kink - a mental twist; an odd or fantastic notion; a crotchet, whim.
taw - a large choice or fancy marble, often streaked or variegated, being that with which the player shoots; a game played with such marbles.
whor = where (obs.)
drumhead courtmartial* - a court-martial summoned round an upturned drum, for summary treatment of offenders during military operations.
General Staff* - a body of officers controlling an army from headquarters under the commander-in-chief.
pugh = pooh - an ejaculation expressing impatience, or contemptuous disdain or disregard for anything; excrement, faeces (slang.)
to do the nut - to become angry, lose one's head; to be worked up about something; to be crazy.
dingbat* - a foolish or stupid person; someone crazy or insane.
dag - a 'character', an extraordinary person, a 'tough' but amusing person.
heliotropical - bending or turning in a particular direction under the influence of light; pertaining to or marked by heliotropism.
nighttime* - the time between evening and morning, the time of night or darkness.
tuff = tough (obs.)
pending - while awaiting, until the occurrence of, until; during, throughout the continuance of, in the process of.
and vice versa* - Used to imply the complementary statement without expressing it in words.
reglow - the act of glowing again
batt - a felted mass of hair and wool in hat-making
bombardment - the process of bombarding; continuous attack upon a place with shot and shell.
tastefully - in a tasteful manner, with good taste
taut - tightly drawn, as by longitudinal tension; stiff, tense, not slack.
geranium* - the colour of the scarlet geranium
satin - a silk fabric with a glossy surface on one side.
frame - to gain ground, make progress, to 'get on' (with); to shape, direct (one's thoughts, actions, powers, etc.) to a certain purpose; to put together, fashion, compose.
step up - fig. To arise, come suddenly into prominence; to advance gradually.
syncope* - failure of the heart's action, resulting in loss of consciousness, and sometimes in death.
bitt - one of the strong posts firmly fastened in pairs in the deck or decks of a ship, for fastening cables, belaying ropes, etc.; generally used in the plural.
between; beating
teff - the principal cereal of Abyssinia, Poa (Eragrostis) abyssinica, producing minute red or white grains from which bread is made.
mistletoe* - a parasitic plant of Europe, Viscum album (N.O. Loranthaceæ), growing on various trees (in Britain, frequently on the apple-tree, rarely on the oak) and bearing a glutinous fruit, from which a birdlime is prepared; troop - a body of soldiers.
borne - carried
spraygun - an apparatus for applying a liquid substance in the form of spray.
rake - to enfilade (Mil. To subject to an enfilade; to 'rake' or to be in a position to 'rake' (a line of fortification, a line of troops, a road, etc.) from end to end with a fire in the direction of its length).
split - to separate or take apart longitudinally
focus - the centre of activity, or area of greatest energy, of a storm, volcanic eruption, etc.
grenade* - to attack with grenades
dynamite* - to shatter or wreck by the explosion of dynamite
electrolyte* - a substance which dissolves in water or another suitable medium to give a solution capable of conducting an electric current; also, such a solution.
nichillate* - annulled
firespout* - a jet of volcanic fire
rutilance* - rutilant quality (rare.); rutilant - glowing, shining, gleaming, glittering, with either a ruddy or golden light.
gospel truth* - the truth or truths contained in the gospel; something as true as the gospel.
coating - clothing of the nature of a coat
fluorescence - the coloured luminosity produced in some transparent bodies by the direct action of light, esp. of the violet and ultra-violet rays; the property, in certain substances, of rendering the ultra-violet rays visible, so as to produce this phenomenon.
mephitis* - a noxious or pestilential emanation, esp. from the earth; a noisome, or poisonous stench.
coagulate* - to become converted into a soft solid mass; to curdle, clot, congeal.
iconoscope - a kind of television camera tube (now little used) in which the target plate that receives the image consists of a mosaic of photoemissive material on an insulating sheet that is backed with a conducting sheet, the video signal being obtained from the variation in the current flowing to or from this latter sheet as the mosaic is scanned with an electron beam.
still - an ordinary photograph, as distinguished from a motion picture; spec. a single shot from a film (or a specially posed photograph of a scene from it) for use in advertising.
ghast - ghastly ghost
Son of Heaven - the Emperor of China; loosely, any Chinese
the Garter* - the badge of the highest order of English knighthood. Hence, membership of this order; the order itself.
latchet - a loop; a narrow strip of anything, a thong.
puffpuff - an imitation of the sound of repeated puffing by a steam-engine; hence, a nursery name for a locomotive, or a railway train.
pompom - the name given during the South African war, 1899-1902, to the Maxim automatic quick-firing gun; a representation of a repetitive sound, e.g. the beat of a popular tune or poem; the round tuft on a soldier's or sailor's cap, the front of a shako, etc.
buckling - a brace, a fastening; that which is buckled on
gorman = gourmand German
customary* - according to custom; commonly used or practised; usual, habitual.
midday* - the middle of the day; Eccl. One of the canonical hours; = sext.
pleace = please (v.)
doughboy - an infantryman in the U.S. Army
blank - to render blank or void; to veil from sight; blink - to look with twinkling eye-lids, as one half-awake or dazzled with light.
niece - a daughter of one's brother (brother-in-law) or sister (sister-in-law).
put up - to place (a military or other decoration) on one's uniform or other clothes.
wollop = wallop - to beat soundly, belabour, thrash; also occas. used as humorously for beat.
mouther - one given to vain, boastful, or declamatory speech mouth
under - to cast down, depress
bundle* - fig. To collect, to gather into a mass. (Usually with up or together.)
accomplice* - an associate in guilt, a partner in crime
confederate* - a person or state in league with another or others for mutual support or joint action; an ally.