Haut Vocab 4

Front 1

1. an official seal, as on a letter or document.
2. a distinguishing mark or feature; stamp: Courtesy is the ~ of good breeding.
3. a sign or expression of approval, esp. from a person who has a great deal of prestige.
4. superior status; prestige: The job has a certain ~.
5. Pharmacology. a hollow wafer for enclosing an ill-tasting medicine.
6. Philately. a firm name, slogan, or design stamped or printed on an envelope or folded letter.

Back 1

cachet

Front 2

1. A herald's wand or staff, especially in ancient times.
2. Greek Mythology. A winged staff with two serpents twined around it, carried by Hermes.
2. An insignia modeled on Hermes's staff and used as the symbol of the medical profession.

Back 2

caduceus

Front 3

1. a false or baseless, usually derogatory story, report, or rumor.
2. Cookery. a duck intended or used for food.
3. Aeronautics.
a. an airplane that has its horizontal stabilizer and elevators located forward of the wing.
b. Also called ~ wing. one of two small lifting wings located in front of the main wings.
c. an early airplane having a pusher engine with the rudder and elevator assembly in front of the wings.

Back 3

canard

Front 4

1. apt to notice and make much of trivial faults or defects; faultfinding; difficult to please.
2. proceeding from a faultfinding or caviling disposition: He could never praise without adding a ~ remark.
3. apt or designed to ensnare or perplex, esp. in argument: ~ questions.

Back 4

captious

Front 5

swiftness; speed.

Back 5

celerity

Front 6

1. cautious or careful; wary: He was ~ of investing in oil wells.
2. shy; timid.
3. fastidious; choosy: She is excessively ~ about her friends.
4. sparing (often fol. by of): ~ of his praise.

Back 6

chary

Front 7

1. a whirlpool in the Strait of Messina off the NE coast of Sicily. Modern, Galofalo, Garofalo.
2. Classical Mythology. a daughter of Gaea and Poseidon, a monster mentioned in Homer and later identified with the whirlpool ~.

Back 7

Charybdis

Front 8

1. Law. a movable article of personal property.
2. any article of tangible property other than land, buildings, and other things annexed to land.
3. a slave.

Back 8

chattel

Front 9

1. the distribution of light and shade in a picture.
2. Painting. the use of deep variations in and subtle gradations of light and shade, esp. to enhance the delineation of character and for general dramatic effect: Rembrandt is a master of ~.
3. a woodcut print in which the colors are produced by the use of different blocks with different colors.
4. a sketch in light and shade.

Back 9

chiaroscuro

Front 10

of or pertaining to the deities, spirits, and other beings dwelling under the earth.

Back 10

chthonic

Front 11

–noun
1. a belt or girdle.
2. something that surrounds or encompasses as a girdle does; a surrounding border: The midnight sky had a ~ of stars.
3. (on a classical column) a fillet at either end of a shaft, esp. one at the lower end. Compare orle (def. 3b).
4. the act of girding or encompassing.
–verb (used with object)
5. to gird with or as if with a cincture; encircle; encompass.

Back 11

cincture

Front 12

noting or pertaining to rhythmic biological cycles recurring at approximately 24-hour intervals.

Back 12

circadian

Front 13

1. a supplement to a will, containing an addition, explanation, modification, etc., of something in the will.
2. any supplement; appendix.

Back 13

codicil

Front 14

–adjective
1. of the same age, date, or duration; equally old: Analysis has proved that this manuscript is ~ with that one.
2. coincident: Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo were only approximately ~.
–noun
3. a contemporary: He is more serious than his ~s.

Back 14

coeval

Front 15

A person with superior, usually specialized knowledge or highly refined taste; a connoisseur.

Back 15

cognoscente

Front 16

through my fault; my fault (used as an acknowledgment of one's responsibility).

Back 16

mea culpa

Front 17

(in a criminal case) a defendant's pleading that does not admit guilt but subjects him or her to punishment as though a guilty plea had been entered, the determination of guilt remaining open in other proceedings.

Back 17

nolo contendere

Front 18

1. Logic. an inference or a conclusion that does not follow from the premises.
2. a statement containing an illogical conclusion.

Back 18

non sequitur

Front 19

passing the bounds of what is usual or considered proper; unconventional; bizarre.

Back 19

outré

Front 20

1. (italics) Latin. one thing in return for another.
2. something that is given or taken in return for something else; substitute.

Back 20

quid pro quo