Zircon

Zircon (including hyacinth or yellow zircon) is a mineral belonging to the group of nesosilicates. Its chemical name is zirconium silicate and its corresponding chemical formula is ZrSiO4. Zircon is a mineral, occurring in tetragonal crystals, yielding brilliant clear gemstones called "cubic zircons" or "cubic zirconia". A cheap alternative to diamond.

Catena

 A catena is a chain of connected ideas or passages or objects so arranged that each member is closely related to the preceding and following members.  

Ocarina

 The ocarina is an egg-shaped terra cotta wind instrument with a mouthpiece and finger holes; A woodwind musical instrument that is closed at both sides to produce an enclosed space, and punctured with finger holes.  

Encephalalgia

   
Encephalalgia simply menas a headache but it would sound better when you phone in sick! Which reminds me of the Doctor who used to write Plumbum vibrans on sick notes - meaning 'Swinging the lead!

To swing the lead means to malinger. It is said to come from the days when the job of testing the depth of water under a ship was done by raising and lowering a lead on a line. A lazy leadsman would take his time about the process - swinging the lead.

Locavore

   
Locavore is one of those new words coined to describe a modern trend. It means someone who, for environmental reasons, endeavours to restrict their shopping and consuming habits to items produced locally. It remains to be seen if the word survives for very long.

Anabiosis

   
Anabiosis is a form of suspended animation; usually applied to organisms during periods of extreme drought from which they revive when moisture returns.

Afflatus

   
Afflatus sounds like some sort of digestive problem but it isn't! It means a strong creative impulse; divine inspiration.

Abjure

   
To abjure means to renounce or retract something under oath; formally reject or disavow a formerly held belief, often under pressure.

Hodge

 
Hodge was a familair and condescending name for a farm labourer, peasant or rustic. it dates back at least to the 16th Century and was still in use in the early 20th century. It is possibly an abbreviated form of the name Roger.

Hobble Skirt

 
 Hobble Skirts were one of the more ridiculous of fashions, being dresses or  skirts that were tight around the lower legs and ankles thereby impeding walking. They were at their height in 1912 and gone by 1914.