Word of the Day: unusual words you may not have heard of

The word that no one has heard of
My parents used the word "mast" for when tea had been properly brewed.

Unless it has a different spelling -- for a rather obvious reason, it was never written down -- it seems not to exist online with that meaning.
 
It's a rare thing for a crossword to Stump Alex, The Great and Terrible Master of Vocabulary.

Today's conundrum is clued "Unguis." And I had high confidence in three out of four letters: "N A I _" And no help from the last crossing.

Anyone's guess, then, whether we're talking about a Greenhorn, a carpentry fastener or an American brand name of depilatory.

I had to look it up. Oh, that kind of nail:

unguis​

[ uhng-gwis ]SHOW IPA
0b29c1db2f0b1c9452c7.svg


See synonyms for unguis on Thesaurus.com

noun,plural un·gues [uhng-gweez].
  1. a nail, claw, or hoof.
  2. Botany. the clawlike base of certain petals.
 
It's a rare thing for a crossword to Stump Alex, The Great and Terrible Master of Vocabulary.

Today's conundrum is clued "Unguis." And I had high confidence in three out of four letters: "N A I _" And no help from the last crossing.

Anyone's guess, then, whether we're talking about a Greenhorn, a carpentry fastener or an American brand name of depilatory.

I had to look it up. Oh, that kind of nail:

unguis​

[ uhng-gwis ]SHOW IPA
0b29c1db2f0b1c9452c7.svg


See synonyms for unguis on Thesaurus.com

noun,plural un·gues [uhng-gweez].
  1. a nail, claw, or hoof.
  2. Botany. the clawlike base of certain petals.
In snug the unguis, lord of nails.
(just clipping the letters into shape haha.)
 
superciliousness

the quality of thinking that you are better than other people, and that their opinions, beliefs, or ideas are not important
 
Another weird one from a crossword clue:

Omphaloskeptic. One who contemplates their navel.

I think I'll have trouble working that into a conversation.

In what might be a surprise, I talk about naval gazing quite often in sermons. It's a shorthand way of saying that we are putting too much emphasis on our needs and too little on the needs of others. So.... I could use it. But any word you have to define in a sermon is probably not going to communicate as well as it could.
 

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