impish

impish

/ˈɪmpɪʃ/

adjective
Inclined to do slightly naughty things for fun; mischievous.

Origin
Old English impa, impe ‘young shoot, scion’, impian ‘to graft’, based on Greek emphuein ‘to implant’. In late Middle English, the noun denoted a descendant, especially of a noble family, and later a child of the devil or a person regarded as such; hence a ‘little devil’ or mischievous child (early 17th century).

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Todd was impish,
A little scamp.
He rode his skateboard
Down the busy ramp.

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pusillanimous

pusillanimous

/ˌpjuːsɪˈlanɪməs/
adjective
Showing a lack of courage or determination; timid.

Origin
Late Middle English: from ecclesiastical Latin pusillanimis (translating Greek oligopsukhos), from pusillus ‘very small’ + animus ‘mind’, + -ous.

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Um, yes, I am certain, positive, sure. I am pusillanimous, I think, maybe.

slaughter

slaughter

/ˈslɔːtə/
verb
[with object]
1 Kill (animals) for food.
1.1 Kill (people or animals) in a cruel or violent way, typically in large numbers.
1.2informal Defeat (an opponent) thoroughly.
noun
mass noun
1 The killing of animals for food.
1.1 The killing of a large number of people or animals in a cruel or violent way.
1.2 informal count noun A thorough defeat.

Origin
Middle English (as a noun): from Old Norse slátr ‘butcher’s meat’; related to slay. The verb dates from the mid 16th century.

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See before you the site of significant slaughter.

See before you a site of slaughter
Where fields were just trampled mud.
Replacing farmland whose grain grew fat.
Now the crop is just standing stones.

From this field of man made stones
There is no harvest to be had,
And fewer still to bring one home.
Bitter sadness, what we most recall.

Years of wind and rain and snow
Etch away the names of heroes
And quivering cowards alike.
They’re no more dead, one than the other.

And, as the generations pass,
Some may hold smoldering hate close,
Visiting here less to mourn
Than to stir and bank the coals of vengeance.

clepsydra

clepsydra

/ˈklɛpsɪdrə/
noun
An ancient time-measuring device worked by a flow of water.

Origin
Late Middle English: via Latin from Greek klepsudra, based on kleptein ‘steal’ + hudōr ‘water’.

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By the time of the Greeks, a water clock, then called a clepsydra, had progressed to having time indicator scales to mark intervals during the day or night.

o-o

o-o

/ˈəʊəʊ/
(also oo)
noun
A honeyeater (bird) found in Hawaii, now probably extinct, which had a thin curved bill and climbed about on tree trunks.
Genus Moho, family Meliphagidae
Compare with ou

Origin
Late 19th century: from Hawaiian.

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Oh, oh! That wasn’t an o’o, was it? I thought the species was extinct.

blunderbuss

blunderbuss

/ˈblʌndəbʌs/
noun
1 historical A short large-bored gun firing balls or slugs.
2 An action or way of doing something regarded as lacking in subtlety and precision.

Origin
Mid 17th century: alteration (by association with blunder) of Dutch donderbus, literally ‘thunder gun’.

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A blunderbuss is not suitable for long range accuracy.

tetrad

tetrad

/ˈtɛtrad/
noun
technical
A group or set of four.

Origin
Mid 17th century: from Greek tetras, tetrad- ‘four, a group of four’.

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The Kingston Trio was one singer short of a quartet, technically a triad, not a tetrad.

isagogics

isagogics

/ˌʌɪsəˈɡɒdʒɪks/
plural noun
treated as singular Introductory study, especially of the literary and external history of the Bible prior to exegesis.

Origin
Mid 19th century: plural of isagogic, via Latin from Greek eisagōgikos, from eisagōgē ‘introduction’, from eis ‘into’ + agein ‘to lead’.

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Flipping through the WotD might be considered isagogics prior to a thorough examination of the unabridged dictionary.

crocket

crocket

/ˈkrɒkɪt/
noun
(in Gothic architecture) a small carved ornament, typically a bud or curled leaf, on the inclined side of a pinnacle, arch, etc.

Origin
Middle English (denoting a curl or roll of hair): from Old Northern French, variant of Old French crochet (see crotchet). The current sense dates from the late 17th century, but crotchet was used in the same sense from late Middle English until the 19th century.

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Calvin carved the crocket with the chisel from his pocket.

valorize

valorize
(British valorise)

/ˈvalərʌɪz/
verb
[with object]
1 Give or ascribe value or validity to.
1.1 Raise or fix the price or value of (a commodity or currency) by artificial means, especially by government action.

Origin
1920s: back-formation from valorization (from French valorisation, from valeur ‘value’).

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The value of this word is one “million”, so naturally I’m going to valorize it at two “million” so I can make a profit. (Considering the lack of monetary unit, you are free to assign your own.)