Word Wizard! Parts 8 - 13

Somehow, once again, I have been absent for 6 whole weeks!  Maybe I should change my scedule to 6 week intervals... no, words are too important to wait.  Words are the essence of life!  We are our stories (as someone I cannot properly cite once said), and what would our stories (and ourselves) be without words!  So come with me - learn words, learn stories, learn yourself.

Remember...
#. Word
a. part of speech
b. Definition
c. Definition 2 (if applicable)

The list is cumulative, so in this post it starts at 37.

37. Insure
a. verb
b. to guarantee against loss or harm

38. Klaxon
a. noun
b. a loud electric horn, formerly used on automobiles, trucks, etc., and now often used as a warning signal

39. Labyrinth
a. noun
b. an intricate combination of paths or passages in which it is difficult to find one's way or to reach the exit

40. Labyrinthine
a. adjective
b. complicated; tortuous

41. Lampoon
a. noun
b. a sharp, often virulent satire directed against an individual or institution; a work of literature, art, or the like, ridiculing severely the character or behavior of a person, society, etc.

42. Lithe
a. adjective
b. bending readily; pliant; limber; supple; flexible

43. Modicum
a. noun
b. a moderate or small amount

44. Moxie
a. noun (slang)
b. vigor; verve; pep
c. courage and aggressiveness; nerve
d. skill; know-how

45. Nadir
a. noun
b. the lowest point; point of greatest adversity or despair

46. Obelisk
a. noun
b. a tapering, four-sided shaft of stone, usually monolithic and having a pyramidal apex

47. Oblong
a. adjective
b. elongated, usually from the square or circular form
c. in the form of a rectangle one of whose dimensions is greater than the other
d. noun
e. an oblong figure

48. Onus
a. noun
b. a difficult or disagreeable obligation, task, burden, etc.

49. Opus
a. noun
b. a musical composition

50. Ostensible
a. adjective
b. outwardly appearing as such; professed; pretended

51. Phalanx
a. noun
b. any body of troops in close array
c. a number of individuals, esp. persons united for a common purpose
d. a compact or closely massed body of persons, animals, or things

52. Phlebotomy
a. noun
b. the act or practice of opening a vein for letting blood as a therapeutic measure; venesection; bleeding

53. Pilfer
a. verb
b. to steal, esp. in small quantities

54. Plethora
a. noun
b. overabundance; excess

55. Polyglot
a. adjective
b. able to speak or write several languages; multilingual
c. containing, composed of, or written in several languages
d. noun
e. a mixture or confusion of languages
f. a person who speaks, writes, or reads a number of languages
g. a book, esp. a Bible, containing the same text in several languages

56. Popinjay
a. noun
b. a person given to vain, pretentious displays and empty chatter; coxcomb; fop

57. Preclude
a. verb
b. to prevent the presence, existence, or occurrence of; make impossible

58. Predilection
a. noun
b. a tendency to think favorably of something in particular; partiality; preference

59. Privy
a. adjective
b. participating in the knowledge of something private or secret
c. noun
d. outhouse

60. Prodigal
a. adjective
b. wastefully or recklessly extravagant
c. noun
d. a person who spends, or has spent, his or her money or substance with wasteful extravagance; spendthrift

61. Propensity
a. noun
b. a natural inclination or tendency

62. Proxy
a. noun
b. the agency, function, or power of a person authorized to act as the deputy or substitute for another

63. Raze
a. verb
b. to tear down; demolish; level to the ground

64. Relegate
a. verb
b. to send or consign to an inferior position, place, or condition

65. Relent
a. verb
b. to soften in feeling, temper, or determination; become more mild, compassionate, or forgiving
c. to become less severe; slacken