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