Chapter 75 - The Right Whale's Head - Contrasted View — Vocabulary

Vocabulary Words from Chapter 75 - The Right Whale's Head - Contrasted View

galliot-toed (adjective)

Having a broad, blunt toe resembling a galliot (a flat-bottomed Dutch cargo vessel); used to describe the wide, ungainly shape of the Right Whale's head.

spiracles (noun)

External breathing openings; in whales, the blowholes through which they breathe at the surface.

incrustation (noun)

A hard coating or crust formed on a surface, often by the accumulation of deposits or organisms.

diademed (adjective)

Wearing or crowned with a diadem (a jeweled crown or headband symbolizing royalty).

fissure (noun)

A long, narrow opening or crack, especially in rock or earth.

scimitar (noun)

A short, curved sword with a convex cutting edge, used in Eastern countries; here describing the curved shape of the baleen plates.

intricacies (noun)

Complex, intertwined details or features; tangled or elaborately involved parts.

analogical (adjective)

Based on or involving analogy; reasoning by comparison between two similar things.

brigandish (adjective)

Resembling a brigand (a bandit or outlaw); having a roguish or piratical appearance.

farthingale (noun)

A hooped petticoat or framework used to extend and shape a woman's skirt outward from the waist, stiffened with whalebone.

colonnades (noun)

Rows of evenly spaced columns, especially those supporting a roof or forming a covered walkway.

mandible (noun)

The jawbone, especially the lower jaw in vertebrates; used here for the Sperm Whale's long, slender lower jaw.

placidity (noun)

A state of calm peacefulness; freedom from disturbance or agitation.

speculative (adjective)

Engaged in or based on abstract reasoning and contemplation rather than practical action.

Stoic (noun)

A follower of Stoicism, the ancient Greek philosophy emphasizing rational endurance, acceptance of fate, and indifference to pleasure and pain.