turgid \TUR-jid\ (adjective) - 1 : Swollen, bloated, puffed up; as, "a turgid limb." 2 : Swelling in style or language; bombastic, pompous; as, "a turgid style of speaking."

"Here and there among the turgid muddle, out of the impact of unassimilated things, comes a spark of real poetry." -- John Roderigo Dos Passos, 'Rosinante to the Road Again...Read more

virtu \vuhr-TOO; vir-\ (noun) - 1 : love of or taste for fine objects of art. 2 : Productions of art (especially fine antiques). 3 : Artistic quality.

'In the latter case, the new emblem held no personality or virtu until it had participated in noteworthy feats and so acquired status.' -- Jack Vance, 'Planet of Adventure'

Virtu comes from ...Read more

appurtenance \uh-PUR-tn-un(t)s\ (noun) - 1 : An adjunct; an accessory; something added to another, more important thing. 2 : [Plural]. Accessory objects; gear; apparatus. 3 : [Law]. An incidental right attached to a principal property right for purposes such as passage of title, conveyance, or inheritance.

"Except as an appurtenance of the ...Read more

chicanery \shih-KAY-nuh-ree\ (noun) - 1 : The use of trickery or sophistry to deceive (as in matters of law). 2 : A trick; a subterfuge.

"It was therefore not yet obscured by that deep forest of chicanery and circumlocution which those two lawyers planted in it at the beginning of the sixteenth century." -- Victor Hugo, 'The Hunchback of Notre ...Read more

defenestrate \dee-FEN-uh-strayt\ (transitive verb) - To throw out of a window.

"'And if you can defenestrate you must be able to fenestrate, mustn't you?' she finally said.'Throw yourself back in through a window?'" -- Peter Guttridge, 'No Laughing Matter: A Nick Madrid Mystery'

Defenestrate is derived from Latin de-, "out of" + fenestra, "...Read more

panoply \PAN-uh-plee\ (noun) - 1 : A splendid or impressive array. 2 : Ceremonial attire. 3 : A full suit of armor; a complete defense or covering.

Panoply is from Greek panoplia, "a full suit of armor," from pan, "all" + hoplia, "arms, armor," plural of hoplon, "implement, weapon."

sporadic \spuh-RAD-ik\ (adjective) - Occurring singly, or occasionally, or in scattered instances.

"The panoply of personages gathered at the head of the hall formed an impressive sight. At the base of the Imperial dais, the High Priests and Priestesses of the Twenty Gods of the Higher Heaven and the Twenty God of the Lower Heaven stood in full...Read more

harridan \HAIR-uh-din\, noun) - A worn-out strumpet; a vixenish woman; a hag.

"Emily was hard-pressed not to laugh out loud several times, for if the harridan knew who Emily really was, she would no doubt be groveling and fawning..." -- Alice Holden, 'A Kiss for Christmas'

Harridan probably comes from French haridelle, "a worn-out horse, a ...Read more

implacable \im-PLAK-uh-bull\ (adjective) - Not placable; not to be appeased; incapable of being pacified; inexorable; as, an implacable foe.

'It is the truth. Truth is implacable. But the nature and meaning of this truth is not.' -- John Fowles, 'The Magus'

Implacable ultimately comes from Latin implacabilis, from in-, not + placabilis, ...Read more

virtu \vuhr-TOO; vir-\ (noun) - 1 : love of or taste for fine objects of art. 2 : Productions of art (especially fine antiques). 3 : Artistic quality.

"There were gorgeous carpets and hangings, frescoed ceilings, spurious objects of virtu, and pier-tables loaded with ornaments." -- Emile Gaboriau, 'The Count's Millions'

Virtu comes from ...Read more

febrile \FEB-ruhl; FEE-bruhl; -bryl\ (adjective) - Of or pertaining to fever; indicating fever or derived from it; feverish.

"As a wave of vibrant excitement washed over me, I tremulously got hold of the rumpled letter, and in febrile anxiety unfolded it." -- Niels Vandamme, 'Tempest: The Transition"

Febrile comes from Late Latin febrilis, ...Read more

concinnity \kuhn-SIN-uh-tee\ (noun) - 1 : Internal harmony or fitness in the adaptation of parts to a whole or to each other. 2 : Studied elegance of design or arrangement -- used chiefly of literary style. 3 : An instance of concinnity.

"To the exact extent that she imposes on language the phantasms of her mind, she dismisses the presence of ...Read more

gambol \GAM-buhl\ (intransitive verb) - To dance and skip about in play; to frolic.

(noun) - A skipping or leaping about in frolic.

"As he jogged along a little distance ahead of us, the young dogs would gambol about him, leap on his neck, worry at his ears, and endeavor to tease him..." -- Washington Irving, 'Abbotsford and Newstead Abbey'

...Read more

hypnagogic \hip-nuh-GOJ-ik; -GOH-jik\ (adjective) - Of, pertaining to, or occurring in the state of drowsiness preceding sleep.

"For over a year, then, the ship noted without alarm Wanda's active EEG, the various expressions of her busy hypnagogic life." -- Rob Swigart, 'Portal'

Hypnagogic (sometimes spelled hypnogogic) ultimately derives from...Read more

ken \KEN\ (noun) - 1 : Perception; understanding; knowledge. 2 : The range of vision. 3 : View; sight.

"Little things, trifles, slip out of one's ken, and one does not think it matter for surprise; but how a so bulky thing as the Seal of England can vanish away and no man be able to get track of it again..." -- Mark Twain, 'The Prince and the ...Read more

largess \lar-ZHES; lar-JES; LAR-jes\ (noun) - 1 : Generous giving (as of gifts or money), often accompanied by condescension. 2 : Gifts, money, or other valuables so given. 3 : Generosity; liberality.

""If I was a princess -- a real princess," she murmured, "I could scatter largess to the populace." -- Frances Hodgson Burnett, 'A Little ...Read more

contradistinction \kon-truh-dis-TINK-shuhn\ (noun) - Distinction by contrast; as, "sculpture in contradistinction to painting."

"And after all, what could either of them get from such a passion but a sense of his or of her own maximum self, in contradistinction to all the rest of life..." -- D.H. Lawrence, 'The Rainbow'

Contradistinction is ...Read more

megalomania \meg-uh-lo-MAY-nee-ah; -nyuh\ (noun) - 1 : A mania for grandiose or extravagant things or actions. 2 : A mental disorder characterized by delusions of grandeur.

"What looked before like 'walking reason' was now 'screeching megalomania'. And the flaw it implied in her was not simply a neurosis but a profound disease." -- Jeff Walker,...Read more

stolid \STOL-id\ (adjective) - Having or revealing little emotion or sensibility; not easily excited.

"The redbrick church, austere and stolid as a winter-shorn oak, sprang from the frozen lawn wreathed by sun-sparkling cars." -- James Isaiah Gabbe, 'Larue's Manuevers'

Stolid derives from Latin stolidus, "unmoving, stupid."

What in tarnation is the origin of "tarnation"?

You might be surprised to learn that "tarnation" is a variant of "eternal." During the 1600s, one meaning of "eternal" was "damned" or "infernal." In Shakespeare's "Othello," for instance, the character Emilia refers to an "eternal villain."

A century later, people started dropping the "e" from...Read more