A Vocabulary Lesson
by E.L.S. Sbordone

Age - a period in the history of the earth
Bondage - a state of subjection to a force, power or influence
Chain - a restraining or confining agent or force
Dung - something foul or abhorrent
Ethnic - relating to a people not Christian or Jewish
Forge - to make, alter or imitate falsely in writing with intent to defraud
Guide - to supervise the training or education of
Hard hat - a working-class ultraconservative
Incarn - to cover or invest with flesh
Jingoism - extreme nationalism characterized especially by a belligerent foreign policy
Knack - a clever expedient way of doing something
Lascivious - reflecting or producing sexual desire or behavior that is considered indecent or obscene
Mania - an excessively intense enthusiasm, interest or desire
Nabob - a person of wealth and prominence
Orexis - the feeling and striving aspect of the mind or of an act as contrasted with the intellectual aspect
Pantheon - a public building commemorating and dedicated to the heroines and heroes of a nation
Quixotic - not sensible in practical matters
Reason - the capacity for logical, rational and analytic thought
Suasion - communication intended to induce belief or action
Trump - to get the better of someone by using a crucial, often hidden resource
Ubiquitous - being or seeming to be everywhere
Vice - an evil, degrading or immoral practice or habit
Wane - to approach an end
Xenophobe - a person unduly fearful or contemptuous of that which is foreign
Year dot - as long ago as anyone can remember
Zoic - of or pertaining to animal life