Affable
being pleasant and at ease in talking to others
Afterdeck
part of the deck of a ship
Amenities
something that conduces to comfort, convenience, or enjoyment
Ardent
characterized by warmth of feeling typically expressed in eager zealous support or activity
Astrakhan
a cloth with a usually wool, curled, and looped pile resembling karakul
Barbarous
lacking culture or refinement
Baronial
stately, ample
Bleak
exposed and barren and often windswept
Borsch
a soup made primarily of beets and served hot or cold often with sour cream
Brier
thicket-forming thorny plant
Cannibal
one that eats the flesh of its own kind
Caucasus
region in southeast Europe between the Black & Caspian seas
Chablis
a dry sharp white burgundy wine
Condone
to regard or treat (something bad or blameworthy) as acceptable, forgivable, or harmless
Cosmopolite
worldly, sophisticated
Cossack
a member of any of a number of autonomous communities drawn from various ethnic and linguistic groups (such as Slavs, Tatars, and Circassians) that formed in Ukraine, southern Russia, the Caucasus Mountains, and Siberia after about 1400 and that were completely incorporated into czarist Russia during the 18th and 19th centuries
Crimea
peninsula south of Ukraine, which became an autonomous Russian republic in 1921. Scene of the Crimean War.
Deplorable
deserving censure or contempt
Discern
to recognize, detect, or identify
Droll
having a humorous, whimsical, or odd quality
Ennui
a feeling of weariness and dissatisfaction
Feudal
relating to a system of land-use tenureship in medieval Europe, in which a lord held all power over the serfs who worked his lands
Foeman
an enemy
Folies Bergere
a music hall in Paris France popular at the turn of the 20th century
Forbidding
such as to make approach or passage difficult or impossible
Grotesque
of, relating to, or having the characteristics of that which departs markedly from the natural, the expected, or the typical
Haversack
a bag similar to a knapsack but worn over one shoulder
Headway
motion or rate of motion in a forward direction
Indolently
causing little or no pain, averse to activity, effort, or movement : habitually lazy
Mirage
an optical effect that is sometimes seen at sea, in the desert, or over a hot pavement, that may have the appearance of a pool of water or a mirror in which distant objects are seen inverted, and that is caused by the bending or reflection of rays of light by a layer of heated air of varying density
Naïve
deficient in worldly wisdom or informed judgment
Opaqueness
blocking the passage of radiant energy and especially light: exhibiting opacity, hard to understand or explain
Opiate
something that induces rest or inaction or quiets uneasiness
Palpable
capable of being touched or felt, easily perceptible
Quizzically
expressive of puzzlement, curiosity, or disbelief
Refectory
a dining hall
Repast
something taken as food
Siesta
an afternoon nap or rest
Sloop
fore-and-aft rigged boat with one mast and a single jib
Solicitously
full of concern or fears
Staccato
abrupt, disjointed
Tartar
a person of irritable or violent temper; or, one of a group of Turkic or Mongolian peoples of central Asia who invaded western Asia and Europe in the Middle Ages
Twoscore
a score is twenty, so twoscore is forty
Veuve clicquot
champagne house in Reims, France
Vigor
active bodily or mental strength or force
Vitality
capacity to live and develop
Weariness
exhausted in strength, endurance, vigor, or freshness
Yacht
any of various recreational watercraft
Zealous
marked by fervent partisanship for a person, a cause, or an ideal