Dictionary

Acrophony

》Naming let­ters of an al­pha­bet so that a let­ter’s name be­gins with the let­ter it­self

Addle

1. Putrid
2. Barren

Origin: Hebrew “to fail”

Akimbo

1. With the hands on the hips and the el­bows bent out­ward at sharp an­gles
2. In a bent po­si­tion

Origin: Possibly Middle English in keen bow “in sharp arch”

Amble

》Horse gait where both legs on side move at the same time

Anent

》About

Survives in Scottish English

Anthology

1. Garland or bou­quet
2. Collection of beau­ti­ful pas­sages (flowers of lit­er­a­ture)

Origin: Greek an­thos “flower” + lo­gos “gather”

Antitype

》A thing pre­fig­ured

Origin: Anti “against” + type “stamp”; pa­per against a stamp re­ceives a stamp mark

Aplomb

》Assurance from self-con­fi­dence

Origin: French aplomb “self-possession”, lit­er­ally “perpendicularity” (on the plumb line)

Apotheosis

》Deification, glo­ri­fi­ca­tion, ex­al­ta­tion

Archetype

1. Original pat­tern or model

Origin: Greek arkhe “origin” + ty­pos “model”

In Platonism, the ar­che­typal world ex­isted in the idea of God be­fore cre­ation

Archipelago

》A sea stud­ded with is­lands

Origin: Italian arcipelago “the Aegean Sea”, Latin archi “chief, prin­ci­pal” + pelago “pool, abyss”

Ardent

1. Hot, burn­ing
2. Fierce
3. Zealous

Argument

》An ab­stract sum­mary of a book, or the heads of the sub­jects

Arrant

》Complete

Astragalomancy

》Divination by dice

Atavism

》Resemblance to re­mote rather than near an­ces­tors

Avid

1. Eager
2. Greedy

Avuncular

》Related to an un­cle

Badinage

》Banter

Bathos

》The art of po­etic sink­ing, lu­di­crous de­scent from the el­e­vated to the low, an­ti­cli­max

Rob Cantor’s “Shia LeBeouf” is peak bathos

Bearherd

》A man who tends a bear

Behest

》Command

Belvedere

》Structure such as a cupola de­signed to com­mand a view

Bestiary

》A book con­sist­ing of a col­lec­tion de­scrip­tions of an­i­mals, of­ten in­clud­ing a moral or al­le­gor­i­cal in­ter­pre­ta­tion of each

Bewilder

》To lose in path­less places

Origin: Archaic English wilder “wander” (related to “wild”)

Bilious

1. Related to bile
2. Disordered in bile; cho­leric, iras­ci­ble, ir­ri­ta­ble, an­gry

Bissextile

》Related to a leap year

Bissextus

》Leap day

Origin: Latin bis “twice” + sex­tus “sixth”

We add six hours per year, every fourth year

Bonhomie

》Frank and sim­ple good na­ture

Origin: From French bon­homme “goodman”, bon “good” + homme “man”

Bourn

》Border

Brand

1. A burn­ing piece of wood
2. A sword
3. A thun­der­bolt

A sword be­cause it gleams like fire, ei­ther be­cause it’s metal­lic or from bran­dish­ing

Brawn

》Muscular

Came to mean “muscular” in the 19th c; pre­vi­ously meant “boar’s flesh” (13th c)

Brick

》A gen­er­ous, help­ful, re­li­able per­son

Brown study

1. State of deep thought
2. Melancholy with deep thought
3. Mental ab­strac­tion or se­ri­ous reverie

Bruin

》Brown

Origin: Dutch

Name of the bear in the Reynard the Fox fa­bles, through which it came to also mean “bear”

Bucolic

1. Related to shep­herds; pas­toral
2. Related to rural life
3. Idyllic

Origin: Latin bu­col­i­cus “shepherd”, Greek bouko­los “cowherd”

Callow

》Immature

Canon

1. A re­li­gious law
2. Any law or rule
3. The books of the Holy Scriptures
4. A dig­ni­tary of the church
5. A rule­book for a monas­tic or­der
6. A cat­a­log of Roman Catholic saints
7. The se­cret words of the mass from the pref­ace to the Pater
8. A method for de­ter­min­ing the in­ter­vals of notes, in­vented by Ptolemy
9. In mu­sic, a per­pet­ual fugue
10. A rule for the so­lu­tion of geom­e­try or al­ge­bra cases (every last step of an equa­tion)
11. A rule for com­pound­ing med­i­cines
12. A sur­gi­cal in­stru­ment for sewing up wounds

Cantle

》To cut in pieces

Caprice

》Whim

Origin: Italian capo “head” + ric­cio “hedgehog”

“Hedgehog head” be­cause your hair is stand­ing up like a hedge­hog’s spikes

Catspaw

》A dupe

Cavalier

1. Gentleman trained in arms and horse­man­ship
2. Offhand, dis­dain­ful dis­missal of im­por­tant mat­ters

Cavil

》To raise friv­o­lous ob­jec­tion

Chancellor

》Director of chancery

Originally a Roman em­per­or’s chief scribe or sec­re­tary. The po­si­tion gained ju­di­cial power and be­came a bish­op’s chief judge, then a high of­fi­cer of a European state, “the keeper of the great seal of the king­dom”.

Chancery

1. English high­est court next to Parliament, with ju­ris­dic­tion mostly over eq­uity
2. US court of eq­uity

Chapman

》A cheap­ener, one that of­fers to pur­chase; a seller

Choleric

1. Abounding with choler (yellow bile)
2. Easily ir­ri­tated, iras­ci­ble
3. Angry

Circadian

》Related to 24-hour cy­cles

Origin: Latin circa “about” + dies “day”

Clew

1. A ball of thread
2. The thread that forms a ball
3. Thread used to guide a per­son in a labyrinth
4. Anything that guides in an in­tri­cate case

Cobble

1. To make or mend coarsely, as shoes
2. To make or do clum­sily or un­handily
3. A stone rounded by wa­ter

Codex

1. A book or man­u­script
2. A col­lec­tion of laws
3. An an­cient man­u­script of Holy Scripture, par­tic­u­larly of the New Testament

Conjecture

》A cast­ing or throw­ing to­gether of pos­si­ble or prob­a­ble events

Originally meant “interpreting omens”

Connive

1. To wink
2. To ig­nore an act, pre­tend ig­no­rance

Origin: Latin “to wink”

Conventicle

》Irregular or un­law­ful as­sem­bly, esp. for re­li­gious wor­ship

Cope

1. A cover for the head
2. An an­cient trib­ute due to the king or lord of the soil, out of the lead mines in some part of Derbyshire
3. To pare the beak or talons of a hawk
4. To equal in com­bat

Copeman

》Chapman

Copesmate

》Friend

Coronet

》An in­fe­rior crown worn by a no­ble­man

Webster says a duke’s coro­net is adorned with straw­berry leaves, a mar­quis’s with leaves and pearls in­ter­posed, an ear­l’s with pearls above leaves, a vis­coun­t’s sur­rounded with pearls, a baron’s with four pearls

Costermonger

》Street seller of fruits and veg­eta­bles

Origin: Costards were an ap­ple va­ri­ety from me­dieval England

Crepuscular

》At twi­light

Crural

》Related to the leg

Cupola

》Dome

Dabble

1. Play in wa­ter
2. Do any thing in a slight or su­per­fi­cial man­ner
3. Tamper

Origin: Hebrew “dip”

Daedal

》Skillful, artis­tic, in­tri­cate

Deasil

》Clockwise

From be­fore clocks ex­isted

Demotic

》Common, pop­u­lar

Demotic Greek is the mod­ern Greek that is the of­fi­cial lan­guage of Greece

Den

1. Cave used for con­ceal­ment, shel­ter, pro­tec­tion
2. Lair of a wild an­i­mal
3. Secluded room for study or re­lax­ation

Deuce

》The two in dice or cards

Became a mild oath in the 18th c, prob­a­bly both as a eu­phemism for Deus and be­cause it was a low score

Disciple

1. A fol­lower
2. A learner
3. A scholar

Drumble

1. Dawdle
2. Drone

Dun

》Dark, gloomy

Eftsoons

》Soon af­ter­wards

Eldest

》Oldest

Usually used for peo­ple, oc­ca­sion­ally an­i­mals, rarely for things

Enisle

1. To put on an is­land
2. To iso­late

Enormous

》Exceeding the usual rule, norm, or mea­sure; out of due pro­por­tion; in­or­di­nate; ab­nor­mal

Origin: Latin ex + norma “out of nor­mal” or “out of rule”

Ensky

》To ex­alt

Literally, to put in the sky

Enthrone

》To put on a throne

Enwomb

》To shut up, as if in a womb

Epigram

》Brief, in­ter­est­ing state­ment

Ereyesterday

》The day be­fore yes­ter­day

Farraginous

》Consisting of a con­fused mix­ture

Farrago

》Hodgepodge

Farrier

》Smith who shoes horses

Fettle

》Order, re­pair

“In fine fet­tle” is “in good spir­its”

Fluvial

》Related to rivers

Foist

1. To force an­other to ac­cept, es­pe­cially by stealth or de­ceit
2. To in­sert sur­rep­ti­tiously or with­out war­rant
3. A light and fast sail­ing ship

Etymologically re­lated to “fist”

Foliage

1. A clus­ter of leaves, flow­ers, and branches
2. A col­lec­tion of leaves
3. A rep­re­sen­ta­tion of leaves, flower, or branches for ar­chi­tec­tural or­na­men­ta­tion

In Middle English, “foil” meant “leaf”.

Frenetic

》Frantic, in­sane, fu­ri­ous, dis­tracted

Origin: Middle English frenetik “insane”, Latin phre­neti­cus “delirium”

Fret

》Eat or gnaw into, esp. of small an­i­mals

Fructiferous

》Bearing or pro­duc­ing fruit

Fructify

1. To bear fruit
2. To make fruit­ful

Fuligin

》A color darker than black

Origin: Italian soot; coined in Wolfe’s “Shadow of the Torturer”

Fustian

》An in­flated style of writ­ing

Galdercraft

》Enchantment

Origin: Old English gal­dor “enchantment” + cræft “art”

Garret

1. Attic
2. Turret
3. Watchtower

Garreteer

1. Inhabitant of a gar­ret
2. A poor au­thor

Genial

1. Contributing to prop­a­ga­tion
2. Gay, merry

Webster says the pa­gan’s ge­nial gods presided over gen­er­a­tion (earth, air, fire, wa­ter)

Gibbous

1. Swelling, con­vex
2. Hunched, hump-backed, crook-backed

Origin: Latin gib­bo­sus “humpbacked”, gib­bus “hump”

Gloze

1. To give a de­cep­tively at­trac­tive ap­pear­ance to
2. To deal with a prob­lem too lightly

Origin: Middle English glose “flattery”, “plausible pre­text”, “explanation of a dif­fi­cult word”

Surely the ori­gin of the char­ac­ter name “Lord Glozelle” from Prince Caspian

Goosecap

》Silly per­son

Grabass

》Horseplay

Grandiloquence

》Lofty speak­ing

Groat

》Old English sil­ver coin

Ham-handed

》Having large hands,Clumsy,Tact­less

Hamfisted

》Clumsy-handed

Hassock

》Stuffed cush­ion or foot­stool

Helicopter

》An air­craft whose lift is pro­vided by ro­tat­ing blades rather than fixed wings

Origin: Greek he­liko “spiral” + pteron “wing”

Humblebee

》Bumblebee

Humble used to mean “hum”

Humor

1. Moisture
2. One of the four an­cient hu­mors: blood, phlegm, black bile, yel­low bile

Hustings

》A place where po­lit­i­cal cam­paign speeches are made

Origin: Anglo-Saxon hus­tings “judicial as­sem­blies where the king holds coun­cil”, Old Norse hūsthing “house as­sem­bly”

Hypaethral

1. Having a roof­less cen­tral space
2. Open to the sky

Origin: Greek hypo “under” + aither “air”, “heaven”

Ichor

1. The liq­uid that flowed in the veins of the Greek gods
2. Any blood­like fluid

Ignis fatuus

1. Light that hov­ers over swamps at night
2. An il­lu­sion

Origin: Latin ig­nis “fire” + fatuus “foolish”

Also known as will o’ the wisp and jack o’ lantern, for mys­te­ri­ous folk char­ac­ters Will and Jack that are said to carry a lantern at night

Inchmeal

》Little by lit­tle

-meal is re­lated to German mal “time”

Intestine

1. A di­ges­tive sys­tem or­gan
2. Internal

John-a-dreams

》A sleepy idler

Ken

1. Sight, view
2. Range of per­cep­tion or un­der­stand­ing
3. The dis­tance bound­ing the range of or­di­nary vi­sion at sea (about 20 miles)

Kibitzer

》One who watches and of­fers un­wanted com­ment

Origin: Yiddish kibitser, German kieb­itzen “to watch a card game”

Knickknackatory

》Collection of knick­knacks

Lambaste

》Beat se­verely

Lector

》Reader

Origin: Latin

Lemniscate

》Figure-eight shape

Lethe

1. Oblivion
2. A draught of obliv­ion

Longanimity

》Forbearance, bear­ing in­juries pa­tiently

Origin: Latin longus “long” + an­i­mus “soul”

Lorn

》Forsaken

Lymphatic

1. Related to lymph
2. Sluggish

Origin: Latin lym­pha “water”, “water god­dess”

March

》Borderland

Marmoreal

》Related to mar­ble

Marplot

》A med­dler who in­ter­feres with an un­der­tak­ing

Marquis

》Sentinel and de­fender of a march

Martinet

1. A strict dis­ci­pli­nar­ian
2. A per­son with a rigid ad­her­ence to de­tailed forms and meth­ods

Origin: Lieutenant Colonel Jean Martinet, King Louis XIV’s ap­point­ment to in­spec­tor gen­eral of the in­fantry

Massif

》Dominant part of a moun­tain range

Melancholy

》Gloomy, de­pressed

Origin: Greek melan “black” + chole “bile”

Formerly thought to be caused by an ex­cess of black bile

Meld

》Smoothly blend into a sin­gle whole

Origin: Melt + weld

Mercer

》A silk dealer

Milieu

》Environment where some­thing oc­curs or de­vel­ops

Origin: French mi “middle” + lieu “place”

Miracle

》A won­der,An event con­trary to the course of na­ture

Miracle-monger

》An im­pos­tor who pre­tends to work mir­a­cles

Origin: Latin mirac­u­lum

Old English had wun­dor­we­orc “wonder work” and wun­dor­ta­cen (wonder to­ken). “Miracle” in English Bibles is a trans­la­tion of the Greek words se­meion “sign” (Latin signum) teras “wonder” (Latin prodigium) and dy­namis “power” (Latin vir­tus).

Morganatic mar­riage

》A mar­riage be­tween peo­ple of un­equal so­cial rank

Origin: Latin mat­ri­mo­nium ad mor­ga­nati­cam “marriage with a morn­ing-gift”, a prop­erty dower for the wife’s se­cu­rity in wid­ow­hood; in a mor­ga­natic mar­riage the wife and her chil­dren re­ceive no other in­her­i­tance, in­clud­ing ti­tles

Also called a left-handed mar­riage

Mortgage

》The grant of an es­tate in fee as se­cu­rity for the pay­ment of money. If the money is paid, the es­tate re­turns to the mort­gager.

Origin: Old French mort “dead” + gage “pledge”

Mot juste

》The ex­actly right word or phras­ing

Moue

》A small gri­mace or pout

Mountebank

》One who mounts a pub­lic bench sell­ing fake heal­ing elixirs

Much of a much­ness

》Similar

Origin: British

Muliebrity

》Femininity

The coun­ter­part of viril­ity

Nadir

》Lowest point, op­po­site of zenith

Nervous

》Pertaining to the nerves

Originally meant strong and vig­or­ous of body or mind

Node

1. An in­ter­sec­tion point
2. A knot

Origin: Latin nodus “knot”

Nostrum

》Panacea

Nychthemeron

》Twenty-four con­sec­u­tive hours

Use when “day” is am­bigu­ous (“day” can mean “twenty-four hours”, “twenty-four hours from mid­night to mid­night”, “twelve hours of ap­prox­i­mate day­light”, or “sunrise to sun­set”)

Orotund

1. Pompous and bom­bas­tic
2. Sonorous

Origin: Latin or “mouth” + ro­tun­dus “round”

Orthodox

》Sound in the Christian faith, as op­posed to hereti­cal

Origin: Greek or­tho “right” + dox “opinion”

Orts

》Scraps

Ossuary

》Chest to hold mul­ti­ple skele­tal re­mains

Overmorrow

》The day af­ter to­mor­row

Palmy

》Flourishing

“Palm” meant “victory” in Chaucer’s time

Panglossian

》Characterized by the view that this is the best of all pos­si­ble worlds

Origin: Dr. Pangloss (“all tongue”) from Candide held this view

Paramount

1. Superior to all oth­ers
2. Possessing the high­est ti­tle, as lord para­mount

Parasol

》Small ladies um­brella for rain or sun

Origin: Italian para “to shield” + sole “sun”

Patrimony

》Right or es­tate in­her­ited from fa­ther or an­ces­tor

Pediculous

》Infested with lice; lousy

Origin: Latin pedicu­lus “louse”

Pelagic

》Related to the open sea

Peloton

》Main body of rid­ers in a bi­cy­cle race

Related to “platoon”

Perspicuous

》Clearly ex­pressed

Petrichor

》The earthy scent pro­duced when rain falls on dry soil

Origin: Greek pe­tra “stone” + ichor “the blood of the Greek gods”

Phlegmatic

1. Abounding in phlegm
2. Watery
3. Cold, dull, slug­gish
4. Indifferent, not eas­ily ex­cited

Pilaster

》A col­umn that ap­pears to give sup­port but is merely dec­o­ra­tive

Origin: Latin pila “pillar” + aster “expressing in­com­plete re­sem­blance”

Pinchbeck

1. Allow of cop­per and zinc used as ar­ti­fi­cial gold for jew­elry
2. Counterfeit item

The al­loy in­vented by Christopher Pinchbeck

Pith

1. Soft cen­ter of plants
2. Spinal mar­row of an­i­mals
3. Energy, im­por­tance, quin­tes­sence

Pluvial

》Related to rain

Poetaster

》A petty poet, some­one who pre­tends to be a poet

Origin: Latin poet + aster “expressing in­com­plete re­sem­blance”

Many other words fol­low the pat­tern, such as Latin "patraster" for a fa­ther-in-law or step­fa­ther

Poltergeist

》A noisy, usu­ally mis­chie­vous, ghost

Origin: German poltern “knock”, “rattle” + geist “ghost”

Preposterous

》With the hin­der part be­fore

Origin: Latin pre “before” + posterus “coming af­ter”

Pre and post in the same word

Pridian

》Related to yes­ter­day or a pre­vi­ous day

Profane

1. Irreverent to any­thing sa­cred
2. Polluted, im­pure

Origin: Latin pro “forward” + fanum “temple” (outside the tem­ple)

Protean

》Ever-changing

Origin: From Proteus, a Greek sea god given the power to shapeshift by Poseidon

Quillon

》Arm of a sword’s cross-hilt

Quintessence

1. In alchemy, the fifth and high­est essence of power
2. Extract which con­tains the virtue, the most es­sen­tial part

Quip

》A clever re­mark, of­ten sar­cas­tic or taunt­ing

Raillery

》Banter

Renegade

1. A vagabond
2. One who deserts to an en­emy
3. An apos­tate (originally, a Christian turned Muslim)

Riparian

》Related to a river

Rodomont

》A vain boaster

Origin: Rodomonte, a fierce and boast­ful king in Orlando Innamorato and Orlando Furioso

Roister

》Carouse, revel nois­ily

Roisterer

》One who rois­ters

Runagate

》Renegade, fugi­tive, apos­tate, vagabond

Ruth

》Mercy, pity, ten­der­ness

Sanguine

1. Having the color of blood, red
2. Characterized by abun­dant and ac­tive blood, warm, ar­dent

Scarp

》Slope of the ditch near­est the para­pet

Scholé

》Leisurely, cre­ative work, not done for profit

Scroyle

》A mean fel­low, a wretch

Scuttle

1. A broad, shal­low bas­ket
2. A small hatch­way in the deck of a ship
3. A square hole in the roof of a house, with a lid
4. A short run
5. To cut large holes through the bot­tom or sides of a ship

Sebaceous

》Related to fat

Sempiternal

》Eternal

Surprisingly, does not share a Latin root with “eternal”

Sepulchre

1. A tomb
2. A re­cep­ta­cle for re­li­gious relics, es­pe­cially an al­tar

Sepulture

1. A sepul­chre
2. A bur­ial

Sleight

1. An art­ful trick
2. Sly ar­ti­fice
3. Dexterity

Origin: Old Norse sloegr “sly, cun­ning”

Smithereens

》Small bro­ken pieces

Origin: Irish smidiríní “little bits”

Snickersnee

》Large knife

Solemn

》Marked with re­li­gious rites and pomps

Sortilege

》Divination by lots (item drawn ran­domly from a col­lec­tion)

Spangle

》Small metal or­na­men­tal plate; there­fore, any lit­tle thing that sparkles

Splenetic

1. Related to the spleen
2. Spiteful, malev­o­lent

Stigma

1. A mark of dis­grace
2. The up­per part of a flow­er’s pis­til, which re­ceives the pollen in fer­til­iza­tion

Origin: Latin stigma “brand, mark”, Greek stizein “to tat­too”

The plural “stigmata” al­most al­ways refers to wounds such as Christ re­ceived on the cross

Stonelime

》Cement

Suffrage

1. A short in­ter­ces­sory prayer
2. The right of vot­ing

Origin: Latin suf­frag­ium “vote”, “support”, “prayer”

Sumpter

》Pack-horse

Tawdry

1. Bought at the fes­ti­val of St. Audrey
2. Very fine and showy in col­ors with­out tast or el­e­gance; cheap and gaudy

Thalassic

》Related to seas or oceans

Tintamar

》Uproar

Tonsorial

》Related to bar­bers

Turophile

》Lover of cheese

Origin: Greek “tyros” for cheese

Tussock

》Dense tuft of grass

Umbrage

1. A shade, like a screen of trees
2. Shadow
3. Suspicion of in­jury; re­sent­ment

Origin: Latin um­bra, “a shade”

Umbrella

》Shade, car­ried by hand to shel­ter the per­son from sun, rain, or snow

Origin: Latin um­bra “shade, shadow”

Undertaker

1. One who man­ages fu­ner­als
2. One who un­der­takes a busi­ness

Originally there were many un­der­tak­ers, with fu­neral-un­der­tak­ers even­tu­ally tak­ing pri­macy

Vagabond

》A va­grant

Verboten

》Forbidden

Not et­y­mo­log­i­cally re­lated to “verb”

Verger

1. The man who car­ries the mace be­fore a bishop, dean, etc.
2. An of­fi­cer who car­ries a white wand be­fore the jus­tices in England

Vestige

1. A mark left by some­thing that ex­isted be­fore
2. A small re­main­ing amount
3. A foot­print

Origin: Latin ves­tigium “footstep, foot­print, track”

Vizard

》Visor

Vulpine

1. Related to foxes
2. Crafty

Wanderjahr

》Year spent by an ap­pren­tice trav­el­ling and prac­tic­ing be­fore en­ter­ing the pro­fes­sion of his trade

Welkin

》Firmament

“Hark! The her­ald an­gels sing” orig­i­nally started “Hark, how all the welkin ring”

Widdershins

》Counter-clockwise

Winkle

1. Gleam in­ter­mit­tently
2. Displace (e.g. “winkle out an an­swer”)

Xanthic

》Yellow

Origin: Greek xan­thos “yellow”

Yawl

1. Small ship’s boat
2. To howl

Yestereve

》The pre­vi­ous evening