Bricolage -- Jack

bri·co·lage (brk-läzh, brk-)

n.

Something made or put together using whatever materials happen to be available: "Even the decor is a bricolage, a mix of this and that" (Los Angeles Times).

---

[French, from bricole, trifle, from Old French, catapult, from Old Italian briccola, of Germanic origin.]

Jack will design his science project from a bricolage of things he finds around the house.

Anathema -- Sam

a·nath·e·ma (-nth-m) n. pl. a·nath·e·mas 1. A formal ecclesiastical ban, curse, or excommunication. 2. A vehement denunciation; a curse: "the sound of a witch's anathemas in some unknown tongue" (Nathaniel Hawthorne). 3. One that is cursed or damned. 4. One that is greatly reviled, loathed, or shunned: "Essentialisma belief in natural, immutable sex differencesis anathema to postmodernists, for whom sexuality itself, along with gender, is a 'social construct'" (Wendy Kaminer). [Late Latin anathema, doomed offering, accursed thing, from Greek, from anatithenai, anathe-, to dedicate : ana-, ana- + tithenai, to put; see dh- in Indo-European roots.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Though Sam plays a lot of great tennis players, his greatest anathema is his own frustration.

fug -- Willie

fug (fg) n. A heavy, stale atmosphere, especially the musty air of an overcrowded or poorly ventilated room: "In spite of the open windows the stench had become a reeking fug" (Colleen McCullough). [Perhaps alteration of fogo, stench.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Willie's memoir might begin: "I walked into the lockerroom's fug, focused on my tennis strategy."

nefarious -- Hayden

ne·far·i·ous (n-fâr-s) adj. Infamous by way of being extremely wicked. [Latin nefrius, from nefs, crime, transgression : ne-, not; see ne in Indo-European roots + fs, divine law; see dh- in Indo-European roots.] ne·fari·ous·ly adv. ne·fari·ous·ness n.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

 Hayden's Yankees beat up on the Turchettas' nefarious Red Sox.

fractious -- Lucie

frac·tious (frkshs) adj. 1. Inclined to make trouble; unruly. 2. Having a peevish nature; cranky. [From fraction, discord (obsolete).] fractious·ly adv. fractious·ness n.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Lucie is no fractious child: she gets along well with children and adults.

Declaim -- Gretchen

de·claim (d-klm)

v. de·claimed, de·claim·ing, de·claims

v.intr.

1. To deliver a formal recitation, especially as an exercise in rhetoric or elocution.

2. To speak loudly and vehemently; inveigh.

v.tr.

To utter or recite with rhetorical effect.

 

Try to give Gretchen a bedtime that's too early, and she'll declaim "Not this girl" in an original rap: she'll dance, too.  

Scrim -- Dad

scrim (skrm) n. 1. A durable, loosely woven cotton or linen fabric used for curtains or upholstery lining or in industry. 2. A transparent fabric used as a drop in the theater to create special effects of lights or atmosphere. [Origin unknown.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

 

Dad needs scrim to lie on for his couch so that he doesn't make such a mess of it.