Happy birthday, Brett!

I’ve been reading Mansfield Park for the last couple of weeks. I’m enjoying it quite a bit and I can’t wait until I finish reading it. (As of tomorrow, though, The Host will take precedence. )

I’m half way through Mansfield Park and I’ve already learned 52 new words! I’ve heard a lot of the words before, but I’ve never really known what they meant, didn’t realize they were the same word I’d heard before, or I didn’t know they had a double meaning.

I thought I’d post the 52 words I’ve learned now and post the rest I’m sure I’ll learn when I’ve finished reading the book.

1. Alacrity: cheerful readiness, promptness, or willingness.
2. Alight: to dismount from a horse, descend from a vehicle, etc.
3. Arbiter: a person empowered to decide matters at issue; judge; umpire.
4. Archly: in an arch or roguish manner.
5. Baize: a soft, usually green, woolen or cotton fabric resembling felt, used chiefly for the tops of billiard tables.
6. Baronet: a member of a British hereditary order of honor, ranking below the barons and made up of commoners, designated by Sir before the name and Baronet, usually abbreviated Bart, after: Sir John Smith, Bart.
7. Barouche: a four-wheeled carriage with a high front seat outside for the driver, facing seats inside for two couples, and a calash top over the back seat.
8. Bon vivant: a person who lives luxuriously and enjoys good food and drink.
9. Curate: a member of the clergy employed to assist a rector or vicar.
10. Curricle: a light, two-wheeled, open carriage drawn by two horses abreast.
11. Damask: a reversible fabric of linen, silk, cotton, or wool, woven with patterns.
12. Demesne: the grounds belonging to a mansion or country house.
13. Descry: to see (something unclear or distant) by looking carefully; discern; espy.
14. Diminution: the act, fact, or process of diminishing; lessening; reduction.
15. Doge: the chief magistrate in the former republics of Venice and Genoa.
16. Dowager: an elderly woman of stately dignity, esp. one of elevated social position.
17. Dramatis Personæ: a list of the characters in a play or story.
18. Duenna: a governess.
19. Éclaircissement: clarification; explanation.
20. Éclat: showy or elaborate display.
21. Esprit du corps: the common spirit existing in the members of a group and inspiring enthusiasm, devotion, and strong regard for the honor of the group.
22. Evince: to show clearly; make evident or manifest; prove.
23. Forestall: to prevent, hinder, or thwart by action in advance.
24. Frank: a signature or mark affixed by special privilege to a letter, package, or the like to ensure its transmission free of charge, as by mail.
25. Furlong: a unit of distance equal to 220 yards (about 201 meters).
26. Heath: any of various low-growing evergreen shrubs common on such land, as the common heather.
27. Imputed: estimated to have a certain cash value, although no money has been received or credited.
28. Indecorous: not in keeping with accepted standards of what is right or proper in polite society.
29. Indisposition: disinclination; unwillingness.
30. Indubitable: that cannot be doubted; patently evident or certain; unquestionable.
31. Insipid: flat, dull, uninteresting.
32. Knock up: to exhaust; weary; tire.
33. Languor: lack of energy or vitality; sluggishness.
34. Laudable: deserving praise; praiseworthy; commendable.
35. Lubber: a clumsy person.
36. Mirth: gaiety or jollity, esp. when accompanied by laughter.
37. Myrtle: any plant of the genus Myrtus, esp. M. communis, a shrub of southern Europe having evergreen leaves, fragrant white flowers, and aromatic berries: anciently held sacred to Venus and used as an emblem of love.
38. Officious: objectionably aggressive in offering one’s unrequested and unwanted services, help, or advice; meddlesome.
39. Pecuniary: of or pertaining to money.
40. Preferment: advancement or promotion, esp. in the church.
41. Presentiment: a sense that something is about to occur; a premonition.
42. Priggish: a person who displays or demands of others pointlessly precise conformity, fussiness about trivialities, or exaggerated propriety.
43. Prodigious: enormous, immense, huge, gigantic, tremendous.
44. Prognosticate: to predict according to present indications or signs; foretell.
45. Remonstrate: to say or plead in protest, objection, or disapproval.
46. Rubber: a series or round played until one sidereaches a specific score or wins a specific number of hands (in certain card games, as bridge and whist).
47. Tambour: a circular frame consisting of two hoops, one fitting within the other, in which cloth is stretched for embroidering.
48. Tête-à-tête: a private conversation or interview, usually between two people.
49. Tractable: easily managed or controlled; docile; yielding.
50. Verdure: green vegetation, esp. grass or herbage.
51. Vestibule: a passage, hall, or antechamber between the outer door and the interior parts of a house or building.
52. Voluble: characterized by a ready and continuous flow of words; fluent; glib; talkative.