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| burgeoning |  adj. growing, flourishing |
| kahuna | n. boss, person in charge |
| career | v. to move rapidly; rush; careen |
| trundle | v. to roll along, move as on wheels |
| concerted | adj. planned or accomplished together |
| mitigation | n. lessening of something that causes suffering |
| virulent | adj. extremely poisonous, injurious; harsh |
| churn | v. to seethe; broil and bubble and roil around |
| mélange | n. hodgepodge, medley |
| restitution | n. restoration, return of sm. lost/taken |
| totem | n. emblem |
| corroborating | adj. confirming |
| hackles | n. temper |
| ruddy | adj. reddish |
| deadhead | w/o passengers/cargo, (a train, plane, ship, bus or taxi traveling empty) |
| lucidity | n. clarity or sanity |
| ardor | n. passion, intense feelings |
| conjugal | adj. marital (sexual) |
| inamorata | n. female lover |
| buss | v. to kiss |
| nubile | adj. marriageable; of a young woman ready for marriage ('of age') |
| squire | v. to escort/accompany |
| tête-à-tête | n. one-one, private, serious talk |
| swain | n. male admirer |
| philter | n. love potion |
| cosset | v. to pamper or coddle |
| prepossessing | adj. attractive/charming |
| billet-doux | n. love letter |
| uxorious | adj. excessively devoted to/dominated by one's wife |
| petulant | adj. irritable and impatient |
| orotund | adj. pompous and bombastic |
| pungent | adj. sharp and biting (of smell) |
| redoubtable | adj. formidable |
| quicksilver | n. mercury; adj. unpredictable (as is mercury) |
| pedantic | adj. narrow-minded, overly meticulous; teacherly |
| winsome | adj. charming, attractive |
| ecumenical | adj. UNIVERSAL; related to all christian faiths, not just one denomination |
| ingenuous | adj. innocent, simple; frank, (overly) sincere |
| itinerant | adj. traveling, moving from place to place |
| sanguine | adj. 1. confidant, optimistic, hopeful; 2. bloody |
| blasé | adj. bored, unimpressed |
| hew | v. to cut, hack, chop |
| prodigal | adj. wasteful/reckless in spending |
| oafishly | adv. clumsily, awkwardly |
| chattel | n. property, belongings |
| polyglot | n. one who speaks many lang. |
| gainsay | v. to deny; contradict; take exception to |
| discursive | adj. rambling, moving from subject to subject w/o order |
| yahoo | n. brute, coarse person |
| caterwaul | v./n. (to) scream, cry |
| patently | adv. clearly, plainly |
| concupiscent | adj. lustful, sexually desirous, sensual |
| hauteur | n. puffed up pride, high self-opinion |
| raffish | adj. vulgar, rowdy |
| anomie | n. lack of purpose, ruthlessness |
| eleemosynary | adj. relating to charity; generous |
| countenance | 1. v. to tolerate, approve give consent for; 2. n. face/facial expression |
| baneful | adj. exceedingly harmful; ruinous, deadly |
| profligacy | n. wastefulness, reckless extravagance |
| fiat | n. decree or order |
| purport | v. to claim |
| abiding | adj. lasting |
| chalice | n. cup |
| impunity | n. exemption, freedom from penalty |
| exemplar | n. ideal model |
| vicissitudes | n. change of condition, good/bad fortune |
| obstreperously | adv. noisily, in an unruly fashion |
| farrago | n. a confused mass of objects or people; disordered mixture |
| nonplus | v. to perplex, confound |
| brevet | n. a temporary promotion to higher rank |
| cenotaph | n. empty tomb as a memorial to someone buried elsewhere |
| prow | n. foremost surface of a ship |
| ignominy | n. public disgrace |
| nonce | the time being, this one time |
| imbibe | v. to drink, absorb, take in |
| dyspepsia | n. impaired power of digestion |
| jocular | adj. playful, joking |
| apotheosis | n. model of excellence; glorified personification of a person or idea, deification, raising to god status |
| palaver | n. idle talk, cajolery carrion |
| carrion | n. dead and putrefying flesh |
| pestiferous | adj. infectious, noxious, annoying |
| cymbal | n. metallic musical instrument |
| staid | adj. sober, sedate, not flighty |
| craven | adj. cowardly, coward |
| camphor | n. a tough gummy fragrant compound obtained especially from the wood and bark of the camphor tree and used in medicine and as an insect repellent |
| imprecation | n. an evil curse |
| ague | n. malarial fever marked by intermittent paroxysms of chill/sweat |
| ewer | n. water pitcher w/ wide mouth |
| quaff | v. to drink deeply |
| pommel | n. rounded knob on saddle |
| ineffable | adj. inexpressible, too sacred to speak of |
| credulous | adj. too willing to believe, gullible |
| unsullied | adj. unstained; pure |
| sully | v. to stain, defile |
| unwonted | adj. out of the ordinary; unusual |
| legerdemain | n. sleight of hand, conjuring/tricky magic |
| tithe | v. give 10% of one's income to charit, esp. to church |
| miasma | n. noxious gass |
| perquisite | n. extra pay/goodies received because of one's regular work as a tip |
| quiescent | adj. tranquil, calm, pacific |
| exordium | n. beginning, esp. preface, intro, (rhetoric) the introductory section of an oration or discourse |
| rapscallion | n. scamp, rascal |
| ragamuffin | ragged person |
| indolent | lazy, sluggish, giving little pain |
| wight | a person |
| congeal | to coagulate, clot, freeze |
| raiment | clothing |
| foible | a whimsy, a weakness |
| abaft | toward the stern, behind |
| tantamount | equivalent as in value, force, effect |
| quay | dock for landing/loading ship's cargo |
| essay | an effort, to try, endeavor |
| argosy | merchant vessel/fleet carrying rich cargo |
| defray | to pay for |
| truncheon | baton/staff or office, police officer's club |
| aureole | halo, nimbus |
| dissemble | to give a false impression about, pretend to disregard and ignore |
| palimpsest | parchment where one writing has been erased to make room for another |
| vapid | lacking animation/flavor |
| sinecure | an easy job |
| palpable | readily perceived, obvious |
| anodyne | serving to assuage pain, emotions |
| lassitude | weariness, languor |
| fatuous | complacently, silly, inane |
| etiolate | to grow pale, weaken |
| obeisant | deferent, worshipful |
| prosaic | unromantic, commonplace |
| muslin | cotton fabric esp. used for sheets |
| demur | take acceptation, object |
| persiflage | flippant, bantering talk |
| fecund | prolific, fertile |
| inimical | harmful like enemy, hostile |
| livid | dull bluish, furiously angry |
| illicit | illegal |
| insidious | operating stealthily with evil effect, deceitful, treacherous |
| surly | ill-humored, ill-tempered |
| quail | to cower, shrink away, flinch, loose courage |
| forlorn | abandoned, wretched, hopeless |
| cauterize | to burn w/ hot iron or caustic esp. to prevent morbidity |
| abstruse | difficult to comprehend, profound |
| equivocation | ambiguous expressions, evasive language |
| unctuous | oily, suave |
| isinglass | form of translucent gelatin |
| poniard | dagger |
| laudanum | medical tincture of opium |
| freshet | sudden seasonal rise in level of a stream |
| grog | rum and water |
| gamboge | resin used as a yellow pigment or medicine |
| panniers | basket esp. in pairs |
| imprecate | to put a curse or evil upon |
| diadem | a crown or jeweled headband |
| scimitar | curved single-edge sword |
| obstetric | medicine esp. care during pregnancy and childbirth |
| anomalous | deviation from the common rule, abnormal, irregular |
| belfry | bell tower |
| beadle | minor official having disciplinary duties |
| paregoric | medicine for relieving pain or diarrhea |
| meager | lean, thin |
| tutelary | guarding, instructing |
| opine | to give an opinion, think |
| impute | to charge, ascribe, attribute to esp. sm. discreditable |
| balmy | mild, fragrant, mildly insane |
| shoal | sandbank, to crowd, a crowd, shallow |
| consternation | a terrified amazement, dismay |
| dally | to play w/o seriousness, to idle, delay with other's possessions |
| rake | idle, dissolute man, libertine |
| gout | painful inflammation of joint |
| emolument | salary or fees for services, gain |
| ambergris | morbid sperm whale secretion used to make perfume |
| asperse | to make false or foul charges against |
| slattern | prostitute, dirty, untidy woman |
| myrrh | aromatic resin of certain plants used as perfume |
| meretricious | deceitfully alluring, tawdry |
| effulgence | radiantly bright |
| spangle | small glittering piece, to decorate w/glittering pieces |
| harts horn | solution of ammonia and water or alcohol |
| cogent | convincing, forcible |
| compendious | summarily, a summary |
| prate | to chatter, babble, talk too much |
| demijohn | large jug usually encased in wicker |
| orison | a prayer |
| doxology | hymn/psalm in praise of god |
| colic | severe/gripping abdominal pains |
| pinion | to restrain by cutting wings, holding arms behind back |
| epaulet | ornamental badge on the shoulder |
| prostration | lying flat, laid low, cause to succumb to |
| poltroon | coward |
| prescience | foreknowledge, foresight |
| maelstrom | whirlpool, great and destructive agitation |
| praxis | art learned by experience, established practices |
| pratfall | fall on the buttocks |
| ilk | sort, king, family, class |
| briny | salty |
| fastidious | hard to please, overnice |
| sepulchral | pert. to burial, hollow in tone, gloomy |
| propitious | kindly disposed, favorable |
| litany | ceremonial prayer w/responses |
| lascivious | inciting to lust, wanton, lewd |
| lugubrious | mournful, doleful, dejected |
| elocution | the study and practice of effective public speaking |
| prurient | lewd in thought |
| boudoir | woman's bedroom or private sitting room |
| bosh | utter nonsense, nothing |
| sallow | of an unhealthy, yellowish complexion |
| satori | in Zen Buddhism the state of enlightenment |
| macadam | road of crushed stone, usually with an asphalt surface |
| hyacinth | a bulbous plant having spike of bell shaped flowers, semiprecious stone |
| pirogue | canoe hollowed out from the trunk of a tree |
| verve | enthusiasm, dash |
| incipient | beginning to exist or appear |
| tryst | appointed meeting esp. between lovers |
| progenitor | ancestor in the direct line |
| invective | vehement denunciation or vituperation, censorious, abusive |
| elephantine | huge |
| spoor | track or trail of a wild animal |
| flummery | agreeable nonsense, porridge |
| evert | to turn outward or inside out |
| abrade | to wear away by friction |
| milieu | surroundings, environment |
| miff | to offend |
| torpor | sluggishness in bodily functioning, stupor, stupidity, inactivity, lethargy |
| atavism | reversion to distant hereditary traits or characteristics |
| quirt | riding whip |
| wimple | woman's head covering as worn by nuns |
| imbroglio | an intricate, complex, or confusing state of affairs |
| expostulate | to reason earnestly, remonstrate |
| concatenate | to link together |
| rube | crude or clownish country man |
| preclude | to impede, prevent |
| wonk | obsessive student, grind, an unattractive person |
| bolo | heavy single-edged knife |
| dirk | dagger |
| parang | knife used by Malays |
| gigue | a jig |
| brusque | abrupt, curt |
| proffer | tender, as an offer, an offer |
| beatitude | blessedness, bliss |
| Beatitude | any of Jesus' statements on blessedness at the Sermon on the Mount |
| forbear | to refrain or abstain from, to hold back, be patient, or lenient |
| slaver | to let saliva dribble from the mouth, to show inordinate desire, saliva, drivel |
| forebear | ancestor |
| peri | elf, fairy |
| putative | supposed, reputed |
| furlong | 220 yards |
| rote | mechanical routine in learning, repetition w/o attention to meaning, medieval string instrument |
| bedraggled | untidy or soiled as clothes, unkempt |
| deleterious | injurious |
| intransigent | refusing to agree or compromise, one who is uncompromising |
| sinuous | full of curves, winding, devious |
| runnel | small stream |
| precocious | prematurely developed esp. mentally |
| uncanny | eerie, weird, mysterious |
| kwashiorkor | malnutrition in children caused by protein deficiency |
| hoosegow | jail |
| novena | a devotion consisting of nine days of prayer |
| ingurgitate | to swallow, gulp |