Plummy

WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005)
plummy adj 1: very desirable; "a plummy leading role" 2: (of a voice) affectedly mellow and rich; "the radio announcer's plummy voice"

Peculate

Websters 1828 Dictionary
Peculate PEC'ULATE, v.i. [L. peculatus, peculor, from peculium, private property, from pecus, cattle.]
1. To defraud the public of money or goods entrusted to one's care, by appropriating the property to one's own use; to defraud by embezzlement.
2. Among civilians, to steal.

Portmanteau

WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005)
portmanteau n 1: a new word formed by joining two others and combining their meanings; "`smog' is a blend of `smoke' and `fog'"; "`motel' is a portmanteau word made by combining `motor' and `hotel'"; "`brunch' is a well-known portmanteau" [syn: blend, portmanteau word, portmanteau] 2: a large travelling bag made of stiff leather [syn: portmanteau, Gladstone, Gladstone bag]

English Etymology Dictionary
portmanteau 1584, from M.Fr. portemanteau "traveling bag," originally "court official who carried a prince's mantle," from porte, imperative of porter "to carry" + manteau "cloak." Portmanteau word "word blending the sound of two different words," is 1882, coined by Lewis Carroll for the sort of words he invented for "Jabberwocky."

Esculent

English Explanatory Dictionary
esculent ˈeskjulənt adj. & n. --adj. fit to eat; edible. --n. an edible substance. [L esculentus f. esca food]

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Esculent \Es"cu*lent\, a. [L. esculentus, fr. escare to eat, fr. esca food, fr. edere to eat: cf. F. esculent. See Eat.] Suitable to be used by man for food; eatable; edible; as, esculent plants; esculent fish. Esculent grain for food. --Sir W. Jones. Esculent swallow (Zo["o]l.), the swallow which makes the edible bird's-nest. See Edible bird's-nest, under Edible.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Esculent \Es"cu*lent\, n. Anything that is fit for eating; that which may be safely eaten by man.

Baba Ghanoush

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition (2003)
baba ghanoush or baba ghanouj noun Etymology: Arabic dialect bābaghanūj Date: 1977 an appetizer or spread made chiefly of eggplant, tahini, garlic, olive oil, and lemon

Baba Ghanoush

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition (2003)
baba ghanoush or baba ghanouj noun Etymology: Arabic dialect bābaghanūj Date: 1977 an appetizer or spread made chiefly of eggplant, tahini, garlic, olive oil, and lemon

Lachrymose

WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005)
lachrymose adj 1: showing sorrow [syn: dolorous, dolourous, lachrymose, tearful, weeping]

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition (2003)
lachrymose adjective Etymology: Latin lacrimosus, from lacrima Date: circa 1727 1. given to tears or weeping ; tearful 2. tending to cause tears ; mournful • lachrymosely adverb • lachrymosity noun

Polysyllabic

Websters 1828 Dictionary
Polysyllabic POLYSYLLAB'IC
POLYSYLLAB'ICAL, a. [from polysyllable.] Pertaining to a polysyllable; consisting of many syllables,or of more than three.


WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005)
polysyllabic adj 1: having or characterized by words of more than three syllables 2: (of words) long and ponderous; having many syllables; "sesquipedalian technical terms" [syn: polysyllabic, sesquipedalian]

Invidious

Websters 1828 Dictionary
Invidious INVID'IOUS, a. [L. invidiosus, from invideo, to envy; in and video, to see. Invideo signified properly, to look against.]
1. Envious; malignant.
2. Likely to incur ill will or hatred, or to provoke envy; hateful. [This is the usual sense.]
Agamemnon found it an invidious affair to give the preference to any one of the Grecian heroes.

WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005)
invidious adj 1: containing or implying a slight or showing prejudice; "discriminatory attitudes and practices"; "invidious comparisons" [syn: discriminatory, invidious]

Dopey

WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005)
dopey adj 1: having or revealing stupidity; "ridiculous anserine behavior"; "a dopey answer"; "a dopey kid"; "some fool idea about rewriting authors' books" [syn: anserine, dopy, dopey, foolish, goosey, goosy, gooselike, jerky]

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition (2003)
dopey also dopy adjective (dopier; -est) Date: 1896 1. a. dulled by alcohol or a narcotic b. sluggish, stupefied 2. stupid, fatuous • dopily adverb • dopiness noun

Tomfool

WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005)
tomfool n 1: a person who lacks good judgment [syn: fool, sap, saphead, muggins, tomfool]

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition (2003)
tomfool I. noun Date: 1640 a great fool ; blockhead II. adjective Date: 1760 extremely foolish, stupid, or doltish

Pandora's Box

Oxford English Reference Dictionary
Pandora's box
n. a process that once activated will generate many unmanageable problems.
Etymology: in Gk Mythol. the box from which the ills of mankind were released, Hope alone remaining: f. Gk Pandora all-gifted (as PAN-, doron gift)

Oxford English Reference Dictionary
pandora's box
n. a process that once activated will generate many unmanageable problems.
Etymology: in Gk Mythol. the box from which the ills of mankind were released, Hope alone remaining: f. Gk Pandora all-gifted (as PAN-, doron gift)

Hackneyed

Websters 1828 Dictionary
Hackneyed HACK'NEYED, pp. Used much or in common.
1. Practiced; accustomed.
He is long hackneyed in the ways of men.

WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005)
hackneyed adj 1: repeated too often; overfamiliar through overuse; "bromidic sermons"; "his remarks were trite and commonplace"; "hackneyed phrases"; "a stock answer"; "repeating threadbare jokes"; "parroting some timeworn axiom"; "the trite metaphor `hard as nails'" [syn: banal, commonplace, hackneyed, old-hat, shopworn, stock(a), threadbare, timeworn, tired, trite, well-worn]

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition (2003)
hackneyed adjective Date: 1735 lacking in freshness or originality Synonyms: see trite

Oxford English Reference Dictionary
hackneyed
adj. (of a phrase etc.) made commonplace or trite by overuse.

Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner\'s English Dictionary
hackneyed If you describe something such as a saying or an image as hackneyed, you think it is no longer likely to interest, amuse or affect people because it has been used, seen, or heard many times before. Power corrupts and absolute power absolutely corrupts. That's the old hackneyed phrase, but it's true. ADJ

English Explanatory Dictionary
hackneyed ˈhæknɪd adj. (of a phrase etc.) made commonplace or trite by overuse.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Hackney \Hack"ney\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Hackneyed; p. pr. & vb. n. Hackneying.] 1. To devote to common or frequent use, as a horse or carriage; to wear out in common service; to make trite or commonplace; as, a hackneyed metaphor or quotation. Had I lavish of my presence been, So common-hackneyed in the eyes of men. --Shak. 2. To carry in a hackney coach. --Cowper.

Soule\'s Dictionary of English Synonyms
hackneyed a. 1. Worn out, much used. 2. Common, commonplace, threadbare, trite, stale, beaten.

Inspissate

Websters 1828 Dictionary
Inspissate INSPIS'SATE, v.t. [L. in and spissus, thick.] To thicken, as fluids; to bring to greater consistence by evaporating the thinner parts, etc.

WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005)
inspissate v 1: make viscous or dense; "thicken the sauce by adding flour" [syn: thicken, inspissate] 2: make thick or thicker; "Thicken the sauce"; "inspissate the tar so that it becomes pitch" [syn: thicken, inspissate] [ant: thin] 3: become thick or thicker; "The sauce thickened"; "The egg yolk will inspissate" [syn: thicken, inspissate] [ant: thin]

Gimcrackery

WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005)
gimcrackery n 1: ornamental objects of no great value [syn: folderal, falderol, frill, gimcrackery, gimcrack, nonsense, trumpery]

Awkly

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Awkly \Awk"ly\, adv. 1. In an unlucky (left-handed) or perverse manner. [Obs.] --Holland. 2. Awkwardly. [Obs.] --Fuller.

Intumescence

Websters 1828 Dictionary
Intumescence INTUMES'CENCE, n. [supra.] The action of swelling.
1. A swell; a swelling with bubbles; a rising and enlarging; a tumid state.

WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005)
intumescence n 1: swelling up with blood or other fluids (as with congestion) [syn: intumescence, intumescency] 2: the increase in volume of certain substances when they are heated (often accompanied by release of water) [syn: intumescence, intumescency, swelling]

Monasterial

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Monasterial \Mon`as*te"ri*al\, a. [L. monasterials, fr. monasterium.] Of or pertaining to monastery, or to monastic life. -- Mon`as*te"ri*al*ly, adv.