adamantine - unyielding

aphelion - point of orbit farthest from the sun

appulse (N) - striving approach to engagement

bannock - coarse cake

bibulous - spongy; drunk

billetsdoux - love note

bittern - heron-like bird

caducous - fleeting; falling

coetaneous - contemporary

crescive (A) - increasing

curricle - light carriage; short course

dragoon - force (V); armed soldier (N)

drover - cattle dealer; "boat driven by the tide"

epithalamium - nuptial song

evanescent - fleeting, like vapor

fasces - "in ancient Rome, an ax tied up with a bundle of rods, borne before the chief Roman magistrates as a symbol of their authority"

fugacity - being fleeting

Houstonia - herb with delicate blue or white flowers

ichor - discharge from a wound; the body-fluid of the gods in Gk. myth

indurate - (V) make or grow hard, callous; (A) hardened, calloused

jejune - barren; dull

languid - spiritless; drooping; slow

lubricity - smoothness; fickleness; lewdness

obsequious - fawning; deferential

operose - industrious; requiring toil

pannier - large basket carried by animal to market; a billowed skirt

peculation - embezzlement

pertinacity - obstinacy; unyieldingness

petulant - immodest; impatient; querulous

prunella - textile for academic gowns; a plant to cure sore throat; sore throat

rowen - unplowed stubble field; aftermath

saltatory - leaping; using sudden movement

sempiternal - eternal

seneschal - medieval official representing his noble

snipe - wading bird; simpleton

spicula - botanical or starfish spike or spikes

spiracle - air hole; blowhole

spontoon - 17th-c axe used for military signaling

sutler - merchant who trails an army

tournure - women's skirt padding

villeggiatura - rustic sojourn

* with thanks to Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary for suggestions