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October 27, 2013
VOCABULARY: BILIOUS BRANGLOMANE EDITION
atrabilious: morose, melancholy, or in a like way ill-tempered (from the latin for ‘black bile’)
jonquil: corruption of the bird ‘junco,’ revised to refer to an associated type of narcissus
sough: a rustling or sighing noise; or, to speak or preach whinily; or, a ditch or marsh
mythomane: abbreviation of mythomaniac, similarly graphomane, monomane, etc
imbrangle: also embrangle, to involve in a brangle, a noisy fuss or squabble
afflatus: divine or otherwise miraculous creative inspiration or knowledge
posset: an old cold remedy, spiced milk curdled with beer or wine
bistre: a brownish-yellow pigment derived from wood soot
petroliferous: capable of yielding petroleum, e.g. oil shale
palter: to act or talk carelessly or deceitfully, or to haggle
parclose: a rail or screen dividing parts of a church
cark: care or worry; to carken is to burden
Posted by gerardvanderleun at October 27, 2013 2:08 PM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.
Your Say
Atrabilious.
I love the very sound of it.
And it fits like a comfy old shoe.
JWM
Posted by: jwm at October 27, 2013 2:24 PM
Good words all.
Posted by: tripletap at October 27, 2013 4:01 PM
Interesting that afflatus, flattery and flatulence have the same syllable in them. I guess it takes a certain kind of knowledge to be able to tell the difference between them.
Posted by: Jewel at October 27, 2013 5:42 PM
I am extremely exultant at the exuberance of your verbosity. May your exquisitly executed exemplifications of extremely exorbitant wordsmanship continue to exude your erudition.
Posted by: Roger Drew Williams at October 27, 2013 7:52 PM
A perfectly good word that has gone out of style:
Niggardly: Miserly
Posted by: pfsm at October 27, 2013 8:05 PM
Now why on earth would such a fine word as niggardly go out of style? Any insight, anyone?
Posted by: BillH at October 28, 2013 8:17 AM
Because Obama.
Posted by: Jewel at October 28, 2013 9:46 AM