Wondrous Words 4-29-2009

Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme where we share new (to us) words that we’ve encountered in our reading. To join in the fun, post your words on your blog and then leave a message over at Bermudaonion's Blog!

My first word this week is from Wild Highland Magic by Kendra Leigh Castle.

Vitriol - Used like this: Taken aback by the vitriol, Bastian frowned. (p8)

Definition - Bitterly abusive feeling or expression.

The rest of my words are from Fire Me by Libby Malin.

Cels - Used like this: Ken had seen Mitch's "bad news" act before and could plot it out like cels in a cartoon. (p 33)

Definition - A cel, short for celluloid, is a transparent sheet on which objects are drawn or painted for traditional, hand-drawn animation.

dotage - used like this - Maybe Anne was slowing down in her dotage.(p49)

Definition - a state or period of senile decay marked by decline of mental poise and alertness

bollix - used like this - She sat at her desk drumming her fingers, ready to jump in and bollix things up but stalled by swirling jitters.(p49)

Definition - to throw into disorder

petard - used like this - She'd hoist Mitch on his own petard today. (p50)

Definition - A small bell-shaped bomb used to breach a gate or wall

Fun Fact - Word History: The French used pétard, "a loud discharge of intestinal gas," for a kind of infernal engine for blasting through the gates of a city. "To be hoist by one's own petard," a now proverbial phrase apparently originating with Shakespeare's Hamlet (around 1604) not long after the word entered English (around 1598), means "to blow oneself up with one's own bomb, be undone by one's own devices." The French noun pet, "fart," developed regularly from the Latin noun peditum, from the Indo-European root *pezd-, "fart." (from www.thefreedictionary.com)

veneration - used like this - She squinted at Ken, trying to see him through her eyes alone, not through her previous veneration of Mitch.(p55)

Definition - Profound respect or reverence