Serenade sere-nade /serəˈnād/ Noun/Verb Noun a piece of music played in the open air, oftentimes under a window “The Roman form of serenade is to race a motorcycle motor under the girl’s window, but mufflers are not common in any situation.” Eleanor Clark (1913-1966) Verb  to charm, to court, to play music under a window “May the songbirds serenade you every step along the... Read More

Stanza stan-za / ˈstanzə Noun a verse, a refrain “Poetry makes its own pertinence, and a single stanza outweighs a book of prose“ Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)  

Beguile be-guile /bəˈɡīl/ Verb to divert or to entertain “Imperceptibly the hours glide on, and beguile us as they pass.“ Ovid (43 BC- 17 AD)

Contortion con-tort-ion /kənˈtôrSHən/ Noun something bent or twisted out of shape, a distortion “All the contortions we go through just not to be ourselves for a few hours.”- Keith Richards (1943)

Facsimile fac-sim-i-le /fakˈsiməlē/ Noun a copy or likeness of anything “The best way to learn is live, in person, cooking, feeling, smelling and tasting, but TV is the second-best thing to that; it’s a halfway facsimile.”- Ted Allen (1965)

Horticulture hor-ti-cul-ture/ˈhôrdəˌkəlCHər/ noun the study of growing fruits, vegetables, flowers “An artist cannot speak about his art any more than a plant can discuss horticulture.” Jean Cocteau (1889- 1969)

Irradiate ir-ra-di-ate /iˈrādēˌāt/ Verb to expose to ultraviolet rays “A system which absorbs and irradiates energy must do so in discrete quanta; the processes of emission and absorption are symmetrical.” Albert Einstein (1879-1955) to illuminate, enlighten intellectually “The thoughts you think will irradiate you as though you are a transparent vase.” Maurice Maeterlinck (1862-1949)

Pretense pre-tense /pri-ˈten(t)s/  Noun  the act of pretending to be or have something that you do not “You must not under any pretense allow your mind to dwell on any thought that is not positive, constructive, optimistic, kind.” Emmet Fox (1886-1951)

Tactile tac-tile /ˈtakt(ə)l/ adjective  referring to the sense of touch “It is strange that the tactile sense, which is so infinitely less precious to men than sight, becomes at critical moments our main, if not only, handle to reality.” Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977)

Vampire /ˈvamˌpī(ə)r/ Noun a mythical undead monster that drinks the blood of the living The strength of the vampire is that people will not believe in him. – Dracula (1897) by Bram Stoker (1847-1912)