Yeah, you know how fond I am of using all those royalty trappings & such in my stories (I'm not, lol). Anyway, here's today's...another rather pompous 2-dollar word:

fulgurate
\ FUHL-gyuh-reyt \ , verb;
1. To flash or dart like lightning.
2. Medicine. To destroy (esp. an abnormal growth) by electricity.

Quote:
Their eyes fulgurate strangely. They have the look of executioners, or the look of eunuchs.
-- Gustave Flaubert, The Temptation of Saint Anthony

Origin:
The Latin fulgurāre, "to flash or lighten," is the ancestor of fulgurate.
__________

The first definition doesn't quite sound like what it means, does it? "Flash" or "dart" are quick words for a quick action..."fulgurate" sounds a bit more...ponderous Second definition sounds "right," though.

I don't know - I thought it sounded rather vulgar, like it might belong in The Backstairs Biblioteca. The couple fulgurated in back alleys.

Maybe because it rhymes with "vulgar"? LOL

potlatch
\ POT-lach \ , noun;
1. A ceremony at which gifts are bestowed on the guests in a show of wealth that the guests later attempt to surpass.

Quote:
On social media, the potlatch takes the form of outtweeting and outsharing the field, overloading the network with fragments of oneself as users seek a ranking.
-- Rob Horning, "Gift Glut," Popmatters.com, May, 2010

Origin:
Potlatch comes from the Chinook language, meaning "gift." Nearly identical words exist in the languages of various tribes of the Pacific Northwest.
_____________

Cool word with a neat backstory but really I think it'd only be useful in some very specific situations.

I have seen the word in historical novels and speculative fiction based on tribal cultures. I kind of like the word. Somehow it's a flavor word - you know immediately with what, when and where you are dealing. However, as you say, the opportunities to use it are very limited. In that vein, I really don't care for the quote. It messes with the dignity of the word.

nitid
\ NIT-id \ , adjective;
1. Bright; lustrous.

Quote:
Intolerably, I dreamt of an exiguous and nitid labyrinth: in the center was a water jar; my hands almost touched it, my eyes could see it, but so intricate and perplexed were the curves that I knew I would die before reaching it.
-- Jorge Luis Borges, The Immortal

Origin:
Nitid is related to the Latin nitidus, "glistening."
__________

You don't get a very long word for your $2 these days!

lol Kally. I never heard of this word. And, if I ever saw it, I promptly forgot it. I would never use it. Furthermore, it's an ugly sounding word (sounds like a parasite) for such a pretty meaning. Eh? What makes you think I don't like it?

It's pronounced like "knitted" I think (websters.com has been wrong about this sort of thing before), though my brain wants to say it like "knighted." Either way, it's funky

Here's a nice, almost everyday word...haven't seen that in a while

behemoth
\ bih-HEE-muhth \ , noun;
1. Any creature or thing of monstrous size or power
2. An animal, perhaps the hippopotamus, mentioned in the Book of Job.

Quotes:
All the sportive rollickings of all the animals, from the agile fawn to the unwieldly behemoth, are dances taught them by nature.
-- Ambrose Bierce, They All Dance

Origin:
Behemoth derives from the Hebrew b'hemoth in the Book of Job, but may be a folk etymology of Egyptian pehemau, "water-ox," the name for the hippopotamus.

A lovely solid word. I can't remember ever using it, but I will if I have a chance to write about something really really big. When I see the word I think of prehistoric mastodon. Now that's really really big.

busticate
\ BUHS-ti-keyt \ , verb;
1. To break into pieces.

Quote:
A security contest is being held by Google to try and busticate their native client code.
-- Dr. Raid (Blog pseudonym), "Google Native Client security contest," Graduated Script Kiddie blog, March, 2009.

Origin:
Busticate came into existence in the Northern United States during the 19th Century, as the common verb bust became wedded to the Latin root -icate. This phenomenon occurred across the U.S.; another example is the Southern coinage argufy.
____________

Bwhahaha, I love it! Imma busticate all y'all

Another one of those American fad idioms that has crept into the English language as a regular word, as has argufy. They add flavor to speech of characters who are Southerners, I suppose, but otherwise I don't see them as being useful words. Oh, you could probably use them for a different race that was argumentative and sort of back-woodsy, to characterize those habits. You take one more step towards her, and I'ma gonna busticat your jaw!

Hehe, yeah, like Abe's kinfolk (you remember my elven P.I. guy )

Yeah, when you going to get writing on that. It is a fun read

LOL, I do have a beginning in mind a longer Abe story (longer than the 50 words exercises, anyway) but that's all I have right now. And since it's a weird new genre for me, I think I should have a little more than that Plus, there's the Tersun thing to finish!

casuistry
\ KAZH-oo-uh-stree \ , noun;
1. Specious, deceptive, or oversubtle reasoning, esp. in questions of morality.
2. The application of general ethical principles to particular cases of conscience or conduct.

Quote:
The popular objection to casuistry is similar to the popular objection to the maxim that the ends justify the means.
-- John Dewey, Experience and Nature and Human Nature

Origin:
Casuistry comes from the French casuiste and the Latin casus , "case," perhaps related to making a case or justifying behavior.
__________

Well, hello, Mr. Nero Wolfe. You don't say!

This is one of those words that always confuses me. I knew its meaning vaguely but could never seem to remember it. Even after reading the dictionary meanings, I tend to go "huh?" Not one I'd use.