(ZEFF-uhr), noun
A gentle breeze.
bucolic (byoo-KALL-ik). A peaceful, serene, rural object, place, or environment.
We bought a weekend place in a BUCOLIC little village in the country.
caducous (kuh-DOO-kuss). Transitory; short-lived; perishable.
“Some thing, which I fancied was a part of me, falls off from me and leaves no scar. It was CADACOUS.”—Ralph Waldo Emerson, American poet, essayist, and transcendentalist
gossamer (GOSS-uh-muhr). Something delicate, light, and flimsy that will flutter in the slightest breeze.
Fairies flitted among the flowers on GOSSAMER wings.
burgeon (BURR-jin). To sprout, to grow; to blossom and flourish.
Natalia does her part for the BURGEONING “green” movement by having her gardener turn manure from her stables into fertilizer.
miasma (my-AZ-mah). An unhealthy atmosphere or environment; an unpleasant feeling pervading the air.
“These appearances, which bewilder you, are merely electrical phenomena not uncommon—or it may be there they have their ghastly origin in the rank MIASMA of the tarn.”—Edgar Allan Poe, American author and poet
odoriferous (oh-duh-RIFF-er-us). Bad-smelling; foul.
Eleanor believed she would enjoy her weekend trek through the South American rainforest, but she found the animals too noisy, the constant rain unpleasant, and the forest’s ODORIFEROUS vegetation distasteful.