Vocabulary -- Page 6

velleity: a mere wish; unaccompanied by an effort to obtain it;

cachinnation: to laugh loudly, embarrassingly loudly

termagant: harsh-tempered or overbearing woman

reeve: local official, chief magistrate of a town or district in Anglo-Saxon England; along with “shire” eventually “shire-reeve —> sheriff

tephra: solid matter ejected during a volcanic eruption; from Greek, for ashes

nonce: coined for or used on one occasion; adjective, as in “nonce constructions.”

Peripatetic: traveling from place to place; staying in one place for short periods of time;

empyrean: heaven; highest part of heaven; the place in the highest heaven; occupied by the element of fire (Aristotle); used as a name for the firmament and in Christian literature, the dwelling-place of God; the scientific words empyreuma and empyreumatic: the characteristic smell of the burning or charring of vegetable or animal matter; same Greek origin

Maecenas: from Gaius Clinius Maecenas: friend/political advisor to Octavian / Augustus; important patron for the new generation of Augustan poets, including both Horace and Virgil; Maecenate (patronage); his name has become the eponym for ‘patron of arts”; Virgil introduced Horace to Maecenas; Maecenas has become a byword in many languages for a well-connected and wealthy patron; In The Great Gatsby, along with Midas and J. P. Morgan, Maecenas is one of the three famous wealthy men whose secrets narrator Nick Carraway hopes to find in the books he buys for his home library.

Bagatelle: light, inconsequential;

Pelisse: cloak; originally military, then a woman’s cloak;

Landau: carriage; four-wheeled; luxury; preferred by wealthy; great visibility for the occupants;
 
Enfilade rooms: rooms aligned with each other, as in museums;

Orotund: pompous; pretentious.

Ormolu: imitation gold; on furniture;

Gamine: slim, elegant young woman, perceived to be mischievous, teasing, or sexually appealing (Audrey Hepburn, in “Love in the Afternoon.”).