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The Word-Lover’s Lexicon

The Word-Lover’s Lexicon
Buy from Amazon

Nearly 2,000 words—including the ones you meant to look up but didn’t… things you didn’t know the names for… interesting concepts and unusual practices… and much more.

﹡ Witty, elegant, and quirky quotations from literature and journalism: excellent examples of the words in use, by the most skillful writers.
﹡ Vintage illustrations, jokes, and anecdotes.
﹡ A list of “The Ones You Really Should Know.”
﹡ Organized by category: personality types… “Things You Don’t Run Into Every Day”… Shakespearean vocabulary… terminology from architecture, art, music, law, and religion… and more.
﹡ The perfect book for your bedside table.

Whether you’re a writer, a reader, a teacher, or just someone who enjoys language, you’ll find delights on every page of The Word-Lover’s Lexicon.

What can you do with The Word-Lover’s Lexicon?

  • Read it for pleasure: in bed before going to sleep, or on the train to work. You can even keep a copy in the john.
  • Open to any random page when you want to be amused. Or read it from beginning to end, so you won’t miss anything.
  • Give it to the literature lover in your life.
  • Win at Scrabble.

A few samples:

overweening arrogant, overconfident, insolent
“Engaged. Donald Trump, 45, overweening casino developer, and Marla Maples, 27, his on-again, off-again girlfriend.” — Time magazine, 1991

mesomorph (“MEZZ-ə-morf”) a powerful, muscular person of medium stature
“Behold the manly mesomorph / Showing his splendid biceps off.” — W.H. Auden, Nones

marmoreal (“mar-MORE-ee-əl”) like marble: cold, smooth, white, hard; or made of marble
“The marmoreal cool of Debbie Harry and the band’s razor-sharp duds plastered across TV screens helped define the nascent new wave genre…” — from an article in Billboard magazine, 2020

provident (“PRAHV-e-dənt”) frugal; making foresightful arrangements for future needs
“My suspender broke and had it not been for my provident habit of carrying a supply of safety pins with me, I should have had an awkward day of it.” — from a letter by Vanessa Bell, in her Selected Letters

haboob (“ha-BOOB”) in Sudan, a strong wind that carries sand from the desert
“…if I hadn’t been wearing goggles she might’ve blinded me with that haboob she created.” — Lucy Ellmann, Ducks, Newburyport (The narrator is describing a traumatic experience with a dental hygienist’s abrasive cleaning device.)

rutilant (“ROO-tə-lənt”) glowing or glittering with a reddish or golden light
“He had a round head as bare as a knee, a corpse’s button nose, and very white, very limp, very damp hands adorned with rutilant gems.” — Vladimir Nabokov, Ada

uxorious (“ək-SOR-ee-əss”) excessively devoted to or fond of one’s wife; or submissive to her wishes
“The uxorious Hoosier, whose political career seemed deader than Lazarus or Myspace two years ago, is now a heartbeat… away from being leader of the free world.” — from an article about Mike Pence in Newsweek, 2017

adventitious (“ad-ven-TIH-shəss”) unplanned; acquired by accident; not inherent
“People often think of me as an adventurous fellow; nothing could be farther from the truth. My adventures were always adventitious, always thrust on me, always endured rather than undertaken.” — Henry Miller, Tropic of Capricorn

Nimrod a skilled hunter: often used ironically (from a descendant of Noah, mentioned in Genesis)
In a Looney Tune, Daffy Duck addresses Elmer Fudd as “my little Nimrod.” Audiences didn’t recognize the Biblical/literary reference, and understood the word to mean “inept fool.” It has had that additional meaning ever since.

• • •

Note: The book doesn’t include an index, but I made one, belatedly. If you own the book and want the index, send me an email—MikeLaser@comcast.net.


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