T vocabulary seen online

Temporize, tendentious, terrapins, thrombosis, torrefaction, torrid, tremulous, trenchant, tumid, tumescence, turpitude, are the easy ones, the rest are too strange to use even in crossword puzzles. And yet writers online did use them. Here they are.

* taggant: a nonreactive substance added to an explosive that may be traced if the explosive is used for unlawful purposes.

* tampion: a wooden stopper for the muzzle of a gun.

* tant pis: too bad

* taphonomy: the study of decaying organisms over time and how they become fossilized (if they do).

* tardation: the act of retarding or delaying.

* tardigrades:  also known as water bears or moss piglets, are a phylum of small invertebrates. (they look like manatees with stubs for legs)Tardigrada, meaning "slow stepper” reproduce via asexual (parthenogenesis) or sexual reproduction and feed on the fluids of plant cells, animal cells, and bacteria. They are prey to amoebas, nematodes, and other tardigrades. Some species are entirely carnivorous! They’ve adapted to stress by cryptobiosis, a state of metabolic reversible standstill. Can stay inactive for a hundred years, have been observed engaged in sex for an hour and can withstand radiation.

* tarpaulin: (tarp in American English[1]) is a large sheet of strong, flexible, water-resistant or waterproof material, often cloth such as canvas or polyester coated with urethane, or made of plastics such as polyethylene. In some places such as Australia, and in military slang, a tarp may be known as a hootchie. Tarpaulins often have reinforced grommets at the corners and along the sides to form attachment points for rope, allowing them to be tied down or suspended.
Inexpensive modern tarpaulins are made from woven polypropylene; this material is so associated with tarpaulins that it has become colloquially known in some quarters as polytarp.

* Tasaday: an indigenous people of the Philippine island of Mindanao. They are considered to be Lumad along with the other indigenous inhabitants of the island. In the 1970's it was thought that the Tasaday was a remnant of a stone age culture. Today that status is widely considered a hoax, although controversy remains.

* teleology: the explanation of phenomena by the purpose they serve rather than by postulated causes. Theology, the doctrine of design and purpose in the material world. The study of design or purpose in natural phenomena. The use of ultimate purpose or design as a means of explaining phenomena. Belief in or the perception of purposeful development toward an end, as in nature or history. An argument on the existence of God or a creator based on perceived evidence of order, purpose, design, or direction — or some combination of these — in nature. The word "teleological" is derived from the Greek word telos, meaning "end" or "purpose". Teleology is the supposition that there is purpose or directive principle in the works and processes of nature. Immanuel Kant called this argument the Physico–theological proof





* telos: an ultimate object or aim. Acquiring money to the extent that money would become superfluous was certainly a Clinton telos — and the subtext of the entire Podesta trove and the disclosures about the Clinton Foundation.

* temporize: avoid making a decision or committing oneself in order to gain time."the opportunity was missed because the mayor still temporized"

* tendentious: Expressing or intending to promote a particular cause or point of view, esp. a controversial one: "a tendentious reading of history”. Marked by a tendency in favor of a particular point of view. The author's tendentious history of the chemical company glosses over its role in one of the most catastrophic environmental accidents in ...

* Tenebrae

* Tenebrae: (Latin for "shadows" or "darkness") A Christian religious service celebrated within Western Christianity on the evening before or early morning of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday, which are the last three days of Holy Week. The distinctive ceremony of Tenebrae is the gradual extinguishing of candles while a series of readings and psalms is chanted or recited.

* tenebrous: dark; shadowy or obscure.

* termagant: shrew: a scolding nagging bad-tempered woman, In Medieval Europe, Termagant was the name given to a god that the Europeans believed Muslims worshipped. an imaginary deity with a violent temperament who featured in medieval mystery plays, represented as being worshiped by Muslims

* terpsichorean: relating to dancing. A dancer.

* terrapins: turtles

* tessera: One of the small squares of stone or glass used in making mosaic patterns.

* teufelshunde: Devil Dog is a motivational nickname for a U.S. Marine. It is said to be based on the apocryphal use of "Teufel Hunden" [sic] by German soldiers to describe Marines fighting in World War I. And second, you've got to love a guy whose nickname is 'Brute'. He was probably one of those old school teufelshunde who ate bullets for breakfast and then had to go the firing range to break wind. And indeed, Krulak was such a badass that his biography is required reading at the lieutenant colonel level.

* thalassocracy (from Greek language (thalassa), meaning "sea", and κρατεῖν (kratein), meaning "to rule", giving θαλασσοκρατία (thalassokratia), "rule of the sea") refers to a state with primarily maritime realms—an empire at sea, such as Athens or the Phoenician network of merchant cities. Traditional thalassocracies seldom dominate interiors, even in their home territories (for example: Tyre, Sidon, or Carthage). It is necessary to distinguish this traditional sense of thalassocracy from an "empire", where the state's territories, though possibly linked principally or solely by the sea lanes, generally extend into mainland interiors.
The term can also simply refer to naval supremacy, in either military or commercial senses of the word "supremacy". Indeed, the word thalassocracy itself was first used by the Greeks to describe the government of the Minoan civilization, whose power depended on its navy. Herodotus also spoke of the need to counter the Phoenician thalassocracy by developing a Greek "empire of the sea".

* thanatophidia: venomous snakes

* Thaumaturgy: (from the Greek words thaûma, meaning "miracle" or "marvel" and érgon, meaning "work") is the capability of a magician or a saint to work magic or miracles. It is sometimes translated into English as wonderworking. A practitioner of thaumaturgy is a thaumaturge, thaumaturgist or miracle-worker.

* the gimlet eye : a sharp or piercing glance, an eye that appears to give a sharp or piercing look.

* The man on the Clapham omnibus: a reasonably educated and intelligent but non-specialist person — a reasonable person, a hypothetical person against whom a defendant's conduct might be judged in an English law civil action for negligence. This is the standard of care comparable to that which might be exercised by "the man on the Clapham omnibus" mentioned by Greer LJ in Hall v. Brooklands Auto-Racing Club (1933) The phrase was first put to legal use in a reported judgment by Sir Richard Henn Collins MR in the 1903 English Court of Appeal libel case, McQuire v. Western Morning News. He attributed it to Lord Bowen, said to have coined it as junior counsel defending the Tichborne Claimant case in 1871. Brewer's also lists this as a possible first use. It is possibly derived from the phrase "Public opinion ... is the opinion of the bald-headed man at the back of the omnibus,"coined by the 19th century journalist Walter Bagehot to describe the normal man of London. Clapham in south London at the time was a nondescript commuter suburb seen to represent "ordinary" London. Omnibus is now rather an archaic expression for a public bus, but was in common use by the judiciary at the beginning of the 20th century. The expression has also been incorporated in Canadian patent jurisprudence, notably Beloit v. Valmet Oy (1986), C.P.R. in its eloquent discussion regarding the test for obviousness.
In Australia, the "Clapham omnibus" expression has inspired the New South Wales and Victorian equivalents, "the man on the Bondi tram" and "the man on the Bourke Street tram".  In Hong Kong, the equivalent expression is "the man on the Shaukiwan Tram."

* thimblerigger:  ... shifted from under one to another of three small cups to fool the spectator guessing its location. one who manipulates the cup in thimblerig : thimblerigger. thimble rigger: One who cheats by thimblerigging, or tricks of legerdemain. Also known as a shell game: A game, usually involving gambling, in w...

* Thrombosis: the formation of a blood clot (thrombus) inside a blood vessel, obstructing the flow of blood through the circulatory system. When a blood vessel is injured, the body uses platelets and fibrin to form a blood clot, because the first step in repairing it (hemostasis) is to prevent loss of blood. If that mechanism causes too much clotting, and the clot breaks free, an embolus is formed.

* tisane: an infusion (as of dried herbs) used as a beverage or for medicinal effects.

* titivate: make small enhancing alterations to (something), make oneself look attractive.

* titrate: Chemistry: ascertain the amount of a constituent in (a solution) by measuring the volume of a known concentration of reagent required to complete a reaction with it, typically using an indicator. Medicine: continuously measure and adjust the balance of (a physiological function or drug dosage). All boys have need of some recklessness. If they do not come by it naturally, it must be bred into them. The trick is titrating just enough of the stuff so that they are game for life's adventures but not liable to do something catastrophically stupid, like going to law school. You might remember the term "titration" or "titrated" from high school chemistry, where it referred to adding one chemical to another, a little bit at a time, to get the two chemicals to provide a certain reaction.
As a very simple example: Say you want to create pink icing for a cupcake. You'll begin with white icing, and will add small amounts of red food coloring to that white icing until you get the pink you are hoping to get. The goal might be to take as little of a drug as possible to get the desired effect like keeping your blood pressure or cholesterol in check. Your doctor might start you on a 20mg amount of a drug. If it doesn't have the desired outcome, she might increase it to 40mg.... and so on, until you are taking the least amount that has the best effect. Another goal might be to see how much of a drug your body can handle before the side effects outweigh the benefit of the drug, which is normally only done in the early stages of clinical trials. This type of titration is seen most with chemotherapy drugs. A trial participant is given progressively more of a drug over a period of time while the researchers test to see if it's killing the cancer cells it's supposed to be killing.

* togs: clothes, dressed for a particular occasion or activity.

* tonsorial: relating to hairdressing.

* torrefaction: of biomass can be described as a mild form of pyrolysis at temperatures typically ranging between 200-320 °C.

* Torricelli option: Will the Democrats would exercise the "Torricelli Option" (dump a dud candidate)

* torrid: Parched with the heat of the sun; intensely hot. Scorching; burning: the torrid noonday sun. Passionate; ardent: a torrid love scene. Hurried; rapid: set a torrid pace; torrid economic growth.

* Toujours L’Audace!: always audacity!

* Tout de suite: right away, at once, immediately

* tout le monde: everyone

* tovarisch: a comrade (especially in Russian communism) companion, comrade, familiar, fellow, associate - a friend who is frequently in the company of another; "drinking companions"; "comrades in arms"

* tow: The coarser part of flax, with short threads, used as an example of easily inflammable material. Also Isaiah 43:17 the King James Version for pishtah, the usual word for "flax" (so the English Revised Version), here as used for a wick.

* trainspotter: A person who can successfully identify obscure music a DJ plays. A hardcore trainspotter can take it a step further and identify the source of obscure samples. Trainspotter: "Thats track B off of the first pressing of So and So record"
Friend: "You're such a trainspotter." (British) someone who is very interested in trains and spends time going to stations and recording the numbers of the trains that they see (informal) someone who is odd or boring because they are interested in knowing everything about a particular subject, even very small, unimportant details“ He's a rather over-serious disco trainspotter with a record collection instead of a brain.” and “They looked like boring, trainspotter types.”

* Treif: Non-kosher food, food not in accord with Jewish dietary laws, derived the Hebrew word teref which means torn, and originally referred to non-kosher meat only. In Exodus 22:30 it is written "Do not eat meat from an animal torn in the field." Thus Jews were forbidden to eat meat from an animal that was torn or mortally wounded. Over time the meaning of the term treif expanded from one category of non-kosher meat to anything non-kosher.

* tremulous: shaking or quivering slightly."Barbara's voice was tremulous”, shaky, trembling, shaking, unsteady, quavering, wavering, quivering, quivery, quaking, weak, warbly, trembly More"a tremulous voice" timid; nervous."he gave a tremulous smile"

* trenchant: Vigorous or incisive in expression or style, she heard angry voices, not loud, yet certainly trenchant, (of a weapon or tool) Having a sharp edge, searching: having keenness and forcefulness and penetration in thought, expression, or intellect; "searching insights"; "trenchant criticism”, hard-hitting: characterized by or full of force and vigor; "a hard-hitting expose"; "a trenchant argument”, clear-cut: clearly or sharply defined to the mind; "clear-cut evidence of tampering"; "Claudius was the first to invade Britain with distinct...intentions of conquest"; "trenchant distinctions between right and wrong”, (trenchantly) in a vigorous and effective manner; "he defended his client's civil rights trenchantly”, Three vessels of the British Royal Navy have been named HMS Trenchant: * Trenchant (1916), a 1,085 ton modified 'R' class destroyer * Trenchant (P331), a 'T' class diesel submarine (1943) * Trenchant (S91), a 5,200 ton Trafalgar class nuclear powered submarine, Fitted to trench or cut; gutting; sharp; Keen; biting; vigorously effective and articulate; severe; as, trenchant wit, (adj) - perceptive, keen, penetrating; forceful and vigorous, effective, articulate, clear-cut (The directions that accompanied my new cell phone were trenchant and easy to follow.) "forceful and keen": Raymond received trenchant criticism from everyone for his comments.

* tumid: 1. (especially of a part of the body) swollen. "a tumid belly" 2.(especially of language or literary style) pompous or bombastic.

* thrice, In a trice, In a single moment, with no delay. Trice is no longer in general use, but might have worked out that it means 'a very short period of time' from the phrase 'in a trice'. That seems reasonable, as the phrase is the only place we are now likely ever to come across the word. That's not the original meaning of 'trice' though - it had a more specific meaning, which was 'at a single pull'. This derived from the name given in the 14th century to a nautical windlass or pulley (variously 'tryse', 'tryce', 'trise' or 'trice') - hence the 'single pull' meaning. The phrase was first recorded, in the 15th century, in the form 'at a trice'. For example, in the verse The lyfe of Ipomydon, 1440:
The howndis... Pluckid downe dere all at a tryse. [The hounds... plucked down deer all at a trice] The first recording of the 'in a trice' version of the phrase is in John Skelton's Poetical Works, 1508: To tell you what conceyte I had than in a tryce, The matter were to nyse.

* The Triple Entente (from French entente [ɑ̃tɑ̃t] "agreement") was the name given to the alliance among Great Britain, France and Russia after the signing of the Anglo-Russian Entente in 1907. The alliance of the three powers, supplemented by various agreements with Portugal, Japan, the United States, Brazil and Spain, constituted a powerful counterweight to the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. (Italy had concluded an additional secret agreement with France, effectively nullifying their alliance with Germany.)

* Trochaic tetrameter is a meter in poetry. It refers to a line of four trochaic feet. The word "tetrameter" simply means that the poem has four trochees. A trochee is a long syllable, or stressed syllable, followed by a short, or unstressed, one.
Example[edit]
DUM
da
DUM
de
DUM
da
DUM
de

* truckling: present participle of truckled, Submit or behave obsequiously: "she despised her husband, who truckled to her".

* tsuris. Informal. Trouble; aggravation. [Yiddish tsores, pl. of tsure, from Hebrew râ, from rar, to become narrow; see rr in Semitic roots.] ... (Yiddish) aggravating trouble; "the frustrating tsuris he subjected himself to" Problems or troubles, troubles (from Yiddish צרות tsores, from Hebrew צרות tsarot 'troubles')

* tuches afn tisch: alternate spelling for  "tukhes oyfn tish" dtukhes oyfn tish, tuches oifn tish, tukhes afn tish, seen "touches of'ten Tish" backsides on the table. lay your cards on the table. One reader understood it to mean "Follow the money." this appears to be incorrect. The commenter said, How did my professor know that I would know what that means. He already knew. Well he was wrong then in assuming you'd know what he meant, because you are wrong.

* tuches-laker: ass kissser

* tule fog: a thick ground fog that settles in the San Joaquin Valley and Sacramento Valley areas of California's Great Central Valley. Tule fog forms from late fall through early spring (California's rainy season) after the first significant rainfall.

* tumescence: swelling; slightly tumid. exhibiting or affected with many ideas or emotions; teeming. pompous and pretentious, especially in the use of language; bombastic.

* tumescent: Swollen or becoming swollen, esp. as a response to sexual arousal. of language or literary style) Pompous or pretentious; tumid. Becoming swollen; swelling.
Swollen; distended. Used of a body part or organ. Of a bulging shape; protuberant. Overblown; bombastic: tumid political prose.

* turnspit: The Turnspit Dog was a short-legged, long-bodied dog bred to run on a wheel, called a turnspit or dog wheel, to turn meat. The type is now extinct. It is mentioned in Of English Dogs in 1576 under the name "Turnespete".

* turpitude: depravity: a corrupt or depraved or degenerate act or practice; "the various turpitudes of modern society”d Inherent baseness or depravity; corruptness and evilness; An act evident of such a depravity. Conduct that is unjust, depraved, or shameful; that which is contrary to justice, modesty, or good morals.

* tutti a tavola a mangiare: all to the table to eat

* twigged past participle, past tense of twig (Verb) Understand or realize something. Perceive.