kinbote, shade, timofey, humbert

for lack of anything else to say and as a study tool, here is my vocabulary list for my nabokov final this afternoon. considering the works we have recently covered this list seems lacking in words both ornithological and lepidopterical and strangely concerned with anatomy. whatevs yo. 

  • bodkin: blunt, large-eyed needle. generally used for threading ribbon or thread through openings
  • callipygian: beautiful buttocks 
  • canthus: corner on each side of the eye, formed by junction of upper and lower lids 
  • crapulous: given to gross excess in drinking or eating
  • crepitate: crackle
  • farrago: confused mixture; hodgepodge
  • glabella: flat area of bone between the eyebrows
  • glabrous: hairless; smooth
  • glaucous: light bluish-green. (in botany) covered with a whitish bloom, as a plum
  • goetic: pertaining to sorcery and magic
  • houghmagandy: adulterous sexual intercourse
  • hoyden: a boisterous and bold girl; tomboy
  • incondite: ill-constructed, crude, unpolished
  • lanugo: coat of delicate, downy hairs, often associated with a fetus or newborn
  • lemniscate: most easily discerned as the infinity symbol 
  • leporine: pertaining to or resembling a rabbit or hare
  • macula: spot or blotch, esp on one’s skin
  • nacreous: relating to mother-of-pearl; lustrous
  • nates: buttocks
  • nictate: to wink
  • palpebral: of or pertaining to the eyelids
  • phocine: of or pertaining to seals
  • recondite: dealing with v. profound or abstruse subjects; esoteric
  • rufous: tinged with red
  • saporous: full of flavor
  • tessellated: appearing like a mosaic
  • topiary: plant clipped or trimmed into fantastic shapes
  • vagitus: first cry of a newborn baby
  • venery: gratification of sexual desire
  • versipel: coined by v. nabokov. from versipellous: having a changeable, protean form