Vocab 10/24/14

argot (n) -- a specialized vocabulary or set of idioms used by a particular group

hookah (n) -- an oriental tobacco pipe with a long flexible tube connected to a container where the smoke is cooled by passing through water

loup garou (n) -- a werewolf

Vocab 10/13/14

cannular (adj.) -- of, relating to, or resembling a tube; tubular

chintzy (adj.) -- embarrassingly stingy

Vocab 10/11/14

glabrous (adj.) -- having no hairs, projections, or pubescence; smooth

glabrate (adj.) -- Botany almost glabrous or becoming glabrous with age or maturity

trochee (n) -- a metrical foot consisting of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable, as in season, or of a long syllable followed by a short syllable

meter (n) -- the measured arrangement of words in poetry, as by accentual rhythm, syllabic quantity, or the number of syllables in a line

prosody (n) -- the study of the metrical structure of verse: the prosodic rhythm with which Martha would read the important disclaimers on the small plastic orange pill bottles at Lamron's bedside

Vocab 10/9/14

sprachgefühl (n) -- a feeling for language; an ear for the idiomatically correct or appropriate

nudnik (n) -- an obtuse, boring, or bothersome person; a pest

obtuse (adj.) -- 1. lacking quickness of perception or intellect 2. not sharp, pointed, or acute in form; blunt

Vocab 9/11/14 (PPFTF)

collude (v) -- to act together secretly to achieve a fraudulent, illegal, or deceitful purpose; conspire

Vocab 10/8/14

tincture (n) -- a coloring or dyeing substance; a pigment

ancillary (adj.) -- of secondary importance

Vocab 10/7/14

lederhosen (n) -- leather shorts, often with suspenders, worn by men and boys, especially in Bavaria

phlox (n) -- any of various North American plants of the genus Phlox, having opposite leaves and flowers with a variously colored salverform corolla

salverform (adj.) -- of or relating to a gamopetalous corolla having a slender tube and an abruptly expanded limb, as in phlox

gamopetalous (adj.) -- having or characterizing a corolla with partially or wholly fused petals

corolla (n) -- the petals of a flower considered as a group or unit and usually of a color other than green; the inner whorl of theperianth

perianth (n) -- the outer envelope of a flower, consisting of either the calyx or the corolla, or both

calyx (n) -- the sepals of a flower considered as a group

sepal (n) -- one of the separate, usually green parts forming the calyx of a flower

Vocab 10/6/14

bedaub (v) -- to smear all over with something thick, sticky, or dirty

kibitz (v) -- to look on and offer unwanted, usually meddlesome advice to others

pish (n/v) -- an imitated bird call used to attract birds; the act of using this call

clastic (adj.) -- breaking up into fragments or separate portions; dividing into parts