wondrous words

for this week, my new words came from reading Living to Tell the Tale:

Rarefy- "He had a power of evocation so intense that each thing he recounted seemed to become visible in the room rarefied by heat."
Definition: to purify or refine

Tutelary- "The two tutelary almond trees that for years had been an unequivocal sign of identity had been cut down to the roots and the house left exposed to the elements."
Definition: one that serves as guardian or protector

Shirred- "Recent generations do not seem moved by that princess with the shirred skirts, little white boots, and a braid hanging down to her waist..."
Definition: cloth gathered into decorative rows by parallel stitches

Tertian- "She had spent an uncertain childhood plagued by tertian fevers..."
Definition: recurring every other day, or every third day

Parvenu- "The majority of adults, however, viewed Luisa Santiaga as the precious jewel of a rich and powerful family whom a parvenu telegraph operator was courting not for love but self-interest."
Definition: a person newly risen to a higher social position who is lacks the culture or education of that status

Obdurate- "... he expressed his heartfelt certainty that there was no human power capable of overcoming this obdurate love."
Definition: obstinate, hardhearted

and from Celebrating the Wild Mushroom:

Mycologist- "The squadron leader is Kent McKnight, a highly respected professional mycologist who works for the U.S. Department of Agriculture."
Definition: a botanist who specializes in the study of fungi

Umbonate, Fibrillose- "I knew immediately when a cap was striated or fibrillose, whether it was bell-shaped or umbonate."
U: having a knob or knob-like protuberance
F: covered evenly with small, threadlike fibers

Glabrous, Viscid- "Is it glabrous or viscid?"
G: smooth, having no hairs or projections
V: having a sticky or clammy coating

Amyloid- "They are all pale yellow- to brown-capped, are amyloid, and posses a ring and a bulbous base."
Definition: a starchlike substance

Balkanized- "Even within the genera, rules change from year to year, as old characteristics are reevaluated and new ones discovered; whole groups of mushrooms are balkanized while others are unified."
Definition: a territory or region divided into small, hostile states

Mycophogist- "For mycophagists, they are a pleasant dream, and it matters not at all what they are called."
Definition: a person (or animal) who eats fungi

Tomentose- "He goes outside and returns with his tennis racket covered with a magnificent array of chestnut-capped boletes in perfect condition, their pale pink pores firm, their thick, white, slightly tomentose stipes solid enough to walk on."
Definition: covered with short, dense matted hairs

Saprophyte- "There are still thousands of varieties out there doing their job, acting as saprophytes or trading nutrients with trees and shrubs."
Definition: a living organism that absorbs its nourishment from dead organic matter

Duxelle- "... with a little care you will have a full winter supply of ingredients for stews and ragouts, quiches, duxelles and omelettes."
Definition: a finely chopped mix of mushrooms, shallots, herbs and onions sauteed in wine

Duff- "As with so many other mushrooms, the first one is the hardest to spot, and more often than not a little digging among the pine duff will produce more..."
Definition: decaying leaves and branches on the forest floor

Find more wondrous words at the host of this meme, Bermudaonion's Weblog