SENIORNET

A to Z of Interesting Words You Should be Using

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• Agastopia n. – admiration of a particular part of someone’s body

• Bibble v. – to drink often; to eat and/or drink noisily

• Cabotage n. – coastal navigation; the exclusive right of a country to control the air traffic within its borders

• Doodle sack n. – old English word for bagpipe

• Erinaceous adj. – of, pertaining to, or resembling a hedgehog

• Firman n. – in Turkey and some other Oriental countries, a decree or mandate issued by the sovereign

• Gabelle n. – a tax on salt

• Halfpace n. – a platform of a staircase where the stair turns back in exactly the reverse direction of the lower flight

• Impignorate v. – to pawn or mortgage something

• Jentacular adj. – pertaining to breakfast

• Kakorrhaphiophobia n. – fear of failure

• Lamprophony n. – loudness and clarity of enunciation

• Microsmatic adj. – having a good sense of smell

• Nudiustertian n. – the day before yesterday

• Oxter n. – outdated word meaning “armpit”

• Pauciloquent adj. – uttering few words; brief in speech

• Quire n. – two dozen sheets of paper

• Ratoon n. – small shoot growing from the root of a plant

• Salopettes n. – high-waisted skiing pants with shoulder straps

• Tittynope n. – a small quantity of something left over

• Ulotrichous adj. – having woolly or crispy hair

• Valetudinarian n. – a sickly or weak person, especially one who is constantly and morbidly concerned with his or her health

• Winklepicker n. – style of shoe or boot in the 1950s with a sharp and long pointed toe

• Xertz v. – to gulp down quickly and greedily

• Yarborough n. – hand of cards containing no card above a nine

• Zoanthropy n. – delusion of a person who believes himself changed into an animal