auto-da-fe
A public ceremony that took place during the Spanish Inquisition in which the offender was read his sentence, accompanied by a sermon and a round of prayer
catalepsy
A state in which a person's muscles are rigid and he/she is completely non-responsive
cerement
A burial garment
depose
To testify under oath for a recorded document that may later be used in a court of law
draughts
The British term for checkers
effulgence
A burning brilliance
fathom
A naval term for six feet of depth
gallows
The structure from which a noose is attached and on which a hanging occurs
gendarme
A member of the French police
in articulo mortis
Latin phrase for "at the point of death"
jaggeree
Usually spelled "jaggery," a type of unrefined sugar made from the sap of a palm tree
Mason
A builder who works with stone or brick; A member of the Freemasons, an international fraternal organization
mesmerism
Synonym for hypnotism, named for Franz Anton Mesmer, who believed that he could make his hypnotized subjects do incredible things through a magnetic influence
mummer
An actor or partygoer who wears a mask or costume
nitre
A form of potassium nitrate otherwise known as saltpeter, which is used in making gunpowder; also spelled "niter"
parvenu
Someone who has only recently joined a higher socioeconomic class
perverseness
A state of obstinately wanting to be opposed to what is correct or good
Procrustean
Forcing conformity, named for the mythological Greek character Procrustes, who waylaid travelers and killed them by forcing them to conform to the size of his bed either by pulling or by cutting away body parts
purloin
To steal
scantling
Pieces of lumber used in the framework of a building
scarabæus
A type of dung beetle
Simoom
A dry, dusty, cyclone-like wind that appears in the deserts of Africa and the Middle East; in Poe's "MS. Found in a Bottle" it resembles a combination of a simoom and a typhoon, as it occurs on water
Spanish Inquisition
A church tribunal which was established by Ferdinand II and Isabella I to enforce Catholicism in Spain
