The Stoneholding

Word Definitions: (» printable version)

adversary - An opponent; an enemy.

anointed - To choose by or as if by divine intervention.

antechamber - A smaller room serving as an entryway into a larger room.

barge - A long, large, usually flatbottom boat for transporting freight that is generally unpowered and towed or pushed by other craft.

battleaxe - A woman held to be antagonistic or overbearing.

beakhead - An ornament used in rich Norman doorways, resembling a head with a beak.

becket - A device, such as a looped rope, hook and eye, strap, or grommet, used to hold or fasten loose ropes, spars, or oars in position.

berth - A place for a boat to dock or anchor.

bilge - Where the sides of the vessel curve in to form the bottom.

bodes - To predict; foretell.

bolster - A long narrow pillow or cushion. To support or prop up with or as if with a long narrow pillow or cushion.

bludgeon - To hit with or as if with a heavy club.

breeches - Linen trousers, reaching from the waist to a little above the knee.

broached - To bring up (a subject) for discussion or debate.

brogue - A strong dialectal accent, especially a strong Irish accent.

burdock - Any of several weedy, chiefly biennial plants of the genus Arctium in the composite family, having pink or purplish flower heads surrounded by prickly bracts and forming a bur in fruit.

burr - A trilling of the letter r, usually made with the tip of the tongue and characteristic of Scottish speech.

charlatan - A person who makes elaborate, fraudulent, and often voluble claims to skill or knowledge; a quack or fraud.

clout - A blow with the fist.

colic - Pain with crying and irritability in young infants, due to a variety of causes, such as swallowing air, emotional upset, or overfeeding.

cresset - A metal cup, often suspended on a pole, containing burning oil or pitch and used as a torch.

cronies - A longtime close friend or companion.

dais - A raised platform, as in a lecture hall, for speakers or honored guests.

deference - Courteous respect.

dogging - To fail to expend the effort needed to do or accomplish something.

doublet - A close-fitting jacket, with or without sleeves, worn by European men between the 15th and 17th centuries.

dour - Marked by sternness or harshness.

draper - A dealer in cloth or clothing and dry goods.

emanated - To come or send forth, as from a source. Emit.

embrasure - An opening in a thick wall for a door or window, especially one with sides angled so that the opening is larger on the inside of the wall than on the outside.

ermine - A weasel of northern regions, having a black-tipped tail and dark brown fur that in winter changes to white. The commercially valuable white fur of this animal.

escarpment - A steep slope or long cliff that results from erosion or faulting and separates two relatively level areas of differing elevations. A steep slope in front of a fortification.

fealty - Faithfulness; allegiance. The loyalty that citizens owe to their country (or subjects to their sovereign)

feign - To give a false appearance of. To represent falsely; pretend to.

feint - A feigned attack designed to draw defensive action away from an intended target.

fishmonger - Someone who sells fish.

fluted - A long, usually rounded groove incised as a decorative motif on the shaft of a column, for example.

fop - A man who is much concerned with his dress and appearance.

foppish - Of, relating to, or characteristic of a fop; dandified. Fop is a man who is preoccupied with and often vain about his clothes and manners; a dandy.

formidable - Difficult to undertake, surmount, or defeat.

frieze - A decorative horizontal band, as along the upper part of a wall in a room.

frock - A dress.

garrison - A military post, especially one that is permanently established. The troops stationed at a military post.

gibbet - A device used for hanging a person until dead; a gallows. An upright post with a crosspiece, forming a T-shaped structure from which executed criminals were formerly hung for public viewing.

gilded - To give an often deceptively attractive or improved appearance to.

girth - The distance around a person's body.

glibly - Marked by ease and fluency of speech or writing that often suggests or stems from insincerity, superficiality, or deceitfulness.

grillwork - Mesh netting made of wires.

guffaw - A hearty, boisterous burst of laughter.

Guild - A similar association, as of merchants or artisans, in medieval times.

gunwales - The upper edge of the side of a vessel.

gusto - Vigorous enjoyment; zest.

hackle - A feeling of anger and animosity.

hasp - A metal fastener with a hinged slotted part that fits over a staple and is secured by a pin, bolt, or padlock.

hauberk - A long tunic made of chain mail.

hedge-born - Born under a hedge; of low birth.

hilt - The handle of a sword or dagger.

hobbled - Device around the legs.

implacable - Impossible to placate or appease: implacable foes; implacable suspicion.

insolence - The trait of being rude.

jerkin - A close-fitting, hip-length, collarless jacket having no sleeves but often extended shoulders, belted and worn over a doublet by men especially in the 16th century.

jig - Dance a quick dance with leaping and kicking motions.

lee side - The side of something that is sheltered from the wind.

leer - To look with a sidelong glance. A suggestive or sneering look or grin.

leprous - Of, relating to, or resembling leprosy.

lunge - A sudden thrust or pass, as with a sword.

lurk - To lie in wait, as in ambush.

marchland - A borderland. District consisting of the area on either side of a border or boundary of a country or an area.

marshal - To arrange, place, or set in methodical order.

mewling - To cry weakly; whimper.

mirth - Gladness and gaiety, especially when expressed by laughter.

mockery - Scorn or ridicule.

moulding - A decorative strip used for ornamentation or finishing.

mutton - The flesh of fully grown sheep.

nimble - Quick, light, or agile in movement or action.

oblige - To do a service or favor for.

pallid - Having an abnormally pale or wan complexion.

palsied - Trembling or shaking.

pang - A sudden sharp spasm of pain.

paring - To reduce as if by cutting off outer parts; trim.

parry - The deflecting or warding off of a thrust or blow, as in fencing.

pestilent - Causing annoyance or disapproval.

pliable - Easily influenced, persuaded, or swayed.

pommel - A knob on the hilt of a sword or similar weapon.

quay - A wharf or reinforced bank where ships are loaded or unloaded.

quillons - Bar (usually iron) forming the crossguard of a sword or dagger.

rabble - A disorderly crowd of people; a mob.

rangy - Having long slender limbs.

reek - To give off or become permeated with a strong unpleasant odor.

relish - Something that lends pleasure.

rivet - A metal bolt or pin having a head on one end, inserted through aligned holes in the pieces to be joined and then hammered on the plain end so as to form a second head.

rogue - A wandering beggar; a vagrant.

ruff - A stiffly starched frilled or pleated circular collar of lace, muslin, or other fine fabric, worn by men and women in the 16th and 17th centuries.

runic - Any of the characters in several alphabets used by ancient peoples.

ruse - A deceptive maneuver (especially to avoid capture).

sheath - A case for a blade, as of a sword.

smug - Exhibiting or feeling great or offensive satisfaction with oneself or with one's situation.

sovereign - A king, queen, or other noble person.

strew - To spread here and there; scatter.

suet - Hard fatty tissues.

tallow - Fat.

taunt - To disgrace in a mocking, insulting, or contemptuous manner.

termagant - A quarrelsome, scolding woman; a shrew.

tiltyard - A place for a medieval sport in which two mounted knights with lances charged together and attempted to unhorse one another.

trilled - Speech sound pronounced with such a vibration. A rapid vibration of one speech organ against another, as of the tongue against the alveolar ridge in Spanish rr.

tunic - A medieval surcoat. Worn in the Middle Ages by a knight over his armor.

turret - A small tower or tower-shaped projection on a building.

unencumbered - uncluttered.

unscathed - Not injured or harmed.

wainscotted - A facing or paneling, usually of wood, applied to the walls of a room.

welter - A confused mass; a jumble.

wheedle - To persuade or attempt to persuade by flattery or guile; cajole.

whelp - A child; a youth.

Wherries - A light, swift rowboat built for one person and often used in racing. A sailing barge used in East Anglia.

wry - Dryly humorous, often with a touch of irony.

wrought - Shaped.