Lave

LAVE

[leɪv]

-verb

an archaic word for wash

The struck of midnight

Laving old sins into new gold

Calendar alchemy

Surrounded by sparklers

Brumal

BRUMAL

-adj.

of, characteristic of, or relating to winter; wintry

East of nothing

Brumal ghosts

Shiver in the sun

Puce

PUCE

-noun

1. a colour varying from deep red to dark purplish-brown

-adj.

2. something of that colour

Love messages

In puce over asphalt

Secret street code

Overlook

OVERLOOK

-verb (trans.)

1. to fail to notice or take into account

2. to disregard deliberately or indulgently

3. to look at or over from above

4. to afford a view of from above

5. to rise above

6. to look after

7. to look at carefully

8. to bewitch or cast the evil eye upon (someone)

-noun

9. (US) a high place affording a view

10. (US) an act of overlooking

 

An overlook in the metering

Turns a photograph into painting

Barbecue

BARBECUE

-noun

1. a meal cooked out of doors over an open fire

2. an outdoor party or picnic at which barbecued food is served

3. a grill or fireplace used in barbecuing

4. the food so cooked

-verb

1. to cook (meat, fish, etc.) on a grill, usually over charcoal and often with a highly seasoned sauce

2. to cook (meat, fish, etc.) in a highly seasoned sauce

Unusual breakfast

Barbecued lamb

Nested in a crusty loaf

Thief

THIEF

-noun

1. a person who steals something from another

2. (criminal law) . a person who commits theft

Plural: thieves

Furry criminal

Pillow thief

Planting kitty dreams

In my cushion

Resign

RESIGN

-verb

1. When intr., often followed by “from” . to give up tenure of (a job, office, etc.)

2. (trans.) to reconcile (oneself) to; yield

3. (trans.) to give up (a right, claim, etc.); relinquish 

Having read the statutes

I resign myself to

The unconceivable

I will never belong there

Trim

TRIM

-adj.

1. neat and spruce in appearance

2. slim; slender

3. in good condition

-verb (mainly trans.)

4. to put in good order, especially by cutting or pruning

5. to shape and finish (timber)

6. to adorn or decorate

7. sometimes followed by “off’ or "away” . to cut so as to remove

8. to cut down to the desired size or shape

9. (dialect) to decorate

10. (nautical)

a. (also intr.) to adjust the balance of (a vessel) or (of a vessel) to maintain an even balance, by distribution of ballast, cargo, etc.

b. (also intra.) to adjust (a vessel's sails) to take advantage of the wind

c. to stow (cargo)

11.  to balance (an aircraft) before flight by adjusting the position of the load or in flight by the use of trim tabs, fuel transfer, etc.

12. (also intr.) to modify (one's opinions, etc.) to suit opposing factions or for expediency

13. (informal) to thrash or beat

14. (informal) to rebuke

15. (obsolete) to furnish or equip

-noun

16. a decoration or adornment

17. the upholstery and decorative facings, as on the door panels, of a car's interior

18. proper order or fitness; good shape

19. a haircut that neatens but does not alter the existing hairstyle

20 (nautical)

a. the general set and appearance of a vessel

b. the difference between the draught of a vessel at the bow and at the stern

c. the fitness of a vessel

d. the position of a vessel's sails relative to the wind

e. the relative buoyancy of a submarine

21. dress or equipment

22. (US) window-dressing

23. the attitude of an aircraft in flight when the pilot allows the main control surfaces to take up their own positions

24. (cinema) . a section of shot cut out during editing

25. material that is trimmed off

26. decorative mouldings, such as architraves, picture rails, etc.

I try and trim

The trimmings

But the clown

Remained, stuck,

And laughing

Sanction

SANCTION

-noun

1. final permission; authorization

2. aid or encouragement

3. something, such as an ethical principle, that imparts binding force to a rule, oath, etc.

4. the penalty laid down in a law for contravention of its provisions

5. (often plural) . a coercive measure, especially one taken by one or more states against another guilty of violating international law

-verb

6. to give authority to; permit

7. to make authorized; confirm

8. to impose a sanction or penalty on

Do the cloud worry

About the angel’s sanction?

Wind carries both away

Trey

TREY

-noun

any card or dice throw with three spots

Fate handed in

Treasonous trey

Why are clover leaves luck?

Solstice

SOLSTICE

-noun

1. either the shortest day of the year (winter solstice) or the longest day of the year (summer solstice)

2. either of the two points on the ecliptic at which the sun is overhead at the tropic of Cancer or Capricorn at the summer and winter solstices

Born on a winter solstice

Yet the warmest sun in my life

Sage

SAGE

-noun

1. a man revered for his profound wisdom

-adj.

2. profoundly wise or prudent

3. (obsolete) solemn

-noun

1. a perennial Mediterranean plant, Salvia officinalis, having grey-green leaves and purple, blue, or white flowers: family Lamiaceae (labiates)

2. the leaves of this plant, used in cooking for flavouring

3. short for sagebrush

Citrus laced butter

And unwise sage

In a Gordian knot

Sunday fresh pasta

Crass

CRASS

-adj.

stupid; gross

He comes in for cuddles

The crass creature

Who could resist him

Despite his dirty nose?

Intricate

INTRICATE

-adj.

1. difficult to understand; obscure; complex; puzzling

2. entangled or involved

Under the golden tree

An intricate lace

A struggle for power

And more dying sun 

Friend

FRIEND

-noun

1. a person known well to another and regarded with liking, affection, and loyalty; an intimate

2. an acquaintance or associate

3. an ally in a fight or cause; supporter

4. a fellow member of a party, society, etc.

5. a patron or supporter 

-verb

6. to add (a person) to one's list of contacts on a social networking website

7. an archaic word for befriend

Visiting

A dear friend

Talking until late

Waking up to watch the dawn

Wonderful

WONDERFUL

-adj.

1. exciting a feeling of wonder; marvellous or strange

2. extremely fine; excellent

In dark days

The light wonderful

Warming galaxies

Oversight

OVERSIGHT

-noun

1. an omission or mistake, especially one made through failure to notice something

2. supervision

In an oversight

I forgot my duties

The oversight of tea

Making darkness

Strip

STRIP

-verb

1. to take or pull (the covering, clothes, etc.) off (oneself, another person, or thing)

2. (intr.) to remove all one's clothes

3. (intr.) to perform a striptease

4. (trans.) to denude or empty completely

5. (trans.) to deprive

6. (trans.) to rob or plunder

7. (trans.) to remove (paint, varnish, etc) from (a surface, furniture, etc) by sanding, with a solvent, etc 

8. Also: pluck (trans.) . to pull out the old coat of hair from (dogs of certain long- and wire-haired breeds)

9. to remove the leaves from the stalks of (tobacco, etc.)

10. to separate the two sides of a leaf from the stem of (tobacco, etc)

11. (trans.) (agriculture) . to draw the last milk from each of the teats of (a cow)

12. to dismantle (an engine, mechanism, etc)

13. to tear off or break (the thread) from (a screw, bolt, etc) or (the teeth) from (a gear)

14. (often followed by “down”) . to remove the accessories from (a motor vehicle)

15. to remove (the most volatile constituent) from (a mixture of liquids) by boiling, evaporation, or distillation

16. (printing) (usually followed by “in”) . to combine (pieces of film or paper) to form a composite sheet from which a plate can be made

17. (trans.) (in freight transport) . to unpack (a container) 

-noun

18. the act or an instance of undressing or of performing a striptease

-noun

1. a relatively long, flat, narrow piece of something

2. short for airstrip

3. (philately) a horizontal or vertical row of three or more un-separated postage stamps

4. the clothes worn by the members of a team, especially a football team

5. (business) a triple option on a security or commodity consisting of one call option and two put options at the same price and for the same period

-verb

6. to cut or divide into strips

A strip of stranger

Kept for old time’s sake

Cracked yet burning still

Memories

Quinoa

QUINOA

-noun

a grain high in nutrients traditionally grown as a staple food high in the Andes

Sunday morning treat

Quinoa porridge full of sun

And luscious cream cheese

Poltroon

POLTROON

-noun

1. an abject or contemptible coward

-adj.

2. a rare word for cowardly

Diffident poltroon

Hiding on the roof

Clouds cowed in unison

Resilient

RESILIENT

-adj.

1. (of an object or material) capable of regaining its original shape or position after bending, stretching, compression, or other deformation; elastic

2. (of a person) recovering easily and quickly from shock, illness, hardship, etc.; irrepressible

Climate change

Is not a matter for resilient penguins

The earth is dying

Chav

CHAV

-noun

(British, informal, derogatory) . a young working-class person whose tastes, although sometimes expensive, are considered vulgar by some

It’s obvious from their faces

That they are far from raptus

And consider him a chav

For all his crimson glory

Chawbacon

CHAWBACON

-noun

(pejorative) . an unsophisticated person of low intellect

In the shadows

Lurks the chawbacon

Ready to pounce

In your timeline

Cheap

CHEAP

-adj.

1. costing relatively little; inexpensive; good value

2. charging low prices

3. of poor quality; shoddy

4. worth relatively little

5. not worthy of respect; vulgar

6. ashamed; embarrassed

7. stingy; miserly

8. (informal) mean; despicable 

Bad weather and

Cheap filters

For moody shots of

Nothing much

Insane

INSANE

-adj.

1. mentally deranged; crazy; of unsound mind

2. characteristic of a person of unsound mind

3. irresponsible; very foolish; stupid

Like a ghost

Scrapping nails on a blackboard,

The cough inside my head

Is driving me insane

Skim

SKIM

-verb

1. (trans.) to remove floating material from the surface of (a liquid), as with a spoon

2. to glide smoothly or lightly over (a surface)

3. (trans.) to throw (something) in a path over a surface, so as to bounce or ricochet over water

4. (when intr., usually followed by “through”) . to read (a book) in a superficial or cursory manner

5. to cover (a liquid) with a thin layer or (of liquid) to become coated in this way, as with ice, scum, etc.

-noun

6. the act or process of skimming

7. material skimmed off a liquid, especially off milk

8. the liquid left after skimming

9. any thin layer covering a surface

First skim some broth

Then add squash and

A piece of preserved lemon

Serve with cream

Glaikit

GLAIKIT

-adj.

(Scottish) foolish; silly; thoughtless 

Meet the local goof

Glaikit pole dancer

Fierce union leader

And cushion barnacle

Harridan

HARRIDAN

-noun

a scolding old woman; nag

The feedback is clear

When stressed

I turn to a harridan

No surprise

Plaudit

PLAUDIT

-noun (usually plural)

1. an expression of enthusiastic approval or approbation

2. a round of applause

An old puppet

Going for plaudits

Neapolitan comedy 

Kinesics

KINESICS

-noun

(functioning as singular) . the study of the role of body movements, such as winking, shrugging, etc., in communication

Cardboard kinesics

Sculptural élan

Ghosts at the window

Éclat

ÉCLAT

-noun

1. brilliant or conspicuous success, effect, etc.

2. showy display; ostentation

3. social distinction

4. approval; acclaim; applause

Winter comes in

Softly yet with éclat

Hulk

HULK

-noun

1. the body of an abandoned vessel

2. (derogatory) . a large or unwieldy vessel

3. (derogatory) . a large ungainly person or thing

4. (often plural) . the frame or hull of a ship, used as a storehouse, etc., or (especially in 19th-century Britain) as a prison

-verb

5. (intr.) (British, informal) . to move clumsily

6. (intr.)(often followed by “up”) . to rise massively

In the dry dock

Morose hulks

Stare at visitors

Goose

GOOSE

-noun

1. any of various web-footed long-necked birds of the family Anatidae: order Anseriformes. Typically larger animal than ducks and are gregarious and migratory.

2. the female of such a bird, as opposed to the male (gander)

3. (informal) . a silly person

4. When plural “gooses” . a pressing iron with a long curving handle, used especially by tailors

5. the flesh of the goose, used as food

verb

1. (trans.) to prod (a person) playfully in the behind

Goose liver and rhubarb

Such tragic delicacy

Suave

SUAVE

-adj.

(especially of a man) displaying smoothness and sophistication in manner or attitude; urbane

He coughs,

My suave master:

Asthma

Resonance

RESONANCE

-noun

1. the condition or quality of being resonant (i.e. resounding or re-echoing)

2. sound produced by a body vibrating in sympathy with a neighbouring source of sound

3. the condition of a body or system when it is subjected to a periodic disturbance of the same frequency as the natural frequency of the body or system. At this frequency the system displays an enhanced oscillation or vibration

amplification of speech sounds by sympathetic vibration in the bone structure of the head and chest, resounding in the cavities of the nose, mouth, and pharynx

4. (electronics) . the condition of an electrical circuit when the frequency is such that the capacitive and inductive reactances are equal in magnitude. In a series circuit there is then maximum alternating current whilst in a parallel circuit there is minimum alternating current

5. (medicine) . the sound heard when percussing a hollow bodily structure, especially the chest or abdomen. Change in the quality of the sound often indicates an underlying disease or disorder

6. (chemistry) . the phenomenon in which the electronic structure of a molecule can be represented by two or more hypothetical structures involving single, double, and triple chemical bonds. The true structure is considered to be an average of these theoretical structures

7. (physics)

a. the condition of a system in which there is a sharp maximum probability for the absorption of electromagnetic radiation or capture of particles

b. a type of elementary particle of extremely short lifetime. Resonances are regarded as excited states of more stable particles

c. a highly transient atomic state formed during a collision process

Grief dull in my veins

A resonance haunting

Heart percussions

Stylus

STYLUS

-noun

1. a pointed instrument for engraving, drawing, or writing

2. a tool used in ancient times for writing on wax tablets, which was pointed at one end and blunt at the other for erasing mistakes

3. a device attached to the cartridge in the pick-up arm of a record player that rests in the groove in the record, transmitting the vibrations to the sensing device in the cartridge.

No stylus ever

Engraved those wings

Grisaille chimeras

Quonk

QUONK

-noun

1. an accidental noise picked up on a microphone while broadcasting

-verb

2. (intr.) to make an accidental noise while broadcasting

Abstract dirt

Visual quonk

Of time gone by

Turmoil

TURMOIL

-noun

1. violent or confused movement; agitation; tumult

-verb

2. (archaic) to make or become turbulent

In times of turmoil

Love will see us through

Violence must never prevail

Xeric

XERIC

-adj.

(ecology) of, relating to, or growing in dry conditions

Such a lovely refreshing salad

Who would have guessed

That arugola was a xeric plant

Blue cheese

BLUE CHEESE

-noun

cheese containing a blue mould, like Stilton, Roquefort, or Gorgonzola. 

Roses are red

Cheeses are blue

Even when they’re orange

If that confuses you

Picara

PICARA

-noun

1. a female rogue or adventurer

2. (literature) the main female character in a picaresque novel

She stands at the window

A shy picara looking for luck

Inquiring about food

And a chance of cuddles

Blithesome

BLITHESOME

-adj.

(literary) cheery; merry

A fallen pirouetter

Arching over

Blithesome still

Shag

SHAG

-noun

1. a matted tangle, especially of hair, wool, etc.

2. a napped fabric, usually a rough wool

3. shredded coarse tobacco

verb

4. (trans.) to make shaggy

-noun

1. a cormorant, especially the green cormorant (Phalacrocorax aristotelis)

-verb

1. (British slang) . to have sexual intercourse with (a person)

2. (trans.) (British slang) (often followed by “out”; usually passive) . to exhaust; tire

-noun

3. (British slang) . an act of sexual intercourse

A shag of clouds

Refusing to move

Sun’s comb gives up

Haze

HAZE

-noun

1. (meteorology)

a. reduced visibility in the air as a result of condensed water vapour, dust, etc., in the atmosphere

b. the moisture or dust causing this

2. obscurity of perception, feeling, etc.

-verb

3. when intr., often followed by “over” . to make or become hazy

-verb (trans.)

1. (nautical) to harass with humiliating tasks

2. (mainly US & and Canadian) to subject (fellow students) to ridicule or abuse

Hazy minds

Lost children

Debris everywhere

Beseech

BESEECH

-verb

(trans.) to ask (someone) earnestly (to do something or for something); beg

Certain blooms

Beseech and pimp

Eager for a shot

Turm

TURM

-noun

(archaic, poetic). a troop of horsemen

Lone rider

Escaped from the turm

Turned to stone

By anger and sun

Cheesecake

CHEESECAKE

-noun

1. a rich tart (baked or not) with a biscuit base, filled with a mixture of cream cheese, cream, sugar, sometimes having a fruit, nut, or chocolate topping. Savoury versions are sometimes produced

2. (slang) women displayed for their sex appeal, as in photographs in magazines, newspapers, or films

Debate is open

As to whether this qualifies

As cheesecake or not

He says not white

I say cheese based

We both eat it

Revenant

REVENANT

-noun

something, especially a ghost, that returns

Youth mischief forgotten

Fond

Fuzzy

Revenants

Memories

Fond

Love

Grown

Gone

Fond

Mischief [youth forgotten]

Funereal

FUNEREAL

-adj.

suggestive of a funeral; gloomy or mournful

Flocculent clouds

Looming in a funereal guise

Shagged dog pelt