NaNo2015: Word of the Day 19-24
Nov. 24th, 2015 04:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meltintall3Nov. 19 wordcount: 33,047
Merriam Webster word of the day: ruly
"How do you stand it?" wondered the woman. "It seems so ruly... I don't let anyone dictate what I can and cannot do," she added. "It hasn't harmed me any. And look at you—you could be dripping silver and yet I bet you don't own a single jewel."
Esther looked puzzled. "Would you care to be more specific, ma'am?"
"Your standards of behavior—your quaint notions that the world as we know it is about to be plunged into ruin unless we all conform—who you see and when and how—"
Nov. 20 wordcount: 35,024
Merriam Webster word of the day: vicinity
The fire spread rapidly from district to district, illuminating everything in the vicinity with brief, vivid clarity before turning to an inferno that twisted metal, cracked glass, and consumed wood.
Nov. 21 wordcount: 36,132
Merriam Webster word of the day: fulsome
Esther stripped the garden of everything that would be edible, or soon be edible and packed it into her crate. The squash had gone into fulsome bloom and produced a bountiful crop of butternut gourds. There were no children playing among the squash plants or under the trellis today.
Nov. 22 wordcount: 39,097
Merriam Webster word of the day: nebula
He walked around the inside of the Deeping Wall that night. The sky overhead was a dome of midnight blue, flecked with stardust. If he had a telescope, he thought, he could see the colors of a far off nebula. As it was, the stars were brighter here than he remembered seeing elsewhere. Below, the city glowed with orange lights, peaceful and content. The grass and weeds rustled as he walked along.
"Who's there?" called someone, and a light appeared on top of the wall.
Barnabas stood still and let the light play over him. He'd forgotten that the walls were guarded.
"Shepherd! I didn't expect to see you—" The guard knelt and carefully aimed his flashlight slightly to one side so as no longer to blind Barnabas. "What are you doing?"
"Just walking around the inside and thinking. If it bothers you—"
The man saluted. "You do what you need to do, Shepherd. I just need to know that it's you making the rounds down there and not someone else. You want a lamp?"
"If it makes your job easier."
Nov. 23 wordcount: 41,518
Merriam Webster word of the day: foreshorten
The gate was only a few blocks away. The wall ramparts loomed over the city streets, and only a sliver of sky could be seen through the archway. To the south was the outline of the spotters tower for the New Field, the windsock hanging limp and invisible. Candace shifted down a gear, eyes scanning the street for any sign of her friends. The half-light foreshortened the distance she had yet to travel.
A group of merrymakers left one of the establishments built against the wall, their laughter and jests carrying in the still evening air. For all their boisterousness, they were moving slowly, and she had a bad feeling about their purpose. A whistle turned her attention to the other side of the street and Barnabas detached himself from the shadows to wave Candace around the corner.
The bike idled, purring to itself as Saul threw a leg across the saddle and Barnabas adjusted the rucksack over his friend's shoulders.
"There they are!" shouted a voice.
"Go!" said Barnabas. He grabbed at Esther's hand and dragged her away while Candace sent the bike leaping forward, throwing a small cloud of dust and gravel in her wake. Saul hung on for dear life as the courier took the first corner.
Nov. 24 wordcount: 43,002
Merriam Webster word of the day: henotheism
Barnabas clenched his hands into fists as ideas were brought fourth and exposed as ridiculous. Henotheism and pantheism rubbed shoulders and were discarded. Everything one set up as a god was examined, showing how it influenced behavior and ideals. This was Saul in finest form: brilliant and scintillating, administering punishment with the knife-edge of words, sharp and unassailable. Just because he agreed with the principals didn't mean he found it comfortable listening.
Saul tied up the ends of his speech in a tight knot and looked out at the audience. They looked back, most of them not quite sure what they'd just heard. The gist had yet to fully settle. Applause started on the principal of the thing: they'd come to hear a speech and it had been a speech. But there were sections of the hall that knew exactly what they'd come to hear and knew they'd heard the opposite delivered by a man with the blazing eyes of a zealot.
Merriam Webster word of the day: ruly
"How do you stand it?" wondered the woman. "It seems so ruly... I don't let anyone dictate what I can and cannot do," she added. "It hasn't harmed me any. And look at you—you could be dripping silver and yet I bet you don't own a single jewel."
Esther looked puzzled. "Would you care to be more specific, ma'am?"
"Your standards of behavior—your quaint notions that the world as we know it is about to be plunged into ruin unless we all conform—who you see and when and how—"
Nov. 20 wordcount: 35,024
Merriam Webster word of the day: vicinity
The fire spread rapidly from district to district, illuminating everything in the vicinity with brief, vivid clarity before turning to an inferno that twisted metal, cracked glass, and consumed wood.
Nov. 21 wordcount: 36,132
Merriam Webster word of the day: fulsome
Esther stripped the garden of everything that would be edible, or soon be edible and packed it into her crate. The squash had gone into fulsome bloom and produced a bountiful crop of butternut gourds. There were no children playing among the squash plants or under the trellis today.
Nov. 22 wordcount: 39,097
Merriam Webster word of the day: nebula
He walked around the inside of the Deeping Wall that night. The sky overhead was a dome of midnight blue, flecked with stardust. If he had a telescope, he thought, he could see the colors of a far off nebula. As it was, the stars were brighter here than he remembered seeing elsewhere. Below, the city glowed with orange lights, peaceful and content. The grass and weeds rustled as he walked along.
"Who's there?" called someone, and a light appeared on top of the wall.
Barnabas stood still and let the light play over him. He'd forgotten that the walls were guarded.
"Shepherd! I didn't expect to see you—" The guard knelt and carefully aimed his flashlight slightly to one side so as no longer to blind Barnabas. "What are you doing?"
"Just walking around the inside and thinking. If it bothers you—"
The man saluted. "You do what you need to do, Shepherd. I just need to know that it's you making the rounds down there and not someone else. You want a lamp?"
"If it makes your job easier."
Nov. 23 wordcount: 41,518
Merriam Webster word of the day: foreshorten
The gate was only a few blocks away. The wall ramparts loomed over the city streets, and only a sliver of sky could be seen through the archway. To the south was the outline of the spotters tower for the New Field, the windsock hanging limp and invisible. Candace shifted down a gear, eyes scanning the street for any sign of her friends. The half-light foreshortened the distance she had yet to travel.
A group of merrymakers left one of the establishments built against the wall, their laughter and jests carrying in the still evening air. For all their boisterousness, they were moving slowly, and she had a bad feeling about their purpose. A whistle turned her attention to the other side of the street and Barnabas detached himself from the shadows to wave Candace around the corner.
The bike idled, purring to itself as Saul threw a leg across the saddle and Barnabas adjusted the rucksack over his friend's shoulders.
"There they are!" shouted a voice.
"Go!" said Barnabas. He grabbed at Esther's hand and dragged her away while Candace sent the bike leaping forward, throwing a small cloud of dust and gravel in her wake. Saul hung on for dear life as the courier took the first corner.
Nov. 24 wordcount: 43,002
Merriam Webster word of the day: henotheism
Barnabas clenched his hands into fists as ideas were brought fourth and exposed as ridiculous. Henotheism and pantheism rubbed shoulders and were discarded. Everything one set up as a god was examined, showing how it influenced behavior and ideals. This was Saul in finest form: brilliant and scintillating, administering punishment with the knife-edge of words, sharp and unassailable. Just because he agreed with the principals didn't mean he found it comfortable listening.
Saul tied up the ends of his speech in a tight knot and looked out at the audience. They looked back, most of them not quite sure what they'd just heard. The gist had yet to fully settle. Applause started on the principal of the thing: they'd come to hear a speech and it had been a speech. But there were sections of the hall that knew exactly what they'd come to hear and knew they'd heard the opposite delivered by a man with the blazing eyes of a zealot.
