Dragoon

dragoon
-noun
1. a member of any of several cavalry regiments in the British army.
2. historical: a mounted infantryman armed with a carbine.
-verb [ with obj. ]
3. coerce (someone) into doing something: she had been dragooned into helping with the housework.

ORIGIN early 17th cent. (denoting a kind of carbine or musket, thought of as breathing fire): from French dragon ‘dragon’.

August

august
-adjective
1. inspiring reverence or admiration; of supreme dignity or grandeur; majestic: an august performance of a religious drama.  
2. venerable; eminent: an august personage.

ORIGIN 1655–65; < L augustus sacred, grand, akin to augēre to increase. 

Eidolon

 










eidolon |aɪˈdoʊ lən| (ahy-doh-luh n) 

-noun; plural ei·do·la [-luh], ei·do·lons.

1.a phantom; apparition.

2. an ideal.

 

ORIGIN 1820–30;  see idol

Ocular

ocular 

-adjective

1. of, pertaining to, or for the eyes: ocular movements.

2. of the nature of an eye: an ocular organ.

3. performed or perceived by the eye or eyesight.

-noun

4. Optics. eyepiece.

ORIGIN 1565–75;  < Latin oculāris,  equivalent to ocul ( us ) eye + -āris -ar

--Related forms

oc·u·lar·ly, adverb.

pre·oc·u·lar, adjective.

sub·oc·u·lar, adjective.

sub·oc·u·lar·ly, adverb.

su·per·oc·u·lar, adjective.

Mordant

mordant

-adjective

1. sharply caustic or sarcastic, as wit or a speaker; biting.

2. burning; corrosive.

3. having the property of fixing colors, as in dyeing.

-noun

4. a substance used in dyeing to fix the coloring matter, especially a metallic compound, as an oxide or hydroxide, that combines with the organic dye and forms an insoluble colored compound or lake in the fiber.

5. an adhesive substance for binding gold or silver leaf to a surface.

6. an acid or other corrosive substance used in etching to eat out the lines, areas, etc.

7. Music. mordent.

-verb (used with object)

8. to impregnate or treat with a mordant.

ORIGIN 1425–75; late Middle English > Middle French, present participle of mordre  to bite ≪ Latin mordēre.