dictionary – Black and White

basswood

What does the tree say? The OED notes of psithurism, “Obsolete. Forms: α. psithurisma. β. psithurism. This word belongs in Frequency Band 1.
Band 1 contains extremely rare words unlikely ever to appear in modern text. These may be obscure technical terms or terms restricted to occasional historical use, e.g. abaptiston, abaxile, grithbreach, gurhofite, zarnich, zeagonite.

a rustling or whispering sound, such as leaves in the wind; susurration: “Standing in the glade I heard a quiet psithurism, just straddling the line between music and noise.”

sheep

singular and plural the same word two sheep not two sheeps — sheep
noun, plural sheep.
any of numerous ruminant mammals of the genus Ovis, of the family Bovidae, closely related to the goats, especially O. aries, bred in a number of domesticated varieties.

ephemera

Jefferson School — ephemera, items designed to be useful or important for only a short time, especially pamphlets, notices, tickets, etc.

lapdog

lapdog — Rio, dog of mystery. The dictionary defines lapdog:

1-: a small dog that may be held in the lap
2 : a servile dependent or follower

Rio understands and controls many things. Definition #1 applies.

East Egg West Egg

antonymic names — There was a controversy in Richmond Virginia years ago about a street name. Powhite. Was it pronounced Pow-Hite after the mythical indian tribe, or Po’ White? Do you want to live on Slabtown or Queenstown? antonymic names.

untitled

supine, recumbent, flat, decumbent, horizontal

Abscission

sycamore leaf frost — A plant will abscise a part either to discard a member that is no longer necessary, such as a leaf during autumn, or a flower following fertilisation, or for the purposes of reproduction. Most deciduous plants drop their leaves by abscission before winter, whereas evergreen plants continuously abscise their leaves. Another form of abscission is fruit drop, when a plant abscises fruit while still immature, in order to conserve resources needed to bring the remaining fruit to maturity. If a leaf is damaged, a plant may also abscise it to conserve water or photosynthetic efficiency, depending on the ‘costs’ to the plant as a whole. The abscission layer is a greenish-grayish color.–Wikipedia

Boisterous

dogs at play — rough and noisy; noisily jolly or rowdy; clamorous; unrestrained:
Carl, Helen and Ermine visited last night. Tilly had nine brothers, no sisters. They taught her ferocious display? Tilly shows off for visitors. (two seconds later Tilly was flat on her back)

Palmate

oregon — shaped like an open palm or like a hand with the fingers extended, as a leaf or an antler. See more.–Dictionary.com

Arithmomania

numbered rocks — Sufferers may for instance feel compelled to count the steps while ascending or descending a flight of stairs or to count the number of letters in words. They often feel it is necessary to perform an action a certain number of times to prevent alleged calamities. Other examples include counting tiles on the floor or ceiling, the number of lines on the highway, or simply the number of times one breathes or blinks–Wikipedia