Month: May 2009

I\’ve been so out of it I missed posting for wondrous words on wednesday- so here are my finds, on a friday. Hope no one minds.

These new words are from Dolphin Chronicles:

Proprioceptive– \”A dolphin might have a hard time conveying an accurate acoustic image he\’d echolocated on if the other party didn\’t also have access to his proprioceptive information…\”
Definition: the ability to sense the body\’s location, position and orientation

Antiphonal– \”They often whistle in antiphonal fashion- when one whistles, another calls in response.\”
Definition: occurring or responding in turns

Vicissitude– \”She\’d suffered through the various vicissitudes of the project, all the waiting and all the uncertainties.\”
Definition: a change or variation

Prophylactic– \”Forrest prescribed a prophylactic regimen of antibiotics for both Echo and Misha…\”
Definition: acting to defend against or protect something

Anthropogenic– \”Excluding the mad slasher, anthropogenic causes include fishing nets, pollution, and boats.\”
Definition: caused by humans

Seriatim– \”Not all at once- they don\’t necessarily need to broadcast along the whole length of the bay- but seriatim.\”
Definition: one after another, in a series

These words are from Ice Bound:

Antipodal– \”Other points of departure for the huge continent include Cape Town, South Africa; Punta Arenas, Chile; and a few other antipodal ports.\”
Definition: situated on opposite sides of the Earth

Austral– \”But it was late in the austral summer, and almost everybody was already in place at the three US bases.\”
Definition: relating to or of the southern region of the globe

Ablate– \”I had to surgically ablate the dead skin, cut below it to loosen and stretch it and repair the wound…\”
Definition: to remove an organ or body structure

Sastrugi-\”We were airborne, skimming the tops of sastrugi.\”
Definition: a long wavelike ridge of snow formed by wind

Here\’s the new words I found in my reading during the week:

From Adventures of a Zoologist:

Noncom– \”… we watched through the windows as noncoms fried steaks on a grill among the snowdrifts.\”
Definition: a subordinate officer appointed from enlisted personnel

Otolith– \”Students at Evergreen State College, on Puget Sound, are finding out what seals eat by examining fish otoliths in seal scats recovered from the beach.\”
Definition: a calcerous particle found in the inner ear; in bony fishes it forms a hard shape distinctive to each species

From Dolphin Chronicles:

Purview– \”Even in a boat it\’s difficult to track dolphins at sea for any length of time, and then we generally see only the surface of their lives- most of their activity takes place under water, beyond our purview.\”
Definition: range of vision, comprehension, or experience

Necropsy– \”They were about to perform a necropsy on Arrow, Jane said, and would let us know the results.\”
Definition: what an autopsy is called when performed on animals

Sobriquet– \”So what better sobriquet than Mikhal Baryshnikov\’s nickname?\”
Definition: an affectionate or humorous nickname (one of the dolphins was named Misha)

Gelid– \”A true athlete- triathlete, actually- with the smoothly muscled physique of a competitive swimmer, she swam regularly in the gelid waters of Monterey Bay.\”
Definition: very cold, icy

Umbrage– \”After some initial umbrage at the appellation, we decided to claim the title as our own: we were the dolphinettes, and proud of it.\”
U: feeling of anger, taking offense
Appellation: a name or title (see above usage)

For more wondrous words, visit the host of this meme at Bermudaonion\’s Weblog.