New (old) words
Listed here are forgotten and newly acquired words discovered while reading
The Last of Mr. Norris by Christopher Isherwood
I'm like a book you have to read. A book can't read itself to you. It doesn't even know what it's about. I don't know what I'm about. ~ Christopher Isherwood These notes are collected in celebration of Christopher Isherwood's birthday, August 26, 1904 BBC Omnibus 1969 Christopher Isherwood A Born Foreigner
FLAGELLANT a person who responds sexually to being beaten by or to beating another person
ReplyDeleteFESTOONS: a decorative chain or strip hanging between two points.
ReplyDeleteEPIGRAM: a terse, sage, or witty and often paradoxical saying
ReplyDeleteSPREE: an unrestrained indulgence in or outburst of an activity
ReplyDeleteBAGATELLE: a trifle
ReplyDeleteGAOLBIRD: alternative spelling of jailbird
ReplyDeleteREPAST: a quantity of food taken or provided for one occasion of eating
ReplyDeleteLARES: the spirits who, if propitiated, watched over the house or community to which theybelonged.
ReplyDeletePENATES: (in ancient Roman belief) household gods worshiped in conjunction with Vesta and the lares.
ReplyDeleteTHE MAMMON OF UNRIGHTEOUNESS: wealth ill-used or ill-gained.This biblical expression comes from Luke 16:9: ‘And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon ofunrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations’. Mammon ultimately comes fromHebrew mamon meaning ‘money or wealth’. In early use, it was used to refer to the devil of covetousness; it later was usedas the personification of wealth regarded as an idol or an evil influence.
ReplyDeleteGASOLIER: a chandelier with gas burners rather than light bulbs or candles.
ReplyDeleteGROSCHEN: a monetary unit of Austria (until the introduction of the euro), equal to one hundredth of a schilling.
ReplyDeleteCOQUETTISH: behaving in such a way as to suggest a playful sexual attraction; flirtatious
ReplyDeleteFLOTSAM: floating wreckage of a ship or its cargo; broadly : floating debris.
ReplyDeleteBRUSQUE: blunt in manner or speech often to the point of ungracious harshness
ReplyDeleteNEFARIOUS: flagrantly wicked or impious : EVIL
ReplyDeleteCRUET STAND: a small stand of metal, ceramic, or glass which holds containers for condiments. Typically these include salt and pepper shakers, and often cruets or bottles of vinegar and olive oil. The stand and containers form a cruet set.
ReplyDeleteFULSOME: The definition of fulsome is something abundant or bountiful, or praise that is heaped or lavished on to the point of being excessive.
ReplyDeleteMAUDLIN: drunk enough to be emotionally silly
ReplyDeleteDEGOUTANT: disgusting
ReplyDeleteRECONNOITRE: make a military observation of (a region):
ReplyDeleteMILIEU: surroundings, especially of a social or cultural nature
ReplyDeletePRIGGISH: being overly proper or expressing exaggerated morality and propriety that causes great annoyance.
ReplyDeletePURATIVE: a drug or agent for purging the bowels
ReplyDeleteZOO STATION: Berlin Zoologischer Garten Station (German: Bahnhof Berlin Zoologischer Garten, colloquially Bahnhof Zoo) is a railway station in Berlin, Germany. It is located on the Berlin Stadtbahn railway line in the Charlottenburg district, adjacent to the Berlin Zoo.
ReplyDelete