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VERV, noun
To have verve is to do things with vim and vigor, to have enthusiasm and spirit.
Esther attacked her new duties as meter maid with verve and vengeance.
PAHL, noun
A pall is the cloth they drape over a coffin during funerals. Figuratively, a pall is something that makes things a bit gloomy or more serious.
Lester’s arrest dropped a pall over what was to that point a rousing good time.
RAPT, adjective
There was a time when the word rape simply meant to seize or carry something (or someone) off. Rapt is kind of the past tense of that word. It refers to a state of having been carried away, caught up in something, engrossed (c.f., rapture).
Lester watched in rapt delight as Esther retrieved her famous cinnamon rolls from the oven.
FOYST, verb
When you trick someone into doing something or pass something phony off as genuine, you’re engaging in the fun little act of foisting.
Lester was able to foist his work off on his intern and head out early for a quick round of golf.
TAK, noun
This is one of the most bungled words in the management lexicon. Usually, people say, “We’ve decided to take a different tact,” which, if you really think about it, doesn’t make a whole lot of sense (unless you think tact is short for tactic). Tack has something to do with the angle of a sailboat relative to the wind. Changing the tack is intended to help the boat’s performance.
Esther was obviously unimpressed with Lester’s arguments in favor of spending their vacation in Las Vegas, so Lester took a different tack. He promised Esther’s mother a trip to see the Chippendale’s dancers if she would get Esther to agree to go to Vegas.
DAYN, verb
To consent to something, even though you think it's beneath you. Condescend.
The executive vice president deigned to personally visit the work site only after the national media showed up.
MAHR, verb
To ruin, deface, or destroy something.
The scandal marred his otherwise successful term in office.
LEECH, verb
From either the animal or your brother-in-law. To leech is to suck the substance out of something.
Ironically, the company's new compensation package seemed to leech what little motivation the workers had left.
rih DOWND, verb
A fancy word for accrue. It means that something—a result, good or bad—passes on to the person or thing in question.
While the townspeople will put in all the effort, the financial rewards will redound to select members of the organizing committee.
kuh BAHL, noun
A group of sneaky individuals bent on perpetrating some covert action.
Lester stayed in the basement, away from Esther and her four sisters, while the cabal plotted against their good-for-nothing husbands.
GAD fliy, noun
Someone who hovers around like an insect, biting and annoying you.
Locking your office door doesn’t seem to help when Larry the Gadfly is determined to reveal what's wrong with the world. He’ll always find a way to get to you.
KAL oh, adjective
Another word with ready application in many of your everyday interactions. To be callow is to be immature.
Just in case he didn’t know, Esther thought it wise to inform Lester with a vigorous backhanding that his callow behavior was unwelcome.
SUN dree, adjective
To put asunder, or just sunder, is to separate—like cleaving, which leaves in its wake cleavage and other things cloven. Once upon a time, a sundry was a collection of separate, unrelated things. Today, anything that is sundry is varied and distinct, miscellaneous.
This is not so much a strategy as it is a loose sundry of business fads and gimmicks.
SUH ker, noun
As infants, we find great comfort in suckling. Later, as adults, we call the things that bring us comfort or relief succor.
Lester finds that punishing his children for no good reason after a rough day at the office provides welcome succor for his battered ego.
FEK les, adjective
Without feck. Worthless or weak. Ineffective. (You should also try feckful.)
Esther grew impatient at Lester’s feckless attempts to repair the car and called a wrecker to tow it away.
FOHR ay, noun
Yes, it is rather like forage. A foray is a brief excursion into foreign territory. It often refers to one’s initial attempt at something.
That heap of junk represents Lester’s foray into modern pop sculpture.
jer MAYN, adjective
This comes from an olde English word that meant “having the same parents” and referred to things that were closely related. Today it means something that is relevant and appropriate.
I found the written account of your extensive travels in Europe as fascinating as it was terse (which is to say that it bored me beyond repair). However, it was not germane to the assignment. You were supposed to write an essay on the theory that Vikings introduced funnel cakes to pre-Columbian Minnesota.
MAHN der, verb
To wander aimlessly, either literally or figuratively, as in speech or writing.
Lester enjoyed hitching a wagon to his tractor and maundering around town during rush hour.
proh FYOOS, adjective
A profuse condition is characterized by great abundance. People are always apologizing profusely when they’re really in trouble.
Lester was overcome by profuse indignation at the thought of his mother marrying a liberal Democrat.
MYOO lihng, noun or verb
It’s the kind of crying you’d expect from a little kitty cat.
Esther wished the woman would get angry about her husband running off with another man. Anything had to be better than this pathetic mewling.
NOY suhm, adjective
This one comes from the same source as annoying. It means something that is bothersome or harmful.
There's nothing like a noisome visit from the in-laws to make one appreciate his own family, thought Lester.
ZEE nuhth, noun
An astronomical term for the highest point.
Being named Lord High Tender of Bars was the zenith of Lester’s affiliation with the Beaver Lodge.
nay DEER, noun
An astronomical term for the lowest point.
Lester asking if he could film their wedding night was definitely the nadir in Esther’s honeymoon.
foh PAH, noun
Faux is the French word for “false.” It’s a handy little word that can be worked into most any conversation. In this case, it is teamed with pas, which means “step.” So a faux pas is a misstep, i.e., a social blunder.
In most countries, and many states, wiping your nose on another person’s sleeve is considered a faux pas.
STRIY dent, adjective
Comes from the Latin for “making a loud racket.” To be strident is to make yourself heard.
Lester’s strident refusal to eat his vegetables was met by his mother’s quiet but firm refusal to excuse him from the table.
FAK shuhs, adjective
The adjective form of the noun faction. Factious things cause factions, i.e., divisions, and accompanying ill will.
Lester’s factious behavior got him kicked off every bowling team in the league.
ihm PYOOT, verb
To impute is to point fingers, to blame someone for something, often unjustly. Usually used with “to.”
Esther imputed the lack of romance in her life to Lester’s preoccupation with sports.
EHR ent, adjective
To be traveling or wandering without a particular destination, perhaps having strayed off a given path.
Lester tried to content himself with responsible family life, but his errant nature kept calling him back to a life on the road.
AYR ent, adjective
A variant of errant, typically used in the sense of having wandered outside the boundaries of moderation. Extreme.
Hotels expect rock stars to trash their rooms, but conducting a full-scale reenactment of the Battle of Gettysburg was arrant indeed.
ser MIYZ, verb
Here's one for the faux intellectual striving for that Baker Street sound. To surmise is to arrive at a conclusion based on scanty evidence—which is OK for faux intellectuals, who are well served by their seasoned and superior instinct.
Lester examined the tiny, black smudge mark on the kitchen floor and surmised that Esther must be having a torrid affair with their auto mechanic.
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