My six words this week come from four different places: Spurgeon, 
1. weal
(n) [weel]
Definition—well-being, prosperity, or happiness
Use—“During a lull in the proceedings, he pointed out some lines in a book he had brought with him—lines that admonished any young man seeking a wife ‘to pray for her weal.’”
~ Spurgeon: A New Biography
2. peroration
(n) [per-uh-REY-shuhn]
Definition—the concluding part of a speech or discourse, in which the speaker or writer recapitulates the principal points and urges them with greater earnestness and force
Use—“At the end of the sermon he made a mighty effort to recover his voice, but utterance well-nigh failed, and only in broken accents could the pathetic peroration be heard—‘Let my name perish, but let Christ’s name last forever!’”
~ Spurgeon: A New Biography
3. precentor
(n) [pri-SEN-ter]
Definition—a person who leads a church choir or congregation in singing
Use—“A precentor set the pitch of each hymn with a tuning fork and led the singing with his own voice.”
~ Spurgeon: A New Biography
4. semaphore
(n) [SEM-uh-fawr]
Definition—a system of sending messages by holding the arms or two flags or poles in certain positions according to an alphabetic code
Use—“Unbeknownst to him, he has begun the ritual of semaphore with his father, forsaking words or physical affection.”
~ The Five People You Meet in Heaven
5. nom de guerre
(n) [nom duh GAIR]
Definition—an assumed name under which a person engages in combat or some other activity or enterprise
Use—“He did not resemble a man whom Interpol had hunted for years and who was known in the organization’s files only by his nom de guerre, Salah ad-Din, the name of the twelfth-century Islamic warrior who defended Jerusalem from the Crusaders.”
~ The Last Ember
6. ordure
(n) [AWR-jer]
Definition—excrement; dung
Use—“Having no fixed lamps in eastern towns, in old time each passenger carried a lantern with him that he might not fall into the open sewer, or stumble over the heaps of ordure which defiled the road.”
~ Broken-Down House
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What new words have you learned this week? Join Kathy to add yours.
2 comments:
Nom de guerre is just great. So we can not only have a pen name, we can have a fighting name as well?
Now to decide what I'll have as my nom de guerre :-)
Great words! I knew semaphore because my dad has talked about that from his Navy days. Thanks for playing along!
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