Vocabulary

Once again it is time to reveal my ignorance. Ready?


‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King

Crepitate: To make a crackling or popping sound; crackle

Pernicious: causing insidious harm or ruin; ruinous; injurious; hurtful

Ossification: the act or process of ossifying

Ossify: to convert into or cause to harden like bone

Tenebrous: dark; gloomy; obscure

Plangent: resounding loudly, esp. with a plaintive sound, as a bell


Wrath of Alexander the Great by Terry McCarthy

Machicolation: an opening in the floor between the corbels of a projecting gallery or parapet, as on a wall or in the vault of a passage, through which missiles, molten lead, etc., might be cast upon an enemy beneath

Ferrules: a ring or cap, usually of metal, put around the end of a post, cane, or the like, to prevent splitting

Uxorial: of or pertaining to a wife; typical of or befitting a wife


Devlin Diary by Christi Phillips

Lucubration: laborious work, study, thought, etc., esp. at night

Alembics: a vessel with a beaked cap or head, formerly used in distilling
2. anything that transforms, purifies, or refines


Mistress Shakespeare by Karen Harper

Hoyden: a boisterous, bold, and carefree girl; a tomboy

Recusant: refusing to submit, comply


Free for All by Don Borchert

Boulevardier: a person who frequents the most fashionable Parisian locales

Vitriol: Chemistry. any of certain metallic sulfates of glassy appearance, as copper sulfate or blue vitriol, iron sulfate or green vitriol, zinc sulfate or white vitriol, etc


Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea

Ashram: a secluded building, often the residence of a guru, used for religious retreat or instruction in Hinduism

Que onda?: (Spanish) What’s up?