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26 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
- 3rd side (hint)
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sanctimonious
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feigning piety or righteousness
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Who is that spider-legged gorilla yonder with the sanctimonious countenance?
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gauche
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stupid; tactless
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"It sounds idyllic, but very gauche," Lady Carey remarked drily.
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diatribe
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bitter, abusive denunciation
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Silverstein found vent in a diatribe against all prize-fighters and against Joe Fleming in particular.
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malediction
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a curse
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He searched about in his mind for an ade- quate malediction for the indefinite cause, the thing upon which men turn the words of final blame.
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inoculate
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To introduce a serum, vaccine, or antigenic substance into (the body of a person or animal), especially to produce or boost immunity to a specific disease.
OR To communicate a disease to (a living organism) by transferring its causative agent into the organism. |
The one thing they have eternally tried, and are eternally trying, is to inoculate one animal outside man with the leprosy that is peculiar to man.
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perusal
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To read or examine, typically with great care.
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They are intended for the perusal of young women, at that tender age when the feelings of their nature begin to act on them most insidiously, and when their minds are least prepared by reason and experience to contend with their passions.
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machinations
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cunning schemes or plots to gain power or harm an opponent:
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In making tactical dispositions, the highest pitch you can attain is to conceal them; conceal your dispositions, and you will be safe from the prying of the subtlest spies, from the machinations of the wisest brains.
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stipend
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A fixed and regular payment, such as a salary for services rendered or an allowance.
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The fact is, they have no other attraction or reason for keeping the field than a trifle of stipend, which is not sufficient to make them willing to die for you.
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litigation
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To contest in legal proceedings.
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"I have given a judgment for the residuary legatee under the will," said the Court, "put the costs upon the contestants, decided all questions relating to fees and other charges; and, in short, the estate in litigation has been settled, with all controversies, disputes, misunderstandings, and differences of opinion thereunto appertaining.
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vagary
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An extravagant or erratic notion or action.
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Half fainting from pain and exhaustion, D'Arnot watched from beneath half-closed lids what seemed but the vagary of delirium, or some horrid nightmare from which he must soon awake.
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fulminating
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To issue a thunderous verbal attack or denunciation:
To cause to explode |
This powder, now called pyroxyle, or fulminating cotton, is prepared with great facility by simply plunging cotton for fifteen minutes in nitric acid, then washing it in water, then drying it, and it is ready for use.
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circumvent
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1. To surround (an enemy, for example); enclose or entrap.
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As we turned into the shrubbery path, I attempted to circumvent him in another way.
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cartel
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A combination of independent business organizations formed to regulate production, pricing, and marketing of goods by the members.
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``It is a formal letter of defiance,'' answered the Templar; ``but, by our Lady of Bethlehem, if it be not a foolish jest, it is the most extraordinary cartel that ever was sent across the drawbridge of a baronial castle.
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sobriquet
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An affectionate or humorous nickname.
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" "A sobriquet," observes the captain, "for which I can find no parallel in history since the days of 'Charles the Bald.
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morganatic
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Of or being a legal marriage between a person of royal or noble birth and a partner of lower rank, in which it is agreed that no titles or estates of the royal or noble partner are to be shared by the partner of inferior rank nor by any of the offspring of the marriage.
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Lola Montes, a dancer, became the morganatic wife of King Louis of Bavaria and was created Countess of Landsfeld.
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lugubrious
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Mournful, dismal, or gloomy, especially to an exaggerated or ludicrous degree.
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Presently a dog set up a long, lugubrious howl just outside -- within ten feet of them.
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trencherman
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a heavy eater
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alimentarian
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nutritionist
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One thing is certain, that in the year 615 before Jesus Christ, Necos undertook the works of an alimentary canal to the waters of the Nile across the plain of Egypt, looking towards Arabia.
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poltroons
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base cowards
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and magazine poltroons who perpetuate this absurd creation
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approbation
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An expression of warm approval; praise.
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o disobey her mother by refusing an unexceptionable offer is not enough; her affections must also be given without her mother's approbation.
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abscond
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To leave quickly and secretly and hide oneself, often to avoid arrest or prosecution.
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The trees are leaving and cashiers abscond.
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chicanery
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trickery
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After the word chicanery there was a growing noise, half of murmurs and half of hisses, while four persons started up at once--Mr.
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garrulous
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Given to excessive and often trivial or rambling talk; tiresomely talkative.
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The passengers are not garrulous, but still they are sociable.
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nebulous
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hazy or unclear
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With help on the inside, this was not difficult, for in that shadow-world of secret service identity was nebulous.
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hubris
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Overbearing pride or presumption; arrogance:
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A disturbing look at shortsighted species conservation efforts, the dire need to protect species by preserving their habitat, and human hubris as it trifles with the sacred.
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ameliorate
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to make better
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But here there was nothing to look after, nothing to undertake, and they had to submit to the situation, without having it in their power to ameliorate it
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