June 2004 Vocab

Front 1

adjective
*1 : pleasing to the ear
2 : agreeable, soothing

Back 1

dulcet

Hint 1

Latin "dulcis," Anglo-French "douz," and Middle English "doucet," all meaning "sweet."

Front 2

noun
*1 : the act or an instance of embezzling
2 : a failure to meet a promise or an expectation

Back 2

defalcation

Hint 2

from the Latin word "falx," meaning "sickle" (a tool for cutting

Front 3

noun
*1 : a loud arrogant boaster
2 a : empty boasting b : arrogant pretension : cockine

Back 3

braggadicio

Front 4

adjective
: lacking courage and resolution : marked by contemptible timidity

Back 4

pusillanimous

Hint 4

Latin roots of this derisive adjective are "pusillus," meaning "very small" (and related to "pusus," meaning "boy") and "animus," which means "spirit" and is the ancestor to many words in our language, including "animal" and "animate."

Front 5

noun
1 : a steplike arrangement
*2 a : one of a series of levels or grades in an organization or field of activity b : the individuals at such a level

Back 5

echelon

Hint 5

traces back to "scala," a Late Latin word meaning "ladder" that was the ancestor of the Old French "eschelon," meaning "rung of a ladder." the French word (which is "échelon" in Modern French) came to mean "step," "grade," or "level.

Front 6

noun
: left-hander; especially : a left-handed baseball pitcher

Back 6

southpaw

Front 7

noun
1 : nearness of blood : kinship
*2 : nearness in place or time : proximity

Back 7

propinquity

Hint 7

its cousin "proximity" are related through the Latin root "prope," which means "near." That root gave rise to "proximus" (the parent of "proximity") "Proximus" is the superlative of "prope" and thus means "nearest," whereas "propinquus" simply means "near" or "akin,"

Front 8

adjective
: beginning to come into being or to become apparent

Back 8

incipient

Hint 8

Latin verb "incipere," which means "to begin."

Front 9

adjective
: having or known by various names

Back 9

polyonymous

Hint 9

from Greek. The "poly-" part means "many," and the "-onymous" part derives from the Greek word "onoma" or "onyma," meaning "name"

Front 10

noun
1 : rigor, severity
2 a : roughness of surface : unevenness; also : a tiny projection from a surface b : roughness of sound
*3 : roughness of manner or of temper : harshness

Back 10

asperity

Hint 10

Middle English by way of the Anglo-French word "aspreté," and ultimately derives from the Latin word "asper," which means "rough." This same Latin word also underlies the English word "exasperate" (in fact, you can see "asper" nestled in the midst of that word).

Front 11

verb
*1 a : to inscribe or adorn with or as if with heraldic bearings or devices b : to inscribe (as heraldic bearings) on a surface
2 : celebrate, extol

Back 11

emblazon

Front 12

adjective
1 : wearing loose shoes
2 : shabby
*3 : careless, slovenly

Back 12

slipshod

Hint 12

The word "shod" is the past tense form of the verb "to shoe"; meant "wearing loose shoes or slippers and later it was used to describe shoes that were falling apart

Front 13

adverb
: in the past : formerly

Back 13

ertswhile

Hint 13

comes from the Old English words "ær," meaning "early" (and also the source for the word "ere") and "hwÄ«l," which had much the same meaning as the modern words "while" and "time."

Front 14

noun
: the quality or state of being gentle : meekness, tameness

Back 14

mansuetude

Hint 14

derives from the Latin verb "mansuescere," which means "to tame." "Mansuescere" itself comes from the noun "manus" (meaning "hand") and the verb "suescere" ("to accustom" or "to become accustomed"). Unlike "manus," which has many English descendants (including "manner," "emancipate," and "manicure"), "suescere" has only a few English progeny. One of them is "desuetude" (meaning "disuse"), which comes to us by way of Latin "desuescere" ("to become unaccustomed"). Another is "custom," which derives via Anglo-French from Latin "consuescere" ("to accustom").

Front 15

verb
transitive senses
1 : to entertain sumptuously : feast with delicacies
*2 : to give pleasure or amusement to
intransitive sense
: to feast oneself : feed

Back 15

regale

Hint 15

from the French "régaler," which has the same meaning as "regale." The French verb goes back to Middle French "galer," which means "to have a good time," and to Old French "gale," meaning "pleasure." ("Gala," meaning "a festive celebration," is from the same source.) also has a history as a noun meaning "a sumptuous feast."

Front 16

adjective
: cowardly, despicable

Back 16

caitiff

Hint 16

evolved from the Anglo-French adjective "caitif," meaning "wretched, despicable." The French word in turn derived from the Latin "captivus," meaning "captive"—the shift from "captive" to "wretched" perhaps prompted by the perception of captives as wretched and worthy of scorn.

Front 17

noun
*1 a : vigor and strength of spirit or temperament b : staying quality : stamina
2 : quality of temperament or disposition

Back 17

mettle

Hint 17

simply a variant spelling of the word "metal"; came to be used mainly in figurative senses referring to the quality of someone's character

Front 18

adjective
1 : resembling a rose especially in color
*2 : overly optimistic : viewed favorably

Back 18

roseate

Hint 18

from the Latin adjective "roseus," and ultimately from the noun "rosa," meaning "rose."

Front 19

adjective
1 : putting an end to or precluding a right of action, debate, or delay
*2 : expressive of urgency or command
3 : marked by arrogant self-assurance : haughty

Back 19

peremptory

Hint 19

from Latin "perimere," which means "to take entirely" and comes from "per-" ("thoroughly") and "emere" ("to take").; related to "preemptive" meaning "marked by the seizing of the initiative" (as in "a preemptive attack").

Front 20

noun
: a state or period of flourishing

Back 20

florescence

Hint 20

out of the New Latin "florescentia," meaning "blossoming." ("New Latin" refers to the form of Latin still used by scientists to name and classify organisms.) related to the verb "florēre" ("to blossom or flourish") and rooted in the Latin noun "flos," meaning "flower."

Front 21

verb
: to be extraordinarily proud : rejoice

Back 21

kwell

Hint 21

derived from Yiddish "kveln," meaning "to be delighted," which, in turn, comes from the Middle High German word "quellen," meaning "to well, gush, or swell."

Front 22

adjective
1 : exuding fragrance : aromatic
2 *a : full of a specified fragrance : scented b : evocative, suggestive

Back 22

redolent

Hint 22

Latin verb "olēre" ("to smell") and is a relative of "olfactory" ("of, relating to, or connected with the sense of smell")

Front 23

noun
1 : a strict disciplinarian
*2 : a person who stresses a rigid adherence to the details of forms and methods

Back 23

martinet

Front 24

• adjective
1 : uncontrollably noisy
*2 : stubbornly resistant to control : unruly

Back 24

obsteperous

Hint 24

Latin preposition "ob," meaning "in the way," "against," or "toward," occurs as a prefix in many Latin and English words. plus "strepere," a verb meaning "to make a noise," so someone who is; literally making noise to rebel against something, much like a protesting crowd or an unruly child.

Front 25

verb
*1 a : to grant or furnish often in a gracious or condescending manner b : to give by way of reply
2 : to grant as a privilege or special favor

Back 25

vouchsafe

Front 26

noun
*1 : a complete code of the laws of a country or system of law
2 : a treatise covering an entire subject

Back 26

pandect

Hint 26

he Latin word "pandectae" is the plural of "pandectes," which means "encyclopedic work" or "book that contains everything." derives from the Greek "pandektēs" ("all-receiving"), from "pan-" ("all") and "dechesthai" ("to receive").

Front 27

noun
: love of or enthusiasm for what is new or novel

Back 27

neophilia

Hint 27

from Greek for "new" and for "love" or "liking-for"; it's opposite is "neophobia" meaning "a dread of or aversion to novelty."