Growing Vocabulary > Likes and Comments

Share a word you've just learned from a current book you're reading.

I've seen the following but never knew what it meant.

palimpsest - (1) writing material (as a parchment or tablet) used one or more times after earlier writing has been erased; (2)something having usually diverse layers or aspects apparent beneath the surface

Each one of us is a palimpsest on which our parents have written, and beneath their writing is the writing of their parents. Thus is family pathology transmitted, and although behavioural geneticists may argue amongst themselves how genes determine behaviour the rest of us have no difficulty in seeing familiar traits being passed on from parent to child to grandchild.

~from The Importance of Being Seven by Alexander McCall Smith

toque-- "a woman's small brimless hat made in any of various soft close-fitting shapes."

"...small chic black toque perched at the fashionable outrageous angle." --from Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

As an added note to the definition of "toque," I've been told by a Canadian-born Goodreader that, in Canadian English (Christie, of course, wrote in British English), a toque is a woolen cap similar to what's known in the U.S. as a stocking cap, and worn by both males and females.

orthography---the conventional spelling system of a language

from Every Perfect Gift by Dorothy Love

ineluctable - not to be avoided, changed, or resisted

"These new things were not familiar, not led up to by the old, they were unchosen, determined by an ineluctable reality, and as sudden as an earthquake."

~from Dr Zhivago

anoesis: a state of mind consisting of pure sensation or emotion without cognitive content

(The name of the fisherman's boat in the "Non Sequitur" cartoon)

I love how once one becomes aware of something, we notice it more and more often. Thanks! I looked it up on a cache search:

"This is a strange thing, too, when you come to think of it, because the clubfoot, just like death, was another ineluctable fact. Yet the clubfoot dropped out of mind, or, what is more important, all that had been attached to the clubfoot. In the same way, having accepted death, death, too, dropped out of Grover’s mind." ~Tropic of Capricorn

That little passage (and the few lines before it) has caught my interest -- adding this to my TO READ list.

boudin --"meat shaped like a sausage and served as an entree."

"...boudin in heaps instead of fried into balls, piled in a heated serving tray" --from Skinwalker by Faith Hunter

luteous --"of a golden-yellow or orange-yellow color."

"A luteous moon rose from behind the phalanxes of barren rock-ribbed peaks...." --from "Six-Gun Bride of the Teton Bunch" by Les Savage Jr.

bollard-- "A post on a dock or in a boat, to which a hawser is made fast."

"'By the gods,' said the first mate as he slipped the docking-rope over the bollard." --from "An Exchange of Favors" by Dorothy J. Heydt

mullion-- "Vertical bar dividing panes or sash in a window."

"In the light from the mullioned front windows, bolts of blue and crimson cloth shone like jewels." --from "Nor Iron Bars a Cage" by Deborah Wheeler

PUMPKINIFICATION - The act of turning into a pumpkin; usually in jocular opposition to deification.
This isn't from a book I'm currently reading, but is the title of a text by Seneca called "APOCOLOCYNTOSIS, OR LUDUS DE MORTE CLAUDII: THE PUMPKINIFICATION OF CLAUDIUS". I just couldn't resist it!

LOL... so this has nothing to do with fairytale carriages?

LOL, too!

Nope, I thought it was hilarious. But my 17 year old daughter who's been studying ancient history said its quite a common term. I think I went down a little in her estimation when she discovered there was a word she knew that I didn't.

In reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, the term "chatauqua" comes up and I see it has something to do with disambiguation. I'm not sure I understand it completely (despite google and wikipedia). Would anyone like to take a stab at explaining it? please?! :-p

My understanding is that it's an educational historical lecture delivered by a person playing the role of a historical personage.

That is a different take. In Chatauqua, they had (maybe still have) educational lectures... The author, though, seems to be using it as an experience, learning, I suppose? how to tell something from another?

glaucous-- "Bluish-green or yellowish-green."

"The tenderness of their green appeared under the glaucous mantle...." --from Lorna Doone by Richard Doddridge Blackmore

architraves --"Collective name for the various parts (lintel, jambs, and their mouldings) that surround a doorway or window."

"Under white fantastic arches, and long tunnels freaked and fretted, and between pellucid pillars jagged with nodding architraves, the red impetuous torrent rushed...."

videlicit --"'That is to say;' 'namely;' 'to wit;' used to introduce an amplification, or ...explanation, of a previous statement or word... esp. in legal documents."

"I was greatly vexed with my own hesitation, stupidity, or shyness, or whatever else it was, which had held me back from saying... what was in my heart to say, videlicit, that I must die unless she let me love her."

patin --Archaic spelling of "paten," which means "a thin, circular piece of metal."

"The full moon rose as bright behind me as a patin of pure silver...."

LIke "glaucous" in the previous post, all three of these terms come from Lorna Doone.

cloche-- "A transparent covering used to protect or force delicate plants."

"I'd weathered the winter with cabbages in the open, lettuce under cloches." --from The Haunting of Gad's Hall by Norah Lofts

frit --"The matter of which glass is made after it has been calcined."

"Those jars contain frit. It's ground glass. Most of the frit I use is a very fine powder. But I often use frit that has larger grains for my bigger sculptures." --from Saint Sebastian's Head by Leann Neal Reilly

miasma - 1) "a highly unpleasant or unhealthy smell or vapor"; 2) an oppressive or unpleasant atmosphere that surrounds or emanates from something

"He turned the handle, calling out, “Sister? Sister!” He was met by a miasma at once familiar and alarming, but he couldn't place it."

~from Cutting for Stone

gusset --"A triangular piece of cloth inserted in a garment to enlarge or reinforce it."

"The gussets that her village blacksmith had had to put up each side of her chainmail jerkin were put to the test in the last few yards before she reached Litfusia's cave." --from "The Old Fire" by Jody Lynn Nye

knickerbockers --"Wide breeches gathered at or below the knee."

billycock --"[Brit.] A soft felt hat, round, and low in the crown; a bowler, or low-crowned stiff felt hat."

"He was a smallish man ...dressed rather loudly in a bright brown knickerbocker suit, the breeches very tight, with navy blue stockings, black boots, and a billycock hat."

--from Cakes and Ale by W. Somerset Maugham

pouffe --"A stuffed cushion."

"...there was a great pouffe in the middle of the room."

--Also from Cakes and Ale

anamnesis --"A recollection of past events."

"Brandon's anamnesis was broken by the truck rolling to a stop."

--from The Strong One by David Wittlinger

curvet --"to leap as a horse, to frisk or bound."

"From time to time he made his beast curvet, and laughed at himself inwardly for doing it."

--from Black Amazon of Mars by Leigh Brackett

"apocryphal" unauthentic, not canonical, spurious or fictitous, from the book, "Truman," by David McCullough.

cresset --"An open frame of iron in which oil or wood is burned, used as a torch or lantern."

"Cressets burned, giving off a flickering brilliance and a smell of strong oil."

--from Black Amazon of Mars by Leigh Brackett

bollard --"a post on a dock or in a boat, to which a hawser is made fast."

"The bodies crashed into a bollard and then disappeared from sight as they dropped into the murky waters of the Thames below."

--from Demon's Night by Guido Henkel

ineluctable - unable to be resisted or avoided; inescapable

"She lay there thinking of it, the pain was deep, deep and ineluctable."

~from Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton

scorbutic --"Of, pertaining to, resembling, or afflicted with scurvy."

"We found him sure enough, a huge, coarse, red-faced, scorbutic man, with a pair of vivid black eyes which were the only external sign of the very cunning mind within."

--from "The Adventure of the Illustrious Client" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Werner wrote: "cloche-- "A transparent covering used to protect or force delicate plants."

"I'd weathered the winter with cabbages in the open, lettuce under cloches." --from The Haunting of Gad's Hall by Norah ..."Also refers to women's hats in the twenties and thirties. I wore one when I was in Robert Altman's movie, "Kansas City," and it was the time frame of 1934.

Nina, I did not know that! Thanks for sharing.

jalousie --"a kind of window, door, shutter, etc. made with horizontal wood, metal, or glass slats that can be adjusted."

"The clerestories are mostly barred, fixed-pane windows, but there's a set of jalousies on either end."

--from The Collection by Lance Charnes

vertiginous - causing vertigo, especially by being extremely high or steep

"He’d lived so long in anticipation of his own death that to contemplate his future was like standing at the edge of a cliff, staring into a vertiginous rush of open sky."

~from The Gollem and the Jinni

Nina, you've acted in movies? Anything else of which we might be familiar?

Nina wrote: "Werner wrote: "cloche-- "A transparent covering used to protect or force delicate plants."

"I'd weathered the winter with cabbages in the open, lettuce under cloches." --from The Haunting of Gad's..."

Nina, you are absolutely fascinating!

I was in Robert Altman's "Kansas City," movie/only an extra but one night of filming I was the only woman and had my own trailer and Italian hair dresser. Lots of fun. Also, many years before I was in Cannes and took a picture of the building where the film festival is held each year never dreaming I'd be in a movie that was shown at one of their festivals.

aphasic/"She could right now be developing any number of different aphasias, each more frightening than the next and could by dawn be condemned to communicating through expletives and baffling gestures. " From the book, "Amy Falls Down," by Jincy Willett.

Aphasic : Loss of the impairment of being able to understand speech or speak

What a wonderful experience, Nina!

ruche --"frilled or pleated lace, net, ribbon, etc., used for edging dresses, etc., as at the throat or wrists."

"The 1950s red velvet dress had a square neckline and a ruched waist flaring into a full pleated skirt with tulle underlay."

--from The Hunter and the Witch by Rachel Chanticleer

reredos [pronounced as "rear-dose"] --"an ornamental screen behind an altar."

"A stone altar stood before an elaborate reredos, brightly painted and shining with gold leaf, which framed an austerely carved crucifix."

--from Farhope [not yet published] by Andrew M. Seddon.

pritchel --"a type of punch used in forging, particularly in making nail holes in horseshoes."

"He relaxed for a moment, letting his pritchel and rounding hammer hang loosely in his hands."

--from The Blacksmith's Bravery by Susan Page Davis

"I hadn't had a bite to eat since yesterday; so Jim got out some "corn-dodgers" and buttermilk,and pork and cabbage and greens and there ain't nothing in the world so good to eat when it's cooked right." From "Huckleberry Finn," by Mark Twain

"Corn-dodgers" are cornbread biscuits.

What a coincidence, I just finished reading Huckleberry Finn. But I didn't go to the effort of looking up the meaning of corn dodgers. I'm sure there were plenty of words I didn't know the meaning of, but it just added to the book's ambience.

cantle --"the part of a saddle that curves upward at the rear."

"Mac Marcy turned in the saddle and, resting his left hand on the cantle, glanced back up the arroyo."

--from "Fork Your Own Broncs" by Louis L'Amour

Good one Werner/ in spite of my daughter having at least one horse in the past forty years I never had heard that term before this.