OK, guys & gals, time for another unusual or interesting word. Today we have:

Alectryomancy

Divination by means of a cock (preferably a white rooster) with grains of corn, usually by recording the letters revealed as the cock eats kernels of corn that cover them.

From the Greek ἀλεκτρυών (alectryon) cock + µαντεία (manteia) divination.

Pavonine

1. [adj.] Of, pertaining to, resembling or characteristic of a peacock.
2. [adj.] Resembling the neck or the tail of the peacock in colouring.
3. [Zoological] [adj.] Of or pertaining to the genus Pavo or sub-family Pavoninæ, which includes the peafowl.
4. [Zoological] [noun] A bird of the sub-family Pavoninæ.
5. [Chemistry, Geology] [noun] An iridescent lustre or tarnish found on some ores and metals.

From the Latin pāvōn-em peacock.

Gugglet, or as the OED would have it more correctly Goglet.

A long-necked vessel for holding water, usually made of porous earthenware, so that the contents are kept cool by evaporation.

From the Portuguese gorgoleta, ‘an earthen and narrow-mouthed vessel, out of which the water runs and guggles’. Also possibly the French gargoulette which has a similar meaning.

The OED records the first English use in 1698.

Kudos to my local auction house’s catalogue for teaching me a word I really didn’t know.

Ordure

1. Filth, dirt.
2. Excrement, dung.
3. Applied to that which is morally filthy or defiling, or to foul language ‘cast’ or ‘thrown’ at a person.

From the French ordure, from ord filthy, foul, which is in turn from the Latin horridus horrid.

Shittimwood

The wood of the shittah tree (a species of acacia) from which the Ark of the Covenant and furniture of the Tabernacle were made.

[From the Hebrew shiṭṭīm, plural of shiṭṭāh; original meaning unknown]

Callipygian

Having well-shaped or finely developed buttocks.
(In more modern parlance) having a nice bum.

From the Greek καλλίπῡγος, κάλλος beauty + πῡγή buttocks.

The Ancient Roman Statue Venus Callipyge is literally “Venus with the beautiful buttocks”.

Hat-tip: Steve Olle for reminding me of this superb word!

Postilion, postillion

1. A guide or forerunner.
2. One who rides a post-horse, a post-boy; a swift messenger.

   
   Post chaise with postillion

3. One who rides the near horse of the leaders when four or more are used in a carriage or post-chaise; especially one who rides the near horse when one pair only is used and there is no driver on the box.
4. Supplementary floats to prevent fishing line from sinking.
5. (verb) To insert and manipulate a finger in the anus of a sexual partner as a means of sexual excitement.

Heterodox

1. Not in accordance with established doctrines or opinions, or those generally recognized as right or ‘orthodox’.

2. Holding opinions not in accord with some acknowledged standard.

3. An opinion not in accord with that which is generally accepted as true or correct.

Time for another interesting and fun word, so I give you:

Blackamoor

1. A black-skinned African, an Ethiopian, a Negro; any very dark-skinned person.

and thus by association …

2. A devil.
3. Black-skinned, quite black.

The OED gives the earliest written citation as 1547. The word was used for several centuries without the deprecatory or pejorative connotations we may infer given that it often referred to slaves or servants; it merely served as being descriptive. While, like piccaninny, the word itself has fallen out of use, largely due to it’s perceived pejorative inferences, one can still find a significant number of public houses in the UK with the similarly inspired appellation The Black Boy(s).

Curtilage

1. A small court, yard, or piece of ground attached to a dwelling-house and forming one enclosure with it, or so regarded by the law. The area attached to and containing a dwelling-house and its out-buildings. (Now mostly used in legal or formal settings.)

2. (Obsolete) Tillage of a croft or kitchen-garden.