Perhaps you can guess a kind of meaning based on the word pitch, but it is a very specific definition that I didn't know. Pitchblende - a brown to black mineral that consists of massive uraninite, has a distinctive luster, contains radium, and is the chief ore-mineral source of uranium The sentence, from The Orchard …
new words – killy and crewelwork
I'm putting killy here because it's new to me, and in a sentence that I like, however I'm not sure this is really a word. I can't find a definition for it anywhere that makes sense. All I could find was an alternate spelling of killie, which is a kind of fish, but that doesn't …
new words – gibbet and trichinella
I through trichinella may be related to trichinosis, which is a disease I'd heard of, and I was right, that is a disease caused by the nematode of the family trichinella. Note this is only two pages after the previous post. This book is loaded with interesting words. Gibbet - a gallows. Gibbeted - to …
new words – lintel, arabesque, crowstep, corbel, crocket
If you're an architect or builder, you probably know these words. I'm not, and I didn't. It's a record number of new words in one sentence. Lintel - a horizontal architectural member spanning and usually carrying the load above an opening Arabesque - an ornament or style that employs flower, foliage, or fruit and sometimes …
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new words – palpitant and accipitral
Still in the first half of The Orchard Keeper, I continue to encounter these rare and lovely words. Palpitant I guessed the meaning, because it seemed related to palpitate, but this suffix was new to me. Palpitant - marked by trembling or throbbing. Accipitral - resembling that of a hawk. What luxury, to have such …
Jonas David 