Misc. 3

Question 1

culvert

Answer 1

a tunnel carrying a stream or open drain under a road or railway.

Question 2

festoon

Answer 2

a chain or garland of flowers, leaves, or ribbons, hung in a curve as a decoration; v.) to adorn with a festoon

Question 3

bunting

Answer 3

flags and other colourful festive decorations; a loosely woven fabric used to make bunting; a hooded sleeping bag for babies; a songbird related to the finch.

Question 4

lotus-eater

Answer 4

a person who leads a life of dreamy, indolent ease, indifferent to the busy world; daydreamer.

Question 5

crocodilian

Answer 5

insincere; hypocritical

Question 6

malfeasance

Answer 6

Law. the performance by a public official of an act that is legally unjustified, harmful, or contrary to law; wrongdoing (used especially of an act in violation of a public trust).

Question 7

runnel

Answer 7

a gutter; a brook; a small stream of a particular liquid

Question 8

scapegrace

Answer 8

a rogue or rascal; etymol. from someone who would escape God’s grace.

Question 9

excoriate

Answer 9

to denounce or berate severely; flay verbally; 2.) to strip off or remove the skin from

Question 10

craquelure

Answer 10

a network of fine cracks or crackles on the surface of a painting, caused chiefly by shrinkage of paint film or varnish.

Question 11

oscitant

Answer 11

1. drowsy or inattentive.

2. yawning, as with drowsiness; gaping.

Question 12

whiffler

Answer 12

1. a person who frequently shifts opinions, attitudes, interests, etc.
2. a person who is vacillating or evasive in an argument.

Question 13

paralogize

Answer 13

to draw conclusions that do not follow logically from a given set of assumptions.

Question 14

umbra

Answer 14

1. shade; shadow.

2. the invariable or characteristic accompaniment or companion of a person or thing.

Question 15

ataraxia

Answer 15

a state of freedom from emotional disturbance and anxiety; tranquillity.

Question 16

equivoque

Answer 16

an equivocal term; an ambiguous expression

Question 17

simpatico

Answer 17

congenial or like-minded; likable: I find our new neighbor simpatico in every respect.

Question 18

intrapeneur

Answer 18

an employee of a large corporation who is given freedom and financial support to create new products, services, systems, etc., and does not have to follow the corporation’s usual routines or protocols.

Question 19

froideur

Answer 19

from the French: an attitude of haughty aloofness; cold superiority.

Question 20

katzenjammer

Answer 20

1. uneasiness; anguish; distress.

2. the discomfort and illness experienced as the aftereffects of excessive drinking; hangover.

Question 21

myrmidon

Answer 21

1. a person who executes without question or scruple a master’s commands.
2. Classical Mythology. (initial capital letter) one of the warlike people of ancient Thessaly who accompanied Achilles to the Trojan War.

Question 22

flackery

Answer 22

publicity and promotion; press-agentry.

Question 23

ripsnorter

Answer 23

1. Informal. something or someone remarkably good or exciting.
2. Informal. something or someone exceedingly strong or violent: a ripsnorter of a gale.

Question 24

frowzy

Answer 24

\FROW-zee\
adjective
1. dirty and untidy; slovenly.
2. ill-smelling; musty.

Question 25

syncretism

Answer 25

1. the attempted reconciliation or union of different or opposing principles, practices, or parties, as in philosophy or religion.
2. Grammar. the merging, as by historical change in a language, of two or more categories in a specified environment into one, as, in nonstandard English, the use of was with both singular and plural subjects, while in standard English was is used with singular subjects (except for you in the second person singular) and were with plural subjects.

Quotes
This artful procedure was known as syncretism, from a Greek word meaning something like “joining together.” One of the champions of syncretism had been Mahatma Gandhi, who never went anywhere without his three sacred books: the Koran for Islam, the Gospels for Christianity, and the Bhagavad Gita for Hinduism.
– Catherine Clément, Theo’s Odyssey, translated by Steve Cox and Ros Schwartz, 1999

Origin of syncretism
Syncretism comes from New Latin syncrētismus, from Greek synkrētismós, “union of Cretan cities against a common foe” and first appears in Plutarch’s Moralia in the first century A.D. It entered English in the early 1600s.

Question 26

opuscule

Answer 26

1. a small or minor work.

2. a literary or musical work of small size.

Question 27

bailiwick

Answer 27

1. a person’s area of skill, knowledge, authority, or work: to confine suggestions to one’s own bailiwick.
2. the district within which a bailie or bailiff has jurisdiction.

Question 28

galimatias

Answer 28

confused or unintelligible talk.
\gal-uh-MEY-shee-uh s, -MAT-ee-uh s\
I have seen this letter in which you tell me there is so much galimatias, and I assure you that I have not found any at all. On the contrary, I find everything plainly expressed …
– George Eliot, “A Woman in France: Madame de Sablé,” The Westminster Review, January and April, 1854

Question 29

ensorcell

Answer 29

to bewitch: The beauty of the moon ensorcelled them.

Question 30

stalwart

Answer 30

1. firm, steadfast, or uncompromising: a stalwart supporter of the U.N.
2. strong and brave; valiant: a stalwart knight.

Question 31

harum-scarum

Answer 31

1. reckless; rash; irresponsible: He had a harum-scarum youth.
2. disorganized; uncontrolled.

Question 32

olio

Answer 32

1. a mixture of heterogeneous elements; hodgepodge.

2. a dish of many ingredients.

Question 33

entelechy

Answer 33

1. a realization or actuality as opposed to a potentiality.

2. (in vitalist philosophy) a vital agent or force directing growth and life.

Question 34

mondegreen

Answer 34

a misinterpretation of a word or phrase that has been heard, especially a song lyric.

Question 35

psephology

Answer 35

the study of elections

Question 36

ambisinister

Answer 36

clumsy or unskillful with both hands.

Question 37

brickbat

Answer 37

1. an unkind or unfavorable remark; caustic criticism: The critics greeted the play with brickbats.
2. a piece of broken brick, especially one used as a missile.

Question 38

eleemosynary

Answer 38

1. of or relating to alms, charity, or charitable donations; charitable.
2. derived from or provided by charity.

Question 39

beatify

Answer 39

1. to make blissfully happy.
2. Roman Catholic Church. to declare (a deceased person) to be among the blessed and thus entitled to specific religious honor.