Jun 06, 2006

sultan

1. A ruler of a Muslim country, especially of the former Ottoman Empire.

2. A powerful person: a sultan of vice and corruption.

would rouse up and take the reins of government and threaten to be a sultan

pageants

1.	pageant - an elaborate representation of scenes from history etc; usually involves a parade with rich costumes pageantry representation - an activity that stands as an equivalent of something or results in an equivalent
	2.	pageant - a rich and

The Patriarch of Jerusalem stood under them in the old days of chivalry and romance, and preached the third Crusade, more than six hundred years ago; and since that day they have stood there and looked quietly down upon the most thrilling scenes, the grandest pageants, the most extraordinary spectacles that have grieved or delighted Paris.

batter

1. To hit heavily and repeatedly with violent blows.

2. To subject to repeated beatings or physical abuse.

3. To damage, as by heavy wear.

carnage

1. Massive slaughter, as in war; a massacre.

2. Corpses, especially of those killed in battle.

These battered and broken-nosed old fellows saw many and many a cavalcade of mail-clad knights come marching home from Holy Land; they heard the bells above them toll the signal for the St. Bartholomew's Massacre, and they saw the slaughter that followed; later they saw the Reign of Terror, the carnage of the Revolution, the overthrow of a king, the coronation of two Napoleons, the christening of the young prince that lords it over a regiment of servants in the Tuileries to-day -- and they may possibly continue to stand there until they see the Napoleon dynasty swept away and the banners of a great republic floating above its ruins.

May 16, 2006

balmy

1. Having the quality or fragrance of balm; soothing.

2. Mild and pleasant: a balmy breeze.

3. Slang Eccentric in behavior.

but for the most part we had balmy summer weather and nights that were even finer than the days.

vermin

1. Various small animals or insects, such as rats or cockroaches, that are destructive, annoying, or injurious to health.

2. Animals that prey on game, such as foxes or weasels.

We walked up the middle of the principal street, and these vermin surrounded us on all sides and glared upon us

prodigious

1. Impressively great in size, force, or extent; enormous: a prodigious storm.

2. Extraordinary; marvelous: a prodigious talent.

3. Obsolete Portentous; ominous.

The Portuguese pennies, or reis (pronounced rays), are prodigious.

swindle

1. To cheat or defraud of money or property.

2. To obtain by fraudulent means: swindled money from the company.

Landlord, this is a low, mean swindle, and I'll never, never stand it.

veritable

Being truly so called; real or genuine: "Her tea ... was set forth with as much grace as if she had been a veritable guest to her own self" Mary Wilkins Freeman.

We visited a Jesuit cathedral nearly two hundred years old and found in it a piece of the veritable cross upon which our Saviour was crucified.

vagrant

1. One who wanders from place to place without a permanent home or a means of livelihood.

2. A wanderer; a rover.

3. One who lives on the streets and constitutes a public nuisance.

vociferous
Making, given to, or marked by noisy and vehement outcry.

vehement

1. Characterized by forcefulness of expression or intensity of emotion or conviction; fervid: a vehement denial. See Synonyms at intense.

2. Marked by or full of vigor or energy; strong: a vehement storm.

every vagrant of them was more vociferous, and more vehement and more frantic in gesture than his neighbor

May 10, 2006

reciprocate

1. To give or take mutually; interchange.

2. To show, feel, or give in response or return.

v.intr.

1. To move back and forth alternately.

2. To give and take something mutually.

3. To make a return for something given or done.

4. To be complementary or equivalent.


parlor

1. A room in a private home set apart for the entertainment of visitors.

2. A small lounge or sitting room affording limited privacy, as at an inn or tavern.

3. A room equipped and furnished for a special function or business: a tanning parlor.

I was glad to learn that our piano, our parlor organ, and our melodeon were to be the best instruments of the kind that could be had in the market.

titular

Relating to, having the nature of, or constituting a title.

I fell under that titular avalanche a torn and blighted thing.

berth

1. Sufficient space for a ship to maneuver; sea room: kept a clear berth of the reefs.

2. A space for a ship to dock or anchor: a steamship moored to its berth at the pier.

pre·mo·ni·tion (prm-nshn, prm-)

n.

1. A presentiment of the future; a foreboding.

2. A warning in advance; a forewarning.

I soon passed tranquilly out of all consciousness of the dreary experiences of the day and damaging premonitions of the future.

loiter

1. To stand idly about; linger aimlessly.

2. To proceed slowly or with many stops: loitered all the way home.

3. To delay or dawdle: loiter over a task.

in·sin·u·at·ing (n-sny-tng)

adj.

1. Provoking gradual doubt or suspicion; suggestive: insinuating remarks.

2. Artfully contrived to gain favor or confidence; ingratiating.

ad·mo·ni·tion (dm-nshn)

n.

1. Mild, kind, yet earnest reproof.

2. Cautionary advice or warning.

I loitered about awhile, and then, for want of something better to do, fell to carving a railing with my knife. Somebody said, in an insinuating, admonitory voice:

"Now, say -- my friend -- don't you know any better than to be whittling the ship all to pieces that way? You ought to know better than that."

sanc·ti·mo·ni·ous (sngkt-mn-s)

adj.

Feigning piety or righteousness: "a solemn, unsmiling, sanctimonious old iceberg that looked like he was waiting for a vacancy in the Trinity" Mark Twain.

feign (fn)

v. feigned, feign·ing, feigns

v.tr.1.

a. To give a false appearance of: feign sleep.

b. To represent falsely; pretend to:

Who is that spider-legged gorilla yonder with the sanctimonious countenance?

glib (glb)

adj. glib·ber, glib·best

1.

a. Performed with a natural, offhand ease: glib conversation.

b. Showing little thought, preparation, or concern: a glib response to a complex question.

2. Marked by ease and fluency of speech or writing that often suggests or stems from insincerity, superficiality, or deceitfulness.

They spoke glibly of the "after cabin," the "for'rard cabin," "port and starboard" and the "fo'castle."

prom·e·nade (prm-nd, -näd)

n.

1.

a. A leisurely walk, especially one taken in a public place as a social activity.

b. A public place for such walking.

2.

a. A formal dance; a ball.

b. A march of all the guests at the opening of a ball.

3. A square-dance figure in which couples march counterclockwise in a circle.

By 7 o'clock in the evening, dinner was about over; an hour's promenade on the upper deck followed; then the gong sounded and a large majority of the party repaired to the after cabin (upper), a handsome saloon fifty or sixty feet long, for prayers.

May 2, 2006

garrulous

1. Given to excessive and often trivial or rambling talk; tiresomely talkative.

2. Wordy and rambling: a garrulous speech.

I called on good-natured, garrulous old Simon Wheeler
-- The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, Mark Twain

exasperate

1. To make very angry or impatient; annoy greatly.

2. To increase the gravity or intensity of: "a scene . . . that exasperates his rose fever and makes him sneeze" Samuel Beckett.

he would..bore me to death with some exasperating reminiscence of him..

dilapidated

Having fallen into a state of disrepair or deterioration, as through neglect; broken-down and shabby.

(dilapidate, destroy, destruct)

dozing comfortably by the bar-room stove of the dilapidated tavern..

countenance

1. Appearance, especially the expression of the face: The question left him with a puzzled countenance.

2. The face or facial features.

his tranquil countenance

reel

to wind on or let out from a reel

reeled off the monotonous narrative

flume

a narrow gorge, usually with a steam flowing through it
an open artificial channel or chute carrying a stream of water, as for furnishing power or conveying logs

May 1, 2006

dapper

1.

a. Neatly dressed; trim.

b. Very stylish in dress.

2. Lively and alert.

The nervous, dapper, "peart" young man took the chair I offered him...
--An Encounter with an interviewer, Mark Twain.

peart

Active; lively; brisk; smart; - often applied to convalescents; as, she is quite peart to-day.There was a tricksy girl, I wot, albeit clad in gray,
As peart as bird, as straight as bolt, as fresh as flowers in May.

inducement

Something that helps bring about an action or a desired result; an incentive: tax breaks intended as an inducement to greater reinvestment.

It has often been said, and by people who would not flatter and who could have no inducement to flatter, that I am quite remarkable in that way.

rapture

1. The state of being transported by a lofty emotion; ecstasy.

2. An expression of ecstatic feeling. Often used in the plural.

3. The transporting of a person from one place to another, especially to heaven.

they always speak of it with rapture.


dishearten

To shake or destroy the courage or resolution of; dispirit. See Synonyms at discourage.

salient

1. Projecting or jutting beyond a line or surface; protruding.

2. Strikingly conspicuous; prominent. See Synonyms at noticeable.

3. Springing; jumping: salient tree toads.

to bring out the salient points of your public and private history

defunct

Having ceased to exist or live: a defunct political organization.

You see we were twins, defunct and I

solemn

1. Deeply earnest, serious, and sober.

2. Somberly or gravely impressive. See Synonyms at serious.

3. Performed with full ceremony: a solemn High Mass.

4. Invoking the force of religion; sacred: a solemn vow.

5. Gloomy; somber.

This solemn, this awful mystery has cast a gloom over my whole life.

trifle

Something of little importance or value.

O, it was a mere trifle, not one man in fifty would have noticed it at all.

hearse

1. A vehicle for conveying a coffin to a church or cemetery.

2. Roman Catholic Church A triangular candelabrum used at Tenebrae during Holy Week.

3. A framelike structure over a coffin or tomb on which to hang epitaphs.

the body all arranged nice in the hearse

Apr 21, 2006

motley

Having elements of great variety or incongruity; heterogeneous: "Most Ivy League freshman classes are chosen from a motley collection of constituencies . . . and a bare majority of entering students can honestly be called scholars" New York Times.

motley crew of investors

Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.
--Dr. Samuel Johnson

April 06, 2006

gape

To open the mouth wide; yawn.

And as soon as I knew they saw me I gaped and stretched, and gave other signs of being mightily bored with traveling.

blister
A local swelling of the skin that contains watery fluid and is caused by burning or irritation.

I saw that the skin had begun to blister and peel off my face and neck.

grandeur
The quality or condition of being grand; magnificence: "The world is charged with the grandeur of God" Gerard Manley Hopkins.

There is no estimating the pride I took in this grandeur

abstruse
Difficult to understand; recondite.

who had been confronted with a problem too abstruse for solution.

blight
Any of numerous plant diseases resulting in sudden conspicuous wilting and dying of affected parts, especially young, growing tissues.

It was a sore blight to find out afterwards that he was a low, vulgar, ignorant, sentimental, half-witted humbug, an untraveled native of the wilds of Illinois