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Vocabulary 2011
Vocabulary I learned from books in 2011
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Abattoir | Travels with Charley a slaughterhouse |
| Abeam | Heart of the Antarctic, The In nautical or aeronautics, at right angles to the fore-and-aft line |
| Abecedarian | How to Read a Book a beginner in any field of learning; rudimentary, elementary, or primary; of or pertaining to the alphabet |
| Abeyance | A Short History of Nearly Everything temporary inactivity, cessation, or suspension |
| Abjure | Future Grace to renounce, repudiate, or retract, especially with formal solemnity; to avoid or shun |
| Ablution | New Penguin History of the World, The a cleansing with water or other liquid, esp. as a religious ritual |
| Abrogate | When You Were A Tadpole And I Was A Fish to abolish by formal or official means |
| Acari | Elephants on Acid a genus of arachnids including a number of small mites and formerly including all mites and ticks |
| Accede | Official Rules of Baseball Illustrated, The to give consent, approval, or adherence; agree; assent |
| Acephalous | The Loom of God lacking a distinct head; without a leader or ruler |
| Acetabulum | The Loom of God the socket in the hipbone that receives the head of the thighbone; any of the suction appendages of a leech, octopus, etc |
| Acetaldehyde | Does Anything Eat Wasps? a volatile, colorless, water-soluble liquid, having a pungent, fruitlike odor, used chiefly in the silvering of mirrors and organic synthesis |
| Achene | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek any small, dry, hard, one-seeded, indehiscent fruit |
| Acrid | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek sharp or biting to the taste or smell; bitterly pungent; irritating to the eyes, nose, etc. |
| Adduce | A Short History of Nearly Everything to bring forward in argument or as evidence; to cite as pertinent or conclusive |
| Adipocere | The Loom of God a waxy substance produced by the decomposition of dead animal bodies in moist burial places or under water |
| Adjunct | Stuff White People Like something added to another thing but not essential to it; a person associated with lesser status, rank, authority, etc, as an assistant |
| Adjure | Holy Bible, English Standard Version to charge, bind, or command earnestly and solemnly, often under oath or the threat of a penalty |
| Admixture | Self-Aware Universe, The any alien element or ingredient; state of being mixed |
| Adumbration | First and Second Things a foreshadowing; a faint image or resemblance of, a sketch; |
| Aegis | Shadow Over Santa Susana protection; support; sponsorship; auspices |
| Aeon | A Short History of Nearly Everything also, eon |
| Affectation | When You Were A Tadpole And I Was A Fish an effort to appear to have a quality not really or fully possessed; the pretense of actual possession; conspicuous artificiality of manner or appearance |
| Afferent | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek bringing to or leading toward an organ or part, as a nerve or arteriole |
| Affine | Colossal Book of Mathematics, The a person related to one by marriage; assigning finite values to finite quantities; of or pertaining to a transformation that maps parallel lines to parallel lines and finite points to finite points |
| Aft | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek situated toward or at the stern or tail |
| Agalma | The Loom of God a primitive Greek statue of a god |
| Agar | Does Anything Eat Wasps? a gelatinlike product of certain seaweeds, used for solidifying certain culture media, as a thickening agent for ice cream and other foods, as a substitute for gelatin, in adhesives, as an emulsifier, etc. |
| Agate | Newberg Report, The: 2011 Bound Edition A type of very fine-grained quartz found in various colors that are arranged in bands or in cloudy patterns |
| Agog | A Certain Ambiguity highly excited by eagerness, curiosity, anticipation, etc |
| Agronomist | Seasons in Hell a person specializing in the science of soil management and the production of field crops |
| Ahu | Collapse a stone heap or platform used by the Polynesians as a marker or memorial |
| Ailanthus | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a small genus of chiefly tropical Asian trees and shrubs (family Simaroubaceae) with bitter bark, pinnate leaves, and terminal panicles of ill-scented greenish flowers, widely grown in cities |
| Ailurophobic | Does Anything Eat Wasps? a person who has an abnormal fear of cats or detests cats |
| Akimbo | Redeeming Love with hand on hip and elbow bent outward |
| Alabaster | Holy Bible, English Standard Version a finely granular variety of gypsum, often white and translucent, used for ornamental objects or work, such as lamp bases, figurines, etc |
| Alanine | Science at the Edge a nonessential aliphatic amino acid that occurs in many proteins |
| Alarum | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek archaic spelling of alarm |
| Albedo | A Short History of Nearly Everything the ratio of light reflected by a planet or satellite to that received by it; the white, inner rind of a citrus fruit |
| Alcid | Collapse of, pertaining, or belonging to the family Alcidae, comprising the auks, murres, puffins, etc |
| Alimentary | Does Anything Eat Wasps? concerned with the function of nutrition, or pertaining to food; providing sustenance or maintenance |
| Allele | Science at the Edge any of several forms of a gene, usually arising through mutation, that are responsible for heriditary variation |
| Allelopathy | Collapse suppression of growth of a plant by a toxin released from a nearby plant of the same or another species |
| Alluvium | New Penguin History of the World, The a deposit of sand, mud, etc., formed by flowing water |
| Alvinellid | A Short History of Nearly Everything a family of small, deep-sea polychaete worms endemic to hydrothermal vents in the Pacific Ocean |
| Amain | When You Were A Tadpole And I Was A Fish at full force; at full speed; suddenly |
| Amanita | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek any agaricaceous fungus of the genus Amanita, comprised chiefly of poisonous species |
| Amanuensis | Heart of the Antarctic, The a person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another; secretary |
| Amaryllis | A Short History of Nearly Everything any of several bulbous plants of the genus Hippeastrum, especially H. puniceum, which has large red or pink flowers and is popular as a houseplant |
| Ambergris | A Short History of Nearly Everything an opaque, ash-colored secretion of the sperm whale intestine, usually found floating on the ocean or cast ashore: used in perfumery |
| Amenorrhea | Collapse abnormal absence or suppression of menstruation |
| Amphicheiral | Colossal Book of Mathematics, The equivalent to its mirror image |
| Amphipod | A Short History of Nearly Everything any of numerous small, flat-bodied crustaceans of the group Amphipoda, including the beach fleas, sand hoppers, etc |
| Amphisbaena | Colossal Book of Mathematics, The in classical mythology, a serpent having a head at each end of its body and the ability to move forward or backward; any of numerous worm lizards |
| Amphora | Ella Minnow Pea a large two-handled storage jar having an oval body, used for oil, wine, etc. |
| Ampliative | Exceeding Our Grasp enlarging a conception by adding to that which is already known or received |
| Ampule | The Loom of God a sealed glass or plastic bulb containing solutions for hypodermic injection |
| Anamnesis | The Loom of God the recollection or remembrance of the past |
| Anchorite | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a person who has retired to a solitary place for a life of religious seclusion' |
| Angina | Essential Book of Useless Information, The any attack of painful spasms characterized by sensations of choking or suffocating |
| Aniconic | The Loom of God not employing or permitting images, idols, etc |
| Animalcule | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a minute or microscopic animal, nearly or quite invisible to the naked eye, as an infusorian or rotifer |
| Aniseed | Danny the Champion of the World the aromatic seed of anise, an oil of which is used in cookery and liqueurs for its licoricelike flavor |
| Annelid | A Short History of Nearly Everything any segmented worm of the phylum Annelida, including the earthworms, leeches, and various marine forms |
| Annulated | Exceeding Our Grasp formed of ringlike segments, as an annelid worm |
| Anodize | Ella Minnow Pea to coat a metal, especially magnesium or aluminum, with a protective film by chemical or electrolytic means |
| Anon | Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Other Poems, The in a short time, soon; at another time |
| Anoxia | A Short History of Nearly Everything an abnormally low amount of oxygen in the body tissues |
| Anserous | Ella Minnow Pea of or resembling a goose; silly or foolish |
| Anthracite | Heart of the Antarctic, The Also called hard coal, a hard jet-black coal that burns slowly with a nonluminous flame giving out intense heat |
| Anthroposophy | Colossal Book of Mathematics, The a philosophy which maintains that, by virtue of a prescribed method of self-discipline, cognitional experience of the spiritual world can be achieved |
| Antimony | Collapse a brittle, lustrous, white metallic element occurring in nature free or combined, used chiefly in alloys and in compounds in medicine |
| Antinomy | Mathematical Mysteries in philosophy, a contradiction between two statements, both apparently obtained by correct reasoning; an opposition between one law, rule, etc., and another |
| Apatite | A Short History of Nearly Everything a pale green to purple mineral, found in igneous rocks and metamorphosed limestones. It is used in the manufacture of phosphorus, phosphates, and fertilizers. |
| Aperture | One-Hundred Forty-Five Stories in a Small Box an opening, as a hole, slit, crack, gap, etc. |
| Apiary | Ella Minnow Pea a place in which a colony of bees are kept |
| Apocrine | Essential Book of Useless Information, The of or pertaining to certain glands whose secretions are acted upon by bacteria to produce the characteristic odor of perspiration |
| Apogee | New Penguin History of the World, The the highest or most distant point; climax, or culmination |
| Apomixis | Exceeding Our Grasp any of several types of asexual reproduction, as apogamy or parthenogenesis |
| Apophthegm | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a short cryptic remark containing some general or generally accepted truth; maxim |
| Apoptosis | A Short History of Nearly Everything a normal, genetically regulated process leading to the death of cells and triggered by the presence or absence of certain stimuli, as dna damage |
| Aposiopesis | Ella Minnow Pea a sudden breaking off in the midst of a sentence, as if from inability or unwillingness to proceed |
| Apostate | Reason for God, The a person who forsakes his religion or cause |
| Apotheosis | Ella Minnow Pea the elevation or exaltation of a person to the rank of a god; the ideal example, epitome, or quintessence |
| Apposite | My Booky Wook suitable; well-adapted; pertinent; relevant |
| Approbation | Future Grace approval or commendation |
| Aquaculture | Collapse the cultivation of aquatic animals and plants, esp. fish, shellfish, and seaweed, in natural or controlled marine or freshwater environments; underwater agriculture |
| Aquavit | One-Hundred Forty-Five Stories in a Small Box Scandinavian dry spirit, made from redistilled grain or potato alcohol, flavored with caraway seeds |
| Arabesque | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a sinuous, spiraling, undulating, or serpentine line or linear motif |
| Aragonite | The Loom of God a generally white or grey mineral, found in sedimentary rocks and as deposits from hot springs. Composition: calcium carbonate |
| Araucaria | Collapse any of several tall South American or Australian trees with large cones and edible seeds |
| Arcana | The Loom of God a secret or mystery |
| Archaea | A Short History of Nearly Everything Like bacteria but different in aspects of chemical structure such as cell walls. Often live in extreme, hot or salty environments such as hot springs or deep-sea vents, also found in animal digestive systems |
| Aretology | The Loom of God That part of moral philosophy which treats of virtue, its nature, and the means of attaining to it |
| Argali | Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World a rare and endangered wild sheep of Asia, having long, curved horns that typically form an open, outwardly extended spiral |
| Argentite | Does Anything Eat Wasps? a dark lead-gray sectile mineral, silver sulfide, occurring in crystals and as formless aggregates, an important ore of silver |
| Argosy | When You Were A Tadpole And I Was A Fish a large merchant ship, especially one with a rich cargo; an opulent supply |
| Arithmology | Mathematical Mysteries the belief that various writings, especially religious scriptures, contain secret messages that can be discovered through translating various writings into numbers |
| Armistice | A Short History of Nearly Everything a temporary suspension of hostilities by agreement of the warring parties; truce |
| Arrears | Official Rules of Baseball Illustrated, The the state of being behind or late, esp. in the fulfillment of a duty, promise, obligation, or the like |
| Arroyo | Collapse a small steep-sided watercourse or gulch with a nearly flat floor: usually dry except after heavy rains, chiefly in the southwest U.S. |
| Arteriole | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek any of the smallest branches of an artery, terminating in capillaries |
| Aspergillosis | Alex & Me an infection or disease caused by a mold of the genus Aspergillus, characterized by granulomatous lesions of the lungs, skin, etc |
| Asperity | Does Anything Eat Wasps? harshness or sharpness of tone, temper, or manner; acrimony; hardship, difficulty, or rigor; roughness of surface |
| Assarion | Holy Bible, English Standard Version a small Roman copper coin worth one tenth of a drachma, or about an hour's wages for an agricultural laborer |
| Assay | Redeeming Love to examine, analyze, or judge the quality of |
| Assiduous | Heart of the Antarctic, The constant, or unremitting; industrious, or attentive and persevering |
| Asthenosphere | A Short History of Nearly Everything the region below the lithosphere, estimated as being from fifty to several hundred miles thick, in which the rock is less rigid than that above and below but rigid enough to transmit transverse seismic waves |
| Astral | Self-Aware Universe, The pertaining to or proceeding from the stars; star-shaped |
| Astrolabe | The Loom of God Instrument for taking the altitude of stars and for the solution of problems in astronomy and navigation: used by Greek astronomers from about 200 b.c. and by Arab astronomers from the Middle Ages until superseded by the sextant |
| Atavistic | Exceeding Our Grasp reverting to or suggesting the characteristics of a remote ancestor or primitive type |
| Atony | Elephants on Acid lack of tone or energy; muscular weakness |
| Attenuated | How the Water Feels to weaken or reduce in force, intensity, effect, quantity, or value |
| Attrition | Elephants on Acid a reduction or decrease in numbers, size, or strength; friction |
| Augean | Heart of the Antarctic, The Extremely dirty or corrupt |
| Auk | Collapse any of several usually black-and-white diving birds of northern seas, having webbed feet and small wings |
| Autojector | Elephants on Acid A primitive heart-lung machine, composed of a pair of diaphragm linear pumps to supply oxygenated blood to an organism |
| Autoscopic | Self-Aware Universe, The Relating to an experience in which a person, while believing him or her self to be awake, sees his or her body and the world from a location outside his or her physical body |
| Aver | Official Rules of Baseball Illustrated, The to assert or affirm with confidence |
| Avocation | Alex & Me something a person does in addition to a principal occupation, especially for pleasure; hobby |
| Avoirdupois | Official Rules of Baseball Illustrated, The a system of weights used in many English-speaking countries. It is based on the pound |
| Avuncular | Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World of, pertaining to, or characteristsic of an uncle |
| Axiology | Science at the Edge the branch of philosophy dealing with values, as those of ethics, aesthetics, or religion |
| Azimuth | Heart of the Antarctic, The the arc of the horizon measured clockwise from the south point, in astronomy, or from the north point, in navigation, to the point where a vertical circle through a given heavenly body intersects the horizon |
| Bacteriostasis | Does Anything Eat Wasps? the prevention of the further growth of bacteria |
| Baculum | Collapse a bony support in the penis of certain mammals |
| Bairn | Travels with Charley In Scotland or North England, a child |
| Ballast | Collapse any heavy material carried temporarily or permanently in a vessel to provide desired draft, center of gravity, and stability; anything that gives mental, moral, or political stability or steadiness |
| Ballista | Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World an ancient military engine for throwing stones or other missiles |
| Banns | Collapse any public announcement of a proposed marriage, either verbal or written and made in a church or by church officials |
| Bard | The Loom of God a poet; a person who composed and recited epic or heroic poems, often while playing the harp, lyre, or the like; |
| Barkentine | Redeeming Love a sailing vessel having three or more masts, square-rigged on the foremast |
| Barmy | Shadow Over Santa Susana zestful and enthusiastic; also, frothy |
| Barque | Heart of the Antarctic, The a sailing ship of three or more masts having the foremasts rigged square and the aftermast rigged fore-and-aft |
| Barrister | The Psychopath Test informally, any lawyer; otherwise, (in England) a lawyer who is a member of one of the Inns of Court and who has the privilege of pleading in the higher courts |
| Basalt | How the Water Feels the dark, dense igneous rock of a lava flow or minor intrusion, often displaying a columnar structure |
| Bastinado | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a mode of punishment consisting of blows with a stick on the soles of the feet or on the buttocks; a stick or cudgel |
| Bathybius | The Loom of God A gelatinous substance found in mud dredged from the Atlantic and preserved in alcohol. Initially supposed to be free living protoplasm covering a large part of the ocean bed, but now known to be of chemical, not organic, origin |
| Bathyscaphe | A Short History of Nearly Everything a navigable, submersible vessel for exploring the depths of the ocean, having a separate, overhead chamber filled with gasoline for buoyancy and iron or steel weights for ballast |
| Bathysphere | A Short History of Nearly Everything a spherical diving apparatus from which to study deep-sea life, lowered into the ocean depths by a cable |
| Batten | Heart of the Antarctic, The to cover a hatch, so as to make watertight; to thrive by feeding, growing fat; to thrive, prosper, or live in luxury, especially at the expense of others |
| Bauble | Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World a showy, usually cheap ornament or trinket |
| Bdellium | Holy Bible, English Standard Version the aromatic gum resin, similar to myrrh |
| Becalmed | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek motionless through lack of wind, as of a sailing boat or ship |
| Becket | Heart of the Antarctic, The a short length of rope for securing spars, coils of rope, etc., having an eye at one end and a thick knot or a toggle at the other, which is passed through the eye |
| Bedizen | Travels with Charley to dress or adorn in a showy, gaudy, or tasteless manner |
| Bedlam | Travels with Charley a scene or state of wild uproar and confusion |
| Belemnite | A Short History of Nearly Everything a conical fossil, several inches long, consisting of the internal calcareous rod of an extinct animal allied to the cuttlefish; a thunderstone |
| Belles-lettres | How to Read a Book literature regarded as a fine art, especially as having a purely aesthetic function |
| Benighted | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek intellectually or morally ignorant |
| Berm | Newberg Report, The: 2011 Bound Edition any level strip of ground at the summit or sides, or along the base, of a slope |
| Besetting | How to Read a Book constantly assailing or obsessing, as with temptation |
| Besotted | Seasons in Hell intoxicated or stupefied with drink; to be made stupid or foolish |
| Bevel | Collapse a surface that does not form a right angle with adjacent surfaces |
| Bier | Holy Bible, English Standard Version a frame or stand on which a corpse or the coffin containing it is laid before burial |
| Bight | Heart of the Antarctic, The the middle part of a rope; a bend or curve in the shore of a sea or river; a bay or gulf |
| Bilge | How the Water Feels an enclosed area between frames at each side of the floors, where seepage collects. |
| Bilirubin | Does Anything Eat Wasps? a reddish bile pigment, converted from biliverdin in humans; |
| Biliverdin | Does Anything Eat Wasps? a dark-green bile pigment formed as a breakdown product of hemoglobin and converted in humans to bilirubin |
| Billet | Seasons in Hell lodging for a soldier, student, etc; job; position |
| Bivouac | How the Water Feels a temporary encampment with few facilities, as used by soldiers, mountaineers, etc |
| Bladderwort | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek One of about 227 species of carnivorous plants, occuring in water as terrestrial or aquatic species |
| Blancmange | Heart of the Antarctic, The a sweet pudding prepared with almond milk and gelatin and flavored with rum or kirsch |
| Blandishment | Without Conscience something, as an action or speech, that tends to flatter, coax, entice, etc |
| Blenny | A Short History of Nearly Everything any of several fishes of the family Blenniidae and related families, especially of the genus Blennius, having a long, tapering body and small pelvic fins inserted before the pectoral fins |
| Blithe | Seasons in Hell joyous, merry, or happy in disposition; carefree, heedless |
| Blither | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek to talk foolishly; blather |
| Blowzy | Travels with Charley disheveled in appearance, unkempt |
| Bluebell | When You Were A Tadpole And I Was A Fish any of numerous plants of the bellflower family, having blue, bell-shaped flowers, as a bellflower or harebell |
| Bluets | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek any of several N. Amer. plants that are low-growing and have four-petaled blue and white flowers |
| Boatswain | Heart of the Antarctic, The a warrant officer on a warship, or a petty officer on a merchant vessel, in charge of rigging, anchors, cables, etc |
| Bodkin | A Short History of Nearly Everything a small, pointed instrument for making holes in cloth, leather, etc |
| Boffin | A Short History of Nearly Everything a scientist or technical expert |
| Bogy | First and Second Things something that functions as a real or imagined barrier that must be overcome, bettered, etc; anything that haunts, frightens, annoys, or harasses |
| Boilerplate | Seasons in Hell in journalism, trite or hackneyed writing, or a syndicated and ready-to-print copy; plating of iron for making the shells of boilers, covering the hulls of ships; the detailed standard wording of a contract |
| Bole | How the Water Feels the stem or trunk of a tree |
| Bollix | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek to bungle; to do something badly |
| Bordello | Redeeming Love a brothel |
| Boreal | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek of or pertaining to the north or the north wind |
| Bosing | The Loom of God A technique for locating buried ditches and pits at sites with an underlying bedrock, placing a block of wood on the ground, hitting it with a sledge hammer and mapping out the underground features based on the sounds it makes |
| Bowdlerize | Shadow Over Santa Susana to expurgate a written work by removing or modifying passages considered vulgar or objectionable |
| Bracero | Travels with Charley a Mexican laborer admitted legally into the U.S. for a short period to perform seasonal, usually agricultural, labor |
| Brachiocephalic | The Loom of God of, relating to, or supplying the arm and head |
| Braconid | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek any of numerous wasps of the family Braconidae, the larvae of which are parasitic on aphids and on the larvae of moths, butterflies, beetles, etc |
| Bract | Essential Book of Useless Information, The a specialized leaf or leaflike part, usually situated at the base of a flower or inflorescence |
| Bream | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek any of various freshwater fishes of Europe, with a compressed, deep body and silvery scales |
| Breccia | A Short History of Nearly Everything rock composed of angular fragments of older rocks melded together |
| Brine | Does Anything Eat Wasps? water saturated or stongly impregnated with salt; the sea or ocean |
| Brocade | Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World fabric woven with an elaborate design, especially one having a raised overall pattern |
| Brome | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek any of various grasses, having small flower spikes in loose drooping clusters. Some species are used for hay |
| Bromide | Seasons in Hell a person who is platitudinous and boring; in chemistry, a salt of hydrobromic acid |
| Bryophyte | A Short History of Nearly Everything any of the Bryophyta, a phylum of nonvascular plants comprising the true mosses and liverworts |
| Bryozoan | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek small aquatic invertebrate animals, capable of forming vast mosslike or branching colonies attached to seaweed or hard surfaces. Reproduce by budding and feed on particles of plankton that they capture with tentacles |
| Buckboard | Redeeming Love a light, four-wheeled carriage in which a long elastic board or lattice frame is used in place of body and springs |
| Buckrake | Collapse a machine for collecting green crops cut for silage, which has a number of steel tines, usually rear-mounted in a tractor linkage system |
| Budgerigar | Alex & Me Budgie, for short, an Australian parakeet, having greenish plumage with black and yellow markings, bred as a pet in a variety of colors |
| Bugbear | First and Second Things a persistent problem or source of annoyance; any source, real or imaginary, of needless fright or fear; in folklore, a goblin that eats up naughty children |
| Bullock | New Penguin History of the World, The a young bull |
| Bulrush | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a grasslike marsh plant, used for making mats, etc., like a cattail |
| Bulwark | Heart of the Antarctic, The a wall enclosing the perimeter of a weather or main deck for protection on deck; a wall of earth or other material for defense; any person or thing giving support or encouragement in time of need, danger, or doubt |
| Burgher | My Brain is Open an inhabitant of a town, especially a member of the middle class |
| Cabal | Shadow Over Santa Susana a small group of secret plotters; a clique |
| Cachet | My Brain is Open an official seal; a distinguishing mark or feature; superior status or prestige |
| Cad | How the Water Feels an ill-bred man, esp. one who behaves in a dishonorable or irresponsible way toward women |
| Caesura | Ella Minnow Pea a break, pause, or interruption, especially in verse or prose |
| Caisson | A Short History of Nearly Everything structure used underwater, consisting of an airtight chamber, open on bottom, containing air under pressure to exclude water; a two-wheeled wagon, for carrying artillery ammunition; wooden chest containing b |
| Callow | Travels with Charley immature or inexperienced |
| Calx | A Short History of Nearly Everything the oxide or ashy substance that remains after metals, minerals, etc. have been thoroughly roasted or burned; lime |
| Cangue | Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World formerly in China, a large wooden collar worn by petty criminals as a punishment |
| Cannonade | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a continued discharge of cannon, especially during an attack |
| Cannula | Exceeding Our Grasp a metal tube for insertion into the body to draw off fluid or to introduce medication |
| Canny | My Brain is Open careful, cautious, prudent; astute, shrewd, knowing; frugal, thrify |
| Cant | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek to talk hypocritically; to speak in the whining or singsong tone of a beggar; insincere; jargon specific to a particular class, party, or profession; whining or singsong speech |
| Cantilever | Essential Book of Useless Information, The any rigid structural member projecting from a vertical support |
| Canton | Future Grace a small territorial district; to divide into parts or portions |
| Canty | Travels with Charley cheerful or lively |
| Capitulate | Newberg Report, The: 2011 Bound Edition to surrender unconditionally or on stipulated terms; to give up resistance |
| Capsicum | Does Anything Eat Wasps? any plant of the genus Capsicum, of the nightshade family, as C. annuum, the common pepper of the garden, occurring in many varieties |
| Carbide | Heart of the Antarctic, The a compound of carbon with a more electropositive element or group |
| Cardamom | Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World the aromatic seed capsules of a tropical Asian plant of the ginger family, used as a spice or condiment and in medicine |
| Cardioid | The Loom of God a somewhat heart-shaped curve, being the path of a point on a circle that rolls externally, without slipping, on another equal circle. equation: r = a (1−cosA) |
| Carob | Stuff White People Like a Mediterranean tree of the legume family, bearing long, leathery pods containing hard seeds and sweet, edible pulp |
| Caruncle | Essential Book of Useless Information, The a fleshy excrescence, as on the head of a bird |
| Cassia | Holy Bible, English Standard Version Chinese cinnamon, a variety of cinnamon derived from the cassia-bark tree, a member of the legume family |
| Cassowary | Collapse any of several large flightless, ratite birds of the genus Casuarius, of Australia, New Guinea, and adjacent islands, characterized by a bony casque on the front of the head |
| Castellated | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek built like a castle; having many castles |
| Catachthonian | The Loom of God subterranean or underground |
| Catalpa | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek any of several trees of the central or southern US, having opposite, sometimes, whorled leaves, clusters of white flowers, and long, beanlike seed pods |
| Catastrophism | A Short History of Nearly Everything the doctrine that certain vast geological changes in the earth's history were caused by catastrophes rather than gradual evolutionary processes |
| Catawba | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek In horticulture, a reddish variety of grape, and the vine bearing these grapes; a light, dry, white wine made from this grape |
| Catchment | Collapse the act of catching water; something for catching water, as a reservoir or basin; the water that is caught in such a catchment |
| Catenary | Colossal Book of Mathematics, The in mathematics, the curve assumed approximately by a heavy uniform cord or chain hanging freely from two points not in the same vertical line; in electric railroads, the cable, running above the track, from whi |
| Caudal | When You Were A Tadpole And I Was A Fish of, at, or near the tail or the posterior end of the body |
| Cause célèbre | Official Rules of Baseball Illustrated, The any controversy that attracts great public attention, as a celebrated legal case or trial |
| Cayman | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek any tropical American crocodilian of the genus Caiman and related genera, similar to alligators but with a more heavily armoured belly |
| Cecum | Does Anything Eat Wasps? a cul-de-sac, especially that in which the large intestine begins |
| Celerity | My Brain is Open swiftness, speed |
| Celluloid | Elephants on Acid a tough, highly flammable substance used in the manufacture of motion-picture and x-ray film |
| Cenotaph | The Loom of God a sepulchral monument erected in memory of a deceased person whose body is buried elsewhere |
| Cenote | Collapse a deep natural well or sinkhole, esp. in Central America, formed by the collapse of surface limestone that exposes ground water underneath |
| Cerebrate | Colossal Book of Mathematics, The to use the mind; think or think about |
| Cerumen | Does Anything Eat Wasps? earwax |
| Ceruse | Essential Book of Useless Information, The a pigment composed of white lead |
| Cetology | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek the branch of zoology dealing with whales and dolphins |
| Chaise | Ella Minnow Pea a light, open carriage, usually with a hood, especially a one-horse, two-wheeled carraige for two persons |
| Chalcid | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek any of more than 22,000 species of rather small parasitic wasps |
| Chalet | Seasons in Hell any cottage, house, ski lodge built like a kind of Alpine farmhouse, low and with wide eaves |
| Chandler | Travels with Charley a person who makes or sells candles and sometimes other items of tallow or wax, as soap; a dealer or trader in supplies, provisions, etc., of a specialized type |
| Chapati | How the Water Feels a flat pancakelike bread, usually of whole-wheat flour, baked on a griddle |
| Chapparal | Collapse a dense growth of shrubs or small trees |
| Charnel | Elephants on Acid a repository for dead bodies; deathlike, sepulchral |
| Chasten | Future Grace to inflict suffering upon for purposes of moral improvement; chastise; to restrain; to make chaste |
| Chattel | Shadow Over Santa Susana a movable article of personal property |
| Cheechako | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek In Alaska and Northern Canada, a greenhorn, tenderfoot, or newcomer |
| Chemosynthesis | A Short History of Nearly Everything the synthesis of organic compounds within an organism, with chemical reactions providing the energy source |
| Cheroot | How the Water Feels a cigar with both ends cut off squarely |
| Chicory | Travels with Charley a composite plant, having bright blue flower heads and toothed oblong leaves, cultivated as a salad plant and for its root, which is used roasted and ground as a substitute for or additive to coffee |
| Chicory | Redeeming Love a composite plant, having bright-blue flower heads and toothed oblong leaves, cultivated as a salad plant |
| Chino | Travels with Charley a durable, cotton twill cloth, or the trousers made of this material |
| Chinook | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a warm, dry wind that blows at intervals down the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains |
| Chirrupy | Alex & Me chirpy and gay |
| Chitin | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a nitrogen-containing polysaccharide, related chemically to cellulose, that forms a semitransparent horny substance and is a principal constituent of the exoskeleton, or outer covering, of insects, crustaceans, and arach |
| Chivy | How the Water Feels to harass; nag; torment; chase; run after; scamper |
| Chloroquine | How the Water Feels a synthetic substance used chiefly to control malaria attacks |
| Chock | Heart of the Antarctic, The a wedge or block of wood, metal, or the like, for filling in a space, holding an object steady, etc |
| Choical | The Loom of God earthly matter |
| Chondrite | A Short History of Nearly Everything a stony meteorite containing chondrules |
| Chordate | A Short History of Nearly Everything belonging or pertaining to the phylum Chordata, comprising the true vertebrates and those animals having a notochord, as the lancelets and tunicates |
| Chronotopic | How to Read a Book of or pertaining to a specific time and place |
| Chthonian | The Loom of God of or pertaining to the deities, spirits, and other beings dwelling under the earth |
| Churlish | How the Water Feels boorish; rude |
| Chutney | How the Water Feels a sauce or relish of East Indian origin, often compounded of both sweet and sour ingredients, as fruits and herbs, with spices and other seasoning |
| Cichlid | Essential Book of Useless Information, The any of the spiny-rayed, freshwater fishes constituting the family Cichlidae |
| Cinnabar | Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World a mineral, mercuric sulfide, occurring in red crystals or masses; bright red |
| Cion | Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible also, scion; a shoot or twig, esp. one cut for grafting or planting; a descendant |
| Circumspect | Official Rules of Baseball Illustrated, The watchful and discreet; cautious; prudent |
| Citadel | New Penguin History of the World, The a fortress that commands a city and is used in the control of the inhabitants and in defense during attack or siege |
| Cladistics | A Short History of Nearly Everything A method of classification of animals and plants according to the proportion of measurable characteristics that they have in common. It is assumed that the higher the proportion of characteristics that two o |
| Cladoceran | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek any or several small, transparent crustaceans of the order Cladocera, having the body covered by a bivalve shell from which the head and antennae extend |
| Clearinghouse | Elephants on Acid an institution where mutual claims and accounts are settled, as between banks |
| Clew | When You Were A Tadpole And I Was A Fish either lower corner of a square sail or the after lower corner of a fore-and-aft sail; a ball or skein of thread, yarn, etc; the rigging for a hammock |
| Clinopyroxene | A Short History of Nearly Everything a member of the pyroxene group of minerals having a monoclinic crystal structure, such as augite, diopside, or jadeite |
| Cloaca | Elephants on Acid the common cavity into which the intestinal, urinary, and generative canals open in birds, reptiles, amphibians, and many fishes and mammals; an ancient sewer |
| Clostridium | The Loom of God any of several rod-shaped, spore-forming, anaerobic bacteria found in soil and in the intestinal tract of humans and animals |
| Cnidaria | A Short History of Nearly Everything a phylum of more or less radially symmetrical invertebrate animals that lack a true body cavity, possess tentacles studded with nematocysts, and include the hydroids, jellyfishes, sea anemones, and corals |
| Coccolith | A Short History of Nearly Everything a microscopic calcareous disk or ring making up part of the covering of certain marine plankton and forming much of the content of chalk rocks |
| Cockle | Collapse a bivalve mollusk having somewhat heart-shaped, radially ribbed valves; a wrinkle or pucker; a small, crips candy of sugar and flour, bearing a motto |
| Codon | A Short History of Nearly Everything a triplet of adjacent nucleotides in the messenger RNA chain that codes for a specific amino acid in the synthesis of a protein molecule |
| Coffer | Shadow Over Santa Susana a box or chest, especially one for valuables; in architecture, a sunken panel in a vault, ceiling, or soffit |
| Cofferdam | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a watertight enclosure placed or constructed in waterlogged soil or under water and pumped dry so that construction or repairs can proceed under normal conditions |
| Cogent | Reason for God, The convincing or believable by virtue of forcible, clear, or incisive presentation; relevant, pertinent |
| Colliculus | Self-Aware Universe, The In anatomy, a small elevation, as on the surface of the optic lobe of the brain |
| Comber | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a long, curling wave |
| Commodore | Heart of the Antarctic, The the senior captain of a line of merchant vessels; the officer in command of a convoy |
| Compossible | When You Were A Tadpole And I Was A Fish compatible; potentially consistent; able to exist or happen together |
| Compunction | Without Conscience a feeling of uneasiness or anxiety of the conscience caused by regret for doing wrong or causing pain; contrition; remorse |
| Concertina | How the Water Feels n. a musical instrument resembling an according with more buttonlike keys; v. to fold, crush together, or collapse in the manner of a concertina |
| Concomitant | Official Rules of Baseball Illustrated, The existing or occurring with something else, often in a lesser way |
| Conflation | Valley of Vision, The the process or result of fusing items into one entity; fusion; amalgamation |
| Confute | How to Read a Book to prove a person to be wrong by argument or proof |
| Congener | Does Anything Eat Wasps? a person or thing of the same kind or class as another; a secondary product formed in alcohol during fermentation that determines largely the character of the final liquor |
| Conjunctiva | Does Anything Eat Wasps? the mucous membrane that lines the exposed portion of the eyeball and inner surface of the eyelids |
| Connubial | Essential Book of Useless Information, The of marriage or wedlock; conjugal |
| Conscript | New Penguin History of the World, The to draft compulsorily for military or naval service |
| Conspecific | A Short History of Nearly Everything belonging to the same species |
| Contranym | Essential Book of Useless Information, The any word that can be its own antonym |
| Contredanse | Colossal Book of Mathematics, The a variation of the quadrille in which the dancers face each other |
| Contumacious | A Certain Ambiguity willfully and obstinately disobedient; stubbornly perverse or rebellious |
| Contumelious | A Certain Ambiguity humiliatingly insulting; displaying contempt in word or actions |
| Conventicle | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a secret or unauthorized meeting, especially for religious worship, as those held by Protestant dissenters in England in the 16th and 17th centuries |
| Convivial | Seasons in Hell fond of merry company; friendly; festive |
| Convolvulus | Heart of the Antarctic, The any plant of the morning glory family, comprising twining or prostrate plants having trumpet-shaped flowers |
| Coot | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek an aquatic swimming or diving bird with short wings and tail |
| Copepod | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek Any of various very small crustaceans of the subclass Copepoda, having an elongated body and a forked tail. Unlike most crustaceans, copepods lack a carapace over the back and do not have compound eyes. |
| Coppice | Collapse a thicket or dense growth of small trees or bushes, esp one regularly trimmed back to stumps so that a continual supply of small poles and firewood is obtained |
| Coprolite | Essential Book of Useless Information, The a stony mass consisting of fossilized fecal matter of animals |
| Coprophagous | The Paradox of God and the Science of Omniscience feeding on dung, as certain beetles |
| Copse | Travels with Charley a thicket of small trees or bushes; a small wood |
| Cordite | Does Anything Eat Wasps? a smokeless, slow-burning powder composed of 30 to 58 percent nitroglycerin, 37 to 65 percent cellulose nitrate, and 5 to 6 percent mineral jelly |
| Cordon | The Psychopath Test a line of police, sentinels, military posts, warships, etc., enclosing or guarding an area; a cord or braid worn for ornament or as a fastening |
| Cordovan | Essential Book of Useless Information, The a soft, smooth leather originally made at Córdoba of goatskin |
| Cordwainer | Essential Book of Useless Information, The shoemaker; cobbler |
| Corm | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek an enlarged, fleshy, bulblike base of a stem |
| Corncrib | Redeeming Love a ventilated structure for the storage of unhusked corn |
| Cornice | Heart of the Antarctic, The in architecture, any prominent, continuous, horizontally projecting feature surmounting a wall or other construction, or dividing it horizontally for compositional purposes; a mass of snow, ice, etc, projecting over |
| Cortege | A Short History of Nearly Everything a procession, especially a ceremonial one |
| Corvid | Alex & Me a crow, raven, rook, jackdaw, chough, magpie, or jay |
| Cosmopolitan | Collapse belonging to all the world; not limited to one part of the world; free from local, provincial, or national ideas, prejudice, or attachments |
| Cosset | My Brain is Open to treat as a pet, pamper, coddle |
| Cote | Travels with Charley a shelter, coop, or small shed for sheep, pigs, pigeons, etc |
| Coterie | Shadow Over Santa Susana a group of people who associate closely; an exclusive group or clique |
| Coulee | Travels with Charley a deep ravine or gulch, usually dry, that has been formed by running water; a small valley or low-lying area |
| Coulrophobia | Elephants on Acid an extreme fear of clowns |
| Coven | Shadow Over Santa Susana an assembly of witches |
| Covey | Collapse a small group or set |
| Cowl | Heart of the Antarctic, The a hooded garment worn by monks; a hoodlike covering for increasing the draft of a chimney or ventilator |
| Cowry | Collapse the shell of a mostly tropical mollusc, used as money in parts of African and South Asia |
| Crake | A Short History of Nearly Everything any of several short-billed rails, especially the corn crake |
| Craven | Travels with Charley cowardly; contemptibly timid |
| Craw | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek the stomach of an animal |
| Crepuscular | Ella Minnow Pea of, pertaining to, or resembling twilight |
| Crone | Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World a withered, witchlike old woman |
| Crosschecker | Newberg Report, The: 2011 Bound Edition A roving, senior scout who reviews prospects flagged by area scouts. He has a larger geographic area of responsibility |
| Cruller | Ella Minnow Pea a rich, light cake cut from a rolled dough and deep-fried, usually having a twisted oblong shape and sometimes topped with sugar or icing |
| Cudgel | Does Anything Eat Wasps? a short, thick stick used as a weapon, like a club |
| Culpable | Collapse deserving blame or censure |
| Cupidity | First and Second Things greed; eager or excessive desire, especially to possess something |
| Cur | Travels with Charley a mongrel dog, especially a worthless or unfriendly one; a mean, cowardly person |
| Curare | Elephants on Acid a blackish, resinlike substance derived from certain tropical plants, used by some South American Indians for poison arrows |
| Curia | Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World one of the political subdivisions of each of the three tribes of ancient Rome, or the building in which they met |
| Curio | A Short History of Nearly Everything any unusual article, object of art, etc., valued as a curiosity |
| Currant | A Short History of Nearly Everything a small seedless raisin |
| Cybernetics | Science at the Edge the theoretical study of communication and control processes in biological, mechanical, and electronic systems, especially the comparison of these processes in biological and artificial systems |
| Daimyo | Collapse one of the great feudal lords who were vassals of the shogun |
| Damask | Travels with Charley a reversible fabric of linen, silk, cotton, or wool, woven with patterns |
| Dandiprat | Danny the Champion of the World archaic. A child or person of childish mind or stature; a silver coin of 16th century England |
| Dandle | My Brain is Open to pet or pamper |
| Danse macabre | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek "dance of death," a symbolic dance in which Death, represented as a skeleton leads people or skeletons to their grave |
| Dap | Newberg Report, The: 2011 Bound Edition to bounce or skip, as on the surface of a body of water; to dip lightly or suddently into water; to cause to dip in and out of water |
| Daphnia | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a genus of tiny, freshwater crustaceans having a transparent body, used in biological research and as food for tropical fish |
| Darkling | Travels with Charley in the dark; growing dark; vaguely threatening or menacing |
| Daven | A Certain Ambiguity to pray (Yiddish) |
| Davit | Travels with Charley any of various cranelike devices used singly or in pairs for supporting, raising, and lowering especially boats, anchors, and cargo over a hatchway or side of a ship |
| Decant | Does Anything Eat Wasps? to pour a liquid from one container to another, especially when pouring wine gently so as not to disturb the sediment |
| Deign | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek to think fit or in accordance with one's dignity; condescend |
| Deign | Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World to think fit or in accordance with one's dignity; condescend |
| Delphinium | Travels with Charley a large genus of the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae) that comprises chiefly perennial herbs with divided leaves and flowers in showy spikes and includes several especially of the western United States that are toxic to gra |
| Demur | Heart of the Antarctic, The to make objection, especially on the grounds of scruples |
| Demure | One-Hundred Forty-Five Stories in a Small Box characterized by shyness and modesty; reserved |
| Dendrochronology | Collapse the science dealing with the study of the annual rings of trees in determining the dates and chronological order of past events |
| Denude | Collapse to make naked or bare |
| Depilation | My Brain is Open to remove the hair from |
| Deportment | Seasons in Hell demeanor; conduct |
| Depredation | Collapse the act of preying upon or plundering; robbery; ravage |
| Deracinate | Ella Minnow Pea to pull up by the roots or eradicate; to isolate a person from a native culture or environment |
| Desiccate | Collapse to dry thoroughly; preserve by removing moisture; dehydrate |
| Desman | Does Anything Eat Wasps? either of two molelike amphibious mammals, having dense fur and webbed feet |
| Détente | One-Hundred Forty-Five Stories in a Small Box a relaxing of tension, esp. between nations, as by negotiations or agreements |
| Devoir | Travels with Charley an act of civility, respect or compliment |
| Dewlap | Danny the Champion of the World a pendulous fold of skin under the throat of a bovine animal |
| Dhal | My Brain is Open a sauce made from lentils and spices, usually served with rice |
| Diacritical | Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World distinctive; serving to distinguish |
| Dialectic | How to Read a Book of, pertaining to, or of the nature of logical argumentation |
| Dianetics | The Loom of God a theory devised by L.Ron Hubbard to explain the functions of the human mind and the relief of psychosomatic illness, based on the concept of an engram |
| Diaphanous | How the Water Feels delicately hazy, very sheer and light, transparent or translucent, like a cobweb or gauze |
| Diatom | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek any of numerous microscopic, unicellular, marine or freshwater algae of the phylum Chrysophyta, having cell walls containing silica |
| Dielectric | A Short History of Nearly Everything a nonconducting substance, an insulator; a substance in which an electric field can be maintained with a minimum loss of power |
| Digitalis | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek any plant belonging to the genus Digitalis, especially the common foxglove |
| Dike | Collapse an embankment for controlling or holding back the waters of the sea or a river |
| Dilettante | The Psychopath Test a person who takes up an art, activity, or subject merely for amusement, especially in a desultory or superficial way; dabbler |
| Dint | Reason for God, The force, power, means |
| Diopter | Does Anything Eat Wasps? a unit of measure of the refractive power of a lens, having the dimension of the reciprocal of length and a unit equal to the reciprocal of one meter |
| Dioscorea | Does Anything Eat Wasps? a genus of plants including yams |
| Dioxin | Does Anything Eat Wasps? any of a number of mostly poisonous chemical by-products of the manufacture of certain herbicides and bactericides |
| Diploblastic | A Short History of Nearly Everything having two germ layers, the ectoderm and endoderm, as the embryos of sponges and coelenterates |
| Dipterocarp | Collapse any of a family of tall hardwood tropical trees chiefly of southeastern Asia that have a 2-winged fruit and are the source of valuable timber, aromatic oils, and resins |
| Discalced | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek without shoes, unshod |
| Distaff | Official Rules of Baseball Illustrated, The a woman or women collectively; women's work |
| Distal | Colossal Book of Mathematics, The situated away from the point of origin or attachment, as of a limb or bone |
| Distributism | When You Were A Tadpole And I Was A Fish the theory or practice of distributing private property (as land) to the maximum degree among individual owners |
| Diurnal | Collapse of or pertaining to a day or each day; daily; active by day |
| Doggerel | When You Were A Tadpole And I Was A Fish comic or burlesque, and usually loose or irregular in measure; rude, crude, or poor |
| Dossier | The Psychopath Test a collection or file of documents on the same subject, especially a complete file containing detailed information about a person or topic |
| Doula | Stuff White People Like a woman who assists women during labor and after childbirth |
| Dovetail | Science at the Edge to join or fit together compactly or harmoniously |
| Doyen | The Psychopath Test the senior member, as in age, rank, or experience, of a group, class, profession, etc |
| Drapetomania | The Psychopath Test a supposed mental illness described by American physician Samuel A. Cartwright in 1851 that caused black slaves to flee captivity |
| Dray | Travels with Charley a low, strong cart without fixed sides, for carrying heavy loads; a sled |
| Dross | When You Were A Tadpole And I Was A Fish waste matter taken off molten metal during smelting; refuse |
| Druid | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a member of a pre-Christian religious order among the ancient Celts of Gaul, Britain, and Ireland |
| Drupe | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek any fruit, as a peach, cherry, plum, etc., consisting of an outer skin, a usually pulpy and succulent middle layer, and a hard and woody inner shell usually enclosing a single seed |
| Dryas | A Short History of Nearly Everything any creeping plant belonging to the genus Dryas, of the rose family, having solitary white or yellow flowers, comprising the mountain avens |
| Duckboard | Does Anything Eat Wasps? a board or boards laid as a track or floor over wet or muddy ground |
| Ductile | Does Anything Eat Wasps? capable of being hammered out thin; malleable |
| Dude | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a man excessively concerned with his clothes, grooming, and manners |
| Dugong | Collapse an herbivorous, aquatic mammal, Dugong dugon, of the Red Sea and Indian Ocean, having a barrel-shaped body, flipperlike forelimbs, no hind limbs, and a triangular tail: widespread but rare |
| Dulcet | Seasons in Hell soothing; pleasant or agreeable to the eye or the feelings |
| Dun | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek to make repeated and insistent demands on, esp. for the payment of a debt; a creditor who duns someone |
| Dun | Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World to make repeated and insistent demands upon, especially for the payment of a debt |
| Dungarees | Redeeming Love work clothes, overalls, etc, of blue denim |
| Durian | How the Water Feels the edible fruit of a tree of the bombax family, of southeastern Asia, having a hard, prickly rind, a highly flavored, pulpy flesh, and an unpleasant odor |
| Durum | Collapse a variety of wheat, Triticum durum, with a high gluten content, cultivated mainly in the Mediterranean region, and used chiefly to make pastas |
| Dweomercraft | The Loom of God magical arts; jugglery |
| Dynamo | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek an electric generator, esp. for direct current; an energetic, hardworking, forceful person |
| Ebullient | A Short History of Nearly Everything overflowing with fervor, enthusiasm, or excitement |
| éclat | A Short History of Nearly Everything brilliance of success, reputation, etc; showy or elaborate display; acclaim |
| Ecru | Heart of the Antarctic, The very light brown in color, as raw silk, unbleached linen, etc |
| Ecumenical | Reason for God, The universal; pertaining to the whole Christian church |
| Efferent | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek conveying or conducting away from an organ or part |
| Effete | Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World lacking in wholesome vigor; degenerate or decadent |
| Effluent | Collapse flowing out or forth; something that flows out; outflow; sewage that has been treated in a septic tank or sewage treatment plant |
| Effrontery | Without Conscience shameless or impudent boldness; barefaced audacity |
| Effusive | Newberg Report, The: 2011 Bound Edition unduly demonstrative or lacking reserve; overflowing |
| Eftsoons | Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Other Poems, The archaic word for soon after; anew, once again |
| Egalitarian | Collapse asserting, resulting from, or characterized by belief in the equality of all people |
| Egress | Heart of the Antarctic, The the act or an instance of going, especially from an enclosed place |
| Egress | The Paradox of God and the Science of Omniscience the act or instance of going from an enclosed place; an exit |
| Eidetic | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek marked by or involving extraordinarily accurate and vivid recall especially of visual images |
| Eisegesis | The Loom of God an interpretation, especially of Scripture, that expresses the interpreter's own ideas, bias, or the like, rather than the meaning of the text |
| Ejecta | A Short History of Nearly Everything matter ejected, as from a volcano in eruption |
| Ekpyrotic | A Short History of Nearly Everything relating to a cosmological model of the origin and shape of the universe hypothesizing that the collision of two higher-dimensional branes begat the universe we currently reside in |
| élan | Seasons in Hell enthusiasm, or impetuous ardor |
| élan vital | A Short History of Nearly Everything the creative force within an organism that is responsible for growth, change, and necessary or desirable adaptations |
| Electrolysis | A Short History of Nearly Everything the passage of an electric current through an electrolyte with subsequent migration of positively and negatively charged ions to the negative and positive electrodes; the destruction of hair roots, tumors, e |
| Elision | Alex & Me the omission of a vowel, consonant, or syllable in pronunciation |
| Elodea | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek submerged freshwater perennials |
| Elver | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a young eel, especially one that is migrating up a stream from the ocean |
| Emery | Official Rules of Baseball Illustrated, The a granular mineral substance consisting typically of corundum mixed with magnetite |
| Emesis | Elephants on Acid the act or process of vomiting |
| Emir | Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World a chieftan, prince, commander, or head of state in some Islamic countries |
| Emolument | How to Read a Book profit, salary, or fees from office or employment |
| Empyrean | My Brain is Open the highest heaven, containing pure fire; the visible heavens |
| Enatiodromia | The Loom of God The tendency of things to change into their opposites, esp. as a supposed governing principle of natural cycles and of psychological development |
| Endemic | Collapse natural to or characteristic of a specific people or place; indigenous |
| Endocast | A Short History of Nearly Everything a cast of the inside of the cranium, as of a fossil skull, used to determine brain size and shape |
| Endogamous | Collapse relating to marriage within a specific tribe or similar social unit |
| Endogenous | Science at the Edge proceeding from within; derived internally |
| Engram | The Psychopath Test a presumed encoding in neural tissue that provides a physical basis for the persistence of memory; a memory trace |
| Enneagon | Colossal Book of Mathematics, The also, nonagon: a polygon having nine angles and nine sides |
| Enow | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek archaic form of enough |
| Entablature | The Loom of God the entire construction of a classical temple or the like between the columns and the eaves, usually composed of an architrave, a frieze, and a cornice |
| Enthymeme | Exceeding Our Grasp an incomplete syllogism, in which one or more premises are unexpressed as their truth is considered to be self-evident |
| Ephah | Sweet and Bitter Providence, A a Hebrew unit of dry measure, equal to about a bushel |
| Epibenthic | A Short History of Nearly Everything living on the surface of the ocean bottom |
| Epiclesis | The Loom of God the invocation of the Holy Spirit to consecrate the bread and wine of the Eucharist |
| Epicurean | Seasons in Hell fond of or adapted to luxury or indulgence in sensual pleasures |
| Epicycle | Does Anything Eat Wasps? a small circle the center of which moves around in the circumference of a larger circle |
| Epiphyte | Does Anything Eat Wasps? a plant that grows above the ground, supported nonparasitically by another plant or object, and deriving its nutrients and water from rain, the air, dust, etc.; air plant |
| Epistemology | Science at the Edge a branch of philosophy that investigates the origin, nature, methods, and limits of human knowledge |
| Epistolary | Ella Minnow Pea of, pertaining to, or consisting in letters |
| Equable | A Short History of Nearly Everything free from many changes or variations, uniform; uniform in operation or effect, as laws |
| Equanimity | A Certain Ambiguity mental or emotional stability or composure, especially under tension or strain |
| Erg | A Short History of Nearly Everything the centimeter-gram-second unit of work or energy, equal to the work done by a force of one dyne when its point of application moves through a distance of one centimeter in the direction of the force; 10− 7 |
| Ergodic | My Brain is Open of or pertaining to the condition that, in an interval of sufficient duration, a system will return to states that are closely similar to previous ones: the assumption of such a condition underlies statistical methods used in m |
| Ermine | When You Were A Tadpole And I Was A Fish an Old world weasel, Mustela erminea, having in its winter color phase a white coat with black at the tip of the tail; the rank, position, or status of a king, peer, or judge, especially one in certain |
| Erstwhile | Seasons in Hell of times past; former |
| Ester | Does Anything Eat Wasps? a compound produced by the reaction between an acid and an alcohol with the elimination of a molecule of water, as ethyl acetate |
| Estivate | The Loom of God to spend the summer, as at a specific place or in a certain activity; in zoology, to spend a hot, dry season in an inactive, dormant state |
| Estufagem | Does Anything Eat Wasps? the distinctive method of making Madeira, in which wine is placed in a heated tank for at least three months |
| Ethos | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek In sociology, the fundamental character or spirit of a culture; the moral element in dramatic literature that determines a character's action rather than his or her thought or emotion |
| Etiolate | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek to cause (a plant) to whiten or grow pale by excluding light; drain of color or vigor |
| Eudemonic | The Loom of God pertaining to or conducive of happiness |
| Eukaryote | A Short History of Nearly Everything any organism having as its fundamental structural unit a cell type that contains specialized organelles in the cytoplasm, a membrane-bound nucleus enclosing genetic material organized into chromosomes, and a |
| Euonymus | A Short History of Nearly Everything any of several shrubs or small trees of the genus Euonymus, of northern temperate regions, having opposite leaves, branching clusters of small, greenish or purplish flowers, and crimson or rose-colored caps |
| Eustasy | Does Anything Eat Wasps? any uniformly global change of sea level that may reflect a change in the quantity of water in the ocean, or a change in the shape and capacity of the ocean basins |
| Eutrophication | Collapse (of a lake) characterized by an abundant accumulation of nutrients that support a dense growth of algae and other organisms, the decay of which depletes the shallow waters of oxygen in summer |
| Evaginate | The Loom of God to turn inside out, or cause to protrude by eversion, as a tubular organ |
| Evince | Heart of the Antarctic, The to show clearly; make evident or manifest; prove |
| Exanimate | Ella Minnow Pea inanimate or lifeless; spiritless or disheartened |
| Execrable | Official Rules of Baseball Illustrated, The utterly detestable; abominable; abhorrent |
| Exemplar | Alex & Me a model or pattern to be copied or imitated; a typical example or instance; an original or archetype |
| Exigency | Heart of the Antarctic, The an urgent demand, pressing requirement, or an emergency |
| Exogenous | Science at the Edge originating from outside; derived externally |
| Expatiate | Heart of the Antarctic, The to enlarge in discourse or writing; be copious in description or discussion |
| Expropriation | Collapse to take possession of, especially for public use by the right of eminent domain; to dispossess a person of ownership; to take something from another's possession for one's own use |
| Extant | Ella Minnow Pea still existing, not destroyed |
| Extempore | One-Hundred Forty-Five Stories in a Small Box on the spur of the moment; ad-libbed |
| Extirpate | Collapse to remove or destroy totally; exterminate; to pull up by or as if by the roots |
| Facile | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek moving, acting, working, proceeding, etc., with ease, sometimes with superficiality; affable, agreeable, or complaisant |
| Factotum | How the Water Feels a person, as a handyman or servant, employed to do several kinds of jobs; employee or official having many different responsibilities |
| Fallow | Collapse land plowed and left unseeded for a season or more; uncultivated; inactive |
| Farinaceous | Heart of the Antarctic, The consisting or made of flour or meal, as food; containing or yielding starch |
| Faro | Redeeming Love a gambling game in which players place bets on a special board, betting on each series of two cards as they are drawn from a box containing the dealer's or banker's pack |
| Fascicle | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a small bundle or tight cluster; a section of a book or set of books being published in installments as separate pamphlets or volumes |
| Fathometer | A Short History of Nearly Everything a type of sonic sounder used for measuring the depth of water |
| Fealty | Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World fidelity to a lord |
| Fecundity | Reason for God, The fruitfulness or fertility; the capacity of abundant production |
| Fen | When You Were A Tadpole And I Was A Fish a marsh or boggy land |
| Fenester | Ella Minnow Pea archaic. A window |
| Feral | Collapse existing in a natural state, as animals or plants; not domesticated; ferocious or brutal |
| Festoon | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a string or chain of flowers, foliage, ribbon, etc., suspended in a curve between two points |
| Fetid | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek having an offensive odor; stinking |
| Fetlocks | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek the projection of the leg of a horse behind the joint between the cannon bone and great pastern bone, bearing a tuft of hair; the tuft of hair itself |
| Fettle | Ella Minnow Pea state or condition |
| Fideism | When You Were A Tadpole And I Was A Fish exclusive reliance in religious matters upon faith, with consequent rejection of appeals to science or philosophy |
| Fiduciary | Collapse in law, a person to whom property or power is entrusted for the benefit of another; of, based on, or in the nature of trust and confidence, as fiat money |
| Filigree | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek anything very delicate or fanciful |
| Finnesko | Heart of the Antarctic, The Boots made entirely from fur including the sole. Originally an Inuit item of clothing, no longer in use, much used in the heroic age of Arctic and Antarctic exploration. Packed with sennegrass, a dried grass for addi |
| Fixity | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek the state or quality of being fixed; permanence |
| Flange | Travels with Charley a projecting rim, collar, or ring on a shaft, pipe, machine housing, etc., cast or formed to give additional strength, stiffness, or supporting area, or to provide a place for the attachment of other objects; |
| Flatus | Elephants on Acid gas generated in or expelled from the digestive tract |
| Flavin | Does Anything Eat Wasps? a heterocyclic ketone that forms the nucleus of certain natural yellow pigments, such as riboflavin |
| Fleer | Travels with Charley to grin or laugh coarsely or mockingly; to mock or derive |
| Flense | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek to strip the blubber or skin from |
| Floccus | A Short History of Nearly Everything a small tuft of woolly hairs; a cloud having elements in the form of small, rounded tufts |
| Floret | The Loom of God one of the closely clustered small flowers that make up the flower head of a composite flower, as the daisy |
| Foment | Seasons in Hell to instigate or foster discord or rebellion; to apply warm water or medicated liquid |
| Fontanel | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek one of the spaces, covered by membrane, between the bones of the fetal or young skull |
| Foolscap | Lewis and Clark Across the Divide a type of inexpensive writing paper, especially legal size, line, yellow sheets, bound in tablet form |
| Foraminiferan | A Short History of Nearly Everything any chiefly marine protozoan of the sarcodinian order Foraminifera, typically having a linear, spiral, or concentric shell perforated by small holes or pores through which pseudopodia extend |
| Foremilk | Essential Book of Useless Information, The a yellowish liquid, esp. rich in immune factors, secreted by the mammary gland of female mammals a few days before and after the birth of their young; colostrum |
| Forensic | Future Grace pertaining to, connected with, or used in courts of law or public discussion and debate; adapted or suited to argumentation |
| Formant | Does Anything Eat Wasps? the range and number of partials present in a tone of a specific instrument, representing its timbre |
| Forsythia | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a shrub cultivated for its showy yellow flowers which blossom on the bare branches in early spring |
| Frangible | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek easily broken, breakable |
| Frenulum | Elephants on Acid a connecting fold of membrance serving to support or restrain a part, as the tongue |
| Freshet | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a freshwater stream flowing into the sea; a sudden rise in the level of a stream, or a flood, caused by heavy rains or the rapid melting of snow and ice |
| Friable | Travels with Charley easily crumbled or reduced to powder |
| Frieze | The Loom of God the part of a classical entablature between the architrave and the cornice, usually decorated with sculpture in low relief; a skirt, for furniture |
| Frippery | Redeeming Love finery in dress, especially when showy, gaudy or the like; ostentation |
| Frisson | Elephants on Acid a passing, almost pleasurable feeling of fright, thrill or emotion |
| Fritillary | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek any of several orange-brown nymphalid butterflies, usually marked with black lines and dots and with silvery spots on the undersides of the wings |
| Frottage | The Psychopath Test a technique in the visual arts of obtaining textural effects or images by rubbing lead, chalk, charcoal, etc., over paper laid on a granular or relieflike surface; the practice of getting sexual stimulation and satisfaction |
| Fructify | The Loom of God to bear fruit, or become fruitful |
| Furcula | The Paradox of God and the Science of Omniscience the wishbone, a forked clavicular bone of a bird |
| Fusillade | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a general discharge or outpouring of anything |
| Gaberdine | Heart of the Antarctic, The a long, loose coat or frock for men, worn in the Middle Ages, especially by Jews |
| Gable | Heart of the Antarctic, The the triangular upper part of a wall between the sloping ends of a pitched roof |
| Galvanism | Elephants on Acid electricity, especially as produced by chemical action |
| Gambit | Seasons in Hell any maneuver by which one seeks to gain an advantage; a remark made to open or redirect a conversation |
| Ganglia | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a mass of nerve tissue existing outside the central nervous system; any of certain masses of gray matter in the brain; a cyst or enlargement in connection with the sheath of a tendon; a center of intellectual or industri |
| Gaol | First and Second Things a British form of "jail" |
| Garret | A Short History of Nearly Everything an attic, usually a small, wretched one |
| Gaster | Elephants on Acid the stomach |
| Gauche | One-Hundred Forty-Five Stories in a Small Box lacking social grace; awkward, crude, tactless |
| Gematria | Mathematical Mysteries a cabbalistic system of interpretation of the Scriptures by substituting for a particular word another word whose letters give the same numerical sum |
| Gemmule | Exceeding Our Grasp one of the hypothetical living units conceived by Darwin in the theory of pangenesis as the bearers of the hereditary attributes; in zoology, an asexually produced mass of cells that is capable of developing into an animal, |
| Gendarme | Reason for God, The a French police officer or soldier |
| Genitourinary | Does Anything Eat Wasps? of or relating to both the reproductive and excretory glands |
| Genoa | Travels with Charley a large jib for cruising and racing yachts, overlapping the mainsail |
| Gentrification | Stuff White People Like the buying and renovation of houses and stores in deteriorated urban neighborhoods by upper- or middle-income families or individuals, thus improving property values but often displacing low-income families and small bus |
| Geodesic | Colossal Book of Mathematics, The pertaining to the geometry of curved surfaces, in which geodesic lines take the place of the straight lines of plane geometry |
| Geomancy | The Loom of God divination by geographic features or by figures or lines |
| Gerenuk | Does Anything Eat Wasps? a slender East African antelope with a long thin neck and backward-curving horns |
| Germinal | Exceeding Our Grasp being in the earliest stage of development; of or pertaining to a germ or germs |
| Gibbous | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek the moon when more than half full |
| Gigantology | The Loom of God an account or description of giants |
| Gimlet | Collapse a small tool for boring holes |
| Gingham | Redeeming Love yarn-dyed, plain-weave cotton fabric, usually striped or checked |
| Glomerulus | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a tuft of convoluted capillaries in the nephron of a kidney, functioning to remove certain substances from the blood before it flows into the convoluted tubule; a compact cluster of capillaries |
| Glottochronology | Collapse the branch of lexicostatistics that studies the rate of replacement of vocabulary and attempts to determine what percentage of basic vocabulary two presently distinct but related languages share, using the information thus obtained to |
| Gnathostomata | A Short History of Nearly Everything comprising all vertebrates with upper and lower jaws |
| Gnomon | The Loom of God the raised part of a sundial that casts the shadow |
| Gnostic | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek pertaining to knowledge; possesing esoteric knowledge of spiritual matters |
| Goety | The Loom of God invocation of evil spirits; witchcraft |
| Gohonzon | The Loom of God In Nichiren Buddhism, the paper scroll to which devotional chanting is directed |
| Goldenrod | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek any composite plant of the genus Solidago, most species of which bear numerous small, yellow flower heads; a strong or vivid yellow |
| Gonzo | Seasons in Hell filled with bizarre or subjective ideas and commentary; eccentric or crazy |
| Gracile | A Short History of Nearly Everything gracefully slender |
| Gramercy | Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Other Poems, The used archaically as an exclamation expressing surprise or sudden strong feeling |
| Grandiloquent | A Short History of Nearly Everything speaking or expressed in a lofty style, often to the point of being pompous or bombastic |
| Grapheme | Ella Minnow Pea a minimal unit of a writing system |
| Grenadier | A Short History of Nearly Everything a soldier who throws grenades; a specially selected foot solder in certain elite units |
| Greywacke | A Short History of Nearly Everything any dark sandstone or grit having a matrix of clay minerals |
| Grimoire | Shadow Over Santa Susana a textbook of sorcery and magic |
| Grippe | Ella Minnow Pea the flu |
| Grist | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek grain to be ground; meal produced from grinding |
| Grunion | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a small, silvery food fish, Leuresthes tenuis, of southern California, that spawns at high tide in wet sand |
| Gulag | My Brain is Open the system of forced-labor camps in the Soviet Union |
| Gunnysack | Redeeming Love a sack made of gunny or burlap |
| Guttation | Does Anything Eat Wasps? a process in which water in liquid form is given off by plants |
| Guttersnipe | Danny the Champion of the World a street urchin or person belonging to the lowest social group |
| Guyot | A Short History of Nearly Everything a flat-topped seamount, found chiefly in the Pacific |
| Gyppo | The Psychopath Test Slang, a logger who operates on a small budget and typically gleans the timberlands already cut by larger companies |
| Hackle | Travels with Charley the neck plumage of a male bird, as the domestic rooster |
| Haddock | Collapse a North Atlantic food fish of the cod family |
| Haft | When You Were A Tadpole And I Was A Fish a handle, especially of a knife, sword, or dagger |
| Hagiography | Collapse the writing and critical study of the lives of the saints |
| Hake | Collapse a marine fish, closely related to the cods, found off the New England coast |
| Halide | Does Anything Eat Wasps? a chemical compound in which one of the elements is a halogen |
| Halloo | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a shout of exultation; to call with a loud voice |
| Hame | Travels with Charley either of two curved pieces lying upon the collar in the harness of an animal, to which the traces are fastened |
| Hank | Shadow Over Santa Susana a skein, coil, knot, or loop; length of yarn or thread |
| Harangue | Seasons in Hell a scolding or a long or intense verbal attack |
| Hark | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek to listen attentively; to return to a previous subject or point |
| Harpy | The Loom of God a scolding, nagging, bad-tempered woman; a greedy, predatory person |
| Harridan | Redeeming Love a scolding, vicious woman |
| Harry | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek to harass, annoy, or prove a nuisance to by or as if by repeated attacks; to ravage, as in war |
| Harvestmen | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek daddy-longlegs |
| Hasidic | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek relating to a sect of Jewish mystics founded in Poland about 1750, characterized by religious zeal and a spirit of prayer, joy, and charity |
| Hasp | Ella Minnow Pea a clasp for a door, especially one passing over a staple and fastened by a pin or padlock |
| Haute couture | Essential Book of Useless Information, The high fashion; the most fashionable and influential dressmaking and designing |
| Hawser | Heart of the Antarctic, The a heavy rope for mooring or towing |
| Heath | Collapse a tract of open and uncultivated land; wasteland overgrown with shrubs |
| Hecatomb | The Loom of God a public sacrifice of 100 oxen to the gods; any great slaughter |
| Hegemony | New Penguin History of the World, The leadership or predominant influence exercised by one nation, ethnic or cultural group over others, as in a confederation |
| Helictite | The Loom of God Similar in origin to stalagmites or stalagtites, but changes in axis from the vertical at one or more stages during its growth |
| Henbit | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a common weed, of the mint family, having rounded leaves and small purplish flowers |
| Henotheism | The Paradox of God and the Science of Omniscience the worship of a particular god, and ascription of supreme divine attributes to this god, without disbelieving in the existence of other gods |
| Heparin | Elephants on Acid a commercial polysaccharide that when injected into the blood prevents coagulation |
| Hepatica | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a plant of the buttercup family, having heart-shaped leaves and delicate purplish, pink, or white flowers |
| Hermeneutic | The Loom of God interpretive; explanatory |
| Herpetologist | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek the branch of zoology dealing with reptiles and amphibians |
| Heterodox | A Certain Ambiguity holding unorthodox doctrines or opinions |
| Heterotic | A Short History of Nearly Everything Of or relating to a theory of cosmic strings that combines elements of two earlier models |
| Heuristic | Science at the Edge serving to indicate or point out; stimulating interest as a means of furthering investigation; encouraging a person to learn, discover, understand, or solve problems on his or her own |
| Hie | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek to hasten, or go in haste |
| Highboy | Redeeming Love a tall chest of drawers on legs |
| Hillock | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a small hill |
| Hindmilk | Essential Book of Useless Information, The The milk that the baby obtains at the end of a feeding, it is very high in fat |
| Hirsute | Shadow Over Santa Susana hairy; shaggy |
| Hoar | Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Other Poems, The hoarfrost; rime |
| Hocks | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek the joint in the hind leg of a horse, cow, etc., above the fetlock joint, corresponding anatomically to the ankle in humans |
| Homeobox | Science at the Edge a short, usually highly conserved DNA sequence in various genes and especially homeotic genes that encodes a homeodomain |
| Homeosis | A Short History of Nearly Everything the transformation of one body part into another, arising from mutation in or misexpression of specific developmentally critical genes |
| Homily | Valley of Vision, The a sermon, usually on a Biblical topic and usually of a nondoctrinal nature |
| Honeycreeper | A Short History of Nearly Everything any of several small, usually brightly colored birds, related to the tanagers and wood warblers, of tropical and semitropical America |
| Hoosh | Heart of the Antarctic, The a thick stew made from pemmican or other meat, thickener such as ground biscuits, and water |
| Hortatory | How to Read a Book urging to some course of conduct or action; exhorting |
| Huarache | Seasons in Hell a Mexican sandal having the upper woven of leather strips |
| Humectant | Does Anything Eat Wasps? a substance that absorbs or helps another substance retain moisture, as glycerol |
| Hummock | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek an elevated tract of land rising above the general level of a marshy region; a knoll or hilloc k |
| Humulone | Does Anything Eat Wasps? a bitter constituent of hops, having antibiotic properties |
| Humus | Collapse the dark organic material in soils, produced by the decomposition of vegetable or animal matter and essential to the fertility of the earth |
| Hushamagrundy | Redeeming Love a dish made up of turnips, codfish, rutabaga, and parsnips |
| Hydathode | Does Anything Eat Wasps? a specialized leaf structure through which water is exuded |
| Hylozoism | Exceeding Our Grasp the doctrine that matter is inseparable from life, which is a property of matter |
| Hyoid | Essential Book of Useless Information, The noting or pertaining to a U -shaped bone at the root of the tongue |
| Hyphy | Stuff White People Like a style of hip-hop music originating in the Bay Area of San Francisco |
| Hypnagogic | Elephants on Acid of, pertaining to, or inducing drowsiness |
| Hypostatize | The Loom of God to embody or personify; to treat or regard a concept, idea, etc. as a distinct substance or reality |
| Hyssop | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek any of several aromatic herbs belonging to the genus Hyssopus, of the mint family, especially H. officinalis, native to europe, having clusters of small blue flowers. |
| Ichneumon | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek any of numerous wasplike insects of the family Ichneumonidae, the larvae of which are parasitic on caterpillars and immature stages of other insects |
| Ideograph | The Loom of God Also ideogram, a written symbol that represents an idea or object directly rather than a particular word or speech sound, as a Chinese character |
| Ignominy | Collapse disgrace; public contempt |
| Ilk | Shadow Over Santa Susana n. family, class, or kind; adj. same |
| Immanent | Valley of Vision, The remaining within; indwelling; inherent; in theology, indwelling the universe, time, etc. |
| Imp | The Psychopath Test a little devil or demon; a mischevous child |
| Impedimenta | Heart of the Antarctic, The baggage or other things that retard one's progress, as supplies carried by an army |
| Importunate | Ella Minnow Pea urgent or persistent in solicitation, annoyingly so |
| Imprecation | Shadow Over Santa Susana a curse; malediction; or the act of imprecating |
| In situ | Collapse situated in the original, natural, or existing place or position; undisturbed |
| Inchoate | First and Second Things just begun, incipient; not organized, or lacking order |
| Incipient | Elephants on Acid beginning to exist or appear; in an initial stage |
| Incommode | First and Second Things to impede, or hinder; to inconvenience or disturb |
| Indelible | Reason for God, The unable to be eliminated, forgotten, changed or erased |
| Infibulate | Elephants on Acid to stitch together the vulva of a woman in order to prevent intercourse; to stitch the prepuce of a male |
| Infrasound | Essential Book of Useless Information, The sound with frequencies below the audible range |
| Ingress | Heart of the Antarctic, The the act of going in or entering |
| Insouciant | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek free from concern, worry, or anxiety |
| Insufflate | The Paradox of God and the Science of Omniscience to blow or breath something in; to blow into some opening or upon some part of the body |
| Insuperable | Collapse incapable of being passed over, overcome, or surmounted |
| Integument | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a natural covering, as a skin, shell, or rind; any covering, coating, enclosure, etc |
| Intermontane | Collapse located between mountains or mountain ranges |
| Internecine | Collapse of or pertaining to conflict or struggle within a group; mutually destructive; deadly |
| Interstice | How to Read a Book an intervening space; a small or narrow space or interval between things or parts |
| Intromission | Elephants on Acid the insertion or period of insertion of the penis in the vagina in copulation |
| Invective | Travels with Charley vehement or violent denunciation, censure or reproach |
| Inveterate | A Short History of Nearly Everything firmly established by long continuance, as a disease, habit, practice, feeling, etc.; chronic |
| Invidious | When You Were A Tadpole And I Was A Fish calculated to create ill will or resentment or give offense |
| Isogon | The Loom of God a polygon having all angles equal |
| Isometry | The Loom of God of, pertaining to, or having equality of measure |
| Isospectral | The Loom of God In mathematics, two linear operators are called isospectral or cospectral if they have the same spectrum. Roughly speaking, they are supposed to have the same sets of eigenvalues, when those are counted with multiplicity |
| Isostasy | A Short History of Nearly Everything the state in which pressures are equal from every side; in geology, the equilibrium of the earth's crust, a condition in which the forces tending to elevate balance those tending to depress |
| Jackfruit | How the Water Feels the fruit of a large, tropical, milky-juiced tree, which may weight as much as 70 lbs. |
| Jag | Elephants on Acid to cut or slash; form notches, teeth, or ragged points in; to move with a jerk; jog |
| Jib | Seasons in Hell to move restively sideways or backward, as an animal in a harness; to balk at doing something; procrastinate |
| Jinn | How the Water Feels any of a class of spirits, lower than the angels, capable of appearing in human and animal forms and influencing humankind for either good or evil |
| Jocose | A Short History of Nearly Everything given to or characterized by joking; jesting; humorous; playful |
| Joss | How the Water Feels a Chinese house idol or cult image |
| Jumentous | The Paradox of God and the Science of Omniscience smelling strongly like a beast of burden |
| Kaffiyeh | Stuff White People Like an Arab headdress for men |
| Karst | Collapse an area of limestone terrane characterized by sinks, ravines, and underground streams |
| Kawaii | Stuff White People Like cute, especially in the context of Japanese culture |
| Kenyte | Heart of the Antarctic, The A variety of phonolite, a rare igneous, volcanic rock of intermediate composition |
| Kerygma | The Loom of God the preaching of the gospel of Christ, especially in the manner of the early church; the content or message of such preaching |
| Ketch | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a sailing vessel rigged fore and aft on two masts, the larger, forward one being the mainmast and the after one, stepped forward of the rudderpost, being the mizzen or jigger. |
| Khan | Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World a title held by hereditary rulers or tribal chiefs |
| Killdeer | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek an American plover, having two black bands around the upper breast |
| Kimberlite | A Short History of Nearly Everything a variety of micaceous peridotite, low in silica content and high in magnesium content, in which diamonds are formed |
| Kirk | Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Other Poems, The Scottish word for church |
| Kiskadee | A Short History of Nearly Everything any of several American flycatchers of the genus Pitangus, especially P. sulphuratus (great kiskadee), ranging from the southwest U.S. to Argentina and noted for their loud calls and aggressive nature |
| Kith | When You Were A Tadpole And I Was A Fish acquaintances, friends, neighbors, or the like; kindred |
| Kithara | The Loom of God a musical instrument of ancient Greece consisting of an elaborate wooden soundbox having two arms connected by a yoke to which the upper ends of the strings are attached |
| Knave | Ella Minnow Pea an unprincipled, untrustworthy, or dishonest person |
| Knell | Redeeming Love the sound made by a bell rung slowly, especially for a death or a funeral; any mournful sound |
| Kodrantes | Holy Bible, English Standard Version a small coin worth one half of an Attic chalcus or two lepta. It is worth less than 2% of a day's wages for an agricultural laborer |
| Kohl | Redeeming Love a powder, as finely powdered antimony sulfide, used as a cosmetic to darken the eyelids, eyebrows, etc |
| Kohlrabi | Stuff White People Like a cultivated cabbage, whose stem above ground swells into an edible, bulblike formation |
| Kombu | Does Anything Eat Wasps? a brown Japanese seaweed, sun-dried before use in sushi, stocks, etc. |
| Kowtow | Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World to act in an obsequious manner, showing servile deference; to touch the forehead to the ground while kneeling, as an act of worship, reverence or apology |
| Krasis | A Certain Ambiguity the act or practice of mingling water with wine in the Eastern Orthodox Eucharist |
| Kurta | A Certain Ambiguity a long-sleeved, hip-length shirt worn by men in India |
| Labioplasty | Essential Book of Useless Information, The Plastic surgery on a lip |
| Lacewing | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek any of several insects of the family Chrysopidae, having delicate, lacelike wings and golden or copper-colored eyes, the larvae of which are predaceous on aphids and other small insects |
| Lachrymal | Does Anything Eat Wasps? of, producing, characterized by, or pertaining to tears |
| Laconic | One-Hundred Forty-Five Stories in a Small Box using few words, concise, pithy |
| Lacuna | Exceeding Our Grasp a gap or missing part, as in a manuscript, series, or logical argument |
| Lacustrine | Collapse of or pertaining to a lake |
| Lambent | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek running or moving lightly over a surface; brilliantly playful, or dealing lightly and gracefully with a subject |
| Lamina | A Short History of Nearly Everything a thin plate or layer, especially of bone or mineral |
| Lampblack | Self-Aware Universe, The a fine black pigment consisting of almost pure carbon collected as soot from the smoke of burning oil, gas, etc |
| Lamprey | Collapse an eellike marine or freshwater fish, having a circular, suctorial mouth with horny teeth for boring into the flesh of other fishes to feed on their blood |
| Lancet | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a small surgical instrument, usually sharp-pointed and two-edged, for making small incisions, opening abscesses, etc |
| Languor | Ella Minnow Pea lack of energy, vitality, spirit, or interest |
| Lanugo | Essential Book of Useless Information, The a coat of delicate, downy hairs, esp. that with which the human fetus or a newborn infant is covered |
| Lappet | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a small flap, or loosely hanging part, esp. of a garment or headdress; a wattle or other fleshy process on a bird's head |
| Lapsi | Future Grace apostates of the early Christian church, when Christians were persecuted by the Roman authorities |
| Larch | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek any coniferous tree of the genus Larix, yielding a tough durable wood |
| Larder | Travels with Charley a room or place where food is kept; pantry |
| Lares | Heart of the Antarctic, The the spirits who, if propitiated, watched over the house or community to which they belonged; the cherished possessions of a family or household |
| Larkspur | Redeeming Love any of several plants belonging to the genera Delphinium, of the buttercup family |
| Lassitude | One-Hundred Forty-Five Stories in a Small Box weariness of body or mind from strain; listlessness; languor; a condition of indolent indifference |
| Latent | Reason for God, The present but not visible, apparent, or actualized; existing as potential |
| Laudanum | Redeeming Love a tincture of opium |
| Lave | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek to flow along, against, or past; to wash or bathe |
| Lee | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek protective shelter; the side or part that is sheltered or turned away from the wind |
| Legerdemain | Official Rules of Baseball Illustrated, The sleight of hand, trickery, deception |
| Lentiscus | The Loom of God the mastic tree, a small Mediterranean tree of the cashew family that is the source of an aromatic resin used in making varnish and adhesives |
| Lepta | Holy Bible, English Standard Version A monetary unit of Greece until the introduction of the euro, worth one hundredth of a drachma (used only in calculations) |
| Levanter | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a strong easterly wind in the Mediterranean |
| Libretto | The Loom of God the text or words of an opera or similar extended musical composition, or a book containing such a text |
| Ligand | A Short History of Nearly Everything a molecule, as an antibody, hormone, or drug, that binds to a receptor |
| Limn | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek to represent in drawing or painting; to portray in words, or describe |
| Limnology | Collapse the scientific study of bodies of fresh water, as lakes and ponds, with reference to their physical, geographical, biological, and other features |
| Limpet | A Short History of Nearly Everything any of various marine gastropods with a low conical shell open beneath, often browsing on rocks at the shoreline and adhering when disturbed |
| Liniment | Official Rules of Baseball Illustrated, The a liquid or semiliquid preparation for rubbing on or applying to the skin |
| Lintel | Collapse a horizontal architectural member supporting the weight above an opening, as a window or a door |
| Lipogram | Ella Minnow Pea a written work composed of words chosen so as to avoid the use of one or more specific alphabetic characters |
| Litany | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a prolonged or tedious account |
| Lithe | Travels with Charley bending readily; pliant; limber; supple; flexible |
| Lithosphere | A Short History of Nearly Everything the solid crust and upper mantle of the earth |
| Littoral | Sweet and Bitter Providence, A of or pertaining to the shore of a lake, sea, or ocean |
| Loam | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a rich, friable soil containing a relatively equal mixture of sand and silt and a somewhat smaller proportion of clay |
| Lobscouse | Redeeming Love a stew of meat, potatoes, onions, ship biscuit, etc |
| Locum | A Short History of Nearly Everything also locum tenens, a temporary substitute, especially for a doctor or member of the clergy |
| Lorn | Official Rules of Baseball Illustrated, The forsaken, desolate |
| Lorry | How the Water Feels a long, low, horse-drawn wagon without sides; any of various conveyances running on rails, as for transporting material in a mine or factory |
| Louver | How the Water Feels any of a set of horizontal parallel slats in a door or window, sloping outwards to throw off rain and admit air |
| Loxodrome | Aha! Gotcha also called a rhumb line, it is a curve on the surface of a sphere that cuts all meridians at the same angle, it is the path taken by a vessel or aircraft that maintains a constant compass direction |
| Luciferase | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek an enzyme that catalyzes the oxidation of luciferin |
| Luciferin | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a pigment occurring in luminescent organisms, as fireflies, that emits light when undergoing oxidation |
| Lucre | Does Anything Eat Wasps? monetary reward or gain; money |
| Lugubrious | Science at the Edge mournful, dismal, or gloomy, especially in an affected, exaggerated, or unrelieved manner |
| Lunette | A Short History of Nearly Everything any of various objects or spaces of crescentlike or semicircular outline or section |
| Lupine | Travels with Charley pertaining to or resembling the wolf; savage, ravenous, or predatory |
| Lurid | Seasons in Hell gruesome; horrible; glaringly vivid or sensational; wan, pallid, or ghostly in hue; lit with an unnatural or fiery glow |
| Lustrate | The Loom of God to purify by a propitiatory offering or other ceremonial method |
| Lychee | How the Water Feels the fruit of a Chinese sapindaceous tree, which has a whitish juicy edible aril |
| Mackintosh | First and Second Things a raincoat made of rubberized cloth; such cloth |
| Macrophage | Does Anything Eat Wasps? a large white blood cell, occurring principally in connective tissue and in the bloodstream, that ingests foreign particles and infectious microorganisms by phagocytosis |
| Maderize | Does Anything Eat Wasps? of white white, to turn brown usually from improper storage |
| Madrone | Travels with Charley any of several evergreen trees belonging to the genus Arbutus, of the heath family, especially A. menziesii (Pacific madrone) of western North America, having red, flaky bark and bearing edible reddish berries |
| Magisterial | Collapse of, pertaining to, or befitting a master; authoritative; domineering |
| Magus | Colossal Book of Mathematics, The a magician, sorceror, or astrologer (singular of Magi) |
| Makatea | Collapse A raised terrace or island of coral limestone surrounding a South Pacific atoll; The limestone of which it is constructed |
| Malaprop | Shadow Over Santa Susana an instance of malapropism, an act or habit of misusing words, especially by the confusion of words that are similar in sound |
| Malefactor | Elephants on Acid a person who violates the law or does evil or harm |
| Malthusian | Collapse of or pertaining to the theories of Thomas Malthus, which state that population tends to increase faster (at a geometrical ratio) than the means of subsistence (at an arithmetical ratio) and that this will result in an inadequate suppl |
| Mammatus | A Short History of Nearly Everything a cellular pattern of pouches hanging underneath the base of a cloud |
| Mamo | A Short History of Nearly Everything black honeycreepers with yellow feathers around the tail, now extinct |
| Mandala | The Loom of God In Oriental art, a schematized representation of the cosmos, chiefly characterized by a concentric configuration of geometric shapes, each of which contains an image of a deity or an attribute of a deity |
| Mandarin | Science at the Edge elegantly refined, as in language or taste |
| Mangonel | Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World formerly, any of various military engines for throwing large stones, darts, and other missiles |
| Manumit | Reason for God, The to release from slavery or servitude |
| Marguerite | Redeeming Love any of several daisylike flowers, cultivated for its numerous white-rayed, yellow-centered flowers |
| Mattock | Does Anything Eat Wasps? an instrument for loosening the soil in digging, shaped like a pickax, but having one end broad instead of pointed. |
| Maudlin | Alex & Me tearfully or weakly emotional; foolishly sentimental |
| Maw | Travels with Charley the mouth, throat, gullet or stomach of an animal, especially a carnivorous mammal |
| Mazurka | The Paradox of God and the Science of Omniscience a lively Polish dance in moderately quick triple meter |
| Mea culpa | Alex & Me "through my fault," an acknowledgement of guilt |
| Mediocris | A Short History of Nearly Everything a cumulus cloud of medium height and often lacking a distinctive summit |
| Meed | How to Read a Book a reward or recompense |
| Megatherium | A Short History of Nearly Everything A large, extinct ground sloth of the genus Megatherium that lived from the Miocene through the Pleistocene Epochs, primarily in South America. It was as large as an elephant, had long curved claws and teeth |
| Meibomian | Does Anything Eat Wasps? relating to any of the small sebaceous glands in the eyelid, beneath the conjunctiva |
| Meiosis | A Short History of Nearly Everything part of the process of gamete formation, consisting of chromosome conjugation and two cell divisions |
| Mèlange | My Brain is Open a mixture or medley |
| Meliorate | Colossal Book of Mathematics, The also, ameliorate: to make or become better, more bearable, or more satisfactory |
| Memento Mori | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a Latin phrase, translated as "Remember you must die," as a reminder of our mortality |
| Mendicant | Future Grace living on alms; a beggar |
| Mentation | Science at the Edge mental activity |
| Mephitic | A Short History of Nearly Everything offensive to the smell; noxious or poisonous |
| Mercurial | Shadow Over Santa Susana changeable; volatile; fickle; flighty; erratic |
| Mercurochrome | How the Water Feels a solution of merbromin, used as a topical antibacterial agent |
| Mesotherapy | Does Anything Eat Wasps? a cosmetic procedure in which minute doses of medication, vitamins, etc, are injected repeatedly into the mesodermal tissue under the skin to promote fat loss |
| Metallothionein | Does Anything Eat Wasps? any of various metal-binding proteins involved in the metabolism of copper and zinc in body tissue (as of the liver) and in the binding of toxic metals (as cadmium) |
| Metanoia | Reason for God, The a profound, usually spiritual, transformation; conversion |
| Metempsychosis | The Loom of God the transmigration of the soul, especially the passage of the soul after death from a human or animal to some other human or animal body |
| Meteorism | The Loom of God also tympanites, a gaseous distension of the stomach or intestine |
| Meturgeman | The Loom of God a person in a Jewish synagogue who explained and expanded what was obscure in the Targums |
| Mezuzah | ESV Study Bible a parchment scroll inscribed with verses inserted in a small case or tube |
| Mezzanine | Colossal Book of Mathematics, The the low story between two other stories of greater height in a building, especially when the low story and the one beneath it for part of one composition |
| Miasma | Exceeding Our Grasp noxious exhalations from putrescent organic matter; a dangerous, foreboding or deathlike influence or atmosphere |
| Mica | Travels with Charley any member of a group of minerals, chiefly potassium, magnesium, iron, and lithium, that separate readily into thin, tough, often transparent and usually elastic laminae |
| Micturition | Elephants on Acid urination |
| Middens | Collapse a dunghill or refuse heap |
| Midge | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek any of numerous minute dipterous insects, somewhat resembling a mosquito; a tiny person |
| Millet | Science at the Edge a cereal grass, extensively cultivated in the East and Southern Europe for its small seed, or grain, used as food for humans and fowls, but grown in the US chiefly for fodder |
| Mimeograph | How the Water Feels a printing machine with an ink-fed drum, around which a cut waxed stencil is placed and which rotates as successive sheets of paper are fed into it; a copy made from such a machine |
| Minuet | Colossal Book of Mathematics, The a slow, stately dance in triple meter, popular in the 17th and 18th centuries |
| Misanthrope | Travels with Charley a hater of humankind |
| Miscegenation | Outliers marriage, habitation, or interbreeding between members of different races |
| Misericord | The Loom of God a medieval dagger, used for the mercy stroke to a wounded foe; a room in a monastery set apart for those monks permitted relaxation of the monastic rule |
| Missive | Shadow Over Santa Susana a written message; letter |
| Mistral | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a cold, dry, northerly wind common in southern France and neighboring regions |
| Mitre | Colossal Book of Mathematics, The the liturgical headdress of a bishop or abbot, in most western churches consisting of a tall pointed cleft cap with two bands hanging down at the back; in sewing, a diagonal join where the hems along two sides |
| Moa | A Short History of Nearly Everything any of several flightless birds of the family Dinornithidae, of New Zealand, related to the kiwis but resembling the ostrich: extinct since about the end of the 18th century |
| Moai | Collapse any of the gigantic carved stone figures found on Easter Island |
| Moil | Ella Minnow Pea to work hard, drudge; to whirl or churn ceaselessly |
| Monad | The Loom of God in biology, any single-celled organism; in philosophy, an unextended, indivisible and indestructible entity that is the basic or ultimate constituent of the universe and a microcosm of it |
| Monism | Self-Aware Universe, The In metaphysics, any of various theories holding that there is only one basic substance or principle as the ground of reality, or that reality consists of a single element; the reduction of all processes, structures, con |
| Monograph | Colossal Book of Mathematics, The a treatise on a particular subject, as a biographical study or study of the works of one artist |
| Monolatrous | New Penguin History of the World, The the exclusive worship of one god without excluding the existence of others |
| Mooring | How the Water Feels to secure (a ship, boat, dirigible, etc.) in a particular place, as by cables and anchors or by lines; a place where a ship, boat, or aircraft may be moored |
| Moraine | A Short History of Nearly Everything a ridge, mound, or irregular mass of unstratified glacial drift, chiefly boulders, gravel, sand, and clay |
| Morass | Collapse a tract of low, soft, wet ground; a marsh or bog; any confusing or troublesome situation |
| Moribund | Colossal Book of Mathematics, The in a dying state, or near death; on the verge of extinction; stagnant |
| Mortice | Heart of the Antarctic, The a slot or recess, usually rectangular, cut into a piece of wood, stone, etc, to receive a matching projection (tenon) of another piece, or a mortise lock; to join by means of a mortice and tenon |
| Mote | A Short History of Nearly Everything a small particle or speck, especially of dust |
| Mottled | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek spotted or blotched in coloring |
| Mountebank | Colossal Book of Mathematics, The a person who sells quack medicines, as from a platform in public places, attracting and influencing an audience by tricks, storytelling, etc |
| Moxibustion | Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World a method of treatment, originally in Chinese medicine, in which a moxa is burned on the skin as a counterirritant |
| Mucin | Does Anything Eat Wasps? any of a group of nitrogenous mucoproteins occurring in saliva, skin, tendon, etc, that produce a very viscous solution in water |
| Muesli | Does Anything Eat Wasps? a breakfast cereal similar to granola, usually consisting of rolled oats and dried fruit |
| Muesli | Stuff White People Like a breakfast cereal similar to granola, usually consisting of rolled oats and dried fruit |
| Mulla | Self-Aware Universe, The In Islamic countries, a title of respect for a person who is learned in, teaches, or expounds the sacred law |
| Mulligrubs | Travels with Charley ill temper or grumpiness |
| Mulse | Travels with Charley Wine boiled and mingled with honey |
| Murex | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek any marine gastropod of the genus Murex, common in tropical seas, certain species of which yield the royal purple dye valued by the ancients; purplish red; a shell used as a trumpet, as in representations of Tritons in |
| Musca volitans | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a floater; a spot before the eyes caused by opaque cell fragments in the vitreous humor and lens |
| Muslin | Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World a cotton fabric made in various degrees of fineness and often printed, woven, or embroidered in patterns, especially a cotton fabric of plain weave, used for sheets and for a variety of other purp |
| Musth | Elephants on Acid a state or condition of violent, destructive frenzy occurring with the rutting season in male elephants, accompanied by the exudation of an oily substance from glands between the eyes and mouth |
| Mycology | A Short History of Nearly Everything the branch of biology dealing with fungi |
| Myna | Aha! Insight any of several Asian birds of the starling family, certain species of which have the ability to mimic speech and are kept as pets |
| Myxomycete | A Short History of Nearly Everything an organism of the phylum Myxomycota (or, in some classifications, the class Myxomycetes), comprising the slime molds |
| Naphtha | Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World a colorless, volatile petroleum distillate, usually an intermediate product between gasoline and benzine, used as a solvent, fuel, etc. |
| Nard | Holy Bible, English Standard Version an aromatic Himalayan plant, believed to be the spikenard, Nardostachys jatamansi, the source of an ointment used by the ancients; also, the ointment itself |
| Nebulize | Alex & Me to reduce to fine spray, atomize; to become vague, indistinct, or nebulous |
| Nephron | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek the filtering and excretory unit of the kidney, consisting of the glomerulus and tubules |
| Neutronium | Does Anything Eat Wasps? a substance composed purely out of neutrons |
| Nictitate | Elephants on Acid to wink |
| Nigiri | Stuff White People Like a small oval block of cold rice topped with wasabi and a thin slice of fish, prawn, etc, and sometimes held together by a thin band of seaweed |
| Nock | Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World a notch or groove at the end of an arrow into which the bowstring fits |
| Noctilucent | The Loom of God shining at night, usually of clouds |
| Nominal | Collapse being such in name only; putative |
| Obdurate | Reason for God, The not easily moved by feelings or supplication; impervious to persuasion |
| Obeisance | Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World deference or homage; a movement of the body expressing deep respect or deferential courtesy, as before a superior; a bow, curtsy, or other similar gesture |
| Oblation | Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World the offering to God of the elements of bread and wine in the Eucharist; the act of making an offering, especially to a deity |
| Obol | A Certain Ambiguity a silver coin of ancient Greece, the sixth part of a drachma |
| Obsequious | Travels with Charley characterized by or showing servile complaisance or deference; fawning |
| Obverse | Essential Book of Useless Information, The the front or principal surface of anything; a counterpart; adj. facing the observer |
| Octonion | Science at the Edge the largest of the four normed division algebras over the real numbers, with eight dimensions |
| Oleaginous | The Paradox of God and the Science of Omniscience having the nature or qualities of oil; unctuous, fawning, or smarmy |
| Oleine | The Loom of God an oily yellow liquid occurring naturally in most fats and oils and used as a textile lubricant |
| Olivine | A Short History of Nearly Everything an olive-green mineral of the olivine group, found in igneous and metamorphic rocks. The clear-green variety (peridot) is used as a gemstone |
| Ombudsman | Collapse a person who investigates and attempts to resolve complaints and problems, as between employees and an employer or between students and a university |
| Onerous | Collapse burdensome, oppressive, or troublesome; involving obligations or resposibilities that outweigh the advantages |
| Ontogeny | Exceeding Our Grasp the development or developmental history of an individual organsim |
| Ontological | Self-Aware Universe, The relating to the branch of metaphysics that studies the nature of existence or being |
| Oolong | Stuff White People Like a brown or amber tea grown in China and Taiwan and partially fermented before being dried |
| Op | Colossal Book of Mathematics, The op art: a style of abstract art in which lines, forms, and space are organized in such a way as to provide optical illusions of an ambiguous nature, as alternately advancing and receding squares on a flat surfa |
| Ophidian | Shadow Over Santa Susana snakelike |
| Opprobrium | One-Hundred Forty-Five Stories in a Small Box the disgrace or the reproach incurred by conduct considered outrageously shameful; infamy |
| Ordure | Colossal Book of Mathematics, The dung, manure, excrement |
| Orgone | When You Were A Tadpole And I Was A Fish a vital, primal, nonmaterial element believed to permeate the universe |
| Oriflamme | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek any ensign, banner, or standard, esp. one that serves as a rallying point or symbol |
| Oropharynx | Does Anything Eat Wasps? the part of the pharynx between the soft palate and the upper edge of the epiglottis |
| Orotund | A Short History of Nearly Everything characterized by strength, fullness, richness, or clearness; pompous or bombastic |
| Orpine | The Loom of God a plant of the stonecrop family, having purplish flowers |
| Oscillograph | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a device for recording the wave-forms of changing currents, voltages, or any other quantity that can be translated into electric energy, as sound waves |
| Oscilloscope | Colossal Book of Mathematics, The a device that uses a cathode-ray tube or similar instrument to depict on a screen periodic changes in an electric quantity, as voltage or current. |
| Osculate | Colossal Book of Mathematics, The to come into close contact or union; in geomety,to touch another curve or another part of the same curve so as to have the same tangent and curvature at the point of contact; to kiss |
| Osseous | A Short History of Nearly Everything composed of, containing, or resembling bone |
| Osteopathy | When You Were A Tadpole And I Was A Fish a therapeutic system originally based upon the premise that manipulation of the muscles and bones to promote structural integrity could restore or preserve health |
| Ostracod | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek any of a widely distributed group of crustaceans resembling mussels. |
| Ovipositor | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek In certain insects and animals, an organ at the end of the abdomen, by which eggs are deposited |
| Oxalis | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a plant, having clover-like leaves which contain oxalic acid and white, pink, red, and yellow flowers |
| Oxbow | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a U -shaped piece of wood placed under and around the neck of an ox with its upper ends in the bar of the yoke; a bow-shaped bend in a river, or the land embraced by it |
| Paean | When You Were A Tadpole And I Was A Fish a song of praise, joy, or triumph |
| Pagination | When You Were A Tadpole And I Was A Fish the figures by which pages are marked to indicate their sequence |
| Paisa | A Certain Ambiguity an aluminum coin and monetary unit, the hundredth part of the rupee in India, Nepal, and Pakistan |
| Palaver | How the Water Feels profuse and idle talk; chatter |
| Palisade | Collapse a fence of pales or stakes set firmly in the ground, as for enclosure or defense; a line of cliffs |
| Pall | Future Grace anything that covers, shrouds, or overspreads, esp. with darkness or gloom; a cloth, often of velvet, for spreading over a coffin; a coffin |
| Pallid | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek pale; faint or deficient in color; wan; lacking in vitality or interest |
| Pallor | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek unusual or extreme paleness |
| Palynologist | Collapse the study of live and fossil spores, pollen grains, and similar plant structures |
| Pampero | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a cold and dry southwesterly wind that sweeps down over the pampas of Argentina from the Andes |
| Panacea | First and Second Things a remedy for all disease or ills, a cure-all |
| Panegyric | Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World a lofty oration or writing in praise of a person or thing; formal or elaborate praise; a eulogy |
| Pangenesis | Exceeding Our Grasp the theory that a reproductive cell contains gemmules or invisible germs that were derived from the individual cells from every part of the organism and that these gemmules are the bearers of hereditary attributes |
| Pangolin | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek Also known as a scaly anteater, a mammal of Africa and tropical Asia, having a covering of broad, overlapping, horny scales and feeding on ants and termites |
| Pangram | Ella Minnow Pea a sentence that includes all the letters of the alphabet |
| Pannikin | Heart of the Antarctic, The a small metal cup or pan |
| Panoply | Collapse a wide-ranging and impressive array or display; a protective covering |
| Pap | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek soft food for infants or invalids, as bread soaked in water or milk; an idea, talk, book, or the like, lacking substance or real value |
| Par excellence | How to Read a Book being an example of excellence; superior or preeminent |
| Paracrine | A Short History of Nearly Everything of, relating to, promoted by, or being a substance secreted by a cell and acting on adjacent cells |
| Paraffin | Official Rules of Baseball Illustrated, The a white or colorless, tasteless, odorless, water-insoluble solid substance used for candles, preservative coatings, waterproofing, etc |
| Parang | How the Water Feels a short stout straight-edged knife used as a tool or weapon in Malaysia and Indonesia |
| Parapet | The Loom of God a defensive wall or elevation, as of earth or stone, in a fortification; an elevation raised above the main wall or rampart of a permanent fortification |
| Parlous | Reason for God, The perilous; dangerous |
| Parochial | Future Grace of or pertaining to a parish; very limited or narrow in scope or outlook |
| Parry | The Loom of God to ward off, as in fencing; to turn aside, evade, or dodge |
| Parsec | A Short History of Nearly Everything a unit of distance equal to that required to cause a heliocentric parallax of one second of an arc, equivalent to 206,265 times the distance from the earth to the sun, or 3.26 light-years |
| Parthenogenesis | When You Were A Tadpole And I Was A Fish development of an egg without fertilization |
| Particolored | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek having different colors in different areas or patches; variegated |
| Passim | Exceeding Our Grasp here and there: used in bibliographic references to indicate that the writer has drawn upon material scattered throughout the source cited |
| Pastoral | My Booky Wook having the simplicity, charm, serenity, or other characteristics generally attributed to rural areas |
| Pathos | Collapse the quality or power in an actual life experience or in literature, music, speech, or other forms of expression, of evoking a feeling of pity or compassion; pity |
| Patina | Travels with Charley a film or incrustation, usually green, produced by oxidation on the surface of old bronze and often esteemed as being of ornamental value |
| Patrician | The Psychopath Test a person of noble rank, good background, education, refinement, or aristocracy |
| Pavane | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a stately dance dating from the 16th century |
| Pecorino | Stuff White People Like a dry, hard Italian cheese made of ewe's milk, especially Romano |
| Pectin | Does Anything Eat Wasps? a white, amorphous, colloidal carbohydrate of high molecular weight occurring in ripe fruits, especially in apples, currants, etc., and used in fruit jellies, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics for its thickening and emulsi |
| Pecuniary | A Short History of Nearly Everything of or pertaining to money |
| Pederasty | The Loom of God sexual relations between two males, especially when one of them is a minor |
| Peerage | A Short History of Nearly Everything the body of peers of a country or state; the rank or dignity of a peer |
| Pekoe | Stuff White People Like a superior kind of black tea from Sri Lanka, India, and Java, made from coarse leaves |
| Pelage | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek the hair, fur, wool, or other soft covering of a mammal |
| Pelagic | Collapse of or pertaining to the open seas or oceans |
| Pelf | Colossal Book of Mathematics, The money or wealth, especially when regarded with contempt or acquired by reprehensible means |
| Pell mell | Travels with Charley in disorderly, headlong haste; in a recklessly hurried manner |
| Pellagra | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a disease caused by a deficiency of niacin in the diet, characterized by skin changes, severe nerve dysfunction, mental symptoms, and diarrhea |
| Pellucid | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek allowing the maximum passage of light; clear in meaning, expression, or style |
| Pemmican | Heart of the Antarctic, The a small pressed cake of shredded dried meat, pounded into paste with fat and berries or dried fruits, used originally by American Indians and now chiefly for emergency rations |
| Penates | Heart of the Antarctic, The gods who watched over the home or community to which they belonged: originally, two deities of the storeroom; the cherished possessions of a family or household |
| Peneplain | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek an area reduced almost to a plain by erosion |
| Pengö | Essential Book of Useless Information, The a former silver coin and monetary unit of Hungary |
| Penury | A Short History of Nearly Everything extreme poverty and destitution |
| Peony | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek any of various plants or shrubs of the genus Paeonia, having large, showy flowers |
| Peptide | Does Anything Eat Wasps? any of various amides that are derived from two or more amino acids by combination of the amino group of one acid with the carboxyl group of another and are usually obtained by partial hydrolysis of proteins |
| Peradventure | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek chance, doubt, or uncertainty; an opinion |
| Percipient | When You Were A Tadpole And I Was A Fish perceiving; discerning; discriminating |
| Père | My Brain is Open father; senior |
| Perforce | Official Rules of Baseball Illustrated, The of necessity; necessarily; by force of circumstance |
| Perfuse | Elephants on Acid to diffuse; to overspread |
| Perichoresis | Reason for God, The in Christian theology, the mutual inter-penetration and indwelling within the threefold nature of the Trinity |
| Peridotite | A Short History of Nearly Everything a coarsely granular igneous rock composed chiefly of olivine with an admixture of various other minerals |
| Periwigged | A Short History of Nearly Everything a wig, especially a peruke, usually powdered and gathered at the back of the neck with a ribbon |
| Perquisite | How to Read a Book an incidental payment, benefit, privelege or advantage over and above regular salary |
| Perspicacity | Ella Minnow Pea keenness of mental perception and understanding |
| Perspicuous | How to Read a Book clearly expressed or presented; lucid |
| Pert | Ella Minnow Pea boldly forward in speech or manner; jaunty and stylish or chic; lively, in good health |
| Petard | When You Were A Tadpole And I Was A Fish an explosive device formerly used in warfare to blow in a door or gate, form a breach in a wall, etc. |
| Phalanx | First and Second Things any body of troops in close array; any body of troops in close array |
| Phaneron | When You Were A Tadpole And I Was A Fish all of that which is, at any time or in any sense, present to the mind. |
| Phenol | Does Anything Eat Wasps? any of a class of weakly acidic organic compounds; molecule contains one or more hydroxyl groups |
| Philamatology | Essential Book of Useless Information, The the study of kissing |
| Philology | Mathematical Mysteries the study of literary texts and of written records, the establishment of their authenticity and their original form, and the determination of their meaning |
| Phlebitis | Colossal Book of Mathematics, The inflammation of a vein |
| Phlegmatic | Elephants on Acid not easily excited to action or display of emotion; apathetic; sluggish |
| Phlogiston | A Short History of Nearly Everything a nonexistent chemical that, prior to the discovery of oxygen, was thought to be released during combustion |
| Phlox | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a plant of North America cultivated for its clusters of white, red, or purple flowers |
| Phrenic | Elephants on Acid of or relating to the diaphragm; of or relating to the mind |
| Phylactery | ESV Study Bible In Judaisim, either of two small, black, leather cubes containing a piece of parchment inscribed with verses, attached with strips to either the left arm or the forehead |
| Phyletism | The Loom of God the principle of nationalities applied in the ecclesiastical domain: in other words, the confusion between Church and nation |
| Phytate | Does Anything Eat Wasps? a salt or ester of phytic acid, occurring in plants, especially cereal grains, capable of forming insoluble complexes with calcium, zinc, iron, and other nutrients and interfering with their absorption by the body |
| Piebald | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek having patches of black and white or of other colors; parti-colored |
| Pigbel | The Loom of God an often fatal type of food poisoning |
| Pilchard | Travels with Charley a small marine fish related to the herring but smaller and rounder |
| Pileated | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek of birds, having a crest |
| Pileus | A Short History of Nearly Everything a cap; a small, thin cloud just above or attached to a growing cumulus cloud; a felt skullcap worn by the ancient Romans and Greeks; the horizontal portion of a mushroom |
| Pillory | Seasons in Hell a wooden framework erected on a post, with holes for securing the head and hands, formerly used to expose an offender to public derision |
| Pinafore | Redeeming Love a child's apron; a woman's sleeveless garment worn as an apron or a dress, usually over a blouse, sweater, or another dress |
| Pinion | Holy Bible, English Standard Version a gear with a small number of teeth, especially one engaging with a rack or larger gear; the wing or feather of a bird |
| Piscivorous | Ella Minnow Pea fish-eating |
| Pissant | Seasons in Hell a person or thing of no value or consequence |
| Pitchblende | A Short History of Nearly Everything a massive variety of uraninite, occurring in black pitchlike masses: a major ore of uranium and radium |
| Pith | Future Grace in botany, the soft, spongy central cylinder of parenchymatous tissue in the stems of dicotyledonous plants; in zoology, the soft inner part of a feather; substance or solidity; important or essential part, the essence |
| Plaintive | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek expressing sorrow or melancholy; mournful |
| Planarian | Elephants on Acid any of various mostly freshwater flatworms, having an undulating or sluglike motion, popular in laboratory studies for the ability to regenerate lost parts |
| Planchette | When You Were A Tadpole And I Was A Fish a small, heart-shaped board supported by two casters and a pencil or stylus that, when moved across a surface by the light, unguided pressure of the fingertips, is supposed to trace meaningful patterns o |
| Plasmon | Heart of the Antarctic, The The aggregate of cytoplasmic or extranuclear genetic material in an organism |
| Plasticine | Does Anything Eat Wasps? a soft colored material used, especially by children, for modelling |
| Plat | Colossal Book of Mathematics, The a plot of ground; a plait or braid; |
| Plaudit | A Short History of Nearly Everything an enthusiastic expression of approval; a round of applause |
| Plebe | Seasons in Hell at the US Military and Naval academies, a member of the freshman class |
| Plenipotentiary | Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World a person, especially a diplomatic agent, invested with full power or authority to transact business on behalf of another |
| Pleurisy | Mathematical Mysteries inflammation of the pleura, characterized by pain that is aggravated by deep breathing or coughing |
| Pleuropericardial | The Paradox of God and the Science of Omniscience relating to the pleura, a delicate serous membrane investing each lung in mammals and folded back as a lining of the corresponding side of the thorax, and the pericardium, the membranous sac enc |
| Plew | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a beaver skin of prime quality |
| Plinth | Ends of the Earth, The a slablike member beneath the base of a column or pier |
| Plonk | Elephants on Acid an inferior or cheap wine; to drop or be dropped |
| Ply | Official Rules of Baseball Illustrated, The to work with or at diligently; pursue busily or steadily |
| Poesy | Redeeming Love the work or the art of poetic composition, poetry |
| Pogrom | How the Water Feels an organized persecution or extermination of an ethnic group |
| Pointillism | The Loom of God a theory and technique developed by the neo-impressionists, based on the principle that juxtaposed dots of pure color, as blue and yellow, are optically mixed into the resulting hue, as green, by the viewer |
| Polder | Collapse a tract of low land, esp. in the Netherlands, reclaimed from the sea or other body of water and protected by dikes |
| Poleax | Redeeming Love a medieval shafted weapon with blade combining ax, hammer, and apical spike, used for fighting on foot; to strike down or kill with or as if with a poleax |
| Polemic | The Psychopath Test a controversial argument, as one against some opinion, doctrine, etc; a person who argues in opposition to another, or controversialist |
| Polity | Valley of Vision, The a particular form or system of government; a state or other organized community or body |
| Pollock | Collapse a North Atlantic food fish of the cod family |
| Polonaise | Colossal Book of Mathematics, The a slow dance of Polish origin, in triple meter, consisting chiefly of a march or promenade in couples |
| Poltroon | First and Second Things a wretched coward; craven |
| Polyclad | Science at the Edge a type of free-swimming, marine flatworm, having a broad, flat body and a many-branched gastrovascular cavity |
| Polymerase | A Short History of Nearly Everything any enzyme that catalyses the synthesis of a polymer, esp the synthesis of DNA or RNA |
| Polyol | A Short History of Nearly Everything an alcohol containing three or more hydroxyl groups; a polyhydric alcohol |
| Polyomino | Colossal Book of Mathematics, The A plane figure formed by joining a finite number of unit squares along their sides |
| Pome | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek the characteristic fruit of the apple family, as an apple, pear, or quince, in which the edible flesh arises from the greatly swollen receptacle and not from the carpels |
| Poofter | Seasons in Hell a man who is considered effiminate or homosexual |
| Portico | Holy Bible, English Standard Version a structure consisting of a roof supported by columns or piers, usually attached to a building as a porch |
| Portiere | Ella Minnow Pea a curtain hung in a doorway, either to replace the door or for decoration |
| Posterity | Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible future generations collectively; or, all the descendants of one person |
| Posthaste | A Certain Ambiguity with the greatest possible speed or promptness |
| Potash | A Short History of Nearly Everything potassium carbonate, especially from wood ashes |
| Praetorium | Holy Bible, English Standard Version a governor or general's residence or headquarters; a common hall or judgment hall |
| Pranic | Shadow Over Santa Susana pertaining to the life force or vital energy, which permeates the body, according to the ayurvedic tradition |
| Pratfall | Newberg Report, The: 2011 Bound Edition a fall in which one lands on the buttocks, often regarded as comical or humiliating; a humiliating blunder or defeat |
| Prepossessing | Travels with Charley engaging, attractive, or impressing favorably |
| Preterist | The Loom of God a person who maintains that the prophecies in the Apocalypse have already been fulfilled |
| Preternatural | Travels with Charley out of the ordinary course of nature, exceptional, or abnormal; supernatural |
| Priapic | My Booky Wook characterized by or emphasizing a phallus |
| Priapulida | A Short History of Nearly Everything any of some 15 species of predatory, marine, mud-inhabiting, unsegmented worms of uncertain classification |
| Prig | A Short History of Nearly Everything a person who displays or demands of others pointlessly precise conformity, fussiness about trivialities, or exaggerated propriety, especially in a self-righteous or irritating manner |
| Primus | Heart of the Antarctic, The a portable paraffin cooking stove, used esp. by campers; first; |
| Prion | Collapse a tiny proteinaceous particle, likened to viruses, but having no genetic component, thought to be an infectious agent in mad-cow and other diseases |
| Prioress | Alex & Me a nun holding an office in her convent corresponding to that of a prior in a male religious order |
| Privet | Travels with Charley any of various deciduous or evergreen shrubs of the genus Ligustrum, especially L. vulgare, having clusters of small white flowers and commonly grown as a hedge |
| Probity | A Certain Ambiguity integrity and uprightness |
| Proffer | Alex & Me to put before a person for acceptance, to offer |
| Profligate | Collapse utterly and shamelessly immoral or dissipated; recklessly prodigal or extravigant |
| Profligate | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek extravagant; utterly and shamelessly immoral |
| Prokaryote | A Short History of Nearly Everything any cellular organism that has no nuclear membrane, no organelles in the cytoplasm except ribosomes, and has its genetic material in the form of single continuous strands forming coils or loops, characterist |
| Prolate | Colossal Book of Mathematics, The elongated along the polar diameter, as a spheroid generated by the revolution of an ellipse about its longer axis |
| Promontory | Collapse a high point of land or rock projecting into the sea or other water beyond the line of coast; a bluff, or part of a plateau, overlooking a lowland |
| Propitious | A Short History of Nearly Everything presenting favorable conditions; auspicious; disposed to bestow favors or forgive |
| Prosopagnosia | The Psychopath Test an inability to recognize faces |
| Prospectus | How to Read a Book a document describing the major features of a proposed literary work, project, business venture, etc., in enough detail so that prospective investor, participants, or buyers may evaluate it |
| Protean | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek readily assuming different forms or characters; extremely variable; changeable in shape or form, as an amoeba |
| Proteome | A Short History of Nearly Everything the entire complement of proteins found in an organism over its entire life cycle, or in a particular cell type at a particular time under defined environmental conditions |
| Protist | A Short History of Nearly Everything any of various one-celled organisms, classified in the kingdom Protista, that are either free-living or aggregated into simple colonies and that have diverse reproductive and nutritional modes, including th |
| Protology | The Loom of God the study of origins and first things |
| Provenance | A Short History of Nearly Everything place or source of origin |
| Provincial | Stuff White People Like local; belonging or pecuilar to some particular province; having or showing the manners, viewpoints, etc., considered characteristic of unsophisticated inhabitants of a province |
| Provost | Science at the Edge a person appointed to superintend of preside |
| Pseudepigrapha | The Loom of God certain writings (other than the canonical books and the Apocrypha) professing to be Biblical in character |
| Pudendum | A Short History of Nearly Everything the external genital organs, especially those of the female; vulva |
| Puerperal | Essential Book of Useless Information, The of or pertaining to a woman in childbirth |
| Pugnacity | Seasons in Hell inclined to quarrel or fight readily |
| Pukao | Collapse Pukao are the hats or topknots formerly placed on top of some moai statues from Easter Island |
| Pullet | Ella Minnow Pea a young hen, less than one-year old |
| Purloin | Official Rules of Baseball Illustrated, The to take dishonestly; steal |
| Purulent | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek full of, containing, forming, or discharging pus; suppurating |
| Putative | Collapse commonly regarded as such; reputed; supposed |
| Quadrille | A Short History of Nearly Everything a square dance for four couples, consisting of five parts or movements, each complete in itself |
| Quaff | Elephants on Acid to drink a beverage, esp. an intoxicating one, copiously and with hearty enjoyment |
| Quiddity | Ends of the Earth, The the quality that makes a thing what it is, the essential nature of a thing; a trifling nicety of subtle distinction, as in argument |
| Quiescent | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek being at rest; inactive or motionless |
| Quillon | The Loom of God either of two transverse projecting members forming the cross guard of a sword |
| Quinoa | Collapse a grain high in nutrients traditionally grown as a staple food high in the Andes |
| Quipu | The Loom of God a device consisting of a cord with knotted strings of various colors attached, used by the ancient Peruvians for recording events, keeping accounts, etc |
| Quire | Lewis and Clark Across the Divide a set of 24 uniform sheets of paper |
| Quixotic | Reason for God, The extravagantly chivalrous or romantic; visionary, impractical, or impracticable; impulsive and often rashly unpredictable; resembling or befitting Don Quixote |
| Raceme | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek An indeterminate inflorescence in which each flower grows on its own stalk from a common stem. The lily of the valley and snapdragon have racemes |
| Radiolarian | A Short History of Nearly Everything any minute, marine protozoan of the class Radiolaria, or, in some classification schemes, the superclass Actinopoda, having an amebalike body with radiating, filamentous pseudopodia and a usually elaborate o |
| Raffia | How the Water Feels a fiber obtained from the leaves of the raffia palm, used for tying plants and other objects and for making mats, baskets, hats, and the like |
| Rambutan | How the Water Feels the bright-red oval fruit of a Malayan, sapindaceous tree, covered with soft spines, or hairs, and having a subacid taste |
| Ramify | Colossal Book of Mathematics, The to divide or spread out into branches; extend into subdivisions |
| Ranunculus | Redeeming Love a plant, having finely divided leaves and typically yellow five-petalled flowers, including buttercup |
| Rapine | Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World plunder |
| Ratoon | Does Anything Eat Wasps? a sprout or shoot from the root of a plant, especially a sugarcane, after it has been cropped |
| Rayon | How the Water Feels a fabric similar to silk; a regenerated, semisynthetic textile filament made from cellulose, cotton linters, or wood chips by treating these with caustic soda and carbon disulfide and passing the resultant solution, viscose, |
| Rebus | Aha! Insight a representation of a word or phrase by pictures, symbols, etc, |
| Recalcitrant | Collapse resisting authority or control; hard to deal with, manage, or operate |
| Recompense | When You Were A Tadpole And I Was A Fish to repay; reward, as for service or aid |
| Recondite | A Short History of Nearly Everything dealing with very profound, difficult, or abstruse subject matter; esoteric or obscure |
| Recrimination | Reason for God, The a countercharge brought against an accuser; the act or instance of bringing such a charge |
| Recuse | Reason for God, The to withdraw from a position of judging so as to avoid any semblance of partiality or bias |
| Redolence | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek having a pleasant fragrant odor; smelling of or suggestive of, reminiscent |
| Refulgence | Future Grace shining brightly or gleaming |
| Reify | Science at the Edge to convert into or regard as a concrete thing |
| Remanation | Future Grace the act of returning, as to its source; reabsorption |
| Repast | A Certain Ambiguity a quantity of food taken or provided for one occasion of eating; a meal |
| Requiem | Collapse any musical service, hymn, or dirge for the repose of the dead |
| Restive | Elephants on Acid impatient of control, restraint, or delay, as persons; restless; uneasy |
| Reticulate | Essential Book of Useless Information, The netted; covered with a network; verb. to form into a network |
| Retrenchment | Collapse a cutting down, as by the reduction of expenses |
| Reverie | Elephants on Acid a state of dreamy meditation or fanciful musing; a daydream; a fantastic, visionary, or impractical idea |
| Rhabdomyolysis | The Loom of God An acute, fulminant, potentially fatal disease that destroys skeletal muscle and is often accompanied by the excretion of myoglobin in the urine |
| Rhinotillexomania | The Psychopath Test compulsive nose-picking |
| Rhizopod | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek A protozoan, including amoebas and radiolarians, characterized by pseudopods |
| Ria | Does Anything Eat Wasps? a long, narrow inlet of a river that gradually decreases in depth from mouth to head |
| Ribald | Travels with Charley vulgar or indecent in speech, language, etc; surrilous; coarsely mocking, abusive or irreverent |
| Ricercar | Colossal Book of Mathematics, The an elaborate polyphonic composition making extensive use of contrapuntal imitation and usually very slow in tempo |
| Rictus | Elephants on Acid the gaping or opening of the mouth |
| Ridgepole | How the Water Feels the horizontal timber or member at the top of a roof, to which the upper ends of the rafters are fastened |
| Riffle | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a rapid, as in a stream; to turn hastily; flutter |
| Rime | A Short History of Nearly Everything an opaque coating of tiny, white, granular ice particles, caused by the rapid freezing of supercooled water droplets on impact with an object |
| Rimrock | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek rock forming the natural boundary of a plateau or other rise |
| Ringgit | How the Water Feels a paper money, cupronickel coin, and monetary unit of Malaysia, equal to 100 sen |
| Riparian | Collapse of, pertaining to, or situated or dwelling on the bank of a river or other body of water |
| Riposte | A Short History of Nearly Everything a quick, sharp return in speech or action |
| Risorius | Elephants on Acid a narrow band of muscle fibers inserted into the tissues at the corner of the mouth, and acting to retract the angle of the mouth |
| Riven | When You Were A Tadpole And I Was A Fish rent or split apart |
| Roebuck | Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World a male roe deer, having three-pointed antlers and small and agile |
| Rondo | Colossal Book of Mathematics, The a piece of music in which a refrain is repeated between episodes, often constituting the form of the last movement of a sonata or concerto |
| Rondure | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a circle or sphere; a graceful curving or roundness |
| Rood | Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Other Poems, The a crucifix; a unit of length varying locally from 5.5 to 8 yards |
| Rookery | Heart of the Antarctic, The a breeding place or colony of gregarious birds or animals, as penguins and seals |
| Rote | Ella Minnow Pea a routine, or fixed, habitual and mechanical procedure |
| Rotifer | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek Any of various tiny, multicellular aquatic animals of the phylum Rotifera, having a wheel-like ring of cilia at their front ends. The cilia trap small organisms for food. |
| Ruck | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a great mass of undistinguished or inferior persons or things |
| Ruck | A Short History of Nearly Everything a large number or quantity; the great mass of undistinguished or inferior persons or things |
| Rufous | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek reddish; brownish red; tinged with red |
| Runnel | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a small stream, brook, or rivulet |
| Russet | Travels with Charley yellowish brown, light brown, or reddish brown; any of various apples that have a rough brownish skin and ripen in the autumn; finished leather that is not yet polished or colored |
| Rutile | Collapse A lustrous red, reddish-brown, or black tetragonal mineral that is an ore of titanium |
| Sable | Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World an Old world weasellike mammal, of cold regions in Eurasia and the North Pacific islands, valued for its dark brown fur |
| Sadhu | A Certain Ambiguity In Hinduism, a ascetic holy man, especially a monk |
| Sadiron | Redeeming Love a flatiron that is pointed at both ends and has a detachable handle |
| Saeter | Collapse A Scandinavian mountainside meadow used for grazing cattle; A shed found in such a meadow |
| Sago | Heart of the Antarctic, The a starchy foodstuff derived from the soft interior of the trunk of various palms and cycads, used in making puddings |
| Salaam | Ella Minnow Pea a very low bow or obeisance, especially with the palm of the right hand placed on the forehead; a salutation meaning "peace" used especially in Islamic countries |
| Sallow | Elephants on Acid of a sickly, yellowish color |
| Saltationism | A Short History of Nearly Everything any of several theories holding that the evolution of species proceeds in major steps by the abrupt transformation of an ancestral species into a descendant species of a different type, rather than by the gr |
| Saltpeter | Essential Book of Useless Information, The the form of potassium nitrate that occurs naturally, used in the manufacture of fireworks and gunpowder |
| Salvo | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a simultaneous or successive discharge of artillery, bombs, etc; a round of cheers or applause |
| Samara | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek an indehiscent, usually one-seeded, winged fruit, as of the elm or maple |
| Sanguine | Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World cheerfully optimistic, hopeful or confident; reddish or ruddy |
| Sargassum | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek any seaweed of the genus Sargassum, widely distributed in the warmer waters of the globe |
| Sastrugi | Heart of the Antarctic, The Long, wavelike ridges of snow, formed by the wind and found on the polar plains. Sastrugi are usually up to several meters high and are often parallel to the prevailing wind direction |
| Scantling | A Short History of Nearly Everything a timber of relative slight width and thickness; a small quantity or amount |
| Scapulimancy | Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World divination of the future by observation of the cracking of a mammal's scapula that has been heated by a fire or hot instrument |
| Scarp | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a line of cliffs formed by the faulting or fracturing of the earth's crust; an escarpment |
| Scatophagy | The Loom of God the practice of eating excrement or other filth especially as a pathological obsession |
| Schneid | Newberg Report, The: 2011 Bound Edition a losing streak or other unfortunate occurrence over a period of time |
| Sciomancy | The Loom of God divination with the help of ghosts |
| Scopolamine | Shadow Over Santa Susana alkaloid drug used chiefly as a sedative and mydriatic and to alleviate the symptoms of motion sickness |
| Scoria | Collapse the refuse, dross, or slag left after melting or smelting metal |
| Scow | Redeeming Love any of various vessels having a flat-bottomed rectangular hull with sloping ends, as barges, punts, rowboats, or sailboats; an old or clumsy boat |
| Scrapie | Collapse an infection, usually fatal brain disease of sheep |
| Scud | Heart of the Antarctic, The to run or move quickly or hurriedly; nautically, to run before a gale with little or no sail set; in archery, to fly too high and wide of the mark; clouds, spray, or mist driven by the wind |
| Scull | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek an oar mounted on a fulcrum at the stern of a small boat and moved from side to side to propel the boat forward; a boat propelled by an oar or oars |
| Scupper | Heart of the Antarctic, The a drain at the edge of a deck exposed to the weather, for allowing accumulated water to drain away into the sea or into the bilges |
| Scurrilous | Seasons in Hell grossly or obscenely abusive; characterized by or using low buffoonery |
| Scytale | Mathematical Mysteries a tool used to perform a transposition cipher, consisting of a cylinder with a strip of parchment wound around it |
| Sebaceous | Does Anything Eat Wasps? pertaining to, of the nature of, or resembling tallow or fat; fatty; greasy |
| Sebum | Does Anything Eat Wasps? the fatty secretion of the sebaceous glands |
| Sedge | Collapse a grasslike plant growing in wet places |
| Semiotics | The Loom of God the study of signs and symbols as elements of communicative behavior; the analysis of systems of communication, as language, gestures, or clothing |
| Sempervirent | Travels with Charley always fresh; evergreen |
| Senescence | Collapse the process of becoming old; aging |
| Sennegrass | Heart of the Antarctic, The a dried, long-fibre grass with very good absorbent qualities, formerly used in shoes polar expeditions, by placing on the sole and stuffing in the sides, to absorb moisture and keep the feet dry and warm |
| Sephiroth | The Loom of God in the speculations of esoteric Jewish mysticism (Kabbala), any of the 10 emanations, or powers, by which God the Creator was said to become manifest |
| Sepulcher | Travels with Charley a tomb, grave, or burial place |
| Sérac | Heart of the Antarctic, The a large irregularity of glacial ice, as a pinnacle found in glacial crevasses and formed by melting or movement of the ice |
| Servile | Future Grace slavishly submissive or obsequious; extremely imitative or lacking in originality |
| Settee | Heart of the Antarctic, The a seat for two or more persons, having a back and usually arms, and often upholstered |
| Severum | The Paradox of God and the Science of Omniscience a freshwater tropical cichlid native to the Amazon region |
| Sexton | First and Second Things an official of a church charged with taking care of the edifice and its contents, ringing the bell, etc., and sometimes with burying the dead |
| Shah | Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World formerly, in Iran, a king or sovereign |
| Shandy | Does Anything Eat Wasps? a mixture of beer and lemonade |
| Sheer | Essential Book of Useless Information, The transparently thin; diaphanous |
| Shieling | Collapse a pasture or grazing ground; a shepherd's or herdsman's hut or rough shelter on or near a grazing ground |
| Shill | The Psychopath Test Slang, a person who poses as a customer in order to decoy others into participating, as at a gambling house, auction, confidence game, etc; a person who publicizes or praises something or someone for reasons of self-interest |
| Shinny | Ella Minnow Pea to climb by holding fast with the hands or arms and legs and drawing oneself up; a simple variety of hockey, played with a ball, block of wood or the like, and clubs curved at one end |
| Shod | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek an external covering of the foot; |
| Shogun | Collapse the title applied to the chief military commanders from about the 8th century a.d. to the end of the 12th century, then applied to the hereditary officials who governed Japan |
| Shrieve | Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Other Poems, The archaic word for sheriff; archaic word, to impose a penance on, grant absolution to, or hear the confession of |
| Silviculture | Collapse the branch of forestry that is concerned with the cultivation of trees |
| Simon-pure | Official Rules of Baseball Illustrated, The real, genuine |
| Simper | Travels with Charley to smile in a silly, self-conscious way |
| Sinecure | Official Rules of Baseball Illustrated, The an office or position requiring little or no work |
| Sinisize | Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World to make Chinese in character or bring under Chinese influence |
| Sinology | Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World the study of the language, literature, history, customs, etc of China |
| Sinuate | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek to curve or wind in and out, or creep in a winding path |
| Siphonapterology | The Paradox of God and the Science of Omniscience a branch of entomology concerned with fleas |
| Sistrum | The Paradox of God and the Science of Omniscience an ancient Egyptian percussion instrument consisting of a looped metal frame set in a handle and fitted with loose crossbars that rattle when shaken |
| Skein | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a length of yard or thread wound on a reel or swift preparatory for use in manufacturing; a flock of birds in flight |
| Skraeling | Collapse Norse name for inhabitants of Greenland encountered by the Viking settlers there, translated as "wretches," or "little men" |
| Skua | Heart of the Antarctic, The also called bonxie, any of several large brown gull-like predatory birds of colder waters of both northern and southern seas |
| Skulduggery | Colossal Book of Mathematics, The an instance of dishonest or deceitful behavior; trick |
| Skyr | Collapse an Icelandic cultured dairy product, similar to strained yogurt. Technically it is a very soft cheese |
| Slake | Official Rules of Baseball Illustrated, The to cool or refresh; to allay thirst or a desire by satisfying it |
| Slattern | Travels with Charley a slovenly, untidy woman or girl; a slut |
| Sledge | Heart of the Antarctic, The a sled; a vehicle of various forms, mounted on runners and often drawn by draft animals, used for traveling or for conveying loads over snow, ice, rough ground, etc |
| Slipstream | Does Anything Eat Wasps? the airstream generating reduced air pressure and forward suction directly behind a rapidly moving vehicle |
| Sluice | A Short History of Nearly Everything any contrivance for regulating flow from or into a receptacle |
| Snood | Essential Book of Useless Information, The the pendulous skin over the beak of a turkey |
| Soapstone | Collapse a massive variety of talc with a soapy or greasy feel, used for hearths, washtubs, tabletops, carved ornaments |
| Soju | Stuff White People Like a distilled beverage natie to Korea, similar in taste to vodka, but slightly sweeter due to sugars added in the manufacturing process |
| Solanine | Does Anything Eat Wasps? a poisonous alkaloid found in various solanaceous plants, including potatoes which have gone green through exposure to light |
| Sonant | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek having sound |
| Sorosis | Does Anything Eat Wasps? a fleshy multiple fruit composed of many flowers, seed vessels, and receptacles consolidated, as in the pineapple and mulberry |
| Soteriology | Reason for God, The the doctrine of salvation through Jesus Christ |
| Sough | Travels with Charley to make a rushing, rustling, or murmuring sound; |
| Spat | Essential Book of Useless Information, The the spawn of an oyster or similar shellfish |
| Specious | Official Rules of Baseball Illustrated, The apparently good or right though lacking real merit; superficially pleasing or plausible |
| Sphaleron | When You Were A Tadpole And I Was A Fish the particle-like solution to an electroweak field equation |
| Spicule | A Short History of Nearly Everything a small or minute, slender, sharp-pointed body or part; a small, needlelike crystal, process, or the like |
| Spirochete | A Short History of Nearly Everything any of various spiral-shaped motile bacteria of the family Spirochaetaceae, certain species, as Treponema, Leptospira, and Borrelia, being pathogenic to humans and other animals, and other species being fr |
| Spirogyra | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek Any of a genus of filamentous freshwater green algae having cylindrically shaped cells with spiral-shaped bands of chloroplasts |
| Spirulina | A Short History of Nearly Everything any of the blue-green algae of the genus Spirulina, sometimes added to food for its nutrient value |
| Spissatus | A Short History of Nearly Everything a cloud dense enough to obscure the sun |
| Spoor | Travels with Charley a track or trail, especially that of a wild animal pursued as game |
| Springtail | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek any of numerous minute, wingless primitive insects of the order Collembola, most possessing a special abdominal appendage for jumping that allows for the nearly perpetual springing pattern characteristic of the group |
| Squalene | Does Anything Eat Wasps? a terpene first found in the liver of sharks but also present in the livers of most higher animals: an important precursor of cholesterol |
| Squill | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek the bulb of the sea onion, Urginea maritima, of the lily family, cut into thin slices and dried, and used in medicine chiefly as an expectorant |
| Stave | Collapse one of the thin, narrow, shaped pieces of wood that form the sides of a cask, tub, or similar vessel; a stick, rod, pole, or the like; a rung of a ladder, chair, etc |
| Steerage | Seasons in Hell the part or accommodations allotted to the passengers who travel at the cheapest rate |
| Stele | Collapse an upright stone slab or pillar bearing an inscription or design and serving as a monument, marker, or the like |
| Stellate | Colossal Book of Mathematics, The star-shaped |
| Steppe | New Penguin History of the World, The an extensive plain, esp. one without trees |
| Sternutation | Essential Book of Useless Information, The the act of sneezing |
| Stet | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek to mark (a manuscript, printer's proof, etc.) with the word “stet” or with dots as a direction to let cancelled material remain |
| Stevedore | Redeeming Love a firm or individual engaged in the loading or unloading of a vessel |
| Stiletto | How the Water Feels a short dagger with a blade that is thick in proportion to its width |
| Stimoceiver | Elephants on Acid Consisting of a radio which joins a stimulator of brain waves with a receiver monitoring EEG waves, which can stimulate emotions and control behavior when implanted in animals or humans |
| Stirp | Exceeding Our Grasp a line of descendants from a common ancestor |
| Stoat | Danny the Champion of the World the ermine, especially when in brown summer pelage |
| Stoichiometric | A Short History of Nearly Everything pertaining to or involving substances that are in the exact proportions required for a given reaction |
| Stonecrop | The Loom of God any plant of the genus Sedum, especially a mosslike herb, S. acre, having small, fleshy leaves and yellow flowers, frequently growing on rocks and walls |
| Stratigraphy | A Short History of Nearly Everything the study of the composition, relative positions, etc, of rock strata in order to determine their geological history |
| Stricture | Colossal Book of Mathematics, The a remark or comment, especially an adverse criticism; an abnormal contraction of any passage or duct of the body; a restriction |
| Stridulate | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek to produce a shrill, grating sound, as a cricket does, by rubbing together certain parts of the body |
| Stromatolite | A Short History of Nearly Everything a laminated calcareous fossil structure built by marine algae and having a rounded or columnar form |
| Stupa | Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World a monumental pile of earth or other material, in memory of Buddha or a Buddhist saint, and commemorating some event or marking a sacred spot |
| Stylops | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek any insect of the order Strepsiptera, including the genus Stylops, living as a parasite in other insects, esp bees and wasps: the females remain in the body of the host but the males move between hosts |
| Subduction | A Short History of Nearly Everything the process by which collision of the earth's crustal plates results in one plate's being drawn down or overridden by another, localized along the juncture (subduction zone) of two plates |
| Sublimate | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek to transform directly from the solid state to the gaseous state or from the gaseous state to the solid state without becoming a liquid |
| Subsume | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek to consider or include (an idea, term, proposition, etc.) as part of a more comprehensive one; to take up into a more inclusive classification |
| Succor | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek help, relief, aid, or assistance; a person or thing that gives aid |
| Suet | Essential Book of Useless Information, The the hard fatty tissue about the loins and kidneys of beef, sheep, etc., used in cooking or processed to yield tallow |
| Sundog | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a bright circular spot on a solar halo; a mock sun; a small or incomplete rainbow |
| Supernumerary | Essential Book of Useless Information, The being in excess of the usual, proper, or prescribed number; additional; extra |
| Supplicant | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a beggar or petitioner |
| Suppurate | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek to produce or discharge pus, as a wound |
| Surcease | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek to cease from some action; to come to an end; a cessation |
| Surd | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek voiceless; im math, not capable of being expressed in rational numbers |
| Surfactant | Does Anything Eat Wasps? a surface-active agent, a substance, such as a detergent, that can reduce the surface tension of a liquid and thus allow it to foam or penetrate solids; a wetting agent |
| Surfeit | The Psychopath Test excess or overindulgence |
| Susurrus | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a soft murmuring or rustling sound; whisper |
| Sutra | The Loom of God In Hinduism, a collection of aphorisms relating to some aspect of the conduct of life |
| Swain | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a male admirer or lover |
| Swarthy | Ella Minnow Pea dark skin color or dark-complexioned |
| Swidden | Collapse a plot of land cleared for farming by burning away vegetation |
| Swound | Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Other Poems, The archaic word for swoon |
| Synapsid | A Short History of Nearly Everything A reptile with one temporal opening on each side of the skull. Synapsids evolved in the late Permian Period and were characterized by carrying their limbs under their body and developing front teeth that wer |
| Syncline | A Short History of Nearly Everything A fold of rock layers that slope upward on both sides of a common low point. Synclines form when rocks are compressed by plate-tectonic forces. They can be as small as the side of a cliff or as large as an e |
| Syntopical | How to Read a Book Referring to a type of analysis in which different works are compared and contrasted |
| Tableau | How the Water Feels a picturesque grouping of persons or objects; a striking scene |
| Tael | How the Water Feels a Chinese unit of weight, equal to about 1.3 oz. |
| Takahe | A Short History of Nearly Everything a very rare flightless New Zealand |
| Talisman | Mathematical Mysteries a stone, ring, or other object, engraved with figures or characters supposed to possess occult powers and worn as an amulet or charm; anything whose presence exercises a remarkable or powerful influence on human feelings |
| Tallith | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a shawllike garment of wool, silk, or the like, with fringes, or zizith, at the four corners, worn around the shoulders by Orthodox and conservative (sometimes also Reform) Jews, as during the morning service |
| Tamarin | The Loom of God a South American marmoset having silky fur and a nonprehensile tail |
| Tannin | A Short History of Nearly Everything any of a group of astringent vegetable principles or compounds, as the reddish compound that gives the tanning properties to oak bark or occuring in red wine |
| Tantalum | Collapse a gray, hard, rare, metallic element occurring in columbite and tantalite used, because of its resistance to corrosion by most acids, for chemical, dental, and surgical instruments and apparatus |
| Tappet | How the Water Feels a sliding rod, intermittently struck by a cam, for moving another part, as a valve |
| Taproom | Seasons in Hell a barroom, esp. in an inn or hotel |
| Tarantella | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a rapid, whirling southern Italian dance |
| Tarn | Travels with Charley a small mountain lake or pool, especially one in a cirque |
| Taro | Collapse a stemless plant, cultivated in tropical regions and elsewhere for the edible tuber |
| Tarpon | Seasons in Hell a large, powerful game fish, inhabiting the warmer waters of the Atlantic, having a compressed body and large, silvery scales |
| Tawdry | Travels with Charley gaudy, showy, cheap; low, mean, or base |
| Tawny | Travels with Charley of a dark yellowish or dull yellowish-brown color |
| Teetotum | Colossal Book of Mathematics, The any small top spun with the fingers; a kind of die having four sides, each marked with a different initial letter |
| Telegony | Exceeding Our Grasp a former belief that a sire can influence the characteristics of the progeny of the female parent and her subsequent mates |
| Telemetry | Seasons in Hell the measuring, transmitting, and receiving apparatus for recording, by electrical means, the value of a quantity; to transmit automatically and at a distance; to record information |
| Tempera | Ella Minnow Pea a technique of painting in which an emulsion consisting of water and pure egg yolk is used as a medium |
| Tenebrous | Ella Minnow Pea dark, gloomy, obscure |
| Tenon | Heart of the Antarctic, The a projection formed on the end of a timber or the like for insertion into a mortise of the same dimensions; to join by a tenon |
| Tephra | Collapse clastic volcanic material, as scoria, dust, etc., ejected during an eruption |
| Teratology | Exceeding Our Grasp the science or study of monstrosities or abnormal formations in organisms |
| Terraqueous | A Short History of Nearly Everything consisting of land and water, as the earth |
| Tesseract | Colossal Book of Mathematics, The the generalization of a cube to four dimensions |
| Testudinal | A Short History of Nearly Everything pertaining to or resembling a tortoise or tortoise shell |
| Tetraktys | The Loom of God a triangular figure consisting of ten points arranged in four rows: one, two, three, and four points in each row. As a mystical symbol, it was very important to the secret worship of the Pythagoreans |
| Tetrarch | Holy Bible, English Standard Version any ruler of a fourth part; a subordinate ruler |
| Thanatology | Elephants on Acid the study of death and its surrounding circumstances |
| Thaumaturge | The Loom of God a worker of wonders or miracles; a magician |
| Thearubigin | Does Anything Eat Wasps? polymeric polyphenols that are formed during the enzymatic oxidation (called fermentation by the tea trade) of tea leaves |
| Theodolite | Heart of the Antarctic, The In surveying, a precision instrument having a telescopic sight for establishing horizontal and sometimes vertical angles |
| Theogony | First and Second Things the origin of the gods; a genealogical account of the gods |
| Theomatics | The Loom of God a numerological study of the Greek and Hebrew text of the Christian Bible, based upon gematria and isopsephia, that its proponents assert demonstrates the direct intervention of God in the writing of Christian scripture |
| Theosophy | First and Second Things any of various forms of philosophical or religious thought based on a mystical insight into the divine nature |
| Thermohaline | A Short History of Nearly Everything of, or relating to a combination of temperature and salinity |
| Theropod | The Paradox of God and the Science of Omniscience any of a group of carnivorous dinosaurs that had short forelimbs and walked or ran on their hind legs |
| Theurgy | The Loom of God the working of a divine or supernatural agency in human affairs; a system of beneficient magic practiced by the Egyptian Platonists and others |
| Thew | When You Were A Tadpole And I Was A Fish muscle or sinew; physical strength |
| Thigmonasty | Essential Book of Useless Information, The the movement of plant organs in response to being touched |
| Thoracic | Newberg Report, The: 2011 Bound Edition In anatomy, the part of the trunk in humans and higher vertebrates between the neck and the abdomen, containing the cavity, enclosed by the ribs, sternum, and certain vertebrae, in which the heart, lungs, |
| Thralldom | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek the state of being a thrall; slavery |
| Thrip | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek any of various small to minute sucking insects with narrow feathery wings if any; they feed on plant sap and many are destructive |
| Thrombosis | The Psychopath Test The development of a blood clot in the circulatory system. Depending on the location of the clot, the resultant loss of circulation can lead to a stroke ( cerebral thrombosis) or heart attack ( coronary thrombosis) |
| Thylacine | A Short History of Nearly Everything an extinct, wolflike marsupial of Tasmania, tan-colored with black stripes across the back |
| Tillandsia | Does Anything Eat Wasps? any of numerous, chiefly epiphytic bromeliads of the genus Tillandsia, including spanish moss and many species cultivated as ornamentals |
| Timorous | First and Second Things subject to fear, timid |
| Tincture | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a slight infusion of some element or quality; a trace amount; a dye or pigment; to impart with tint or color; to infuse with something |
| Tinea | Does Anything Eat Wasps? any of several skin diseases caused by fungi; ringworm |
| Tinsnips | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek hand shears for cutting sheet metal |
| Tintinnabulation | The Paradox of God and the Science of Omniscience the ringing or sound of bells |
| Titular | Elephants on Acid existing or being such in title only |
| Tombolo | Does Anything Eat Wasps? a sand bar connecting an island to the mainland or to another island |
| Toponym | Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World a name of a place or derived from the name of a place |
| Torrid | When You Were A Tadpole And I Was A Fish subject to parching or burning heat; ardent or passionate |
| Torsion | Aha! Gotcha the act of twisting or state of being twisted |
| Towhee | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek any of several long-tailed North American finches |
| Trachyte | Collapse a fine-grained volcanic rock consisting essentially of alkali feldspar and one or more subordinate minerals |
| Tractrix | Colossal Book of Mathematics, The a curve whose tangents are all of equal length |
| Tramontane | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek being or situated beyond the mountains; foreign or barbarous |
| Transliteration | Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World to change letters or words into corresponding characters of another alphabet or language |
| Transmigration | When You Were A Tadpole And I Was A Fish the passage of a soul after death into another body |
| Trawl | How the Water Feels Also called trawl net, a strong fishing net for dragging along the sea bottom; Also called trawl line, a buoyed line used in sea fishing, having numerous short lines with baited hooks attached at intervals; to fish with a tr |
| Trefoil | Colossal Book of Mathematics, The an ornament composed of three lobes, divided by cusps, radiating from a common center; any of numerous plants belonging to the genus Trifolium, of the legume family, having usually digitate leaves of three lea |
| Tremulous | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek timid; trembling |
| Trestle | Heart of the Antarctic, The a frame typically composed of a horizontal bar or beam rigidly joined or fitted at each end to the top of a transverse A-frame, used as a barrier, a transverse support for planking, etc.; horse |
| Trilithon | Collapse a prehistoric structure consisting of two upright stones supporting a horizontal stone |
| Triplex | The Paradox of God and the Science of Omniscience three-fold; triple |
| Tripos | My Brain is Open any of various final honors examinations, at Cambridge Univ. |
| Trishaw | How the Water Feels esp. in Southeast Asia, a three-wheeled public conveyance operated by pedals, typically one having a hooded cab for two passengers mounted behind the driver |
| Trochophore | The Paradox of God and the Science of Omniscience a ciliate, free-swimming larva common to several groups of inverterbrates, as many mollusks and rotifers |
| Troglodye | Travels with Charley a prehistoric cave dweller; a person living in seclusion |
| Trompe | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek an apparatus for supplying the blast of air in a forge, consisting of a thin column down which water falls, drawing in air through side openings |
| Trope | Science at the Edge any literary or rhetorical device, as metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, and irony, that consists in the use of words in other than their literal sense |
| Tropopause | A Short History of Nearly Everything the boundary, or transitional layer, between the troposphere and the stratosphere |
| Trow | Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Other Poems, The archaic word, to believe, think or suppose |
| Trumpery | First and Second Things something without use or value, rubbish; nonsense, twaddle |
| Truncheon | How the Water Feels the club carried by a police officer |
| Trundle | Ella Minnow Pea to cause to roll along; to convey in a wagon or cart |
| Truss | Collapse to tie, bind, or fasten |
| Tuff | Collapse a fragmental rock consisting of the smaller kinds of volcanic detritus, as ash or cinder |
| Tuffet | Essential Book of Useless Information, The a low stool or footstool |
| Turbid | Collapse thick or dense, as smoke or clouds; clouded or opaque because of stirred up sediment or the like; confused |
| Turgid | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek swollen or distended; inflated or pompous |
| Turmeric | Does Anything Eat Wasps? a powder prepared from the aromatic rhizome of an Asian plant of the ginger family, used as a condiment, as in curry powder; |
| Turpitude | First and Second Things vile, shameful, or base character; depravity; a vile or depraved act |
| Tussock | Heart of the Antarctic, The a tuft or clump of growing grass or the like |
| Twain | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek two |
| Ultima | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek the last syllable of a word |
| Umami | Does Anything Eat Wasps? a taste sensation that is meaty or savory and is produced by several amino acids and nucleotides |
| Umiaq | Collapse A large boat made of seal or walrus skins, usually handled by women. It was used to transport the dogs, together with the tents and other equipment, during changes of camp, and was also sometimes used for hunting |
| Understory | Collapse the shrubs and plants growing beneath the main canopy of a forest |
| Ungulate | Elephants on Acid a hoofed mammal |
| Uniformitarianism | A Short History of Nearly Everything of or pertaining to the thesis that processes that operated in the remote geological past are not different from those observed now |
| Upwelling | Collapse in oceanography, the process by which warm, less-dense surface water is drawn away from along a shore by offshore currents and replaced by cold, denser water brought up from the subsurface |
| Urbane | Seasons in Hell having the polish and suavity regarded as characteristic of sophisticated social life; reflecting elegance |
| Vale | A Short History of Nearly Everything a valley; the world, or mortal and earthly life |
| Vanguard | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek the foremost division or the front part of an army; the leaders of any intellectual or political movement |
| Variegated | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek marked with patches or spots of different colors; varied in appearance; diversified |
| Variorum | How to Read a Book containing different versions of the text or various notes and commentaries by various editors |
| Vassalization | New Penguin History of the World, The (in the feudal system) a vassal is a person granted the use of land, in return for rendering homage, fealty, and usually military service or its equivalent to a lord or other superior; feudal tenant. |
| Vellum | Heart of the Antarctic, The calfskin, lambskin, kidskin, etc., treated for use as a writing surface |
| Ventral | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek of or pertaining to the belly or abdomin; situated on or toward the lower abdominal plane of the body |
| Verdigris | Does Anything Eat Wasps? a green or bluish patina formed on copper, brass, or bronze surfaces exposed to the atmosphere for long periods of time, consisting principally of basic copper sulfate |
| Verdure | A Short History of Nearly Everything greenness, especially of fresh, flourishing vegetation |
| Veridical | When You Were A Tadpole And I Was A Fish truthful or veracious; corresponding to facts, not illusory, genuine |
| Verisimilitude | Colossal Book of Mathematics, The the appearance or semblance of truth; likelihood; probability |
| Vermiculated | Does Anything Eat Wasps? worm-eaten, or appearing as such; ornamented with wavy lines or markings resembling the form or tracks of a worm; sinuous or intricate |
| Vermillion | Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World a bright-red to reddish-orange color; cinnabar |
| Veronica | Travels with Charley the image of the face of Christ, said in legend to have been miraculously impressed on the handkerchief or veil that St. Veronica gave to Him to wipe His face on the way to Calvary |
| Verso | Ella Minnow Pea a left-hand page of an open book or manuscript |
| Vesicle | Colossal Book of Mathematics, The a small sac or cyst |
| Vesicule | Collapse any small cavity or cell |
| Vesper | Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Other Poems, The of, pertaining to, appearing in, or proper to the evening |
| Viaduct | First and Second Things a bridge for carrying a road, railroad, etc., over a valley or the like, consisting of a number of short spans |
| Vibrotactile | Elephants on Acid relating to the use of pressure and the properties of the mechanoreceptors of the skin to initiate action potentials to stimulate sensory perception |
| Viceroy | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a person appointed to rule a country or province as the deputy of the sovereign; a brightly marked American butterfly, closely mimicking the monarch butterfly in coloration |
| Vicissitude | Collapse a change or variation occuring in the course of something; mutation |
| Visceral | Reason for God, The characterized by or proceeding from instinct or base emotions rather than intellect; crude or earthy |
| Vitiate | A Short History of Nearly Everything to impair the quality of, make faulty; to corrupt or pervert; invalidate |
| Vituperative | Alex & Me characterized by or of the nature of abusive language or venomous censure |
| Volvox | Colossal Book of Mathematics, The a colonial, freshwater green algae, forming a hollow, greenish sphere of flagellated cells |
| Vomer | Elephants on Acid a bone of the skull, in humans it forms a large part of the septum between the right and left cavities of the nose |
| Votive | Travels with Charley offered, given, dedicated, etc., in accordance with a vow |
| Vulpine | Ella Minnow Pea of or resembling a fox; cunning or crafty |
| Wadi | Does Anything Eat Wasps? the channel of a watercourse that is dry except during periods of rainfall |
| Wan | One-Hundred Forty-Five Stories in a Small Box showing or suggesting ill health; lacking in forcefulness, competence, or effectiveness; of an unnatural or sickly pallor |
| Wanton | Heart of the Antarctic, The without regard for what is right, just, humane, etc.; careless; reckless; deliberate and without motive or provocation; uncalled-for |
| Warren | Travels with Charley a place where rabbits breed or abound |
| Wastrel | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a wasteful person |
| Watershed | Collapse the region or area drained by a river, stream, etc; an important point of diversion or transition between two phases |
| Wattle | Essential Book of Useless Information, The a fleshy lobe or appendage hanging down from the throat or chin of certain birds, as the domestic chicken or turkey |
| Weal | Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Other Poems, The well-being, prosperity, or happiness |
| Weft | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a woven fabric or garment |
| Welkin | Travels with Charley the sky; the vault of heaven |
| Welsh | Travels with Charley to cheat by failing to play a gambling debt; to go back on one's word |
| Welter | New Penguin History of the World, The to roll, toss, or heave in an uncontrolled manner, as waves |
| Whelk | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek An inflamed swelling, such as a pimple or pustule; |
| Whelp | Ella Minnow Pea the young of the dog, wolf, bear, lion, tiger, seal, etc; an impudent or despised youth |
| Whist | A Short History of Nearly Everything hush! Silence! Be still!; a card game, an early form of bridge, but without bidding |
| Windlass | Heart of the Antarctic, The a winch; a device for raising or hauling objects, usually consisting of a horizontal cylinder or barrel turned by a crank, lever, motor, or the like, upon which a cable, rope, or chain winds, the outer end of the cab |
| Windrow | Travels with Charley a row or line of hay raked together to dry before being raked into heaps |
| Winsome | Reason for God, The sweetly or innocently charming; winning; engaging |
| Wizened | Does Anything Eat Wasps? withered; shriveled |
| Woad | First and Second Things A European plant of the mustard family, formerly cultivated for a blue dye extracted from the leaves |
| Wont | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek accustomed, used to; custom or habit |
| Wort | Does Anything Eat Wasps? the unfermented or fermenting infusion of malt that after fermentation becomes beer or mash |
| Wraith | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek an apparition of a living person supposed to portend his or her death |
| Wraule | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek to cry, to weep, to mourn |
| Xenia | Exceeding Our Grasp the influence or effect of pollen on a structure other than the embryo, as the seed or fruit |
| Yantra | The Loom of God a geometric diagram used in meditation and tantric worship |
| Yarrow | Redeeming Love a composite plant, having fernlike leaves and flat-topped clusters of whitish flowers |
| Yeoman | Outliers performed or rendered in a loyal, valiant, useful, or workmanlike manner, esp. in situations that involve a great deal of effort |
| Yobbo | My Booky Wook British slang for an aggressive and surly youth, esp a teenager |
| Yojana | The Loom of God a Vedic measure of distance used in ancient India. The exact measurement is disputed amongst scholars with distances being given between 6 to 15 kilometers |
| Zeolite | A Short History of Nearly Everything any of a large group of glassy secondary minerals consisting of hydrated aluminium silicates of calcium, sodium, or potassium: formed in cavities in lava flows and plutonic rocks |
| Zygoma | Elephants on Acid the bony arch at the outer border of the eye socket |
| Zyzzyva | Essential Book of Useless Information, The any of various South American weevils of the genus Zyzzyva |
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thegreatjared
Popular English Vocabulary sets