of the eye to focus, noticeable from middle to old age, caused by loss of elasticity of the crystalline lens prescind -- To separate in thought; abstract. preterite -- 1. Bygone; former 2. A tense of verbs used to relate past action, formed in English by inflection of the verb, as jumped, swam primogeniture -- The state of being the firstborn or eldest child of the same parents. primus inter pares -- Literally (in Latin), first among equals procumbent -- 1. Lying face down; prone. 2. In botany: trailing along the ground but not rooting prodrome -- An early symptom indicating the onset of an attack or a disease. profligate -- 1. Shamelessly immoral or debauched; 2. wildly extravagant or wasteful progeria -- A rare genetic disorder of childhood that is characterized by rapid onset of the physical changes typical of old age, usually resulting in death before the age of 20 prolegomenon -- A preliminary discussion, especially a formal essay introducing a work of considerable length or complexity proleptic -- 1. The anachronistic representation of something as existing before its proper or historical time, as in the precolonial United States; 2. the use of a descriptive word in anticipation of the act or circumstances that would make it applicable, as dry in They drained the lake dry prolix -- Tediously prolonged; wordy; longwinded prone -- Lying flat or face downwards; prostrate propaedeutic -- Providing introductory instruction; preparatory instruction propinquitous -- Near; close in time, place or kinship (page 12 of Main Street) propitious -- Favorable; auguring well; gracious or favorably inclined proprioception -- Unconscious awareness of body movement, e.g. as the inner ear for balance (page 515 of Reamde) proscenium -- The area of a modern theater that is located between the curtain and the orchestra. prosector -- A person who prepares or dissects anatomical subjects for demonstration prosopagnosia -- An inability to recognize faces prosopography -- 1. description of a person's life and career; 2. A study, often using statistics, that identifies and draws relationships between various characters or people within a specific historical, social, or literary context prosopopoeia -- Literary device involve an absent person speaking; personification; ascribing agency to an inanimate object or concept protasis -- The dependent clause of a conditional sentence (i.e. the “if” part) protodialectical -- Definition unknown (from Oblivion by David Foster Wallace) (dialectical means “the art or practice of arriving at the truth by the exchange of logical arguments”) psalmody -- The act of singing psalms or hymns psephology -- The study of political elections and polling psithurism -- The whispering of leaves moved by the wind psittacosis -- A rickettsial disease affecting birds of the parrot family, pigeons, and domestic fowl, caused by the chlamydia Chlamydia psittaci and transmissible to humans psychogenic -- Having origin in the mind or in a mental condition or process ptosis -- Ptosis is the term used for a drooping upper eyelid puericratic -- [definition unknown] (from Oblivion by David Foster Wallace) pugnacious -- Combative in nature pulchritude -- Beauty pullulate -- To breed rapidly or abundantly pulsion -- The act of driving forward punctilio -- A fine point of etiquette punnet -- A small basket for fruit, such as strawberries purblind -- 1. Slow in understanding or discernment; dull 2. Having poor vision; nearly or partly blind purdah -- Muslim practice of screening women from other men or strangers purlieus -- An outlying or neighboring area; outskirts; environs purslane -- A trailing plant (Portulaca oleracea) native to Eurasia, having small yellow flowers, reddish stems, and fleshy obovate leaves that can be cooked as a vegetable or used in salads purulent -- Containing, discharging, or causing the production of pus pusillanimous -- Cowardly putto -- A representation of a small child, often naked and having wings, used especially in the art of the European Renaissance. Pl.: putti pyaemia -- Blood poisoning characterized by pus-forming microorganisms in the blood quadrille -- A square dance in 6/8 or 2/4 time of French origin, composed of five sections and performed by four couples. quag -- To shake (said of something that is soft or flabby) quarto -- The page size obtained by folding a whole sheet into four leaves. quern -- A simple hand mill for grinding grain, typically consisting of two stones quiddity -- 1. Essence of a thing; 2. a quibble quidnunc -- Busybody; Yenta quiff -- 1. A tuft of hair, esp. a forelock; 2. A woman regarded as promiscuous quinquennial -- Happening once every or lasting for five years. quintain -- A rotating target used in jousting exercises quire -- A set of twenty-four uniform sheets of paper quirt -- A riding whip with a short, stiff handle and a lash made of two or more loose thongs quit-rent -- Payment for distinct rights that were connected with the full enjoyment of the land but not parceled up in the ownership of the land (mostly replaced with property taxes today) quoin -- An exterior angle of a wall or other piece of masonry quokka -- A short-tailed herbivorous marsupial (Setonix brachyurus) found in coastal areas of southwestAustralia quondam -- Former raceme -- A flower cluster in which each flower grows on its own stalk from a common stem. The lily of the valley and snapdragon have racemes. racketeering -- A person who engages in an illegal business or other organized illegal activities raddled -- Twisted together; interwoven radome -- A domelike shell transparent to radio-frequency radiation, used to house a radar antenna raillery -- Good-natured teasing or ridicule; banter ramify -- To have complicating consequences or outgrowths; to send out branches or subordinate branchlike parts. ramose -- Having many branches ravel -- 1. To separate the fibers or threads of; to unravel; 2. To tangle or complicate rawboned -- Having a lean, gaunt frame with prominent bones Reaumur -- archaic: a temperature scale with the freezing point of water at 80º. rebarbative -- Tending to irritate; repellent rebeck -- Medieval instrument; a lute-like violin recondite -- Obscure; abstruse recreant -- 1. A faithless or disloyal person; 2. A coward recrudescent -- To break out anew or come into renewed activity, as after a period of quiescence recumbentibus -- A knockdown blow redolent -- Suggestive reef -- A vein of ore relict -- 1. Something that has survived; a remnant 2. A species that inhabits a much smaller geographic area than it did in the past, often because of environmental change reliquary -- A receptacle, such as a coffer or shrine, for keeping or displaying sacred relics renascent -- Becoming active or vigorous again reperfusion -- The restoration of blood flow to an organ or tissue that has had its blood supply cut off, as after a heart attack. repine -- To be discontented or low in spirits; complain or fret; to yearn after something retromingent -- One who urinates backwards retronym -- A new word coined for an existing or older thing to distinguish it from something newer or more recent (e.g. analog watch or electric guitar) retropulsion -- An abnormal tendency to walk backwards: a symptom of Parkinson's disease revanchism -- The act of retaliating, esp. by a nation or group to regain lost territory or standing; revenge revenant -- 1. One that returns after a lengthy absence; 2. One who returns after death revetments -- 1. A facing, as of masonry, used to support an embankment; 2. A barricade against explosives Rhadamanthine -- Strictly and uncompromisingly just rhonchus -- A snore or chest rattle rhotacism -- Difficulty pronouncing r sounds riprap -- Piled broken stones used as a foundation or to stabilize an easily eroded bank or slope risible -- 1. Eliciting laughter; ludicrous 2. capable of laughing or inclined to laugh Risorgimento -- The period of or the movement for the liberation and political unification of Italy, beginning about 1750 and lasting until 1870 (from the Italian for “resurgence”) roman à clef -- A novel in which actual persons, places, or events are depicted in fictional guise rosser -- A bark-removing machine rota -- A work schedule roué -- A man who recklessly indulges in sensual pleasures; a rake roundel -- A circular architectural or decorative element, such as a painted panel or a stained glass window. roundelay -- A poem or song with a regularly recurring refrain (as much popular music) rumbustiousness -- Uncontrollably exuberant; unruly Ruritanian -- Of or relating to an imagined European kingdom characterized by provincialism, nationalism, and political intrigue; used in discussions of international law or economic theory rusk -- A light, soft-textured sweetened biscuit sabine -- A member of an ancient people of central Italy, conquered and assimilated by the Romans in 290 bc. Sadhu -- A person who dedicates themself to the pursuit of enlightenment through a life of isolation, self-deprivation, and feats of physical endurance. Saiva -- One who worships Shiva sacerdotalism -- The belief that priests act as mediators between God and humans. Salesian -- Of or relating to St Francis of Sales or to the religious orders founded by him or by St John Bosco in his name salmagundi -- A mixture; a potpourri saltire -- A cross in heraldry saltpeter -- Naturally occurring potassium nitrate, used in making fireworks, gunpowder salubrious -- Wholesome; healthy salvific -- Having the intention or power to bring about salvation or redemption salwar -- Loose pajamalike pants, typically having a drawstring waist and legs that narrow at the bottom, usually worn with a kameez samizdat -- Underground newspaper (from the Russian) samphire -- An edible coastal plant (Crithmum maritimum) in the parsley family, native to Eurasia (see glasswort) samsara -- The eternal cycle of birth, suffering, death, and rebirth (in Hinduism or Buddhism) sanguine -- Cheerfully optimistic sanicle -- Any plant belonging to the genus Sanicula, of the parsley family, as S. marilandica, of North America, used in medicine. sapper -- 1. A military engineer who lays, detects, and disarms mines; 2. a soldier who digs trenches Sapphism -- Lesbianism Sassanian -- Of or relating to a Persian dynasty (AD 224-651) and the last line of Persian kings before the Arab conquest. sastrugi -- A long wavelike ridge of snow, formed by the wind and found on the polar plains satori -- A spiritual awakening sought in Zen Buddhism, often coming suddenly satrap -- Governor of a province in ancient Persia satrapy -- The territory or sphere under the rule of a satrap satsuma -- A seedless mandarin orange originally cultivated in Japan. saturnine -- Slow and gloomy; morose sawyer -- A bobbing tree in a body of water scansion -- Analysis of verse into metrical patterns. scapular -- A monk's sleeveless outer garment that hangs from the shoulders and sometimes has a cowl schtum -- Silent (from the German stumm) sciatheric -- Belonging to a sundial scienter -- Knowledge that one's actions are wrong or contrary to law, where such knowledge is an element of a criminal offense or a basis for liability. sciolist -- A pretentious attitude of scholarship; superficial knowledgeability scordatura -- The technique of altering the normal tuning of a stringed instrument to produce particular effects. scoria -- Porous cinderlike fragments of dark lava. Also called cinders, slag scoriatic -- Cinder- or slag-like; rocky, craggy scotophliic -- Functioning best in darkness scourge -- A whip or lash scramasax -- A single-edged knife or sword used by the Anglo-Saxons scringe -- To shrug the back or shoulders from cold scripturient -- Having a strong urge to write scrouge -- To inconvenience or discomfort a person by pressing against him or her or by standing too close searce -- To sift (obsolete) sebum -- The semifluid secretion of the sebaceous glands, consisting chiefly of fat, keratin, and cellular material secondment -- Temporary transfer to another position or employment sedulously -- Assiduous; constant in effort; persevering (from A very short history of driving while black) seigneur -- A man of rank, esp. a feudal lord in the ancien régime seigniorage -- Revenue or a profit taken from the minting of coins seine -- A fishing net or the act of using one (page 653 of Reamde) semiotics -- The study of systems of communication sempiternal -- Infinite; enduring forever sempstress -- A rare word for seamstress seneschal -- A steward or major-domo (in charge of servants) sententious -- Given to moralizing in a pompous or affected manner septentrional -- Of the north; Germanic; used mostly on maps sepulchritude -- Tomb-like; also, sepulchral sequacious -- Unthinking and uncritical; slavish sequela -- A secondary consequence or result; condition resulting from a disease serotype -- A group of closely related microorganisms distinguished by a characteristic set of antigens sesquipedalian -- Given to using long words shako -- A stiff, cylindrical military dress hat with a metal plate or badge in front, a short visor, and a plume or pompom sheela na gig -- Figurative carvings of naked women displaying an exaggerated vulva. shibboleth -- 1. An inappropriate or outdated custom; 2. A word or pronunciation that distinguishes people of one group or class from those of another shiplap -- Wooden siding rabbeted so that the edge of one board overlaps the one next to it in a flush joint. shirty -- Ill-tempered; angry shockheaded -- Having a head of bushy or tousled hair shotcrete -- Concrete conveyed through a hose and pneumatically projected at high velocity onto a surface. shufti -- A quick look around sibilent -- Hissing sound sine qua non -- An essential element or condition singultus -- A hiccup skittles -- Nine-pin bowling slub -- A soft thick nub in yarn that is either an imperfection or purposely set for a desired effect. slunk -- A prematurely born calf or other animal snarge -- A collision of an aircraft with a bird (or the remnants thereof) soca -- A style of music, originating in the West Indies, that is a blend of soul and calypso sociolects -- A language variety that is associated with a specific social group (e.g. a profession-specific argot) sockdolager -- Something outstanding; a final blow or remark, coup de grace sodality -- Fellowship; fraternity; association; society sonic -- Relating to or containing sodium soi-disant -- Self-styled; so-called solastalgia -- A form of emotional or existential distress caused by environmental change solecism -- A grammatical error; more generously, a non-standard usage solon -- A legislator somatically -- Corporeal or physical; of, relating to, or affecting the body, esp. as distinguished from a body part, the mind, or the environment somaticize -- To convert (anxiety) into physical symptoms. sommian -- A volcanic caldera that has been partially filled by a new central cone soteriological -- The branch of theology dealing with the nature and means of salvation. soviet -- One of the popularly elected legislative assemblies that were created after the Russian Revolution (1917) and existed at local, regional, and national levels in the former Soviet Union. sozzled -- Intoxicated; drunk spadix -- A fleshy clublike spike bearing minute flowers, usually enclosed within a sheathlike spathe, characteristic of aroid plants such as the jack-in-the-pulpit spall -- A chip, fragment, or flake from a piece of stone or ore spanandry -- Scarcity of males in a population. spandrel -- The roughly triangular space between the left or right exterior curve of an arch and the rectangular framework surrounding it. sparge -- 1. To spray or sprinkle; 2. To run additional water through (a partly or completely drained mash) to extract more fermentable sugars; 3. To introduce air or gas into (a liquid) spatchcock -- To prepare for roasting or grilling by splitting open spathe -- A leaflike bract that encloses or subtends a flower cluster or spadix, as in the jack-in-the-pulpit spatterdashes -- Long leather leggings worn in the 18th century, as to protect from mud when riding spavined -- Decrepit or worn out speculum -- 1. A mirror or polished metal plate used as a reflector in optical instruments; 2. An instrument for dilating the opening of a body cavity for medical examination; 3. A bright, often iridescent patch of color on the wings of certain birds, esp. ducks 4. A transparent spot in the wings of some butterflies or moths. spinel -- A hard, glassy mineral composed of magnesium-aluminum oxide found in metamorphosed limestones and many basic and ultrabasic igneous rocks spinet -- A small, compact upright piano spitchcock -- An eel split and grilled or fried; see spatchcock sporran -- A leather or fur pouch worn at the front of the kilt in the traditional dress of men of the Scottish Highlands sprezzatura -- Studied nonchalance; graceful conduct or performance without apparent effort sprue -- 1. The hole through which molten material is channeled into a mold; 2. The usually plastic rod or framework that secures molded objects, such as model parts squamous -- Covered with or formed of scales; scaly squiffy -- Intoxicated; drunk squireen -- A pretty squire staggers -- Any of various diseases in animals, esp. horses, cattle, or other domestic animals, that are characterized by a lack of coordination in moving stele -- An upright stone or slab with an inscribed or sculptured surface, used as a monument or as a commemorative tablet in the face of a building. stenosis -- A constriction or narrowing of a duct or passage; a stricture. stochastic -- Of, relating to, or characterized by conjecture; Involving or containing a random variable or process stolon -- A long thin stem that usually grows horizontally along the ground and produces roots and shoots at widely spaced nodes, as in a strawberry plant. Also called runner. stook -- A group of sheaves of grain stood on end in a field stot -- To jump straight up with straight legs (e.g. antelope) stoush -- A fight or brawl strabismus -- The condition of being cross-eyed strath -- A strath is a large valley, typically a river valley that is wide and shallow Strega -- The Italian word for witch stridulate -- To produce a shrill grating, chirping, or hissing sound by rubbing body parts together, as certain insects do stroppy -- Bad-tempered and argumentative stylobate -- The immediate foundation of a row of classical columns suasion -- Persuasion subaltern -- A person of inferior rank or position subfusc -- 1. Of a dark, dull, or somber color; 2. Dark, dull clothing. subtiliation -- 1. The act of making something thin, rare, or subtile; 2. To think subtly succussation -- Trotting, shaking Suetonius -- Roman historian whose major work, Lives of the Caesars, is an account of the lives of the first 12 Roman emperors sui generis -- Unique Sukkot -- A harvest festival commemorating the booths in which the Israelites resided during their 40 years in the wilderness sumptuary -- Laws or limits on private expenses supererogation -- Doing more than required supernacular -- First-rate supernumerary -- 1. One that is in excess of the regular, necessary, or usual number; 2. An actor without a speaking part, as one who appears in a crowd scene. supersedure -- Replacement of an old or diseased queen bee with a new one. supine -- Lying on the back or having the face upward surfactant -- A substance, such as detergent, that is added to a liquid to increase its ability to spread. sweetmeat -- A sweet delicacy, such as a piece of candy or crystallized fruit swingeing -- Extreme in effect; drastic swot -- To cram; derogatory term for a person who crams syce -- A stableman or groom, esp. in India syenite -- An igneous rock composed primarily of alkali feldspar together with other minerals, such as hornblende syllepsis -- See zeugma sylph -- A slim, graceful woman or girl. sympatetic -- A walking companion syncope -- 1. The shortening of a word by omission of a sound, letter, or syllable from the middle of the word; for example, bos'n for boatswain.2. A brief loss of consciousness caused by inadequate blood flow to the brain. syncretic -- 1. Reconciliation or fusion of differing systems of belief, as in philosophy or religion, esp. when success is partial or the result is heterogeneous; 2. The merging of two or more originally different inflectional forms in linguistics. synecdoche -- A trope whereby a part is used as a label for the whole (e.g. "hand" for "sailor"); see metonymy tabard -- A tunic or capelike garment worn by a knight over his armor and emblazoned with his coat of arms tabes -- A wasting of a bodily organ or part tacenda -- Things not to be mentioned; matters that are passed over in silence tallboy -- A high chest of drawers made in two sections and placed one on top of the other; chest-on-chest talmudic -- Related to the collection of ancient Rabbinic writings constituting the basis of religious authority in Orthodox Judaism tamarisk -- Any shrub or small tree having small scalelike or needle-shaped leaves and feathery racemes of small white or pinkish flowers tangible -- Discernible by the touch; palpable taphonomic -- The study of the events and processes, such as burial in sediment, transportation, and decomposition, that affect the remains of an organism after it dies. tapotement -- Rapid massage tarpon -- Either of two large marine game fishes having a bluish-green back and silvery sides (Megalops cyprinoides of the Pacific and Indian Oceans or M. atlanticus of Atlantic coastal waters) Tartaros -- The abysmal regions below Hades where the Titans were confined. tegument -- A natural outer covering; an integument Telemachus -- The son of Odysseus and Penelope, who helped his father kill Penelope's suitors teleology -- The philosophical interpretation of natural phenomena as exhibiting purpose or design telluric -- Of or relating to Earth; terrestrial telluride -- A chemical compound of tellurium and another element. telos -- End of a goal-oriented process temerarious -- In an audacious manner tempera -- A painting medium in which pigment is mixed with water-soluble glutinous materials such as size or egg yolk tendentious -- Partisan; marked by or favoring a particular point of view tenebrous -- Dark and gloomy tensegrity -- An architectural technique that involves tensional integrity or floating compression (see <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tensegrity">Wikipedia</a>) tephra -- Solid matter that is ejected into the air by an erupting volcano tergiversate -- To use evasions or ambiguities; to evade, to equivocate using subterfuge; to deliberately obfuscate. termagant -- A scold; a shrew thaumaturgic -- The working of miracles or magic feats theodicy -- A vindication of God's goodness and justice in the face of the existence of evil theodolite -- A surveying instrument theophany -- An appearance of a god to a human; a divine manifestation theriac -- An ointment or potion of varying composition, used as an antidote to a poison throstle -- 1. Any of various thrushes, esp. a song thrush; 2. A machine formerly used for spinning fibers such as cotton or wool thurible -- A censer used in certain ecclesiastical ceremonies or liturgies thylacine -- Tasmanian tiger; an extinct or very rare doglike carnivorous marsupial tilth -- 1. Tilled earth; 2. The fitness of soil for cultivation, as measured by its structure and composition. tippet -- A scarf-like narrow piece of clothing, worn over the shoulders tipstaff -- 1. A staff tipped with metal, formerly carried as a badge of office, as by a constable; 2. any official who carried such a staff titivate -- To decorate or spruce up tittle -- 1. A small diacritic mark, such as an accent, vowel mark, or dot over an i. 2. The tiniest bit; an iota tocsin -- An alarm sounded on a bell tontine -- A common fund with increasing annuity for each member's death and the last living member gets everything toothsome -- Delicious, luscious, pleasant, attractive, sexually attractive or exciting topolect -- The language or speech of a particular place (e.g. Züridütsch) torpid -- Mentally or physically inactive; lethargic torrid -- 1. Parched with the heat of the sun; intensely hot; 2. Passionate; ardent tosh -- Rubbish; nonsense tournure -- Implement to expand a dress; a bustle towhee -- A strikingly marked, oversized sparrow of the East, feathered in bold black and warm reddish-browns toxophily -- Archery; toxophilite: A student or lover of archery tracklement -- Savory jelly served with meat traduction -- A transmission or communication; a translation into a different language transducer -- Any device, such as a microphone or electric motor, that converts one form of energy into another tref -- Unfit to be eaten; not kosher (corresponds to haram or not halal in Islam) trenchant -- Clear-cut; forceful or convincing trepidation -- A state of alarm or dread; apprehension tressure -- A narrow inner border on a shield, usually decorated with fleurs-de-lys trews -- Trousers; chiefly British tricontagon -- A closed plane figure bounded by three or more line segments. tripe -- Something of no value; rubbish trope -- Metaphor or non-literal figure of speech trow -- To think or suppose truckle -- 1. A small wheel/caster; 2. to be servile truckling -- To be servile or submissive trug -- A shallow, usually oval gardening basket made with wide strips of wood trull -- A woman prostitute. trypophobia -- An intense, irrational fear of objects with small holes tsuris -- Problems or difficulties (Yiddish) tumid -- 1. Swollen; distended. Used of a body part or organ; 2. Of a bulging shape; protuberant; 3. Overblown; bombastic tumulus -- An ancient grave mound; a barrow (pl. tumuli) turnkey -- Supplied, installed, or purchased in a condition ready for immediate use, occupation, or operation tutoyer -- To speak to (someone) on familiar terms tympany -- Excessive pride or arrogance; inflated manner or style; bombast. ukase -- An authoritative order or decree; an edict ultracrepidarianism -- The habit of giving opinions and advice on matters outside of one’s knowledge or competence. unasinous -- Sharing the same amount of stupidity; displaying ignorance or foolishness by all. unction -- Something that serves to soothe; a balm unctuous -- Excessively ingratiating or insincerely earnest; oily undecillion -- The cardinal number equal to 1036; British: 1066 undisonant -- Making the sound of waves usquebaugh -- Whiskey usufruct -- Right to use the property of others uxorious -- Love of or submission to one's wife vade mecum -- 1. A useful thing that one constantly carries about; 2. A book, such as a guidebook, for ready reference. vair -- Red-squirrel fur; often used a trimming valetudinarian -- 1. Chronically ailing; sickly; 2. Constantly and morbidly concerned with one's health vambrace -- Forearm armor vastation -- Quick destruction; from the Italian vastare. vatic -- Of or characteristic of a prophet; oracular (see veridical) vecturist -- A collector of tokens used in buses and subways veisalgia -- A hangover (from the Norwegian for “suffering after debauchery”) vellum -- A fine parchment made from calfskin, lambskin, or kidskin and used for the pages and binding of books venal -- Open to bribery; mercenary venery -- The indulgence in or pursuit of sexual activity venire -- The panel of prospective jurors from which a jury is selected venule -- A small vein, especially one joining capillaries to larger veins. verdigris -- A green patina or crust of copper sulfate or copper chloride formed on copper, brass, and bronze exposed to air or seawater for long periods of time veridical -- 1. Truthful; veracious; 2. Coinciding with future events or apparently unknowable present realities (see vatic) verisimilitude -- Believable; appearing to be true vermian -- Resembling or of the nature of a worm; of or relating to worms. vermilion -- Brilliant or vivid red (also written vermillion) vernacular -- 1. The everyday language spoken by a people as distinguished from the literary language 2. Built in the local style of ordinary houses, rather than a grand architectural style versipellous -- Changeable, protean vesicle -- A sac or cyst, esp. one containing fluid vespertine -- Of, relating to, or occurring in the evening (e.g. active or blooming in the evening) vetch -- Any of several climbing plants of the legume family, bearing pea-like flowers vicambulist -- One who walks about in the streets vicissitude -- Alternation between opposite or contrasting things vigorish -- 1. A fee charged for the placement of bets by an illegal gambling broker or establishment; 2. Frequent and excessive interest payments charged by an illegal moneylender villein -- One of a class of feudal serfs who held the legal status of freemen in their dealings with all people except their lord vinous -- 1. Of, relating to, or made with wine; 2. Having the color of wine violaceous -- Of a violet color; reddish blue virago -- 1. A woman regarded as noisy, scolding, or domineering; 2. A large, strong, courageous woman vitiate -- Spoil or impair the quality or efficiency of voivode -- A Slavic military commander or a governor of a town or province in parts of SE Europe volvulus -- Abnormal twisting of the intestine causing obstruction wale -- One of the heavy planks or strakes extending along the sides of a wooden ship weeper -- A hole or pipe in a wall to allow water to run off whelm -- To cover with water; submerge whin -- Any spiny European evergreen shrub having rudimentary leaves and yellow flowers (also called gorse or furze) whipping boy -- Scapegoat; a boy formerly raised with a prince or other young nobleman and whipped for the latter's misdeeds white goods -- Large appliances, like refrigerators and washing machines; compare to brown goods, which are TVs, radios, etc. widdershins -- In a contrary or counterclockwise direction windlestraw -- A thin, dried stalk of grass. withe -- Also withy; a tough, supple twig, used to bind woad -- An annual Eurasian plant (Isatis tinctoria) in the mustard family, formerly cultivated for its leaves that yield a blue dye. xenium -- A gift given to a guest yegg -- A thief, especially a burglar or safecracker yonic -- Related the vagina, esp. religious rel. to Shakti zazen -- The primary form of meditation in Zen Buddhism, practiced while sitting cross-legged zeugma -- When a word applies to two others in jarringly different ways (e.g. John and his license expired yesterday.) zoetrope -- A mechanical device consisting of a rotating drum ringed with narrow apertures through which an animated image is viewed </ol> </div>