Friday, 19 August 2016

Sentiment

SENTIMENT

-noun
1. susceptibility to tender, delicate, or romantic emotion
2. (often plural) a thought, opinion, or attitude
3. exaggerated, overindulged, or mawkish feeling or emotion
4. an expression of response to deep feeling, especially in art or literature
5. a feeling, emotion, or awareness
6. a mental attitude modified or determined by feeling
7. a feeling conveyed, or intended to be conveyed, in words

























Screen capture
Devoid of sentiment

Digital drug

Thursday, 18 August 2016

Catabasis

CATABASIS

-noun
1. a descent or downward movement
2. the decline of a disease





















Scanning his skin
For hope of catabasis

Willing him safe

Wednesday, 17 August 2016

Raik

RAIK

-noun
1. (Scottish and Northern England) a route, a journey
2. (agriculture) . the area or route livestock use or follow for grazing
-verb (intr.)
3. to wander, to journey

























There we lose ourselves
Raik in the sun, raising dust

Listening to summer

Tuesday, 16 August 2016

Curse

CURSE

-noun
1. a profane or obscene expression of anger, disgust, surprise, etc.; oath
2. an appeal to a supernatural power for harm to come to a specific person, group, etc.
3. harm resulting from an appeal to a supernatural
4. something that brings or causes great trouble or harm
5. a saying, charm, effigy, etc., used to invoke a curse
6. an ecclesiastical censure of excommunication
-verb
7. (intr.) to utter obscenities or oaths
8. (trans.) to abuse (someone) with obscenities or oaths
9. (trans.) to invoke supernatural powers to bring harm to (someone or something)
10. (trans.) to bring harm upon
11. (trans.) another word for excommunicate




















She spoke the words
And her curse ran over water
Dissolving the hills ahead
Sinking Atlantis once again

Monday, 15 August 2016

Cenotaph

CENOTAPH

-noun
1. a sepulchral monument erected in memory of a deceased person whose body is buried elsewhere.


























Wandering in the aisles
Of this deserted museum
Very much a cenotaph


Sunday, 14 August 2016

Yolk

YOLK

-noun
the yellow internal part of a bird's egg, which is surrounded by the white, is rich in protein and fat, and nourishes the developing embryo.



























Here comes 
The foodie reporter 
Staring me in the yolk 



Saturday, 13 August 2016

Indolent

INDOLENT

-adj.
1. having or showing a disposition to avoid exertion; slothful
2. (pathology) causing little or no pain; inactive or relatively benign




























Beware
The indolent cat
Dreaming of freedom

Friday, 12 August 2016

Peeve

PEEVE

-verb (used with object)
1. to render peevish; annoy.
-noun
2. a source of annoyance or irritation
3. an annoyed or irritated mood

























Though extensive selfies
Are a personal peeve
I sometimes succumb
To the call of the ego

Thursday, 11 August 2016

Static

STATIC

-adj.
1. pertaining to or characterized by a fixed or stationary condition.
2. showing little or no change
3. lacking movement, development, or vitality
4. (Sociology) . referring to a condition of social life bound by tradition.
5. (Electricity) . pertaining to or noting static electricity.
6. noting or pertaining to atmospheric electricity interfering with radar, radio, the sending and receiving of wireless messages, etc.
7. (Physics) . acting by mere weight without producing motion
8. (Economics) . pertaining to fixed relations, or different combinations of fixed quantities
9. (Computers) . (of data storage, processing, or programming) unaffected by the passage of time or the presence or absence of power
-noun
10. (Electricity)
a. static or atmospheric electricity.
b. interference due to such electricity.
11. (Informal) . difficulty; trouble
























Laughing lion
Not so static

Wednesday, 10 August 2016

Timbre

TIMBRE

-noun
1. (Acoustics, Phonetics) . the characteristic quality of a sound, independent of pitch and loudness, from which its source or manner of production can be inferred. Timbre depends on the relative strengths of the components of different frequencies, which are determined by resonance.











At the count of ten
Colours and screams let off
Fluorescent timbre

Tuesday, 9 August 2016

Acumen

ACUMEN

-noun
the ability to make good judgements and take quick decisions.










Guarding angel
Seeking recipes
For acumen

Monday, 8 August 2016

Quash

QUASH

-verb (trans.)
1. to subdue forcefully and completely; put down; suppress
2. to annul or make void (a law, decision, etc.)
3. to reject (an indictment, writ, etc.) as invalid











Floating in those clouds
A quashed hope
For a day out on the beach

Sunday, 7 August 2016

Jejune

JEJUNE

-adj.
1. simple; naive; unsophisticated
2. insipid; dull; dry
3. lacking nourishment; insubstantial or barren











Sometimes
Jejune dishes
Cross our path
This wasn't one

Saturday, 6 August 2016

Friday, 5 August 2016

Baneful

BANEFUL

-adj.
(archaic) destructive, poisonous, or fatal










Flowers
Baneful beauty
Corroding walls





Thursday, 4 August 2016

Atavism

ATAVISM

-noun
1. the recurrence in a plant or animal of certain primitive characteristics that were present in an ancestor but have not occurred in intermediate generations
2. reversion to a former or more primitive type










Dancing at dawn
Seeking atavism
In primal rhythms

Wednesday, 3 August 2016

Tuck

TUCK

-verb
1. (trans.) to push or fold into a small confined space or concealed place or between two surfaces
2. (trans.) to thrust the loose ends or sides of (something) into a confining space, so as to make neat and secure
3. to make a tuck or tucks in (a garment)
4. (usually trans.) to draw together, contract, or pucker
-noun
5. a tucked object or part
6. a pleat or fold in a part of a garment, usually stitched down so as to make it a better fit or as decoration
7. the part of a vessel where the after ends of the planking or plating meet at the sternpost
8. (British) an informal or schoolchild's word for food, especially cakes and sweets
9. a position of the body in certain dives in which the legs are bent with the knees drawn up against the chest and tightly clasped

-noun
1. archaic a rapier

-noun
1. a touch, blow, or stroke
-verb
2. (trans.) to touch or strike
3. (intr.) to throb or bump











A sharp tuck
And stone wrinkled
Buckled in tucks
Petrified river

Tuesday, 2 August 2016

Deprive

DEPRIVE

-verb (trans.)
1. (followed by “of”) to prevent from possessing or enjoying; dispossess (of)
2. archaic to remove from rank or office; depose; demote











Dawn yet
Deprived of light
Covered in gold




Monday, 1 August 2016

Whimper

WHIMPER

-verb
1. (intr.) to cry, sob, or whine softly or intermittently
2. to complain or say (something) in a whining plaintive way
-noun
3. a soft plaintive whine











Over the hills
The soft whimper
Of summer winds

Sunday, 31 July 2016

Atrament

ATRAMENT

-noun
a liquid substance that is black in colour











Drowning sorrow
In exotic atrament
And a stiff upper lip

Saturday, 30 July 2016

Nolition

NOLITION

-noun
the state of being unwilling











Lounging in the shade
Without even the will
To fight nolition
Dolce farniente 

Friday, 29 July 2016

Retable

RETABLE

-noun
an ornamental screen-like structure above and behind an altar, especially one used as a setting for a religious picture or carving











With urban walls
As sole retable
Art propagates
Along cracked stucco

Thursday, 28 July 2016

Secant

SECANT

-noun
1. (of an angle) a trigonometric function that in a right-angled triangle is the ratio of the length of the hypotenuse to that of the adjacent side; the reciprocal of cosine. Abbreviation: sec
2. a line that intersects a curve











Staring at lines
Hunting for decant
Deciphering circles


Wednesday, 27 July 2016

Programme

PROGRAMME

-noun
1. a written or printed list of the events, performers, etc., in a public performance
2. a performance or series of performances, often presented at a scheduled time, especially on radio or television
3. a specially arranged selection of things to be done
4. a plan, schedule, or procedure
5. a syllabus or curriculum
-verb
6. to design or schedule (something) as a programme
-noun, verb
7. (computing) a variant spelling of program











Looking at the programme
They salivate over the score
Waiting for encores

















Tuesday, 26 July 2016

Program

PROGRAM

-noun
1. a sequence of coded instructions fed into a computer, enabling it to perform specified logical and arithmetical operations on data
-verb
2. (trans.) to feed a program into (a computer)
3. (trans.) to arrange (data) into a suitable form so that it can be processed by a computer
4. (intr.) to write a program











Cast in iron
The program soon ran out
Breaking down reality
Exploding in our face

Monday, 25 July 2016

Frabjous

FRABJOUS

-adj.
splendid; joyous


















Ă” frabjous days
Innocent glee

Of incipient holidays

Sunday, 24 July 2016

Pan

PAN

-noun
1. a wide metal vessel used in cooking
2. Also called: panful . the amount such a vessel will hold
3. any of various similar vessels used especially in industry, as for boiling liquids
4. a dish used by prospectors, especially gold prospectors, for separating a valuable mineral from the gravel or earth containing it by washing and agitating
5. either of the two dish-like receptacles on a balance
6. Also called: lavatory pan British the bowl of a lavatory
7. (terrain)
a. a natural or artificial depression in the ground where salt can be obtained by the evaporation of brine
b. a natural depression containing water or mud
8. (Caribbean) the indented top from an oil drum used as the treble drum in a steel band
9. a small ice floe
10. a small cavity containing priming powder in the locks of old guns
11. a hard substratum of soil
-verb
12. (when trans., often followed by “off” or “out”) to wash (gravel) in a pan to separate particles of (valuable minerals) from it
13. (intransitive; often followed by “out”) (of gravel) to yield valuable minerals by this process
14. (trans.) (informal) to criticize harshly

-verb
1. to move (a film camera) or (of a film camera) to be moved so as to follow a moving object or obtain a panoramic effect
-noun
2. the act of panning

-noun
1. the leaf of the betel tree
2. a preparation of this leaf which is chewed, together with betel nuts and lime, in India and the East Indies




















Catching gold from the sun

An old pan rusts on the wall

Saturday, 23 July 2016

Morigerate

MORIGERATE

-adj.
1. also: morigerous . obedient; acquiescent
-verb
2. (intr.) to conform

























Why try and tell him
To morigerate
When we all love

His madness?

Friday, 22 July 2016

Sinuose

SINUOSE

-adj.
sinuous

























Sinuose waves
Hungry for boats

Cast in stone

Thursday, 21 July 2016

Pomade

POMADE

-noun
1. a perfumed oil or ointment put on the hair, as to make it smooth and shiny
-verb
2. (trans.) to put pomade on

























Old thrillers
Collecting dust
Killer pomade

On torn covers

Wednesday, 20 July 2016

Dubiety

DUBIETY

-noun
1. the state of being doubtful
2. a doubtful matter




















Looking over the chasm
Dubiety casting cracks in stone
Faith left the stage a long time ago

Pursued by the bear of management

Tuesday, 19 July 2016

Swelter

SWELTER

-verb
1. (intr.) to suffer under oppressive heat, especially to sweat and feel faint
2. (trans.) archaic to exude (venom)
3. (trans.) rare to cause to suffer under oppressive heat
-noun
4. a sweltering condition
5. oppressive humid heat


























Summer swelter means
Drastic measures

Compensating with grattachecca

Monday, 18 July 2016

Faugh

FAUGH

-exclamation
an exclamation of disgust, scorn, etc.


















So this art, they say?
Faugh!
Just a pair

And mine are nicer!


Sunday, 17 July 2016

Duff

DUFF

-noun
A thick flour pudding, often flavoured with currants, citron, etc., and boiled in a cloth bag


























I couldn’t find
A suitable bag
So baked my duff
Instead and

Called it clafoutis

Saturday, 16 July 2016

Fractious

FRACTIOUS

-adj.
1. irritable
2. unruly

























Most of the time
Fast asleep
With a side of fractious

Play hour

Friday, 15 July 2016

Strife

STRIFE

-noun
1. angry or violent struggle; conflict
2. rivalry or contention, especially of a bitter kind
3. (Australian and New Zealand) trouble or discord of any kind
4. (archaic) striving

























Some days
Keeping your head up

Is a real strife

Thursday, 14 July 2016

Foul

FOUL

-adj.
1. offensive to the senses; revolting
2. offensive in odour; stinking
3. charged with or full of dirt or offensive matter; filthy
4. (of food) putrid; rotten
5. morally or spiritually offensive; wicked; vile
6. obscene; vulgar
7. not in accordance with accepted standards or established rules; unfair
8. (especially of weather) unpleasant or adverse
9. blocked or obstructed with dirt or foreign matter
10. entangled or impeded
11. (of the bottom of a vessel) covered with barnacles and other growth that slow forward motion
12. informal unsatisfactory or uninteresting; bad
13. archaic ugly
-noun
14. (sport) a violation of the rules
15. something foul
16. an entanglement or collision, especially in sailing or fishing
-verb
17. to make or become dirty or polluted
18. to become or cause to become entangled or snarled
19. (trans.) to disgrace or dishonour
20. to become or cause to become clogged or choked
21. (trans.) nautical (of underwater growth) to cling to (the bottom of a vessel) so as to slow its motion
22. (trans.) sport to commit a foul against (an opponent)
23. (trans.) baseball to hit (a ball) in an illegal manner
24. (intr.) sport to infringe the rules
25. (trans.) (of an animal, especially a dog) to defecate on
26. to collide with (a boat, etc.)
-adv.
27. in a foul or unfair manner


























Foul love
Stolen space

Best love

Wednesday, 13 July 2016

Fugal

FUGAL

-adj.
of, relating to, or in the style of a fugue

















What
Is
This fear
But a dream
A fugal moment
A breath instantly neglected
Quickly forgotten
For a scar
Burning
Our

Souls


Tuesday, 12 July 2016

Grip

GRIP

-noun
1. the act or an instance of grasping and holding firmly
2. Also called: handgrip . the strength or pressure of such a grasp, as in a handshake
3. the style or manner of grasping an object, such as a tennis racket
4. understanding, control, or mastery of a subject, problem, etc.
5. Also called: handgrip . a part by which an object is grasped; handle
6. Also called: handgrip . a travelling bag or holdall
7. any device that holds by friction, such as certain types of brake
8. a method of clasping or shaking hands used by members of secret societies to greet or identify one another
9. a spasm of pain
10. a worker in a camera crew or a stagehand who shifts sets and props, etc.
11. a small drainage channel cut above an excavation to conduct surface water away from the excavation
-verb
12. to take hold of firmly or tightly, as by a clutch
13. to hold the interest or attention of

-noun
1.(medicine) a variant spelling of grippe (influenza)















A couple of sugar cubes
As grips for love

Popularity with horses

Monday, 11 July 2016

Flamboyant

FLAMBOYANT

-adj.
1. elaborate or extravagant; florid; showy
2. rich or brilliant in colour; resplendent
3. exuberant or ostentatious
4. of, denoting, or relating to the French Gothic style of architecture characterized by flame-like tracery and elaborate carving
-noun
5. Also called: flamboyante . another name for royal poinciana




















Hidden in a corner
A flamboyant fountain

Records a fastuous past

Sunday, 10 July 2016

Meatball

MEATBALL

-noun
1. minced beef, shaped into a ball before cooking
2. (US and Canadian slang) a stupid or boring person

























I still struggle
To consider meatballs
A delicacy and yet
I loved hunting

Subtle flavours in these

Saturday, 9 July 2016

Spurn

SPURN

-verb
1. to reject (a person or thing) with contempt
2. (when intr., often followed by “against”) archaic to kick (at)
-noun
3. an instance of spurning
4. archaic a kick or thrust




















When he returned home
He first spurned food
Then came back to life
And now steals in his friends’ bowl

Business as usual

Friday, 8 July 2016

Sublime

SUBLIME

-adj.
1. of high moral, aesthetic, intellectual, or spiritual value; noble; exalted
2. inspiring deep veneration, awe, or uplifting emotion because of its beauty, nobility, grandeur, or immensity
3. unparalleled; supreme
4. poetic of proud bearing or aspect
5. archaic raised up
-noun
6. something that is sublime
7. the ultimate degree or perfect example
-verb
8. (trans.) to make higher or purer
9. to change or cause to change directly from a solid to a vapour or gas without first melting
10. to undergo or cause to undergo this process followed by a reverse change directly from a vapour to a solid


























Summer is here
Subliming our dreams

Into clouds

Thursday, 7 July 2016

Cogent

COGENT

-adj.
compelling belief or assent; forcefully convincing





















This terrified bunny
Suffers from the cogent fear that

I might see him if he moves

Wednesday, 6 July 2016

Rapid

RAPID

-adj.
1. (of an action or movement) performed or occurring during a short interval of time; quick
2. characterized by high speed
3. acting or moving quickly; fast

























Ours is a lazy journey
Far from the world
Of rapid public transport
Punctuated by stops

And pictures along the way

Tuesday, 5 July 2016

Bustle

BUSTLE

-verb
1. (when intr., often followed by “about”) to hurry or cause to hurry with a great show of energy or activity
-noun
2. energetic and noisy activity

-noun
a cushion or a metal or whalebone framework worn by women in the late 19th century at the back below the waist in order to expand the skirt
















Around the fountain
A bustle of sphinxes

Plays around with skulls and roses

Monday, 4 July 2016

Massive

MASSIVE

-adj.
1. (of objects) large in mass; bulky, heavy, and usually solid
2. impressive or imposing in quality, degree, or scope
3. relatively intensive or large; considerable
4. (pathology) affecting a large area of the body
5. (geology)
a. (of igneous rocks) having no stratification, cleavage, etc.; homogeneous
b. (of sedimentary rocks) arranged in thick poorly defined strata
6. (mineralogy) without obvious crystalline structure
-noun
7. (slang) a group of friends or associates; gang



















In another dimension
Massive shells do not birth goddesses

But eat them alive for power

Sunday, 3 July 2016

Sponge

SPONGE

-noun
1. any multicellular typically marine animal of the phylum Porifera, usually occurring in complex sessile colonies in which the porous body is supported by a fibrous, calcareous, or siliceous skeletal framework
2. a piece of the light porous highly absorbent elastic skeleton of certain sponges, used in bathing, cleaning, etc.
3. any of a number of light porous elastic materials resembling a sponge
4. another word for sponger, i.e. a person who lives off other people by continually taking advantage of their generosity; parasite or scrounger
5. informal a person who indulges in heavy drinking
6. leavened dough, especially before kneading
7. short for sponge cake
8. Also called: sponge pudding . (British) a light steamed or baked pudding, spongy in texture, made with various flavourings or fruit
9. porous metal produced by electrolysis or by reducing a metal compound without fusion or sintering and capable of absorbing large quantities of gas
10. a rub with a sponge
-verb
11. (trans.; often followed by “off” or “down”) to clean (something) by wiping or rubbing with a damp or wet sponge
12. (trans.; usually followed by “off”, “away”, “out”, etc.) to remove (marks, etc.) by rubbing with a damp or wet sponge or cloth
13. (when trans., often followed by “up”) to absorb (liquids, especially when spilt) in the manner of a sponge
14. (trans.; often followed by “off”) to get (something) from (someone) by presuming on his generosity
15. (intr.; often followed by “off” or “on”) to obtain one's subsistence, welfare, etc., unjustifiably (from)
16. (intr.) to go collecting sponges

























More and more
Edible sponges
Appear on plates
Good, fun,

And intriguing

Saturday, 2 July 2016

Docible

DOCIBLE

-adj.
(obsolete) susceptible to teaching or training; easily tamed


















He didn’t have to be
Docible though he learned
When to come home
For meals or cuddles
Yet decided to leave
To die in peace

Friday, 1 July 2016

Triad

TRIAD

-noun
1. a group of three; trio
2. (chemistry) an atom, element, group, or ion that has a valency of three
3. (music) a three-note chord consisting of a note and the third and fifth above it
4. an aphoristic literary form used in medieval Welsh and Irish literature
5. the US strategic nuclear force, consisting of intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and bombers

-noun (capitalised)
1. any of several Chinese secret societies, especially one involved in criminal activities, such as drug trafficking

















A triad of lines
Plus the passing of seasons

Syllables counting