Word origins

• affirmationThat which is affirmed; a declaration that something is true.
• contagiousEasily transmitted to others.
• sentryA guard, particularly on duty at the entrance to a military base.
• arsonThe crime of deliberately starting a fire with intent to cause damage.
• azimuthAn arc of the horizon intercepted between the meridian of the place and a vertical circle passing through the center of any object.
• deuceA card with two pips, one of four in a standard deck of playing cards.
• ruffA circular frill or ruffle on a garment, especially a starched, fluted frill at the neck in Elizabethan and Jacobean England (1560s–1620s).
• BarbourA surname.
• calumetA clay tobacco pipe used by Native Americans, especially as a symbol of truce or peace.
• concurrenceAgreement; concurring.
• MalloryAn English surname from Old French.
• fretEspecially when describing animals: to consume, devour, or eat.
• devoidCompletely without; having none of
• barterAn exchange of goods or services without the use of money.
• consolationThe act or example of consoling; the condition of being consoled.
• baeThe ship prefix for ships of the navy of Ecuador.
• defamationThe act of injuring another person's reputation by any slanderous communication, written or oral; the wrong of maliciously injuring the good name of another.
• sextonA church official who looks after a church building and its graveyard and may act as a gravedigger and bell ringer.
• DelaneyA surname from Old French.
• HollisterA surname.
• GiffordA surname.
• impatientRestless, short of temper, and intolerant of delays.
• communicableAble to be transmitted between people or animals.
• evangelistAn itinerant or special preacher, especially a revivalist, who conducts services in different cities or locations, now often televised.
• nobilityA noble or privileged social class, historically accompanied by a hereditary title; aristocracy.
• dispenseTo issue, distribute, or give out.
• luceThe pike, Esox lucius, when fully grown.
• talonA sharp, hooked claw of a bird of prey or other predatory animal.
• benevolentHaving a disposition to do good.
• appelleeA respondent.
• maudA grey plaid once worn by shepherds in Scotland and Northumbria.
• taborA small drum.
• corrosiveEating away; having the power of gradually wearing, hanging, or destroying the texture or substance of a body; as the corrosive action of an acid.
• lashThe thong or braided cord of a whip, with which the blow is given.
• grouseAny of various game birds of the subfamily Tetraoninae which inhabit temperate and subarctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere; specifically, the red grouse (Lagopus scotica) native to heather moorland on the British Isles.
• BoyceAn English habitational surname from Old French for someone living near the woods.
• defyTo challenge (someone) or brave (a hazard or opposition).
• umpireAn official who presides over a sports match.
• esquireA lawyer.
• gableThe triangular area at the peak of an external wall adjacent to, and terminating, two sloped roof surfaces (pitches).
• furlTo lower, roll up and secure (something, such as a sail or flag)
• adversityThe state of adverse conditions; state of misfortune or calamity.
• meeChinese-style wheat noodles.
• inhabitTo live or reside in.
• deliveranceThe act of setting free or extricating from danger, imprisonment, bondage, evil, etc.
• detrimentHarm, hurt, damage.
• proverbA commonly used sentence expressing popular wisdom.
• eloquentFluently persuasive and articulate.
• reinsThe kidneys.
• divinationThe act of divining; a foreseeing or foretelling of future events.
• russelA twilled woolen material.
• RevellA surname.
• spireThe stalk or stem of a plant.
• recoilA starting or falling back; a rebound; a shrinking.
• tonnageThe number of tons of water that a floating ship displaces.
• HamlinA surname from Anglo-Norman.
• prolongTo extend in space or length.
• gistThe main idea or substance, or the most essential part, of a longer or more complicated matter; the crux, the heart, the pith.
• faerieRealm of the fays, fairyland.
• exorcismThe ritual act of driving out evil spirits from persons, places or things that are possessed by them.
• signetAn object (especially a ring) formerly used to impress a picture into the sealing wax of a document as a proof of its origin.
• feudalOf, or relating to feudalism.
• counterpointA melody added to an existing one, especially one added to provide harmony whilst each retains its simultaneous identity; a composition consisting of such contrapuntal melodies.
• piedHaving two or more colors, especially black and white.
• compactionThe process of compacting something, or something that has been compacted.
• BellamyA surname from Anglo-Norman.
• harassTo annoy (someone) frequently or systematically; to pester.
• JocelynA male given name from the Germanic languages.
• pervertOne who has been perverted; one who has turned to error, or adopted a twisted sense of values or morals.
• solaceComfort or consolation in a time of loneliness or distress.
• rivetA cylindrical mechanical fastener which is supplied with a factory head at one end and is used to attach multiple parts together by passing its bucktail through a hole and upsetting its end to form a field head.
• AmisAmis people, an ethnic group in Taiwan
• reassureTo assure anew; to restore confidence to; to free from fear or self-doubt.
• detachTo take apart from; to take off.
• vellumA type of parchment paper made from the skin of a lamb, baby goat, or calf.
• paternalOf or pertaining to one's father, his genes, his relatives, or his side of a family.
• inquisitionAn inquiry or investigation into the truth of some matter.
• eminenceSomeone of high rank, reputation or social status.
• viseAn instrument consisting of two jaws, closing by a screw, lever, cam, or the like, for holding work, as in filing.
• luteA fretted stringed instrument, similar to the guitar, having a bowl-shaped body or soundbox; any of a wide variety of chordophones with a pear-shaped body and a neck whose upper surface is in the same plane as the soundboard, with strings along the neck and parallel to the soundboard.
• preservativeAny agent, natural or artificial, that acts to preserve, especially when added to food.
• treacherousExhibiting treachery.
• revelAn instance of merrymaking; a celebration.
• theologianA specialist in academic theology.
• renownFame; celebrity; wide recognition.
• PercivalA male given name from the Celtic languages.
• professTo administer the vows of a religious order to (someone); to admit to a religious order.
• expectantMarked by expectation.
• OberonA fictional character in medieval and Renaissance literature, the king of the fairies, appearing for example in William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream.
• gendersA surname from Old French.
• RiddellA surname.
• vagabondA person on a trip of indeterminate destination and/or length of time.
• presideTo act as president or chairperson.
• concealmentThe practice of keeping secrets.
• dulcimerA stringed instrument, with strings stretched across a sounding board, usually trapezoidal, played by plucking on the strings (traditionally with a quill) or by tapping on them (in the case of the hammer dulcimers).
• detainTo keep something from proceeding or coming to completion; to delay.
• grocerA person who retails groceries (foodstuffs and household items) from a grocery.
• BidenA surname.
• denounceTo make known in a formal manner; to proclaim; to announce; to declare.
• gibbonA small, arboreal ape of the family Hylobatidae with long limbs, which they use to travel through tropical rainforests by swinging from branch to branch.