| boudoir |
a woman's private sitting room or bedroom. |
| burgeon |
to start to grow; send forth shoots, leaves, buds, or the like (often followed by "out" or "forth"). |
| cantankerous |
irritable, stubborn, and quarrelsome. |
| coddle |
to simmer in water that is almost at the boiling point. |
| deter |
to stop or discourage from some action by creating doubt or fear. |
| equipoise |
a state of balance or equal weight, importance, or the like; equilibrium. |
| gird |
to surround, bind, or encircle, as with a belt. |
| irrefragable |
impossible to refute or dispute; undeniable. |
| lorgnette |
eyeglasses, such as opera glasses, that have a short handle by which one holds them in position. |
| parturient |
giving birth or about to give birth; in labor. |
| pusillanimous |
shamefully timid; cowardly. |
| recurve |
to bend or curve back or backward, as the ends of certain shooting bows. |
| salacious |
excited by lust; lecherous. |
| schadenfreude |
(often capitalized) pleasure derived from the misfortune of others. |
| topography |
the shape of the earth's surface across an area or region. The topography of an area includes the size and location of hills and dips in the land. |