Only expected version: 1 July 2000
Except where stated, these meanings are from the Concise Oxford Dictionary, eighth edition (1990).
| Name | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ambulatory | place for walking, esp. aisle or cloister in church or monastery |
| apostate | one who renounces a former belief |
| aquifer | layer of rock or soil able to hold a lot of water |
| azure | deep sky-blue |
| cacodemon | evil spirit |
| catafalque | decorated framework for supporting coffin |
| Circe | [not in COD, this is from Infopedia:] Witch from Homer’s Oddesey who turned Oddesius’ crewmen into pigs. (Hmm, she must have been let loose in Duke Nukem 3D...) |
| colonnade | row of columns |
| confluence | where two rivers meet |
| crucible | severe test or trial |
| demesne | sovereign’s domain (ruled directly, not as a satrapy) |
| dragon | mythical fire-breathing flying reptile |
| effluvium | unpleasant odour |
| foetid | (or fetid, especially in US) unpleasant odour |
| gibbet | gallows |
| griffin | mythical creature with eagle’s head/wings and lion’s body |
| heresiarch | leader of an heretical sect |
| Hydratyr | [not in COD; probably a made-up name] |
| hypostyle | having a roof supported by pillars |
| keep | castle guardhouse |
| lich | [not in COD, the following is a remembrance from elsewhere:] dead wizard brought back to life, possessing enormous power |
| manse | house of a church minister |
| mausoleum | large, grand tomb |
| maw | geographical feature resembling open jaws |
| mere | lake (archaic) |
| necropolis | ancient burial place (literally “city of the dead”) |
| ophidian | reptile of the suborder Serpentes, e.g. a snake; snakelike |
| ossuary | cave in which ancient bones are found |
| perdition | eternal death; damnation |
| portal | gateway esp. large, elaborate one |
| rampart | defensive wall; walkway on the top of such a wall |
| refectory | communal dining-hall, esp. in a monastery |
| revenant | [from Infopedia] One who has returned from, or as if from, the dead |
| seminary | training college, esp. of and for a religious order |
| sepulcher | (UK sepulchre) tomb, esp. one cut into or built of stone, or built of brick |
| skein | tangle or confusion, as of a dropped ball of yarn |
| vivarium | artificial environment for keeping animals in approximately their natural conditions |
| were- | (of werewolf, weredragon etc.) one who sometimes changes from a human to the given creature, or back again. (N.B. a creature of human-level intelligence but permanently a wolf is a warg, not a werewolf.) |
| winnowing | the process of eliminating that which is inferior |