Losing Mum and Pup

David B. (United States of America)
A memoir, by Christopher Buckley
Pages 1 - 67
Words not found in VT: omincompetent pg 59; patricidal pg 61; Cordelianin pg 63; filiality pg 63; Jaime jam pg 35;
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. adamantine
    consisting of or having the hardness of adamant
    pg 56
  2. apparatchik
    a communist who was a member of the administrative system of a communist party
    pg 67
  3. ennui
    the feeling of being bored by something tedious
    pg 57
  4. excoriation
    severe censure
    pg 50
  5. expostulation
    an exclamation of protest, opposition, or criticism
    pg 53
  6. indomitable
    impossible to subdue
    pg 56
  7. japery
    the act of clowning or playing practical jokes
    pg 51
  8. jeremiad
    a long and mournful complaint
    pg 53
  9. leavened
    made light by aerating, as with yeast or baking powder
    pg 51
  10. limpet
    an aquatic snail with a low, cone-shaped shell
    pg 54
  11. manse
    the residence of a member of the clergy
    pg 51
  12. mendacity
    the tendency to be untruthful
    pg 55
  13. monomaniacal
    obsessed with a single subject or idea
    pg 51
  14. nonplussed
    filled with bewilderment
    pg 49
  15. obviate
    do away with
    pg 57
  16. pari passu
    used in legal language
    pg 67
  17. plonk
    set (something or oneself) down with or as if with a noise
    pg62
  18. prevarication
    the deliberate act of deviating from the truth
    pg 55
  19. rococo
    having excessive asymmetrical ornamentation
    pg 57
  20. spuriously
    in a false and spurious manner
    pg 53
  21. Sturm und Drang
    a state of violent disturbance and disorder
    pg 53
  22. subjunctive
    relating to a verbal mood used for hypothetical acts
    pg 53
  23. vinous
    of or relating to wine
    pg 52
  24. banal
    repeated too often; overfamiliar through overuse
    pg 4
  25. koan
    a paradoxical anecdote or a riddle that has no solution
    pg 5
  26. impetuous
    characterized by undue haste and lack of thought
    pg 7
  27. curt
    brief and to the point
    pg 8
  28. denominate
    assign a name or title to
    pg 9
  29. sang-froid
    great coolness and composure under strain
    pg 14
  30. paladin
    someone who fights for a cause
    pg 14
  31. importune
    beg persistently and urgently
    pg 14
  32. correlative
    expressing a reciprocal or complementary relation
    pg 16
  33. minatory
    threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments
    pg 24
  34. edematous
    swollen with an excessive accumulation of fluid
    pg 24
  35. factotum
    a servant employed to do a variety of jobs
    pg 34
  36. amanuensis
    someone skilled in the transcription of speech
    pg34
  37. cuneiform
    an ancient wedge-shaped script used in Mesopotamia
    pg 34
  38. seigneur
    a man of rank in the ancient regime
    pg 36 "droit du seigneue"
  39. Potemkin
    a Russian officer and politician who was a favorite of Catherine II and in 1762 helped her to seize power; when she visited the Crimea in 1787 he gave the order for sham villages to be built (1739-1791)
    pg 37
  40. intransigence
    stubborn refusal to compromise or change
    pg 38
  41. cannonade
    intense and continuous artillery fire
    pg 38
  42. Savonarola
    Italian religious and political reformer
    pg 38
  43. impiety
    unrighteousness by virtue of lacking respect for a god
    pg 38
  44. exigent
    demanding immediate attention
    pg 40
  45. punctilious
    marked by precise accordance with details
    pg 43
  46. variegated
    having an assortment of colors
    pg 45
  47. atavistic
    characteristic of a throwback
    pg 45
  48. corpus
    a collection of writings
    pg 45 "atavistic habeas corpus"
  49. corporeal
    having material or physical form or substance
    pg 46
  50. palpable
    capable of being perceived
    pg 48
  51. ebullient
    joyously unrestrained
    pg 48
  52. blancmange
    a sweet milk pudding thickened with gelatin or cornstarch
    pg 48
  53. perfervid
    characterized by intense emotion
    pg 37
  54. orison
    reverent petition to a deity
    pg 37
Created on Wed Feb 10 21:43:49 EST 2010 (updated Wed Feb 10 23:10:03 EST 2010)

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