Roan

1
adjective
- Describing an animal (especially a horse or a cow) that has a coat of a main color that is thickly interspersed with hairs of another color. Typically bay, chestnut, or black mixed with white.

noun
- An animal that has such a coat.

2
noun
- Soft flexible leather made from sheepskin, used in bookbinding as a cheap substitute for morocco (goatskin tanned with sumac).

Remuda

noun
- A herd of saddle-broken horses from which ranch hands choose their mounts for the day.

Founder

1
noun
- Somebody who makes things from cast metal.
- The owner of a foundry.

2
verb
- (Nautical) To fill with water and sink.
- (Figurative) To fail or break down.
- (Of a horse) To succumb to laminitis.

noun
- Laminitis in horses or other hoofed animals.

Liason

noun
- A communication or cooperative effort that sustains a close working relationship between people or groups.
- A person who acts as a link in such a relationship.
- A sexual relationship, especially a clandestine one.

- The binding or thickening agent of a sauce, often based on egg yolks.

- (Phonetics) (French, and other languages) The sounding of a consonant that is normally silent at the end of the word because the word following starts with a vowel.

Pas de deux

noun
(Dance, Ballet)
- A dance for two people.
- A partnership or liaison between two people, countries, entities, especially such a partnership that is difficult to initiate, or that requires delicate handling.

Decant

verb
- To pour (a liquid, wine) gently, so as not to disturb sediment.
- To pour (a liquid) from one container to another.

Loam

noun
- Soil composed of a mixture of sand, clay, silt, and organic matter.
- A mixture of moist clay and sand, and often straw, used in making bricks and foundry molds.

verb
- To fill, cover, or coat with loam.

Spraddlelegged

adjective
- Legs spread apart.

Reticulate

verb
(Rare)
- To divide or mark something in such a way as to resemble a net or network.

adjective
(Botany/Zoology)
- Reticulated.

Raptorial

adjective
- Predatory (applied especially to birds).

Parse

verb
- To analyze a sentence by dividing it into its parts and describing their syntactic function.
- (Computing) To analyze a string or text into components in order to test its conformity to a logical grammar.
- To closely examine or analyze.

noun
- (Computing) An act of or the result obtained by parsing a string or text.

Ab ovo

adverb
(Latin: "from the egg")
- From the beginning.
- In literature, the practice of beginning a narrative from the beginning of the story, as opposed to the middle of things, in medias res.

Spikenard

noun
- (Historical) A costly perfumed ointment much valued in ancient times. (The scent attracts cats.)
- The Himalayan plant of the valerian family that produces the rhizome from which this ointment was prepared.
- A plant resembling spikenard in fragrance.

Abrade

verb

- Scrape or wear away by fiction or erosion. 

Obmutescence

noun
- The state or condition of becoming mute, speechless, or dumb, especially obstinately or willfully so.

Manumission

noun
- (Historical) The act of setting free a slave/slaves.

Maugre

preposition
(Archaic)
- In spite of; notwithstanding.

Upbraid

verb
- To find fault with, to reproach severely.
- (Of things) To reproach on, to serve as reproach to.

Whet

verb
- To sharpen something by grinding or friction.
- To make keen or eager, to stimulate.

Welkin

noun
(poetic/literary) - The sky, heaven.

Cauterize

verb
(Medicine) burn the skin or flesh of (a wound) with a heated instrument or caustic substance, typically to stop bleeding or prevent the wound from becoming infected.

Demure

adjective
- (Often concerning a woman, or her behavior) Reserved, modest, shy.
- Affectedly or coyly decorous, sober, or sedate.

Ramada

noun
An open shelter, often with a thatched and/or domed roof, often installed on beaches and picnic grounds.

Acrostic

noun
- (Of poetry, writing) A series of lines or verses or other units of writing in which the first, last, or other particular letters when taken in order spell out a word or message.

adjective
- Like an acrostic. Also, "acrostical."

Laccolith

noun
- (Geology) A mass of igneous rock that formed from magma that spread laterally under the surface of the earth, causing overlying strata to bulge up.

Aerolith / aerolite

noun
- A meteorite consisting of mainly stony material.

The "-lith" and "-lite" suffixes both mean "stone."

Selenian

adjective

- Of or relating to the moon.

rare

Vituperate

verb

- To blame or insult someone with violent language.

Lapidary

adjective
- (Of language) engraved on or suitable for engraving on stone, and therefore elegant and concise.
- Of or relating to stone and gems and the work involved in engraving, cutting, or polishing.

noun

- A person who cuts, polishes or engraves gems; the art of cutting polishing, or engraving gems.

Fin de siécle

adjective

- Relating to the end of a century, especially the 19th century. (Connotations of decadence.)

noun

- The end of a century, especially the 19th century.

Encomium

noun

- A formal expression of high praise.

Bedizen

verb

- To dress or adorn or otherwise fashion something in a way that's showy, tasteless.

Inflorescence

noun

- A cluster of flowers on a stem or an arrangement of branches.

Abstruse

adjective

- Hard to understand. Obscure, enigmatic, esoteric, arcane, incomprehensible.

Abjure

verb

- (formal) to solemnly renounce a belief, cause, or claim

- (historical) to swear an oath to leave a country or realm forever.

improvisations: abjuration, abjurer, abjurative

I like this word because it purrs at the end, because it has two soft consonants ("b" and "j") right next to each other in a way that is good, and because solemnly renouncing things seems dramatic and important at the same time.

Euphony

noun

- Pleasing to the ear, especially in reference to an arrangements of words.

- The alteration of speech sounds so as to make them easier to pronounce.