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

Comments: 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”

Comments: 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

Comments: 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

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”

Comments: We add six hours per year, every fourth year

Bourn

》Border

Brand

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

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

Brawn

》Muscular

Comments: 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

Comments: 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”

Comments: “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

Comments: 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

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

Comments: 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

Comments: 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

Comments: From be­fore clocks ex­isted

Demotic

》Common, pop­u­lar

Comments: 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

Comments: 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

Dun

》Dark, gloomy

Eftsoons

》Soon af­ter­wards

Eldest

》Oldest

Comments: 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

Comments: 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

Farraginous

》Consisting of a con­fused mix­ture

Farrago

》Hodgepodge

Farrier

》Smith who shoes horses

Fettle

》Order, re­pair

Comments: “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

Comments: 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

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

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

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

Comments: 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”

Comments: 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

Comments: 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”

Ichor

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

Inchmeal

》Little by lit­tle

Comments: -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)

Knickknackatory

》Collection of knick­knacks

Lambaste

》Beat se­verely

Lector

》Reader

Origin: Latin

Lemniscate

》Figure-eight shape

Lethe

1. Oblivion
2. A draught of obliv­ion

Lorn

》Forsaken

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”

Comments: 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

Comments: 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

Comments: Also called a left-handed mar­riage

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

Comments: The coun­ter­part of viril­ity

Nadir

》Lowest point, op­po­site of zenith

Nervous

》Pertaining to the nerves

Comments: Originally meant strong and vig­or­ous of body or mind

Nostrum

》Panacea

Orotund

》Pompous and bom­bas­tic, sonorous

Origin: Latin “round mouth”

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

Palmy

》Flourishing

Comments: “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

Comments: 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

Comments: 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”

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

Preposterous

》With the hin­der part be­fore

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

Comments: Pre and post in the same word

Pridian

》Related to yes­ter­day or a pre­vi­ous day

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

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

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

Sleight

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

Origin: Old Norse sloegr “sly, cun­ning”

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”

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

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

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

Vagabond

》A va­grant

Verboten

》Forbidden

Comments: 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

Vizard

》Visor

Wanderjahr

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

Welkin

》Firmament

Comments: “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