google: define:

[slemslempike]

I don't seem to have done this for about two years. I think I stopped having pen and paper near me when I read as a matter of course, I can assure you that it's not that I knew all the words that I read.

aetiology - the study of causation (of disease)
hieratic - priestly/cursive form of ancient Egyptian writing/highly restrained and formal (I think the last one was my context)
grobian - crude, sloppy person, fron the fictional patron saint of vulgar and coarse people, Saint Grobian, thought up by the satirist Sebastian Brant
cachexy/cachexia - loss of vitality and strength
cholegogue - agent that promotes the discharge of bile, "purging it downward"
fulvous - brownish yellow
tabes - wasting/atrophy of the body during disease
gleet - thin discharge, often from gonorrhea
strake - a plank in the hull of a boat
levinflash - lightning
peculation - embezzlement
spoom - frothy sorbet
toping - excessive drinking
costive - constipated
concupiscence - sexual desire
anent - regarding/concerning

And other things I looked up:
Podilarius and Machaon - legendary healers
Paracelsus - botanist in the 1500s who named zinc
Bartholomew Fair - summer fair in London from 1133-1855, suppressed for encouraging debauchery

And penguin apparently tastes like a gamey fish.

Comments

[whatho.livejournal.com]

I would not consume spoom.

[serriadh.livejournal.com]

Ooh, what lovely words.

I've heard aetiology (also etiology) used not for diseases. For example: the account of Noah's ark is partly aetiological because it explains how rainbows came about. Or so my theology tutor always said.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's why it's in brackets.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

I would! It sounds rather like syllabub. There's this recipe, which seems excellent. I might make it in the summer.

[whatho.livejournal.com]

That does actually sound quite pleasing save for the whole raw eggs thing that never quite comes across as a good idea. But it does sound awfully like sputum.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

We could brave it together the next time we find ourselves near a kitchen at the same time. Though I take your point about the sputum. But it also sounds like spoon, and spoons are rather nice.

[majea.livejournal.com]

Gleet is such an awesome sounding word -- like some sort of combination of glee and feet -- but then it means THAT?

[the_antichris.livejournal.com]

Some of those sound like Georgette Heyer words, and some of them... really do not.

Bartholomew Fair would make an awesome name for the protagonist of some sort of allegory.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

They are mostly Patrick O'Brien words, so right historical setting, mostly! (I think.)

I thought it was going to be that sort of thing when I looked it up, that they were referring to a story, but it was merely criticising them for looking like a debauched fair was taking place on deck.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

I know! But, if I am ever unfortunate enough to contract gonorrhea, I will at least have the solace of being able to say "not tonight darling, my gleet's playing up".

[debodacious.livejournal.com]

In my nursing dictionary cachexia is extreme wasting asociated with cancer.
And costive was a favourite word of my mother's.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

Your medical knowledge is more up to date than that of Stephen Maturin! As is to be expected, it's not his fault, poor love.

I keep associating costive with costermonger. I must stop.