Entry: pedalferrous (adj.)
In context: "They thunder eastward across pedalferrous terrain that today is fallow, denuded."
Definition: A neologism - or at least a neologic conjugation. From pedalfer (n.): A soil in which there is no layer of accumulated calcium carbonate, but in which oxides of iron and aluminium have tended to accumulate (usually acidic and characteristic of humid climates)
Other: It's difficult to get excited by soil*, but hey... it's Thursday! That's always a good thing, right?
*Apologies to one good friend, who is a soil scientist. I'm sure he gets all hot and bothered by pedalferrous landscapes and solonetz and solonchaks.
SNOOT score: 1
Page: 93
Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Definitive Jest is a vocabulary-building and SNOOT-approved word-of-the-day blog centered around David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest.
No comments:
Post a Comment