Wurdz

[greennotebook]

abject - in general use this means degrading, completely without dignity; in psychology, it means a state of horror caused when meaning, order, and the boundary between self and other breaks down, such as when we see a corpse and it reminds us of our own mortality, or when we encounter an atrocity. (This is my stab at a definition based on various Web sites - I know very little about this, but thought it was a fascinating concept.)

alloplast - "an inert foreign body used for implantation into tissue" (Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary)
alterity - otherness; the state of being other. (Webster 1913)
assiduous - "showing great care and perseverance". (One of those words I keep looking up and then forgetting the meaning.)
benison - a blessing
canalize - turn a river into a canal; convery through a canal; give something a direction or purpose.
doughty - "brave and resolute"
exiguous - tiny
hotched - wriggled, fidgeted, swarmed (M-W)
langoustine - a type of small lobster (M-W)
palliate - ease the symptoms without treating the cause
pyroclastic - "of or relating to rock fragments or ash erupted by a volcano, especially as a hot, dense, destructive flow."
raillery - "good-humoured teasing"
recondite - little-known, obscure
squit - someone of no importance (an insult); nonsense (Encarta)
wonted - usual

Definitions from Ask Oxford unless otherwise noted.