9/23

clout (noun)

    Influence or effectiveness, especially political.
    A blow with the hand.
    A home run.
    The center of the butt at which archers shoot; probably once a piece of white cloth or a nail head.
    A swaddling cloth.
    A cloth; a piece of cloth or leather; a patch; a rag.
    An iron plate on an axletree or other wood to keep it from wearing; a washer.
    A piece; a fragment.

rave (noun)

    An enthusiastic review (such as of a play).
    An all-night dance party filled with electronic dance music (techno, trance, drum and bass etc.) and possibly drug use.
    The genre of electronic dance music associated with rave parties.

ordeal (noun)

    A painful or trying experience.
    A trial in which the accused was subjected to a dangerous test (such as ducking in water), divine authority deciding the guilt of the accused.

stint (noun)

    A period of time spent doing or being something. A spell.
        e.g.: He had a stint in jail.
    limit; bound; restraint; extent
    Quantity or task assigned; proportion allotted.

allot (verb)

    To distribute or apportion by (or as if by) lot
    To assign or designate as a task or for a purpose

9/24
strident (adjective)

    Loud; shrill, piercing, high-pitched; rough-sounding
        e.g.: The trumpet sounded strident against the string orchestra.
    Grating or obnoxious
        e.g.: The artist chose a strident mixture of colors.

grump (noun)

    a habitually grumpy or complaining person

screech (noun)

    A high-pitched strident or piercing sound, such as that between a moving object and any surface.
    A loud harsh sound resembling a human cry.
    A form of home-made rye whiskey made from used oak rye barrels from a distillery.

stride (verb)

    To walk with long steps.
    To stand with the legs wide apart; to straddle.
    To pass over at a step; to step over.
    To straddle; to bestride.

straddle (verb)

    To sit or stand with a leg on each side of something.
    To form a disorderly sprawl.

9/25

prolong (verb)

    To extend in space or length.
    To lengthen in time; to extend the duration of; to draw out; to continue.
    To lengthen temporally; to put off to a distant time; to postpone.
        e.g.: The government shouldn't prolong deciding on this issue any further.

postpone (verb)

    To delay or put off an event, appointment etc.

prudent (adjective)

    Sagacious in adapting means to ends; circumspect in action, or in determining any line of conduct; careful, discreet, sensible; -- opposed to rash; directed by prudence or wise forethought; evincing prudence;
    Practically wise, judicious, shrewd
        e.g.: His prudent career moves reliably brought him to the top
    Frugal; economical; not extravagant;
        e.g.: Only prudent expenditure may provide quality within a restrictive budget

sagacious (adjective)

    Having or showing keen discernment, sound judgment, and farsightedness.

farsightedness (noun)

    The condition of being unable to focus on near objects; presbyopia
    The quality of being considerate about what might happen in the future

9/26

dwindle (verb)

    To decrease, shrink, diminish, reduce in size.
    To fall away in quality; degenerate, sink.
        e.g.: The flattery of his friends began to dwindle into simple approbation. (Goldsmith, Vicar, III)
    To lessen; to bring low.
    To break; to disperse.

elaborate (adjective)

    Highly complex, detailed, or sophisticated
        e.g.: After reading a long, elaborate description, I was impressed but no wiser.
    intricate, fancy, flashy, or showy
        e.g.: I stared for hours at the elaborate pattern in the rug.

sophisticate (verb)

    To make less natural or innocent.
    To practice sophistry; change the meaning of, or be vague about in order to mislead or deceive.
        e.g.: To sophisticate the understanding. — Southey.      
    To alter and make impure, as with the intention to deceive.
        e.g.: To sophisticate wine. — Howell.
    To make more complex or refined.

endow (verb)

    To furnishttp://blog.udn.com/manage/article/mag_post.jsph with money or its equivalent, as a permanent fund for support; to make pecuniary provision for; to settle an income upon; especially, to furnish with dower; as, to endow a wife; to endow a public institution.
    To enrich or furnish with anything of the nature of a gift (as a quality or faculty); -- followed by with, rarely by of; as, man is endowed by his Maker with reason; to endow with privileges or benefits.
    To bestow freely.
    To be furnished with something naturally.
        e.g.: She was endowed with a beautiful voice.

bestow (verb)

    To lay up in store; deposit for safe keeping; stow; place.
    To lodge, or find quarters for; provide with accommodation.
    To dispose of.
    To give; confer; impart gratuitously; present something to someone as a gift or honour.
        e.g.: Medals were bestowed on the winning team.
    To give in marriage.
    To apply; make use of; use; employ.
    To behave or deport.

9/27

bole (noun)

    The trunk or stem of a tree.

aperture (noun)

    An opening; an open space; a gap, cleft, or chasm; a passage perforated; a hole; as, an aperture in a wall.
        e.g.: An aperture between the mountains. --Gilpin.       
    Something which restricts the diameter of the light path through one plane in an optical system.

comsat (noun)

    A communications satellite.

asparagus (noun)

    Any of various perennial plants of the genus Asparagus having leaflike stems, scalelike leaves, and small flowers.
    The young shoots of Asparagus officinalis eaten as a vegetable.

warble (verb)

    To modulate a tone's frequency
    To sing like a bird, especially with trills.
    To cause to quaver or vibrate.
    To be quavered or modulated; to be uttered melodiously.