Week 17: vocabulary

1.      debouch: to emerge; to issue.

When the mill hands hassled Pete at the Manchester Cafe, he took off his apron, debouched from behind the counter and beat them senseless.

-- Richard Rhodes, Why They Kill

2.      machination: a crafty scheme intended to accomplish some usually evil end.

Alongside the various representations of sincere tears, then, are a series of representations of insincerity and emotional machination.

-- Tom Lutz, Crying

3.      unguent: an ointment.

The window-sill was cluttered with shampoos and soaps and unguents.

-- Amit Chaudhuri, Freedom Song

4.      skulk: to hide in a sneaking manner.

When not rummaging under bushes, Mr. Sculley can often be seen skulking in the woods or prowling along the shore.

-- Tom Gilling, The Sooterkin

5.      dictum: an authoritative statement.

As an editor, Rahv took seriously Trotsky's dictum that "Art can become a strong ally of revolution only in so far as it remains faithful to itself."

-- David Laskin, Partisans

6.      risible: exciting or provoking laughter.

Before long, I began to read aloud with my father, chanting the strange and wondrous rivers -- Shenandoah, Rappahannock, Chickahominy -- and wrapping my tongue around the risible names of rebel generals: Braxton Bragg, Jubal Early, John Sappington Marmaduke, William "Extra Billy" Smith, Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard.

-- Tony Horwitz, Confederates in the Attic

7.      sartorial: of or relating to a tailor, tailoring, or clothing.

She probably sensed that he had married her for her beautiful dark eyes and sartorial splendor -- and she may now have regretted the plumed hats and luxurious fur collars she had worn seductively in her youth.

-- Thomas A. Underwood, Allen Tate: Orphan of the South

8.      interstice: a space between things or parts.

Out in the harbor, boats are gridlocked: who knows how they got there, or how they will get away? The filthy water is barely visible in the interstices of smokestack, hull, and sail.

-- Larry Duberstein, The Handsome Sailor

9.      Argus-eyed: extremely observant; watchful.

Yet other eyes were on me, and Kat, my Argus-eyed defender, never failed to notice them.

-- Rosalind Miles, I, Elizabeth: A Novel

10.  syncretic: uniting and blending together different belief systems.

Compared to the syncretic, polytheistic empires of the past, the 'doctrinal rigidity' of Judaic monotheism could be a source of both solidarity and division.

-- Dominic Lieven, Empire: The Russian Empire and Its Rivals

11.  ossify: to harden or to become bone.

It was a case of fresh, consistent dogmatism against ossified, utilitarian dogma.

-- Milovan Djilas, Fall of the New Class

12.  approbation: formal or official approval; also, praise.

To some of his contemporaries, the episode seemed more the schemings of someone craving attention and the approbation of his peers than an act of sabotage.

-- Richard Siklos, Shades of Black

13.  inkhorn: affectedly or ostentatiously learned.

In prison he wrote the De Consolatione Philosophiae , his most celebrated work and one of the most translated works in history; it was translated . . . by Elizabeth I into florid, inkhorn  language.

-- The Oxford Companion to English Literature, s.v. "Boethius, Anicius Manlius Severinus (c. 475 - 525)."

14.  olla podrida: a kind of seasoned stew; also, a mixture, a hodgepodge.

Continuously testing the resilience of the melting pot differentiates America from other places; and the olla podrida of colors and cultures creates a reservoir of talents unduplicated on the planet.

-- Rotan E. Lee, "Black gay men suffer double racism", Philadelphia Tribune, August 22, 2003

15.  neologism: a new word or expression; the use or creation of new words or expressions.

The word popularizing was a relative neologism (the Review  boasted five years later, "Why should we be afraid of introducing new words into the language which it is our mission to spread over a new world?").

-- Edward L. Widmer, Young America

16.  pule: to whimper; to whine.

But my self-absorbed fretting and puling always come to an abrupt end with some surprise gift.

-- Thomas J. McCarthy, "Stay-at-Home Dad", America, February 26, 2000

17.  reticent: inclined to keep silent.

Within a circle of intimate friends, he's a very sociable person, says Russell Banks, another novelist, who has known Auster since 1977. "Outside of that circle, he's fairly shy and reticent."

-- "Case of the Brooklyn Symbolist", New York Times, August 30, 1992

18.  opportune: suitable for a given purpose or occasion.

O lesson opportune, O how I welcome thee!

-- Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

19.  impassive: devoid of emotion; also, showing no emotion.

As before, he seemed neither happy nor unhappy. Just utterly impassive.

-- Lesley Hazleton, Driving To Detroit

20.  derogate: to deviate from expectation; also, to detract; also, to disparage.

Likewise, there has been a blatant attempt to distort the impact of Ronald Reagan's leadership during this period and to derogate or deny his accomplishments.

-- Edwin Meese, With Reagan

21.  malaise: a condition of uneasiness or ill-being.

The first sign of illness is a malaise no worse than influenza.

-- Steve Jones, Darwin's Ghost

22.  flibbertigibbet: a silly, flighty, or excessively talkative person.

That it was the Owenses who had got involved in this nonsense, rather than some flibbertigibbet johnny-come-latelies, counted for a lot, for the Owenses were respectable and respected.

-- Neil Gaiman and Dave Mckean, The Graveyard Book

23.  urbane: polished and smooth in manner.

Taylor comes across as an intelligent man, suave and urbane, articulate and smooth as butter.

-- Bill Berkeley, The Graves Are Not Yet Full

24.  wassail: an expression of good wishes on a festive occasion, especially in drinking to some one.

But have you ever tried to spear a buffalo after a hard night at theold wassail bowl?

-- Gore Vidal, The Smithsonian Institution

25.  irenic: promoting peace.

With an irenic spirit they join the debate, at times ugly and vicious, about the historicity of the Bible (by which they mean the Hebrew Scriptures, also known as the Old Testament).

-- Phyllis Trible, "God's Ghostwriters", New York Times, February 4, 2001