Definitions
détente: (n) The easing of strained relations, especially in a political situation.
moreen: (n) Originally: a strong ribbed worsted fabric with a watered finish, used esp. for making curtains and furnishings in the 18th and 19th centuries. Later: a watered furnishing fabric made of wool, cotton, or a mixture of these; (more generally) any heavy fabric with a watered finish.
syringa: (n) Any of the shrubs of the genus Philadelphus, especially P. coronarius, the mock-orange, having creamy-white strongly sweet-scented flowers, cultivated as an ornamental shrub.
ponticum: (n) A purple-flowered evergreen rhododendron, Rhododendron ponticum, originally of Spain, Portugal, and Asia Minor, but extensively cultivated in Britain during Victorian times, now widely naturalized and often regarded as an invasive weed.
bombard: (n) 1. The earliest kind of cannon, usually throwing a stone ball or a very large shot.
2. The ball or stone thrown by a bombard.
3. Bombarding volley, shot
4. A bomb-vessel or bomb-ketch
5. A leather jug or bottle for liquor; a blackjack. Probably from some resemblance to the early cannons.
6. A toper; a bumbard.
7. A deep-toned wooden musical instrument of the bassoon family.
8. A foot reed-stop of an organ.
toper: (n) One who topes or drinks a great deal; a hard drinker; a drunkard.
bumbard: (n) 1. A bumble-bee, a drone;
2. Also figuratively a droning person, a driveller.
saraband: (n) 1. A slow and stately Spanish dance in triple time.
2. A piece of music composed for this dance or in its rhythm, in which the second note of the measure is commonly lengthened.
3. A kind of Persian rug characterized by a pattern of leaf or pear forms.
ingurgitate: (v) 1. To swallow greedily or immoderately (food, or, in later use esp., drink).
2. To eat or drink to excess; to gormandize, guzzle.
3. To gorge, to cram with food or drink.
4. To swallow up as a gulf or whirlpool; to engulf.
5. Of a river: To discharge itself into the sea.
capacious: (adj) 1. Of such size as to take in or hold; able to contain; having the capacity of or to (with infinitive).
2. Able to hold much; roomy, spacious, wide.
3. Qualified, adapted or disposed for the reception of; Of capacity or qualified to do something.
lieutenantry; also lieutenancy: (n) 1. The office of a lieutenant.
2. Delegated authority or command.
3. The term of a lieutenant's office.
4. The district or province governed by a lieutenant.
5. The body of deputy-lieutenants in a county. Also, in the city of London, the body of commissioners (sometimes incorrectly called ‘deputy-lieutenants’), now usually appointed annually, who perform the duties of a Lord-lieutenant with regard to the militia and volunteers.
6. The bodies of troops under the command of the Lord-lieutenants and commissioners of lieutenancy.
weet: 1. To know (a fact, the answer to a question); also with clause as obj.
2. To know of something.
convolvula: (n) A winding plant.
enbonpoint: (n) Plumpness, well-nourished appearance of body: in complimentary or euphemistic sense.
lucerne: (n) 1. A lamp, lantern.
2. The leguminous plant Medicago sativa, resembling clover, cultivated for fodder; purple medick.
medick: (n) Any of various Eurasian and North African plants, chiefly yellow-flowered, constituting the genus Medicago (family Fabaceae (Leguminosae)), which resemble clovers but have spirally coiled, sometimes spiny, seed pods; spec. one of those grown for fodder or green manure. Frequently with distinguishing word.
accouchement: (n) Delivery in child-bed.
quoin: (v) 1. To secure or raise with a quoin or wedge.
2. To provide with a quoin or cornerstone.
(n) 3. Originally: an external angle of a wall; an outer corner of a building. Subsequently also: any of the stones or bricks serving to form this angle; a cornerstone.
4. An internal angle or corner of a wall, esp. of a room. Also: a recess in a wall, as for a gate.
5. In Printing: A (typically wedge-shaped) device used to lock up a forme of type.
6. In Gunnery: A wedge-shaped block used for adjusting the elevation of the barrel of a cannon. Also: a wedge used to keep a cannon securely in position.
7. Nautical: A wedge placed between or among casks stored on a ship, so as to prevent them from moving.
8. In Building: The keystone, or any one of the wedge-shaped stones, of an arch.
9. An angle; an angular object.
moreen: (n) Originally: a strong ribbed worsted fabric with a watered finish, used esp. for making curtains and furnishings in the 18th and 19th centuries. Later: a watered furnishing fabric made of wool, cotton, or a mixture of these; (more generally) any heavy fabric with a watered finish.
syringa: (n) Any of the shrubs of the genus Philadelphus, especially P. coronarius, the mock-orange, having creamy-white strongly sweet-scented flowers, cultivated as an ornamental shrub.
ponticum: (n) A purple-flowered evergreen rhododendron, Rhododendron ponticum, originally of Spain, Portugal, and Asia Minor, but extensively cultivated in Britain during Victorian times, now widely naturalized and often regarded as an invasive weed.
bombard: (n) 1. The earliest kind of cannon, usually throwing a stone ball or a very large shot.
2. The ball or stone thrown by a bombard.
3. Bombarding volley, shot
4. A bomb-vessel or bomb-ketch
5. A leather jug or bottle for liquor; a blackjack. Probably from some resemblance to the early cannons.
6. A toper; a bumbard.
7. A deep-toned wooden musical instrument of the bassoon family.
8. A foot reed-stop of an organ.
toper: (n) One who topes or drinks a great deal; a hard drinker; a drunkard.
bumbard: (n) 1. A bumble-bee, a drone;
2. Also figuratively a droning person, a driveller.
saraband: (n) 1. A slow and stately Spanish dance in triple time.
2. A piece of music composed for this dance or in its rhythm, in which the second note of the measure is commonly lengthened.
3. A kind of Persian rug characterized by a pattern of leaf or pear forms.
ingurgitate: (v) 1. To swallow greedily or immoderately (food, or, in later use esp., drink).
2. To eat or drink to excess; to gormandize, guzzle.
3. To gorge, to cram with food or drink.
4. To swallow up as a gulf or whirlpool; to engulf.
5. Of a river: To discharge itself into the sea.
capacious: (adj) 1. Of such size as to take in or hold; able to contain; having the capacity of or to (with infinitive).
2. Able to hold much; roomy, spacious, wide.
3. Qualified, adapted or disposed for the reception of; Of capacity or qualified to do something.
lieutenantry; also lieutenancy: (n) 1. The office of a lieutenant.
2. Delegated authority or command.
3. The term of a lieutenant's office.
4. The district or province governed by a lieutenant.
5. The body of deputy-lieutenants in a county. Also, in the city of London, the body of commissioners (sometimes incorrectly called ‘deputy-lieutenants’), now usually appointed annually, who perform the duties of a Lord-lieutenant with regard to the militia and volunteers.
6. The bodies of troops under the command of the Lord-lieutenants and commissioners of lieutenancy.
weet: 1. To know (a fact, the answer to a question); also with clause as obj.
2. To know of something.
convolvula: (n) A winding plant.
enbonpoint: (n) Plumpness, well-nourished appearance of body: in complimentary or euphemistic sense.
lucerne: (n) 1. A lamp, lantern.
2. The leguminous plant Medicago sativa, resembling clover, cultivated for fodder; purple medick.
medick: (n) Any of various Eurasian and North African plants, chiefly yellow-flowered, constituting the genus Medicago (family Fabaceae (Leguminosae)), which resemble clovers but have spirally coiled, sometimes spiny, seed pods; spec. one of those grown for fodder or green manure. Frequently with distinguishing word.
accouchement: (n) Delivery in child-bed.
quoin: (v) 1. To secure or raise with a quoin or wedge.
2. To provide with a quoin or cornerstone.
(n) 3. Originally: an external angle of a wall; an outer corner of a building. Subsequently also: any of the stones or bricks serving to form this angle; a cornerstone.
4. An internal angle or corner of a wall, esp. of a room. Also: a recess in a wall, as for a gate.
5. In Printing: A (typically wedge-shaped) device used to lock up a forme of type.
6. In Gunnery: A wedge-shaped block used for adjusting the elevation of the barrel of a cannon. Also: a wedge used to keep a cannon securely in position.
7. Nautical: A wedge placed between or among casks stored on a ship, so as to prevent them from moving.
8. In Building: The keystone, or any one of the wedge-shaped stones, of an arch.
9. An angle; an angular object.