1. abdabs - So nervous, you jitter and quake. One hopes that diamond cutters, professional golfers and brain surgeons do not suffer from abdabs.
  2. abject - Extremely humiliated or debased; the bottom of the barrel. The Word is most often used in conjunction with either "failure" or "poverty". The migrant farmers in Woody Guthrie songs lived in abject poverty.
  3. ablution - A ritual cleansing. This can literally be a bath, or, more commonly, a spiritual purification. Vestal virgins probably engage in this kind of activity since they have a lot of time on their hands.
  4. abnegate - To deny oneself something (usually something a little more serious than giving up chocolate cake). You can abnegate the religion you were born into for example.
  5. abrogate - verb - to cancel or appeal by authority. esp. a contract.
  6. abscond - verb - to go away hastily and secretly, run away and hide, esp. in order to escape the law
  7. absinthe - noun - 1) wormwood or its essence 2a) a green, bitter, toxic liqueur made with wormwood oil and anise: now illegal in most countries b) a similar drink, as anis or pastis, made with a wormwood substitute.
  8. absolution - noun - A release from guilt, sin, or sentence. More than just forgiveness, absolution implies a kind of freedom from moral responsibility. To be on the safe side, it is best to avoid acts that require absolution, since it might not be offered.
  9. babbitt - noun - A reference to the eponymous title of Sinclair Lewis's best-known novel, the word has come to mean a person who blindly conforms to middle-class standards. Until recently, a male babbitt always drove a four-door American car, belonged to the Lions club, wore a dark suit and went to church every Sunday.
  10. cabal - noun - A group engaged in secret plotting against authority. A cabal might be a political faction that scorns the government, or a splinter group of employees dissatisfied with the head of their department. Often associated with witches.
  11. detritus - Both a literal and figurative way of saying "debris." Empty soda cans on a beach are detritus; so are street punks who are looking for trouble.
  12. effluvium - noun - A bad smell, usually invisible, often associated with waste-treatment facilities. Bad breath qualifies as effluvium. The smell of apple pie does not.
  13. feckless - adj - 1) weak; ineffective 2) careless; irresponsible.
  14. grimalkin - noun - 1) a cat; esp. an old female cat 2) a malicious old woman.
  15. hirsute - adj - Hairy. A man in need of a shave is hirsute. You would not describe a sticky or hairy situation as hirsute.
  16. inimical - adj - Hostile and unfriendly. An inimical rival should be avoided, not because he is in a class by himself but because he is downright vicious.
  17. jape - noun, verb - To joke or to tease; also a taunt, wisecrack, or practical joke.
  18. kobold - noun - 1) A helpful or mischievous sprite in house holds; brownie 2) A gnome in mines and other underground places
  19. legerdemain - noun - 1) sleight of hand; tricks of a stage magician 2) trickery of any sort; deceit.
  20. maladroit - adj - awkward; clumsy; bungling;
  21. nepenthe - noun - 1) a drug supposed by the ancient Greeks to cause forgetfulness of sorrow 2) anything causing such forgetfulness.
  22. obsequious - adj - kowtowing, brown nosing, sucking up, or flattering for favor, to another person, usually one who is higher in authority or power.
  23. philipic - noun - a hostile speech that denounces a person or thing with great bitterness.
  24. quasi - adj - means not what it appears to be. Mostly used in combination with other words. i.e. His philipic sounded intelligent, but it was not if you listened closely, therefore it was quasi-intelligent.
  25. opine - verb - to state your opinion.
  26. refulgent - adj - shining; radiant; glowing; resplendent;
  27. sonorous - adj - 1) producing or capable of producing sound, esp sound of full, deep, or rich quality; resonant 2) full, deep, or rich; said of sound 3) having a powerful, impressive sound; high sounding.
  28. talaria - noun - winged sandals, or winged ankles such as those of Mercury.
  29. ululate - verb - To howl or hoot, wail or lament loudly like a coyote.
  30. vulpine - adj - Fox-like; Someone who is crafty or sneaky could be considered to be vulpine.
  31. warison - noun - a note sounded to start an attack, or a battle cry. Can be used figuratively and literally.
  32. xebec - noun - A three masted sailing ship.
  33. AT-AT - noun - (All Terrain Armored Transport) The four legged Imperial Walkers from the movie "The Empire Strikes Back." They were used to attack the Rebels base on the ice world, and they look like a big mechanical dog.
  34. yantra - noun -a geometrical diagram used like an icon usually in meditation.
  35. zealous - adj - Eager and diligently devoted; ardent. A zealous worker comes in at the crack of dawn and works till the wee hours of the night to get a job done as thoroughly and perfectly as possible.
  36. egest - verb - to pass off (perspiration, excrement, etc.); excrete;
  37. lapidate - verb - 1) to throw stones at 2) to stone to death
  38. paralogize - verb - to draw illogical conclusions from a series of facts.
  39. hubris - noun - excessive pride; Proud to a fault; Originates from mythology said of mortals who challenged the Gods, and or fate. Icarus was guilty of hubris.
  40. scotch - noun - 1) a whiskey - verb - 2) to wound without killing.
  41. non sequitur - noun - 1) a conclusion or inference which does not follow from the premesis 2) a remark having no bearing on what has just been said.
  42. malice - noun - The desire to see a great deal of evil done upon another. Worse than spite or holding a grudge, malice is serious hatred.
  43. mordant - adj - 1) biting, cutting, caustic, or sarcastic, as speech, wit etc.
  44. cruor - noun - coagulated blood; gore.
  45. iconoclast - noun - 1) one who destroys religious images or opposes their veneration 2) one who attacks settled beliefs or institutions.
  46. dearth - noun - scarcity or shortage; Squirrels have a dearth of nuts by the end of winter.
  47. fatuous - adj - 1) complacently stupid or inane; silly; foolish; 2) like an ignis fatuus; illusory; unreal.
  48. harridan - noun - A bad-tempered old woman; a hag.
  49. somniloquist - noun - One who talks in their sleep.
  50. meretrix - noun - a prostitute.
  51. vapid - adj - 1) tasteless; flavorless; flat. 2) uninteresting; dull; boring.
  52. prithee - interjection - I pray thee; please.
  53. bantling - noun - a young child; brat: a term of contempt.
  54. falchion - noun - 1) a broad-bladed slightly curved sword of medieval times. 2) sword.
  55. rectitude - noun - 1) uprightness in principles and conduct. 2) Freedom from error; correctness of judgment or procedure; propriety; accuracy; 3) Straightness.
  56. ort - noun - a morsel left at a meal ; scrap. Most commonly used in the plural orts.
  57. kazachok - noun - a vigorous Russian folk dance performed by a man and characterized by a step in which, from a squatting position, each leg is alternately kicked out. Plural kazachki
  58. thersitical - adj - loud and abusive.
  59. umbrageous - adj - 1) a: shady. b: filled with shadows 2) inclined to take offense easily.
  60. wroth - adj - highly incensed; very angry.
  61. odalisque - noun - a female slave or concubine in a harem.
  62. filtrum - noun - The canal that leads from your nose to your mouth.
  63. vesicant - noun/adj - an agent (as a drug or war gas) that induces blistering.
  64. sough - verb - To make a soft rustling or murmuring sound. - noun - a soft murmuring or rustling sound, as of the wind or a gentle surf.
  65. quidnunc - noun - a prying or meddlesome person; busybody.
  66. rugose - adj - Having creases or wrinkles.
  67. garth - noun - an enclosed yard or garden.
  68. gardyloo - interjection - a cry warning people below that slops were about to be thrown from a window onto the street. similar to Fore in golf.
  69. nephogram - noun - a photograph of a cloud.
  70. tiller - noun - a device used to prepare the land for planting.
  71. jeremiad - noun - a long elaborate lamentation or tale of woe.
  72. factotum - noun - An employee with a wide range of duties.
  73. platitude - noun - A trite remark, statement or idea.
  74. decollate - verb - to cut off the head of.
  75. etiolate - verb - to cause to become weakened or sickly; drain of color or vigor.
  76. wainwright - noun - a maker and repairer of wagons.
  77. chiaroscuro - noun - 1) pictorial representation in terms of light and shade without regard to color. 2) the arrangement or treatment of light and dark parts in a pictorial work of art. 3) a 16th century woodcut technique involving the use of several blocks to print different tones of the same color; or a print made by this technique
  78. oubliette - noun - a dungeon with an opening only at the top.
  79. onomatopoeia - noun - the formation or use of a word that sounds like its referent, like buzz or cuckoo.
  80. solipsism - noun - the theory, assumption, or belief that the self knows and can know nothing but its own modifications and states, and that the self is the only existent thing. solipsist -noun- solipsistic -adj-
  81. obstreperous - adj - 1) marked by unruly or aggressive noisiness : clamorous 2) stubbornly defiant: unruly, vociferous.
  82. nidget - noun - Idiot, fool.
  83. pulicide - noun - an agent used for destroying fleas.
  84. torrid - adj - 1a) parched with heat esp. of the sun b) giving off intense heat: scorching 2) ardent, passionate.
  85. immane - adj - 1) huge 2) monstrous in character.
  86. felicity - noun - 1a) The quality or state or state of being happy; esp great happiness. b) an instance of happiness 2) something that causes happiness. 3) a pleasing faculty esp. in art or language: aptness 4) an apt expression.
  87. salacious - adj - 1) arousing or appealing to sexual desire or imagination: lascivious 2) lecherous, lustful.
  88. curricle - noun - a 2-wheeled chariot ususally drawn by two horses.
  89. moribund - adj - being in the state of dying: approaching death.
  90. paladin - noun - 1) a champion of a medieval prince. 2) an outstanding protagonist of a cause.
  91. osculate - verb - to kiss.
  92. pulchritude - noun - physical comeliness.
  93. enchiridion - noun - handbook, manual
  94. lyre - noun - a stringed instrument of the harp class used by the ancient greeks esp. to accompany song and recitation.
  95. limaciform - adj - resembling a slug.
  96. cryophilic - adj - thriving at low temperatures.
  97. coprophagist - noun - dung eater.
  98. chthonic - adj - infernal.
  99. knur - noun - a hard excrescence (as on a tree trunk).
  100. peregrinate - verb - to travel esp. on foot: walk; to walk or travel over: traverse.
  101. gyve - noun - fetter; shackle. - verb - fetter, shackle.
  102. turpitude - noun - inherent baseness: depravity; a base act.
  103. leman - noun - sweetheart, lover; Mistress.
  104. mystagogue - noun - 1. one who initiates another into a mystery cult. 2. one who disseminates mystical doctrines.
  105. parsimony - noun - a tendency to be overcareful in spending; unreasonable economy; stinginess.
  106. biauriculate - adj - having two ears, or earlike parts. Also biauricular.
  107. cockle
  108. pellucid- adj - 1) admitting maximum passage of light without diffusion or distortion. 2) reflecting light evenly from all surfaces. 3) easy to understand.
  109. vituperate - verb - to abuse or censure severely or abusively : berate; to use harsh condemnatory language : scold.
  110. castigate - verb - to subject to severe punishment, reproof, or criticism.
  111. hiatus - noun - 1) a break in or as if in a material object: gap. 2) a gap or passage in an anatomical part or organ. 3) a laspe in continiuity. 4) the occurence of two vowel sounds without pause or intervening consonantal sound.
  112. frutescent - adj - having or approaching the habit or appearance of a shrub: shrubby.
  113. remission - noun - 1 : the act or process of remitting 2 : a state or period during which something is remitted
  114. luciferous - adj - producing light or insight; illuminating.
  115. caducity - noun - The fraility or feebleness of old age; senility.
  116. coquette - noun - A women who teases either sexually or romantically, often to attract attention from a desire to indulge her vanity; a flirt.
  117. transmogrify - verb - to alter ones shape or form, usually into something bizarre or fantastic.
  118. indolent - adj - 1. a) causing little or no pain b) slow to develop or heal. 2. a) averse to activity: lazy. b) conducing to or encouraging laziness. c) characterized by indolence.
  119. recidivism - noun - A tendency to lapse into previous patterns of behavior, especially criminal behaviors.
  120. pettifogger - noun - 1) A petty, quibbling, unscrupulous lawyer. 2) One who argues over trivia.
  121. titubation - noun - The act of stumbling or staggering.
  122. petard - noun - 1) a small bomb, shaped like a bell, used to breach a gate or wall. 2) A loud firecracker.
  123. palimpsest - noun - 1) a manuscript (usually written on parchment or papyrus) on which more than one text has been written with the earlier writing incompletely erased and still visible. 2)An area, place, or object that reflects its history.
  124. castrametation - noun - The art or act of setting up camp or living in a camp; the making or laying out of a camp.
  125. intrepid - adj. - Courageous; fearless;
  126. acrostic - noun - 1)A poem or series of lines in which certain letters, usually the first in each line, form a message. 2) a word square, a square grid that has the same words down as across.
  127. supernal - adj - 1) heavenly;celestial; 2) Of, in, or from the sky; being in a higher region or place.
  128. pernicious - adj - 1) Tending to cause serious injury or death. 2) Evil or wicked (archaic usage).
  129. acrotomophilia - noun - a sexual attraction to amputees.
  130. diadem - noun - 1) A crown, tiara, or ornamental headdress that signifies sovereignty. - verb - 2) to adorn with or as if with a crown. to crown.
  131. graylag - noun - A wild, common, European gray goose. Also greylag.
  132. misocapnist - noun - One who hates tobacco smoke.
  133. fetor - noun - A foul odor; a stench.
  134. omphaloskepsis - noun - contemplation of ones belly button.
  135. pauciloquy - noun - Brevity in speech.
  136. caliginous - adj - gloomy, dark, and misty.
  137. lipogram - noun - Any writing that does not contain a certain letter or letters; Such as a novel written entirely without the letter 'e'.
  138. aglet - noun - the metal or plastic tag at the end of a lace, intended to make it easier to thread through holes.
  139. bastion - noun - 1. projecting piece of a fortification or rampart. 2. A position that is well protected. 3. A person or thing that is considered the same as a stronghold.
  140. jentacular - adj - of or belonging to breakfast.
  141. panesthesia - noun - The entire sum of the perceptions of a person at a given time.
  142. death - noun - the end of life; the act of dying.
  143. griggish - adj - merry.
  144. lugubrious - adj - of, expressing, or causing mourning; mournful.
  145. petrichor - noun - The pleasant smell that accompanies the first rain after a dry spell.
    [From petro- (rock), from Greek petros (stone) + ichor (the fluid that is supposed to flow in the veins of the gods in Greek mythology). Coined by researchers I.J. Bear and R.G. Thomas.]
    "Petrichor, the name for the smell of rain on dry ground, is from oils given off by vegetation, absorbed onto neighboring surfaces, and released into the air after a first rain." Matthew Bettelheim; Nature's Laboratory; Shasta Parent (Mt Shasta, California); Jan 2002.
  146. nonplussed - adj - confused or bewildered, often to the point of inaction
  147. discombobulated - adj - to be upset or confused.
  148. pangram - noun - a sentence containing all the letters of the alphabet.
  149. cacopygian - adj - having ugly buttocks (c.f. callipygian).
  150. lustrate - verb - to purify through ritual or ceremony.
  151. prandial - adj - of or relating to a meal usually dinner.
  152. chrestomathy - noun - anthology of literary passages, usually from one author, from a foreign langauge. Typically used to study the foreign language.
  153. amanuensis - noun - A person who takes dictation or hand copies an existing text. The plural form is amanuenses. The more modern name for a similar role is secretary.
  154. lipopygian - adj - having fat buttocks; fat assed.
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