Verger

   

A verger is a church officer who takes care of the interior of the building and acts as an attendant (carrying the verge or mace) during ceremonies.

Sexton

   

A sexton is a church, congregation or synagogue officer charged with the maintenance of its buildings and/or the surrounding graveyard. Sextons may also be responsible for bell-ringing and grave digging.

You what?

 
I seldom say a harsh word to any one, but I was not master of myself then, and I spoke right out and called him an anisodactylous plesiosaurian conchyliaceous Ornithorhyneus, and rotten to the heart with holophotal subterranean extemporaneousness.
Mark Twain

Hippogriff

 

The hippogriff is a mythical creature with an eagle’s head, claws and wings, and a horse’s body.

Buxom

   
Buxom means having a full, voluptuous figure, especially possessing large breasts; plump and comely. According to the Oxford English dictionary it used to mean meek, obliging, kindly, and understanding. Other meanings were blithe, lively and gay, full of health, vigour and good temper.

Shibboleth

   
A shibboleth is a manner of speaking that is distinctive of a particular group of people; any distinguishing practice which is indicative of one's social or regional origin. It usually refers to features of language, and particularly to a word whose pronunciation identifies its speaker as being a member or not a member of a particular group.

Conundrum

   
A conundrum is a difficult question or riddle, especially one using a play on words in the answer; a difficult choice or decision that must be made.

‘The word “conundrum”,’ Preston repeated helpfully, ‘When you say the word, doesn’t it look in your head like a copper-coloured snake, curled up asleep?’ (Terry Pratchett – “I Shall Wear Midnight”)

Manticore

   
The manticore is a mythical man-eating creature with a spiny lion’s body, a scorpion’s tail and human head.

Prelate

 
A prelate is a high ranking church dignitary; a clergyman of high rank and authority, having jurisdiction over an area or a group of people; normally a bishop or an archbishop.

Phynnodderee

 
Phynnodderee is sometimes used as a proper name and sometimes as the name of a class of beings. The phynnodderee is like a brownie, hob, or sprite in folklore, particular around the Isle of Man.

Other spellings include fenodyree, phynodderee, fynnoderee or fenoderee or even yn foldyr gastey, which means 'the nimble mower'. He is small and hairy, particularly around the legs, almost like a small satyr. Fenodyree is in fact the term used for 'satyr' in the 1819 Manx version of the Bible (Isaiah 34:14)

The phynnodderee worked very hard from dusk to dawn at agricultural tasks, such as herding, mowing, reaping and threshing.

Fenodyree is also a character in "The Weirdstone of Brisingamen", a wonderful young-adult fantasy set in Alderley Edge in Cheshire by Alan Garner.