n. Coolness and composure, esp. in trying circumstances.
At least Walter was giving me the respect of being angry. Edna’s unshakable sangfroid had been so minimizing.
Elizabeth Gilbert, City of Girls
Panache
n. 1. Dash; verve. 2. A bunch of feathers or a plume, esp. on a helmet.
Celia didn’t eat anything, but sat quietly on one of the couches, handling her martini glass and cigarette with more panache than anything I’d ever seen.
Elizabeth Gilbert, City of Girls
Cinder
n. 1.a. A burned substance, such as coal, that is not reduced to ashes but it incapable of further combustion. b. A partly charred substance that can burn further but without flame.
Thwart
tr.v. 1. To prevent the occurrence, realization, or attainment of. 2. To oppose and defeat the efforts, plans, or ambitions of.
Brevity
n. 1. The quality or state of being brief in duration. 2. Concise expression; terseness.
When a sentence is made stronger, it usually becomes shorter. Thus, brevity is a by-product of vigor.
William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White, The Elements of Style
Recidivism
n. A tendency to lapse into a previous pattern of behavior, esp. a tendence to return to criminal habits.
Hustle
v. intr. 1. To jostle and push. 2. to work or move rapidly and energetically. 3. To act aggressively, esp. in business dealings.
n. 1. The act or instance of jostling or shoving. 2. Energic activity; drive. 3. slang. An illicit or unethical way of doing business or obtaining money; a fraud or deceipt.
Recherché
adj. 1. Uncommon; rare. 2. Exquisite; choice. 3. Overrefined; forced. 4. Pretentious; overblown.
58 Gin, like many distilleries, offers gin tuition… She handed each of us a clipboard, on which was a list of twenty-six botanicals. Some of these were fairly mainstream, like pink grapefruit and chamomile; others were more recherché, like aniseed and cassia.”
Anthony Lane, “Ginmania,” The New Yorker
Hoary
adj. 1. Gray or white with or as if with age. 2. Covered with grayish hair or pubescence: hoary leaves. 3. So old as to inspire veneragion; ancient.
Abattoir
n. 1. A slaughterhouse. 2. Something likened to a slaughterhouse.
