seriatim: One after another; in a series
It was part of Randolph’s pre-game ritual to open a bag of gummy bears, sort them by color order in the spectrum of visible light, and eat the whole lot of them seriatim.
quidnunc : One who is curious to know everything that passes
Two weeks after Betty-June retired from her job at the Tresstaurant, the hairdressing quidnunc found herself returning daily to her former employ so she could catch up on the latest in scandals.
thaumaturgist: a performer of miracles ; especially : magician
As she circled the mall parking lot for the third time, Sandy wished she had a thaumaturgist on speed-dial who could conjure her up a parking spot somewhere in this zip code so she could get some last minute shopping done.
sequacious: easily influenced or led; servile; compliant
Albert left the Walkathalon in mid-lap to try and get himself a milkshake from the burger joint across the street, not realizing that half a dozen sequacious and/or thirsty fundraisers had followed him, deserting for some dessert.
apricate: To bask in the sun.
After learning of the phenomenon of midnight sun, Johnson booked a trip to Greenland so he could apricate for three days straight while gorging himself on halibut and reindeer meat.
horripilation: the act or process of the hair bristling on the skin, as from cold or fear; goose flesh.
Gary shivered in anticipation of his favorite meal; the mere sound of milk trickling over cornflakes was enough to cause him horripilation and send his salivary glands into overdrive.
Incrassate : to make thicker
Doris’s recipe for Thanksgiving gravy was kept secret not because it was a closely guarded family tradition, but because it used a packet of freeze-dried brine shrimp to incrassate the drippings, and she was afraid that this knowledge might cause a scene among her more gastronomically conservative in-laws.
truculent : ready to fight or quarrel
The Thanksgiving display at Lehrman’s mall had to be taken down early because of a truculent fifth grader that had threatened to eat Tony Turkey, a prized gobbler that had been taken hostage in an attempt to move Christmas forward another couple of weeks.
mafflard : a stammering or blundering fool
Eustace tried to stay with her notecards while answering policy questions, keeping in mind that she was campaigning in South Florida and might end up being tased if she rambled like a mafflard or took too long to respond.
otiose : Ineffective; futile.
Changing the windshield wipers on Danielle’s Keys Cruiser was at best an otiose gesture, as the windscreen itself was cracked in so many places that both passenger and driver usually had to stick their heads out the side windows to see where they were going.