Vocabulary

If you have been playing alone at home you know by now that there are lots of words out there that I have somehow failed to learn. Here are some more...


The Pencil by Henry Petroski

Palimpsest: a parchment or the like from which writing has been partially or completely erased to make room for another text.

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

Mucilaginous: of, pertaining to, or secreting mucilage.
2. of the nature of or resembling mucilage; moist, soft, and viscid.


Mucilage: any of various, usually liquid, preparations of gum, glue, or the like, used as an adhesive (I did know this but thought I should throw it in to go with the word above, which I had no idea was a real word until now.)

Friable: easily crumbled or reduced to powder; crumbly

Appurtenances: something subordinate to another, more important thing; adjunct; accessory

Frustum: the part of a conical solid left after cutting off a top portion with a plane parallel to the base

Hagiography: the writing and critical study of the lives of the saints; hagiology



The Beekeeper’s Apprentice by Laurie R. King


Peripatetic: walking or traveling about; itinerant

Peroration: a long speech characterized by lofty and often pompous language

Sybaritic: pertaining to or characteristic of a sybarite; characterized by or loving luxury or sensuous pleasure

Naphtha: a colorless, volatile petroleum distillate, usually an intermediate product between gasoline and benzine, used as a solvent, fuel, etc

Dottle: the plug of half-smoked tobacco in the bottom of a pipe after smoking