Douglas Mazanec

chatoyant - adj / having a changeable color or luster / (jewelry) reflecting a single streak of light when cut in a cabochon / showing a band of bright luster caused by reflections from inclusions in the stone / [origin] from French chatoyer (to iridesce like a cat's eye), from chat (cat)

lotus eater - [note] / in the Odyssey, some of the sailors eat the lotus and forget about their homeland, pleading to stay forever in this lotusland / it carries connotations of indolence and self-indulgence

lotus eater - n / a person who leads a life of dreamy, indolent ease, indifferent to the busy world / [origin] from Greek Mythology: a member of a people whom Odysseus found existing in a state of languorous forgetfulness induced by eating the fruit of the legendary lotus; one of the logophagi

windlestraw - adj / (Scottish) lacking substance; flimsy, ineffectual, weak, delicate // n / a dry withered stalk of grass. In later use chiefly literary and in figurative contexts / a thin lanky person. Also: a person of weak health or character.

amaritude - n / bitter feelings or sentiments; acrimony; resentment / the quality of being bitter to the mind or feelings; distress; anguish / [origin] from French amaritude (bitterness of feelings, emotional pain), from Latin amāritūdō (bitterness of taste, bitterness of expression or feelings)

concinnity - n / the skillful & harmonious arrangement or fitting together of different parts of something / studied elegance of literary or artistic style / [origin] from Latin concinnus (skillfully put together), from concinnare (to place fitly together), from cinnus (a well mixed Roman cocktail)

Tangram - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangram

tangram - note / the first use is believed to be in the 1848 book Geometrical Puzzle for the Young by mathematician and future Harvard University president Thomas Hill, who likely coined the term

tangram - n / a Chinese puzzle made by cutting a square of thin material into five triangles, a square, and a rhomboid which are capable of being recombined in many different figure / [origin] perhaps from Chinese táng (Tang dynasty) + English -gram

thunderbox - n / (slang) a chamber pot enclosed in a box; a portable commode / (chiefly Australia, Britain, slang) any lavatory or toilet, especially a rudimentary outdoor latrine or toilet, or an outhouse.

uranomania - n / the delusion that one is of divine origin / [origin] from Greek urano- (heavens) + -mania (obsession)

antidromic - adj / flowing in the opposite direction from normal / conducting nerve impulses in a direction opposite to normal / [origin] from anti- + Greek dromos (racecourse, running)

regulus - n / the metallic mass that sinks to the bottom of a furnace or crucible during smelting / an relatively impure intermediate product of various ores in smelting / [origin] from Latin regulus (little king), diminutive of rex

rhadamanthine - adj / sternly and uncompromisingly just / inflexibly rigorous or severe / [origin] in Greek mythology, Rhadamanthos was the son of Zeus and Europa who, in reward for being fair but inflexible in his judgment, was made one of the three judges of the underworld

opsimath - n / a person who begins to learn or study only late in life / [origin] from Greek opsimathēs, from opse (late) + -mathano (I learn)

postilion - origin / from French postilion, from Italian postiglione (post boy) / [note] British spelling is postillion

postilion - n / a rider on the first pair of horses of a coach, a guide / a person who rides the left horse of the leading or only pair of horses drawing a carriage / same as postilion-basque / a rider mounted on the near, leading horse pulling a carriage who guides the team

eprouvette - n / an apparatus, such as a mortar, for testing the explosive force of gunpowder / a spoon used in assaying metals / a short mortar / [origin] from French éprouver (to test, try), from Old French esprover, from Latin exprobare, from ex- + probare (to try, approve, prove) + -ette

twitterpated - adj / infatuated; obsessed; smitten; lovestruck / in a state of nervous excitement / [origin] from twitter +‎ pated, i.e., having one's pate in a twitter (confused)

spolia optima - n / (historical) rich spoils / the armor and arms taken by the victor from a slain general / the spoils taken by a Roman general from an opponent commander, originally after single combat.

spolia - n / (architecture) old objects, artifacts, and/or sculptural elements reused in a later work of architecture / [origin] from Latin spolia (spoils)

spoor - n / a trace or a set of footprints by which the progress of someone or something may be followed / [origin] from Afrikaans spoor, from Middle Dutch spor; related to OE spor (footprint, track, trace) / [note] may include tracks, scents, or broken foliage

pugmark - n / the footprint of an animal / [origin] from Hindi pag (foot), from Sanskrit pad

ashlar - origin / from ME asheler, acheler, from French esselier (traverse beam), diminutive of ais (plank), from Latin axis

ashlar - n / (architecture) a squared building stone cut more or less true on all faces adjacent to other stones to permit very thin mortar joints / finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, or a structure built from such stones

cynosure - [note] / Cynosura refers to the constellation Ursa Minor, which contains the North Star (Polaris), the focus of navigation and guider of travelers without a map

cynosure - n / a person or thing that is the center of attention or admiration; the main attraction / something that strongly attracts attention by its brilliance or interest / something serving for guidance or direction / [origin] from Latin Cynosura (dog's tail), from Greek kynosoura (dog's tail)

tumbril - n / one of the carts used during the French Revolution to convey victims to the guillotine / a two-wheeled farmer’s cart, especially one for hauling manure, that can be tilted to dump its load / [origin] from French tumberel (dump cart), from tomber (let fall or tumble)

campanology - n / the art of making bells; the art of bell ringing / [origin] from Latin campanologia, from campana (bell) + -ology (study of) / [note] from the Campana region of Italy known for the bronze that was used to cast bell

epigone - n / a less distinguished follower or imitator of someone, especially an artist or philosopher / a disciple of a famous writer, etc., not famous in his own right / [origin] from French épigone, from Greek Epigonoi (sons of the seven heroes against Thebes)