This site is 100% ad supported. Please add an exception to adblock for this site.

New Words from 'Da Vinci Code'

Start Studying!

Terms

undefined, object
copy deck
Trepidation
1. A state of alarm or dread; apprehension. fear.
2. An involuntary trembling or quivering.
Syn:
apprehension, affright, alarm, dread, fear, fearfulness, fright, funk, horror, panic, terror.
sepulchral
1. Of or relating to a burial vault or a receptacle for sacred relics.
2. Suggestive of the grave; funereal.
grotto
1. A small cave or cavern.
2. An artificial structure or excavation made to resemble a cave or cavern.
also:
A hollow beneath the earth's surface
Synonym: grot
The word comes from Italian grotta, Vulgar Latin grupta, Latin crypta, (a crypt). It is related to the word grotesque
Wicca
1. A polytheistic Neo-Pagan nature religion inspired by various pre-Christian western European beliefs, whose central deity is a mother goddess and which includes the use of herbal magic and benign witchcraft.
2. A group or community of believers or followers of this religion.

Originally founded by the British civil servant Gerald Gardner, probably in the 1940s
labrys
double-headed axe
sistrum
A percussion instrument of ancient Egypt, Sumeria, and Rome consisting of metal rods or loops attached to a metal frame.
piquant
1. Pleasantly pungent or tart in taste; spicy.
2.
a. Appealingly provocative: a piquant wit.
b. Charming, interesting, or attractive: a piquant face.
3. Archaic. Causing hurt feelings; stinging.
chevy
annoy continually or chronically
caduceus
1. A herald's wand or staff, especially in ancient times.
2. Greek Mythology. A winged staff with two serpents twined around it, carried by Hermes.

# An insignia modeled on Hermes's staff and used as the symbol of the medical profession
millwork
Woodwork, such as doors, window casings, and baseboards, ready-made by a lumber mill.
parquet
1. A floor made of parquetry.
2. The art or process of making parquetry.
3.
a. The part of the main floor of a theater between the orchestra pit and the parquet circle.
b. The entire main floor of a theater.

literally: wooden floor
ankh
A cross shaped like a T with a loop at the top, especially as used in ancient Egypt as a symbol of life. Also called ansate cross.
par·quet·ry (pär'kĭ-trē) pronunciation
n., pl. -ries.
Inlay of wood, often of different colors, that is worked into a geometric pattern or mosaic and is used especially for floors.
widow's peak
n.
A V-shaped point formed by the hair near the top of the human forehead.
Foist
1. To pass off as genuine, valuable, or worthy: “I can usually tell whether a poet . . . is foisting off on us what he'd like to think is pure invention” (J.D. Salinger).
2. To impose (something or someone unwanted) upon another by coercion or trickery: They had extra work foisted on them because they couldn't say no to the boss.
3. To insert fraudulently or deceitfully: foisted unfair provisions into the contract.
buttress
1. A structure, usually brick or stone, built against a wall for support or reinforcement.
2. Something resembling a buttress, as:
1. The flared base of certain tree trunks.
2. A horny growth on the heel of a horse's hoof.
3. Something that serves to support, prop, or reinforce: “The law is by its very nature a buttress of the status quo” (J. William Fulbright).

tr.v., -tressed, -tress·ing, -tress·es.

1. To support or reinforce with a buttress.
2. To sustain, prop, or bolster: “The author buttresses her analysis with lengthy dissections of several of Moore's poems” (Warren Woessner).

noun
A means or device that keeps something erect, stable, or secure: brace, crutch, prop, shore, stay, support, underpinning.

verb
To present evidence in support of: back (up), corroborate, substantiate.
ab·struse
ab·struse (ăb-strūs', əb-)
adj.

Difficult to understand; recondite.
synonym: ambiguous.
obstinate
1. Stubbornly adhering to an attitude, opinion, or course of action; obdurate.
2. Difficult to manage, control, or subdue; refractory.
3. Difficult to alleviate or cure: an obstinate headache.

adjective

1. Tenaciously unwilling to yield: bullheaded, dogged, hardheaded, headstrong, mulish, pertinacious, perverse, pigheaded, stiff-necked, tenacious, willful. See resist/yield.
2. Not submitting to discipline or control: disorderly, fractious, indocile, intractable, lawless, obstreperous, recalcitrant, refractory, uncontrollable, undisciplined, ungovernable, unmanageable, unruly, untoward, wild. Idioms: out of line. See control/uncontrol, order/disorder, peace/conflict, resist/yield.
3. Difficult to alleviate or cure: persistent, pertinacious, stubborn.
espousal
1.
1. A betrothal.
2. A wedding ceremony.
2. Adoption of an idea or a cause.

noun

1. The act or condition of being pledged to marry: betrothal, engagement, troth. See marriage/unmarried.
2. The act or ceremony by which two people become husband and wife: bridal, marriage, nuptial (often used in plural), spousal (often used in plural), wedding. See marriage/unmarried.
3. A ready taking up of something: adoption, embracement. See accept/reject, give/take/reciprocity.
tithing
An administrative division consisting of ten householders in the old English system of frankpledge
flag·el·la·tion
flag·el·la·tion (flăj'ə-lā'shən)
n.
1. Whipping oneself or another as a means of arousing or heightening sexual feeling.
2. The flagellar arrangement on an organism.
cloistered
Meaning #1: of communal life sequestered from the world under religious vows
Synonyms: cloistral, conventual, monastic, monastical

Meaning #2: providing privacy or seclusion
Synonyms: reclusive, secluded, sequestered
Start Studying!

Deck Info

22

permalink