Vocabulary list--#12

A dozen lists now from POSP stringer Tim.

alembic

uh-LEM-bik

noun

1. Anything that transforms, purifies, or refines.
2. A vessel with a beaked cap or head, formerly used in distilling.

See...

Alembic...distillation apparatus


appertain

ap-er-TEYN

verb

To belong as a part, right, possession or attribute.


abnegate

AB-nih-gayt

verb
1. Deny, renounce.
2. Surrender, relinquish.


adamantine

ad-uh-MAN-teen

adjective

1. Utterly unyielding or firm in attitude or opinion.
2. Too hard to cut, break, or pierce.
3. Like a diamond in luster.


ad rem

ad REM

adverb

Without digressing, in a straightforward manner.

adjective

Relevant, pertinent.


antipode

AN-ti-pohd

noun

A direct or exact opposite.


astringent

uh-STRIN-juhnt

adjective

1. Sharply incisive, pungent.
2. Medicine/Medical. Contracting, constrictive, styptic.
3. Harshly biting, caustic: His astringent criticism.
4. Stern or severe, austere.


aubade

oh-BAHD

noun

1. A song or poem greeting the dawn.
2a. A morning love song.
2b. A song or poem of lovers parting at dawn.
3. Morning music.


auscultation

aw-skuhl-TEY-shuhn

noun

The act of listening to sounds within the body as a method of diagnosis.


brisance

bri-ZAHNS

noun

The shattering effect of a high explosive.


bucolic

byu-kaw-lic

adjective

1. Rural, simple, countrified, uncomplicated as life once was in the country.
2. Romantically rustic, pastoral, peaceful and surrounded by natural beauty.


cacography

ka-KAH-gruh-fee

noun

1. Bad spelling.
2. Bad handwriting kæl-ê-thêm-pee-ên • Hear it!


callithumpian

kael-e-them-pee-en

adjective

1. Related to a mock serenade made by banging pots and pans together, as in a wedding sendoff.
2. Related to a noisy, discordant band or parade, loud, noisy and discordant.


catercorner

KAT-ee-kor-ner

adverb or adjective

In a diagonal or oblique position, kitty-corner.


copious

KOH-pee-us

adjective

1a. Yielding something abundantly.
1b. Blentiful in number.
2. Full of thought, information, or matter.
3. Lavish, abundant.


craic

kraek

noun

Enjoyable time spent with other people, especially when the conversation
is entertaining and funny.


cynosure

si-na-shur

noun

1. (The Cynosure) The constellation Ursa Minor or the North Star, which lies within it.
2. Anything that guides, leads, or provides guidance.
3. The focal point or center of attention.


deliquescent

de-le-kwe-sent

adjective

1. Melting away, disappearing as if by melting, dissolving by absorbing moisture from the air.
2. Liquefying during the process of decomposition.


depone

dih-POHN

verb

To testify under oath, depose.


diplopia

dih-PLOH-pee-uh

noun

A disorder of vision in which two images of a single object are seen because of unequal action of the eye muscles--called also double vision.


dowager

DOU-uh-jer

noun

1. An elderly woman of stately dignity, especially one of elevated social position.
2. A woman who holds some title or property from her deceased husband, especially the widow of a king, duke, etc.

adjective

Noting, pertaining to, or characteristic of a dowager.


duende

doo-EN-day

noun

The power to attract through personal magnetism and charm.


esculent

ES-kyuh-luhnt

noun

Something edible, especially a vegetable.

adjective

Suitable for use as food, edible.


excogitate

eks-KOJ-i-teyt

verb

1. To think out, devise, invent.
2. To study intently and carefully in order to grasp or comprehend fully.


exoteric

ek-suh-TER-ik

adjective

1. Suitable for or communicated to the general public.
2. Not belonging, limited, or pertaining to the inner or select circle, as of disciples or intimates.
3. Popular, simple, commonplace.
4. Pertaining to the outside, exterior, external.


fallacious

fuh-LAY-shus

adjective

1. Embodying a fallacy.
2. Tending to deceive or mislead, delusive.


filiopietistic

fil-ee-oh-pahy-i-TIS-tik

adjective

Pertaining to reverence of forebears or tradition, especially if carried to excess.


flexuous

FLEK-shoo-uhs

adjective

Full of bends or curves, sinuous.


furcate

FUR-keyt

verb

To form a fork, branch.

adjective

Forked, branching.


hircine

HUR-sahyn

adjective

1. Of, pertaining to, or resembling a goat.
2. Having a goatish odor.
3. Lustful, libidinous.


iniquitous

ih-NIK-wi-tuhs

adjective

Characterized by injustice or wickedness, wicked, sinful.


intercalate

in-ter-ke-layt

verb trans

To insert into at various points, especially in a series, as to intercalate graphics at appropriate points in a book.


instauration

in-staw-RAY-shun

noun

1. Restoration after decay, lapse, or dilapidation.
2. An act of instituting or establishing something.


liege

leej

adjective

1. Loyal, faithful.
2. Owing primary allegiance and service to a feudal lord.
3. Pertaining to the relation between a feudal vassal and lord.

noun

1. A feudal lord entitled to allegiance and service.
2. A feudal vassal or subject.


ludic

LOO-dik

adjective

Of, relating to, or characterized by play, playful.


mammonism

MAM-uh-niz-uhm

noun

The greedy pursuit of riches.


morceau

mawr-SOH

noun

1. Piece, morsel.
2. An excerpt or passage of poetry or music.


nugatory

NOO-guh-tor-ee

adjective

1. Of little or no consequence, trifling, inconsequential.
2. Having no force, inoperative.


oracular

aw-RAK-yuh-ler

adjective

1. Ambiguous, obscure.
2. Of the nature of, resembling, or suggesting an oracle.
3. Giving forth utterances or decisions as if by special inspiration or authority.
4. Uttered or delivered as if divinely inspired or infallible, sententious.
5. Portentous, ominous.


pachyderm

PAK-i-durm

noun

1. A person who is not sensitive to criticism, ridicule, etc.
2. Any of the thick-skinned, nonruminant ungulates, as the elephant, hippopotamus, and rhinoceros.
3. An elephant.


peroration

per-uh-REY-shuhn

noun

1. A long speech characterized by lofty and often pompous language.
2. Rhetoric. The concluding part of a speech or discourse, in which the speaker or writer recapitulates the principal points and urges them with greater earnestness and force.


pettifog

PET-ee-fog

verb

1. To bicker or quibble over trifles or unimportant matters.
2. To carry on a petty, shifty, or unethical law business.
3. To practice chicanery of any sort.


plenum

PLEE-nuhm

noun

1. A full assembly, as a joint legislative assembly.
2. The state or a space in which a gas, usually air, is contained at a pressure greater than atmospheric pressure.
3. A space, usually above a ceiling or below a floor, that can serve as a receiving chamber for air that has been heated or cooled to be distributed to inhabited areas.
4. The whole of space regarded as being filled with matter (opposed to vacuum).


prescind

prih-SIND

verb

To withdraw one's attention.


propinquity

pruh-PING-kwuh-tee

noun

1. Nearness of blood, kinship.
2. Nearness in place or time, proximity.


quietus

kwye-EE-tus

noun

1. Final settlement (as of a debt).
2. Removal from activity, especially, death.
3. Something that quiets or represses.


quodlibet

kwo-li-bet

noun

1. A topic or issue offered for debate.
2. (Music, humorous) A fanciful medley of tunes or musical pieces.
3a. A theological or philosophical issue presented for formal argument or disputation.
3b. Formal disputation of such an issue.


rutilant

ROOT-l-uhnt

adjective

Glowing or glittering with ruddy or golden light


screed

skreed

noun

1. A long discourse or essay, especially a diatribe.
2. An informal letter, account, or other piece of writing.
3. Building Trades. A. A strip of plaster or wood applied to a surface to be plastered to serve as a guide for making a true surface. B. A wooden strip serving as a guide for making a true level surface on a concrete pavement or the like. C. A board or metal strip dragged across a freshly poured concrete slab to give it its proper level.
4. British Dialect. A fragment or shred, as of cloth.
5. Scot. A. A tear or rip, especially in cloth. B. A drinking bout.

verb

Scot. To tear, rip, or shred, as cloth.


stiction

STIK-shun

noun

The force required to cause one body in contact with another to begin to move.


subdolus

seb-de-les

adjective

Sly, crafty, devious, surreptitiously deceptive.


sylph

SILF

noun

1. An elemental being in the theory of Paracelsus that inhabits air.
2. A slender graceful woman or girl.


tramontane

truh-MON-teyn

adjective

1. Being or situated beyond the mountains.
2. Beyond the Alps as viewed from Italy, transalpine.
3. Of, pertaining to, or coming from the other side of the mountains.
4. Foreign, barbarous.


vade mecum

vay-dee-MEE-kum

noun

1. A book for ready reference, manual.
2. Something regularly carried about by a person.


vernal

VUR-nl

adjective

1. Appearing or occurring in spring.
2. Of or pertaining to spring.
3. Appropriate to or suggesting spring, springlike.
4. Belonging to or characteristic of youth.


vilipend

vil-UH-pend

verb

1. To regard or treat as of little value or account.
2. To vilify, depreciate.


volplane

VAHL-playn

verb
1. To glide in or as if in an airplane.
2a. Of an airplane, to descend gradually in controlled flight.
2B. To fly in a glider.


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