Welcome back, wordy friends!
Wondrous Words Wednesday is hosted by BermudaOnion each week. It's an opportunity to share new words you've encountered in your reading, or highlight words that you particularly enjoy.
Here are three of my favorites new-to-me words from some of my recent reads. All definitions from Dictionary.com.
1. craic. "'And take those jeans off,' her daughter called. 'And try to get in the spirit of it, Mum, or you're not going to enjoy yourself. It's only a bit of craic.'" (from The Light of Amsterdam by David Park)
noun
1. fun and entertainment, especially good conversation and company (often preceded by the): Come for the beer, lads, and stay for the craic!
2. mischievous fun; laughs: We did it just for the craic.
Now there's a good Irish-ism!
2. abstemious. "That's what did it for him. And women of course although this was an area in which he would have been more than willing to be less abstemious if the opportunities had only presented themselves." (from The Light of Amsterdam by David Park)
adjective
1. sparing or moderate in eating and drinking; temperate in diet.
2. characterized by abstinence: an abstemious life.
3. sparing: an abstemious diet.
I pretty much figured out the definition from the context, but definitely a new word for me.
3. ataxia. "The mark of the devil on a woman's breast is only a mole, the man who came back from the dead and stood at his wife's door dressed in the cerements of the grave was only suffering from locomotor ataxia..." (from 'Salem's Lot by Stephen King)
noun
loss of coordination of the muscles, especially of the extremities.
Leave it to SK to make a medical term take a creepy turn.
What are your new words this week?
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