Wondrous Words Wednesday 14/9/11

Wondrous Words Wednesday is a fabulous weekly meme hosted by Bermuda Onion, where we share new (to us) words that we’ve encountered in our weekly reading.  

New words can turn up anywhere. Even reading your friends blog which is usually about chocolate but sometimes about soup. And brilliant green soupy diadems.

1. Diadem (noun)

A crown worn as a sign of royalty. The Free Dictionary.

Picture credit (fascinating story too)

I recently read Jackie French's new book Nanberry. It's getting fabulous reviews around the place, and deservedly so. Any historical fiction will usually give you some interesting new words, and Nanberry was no exception.

1. Collops (noun)

She had fried the kangaroo collops in the giant skillet, and added a dust of flour and water to make their gravy.


A small portion of food or a slice, especially of meat. A roll of fat flesh. Middle English. The Free Dictionary.

2. Lags (noun)
Then he saw them: a line of lags in convict grey, chains linking their ankles as they shuffled up the road.

Whilst I knew the falling behind kind of lag, and that one can lag pipes for insulation I was unfamiliar with this usage. The Free Dictionary tells us that lag is indeed a convict, or ex-convict in British slang, and that it can actually mean the act of imprisonment too.

3. Skeps (noun)
Neat farmhouses with bee skeps behind them, and big eyed dairy cows; here an orchard of peach trees and ripening plums or a boy shepherding a small flock of sheep, heavy with wool; there bullockies with teams of sixteen or more, hauling loads of logs or sacks or what he supposed was grain.

A beehive, especially one constructed of straw. The Free Dictionary.

Picture Credit