All words taken from the unabridged Oxford English Dictionary. This list updated as often as mood and time allow.
C U R R E N T
LAMDACISM
n -- excessive use of the sound l.
O L D E R words of the day
UNCONFORMITY
n/adj. -- singular, unique, one-of-a-kind.
LUFF
1. n. the forward edge of a fore-and-aft sail. 2. v. to bring the head of a sailing vessel closer to or directly into the wind, with sail shaking. 3. v. (of a sail) to shake from being set to close to the wind.
UVEA
n. -- the vascular tunic of the eye, comprising the iris, choroid coat, and ciliary body.
STATOLITH
n. -- any of the granules of lime, sand, etc. contained within a statocyst.
STATOCYST
n. -- in certain invertebrates, a sense organ consisting of sac enclosing sensory hairs and particles of sand, lime, etc., that has an equilibrating function serving to indicate position in space.
DONATIST
n. -- a member of a Christian sect which developed in northern Africa in A.D. 311, and which maintained that it alone constituted the whole and only true church and that baptisms and ordinations of the orthodox clergy were in invalid.
ODONTOID
adj. -- 1. of or resembling a tooth. 2. of or pertaining to the odontoid process.
HIEROPHANT
n. -- 1. a high priest. 2. any interpreter of sacred mysteries or esoteric principles.
BABIRUSA
n. -- an East Indian swine, the male of which has upper canine teeth growing upward through the roof of the mouth and curving toward the eyes, and lower canine teeth also growing upward outside the upper jawline.
SKEWBACK
n. -- 1. a sloping surface against which the end of an arch rests. 2. a stone, course of masonry, or the like, presenting such a surface.
n. -- 1. the singing of hymns or praises. 2. hymns collectively.
MONOGENESIS
n. -- 1. the hypothetical descent of the human race from a single pair [of humans]. 2. the hypothetical descent of the human race from a single cell.
n. -- of a base, being able to combine with two acids in varying proportions.
LAMELLIFORM
n. -- Having the form or structure of a lamelli or thin plate.
CARLING
n. -- One of the pieces of timber about 5" square in section, lying fore and aft under the deck of a ship, with their ends let culvertail-wise into the beams.
HANSE
n. -- A company or guild of merchants in former times; an association of merchants trading with foreign parts; the merchant guild of a town; also, the privileges and monopolies possessed by it; sometimes, app., the guild-hall or "hanse-house."
CRACKET
n. -- A low stool.
HANAP
n. -- A drinking-vessel, a wine-cup or a goblet. Current usage refers specifically to mediaeval goblets of an ornate character.
XIPHOSURAN
adj. -- Belonging to the order Xiphosuran ofArachnida, which includes, for example, the king-crab.
TURQUIN
n. -- A dark green pumpkin.
METACONDYLUS
n. -- That phalanx of a finger that bears the nail.
VENTIDUCT
n. -- A pipe or passage serving to bring cool or fresh air into an apartment or place, esp. in Italy and other warm climates.
RUTIC
n. -- A colloquial name for Rutic Acid, a coloring mattter discovered by Weiss in the commone rue; capric acid.
MELOTROPE
n. -- A piano fitted with a mechanical device for automatically reproducing a piece of music by means of a melograph stencil. [Ed. note -- the Queenellen, mistress of classical languages says melotrope would be dervid as "the ability to change colors". What a melotrope is to most of us, esp. Adam Ford, is a PLAYER PIANO. I think.]
KOLLOXYLIN
n. -- A form of pyroxylin or nitro-cellulose less highly nitrated than common gun-cotton.
YATAGHAN
n. -- A sword of Mohammedan countries, having a handle without a guard and often a double-curved blade.
ZYGOPLEURAL
adj. -- Organic forms having bilateral symmetry, with either two or four antimeres or corresponding opposite parts.
LIMBURGITE
n. -- A semi-glassy rock consiting of olivin and augite with some magnetite and apatite.
MANTILLA
n. -- A large veil worn over a woman's head, and covering the shoulders.
ANTIDISESTABLISHMENTARIANISM
n. -- The act or idea of being AGAINST the philosophy that seeks the separation of church and state.
TITANIFEROUS
adj. -- Containing or yielding titanium.
CUNCTATOR
n. -- One who acts tardily, a delayer.
KATHAROPHORE
n. -- An instrument for cleaning the urethra.
DOGSTONES
n. -- British variety of certain species of orchis.
CONCOMITANEOUS
adj. -- Of concomitant nature, concurrent, associate.
HARQUEBUS
n. -- The early type of portable gun, varying in size from a small cannon to a musket, which on account of its weight was, when used in the field, supported upon a tripod, trestle or other carriage.
RECIDIVISM
n. -- The habit of relapsing into crime.
TULWAR
n. -- An (Indian) sabre.
PEDECREE
v. -- To declare beforehand; to foreordain.
TYMPANIC
adj. -- 1. Of, pertaining to, or connected with the tympanum, or drum of the ear. 2. Pertaining to or resembling a drum.
VENESECTION
n. -- The operation of cutting or opening a vein; phlebotomy; the practice of this as a medical remedy.
NIDOR
n. -- The smell arising from animal substances (esp. of a fat or greasy nature) when burned, roasted, or boiled.
EURHYTHMY
n. -- 1. Harmony in the proportions of a building. 2. Regularity of the pulse.
EUPRAXY
adj. -- well-doing, right action.
MANDUCATION
n. -- The action of eating, applied to the act of participation in the Eucharist.
FOINERY
n. -- Thrusting with the foil, fencing with the point.
ENERGIATYPE
n. -- An earlier name for the photographic process called Ferrotype.
COELOSTAT
n. -- An instrument consisting of a mirror turned by clockwork on an axis parallel to itself and to the axis of the earth, by means of which the celestial bodies may be observed and photographed as in a stationary position.
SMALLUM
adv. -- In small pieces or quantities.
METAPLAST
n. -- A noun of which the cases are formed from different stems.
MIDDEN
n. -- A dunghill, manure-heap, refuse-heap.
FERMENTESCIBLE
adj. -- A. Having the power to cause fermentation. B. Capable of being fermented.
EXEGETE
n. -- 1. greek antiq. At Athens, one of those three members of the Eumolpidae, whose province it was to interpret the religious and ceremonial law, the signs in the heavans, and oracles. 2. One who explains or interpets difficult passages; one skilled in exegesis; an expounder.
INCOGITANTLY
adv. -- Unthinkingly, thoughtlessly, without consideration or reflection.
ENDURANT
adj. -- Ready to endure; that which endures or is capable of enduring.
EMPTION
adv. -- The action of buying, chiefly in phrases such as "right of sole emption", or with allusion.
FORWEAN
v. -- To accustom to bad habits, spoil by over-indulgence, pamper.
CUTIGERAL
adj. -- Carrying or bearing skin.
GREENIAN
n. -- A class of functions introduced by mathematician George Green, serving to represent the distribution of electricity on an ellipsoid.
EXTRINSIC
adj. -- 1. Situated on the outside, exterior. 2. Pertaining to an object in its external relations. 3. Lying outside, or forming part of the object under consideration. 4. Due to external circumstances; not inherent or essential; accessory, adventitious.
LIPOSTOMY
adj. -- Absence of a mouth or osculum.
HOMOEOMERAL
adj. -- Consisting of (metrically) similar parts.
CUCKOO-FLY
n. -- A name given to various species of hymenopterous insects belonging to the Ichneumouidae and Chrysididae, which deposit their eggs in the larvae or the nests of other insects.
FRIBBLISH
adj. -- Characteristic of or suited to a fribble; frivolous, trifling.
INGRAVIDATE
v. -- 1. To load or weigh; to render gravid, to impregnate. 2. To become heavy; to be weighed down.
HURRY-BURRY
n. -- A tumult, confusion or bustle caused by excitement, hurly-burly.
HUSTING
n. -- An assembly for deliberative purposes, esp. one summoned by a king or other leader.
CONGRUMATE
v. -- To gather into a heap or heaps.
CORRIGENDA
n. -- pl. Errors or faults in a printed book, etc., of which the corrections are given. Sing.: corrigendum.
UPTHROW
n. -- 1. Geol. and mining. A upward dislocation of a stratum or seam. 2. Geol. An upheaval of part of the earth's crust or surface; an uplift. 3. An outburst or manifestation.
TRONA
n. -- Native hydrous sodium carbonate, found in various places in N. Africa and America.
TROPIDOSTERNAL
adj. -- Belonging to the division Tropidosterni of birds; having a keeled breast-bone.
JUDCOCK
n. -- A name for the Jack Snipe.
Which I think is a flower. The OED is unclear on what it really may be. The example given is: "There were...judcocks, snipes, ruffs and godwits." Maybe it's not a flower?
EXPUGNATORY
n. -- of weapons; adapted for attack, offensive; adapted for breaking down (an argument).
EXSERTILE
adj. -- capable of being exerted.
CLARIGOLD
n. -- a stringed musical instrument.
