A Glossary of Unfamiliar and Archaic Words To Smooth The Reader’s Way…

A Glossary of Unfamiliar and Archaic Words To Smooth The Reader’s Way…

The Water Mage’s Daughter is filled with archaic and rare words. Scroll down to learn about the ones that begin with the letter A, from the new WMD Glossary.

 

A
abbatoir: a slaughterhouse
abscond: to steal and run away with something
absinthe: a wormwood liqueur
accolades: rewards or praises for merit
accurst: cursed
adage: a wise proverb or expression
admixt: mixed
adz: a sharp tool for hand-shaping logs into beams
affiche: to attach or affix
affray: a public fight
agog: excited or anxious
alchemy: transforming matter to gold
aliquot: the sum of
allay: to put to rest
ambit: the bounds of something
amicus: a friend in court
amourette: a female lover
anachronistic: conspicuously old fashioned or from another time
androgyny: possessing both male and female traits
animus: hostility
annelid: a segmented worm
annul: invalidate
anomaly: an abnormal occurrence
antipathy: dislike
antipodes: two opposite poles
aphorize: to compose pithy truisms
aplomb: self-confidence or courteous correctness
apostate: someone who renounces a belief
apropos: appropriate to
apse: a church recess that holds the altar
arbitrage: here, a complex negotiation
arcane: mysterious or secret
archetype: a recurring symbol or situation
armatures: armor or supports
armistice: a truce or cessation of hostilities
arrears: the state of being late for a payment
askew: tilted or not right
aspew: in a state of spewing
astir: in a state of excitement
astral: pertaining to the psychic, invisible plane or the stars
athwart: across
atonement: forgiveness for a wrong
atrium: a central Roman courtyard
auger: a drill for boring holes
augury: foreseeing the future or fortune telling
aura: the energy around living things seen by spiritual sensitives
aureola: the circle around the nipple
axis mundi: the axis or center of the world