curtain-lecture
n. a reproof given by a wife to her husband in bed
That’s from Samuel Johnson’s 1755 Dictionary of the English Language, which is more colorful than one might suppose. It also defines cough as “a convulsion of the lungs, vellicated by some sharp serosity” and lexicographer as “a writer of dictionaries, a harmless drudge, that busies himself in tracing the original and detailing the signification of words.”
acephalist
n. one who acknowledges no superior
“In America everybody is of the opinion that he has no social superiors, since all men are equal, but he does not admit that he has no social inferiors, for, from the time of Jefferson onward, the doctrine that all men are equal applies only upwards, not downwards.” — Bertrand Russell
geloscopy
n. the divination of one’s character by the manner of his laughter
coenaculous
adj. loving supper
kerdomeletia
n. an excessive desire for material wealth
lucrifaction
n. the process of becoming wealthy
latibulate
v. to hide oneself in a corner
imbriferous
adj. bringing rain
impluvious
adj. wet with rain
mushfaker
n. a repairer of umbrellas
ostreophagist
n. an eater of oysters
(Such as James I.)
quadrigamist
n. one who has four wives
pentapopemptic
n. one who has been divorced five times
aquabib
n. a drinker of water