| A | B |
|---|
| praline | A French candy, made of butter, brown sugar and pralines. |
| braggadocio | empty boasting; bragging; a bragging person |
| boysenberry | a berry created by crossing several different plants; a berry named after R. Boysen |
| hosta | plants in the lily family that belong to the genus hosta; plants named after Thomas Hosta |
| poinsettia | A plant of Mexican and South American origin, named after J.R. Poinsett. |
| macademia | A tree and a nut named after John Macadem. |
| salmonella | a bacteria in contaminated food that causes diarrhea and stomach cramps; named after Daniel Salmon |
| newton | a scientific measurement off force, named after Sir Isaac Newton |
| saxophone | a musical wood-wind instrument, named after the famous musical-instrument-making family, Sax. |
| tortoni | ice cream, made with heavy cream and eggs, and named after an 18th century Italian cafe owner |
| greengage | Any of several varieties of light-green plums; named after the 18th century botanist, Sir William Gage |
| angstrom | a unit of length, one-tenth of a millimicron, named after AJ Angstrom |
| gardenia | an evergreen shrub, with large white flowers, named after American physician, Alexander Garden |
| melba | a name given to various food preparations in honor of the Australian singer, Nellie Melba; example: Peach Melba |
| tantalize | to torment or tease; named after Tanta |
| zinnia | Any of the plants from the genus Zinnia, native to Mexico and surrounding areas, and having a many-rayed flower head; named after German botanist, J.G. Zinn |
| quisling | a person who betrays his or her country by aiding an invading country; named after named after pro-Natzi Norwegian leader, Vidkun Quisling. |
| begonia | any tropical plant belonging to the genus Begonia, including species cultivated for the handsome, succulent leaves and waxy flowers; named after French patron of science, Michel Begon |
| samaritan | An inhabitant of Samaria; a good and helful person as in "the good Samaritan". |
| Panglossian | characterized by or given to extreme optimism, esp. in the face of unrelieved hardship or adversity; named after Pangloss, a character in a Greek play |
| quixote | an enthusiastic but impractical and idealistic person; name for Don Quixote in Cervantes' novel |
| jeremiad | a prolonged lamentation or mournful complaint; A literary work or speech expressing a bitter lament or a righteous prophecy of doom; named for Jeremiah's Lamentations in the Bible. |
| hector | 1. Classical Mythology. the eldest son of Priam and husband of Andromache: the greatest Trojan hero in the Trojan War, killed by Achilles. |
| Geronimo | –noun 1. (Goyathlay), 1829–1909, American Apache Indian chief. |
| shrapnel | –noun 1. Military. a. a hollow projectile containing bullets or the like and a bursting charge, designed to explode before reaching the target, and to set free a shower of missiles. |
| vulcanize | –verb (used with object), -ized, -iz⋅ing. 1. to treat (rubber) with sulfur and heat, thereby imparting strength, greater elasticity, durability, etc. |
| Frankenstein | –noun 1. a person who creates a monster or a destructive agency that cannot be controlled or that brings about the creator's ruin. |
| Boswell | any devoted biographer of a specific person; named for Scottish author James Boswell, who wrote only about Samuel Johnson. |
| ampere | –noun Electricity. the base SI unit of electrical current, equivalent to one coulomb per second, formally defined to be the constant current which if maintained in two straight parallel conductors of infinite length, of negligible circular cross section, and placed one meter apart in vacuum, would produce between these conductors a force equal to 2 × 10−7 newton per meter of length. Abbreviation: A, amp. |
| cupid | –noun 1. Also called Amor. the ancient Roman god of love and the son of either Mars or Mercury and Venus, identified with Eros and commonly represented as a winged, naked, infant boy with a bow and arrows. |
| Fletcherism | –noun the practice of chewing food until it is reduced to a finely divided, liquefied mass: advocated by Horace Fletcher, 1849–1919, U.S. nutritionist. |
| yahoo | –noun, plural -hoos. 1. (in Swift's Gulliver's Travels) one of a race of brutes, having the form and all the vices of humans, who are subject to the Houyhnhnms. |
| diesel | –adjective 1. noting a machine or vehicle powered by a diesel engine: diesel locomotive. Named after the creator of the engine, R. Diesel. |
| bandersnatch | –noun 1. an imaginary wild animal of fierce disposition. |
| Crusoe | Anyone like Robinson Crusoe, who was shipwrecked and lived adventurously on a small island. |
| mentor | –noun 1. a wise and trusted counselor or teacher. |
| Dracula | –noun 1. (italics) a novel (1897) by Bram Stoker. |
| forsythia | (Challenge Word) –noun a shrub belonging to the genus Forsythia, of the olive family, native to China and southeastern Europe, species of which are cultivated for their showy yellow flowers, which blossom on the bare branches in early spring. |
| madeleine | madeleine - 3 dictionary results |
| bromeliad | –noun any of numerous, usually epiphytic tropical American plants, having long, stiff leaves and showy flowers, and including the pineapple, Spanish moss, and many species grown as houseplants or ornamentals. |
| mercerize | (Challenge Word) –verb (used with object), -ized, -iz⋅ing. to treat (cotton yarns or fabric) with caustic alkali under tension, in order to increase strength, luster, and affinity for dye. |
| Fahrenheit | (Challenge Word) Named after a 1686–1736, German physicist who devised a temperature scale and introduced the use of mercury in thermometers. |
| narcissistic | (Challenge Word): adjective |
| dahlia | (Challenge Word): 1. any composite plant of the genus Dahlia, native to Mexico and Central America and widely cultivated for its showy, variously colored flower heads. |
| Baedeker | (Challenge Word): –noun 1. Karl, 1801–59, German publisher, notably of guidebooks for travelers. |
| philippic | (Challenge Word): –noun 1. any of the orations (speeches) delivered by Demosthenes, the Athenian orator, in the 4th century b.c., against Philip, king of Macedon. |
| guillotine | (Challenge Word): –noun 1. a device for beheading a person by means of a heavy blade that is dropped between two posts serving as guides: widely used during the French Revolution. |
| Bobadil | (Challenge Word): Francisco Bobadilla, who died 1502, was a Spanish colonial governor in the West Indies who sent Columbus back to Spain in chains. |
| mesmerize | (Challenge Word): –verb (used with object), -ized, -iz⋅ing. 1. to hypnotize. |
| gnathonic | (Challenge Word): –adjective sycophantic; fawning. a self-seeking, servile flatterer; fawning parasite. |
| pasteurize | (Challenge Word): –verb (used with object), -ized, -iz⋅ing. to expose (a food, as milk, cheese, yogurt, beer, or wine) to an elevated temperature for a period of time sufficient to destroy certain microorganisms, as those that can produce disease or cause spoilage or undesirable fermentation of food, without radically altering taste or quality. |
| Croesus | (Challenge Word): 1. died 546 b.c., king of Lydia 560–546: noted for his great wealth. |
| magnolia | (Challenge Word): mag⋅no⋅lia /mægˈnoʊlyə, -ˈnoʊliə/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [mag-nohl-yuh, -noh-lee-uh] , |
