Monday, March 24, 2014

Vocabulary list--#24

A gum-bichromate photographic print by Robert de Machey.

These words from POSP stringer Tim won't melt the snow or warm the air, but they will please the mind.


ailurophilia

ahy-loor-uh-fil-ee-uh, ey-loor

noun

A liking for cats, as by cat fanciers.


artless

ahrt-lus

adjective


1. Lacking art, knowledge, or skill, uncultured.
2a. Made without skill, crude.
2b. Free from artificiality, natural.
3. Free from guile or craft, sincerely simple.


august

aw-guhst

adjective

1. Venerable, eminent, an august personage.
2. Inspiring reverence or admiration; of supreme dignity or grandeur, majestic.


billingsgate

bil-ingz-gayt

noun

Coarsely abusive language.


blatherskite

blath-er-skahyt

noun

1. A person given to voluble, empty talk.
2. Nonsense, blather.


cheeseparing

cheez-pair-ing

noun

1. Something worthless or insignificant>
2. Miserly economizing.


cognizant

kog-nuh-zuhnt, kon-uh

adjective

1. Having cognizance; aware (usually followed by of ): He was cognizant of the difficulty.
2. Having legal cognizance.


crepitate 

krep-uh-tayt

verb

To make a crackling sound, to make a series of short, sharp noises.


decoct

dih-kahkt

verb

1. To extract the flavor of by boiling.
2. Boil down, concentrate.


dulcify

duhl-suh-fahy

verb

1. To make more agreeable; mollify; appease.
2. To sweeten.


fantod 

fan-tahd

noun

1a. [Plural], a state of irritability and tension.
1b. Fidgets.
2. An emotional outburst, fit.


froward

froh-erd

adjective

Habitually disposed to disobedience and opposition.


geomancy

jee-uh-man-see

noun

Divination by geographic features or by figures or lines.


gritty

grit-ee

adjective

1. Containing or resembling grit.
2. Courageously persistent, plucky.
3. Having strong qualities of tough uncompromising realism.


hegira 

hih-jye-ruh

noun

A journey especially when undertaken to escape from a dangerous or undesirable situation, exodus.


jingoism 

jing-goh-iz-im

noun

Extreme chauvinism or nationalism marked especially by a belligerent foreign policy.


lingua franca

ling-gwuh frang-kuh

noun

1. Any language that is widely used as a means of communication among speakers of other languages.
2. [Initial capital letter] the Italian-Provençal jargon [with elements of Spanish, French, Greek, Arabic, and Turkish] formerly widely used in eastern Mediterranean ports.


picayun

pik-ee-yoon

adjective

Of little value, paltry, also: petty, small-minded.


pluvial

ploo-vee-uhl

adjective

1. Of or pertaining to rain; rainy.
2. [Geology]. occurring through the action of rain.


probity

proh-buh-tee

noun

Adherence to the highest principles and ideals, uprightness.


redoubtable 

rih-dout-uh-bul

adjective

1, Causing fear or alarm, formidable.
2. Illustrious, eminent, broadly, worthy of respect.


sciamachy

sahy-am-uh-kee

noun

An act or instance of fighting a shadow or an imaginary enemy.


serendipity 

sair-un-dip-uh-tee

noun

The faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for, also: an instance of this.


schatzi

shaht-see

noun

Slang. sweetheart, darling.


solatium

soh-lay-shee-um

noun

A compensation [as money] given as solace for suffering, loss, or injured feelings.


toothsome

tooth-suhm

adjective

1. Pleasing to the taste, palatable, a toothsome dish.
2. Pleasing or desirable, as fame or power.
3. Voluptuous, sexually alluring, a toothsome blonde.


zeitgeber

tsyte-gay-ber

noun

An environmental agent or event that provides the stimulus setting or resetting a biological clock of an organism.



Vocabulary list--#1

Vocabulary list--#2

Vocabulary list--#3

 
Vocabulary list--#8

Vocabulary list--#9


Vocabulary list--#10

Vocabulary list--#11 

 
Vocabulary list--#12 

Vocabulary list--#13

Vocabulary list--#14

Vocabulary list--#15

Vocabulary list--#16

Vocabulary list--#17

Vocabulary list--#18

Vocabulary list--#19

Vocabulary list--#20 

Vocabulary list--#21 

Vocabulary list--#22
 

Vocabulary list--#23

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