This is where I keep the running list of “Word of the Day” prompts that I will use sometimes to help kick start my writing for the day. Sometimes, for a warm-up, before I get into my actual work-in-progress, or I’ll include it within the section I’m writing as a challenge. Either way, it’s fun to keep track of the ones I’ve used in my short stories.
I’d love to hear what you think of how I incorporated them. Did you find them? How would you have used that word?
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Trousseau
Noun: the personal possessions of a bride usually including clothes, accessories, and household linens and wares.
Interestingly, the Latin root word that it comes from is to truss up or to tuck up and is also related to the word for tort. From that word we get distort, contort, retort, extort, torque and torture. I find it intriguing that the same word path is used for both a bride’s belongings and torture.
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Farouche
Adjective: wild; marked by shyness and lack of social graces
In French, “farouche” can mean wild or shy, just as it does in English. It is an alteration of the Old French word forasche, which derives via Late Latin forasticus(“living outside”) from Latin foras, meaning “outdoors.” In its earliest English uses, in the middle of the 18th century, “farouche” was used to describe someone who was awkward in social situations, perhaps as one who has lived apart from groups of people. The word can also mean “disorderly,” as in “farouche ruffians out to cause trouble.”
Personally, the wild ruffian sounds like the more interesting usage.
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Bower
Noun.
- An attractive dwelling or retreat
- A lady’s private apartment in a medieval hall or castle
- a shelter (as in a garden) made with tree boughs or vines twined together
Derives from Old English būr, meaning “dwelling,”and was originally used of attractive homes or retreats, especially rustic cottages. In the Middle Ages, bower came to refer to a lady’s personal hideaway within a medieval castle or hall—that is, her private apartment. The more familiar “arbor” sense combines the pastoral beauty of a rustic retreat with the privacy of a personal apartment.
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