Word: skulked
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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With appropriately graphic, and occasionally very funny, antique engravings to illustrate the text, the author deftly deals with the genesis (and sometimes the subsequent exodus from the language) of more than 100 collective nouns (a gaggle of geese, a pride of lions, a skulk of foxes, a labor of moles), most of which began in the 1400s in England as precise terms of venery. Happily, the collection has continued to grow during the intervening centuries: a shrivel of critics, an unction of undertakers (which, in larger groups, becomes an extreme unction of undertakers), and a swish of hairdressers. Etymology...
...want to mark me a thief," he shouted, "do it today, do it before the sun goes down and let me skulk away . . . ashamed to face you tomorrow!" He reminded his colleagues that "you're in a position to destroy me, and I'm aware of it. My life is at stake. I'm not asking much. All I want is a fair shake." For all his histrionics, only three Senators-Connecticut's Abraham Ribicoff, South Carolina's Strom Thurmond and Texas' John Tower-joined Long and Dodd in voting against censure...
Sensing their inadequacy, such men often approach the steps with the exaggerated skulk of a silent movie Indian. Shoulders forced close together, head dropped but eyes in all directions, they scuttle up the steps close to one of the stone blocks on either side. This saves half the face from sleazy scrutiny. Once behind the protecting curtain of columns they turn and walk 25 paces to the doorway...
Many a writer might have been tempted to skulk past the cliches of early marriage. Hortense Calisher attacks head on, overruns each situation with the rush of her own peculiar eloquence. A reader can cheerfully follow David and Liz through the awe of contemplating the baby's hand, the terror of watching its first illness, the slowly emerging awareness of what shape their marriage may finally assume. And in the interplay between the generations lies a lingering dynastic question: How much do we inherit from the past; how much can we disown...