The Word -Expropriate

"Quite the statement, for one in Yorvet's control." She remarked, idly reaching up to tangle her fingers in his hair. "You're basically in expropriation. Here. You're basically a slave, not owning a single thing."
Kolt pushed himself away from her. "If you're trying to get me to like you, you're failing miserably." He rolled his eyes. If Yorvet told him anything useful, then the one thing he did own in this place was the Lunette blade. That couldn't be taken from him.
"I'm not trying to get you to like me." She laughed, taking his arm again.
"Then you get a gold medal for annoyance." He pulled away from her. "Go bug someone else."

Expropriate -1: to deprive of possession of proprietary rights 2: to transfer (the property of another) to one's own possession.

Added Info -If you guessed that "expropriate" has something in common with the verb "appropriate," you're right. Both words ultimately derive from the Latin adjective proprius, meaning "own." "Expropriate" came to us by way of the Medieval Latin verb expropriare, itself from Latin ex- ("out of" or "from") and proprius. "Appropriate" descends from Late Latin appropriare, which joins proprius and Latin ad- ("to" or "toward"). Both the verb "appropriate" ("to take possession of" or "to set aside for a particular use") and the adjective "appropriate" ("fitting" or "suitable") have been with us since the 15th century, and "expropriate" has been a part of the language since at least 1611. Other proprius descendants in English include "proper" and "property."

The Word -Compendious

"Go away." Kolt replied compendiously, as he removed his arm from hers. "I thought we established that I'm not worth talking to."
"Just the opposite actually." She replied, latching onto him again. She flashed a smile up at him, her teeth gleaming in the semi darkness. "You are quite the interesting person to talk to Kolt. Now that you can actually talk."
Kolt rolled his eyes. "Great. Well, unless you want to watch me sleep, I doubt I'll be that interesting."
"Who says I'm going to let you sleep."
"I say I'm going to sleep whether you want me to or not."

Compendious -marked by brief expression of a comprehensive matter :concise and comprehensive; also : comprehensive

Added Info -In current use, "compendious" is most often applied to things that are full in scope and concise in treatment. But the word also shares a sense of "brief in statement or expression" with synonyms "concise," "terse," "succinct," "pithy," "laconic," and "summary." "Concise" simply suggests the removal of all that is superfluous or elaborative ("a concise description"). "Terse" implies pointed conciseness ("a terse reply"). "Succinct" implies the greatest possible compression ("a succinct letter of resignation"). "Pithy" adds the implication of richness of meaning or substance ("pithy one-liners"). "Laconic" implies brevity to the point of seeming rude or indifferent ("a laconic stranger"). "Summary" suggests the stating of main points with no elaboration ("a summary listing of the year's main events").

The Word -Jamoke

She shrugged. "Because most nobles aren't smart enough to figure that out already." She leaned in, stroking his cheek. "Besides. I like hearing you nobles whine and demand things."
He leaned back, standing. "And I'd like a good brew of jamoke that doesn't taste like tar in the morning, but we can't all get what we want." He gave her a mocking bow. "A delightful meeting m'lady, but I must go." He dropped his bowl in the bucket of water, and didn't make it more than a dozen feet before she had slipped her arm around his.
She laughed. "You can't tell me when to leave remember."

Jamoke -Coffee

Added Info -"There ain't nothin' stronger in the booze line than pure alky mixed with jamocha." That 1922 quotation captures the flavor of early citations using "jamoke" and its parent. "jamocha." Both terms originated in naval slang from the late 1890s and quickly found a home in the parlance of hobos and gangsters. They blend "Java" and "Mocha," names for two places where coffee has long been grown. By World War II, "jamoke" had gained another slang sense, "a stupid or inconsequential fellow" or, more generically, "a man." One wag claims that transition happened when military personnel started to use "jamoke" jokingly for colleagues they felt weren't any more important than a cup of coffee. The "guy" sense remains rare in formal prose and does not appear in most dictionaries.

The Word -Superbity

She sat down on his other side, with a smirk. "You can't brush me off that easily, you know." She said leaning her head against her hand. "Even if you still have that superbity thing going for you. I suppose nobles can't just turn that off."
Kolt rolled his eyes. "No, I was born with that."
"I would have thought your time as a horse would have lessened it a degree."
He grimaced at her. "And you were doing so well at being less annoying then everyone else." Of course the whole camp knew he'd been a horse. Didn't mean they needed to bring it up every conversation though.
"So did it lessen it."
"It taught me demanding things is pointless."
"Is that why you haven't demanded I leave."
"Would you listen if I did?"
"No?"
Kolt nodded, finishing his soup. "So why waste my breath? I already did that before." And he'd need to conserve strength if Yorvet kept up his training regimen.


Superbity -haughtiness, arrogance

Added Info - "Superbity" must be related to "superb," right? Right--but the two words imply very different attitudes toward excellence. "Superbity" gives grandeur a negative spin, conveying a sense of annoying self-satisfaction. "Superb," on the other hand, it quite positive, suggesting that something is of the finest quality and represents the highest degree of perfection or competence. Together, the two terms give a fine overview of the meaning of their common parent, the Latin root superbus, which can mean "excellent," "proud," or "haughty."

The Word -Eructation

Kolt rolled his eyes. "Please, if any girl would come my way it's because they got tired of the rest of the camp eructing into their faces every two seconds, as they drink." He raised an eyebrow. "I'm not rich. I'm a prisoner. Prisoners don't have money. You might have missed that memo."
"Probably because all the eruction taking place in the camp has temporarily addled my brain." She remarked leaning her head on his shoulder. "What is a poor girl to do?"
"Grab a horse and run." He muttered.
"Only if you come with me."
"I don't even know you."
"So?"
"Soo...I don't even know you. I'm already in one trap, don't need another one, Thank you." He shrugged her off his shoulder, turning away to eat his soup.

Eruction -an act or instance of belching

Added Info -"Eructation" is simply a fancier, and some might argue a more decorous, word for "belch." "Eructation" was borrowed from Latin in the 15th century; the verb "eruct," meaning "to belch," followed in the late 16th century. Both have their source in the Latin verb eructare, which is the frequentative form of erugere, meaning "to belch or disgorge." (A frequentative form is one that denotes a repeated or recurrent action or state.) Eructare shares as ancestor with the Greek word ereugesthai as well as Old English rocettan, both of which also means "to belch."

The Word -Croesus

She laughed, sliding down on the bench next to him. "Really? And here I thought the croseus of the camp would be the shallowest of men. Waiting for a pretty girl to cross his path, to distract him for the miseries and woes of his now poverty filled life."

Croesus -a very rich man

Added Info -The original Croesus was a sixth-century B.C. king of Lydia, an ancient kingdom in what is now Turkey. Croesus conquered many surrounding regions, grew very wealthy, and became the subject of legends. In one legend, he was visited by Solon, the wise Athenian lawgiver. (Historians say this isn't chronologically possible, but it makes a good story.) Solon supposedly told Croesus, who thought he had everything: "Account no man happy before his death." Thi smade Croesus angry, and he threw the lawmaker out of his court. Croesus would rethink Solon's pronouncement later when his empire was overthrown by the Persians. Croesus's name shows up in the phrase "rich as Croesus," meaning "filthy rich," and it has also entered English as a generic term for someone extremely wealthy.

The Word -Jape

"Didn't they teach you manners in that castle of yours?"
Kolt looked up, momentarily forgetting the jape he was going to respond with upon seeing the young woman before him. He hadn't seen anyone remotely beautiful in Yorvet's camp before. Who was this? "I---it depends, are you a captive too or with Yorvet?" He finally responded.
She raised an eyebrow. "Yorvet."
He exhaled. Shoot. And returned to his bowl of soup. "Then, no, they didn't."
"And why is that?" She asked.
"Because they only went over niceties with Nobles and Peasants, we hadn't yet reached the lesson on kidnappers and their evil bands."
"So you think I'm evil?"
"Beautiful, sure. Evil probably." He shrugged with a smirk. "If this is Yorvet's idea of getting me to cooperate, you can tell him to forget it. I'm not that shallow." Not anymore. Not in this camp. He wasn't a fool


Jape -1: to say or do something jokingly or mockingly 2: to make mocking fun of.

Added Info -"Jape" mysteriously appeared in the English language during the 14th century and was adopted by literary folks, such as Geoffrey Chaucer, as a word meaning both "to trick" and "to jeer." It was also used, however, with the meanings "to seduce (someone)" or "to have sexual intercourse." This ambiguity forced writers to think twice about using "jape" in fear of misinterpretation. Ultimately, respectable writers avoided the word, and by the end of the 16th century, it had fallen into disuse. But this four-letter word was not completely forgotten. It got its second chance when 19th-century writers began using its "jeer" meaning again--leaving its carnal meaning in oblivion.

The Word -Rechauffe

The cook, who looked like he'd been celebrating with the wine a bit too much, slopped a huge spoonful of rechauffed beef stew into a bowl that looked like it hadn't been washed in a century. Kolt exhaled, taking a seat in a quiet corner away from the crazy dancers. What he wouldn't do to get some fresh duck. It had been beef stew for every meal for two weeks it felt like.

Rechauffe -1: rehash 2: a warmed-over dish of food.

Added Info -We borrowed "rechauffe" in the early 19th century from the French; it is the past participle of their verb rechauffer, which means "to reheat." Nineteenth-century French speakers were using it figuratively to designate something that was already old hat--you might say, "warmed over." English speakers adopted that same meaning, which is still our most common. But within decades, someone had apparently decided that leftovers would seem more appealing with a French name. The notion caught on. A recipe for "Rechauffe of Beef a la Jardiniere," for example, instructs the cook to reheat "yesterday's piece of meat" in a little water with some tomatoes added, and serve it on a platter with peas and carrots and potatoes. "Rechauffe" shares its root with another English word, "chafing dish," the name of a receptacle for keeping food warm at the table.

The Word -A-go-go

Apparently there was some reason to celebrate in the camp, everywhere Kolt looked there were people A-go-going all over the camp. Loud voices assaulted his ears after the relative quiet of Yorvet's training session, not at all helped by the random musical instruments everyone seemed to be playing. What was the deal here? What had happened in the hours he'd been gone to make everyone in a festive mood? He saw no reason to celebrate. They were stuck in the same place, and he wasn't getting home any time soon.

A-go-go -1: of, relating to, or being a disco or the music or dances performed there 2: being in a whirl of motion 3: being up-to-date--often used postpositively.

Added Info -The English word "a-go-go" has two functions. It's an adjective, as we've defined it on the other side of this page, but it's also a noun referring to a nightclub for dancing to popular music--that is, a disco. both the noun and the first meaning of the adjective betray the word's origins. It's from the name of a Parisian discotheque: the Whisky a Gogo, which translates to "whiskey galore." the French club, which opened in 1947 or 1948, predated the American discos that have also used the name, but the American versions undoubtedly helped spread the term "a-go-go" in English: the most famous of these, the still-operating Whisky a Go Go on Hollywood's Sunset Strip, opened in 1964, the year before our earliest evidence of the generic use of either the noun or the adjective "a-go-go."

The Word -Ramose

Kolt left without waiting for Yorvet's answer, easily navigating through the ramosed camp, now that he actually had time to figure out the crazy layout that Yorvet had designed. It was much easier now to do so than it had been as a horse. He wasn't tied down to one location at night. Not that you needed to know the location of the cooking tents. Following your nose was just as easy. Especially when the food smelled as nauseating as usual. Honestly, he doubted that the servants at home would give the food they served here to the pigs.

Ramose -consisting of or having branches.

Added Info- The adjective "ramose" is used to describe things that are branched, as in "ramose sponges," "ramose corals," or even "ramose trees." This branching can also be figurative, as in our example sentence. "Ramose" was borrowed from the Latin ramosus ("branched") in the 17th century. In the 15th century, the Latin ramosus had also been borrowed by English, by way of the Middle French rameux, as "ramous," a word nearly indentical in meaning and usage to "ramose." The root of ramosus, the Latin noun ramus ("branch"), is also the source, by way of Medieval Latin ramificare and Middle French ramifier, of the English verb "ramify."

The Word -Catachresis

"It's already burst, Kolt," Yorvet replied. "your sad attempts at keeping the bubble from fraying when it's already popped are pathetic."
"So is everything else I do." Fraying bubbles? That was such a catachresitic concept. Kolt shook his head, sheathing his knife. The only entertainment he had these days was being annoying to Yorvet. Why he put up with it, Kolt didn't know. "I'm going to go get your sad excuse for food around here." he turned away. "Let me guess. Be back in twenty minutes?" It wasn't like Yorvet would let him out of his sight for too long. He felt like Yorvet watched him while he slept, which was creepy. Even though he couldn't prove it.

Catachresis -1: use of the wrong word for the context 2: use of a forced and especially paradoxical figure of speech.

Added Info -As you might have guessed, "catachresis" is a word favored by grammarians. It can sometimes be merely a fancy way to disparage uses the grammarian finds unacceptable--as when Henry Fowler insisted in 1926 that the "mutual" in "our mutual friend" was a catachresis. (Fowler preferred "common," but "mutual" does have an established sense which is correct in that context.) The first recorded use of "catachresis" dates to 1553, and it has been used to describe (or decry) misuses of words ever since. "Catachresis" comes to us by way of Latin from the Greek word katachresis, which means "misuse."  

The Word -Biddable

"You would do well to be more biddable, Kolt." Yorvet threatened in a low tone.
Kolt rolled his eyes. "Or what? You'll horsify me again? I told you you could. Lugging a wagon around seems a lot easier than this stupid training. You can get your biddable servant than. A horse that can't escape his harness."
"You can't escape this one either."
"I'd like to believe I can, don't go bursting my idealic bubble."

Biddable - 1: easily led, taught, or controlled : docile 2: capable of being bid

Added Info -A "biddable" individual is someone you can issue an order to--that is, someone who will do your bidding. The word dates in the late 18th century, and our earliest evidence for it is a quote in the Scottish national Dictionary. There are a number of words in English that do what "biddaqble" does. "Tractable," "amenable," and "docile" are three of them. "Biddable" is often applied to children and indicates a ready, constant inclination to follow orders, requests, and suggestions. "Tractable" suggests characteristics that make for easy guiding, leading, ordering, or managing; its antonym "intractable" (as in "intractable problems") is more common. "Amenable" indicates a disposition to be agreeable or complaisant as well as a lack of assertive independence. "Docile" can stress a disposition to submit, either to due guidance and control or to imposition and oppression.