Words encountered that demanded of me a dictionary.
(adjective)
(noun)
word’s encounter: in quite an interesting article on Soeharto’s legacy by Paul Keating, who lexically enriched Australia on a previous occasion with his describing Mahathir as recalcitrant many years ago.
word’s use: do you think fewer people would be aware of the undesirability of Peter Craven’s surname if it were Recreant instead?
(noun)
excrement; dung.
word’s encounter: a Matt Price article from The Australian (interesting aside: typing ordure and price into Google brings up the aforementioned article as the first result, which is something I think the dearly-departed Matt Price would have found great humour in).
word’s use: ordure would perform a euphemistic role as a stand in for shit so well, that before reading Matt Price’s article, its utterance would have left me none the wiser.
(noun)
a domineering, violent or bad-tempered woman.
archaically, a woman of masculine strength or spirit; a female warrior.
word’s encounter: introduction to French-English parallel text version of six Guy de Maupassant short stories.
word’s use: a virago met Leopold von Sacher-Masoch and Venus in Furs was born.
(noun)
the women’s apartments (harem) in a Muslim palace.
historically, a Turkish palace, esp. the Sultan’s court and government offices at Constantinople.
word’s encounter: Gibbon’s The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
word’s use: seraglio or whorehouse: which establishment would one prefer to frequent?
(noun)
a person who deceives others, esp. in order to trick them out of their money; a charlatan.
historically, a person who sold patent medicines in public places.
word’s encounter: Bryan Magee’s The Philosophy of Schopenhauer.
word’s use: any mountebank proclaiming complete mastery of the English language would most probably proffer a false meaning for the word mountebank if they were paid to provide its definition.
(noun)
swiftness of movement.
word’s encounter: Gibbon’s The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
word’s use: with celerity doth celebrity snappers stalk their prey.
(adj.)
weary with travelling.
word’s encounter: dictionary.com‘s Word of the Day.
word’s use: wayworn was the man searching for a word’s definitive meaning.
(verb trans.)
urge or request (someone) solemnly or earnestly to do something: I adjure you to tell me the truth.
word’s encounter: Henry James’s Portrait of a Lady.
word’s use: I adjure everyone to avoid the use of adjure or abjure.
(noun – esp. in Ireland, Scotland and South Africa)
an unlicensed establishment or private house selling alcoholic liquor and typically regarded as slightly disreputable.
word’s encounter: DA’s Friday cryptic crossword in The Age.
word’s use: a woman’s frequenting a shebeen may lead to bad puns.
(verb trans.)
word’s encounter: in confusion with adjure from Henry James’s Portrait of a Lady.
word’s use: I abjure one’s use of the rather ugly abjure